Adventure Togs ….. and all that

We are barely into the school holidays and I feel my purse is continually churning out the pounds. Within the last week we have eaten out (ashamedly) too many times, have been on a chocolate factory tour, bought a new bookcase for boy 2's bedroom and (last but not least) I have been on a hen weekend!

Our first eating out escapade of the week was combined with a family bike ride to Glyncorrwg Ponds at the Skyline Cafe. If you have never been there, go! It's full of serious bikers with very serious bikes, eating home cooked food covered in mud (the bikers, not the food!). My boys are getting more and more into mountain biking and want to start riding the trails in Afan Forest Park. Until now, we have stuck to the tarmac route through the valley and even last week we had an accident – boy 1 came off my husband's (rather fast) old Kona. "I forgot how fast those tyres were" DH laughed, as I dabbed the cuts and boy 1 fought back the tears.

The Chocolate Factory in Swansea was great. We took a friend with boy 2 and learned all about the growing of coco and how chocolate is made. And the samples ….. mmmm! We had lots of yummy treats and also bought some take home goodies in the factory shop (you just have to).

The bookcase is another story. Somehow, we managed to squeeze it into the car, ripping up the box as we went. I've seen others do this kind of thing at Ikea…squeezing a double mattress into a Mini and such like. And Friday was our turn. The bookcase will be errected this evening and we have a team of volunteers at the ready – the beauty of having boys!

And the hen weekend…well that was fab! My mother (yes my mother) and I shared a sumptuous room at the Hotel Du Vin in Cheltenham, ate and drank, danced til late and laughed a lot. My cousin Amy will be getting married later this month and I am sure she will look amazing.

Now its Monday morning, the rain is back (which means Adventure Togs will be busy) and another week of school holidays begins….