Obligatory holiday blog
Well, it's time for the obligatory holiday blog and then to fill in about Joe (he's not been a well boy).
The first week off work was our holiday. Me, Ele, Jess & Joe were accompanied by Saffron (Ele's sister) and Anise, Saffron's (2.5yr old) daughter.
Saturday we loaded up the car and hit the open road. We made amazing progress round the M25 and M40, reaching the M6 in just under 2 hours, even with a quick toilet-stop for Anise. After that, though, we hit a major queue coming off the M54 to the A5, which was just the queue for the roundabout, and then several more also caused by roundabouts, and then one that was caused by cars wanting to turn right into a Costcutter shop, but being unable to because the carpark was full! We eventually got past all these and headed to Bala Lake to meet Jess, who had been staying with her actual dad for the past week. As he lives in Liverpool, it made sense to meet somewhere in North Wales rather than for him to bring her all the way back to London. We collected Jess and headed off to our cottage, which was fairly remote - about 8 miles from Caernarfon. We let ourselves in, unloaded the car and headed out to Caernarfon to goto the Tesco that I remembered there. We ran around buying food as it was about to shut, then decided that it was too late for cooking and headed to a McDonalds over the road before heading back to the cottage.
Sunday we spent in Caernarfon. We had a look around the castle, and did some crab-fishing, with absolutely no success at all. A nice, relaxing day.
Monday Jess & I climbed Snowdon. Ele dropped us off in Llanberis and we followed the Llanberis path up, on the basis that it's the easiest (wouldn't want Jess to struggle, ahem). We made it up in 3 hours, 15 minutes and even though it was a cloudy day, when we got to the top it cleared briefly so we had some great views. What was most bizarre was finding a building site at the top. They are rebuilding the train station at the top, so there were diggers and all sorts up there. Actually what was even more bizarre was the guy on the unicycle, hopping up the cairn that marks the summit. He then proceeded to ride off back down the mountain. No word of a lie. We wandered down again and stopped at the Halfway House cafe for a cup of tea and a bite to eat. The cafe wasn't there the last time we did it, and it's a very welcome addition. Ele & Saff took Joe & Anise to some farm-place whilst we were doing this, but I don't know much about that.
Tuesday we went to Llandudno, partly just to goto a cafe/restaurant place called Tiffany's that Ele and I fondly remembered from our honeymoon. It was still there and still served very nice food. We then caught the cable car up the Great Orme (Joe loved this bit), had a rubbish cup of tea in a rubbish cafe and came down again, again on the cable car. We decided to buy the kids some dinner in a restaurant as it was quite late and ended up eating there ourselves as well. It was Ok. I went out to buy a packed of cigarettes and walked for about 2 miles before I found a place that was a) open, and b) sold them. On the way back to car, turning right out of the restaurant instead of left, I passed 3 shops selling them in the space of 100 yards.
Wednesday was Jess's 11th birthday. Her actual dad wanted to take her out for the day, so we dropped her off to meet him at Penrhyn Castle, and then we went on to Greenwood Country Park, which was actually quite good. Plenty for the kids to do. Her dad then came to meet us there, and we all went to a nice-looking Chinese place we had driven past a couple of times near Bangor. It turned out to be very nice (and even had a nice Engrish-esque "Sliced Beef in O.K sauce" on the menu). Joe made a complete mess, but if the waitress will put rice on a plate in front of him, she should expect it to be redistributed around. There were ten of us - me, Ele, Jess, Joe, Saff, Anise, Steve (Jess's dad), Tessa (his wife), Amy and Neve (their kids/Jess's half-sisters) altogether. After dinner the kids had a run-around the nice big garden they had there, and then we went home.
