Twinlakes Take Two

With Catherine's tenth birthday now a few days away the plan was to have a special day out with all the girls. Using the free tickets Emily managed to get to Twinlakes, it was easy to keep the cost down and have a special treat. So that is just what we did and boy was it fun. 

The morning begun slowly with everyone having bit of a lie in, but then there was nothing to get up for in a rush like on a weekday. We couldn't really start the day until after 10 o'clock when we had got Lucy from her mummies. Picking Lucy up seemed rushed today. I still feel it is a shame it has to be like this when it could be so much different. After I got Lucy we popped to the supermarket to buy supplies for our day out, mainly drinks and food, which included ice lollies that Lucy insisted upon. As we were driving home Lucy spotted her sister Mary going towards Tesco's and waved and shouted but I don't think Mary saw us. It was nice yesterday when I got the chance to talk to Mary for a while, I always want to tell Mary she is welcome to come and play, but something stops me. I know she is always welcome here.

When we got home the order of the day was making up the picnic and trying to cool down the drinks as quickly as possible so we had something cold to drink. The weather was set to be hot and sunny for the whole day. Thankfully, as it turned out, there was the occasional cool breeze. Without the day would have been a real roaster. 

Once everything was done and I had drunk my coffee, which the girls always joke about, we set off in the car for Twinlakes listening to music as we went on our way. 

On our arrival there was a massive cheer from Lucy. She must have remembered the place from the last time she went there. Quickly we unpacked the pushchair and loaded it up with Lucy, food and drink. Other than getting Lucy to the entrance, the only use the pushchair served was to carry things around as she didn't want to use it all day. I'm not sure how tall Lucy is, but she can go on a lot of the rides now, but by wheeling her in, nobody seems to question her size so she gets in for free. Rather handy when your working to a tight budget. 

We decided to get eating out of the way quickly so they could all get on with having fun, rather than having to start and stop. So it was off into the shade and out with most of the food and some of the drinks. Lucy seemed too excited to eat and wanted the fun to start straight away and hardly ate anything. I had planned for this and there was snack food for her for later.

We first headed off to the Excalibur Adventure area, there is a soft play area for Lucy and the Spinning Tea cups for Emily and Catherine. Lucy knew exactly what she wanted to do when she saw which part of the park we were in and soon found the curvy slide. She took her shoes off and quickly climbed the stairs to be sliding down seconds later, which was followed by a big splash into the ball pool. She did this again and again and again. At one point she was joined by Catherine before she headed off back out into the sun. After we finished in the soft play area it was out to the swings and the slides with all three girls for a bit. One of the few times they were together all day. After that Lucy and myself headed up to the top of the big castle with me carrying two mats. Last time I went down the slides with Lucy, this time I was going to let her go down on her own. When we got to the top of the slide I put the mat down and showed her how to get into it and what to hold. Then she shuffled forward and off she went down the slide. She was so proud of herself and her little face beamed. The last thing we did was to go on the horses and she queued so well for someone so young and really enjoyed the ride.

With the weather being so hot we all decided to visit the farm, then headed inside for a bit away from the burning sun. When we arrived at the shed where the animals are kept Lucy instantly grabbed her nose and said they smell. It really was a funny sight and she didn't let go of her nose until she came out of the shed. Despite the smell she loves the animals which is clear from all the visits we have to make to the farm to see the piggies. She especially likes the small animals as do all the girls. 

Once we had finished at the farm we headed to the barn containing the Trauma Tower ride. Emily and Catherine love the Trauma Tower while Lucy loves the slides, so while they went off to be thrown up and down Lucy and myself went off with two mats to play on the slides. After successfully doing the first slide on her own we worked our way up to doing the big slide that goes from the roof to the ground by doing several runs of the smaller blue slide. It didn't take her long to become very confident and so we were soon at the top of the big slide and shooting down together. After we had finished with the big slide we took a rest from sliding and Lucy spotted the swing carousel. She watched the other children for a little while and then I asked her if she wanted a go and she said yes with a big smile. So we joined the queue and she was soon sitting on the carousel and flying through the air with a big grin. Eventually Emily and Catherine found us both and took Lucy off me to play on the blue slide again. It was great to see them all coming down together. Eventually Emily went off exploring with Lucy, while Catherine took some time out for a drink before going off to find them again. It took Catherine ages to find them both. They were so high up in the maze of passages and twists and turns. Before leaving for some more fun outside Emily had a few more turns on the Trauma Tower while Catherine went on the swing carousel with Lucy.

