Hopkins the Bonk Legged

Flashbacks of Newquay

One day my beloved partner said to me:

“How about a Sun holiday?”

My blood ran cold!

Unwanted memories of our last Sun Holiday in Newquay came creeping back like a bad kebab. I remember looking out of my freezing caravan window at the rain lashed beach Newquay Beach before closing the curtains, dramatically sighing/weeping and returning to bed fully clothed (including coat with hood up)  to cuddle up to my family who were all dressed (including coat with hood up) to share body heat so we could survive the night.

Team Hopkins are Mobilised

We were allocated to go to Dawlish in Devon, we had been there before. My tension eased, it wasn’t to last. It was decided that for our four day break in Dawlish the team slogan would be ” be prepared”. Unfortunately this was taken to the point whereby everything we owned was  crammed into the car, we had to decide on either leaving a child or a George Foreman grill behind. George Foreman grills are better behaved and don’t have tantrums, but alas, I was overruled.

The journey down went without any stress, which was due Tommy sleeping all the way. Alison’s fear of being in the car generally has subsided over the years, now she only thinks that every fourth lorry will hit us on the motorway.

We got ther the site was lovely, the sun was out, the caravan was 30ft from the clubhouse all was well with the world.

The Dancing Hopkins

The kids loved the Loopy Club,  Tommy and Josie danced their little bums off. The clubhouse wasn’t too bad, not like Newquay where it was like backstage at Jeremy Kyle. Josie became obsessed with the bingo and Tom was normally danced out by 8:30. I could go back to the caravan with him sleeping and enjoy a glass of wine in peace, while Josie and Alison watched the campiest entertainment since Millets had an open day.

Tommy’s Birthday

It was Tom’s birthday on the second day his little face lighted up to see his Scalextric, though one of the cars continually took the corner like Ayrton Senna at the slightest touch. (I took it back on the way home).

We took him to the beach, go karting and playing football and we ended up back at the Loopy Club (for a change) Thomas said “no” when the girl on stage asked him if he had “plenty of presents”  which I would of expected from him to be honest. Though he didnt look to happy when they sung Happy Birthday Thomas.

Paignton Zoo

As the weather changed to dampness we went to Paignton Zoo. I believe this is the best Zoo in the land, better than the overgrown Garden Centre that is Bristol Zoo. Tommy, performed, refusing to walk, he even said when I asked him to see the animals

“LIONS ARE RUBBISH, TIGERS ARE RUBBISH AND BEARS ARE RUBBISH, I WANT TO SEE ONE GIRAFFE AND GO TO THE PLAY AREA – NOW!!”

(There were no bears there).

After getting back the kids went on up to the Loopy Club (can you see a pattern forming here), while I searched for TWO HOURS for the caravan keys. When I phoned Alison, Tommy overheard that I was looking for the caravan keys and he said “Mam, I hidden the caravan keys”. I frogmarched him back to the caravan, after interrogation and bribery he shown me the keys hidden in his pillowcase. Bless Him.

Team Hopkins – Holiday Task Completed.

Things are always better when you don’t look forward to it, I was really pleasantly surprised.

After being out of the house twelve hours a day with work recently finishing a long season of rugby I always felt guilty for not spending enough time with the family. This holiday recharged my batteries and made me realise what is important. They wont be kids for much longer.

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 11th, 2009 at 9:52 am and is filed under Days Out, Tommyisms and Josieisms. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.