Thursday we went to Rhyl to goto the Sun Center. This is a water-park with slides and things, and it was absolutely packed (and quite expensive). I didn't think much of it, even though it'd been my idea, but the kids had fun. Joe was so tired he fell asleep in Ele's arms as we walked back to the car. We then went off into the town to find some lunch. We found one place advertising itself as a restaurant, but in my opinion restaurants should not have red plastic chairs bolted to nasty white plastic tables as their main form of seating. We did find a nice place though and had a very nice lunch. We walked further down and came across a fun-fair. It looked like it was built in the thirties and not repainted since. I got pursuaded to go on a rollercoaster with a loop-the-loop in it and Jess went on another couple of things, but it was £2 each for a ride so a bit expensive really. Saffron amused herself by taking pictures of the dilapidated rides, finishing off with a picture of a woman in a neck-brace. Rhyl is generally not very nice - lots of boarded up buildings and so on. Avoid. Thursday was also supposed to be the day that Ele & Saff climbed Snowdon, but the weather forecast was not good - predicting rain - so they decided to postpone it and might come back in the spring for a long weekend to do it.
Friday we went to to Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch (Ok, I Googled the spelling) for lack of anything else to do that was cheap, fairly close, and easy to do. We shopped in the big shop there, ate lunch and came home to start packing.
Saturday we loaded the car and came home. Overall it was a good holiday. Relaxing and fun in equal measure. The kids behaved themselves and the cottage was very nice.
The next week, though, was The Week When Joe Was Ill. He'd picked up a bit of a cold that we put down to the swimming in Rhyl, and having nothing to dry his hair with properly. Nothing bad, just a bit of a runny nose. On Sunday, Ele went into London with her cousin, and Jess & Saff. I took Joe to my parents' house for lunch. He was very tired when we got there, which I put down to the fact that he'd only slept an hour earlier, when 2 hours is normal. He was so tired that I put him on the sofa for a nap. He woke up an hour or so later and had a biscuit and seemed Ok. Then I sat him on a chair in the dining room and gave him a bit of hot cross bun to eat. A minute later he dropped it, and then looked like he was going to fall off the chair. My dad and I both grabbed him, and could instantly see he wasn't right. He then started shaking and having convulsions. We thought he was choking so I passed him to my mum (who teaches First Aid) and she tried to get it up, but quickly realised he wasn't choking. He then collapsed onto the floor breathing funny and unable to focus on anything, his eyes rolling back. We rang 999 and the paramedics arrived very quickly, the 999 operator staying on the line with my dad, informing him of the location of the ambulance as it was on its way. They realised his temperature was high (40C) and gave him Calpol and oxygen and then we took him to hospital. My parents drove my car back to my house then came to the hospital as well (the hopsital is 5 minutes walk from my house). Joe had fallen asleep but woke up shortly after. They examined him, and said it was a Febrile Convulsion brought on by his high temperature. We took him home and twenty minutes or so later, Ele arrived, having been called by my mum whilst she was still in London.
The next day, his temperature was still up so we gave him Calpol all day. He wasn't eating or drinking either - a small amount of breakfast and nothing at all to drink. On Tuesday when he woke up he was screaming and nothing we could do would calm him down. He eventually fell asleep again, so we made a doctors appointment for 9:30. We had to take Jess off to her first day at high school so Chris popped over to watch Joe whilst we went. He woke up and screamed again for a while and then fell asleep again, then woke up and screamed again so we decided to take him straight to A&E. This pattern of waking up screaming (really flinging himself all over the place) until he fell asleep again continued all day. They diagnosed a viral infection in the throat and ears and sent him home with some throat spray and the advice to keep giving Calpol and to also give Nurofen. By the evening, he finally woke up and didn't immediately start screaming. He even had a little bit to eat and drink. For the next few days he still wasn't right - sleeping twice per day instead of once, not eating as much as usual, and just not being his usual happy self. Finally yesterday he seemed to be more back to normal. He ate his lunch, only had one nap and was smiling and playing a lot more. Hopefully he's almost back to normal now. To make it worse, Ele was also sick (possibly the same thing, we're not sure).
So our second week off was rubbish. As I mentioned, Jess started High School and is enjoying it. She walks with a friend to school every day, and comes home either by herself or with a friend. No more school run! At least, until Joe starts...
