The long unsuitable day

It was well before 6am when Toddler decided she was wide awake, not long after Baby did the same so we were pleased to have gone to sleep early last night. The problem with wearing them out so much during the day is that they then wake up rested and full of beans.

This morning Baby had an anti-bib protest, he was informed there was a no bib no breakfast rule in operation. After talks he still refused to change his stance and so was removed of his pyjama top and offered toast, which he just poked with his finger. Half a banana later he was out of the chair and running around like a nutter again. Not long after Toddler was in tow and madness ensued. As expected it was not long until the early start hit us all and tiredness kicked in and the tempers were starting to fray. SO Wife took the little ones to the on-site play park whilst I showered and attempted to wake.

One of the reasons we booked our holiday destination was because it had an on-site play park which has not got anywhere near our expectation. The baby swings have been taken away and everything is about a foot higher off the ground than is should be (this is even marked on the frames of the equipment). Basically they need to add a load of more wood chippings to cover the gap but clearly can not be bothered to. This is displayed most on the other swings where I at 6ftish could only just get on them.

So all visits to this park require complete hand holding by an adult, it is a real let down to add to the list. Thankfully though whilst we have been here the weather has been kind and the days out have been excellent and so we have not had much need for the park. As for the days out today was Daddy's choice. I few months ago I read an article in a photography magazine about an exhibition at Dimbola Lodge on the island that looked interesting. To make things even better it was just round the corner froma beach where you can see dinosaur footprints given a low tide.

Due to our early start we ended up out and about early and in time for low tide. Baby was asleep in the car so Wife car sat whilst Toddlewr and I hit the bay on a dinosaur hunt. It was very windy but we stuck to it but soon realised that we were not going to find anything. In Toddlers words " I think the dinosaurs were here yesterday but their footprints have been washed away today by the sea".

So we aborted our hunt and followed a sign for coffee. It has been a real stuggle to find good coffee on the island but today we did at a hotel on a cliff top complete with brilliant play park. So now we have found a decent coffee all I was now looking for was somewhere that was not so protective of their sauces as that is now doing my head in a bit.

Once reunited with the car dwellers we headed to my exhibition, which turned out to be rather nice and interesting, but probably not a lot of fun for the little ones who unsurprisingly did not want to wait around whilst Mummy and Daddy read things, all they wanted was biscuits. Even dressing up in Victorian outfits was not really enough.

We had a decent lunch there though (with actual different options for veggies) surrounded by every type of camera you could possibly imagine. Due to both chosen destinations not living up to expectation we were now left with a fair amount of time to spare. SWO after we dragged Toddler away from stroking Jimi Hendrix's bottom (a statue) I suggested we go to the Needles and Alum Bay. Wife thought this was a bad idea as had heard how awful it was but I was confident the little ones would like it.

Next time we will listen to Wife as the whole place was dreadful. Thankfully we did not pay to go down in the chair lift and chose the steps instead (neither of us fancied going in one with a little one) as the the sea at the bottom was rough with stones and no sign of coloured sand, and everyone was simply staying on the lift and heading back up top. Half way along the walk down we stopped to pick and eat some blackberries which were just as tastless as everything else at the Needles Park.

Soon we were on our way home with two little sleepers in the back making up for their early start to the day. We knew this meant we would have another bad bedtime ahead of us, and we did!