Cornwall, etc

Once again, time slips by and it's November already! Since it's National Novel Writing Month, I don't plan to blog very much (if at all, after this post!) so I'm hoping to quickly document our trip to Cornwall this week.

Before I start... school is going well! Both kids are now at the same one and thriving. C's Reception teacher is a very warm lady and she has two aides/assistants to help out in her classroom. She's made friends and has had several birthday party invitations (as has E).

Anyhow, we started off our half-term break with a tour of the Chislehurst caves. Great fun, obviously didn't take any good pics because it was mostly dark/lantern-lit. Good tour guide, and there was a point where everyone stood in darkness for several minutes to recreate the feeling that survivors of the Blitz would have gotten in pitch black. Although when the guy asked if anyone believed in ghosts, my adamant NOPE probably made him slightly annoyed.

On to Cornwall. We stayed on the outskirts of Newquay. There was a nearby beach and the hotel was set up for children's needs, with an indoor pool, several playgrounds, a games room indoors, bunk beds, and good food. We had a view of the ocean from our room. There were adventure clubs for the kids which let us adults slum around a bit, and the kids also attended the complimentary evening shows (magician, puppetry, ventriloquist, etc).

Here's C on the zip wire in the playground. Next to this was a hedge maze!

Down to the beach at high tide... (some water MIGHT have gotten over the tops of a certain girl's boots!)

Hot chocolate afterward.

The next day, we visited the Eden Project. We'd been there before, about eighteen months ago, with cousins.

This time, the highlight was the seasonal ice skating rink. I hadn't been on skates in over a decade, and it was the first time for the kids, so we were slow and shaky! Fortunately, C had a penguin to balance on.

The next day, I set out on a solo hike for about 40 minutes. Walked a nice coastal path, then turned around at the next beach and walked back to the hotel.

October is often a mixture of sun and shadow, but it wasn't terribly cold. Not cold enough to prevent paddling up to one's knees, according to the children.

We visited a farm on our penultimate day. It had a good mix of things, including a superb indoor play area and pony riding outside. The kids even got to help groom one of the riding ponies.

Then they went for a ten minute lead-rein ride on the dirt track around the farm!

On the day we drove home, we stopped by Tintagel, which is where King Arthur was rumored to have been conceived. I may do a whole other post on this, because I found the place utterly inspiring, but for now, just a few pics.

The bottom pic is of "Merlin's Cave" which was really fun to explore!

And... I'm out of time. Got to run!