The first week off work was our holiday. Me, Ele, Jess & Joe were accompanied by Saffron (Ele's sister) and Anise, Saffron's (2.5yr old) daughter.
Saturday we loaded up the car and hit the open road. We made amazing progress round the M25 and M40, reaching the M6 in just under 2 hours, even with a quick toilet-stop for Anise. After that, though, we hit a major queue coming off the M54 to the A5, which was just the queue for the roundabout, and then several more also caused by roundabouts, and then one that was caused by cars wanting to turn right into a Costcutter shop, but being unable to because the carpark was full! We eventually got past all these and headed to Bala Lake to meet Jess, who had been staying with her actual dad for the past week. As he lives in Liverpool, it made sense to meet somewhere in North Wales rather than for him to bring her all the way back to London. We collected Jess and headed off to our cottage, which was fairly remote - about 8 miles from Caernarfon. We let ourselves in, unloaded the car and headed out to Caernarfon to goto the Tesco that I remembered there. We ran around buying food as it was about to shut, then decided that it was too late for cooking and headed to a McDonalds over the road before heading back to the cottage.
Sunday we spent in Caernarfon. We had a look around the castle, and did some crab-fishing, with absolutely no success at all. A nice, relaxing day.
Monday Jess & I climbed Snowdon. Ele dropped us off in Llanberis and we followed the Llanberis path up, on the basis that it's the easiest (wouldn't want Jess to struggle, ahem). We made it up in 3 hours, 15 minutes and even though it was a cloudy day, when we got to the top it cleared briefly so we had some great views. What was most bizarre was finding a building site at the top. They are rebuilding the train station at the top, so there were diggers and all sorts up there. Actually what was even more bizarre was the guy on the unicycle, hopping up the cairn that marks the summit. He then proceeded to ride off back down the mountain. No word of a lie. We wandered down again and stopped at the Halfway House cafe for a cup of tea and a bite to eat. The cafe wasn't there the last time we did it, and it's a very welcome addition. Ele & Saff took Joe & Anise to some farm-place whilst we were doing this, but I don't know much about that.
Tuesday we went to Llandudno, partly just to goto a cafe/restaurant place called Tiffany's that Ele and I fondly remembered from our honeymoon. It was still there and still served very nice food. We then caught the cable car up the Great Orme (Joe loved this bit), had a rubbish cup of tea in a rubbish cafe and came down again, again on the cable car. We decided to buy the kids some dinner in a restaurant as it was quite late and ended up eating there ourselves as well. It was Ok. I went out to buy a packed of cigarettes and walked for about 2 miles before I found a place that was a) open, and b) sold them. On the way back to car, turning right out of the restaurant instead of left, I passed 3 shops selling them in the space of 100 yards.
Wednesday was Jess's 11th birthday. Her actual dad wanted to take her out for the day, so we dropped her off to meet him at Penrhyn Castle, and then we went on to Greenwood Country Park, which was actually quite good. Plenty for the kids to do. Her dad then came to meet us there, and we all went to a nice-looking Chinese place we had driven past a couple of times near Bangor. It turned out to be very nice (and even had a nice Engrish-esque "Sliced Beef in O.K sauce" on the menu). Joe made a complete mess, but if the waitress will put rice on a plate in front of him, she should expect it to be redistributed around. There were ten of us - me, Ele, Jess, Joe, Saff, Anise, Steve (Jess's dad), Tessa (his wife), Amy and Neve (their kids/Jess's half-sisters) altogether. After dinner the kids had a run-around the nice big garden they had there, and then we went home.
