So, after my phenomenal confession last week, I went on holiday 😁
We go to Stanwix every year, it’s comforting to know that we’re going somewhere that’s safe and we can give the girls, especially A (who has an ASD diagnosis) a bit more freedom than we can usually give her. The site is a bit of a contradiction, it’s quiet but busy, friendly but not intrusive and most importantly for A, it has a lovely routine.
This isn’t deliberate on the part of the site, but it is important because we can plan our days well and she always knows what’s coming up. It’s VERY dog-friendly , which means that our boy is always safe and looked out for.
One year, we completely forgot that he was liable to wander and left the door of the caravan open, we soon got a call from reception letting us know where he was 😁
So many great things happened it’s hard to pick out the highlights! It’s not your regular holiday park where you see different faces every year, so it’s more like visiting old friends after a few times.
But it means that we can look forward to seeing the excellent quality entertainment too! Despite going for quite literally years, there’s always something brilliant to see.
The first thing A asks about is when the “Animals are on”. By this she means Brads Animal Encounters, and it’s definitely not to be missed. He looks after the most amazing array of animals, from ferrets to snakes and everything in between. The show is fantastically interactive and there’s a good deal of education, which thankfully puts off the kids from ‘wanting that one’!
One show we never miss is Liam Moorhouses magic show. This guy is a proper jack-of-all-trades when it comes to entertainment, and this year it was the magic show. A is STILL talking about this, but I’m going to take it from the top.
Obviously, the key to a good kids magic show is audience participation, and the first little boy that got up was giving nothing away, bless him, he was obviously starstruck and struggled to engage. Now, as soon as Liam said he was going to pick a girl, I knew what was coming…
Yup, there’s A standing on the stage, chatting away as if she’s known him all her life. Which, in a way, she has…
The problems started when he gave her the balloon gun… the idea was it was a laser and she could make balloons pop by firing at them, (which she did – and no, I won’t be revealing how it was done 😉).
So, A now has a gun. She’s interacting with him beautifully and he keeps her on stage for his next trick, an lovely story about how his grandad introduced him to magic on the Isle of Man, and ends with loads of packets of Haribo.
Of course he gives some of these to A and then in true magician style, takes them and the balloon gun back. And then gives her back the gun… Yes, my daughter is holding a magician to ransom with a balloon gun 🤦♀️
Honestly, I was bad laughing, I really was. But Liam was absolutely amazing with her. It genuinely made her holiday, for a little while she didn’t feel different, and that’s so important to her. She was the centre of attention, but for a good reason, and Liam stepped up to mark and made it a very memorable show.
We were only there four nights (thanks, cost of living crisis!). But we lived those nights, and days, to the max. We were lucky, we wanted for nothing, the weather was amazing, we went swimming twice and even just being around the beautiful town of Silloth, meant hat I was way more active than I would usually be.
I have a confession- despite best intentions, I didn’t take my Orlistat for the whole week, in fact I’ve only started taking it today (Sunday). But you can imagine my delight when I stepped on the scales and discovered I’d only gained 0.5kg (1lb in old money). I’m not going to detail what I ate last week, but it was a lot, and it was equalled with the amount of alcohol I consumed 😂.
The only blight off the entire week was the clutch going on the way home. Thankfully we were only a mile or so from home, and we managed to coast home and get it recovered to a garage quickly.
So, tonight I’m celebrating the Bank Holiday with some quality drinks and an Indian takeaway. I’ve taken my Orlistat all day and I’m going to start keeping my Nutracheck diary tomorrow. There’s definitely going to be side effects, but I’m going to take them on the chin, and deal with it as it comes.
I’ll let you know next week how I get on. I’m also working on some in-fill posts about more important weeks that I haven’t covered yet, so keep an eye out for them :).
In the meantime, if you enjoy my work, please consider buying me a coffee, I’d be most grateful and after the last few years, it might just motivate me to start growing my crafts again 🙂 Thank you so much xxx
Lentil weaving for beginners 