A few weeks ago, we got all packed and ready for our first family holiday to Bluestone, Wales. I was so excited to take Aria this year.. last year I was 5 weeks pregnant but we had no idea! I was also excited to use my new suitcase (I'm getting old!) from House of Fraser's suitcases & luggage range.
It's a hard shell suitcase by Dickins and Jones and I love the colour and pattern! It's also huuuuge! It held mine and Aria's close and shoes and accessories as well as her nappies and wipes.
We set off on Monday morning and after a slightly stressful 5 hour journey, we got there and found our lodge. We had another upside down lodge so Sienna was happy as she loved that last year! I love lodges, they are spacious yet homely and have everything you could need including a travel cot, highchair and picnic bench outside.
One of the things that slightly put us off last year was the sheer amount of walking we did.. our lodge was quite far away and so we had to walk a lot to get anywhere. This year with 2 kids in tow, we decided to hire a buggy for the week. It's only £80 mon-fri which we didn't think was too bad.
It definitely made our experience a lot more relaxing so I'd highly recommend hiring one if you can afford it! Sienna probably loved having the buggy the most over any other part of the holiday and it was more relaxing for us than walking miles every day.
Last year, we spent most of our time at the adventure centre in the soft play but this year with Sienna being that year older, we decided to book her some activities as we thought she'd enjoy them more. We booked a couple for each day and they were definitely worth it. They kept Sienna occupied all week and we could join in too. They aren't too expensive either.. around £5-£7 for most activities.
Sienna did nature art (which turned into glitter art) and we also saw a show one evening with Lola the ladybird. Aria seemed to love this as well, she sat on Warren's lap for the whole 45 minutes just watching the stage and lights and listening to the music! We should have gone every night haha!
We also did the stream life again this year which Sienna loves. There weren't as many baby frogs this year but we found lots of pond skaters. This was a fun activity for all of us, even Aria loved being in her pushchair watching all the boys and girls fishing.
My favourite thing was the panning for gold and Sienna enjoyed it too. It was nice for me to be able to do some of the activities with her while Aria was happy walking around with Warren. She got this necklace to keep that they made from the gold they found, it was so good and fun for her! A nice little keepsake too.
Another one we all loved was the beast hunt.. We walked around the nature trail looking for all different insects to put in Sienna's pot. We found a centipedes, woodlouse, spiders, beetles, ants, worms.. so many insects, Sienna loved it. I had Aria in the wrap and she was happy looking around so it was a nice family activity.
As well as activities for Sienna, they offer a few for babies too which is lovely! Aria and I had a baby massage class and we did baby sensory too! She loved both and it was nice for me to learn the massage routine and get to play with her. She also loved the other babies there too.
There was always time for a little nap after too ;)
In between activities we spent some time just chilling out at the lodge or in the village. We took our picnic rug, plates and cutlery from Home Bargains which was so handy to us eon the grass outside. They're great quality and colours actually for the affordable prices so it's good to stock up for Summer! I love Home bargains!
I spent most of my time at the new Coffee shop they have their. It was so cute and did really good coffee and ice cream ;)
The ice cream was Sienna favourite of course.. they had such yummy flavours such as peanut butter, coffee crunch, salted caramel, bubblegum, key lime pie.. we tried pretty much all over throughout the week! Salted caramel and coffee crunch were my favourite.
We had such a lovely week once again and would highly, highly recommend it! It's great for all ages of the family from babies to adults and had everything you need on site and in the lodges. We couldn't recommend it enough if you want a holiday perfect for all the family.
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