Thursday we went to Rhyl to goto the Sun Center. This is a water-park with slides and things, and it was absolutely packed (and quite expensive). I didn't think much of it, even though it'd been my idea, but the kids had fun. Joe was so tired he fell asleep in Ele's arms as we walked back to the car. We then went off into the town to find some lunch. We found one place advertising itself as a restaurant, but in my opinion restaurants should not have red plastic chairs bolted to nasty white plastic tables as their main form of seating. We did find a nice place though and had a very nice lunch. We walked further down and came across a fun-fair. It looked like it was built in the thirties and not repainted since. I got pursuaded to go on a rollercoaster with a loop-the-loop in it and Jess went on another couple of things, but it was £2 each for a ride so a bit expensive really. Saffron amused herself by taking pictures of the dilapidated rides, finishing off with a picture of a woman in a neck-brace. Rhyl is generally not very nice - lots of boarded up buildings and so on. Avoid. Thursday was also supposed to be the day that Ele & Saff climbed Snowdon, but the weather forecast was not good - predicting rain - so they decided to postpone it and might come back in the spring for a long weekend to do it.
Friday we went to to Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch (Ok, I Googled the spelling) for lack of anything else to do that was cheap, fairly close, and easy to do. We shopped in the big shop there, ate lunch and came home to start packing.
Saturday we loaded the car and came home. Overall it was a good holiday. Relaxing and fun in equal measure. The kids behaved themselves and the cottage was very nice.
The next week, though, was The Week When Joe Was Ill. He'd picked up a bit of a cold that we put down to the swimming in Rhyl, and having nothing to dry his hair with properly. Nothing bad, just a bit of a runny nose. On Sunday, Ele went into London with her cousin, and Jess & Saff. I took Joe to my parents' house for lunch. He was very tired when we got there, which I put down to the fact that he'd only slept an hour earlier, when 2 hours is normal. He was so tired that I put him on the sofa for a nap. He woke up an hour or so later and had a biscuit and seemed Ok. Then I sat him on a chair in the dining room and gave him a bit of hot cross bun to eat. A minute later he dropped it, and then looked like he was going to fall off the chair. My dad and I both grabbed him, and could instantly see he wasn't right. He then started shaking and having convulsions. We thought he was choking so I passed him to my mum (who teaches First Aid) and she tried to get it up, but quickly realised he wasn't choking. He then collapsed onto the floor breathing funny and unable to focus on anything, his eyes rolling back. We rang 999 and the paramedics arrived very quickly, the 999 operator staying on the line with my dad, informing him of the location of the ambulance as it was on its way. They realised his temperature was high (40C) and gave him Calpol and oxygen and then we took him to hospital. My parents drove my car back to my house then came to the hospital as well (the hopsital is 5 minutes walk from my house). Joe had fallen asleep but woke up shortly after. They examined him, and said it was a Febrile Convulsion brought on by his high temperature. We took him home and twenty minutes or so later, Ele arrived, having been called by my mum whilst she was still in London.
The next day, his temperature was still up so we gave him Calpol all day. He wasn't eating or drinking either - a small amount of breakfast and nothing at all to drink. On Tuesday when he woke up he was screaming and nothing we could do would calm him down. He eventually fell asleep again, so we made a doctors appointment for 9:30. We had to take Jess off to her first day at high school so Chris popped over to watch Joe whilst we went. He woke up and screamed again for a while and then fell asleep again, then woke up and screamed again so we decided to take him straight to A&E. This pattern of waking up screaming (really flinging himself all over the place) until he fell asleep again continued all day. They diagnosed a viral infection in the throat and ears and sent him home with some throat spray and the advice to keep giving Calpol and to also give Nurofen. By the evening, he finally woke up and didn't immediately start screaming. He even had a little bit to eat and drink. For the next few days he still wasn't right - sleeping twice per day instead of once, not eating as much as usual, and just not being his usual happy self. Finally yesterday he seemed to be more back to normal. He ate his lunch, only had one nap and was smiling and playing a lot more. Hopefully he's almost back to normal now. To make it worse, Ele was also sick (possibly the same thing, we're not sure).
So our second week off was rubbish. As I mentioned, Jess started High School and is enjoying it. She walks with a friend to school every day, and comes home either by herself or with a friend. No more school run! At least, until Joe starts...
posted by Nej at
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