Half-term February 2023 – what we did!
Our half-term got off to a bit of a rocky start. Bertie had his pre-school injections on Friday, and, despite no tears at the doctors, he played on it all afternoon saying he was “too poorly” for swimming, or to get his own drink, or even to pick up the tv remote (dramatic much!). But he fell asleep early, and even had a little lie in until 8, which meant everyone woke up feeling happy, energetic, and ready for a week of adventures!
Saturday
We spent a slow morning round the house having showers, playing with toys, and having a bit of quiet time as a family. But by 11, Bertie fell asleep cuddling up on the sofa – this is so unlike him so I reckon his vaccinations had more of an effect than we’d realised! This gave me a chance to play the PlayStation game Brett had bought me for our anniversary back in November – and wow, time flies when you’re gaming! Before we knew it, it was 3 and we’d done nothing all day. We brainstormed for a little while before deciding it would be fun to take a spontaneous trip to Hornsea and have fish and chips along the seafront. By the time we got there, the tide was coming in, but we spent a lovely hour throwing stones, dancing on the sand, and climbing on the rocks. We then headed up to the infamous Sullivan’s and sat inside for some tea. The place was clean, the staff were attentive and friendly, and the food was great. Heading back out, the tide was right up and waves were crashing over the walls. Bertie was really anxious of this, so we spent lots of time talking about what was happening, but I don’t think the darkness and unpredictable water spray really helped! We had a slow wander back to the car and headed home. Despite not getting started until late, I feel like we had a lovely evening, and sometimes spontaneous activities are more enjoyable than the planned ones! Roll on tomorrow!
(Bertie’s handmade hoodie and trousers are from our wonderful friends Baby Arlo Studio [bought with brand rep discount] and his hat is from a lovely local lady who runs Beebees Boutique)
Sunday
An earlier start today – Bertie wanted to be up and out of bed to go downstairs and play superheroes! He also asked to check the weather because he wanted to go fairy hunting – good idea, kid, I know just the place! Don’t be fooled though, it took over an hour and a lot of cross words to get him actually dressed to go fairy hunting!
The hunt for the fairies got off to a great start – we deliberately parked near a house offering maps so Bertie was excited to have his own map to “follow” and tick off the houses we found fairies at. Not far into our walk, we came across a house offering fairy wands (as seen above!) which Bertie fell in love with – what a lovely gesture.
In the interests of full disclosure, Brett and I enjoyed looking for the fairies. Bertie… I’m not so sure. Every fairy house we found was met with the words “that fairy doesn’t make me happy” or “it’s not a real fairy though”. We asked so many times what he meant, but he couldn’t give us an answer. It was like going for a walk with Marvin the Paranoid Android! That said, every time we asked if he wanted to go home if he wasn’t having fun, we almost had a meltdown in the middle of the street as he “needed to find more fairies!”. Kids – you can’t win!
Anyway, 2 hours of fairy hunting later and (as a 32 week pregnant person with PGP!) I was beyond my limit and needed to head home. It was a fight to get Bertie in the car because he wanted to find every house with a fairy, but with some coaxing and the promise to come back, we managed to get him home where we then had a laid back and relaxing afternoon doing not a lot of anything!
A huge thank you to all those involved in the fairy trail – from organisers to households who made the effort to join in. It’s a lovely event and it was a joy to see the excitement on children’s faces as they discovered a whole range of fairies.
(Bertie wears hat from Beebees Boutique, cardigan from a market stall, trousers Maxomorra from Babipur)
Monday
Brett was back at work today and it was my first attempt at solo parenting whilst pregnant – not going to lie, it was a little bit of a struggle (teacher at the end of half-term tired plus 33 week pregnant tired with an overly energetic toddler is not the one!). We had a chilled morning at home – Bertie happily played with his toys whilst I got a couple of jobs ticked off the never-ending list. We then headed to granny’s house for the afternoon where Bertie had lots of fun playing with different toys and giving us all an interesting Christmas carol concert with his guitar!
A slow, lazy day today without many (if any!) photos. But a day that was needed to help me rest ahead of the remainder of the week!
Tuesday
Up and out today ready for a day at William’s Den. Driving there it was pretty foggy, but this isn’t unusual for country roads first thing in the morning. I’d spent the evening packing multiple changes of clothes, blankets, towels, and a packed lunch for us each, so I had a well-packed car and felt pretty prepared for a messy, but fun outdoorsy kinda day.
Unfortunately, the fog didn’t lift – it was cold, wet, and miserable outside and despite 7261519 layers, Bertie was cold and grumpy. Thankfully, the indoor area of William’s Den is wonderful, though it was very busy with like-minded people trying to keep warm.
Bertie didn’t mind too much, and had a great time playing spiderman, cooking, and Vikings with Granny while I chilled out at the side watching them have fun.
For £35 for the three of us, it did feel like an expensive day for what we got. But that was the fault of the weather and our inability to handle the cold, than the fault of the den itself. We’ve been previously in the summer, and it felt fantastic value for a full day of adventures indoors and out. I wholeheartedly recommend William’s Den for children of all ages. But it really is a weather dependent kind of day out.
Wednesday
Brett’s last day at work today before he’s off for the rest of the half-term – yay! We had our boiler service booked in between 8 and 12 so we were stuck in the house until he’d been. 2 o’clock he showed up! Ah well, at least we know everything is okay with our boiler for another year. Granny (my mum) came round to play with Bertie and keep him entertained! They had lots of fun playing Vikings, reading books, making tea in the play kitchen, and took a walk round to the shops to buy us all some lunch.
