Holiday fun

Well we just did our first holiday with both girls. We've been away with them before, but that was a mad fly-drive south for a funeral. This was a little road trip to Tauranga to a nice little holiday park with hot pools.
This is what we bought the big gas-guzzling van for! We strapped the babies in, loaded the back up with portacot, buggy, bed linen, suitcases of clothes and nappies, food, drink, spare clothes, raincoats, toys, more toys books and a change of undies for me and off we went.
I didn't take a lot of pictures, mainly because I was either in the water, or carrying a child in one hand and a bag of nappies in the other, but I did take a few. Find me on Facebook if you want a look.
We had a great week and I think the mineral water in the pools really helped Kaitereo's eczema as it seems to be healing up a lot. She still has the dry patches, but the red-raw rash is gone.

We spent the first 3 nights at Omokoroa Holiday park in a cute little unit with 2 bedrooms and so many beds Mapera couldn't decide where she wanted to sleep. She ended up on the bottom bunk just like at home!! She wanted to go to bed straight away and spent a happy half hour playing on each of the beds and putting her baby to bed as well.
Kaitereo really loved the hot pools, and we were in them every morning and evening. She was laughing and splashing like a loon. Mapera is getting a lot more confident in the water now, and we got her a set of water wings so she could swim without our help. When she starts lessons again next term, she'll be on her own in the pool with just the instructor! No more help from Mummy...I'm really proud but also very nervous.
I've decided to try and teach Kaitereo myself now, so she can have lessons while Mapera is having hers. I'll probably get Kaitereo into classes when she reaches the stage of needing to swim without my help.

I've wandered off the subject of our holiday, so back we go. On our last day we decided to stay another night, but the place we were in was booked, so we headed off to Rotorua to see what was there. We found another Thermal Holiday Park with a cool cabin (bunk beds in the corridor for Mapera!) and 4 hot pools. We let Mapera have loads of rubbish to eat and drink, but I think I have finally weaned her off the bottle. We forgot to take hers with us so I suggested we just give her warm milk in a cup before bed, and she loved it!
I've decided to keep it up at home, but she realised her "blue cup" (bottle) was in the cupboard when we got back, so tonight we had a minor tantrum when I told her she was having a cup.

We bathed in the pools, went to a cool animal park, ate out ALL the time and just relaxed. Mapera behaved like an angel, and so despite the mountains of luggage we seemed to need, I think we could cope with another holiday like that!
Both the girls have got straight back into normal routine, and I think it's because we pretty much kept it the same over the holiday - no TV, meal times and sleep times not too different and plenty of fresh air. Poor Kaitereo has the cough that we've all had, and I thought she had avoided. I can't give her any cough mixture as she's under 2 and she is not sleeping well, poor mite.

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Well I wrote that a few days ago and have only now got round to posting it 3 days after we got home! Kaitereo has been given a once-over by the doctor, and the cough is nothing to worry about - I was concerned that it had gone into her chest as an infection. She seems to be recovering too, sleeping better definitely.

Mapera got some new books on holiday, and we have a new favourite: The Gruffalo. I looked for it as I'd heard good things about it and I was not disappointed. I do think I have heard the basic story somewhere before though, maybe an Aesops fable or something? Can anyone out there enlighten me??