April Sun Brings May Showers

We had pretty great amounts of sun in April and May has been lots of rain. I thought it was "April showers brings May flowers?" England's weather follows no rules. We had to just be thankful that the pubs and outdoor restaurants were allowed to open along with retail shops, just in time for US Mother's Day. We did decide to celebrate the UK Mums on UK Mother's Day (March) and celebrate myself and US Moms on the US holiday, May 9th. We booked an outdoor table at a pub in town that also had a children's play area for noon on US Mother's Day. We received a call about 10am to say the terrible rain/weather (not shocking) had ruined their patio and sitting area outdoors and they would need to cancel our reservation. We were lucky enough that Mother's Day was going to by dry, not raining, no sun, but dry. Not, however, lucky enough to have our reservations stand. We improvised and went into "Town" where the mall/shops/restaurants are located. We were able to snag an outdoor table at a restaurant that also had a green grassy area for Emme to run around. Due to the restrictions and COVID, Emme doesn't even remember how to go out for a meal, so the thought that she would sit nicely at the table for a nice meal was not happening. We played, we ordered, we played more, we ate, we played again, and then we went into the shops to have a look around. Overall, a really nice Mother's day spent with my husband and kiddo.

May 17th was the next step in the loosening of the UK restrictions. All indoor dining, shopping, play groups, cinemas/play places could re open. This also meant you could go stay in accommodations (airbnb's/hotels, etc) and allowed indoors at people's homes. We had known this day was coming so we booked a vacation/holiday away for May 19-23. We wanted to get away ASAP prior to May half term (school break). We booked a beautiful Airbnb near the seaside about a mile west of Bournemouth in a town called, Alum Chine. Bournemouth is a seaside town known for its good shopping, food, and powder sandy beaches. All this comes with large crowds and expensive prices. Staying a mile west was the perfect balance to get all the action but no crowds. Unfortunately, the weather was not always kind to us. The day we arrived was a gorgeous sunny afternoon where we grabbed a bite to eat and sat on the beach/played at the park until the evening. We knew this was our only guarenteed sunny day and we took advantage of it. The photos you will see will display clothing of all seasons of the year (haha).

The next day we had booked tickets for the Bournemouth Aquarium. Emme loves any movies dealing with sea animals so we knew it was a good choice. The winds were so extreme on this day, walking from our car to the Aquarium we had to hold onto all things including our child so as not to get swept away! Inside the Aquarium was lovely and warm and Emme really took her time and loved all the exhibits. We even saw things a second and third time. Afterwards, we walked over to the arcade to have a little look around and went back to the condo for a nap. After naptime, the winds had died down only slightly and the sun decided to come in and out of the clouds. We layered up best we could and headed back down to the beach/park area. While it was very windy and lots of sand blowing around, we still enjoyed ourselves and got to catch some windsurfers which still concerns me :) For dinner, we got a take away from the highly recommended Chez Fred which was a restaurant on the main street of the town. It was the best fish and chips I have ever tasted!! (sadly forgot to take photos for you, we ate it so quickly!)

Day 3 was originally supposed to be the day we took Emme to Peppa Pig World (the anticipated highlight of the trip), however the winds were even worse this day mixed with rain. Thankfully, I was able to call them and switch our tickets for the following day (not of course without a fee--insert eye roll--). We again had to improvise and decided to spend the morning in the shopping/gardens area of Bournemouth where the sun shined partially and we enjoyed hot coffees and warm chocolate chip cookies. We then walked down to the arcade as the weather was starting to turn and we stayed warm inside while having our hand at the 2P machines and claw games. Emme really enjoyed it. After an attempted nap time, we booked in for a soft play place about 15 minutes away from us, Lemur's Landing. Emme STILL talks about it and it was a struggle to get her to leave. She played on the play area, pretend play, and obstacle course (where she wore the cutest little harness). Daniel and myself saw a Taco Bell on the way in and I think that is all we thought about the 2 hours we were in the soft play. I screamed for joy at the sight. We got it as a take away on our way out and ate it back at the condo, it tasted just like back home. (Are you catching a theme the food was important to us and REALLY good? ha!)

Day 4 was Paulton's Park Day which is where Peppa Pig world is located. It was about 30 minutes from our Airbnb. We went in and immediately went for Peppa Pig World, along with 98% of everyone else. It got busy fast and the queues/lines were a little TOO long for our impatient 2 year old. She loved seeing all the characters, the Peppa playground, and the 2 rides we did go on before exiting to go to a different area of the park. We chose the dinosaur area and had some lunch. We also went on a few other rides to allow Peppa World to die down a bit. A couple hours prior to closing time, we went back into Peppa World where it was still busy but the queues were a bit shorter. We went on a couple more rides before we realized waiting in queues with a 2 year old just wasn't going to happen anymore. She wanted to keep going back to the play ground so we let her and it was such a great time. The sun showed us a visit for the last couple hours of our day and we enjoyed a nice long train ride around the entire park. Emme's highlights were going inside Peppa's house, the dinosaur ride, and the pirate ship (although she cried and was very scared while on it).

Day 5, the day we returned home, the sun paid us another short visit in the morning. We spent a short amount of time down on the beach before we had to pack up and return home.

We enjoyed our first holiday while living in the UK. The weather may have been unpredictable, but I should clearly be used to that by now. While the weather is unpredictable, the UK has figured out great ways to have fun indoors. We were just as pleased on our indoor adventures as our outdoor ones. Emme can't WAIT to go on another "Seaside Holiday".