I cracked on with a few jobs round the house – 3 loads of washing, re-organised (and cleaned out!) two kitchen cupboards, and made a start on re-organising the messy bathroom shelves.
By the time Brett got home, Bertie was tired out, the living room was a (played in) mess, and we had a sneaky take-away for tea!
Thursday
Does anyone else struggle getting their child to leave the house? Because we certainly do! It was an hour-long battle today which meant we arrived at Middleton Hall with only 3 minutes to spare. Sadly, this meant we missed out on making a vixen mask, but in some ways I’m glad because hopefully this will have helped Bertie to learn he needs to listen more!
Anyway, this was a first taste of opera for all of us – something Brett and I have wanted to do for a long time! It was a 40 minute abridged and interactive version of Leoš Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen (the full version of which is on at Hull New Theatre on 31st March). Bertie was absolutely transfixed – he couldn’t take his eyes off the performers or musicians – and we couldn’t take our eyes off him! There were opportunities to dance along, clap along, one lucky child got up on stage! Bertie chose not to join in those bits, but he was happy to be watching.
After the show, we headed to Bertie’s Nana’s (Brett’s mum) so Bertie could have a play and she helped him to make a fox mask to make up for missing this pre-show. Once he was suitably tired out, we headed home for a relaxed family evening and in front of the TV before a busy day tomorrow!
Friday
Today was the day we’d all been counting down to – our chance to visit York’s Viking Festival! It was a bit of a rough start with Bertie refusing the get dressed so it was a stressful car journey to begin with while we all took some deep breaths and calmed down. Sadly, due to the wind the main tents areas where the kids gets to explore the weapons and trades was closed. As the event was advertised as being on all week we decided to go anyway (we didn’t have another day free to go really!) and hope for the best.
It was a huge disappointment. There hadn’t been anything advertised about the storytelling or weapon display being cancelled, so we managed to keep Bertie’s interest by counting down with him for this to happen. We got ourselves all settled down ready to watch and heard others around us waiting for the same. Then we spotted a small A4 poster saying it was all cancelled because of the wind. Everyone around us was as disappointed as us.
We brought Bertie round with the promise of some crafts – I’d seen a friend make a shield earlier in the week and Bertie was keen to make his own! Only for it to turn out they’d run out of the sword making stuff, and nearly ran out of glue for the broach making (which was the closest thing to looking like a shield!). I didn’t feel the people on the craft tables were very enthusiastic and they seemed to just sit around until we actively asked them what we needed to do. Bertie quickly lost interest and wanted to run off and sword fight with someone. He spotted the “mini beserkers” wooden swords and shields and wanted a photo with them. We explained that he wasn’t allowed to do the fighting with them (it was over 5’s only) but since it was otherwise deserted, we figured a photo opportunity can’t hurt. Only for a particularly grumpy “Viking” to come through and tell us off for touching the equipment – if there had been any signs or people around maybe we wouldn’t have. It seemed quite rude and unfair to expect a 3 year old to resist the temptation of wooden swords and shields – maybe they should consider better signage or putting things away!
Anyway, mini-rant over. We had a lovely lunch at Bella Italia and it was the same waiter as last time we went – he’s great with kids and took Bertie for a walk to the kitchen to show the chef his sword and axe. He makes a real difference to the vibe in the place and is often the highlight of our trips to York.
We then headed to the merchants market which was expensive to look around, but since we didn’t manage to see any other proper viking events, we sucked it up and paid £7 to enter. It was okay – we were there late on in the day, but the reenactors seemed more interested in chatting amongst themselves to pay any attention to potential customers. Bertie bought a new helmet and a small coin purse which he was really proud of and we then headed back to the bus and home.
A largely disappointing day – we knew the main events would be on the saturday, but as it was advertised as a week-long event I feel there really should have been more on every day.
Saturday
We had an intentional, enjoyable, slow start today. We had considered going back to the Viking festival (since we knew a lot of the other reenactor groups would be going today) but decided it would be trying to cram too much in and would likely result in overstimulation.
After a chilled morning, we headed into the city centre and had some special mummy and Bertie time at the Northern Ballet’s Ugly Duckling performance. Bertie loves watching the ballet on TV and this was his first chance to watch it on stage. He was absolutely transfixed from beginning to end and clapped at every moment he could. To my amazement he really understood the story and interpreted the characters emotions by the way they danced – a testament to the dancers skill, but also to his understanding of dance.
We then headed out for some tea, this was a little testy as Bertie wanted a ham wrap and we couldn’t think of anywhere to go! When we did think of somewhere it was fully booked – cue meltdown of the century because he didn’t understand why we had to leave without having eaten. We convinced him to go to Nando’s instead which (in the end) he enjoyed and ate really well.
Today was a tricky day, with lots of big emotions, but looking back we also had some really special family moments.
Sunday
A day of rest! A very needed, very deserved day of rest. We played all sorts of games from knights to Father Christmas! We had a lovely Sunday dinner (Bertie served it all up for us!) and a relaxing bath before heading to bed. It was the best Bertie went to sleep all holiday and we didn’t have the fights like we’d had all week – I think we successfully tired him out for once!
Summary
It’s been a lovely half term. Busy and tiring but lots of fun. I don’t feel like I really want to go back to work (although I do love my job really!) and am questioning my judgement at returning to work at 34 weeks pregnant. The countdown to baby is getting more and more exciting, but I’m really glad we got to make so many more memories as a family of 3 this half-term before baby fever takes over our lives!
I’d love to hear how you shared your half-term. Did you go to any of the same events? Did you enjoy them as much as we did?