On heading outside Emily and Catherine made a beeline for the big swinging boat, while myself and Lucy headed off for the caterpillar roller coaster. We sat right at the front when we got on the coaster, it was great fun. Although it is not very fast it is just right for smaller children and Lucy loved it. We went on several times between Lucy playing in the sand pit and making new friends as she always does wherever we go. She can charm just about anyone with her cheeky little ways and her big soulful blue eyes. At one point she had a older boy helping her climb up and down things she couldn't quite do herself. Every so often Lucy would spot Emily and Catherine on the swinging boat and start to shout their names and wave at them. I'm not sure how many rides they had on the boat but they were on there for an age. It was really hard to get them off when it was time to move on.

From the swinging boat area Emily and Catherine headed for the buffalo coaster while I headed for the bouncy cars with Lucy. Lucy loves the bouncy cars but I'm not so sure what I think about it other than I always end up thinking I wish I hadn't drank so much fizzy coke, but she loves it so on I go. We all met up again at the boating lakes. With a quick check for height it was on with the life jacket and into the boat for little Lucy and me. We were shortly followed on the water by Emily and Catherine in another bumper boat. Soon we were chasing each other around and bumping into each other. It was rather fun once you got the hang of controlling the boats and theie electric outboard motors. Next time we go I'm going have to go on the bumper boats again. They are just great fun. Soon it was time for the last ride of the day. Emily ran off to the buffalo coster and Catherine off to the big raft slide. Lucy and I decided to watch Catherine as she got a push down the slide from a park warden which sent her on her way.

After all the rides were closed we made our way to the exit, stopping off at the assault course and the arial runways. The girls had a lovely time at Twinlakes and to make it easy for dinner we all had hot dogs for dinner as a special kiddy treat. It just rounded of the day nicely. It is lovely to have them altogether and having fun. 

I know this will never happen, but ages ago I had invited Mary to come to Twinlakes before we went in May. I never did get a reply but I didn't expect one. Maybe they will meet again one day and have fun again. I hope so for them. 

Good Fortune

We were out shopping and Emily got talking to someone in the supermarket that she spotted in a Twinlakes uniform. She waved us on to pay when I said it was time to leave nd carried on talking. Just as we were ready to leave she came running up with two free tickets for Twinlakes. Guess where we are going soon!

Twinlakes

It was one of the finest Saturdays weather wise we have had for ages, at last it seemed the cold had been replaced by the warmth of the spring sunshine. This made it an ideal day to get out and have some fun especially since it was my weekend to have all the girls together.

The morning was spent relaxing and just getting ready to go out. Instead of lunch we went for the earlier brunch and filled ourselves up with a nice warm lunch to stop those little tummies rumbling while we were having fun. After all when your out having fun you don't want to stop just to eat when there is lots to do and there is certainly lots to do at Twinlakes. 

For those that don't know what Twinlakes is let me take a moment to tell you. Twinlake once was a farm on the edge of Melton Mowbray that has been converted in to a adventure park for children in the age range of 2 to 14 which makes it ideal for a day with an active family of little ones as well as bigger ones. They all have something to do. There is everything from roller coasters, pirate ships, boats on lakes and mini parks for them all to play in and better still you can even go there when it rains as some of the things to do are housed in large barns. 

We set off the park just after we finished eating giving us about 5 hours to enjoy the sun before the park closed which was more enough time to wear them all out for bed later in the evening. With the usual singing and car seat dancing we made our way off to Twinlakes listening to the music picked by Lucy and played over and over again until we could take no more and picked something else to play on the car CD player. You could feel the excitement grow in the car from the children as we got closer and closer.

We arrived and everyone rushed out of the car and made there way to the entrance. We paid, thankfully for only the big two as Lucy was just under the height limit, and set of to find the soft play area for Lucy and some bigger things for her big sisters to do. Emily quickly found the rope slide and Catherine joined in sliding down it while I played with Lucy. Lucy, bless her, wanted to join in with their big girl games but she was just to little. She did manage to get me to go on the wild west horse ride again and again and again. Soon Emily and Catherine joined us and we were all waving madly at each other as we went round and round the track. 

Catherine took Lucy off to the big castle and they made there way to the top. They were having so much fun that I didn't see them for ages and I thought I had lost them. With two sacks for the big slide in my hand I went off in search of them. I walked all around the castle and still didn't find them until I reached the top of the slide when I saw them down at near the bottom. There was only one thing to do... slide down the slide. It was the quickest way down. 

Next we all headed of to the farm area to see the animals. Lucy loved it. All those little soft and cuddly animals and their little babies to look at and be amazed by. It was lovely to se her little face light up as we moved from one part of the farm to the other. She was really funny with the big animals holding her nose and saying how they smelled of poo. She made us all laugh as usual with her little ways. It is a lovely age of discovery. 

Emily was keen to get off to one of the barns for some climb and sliding fun. The barn closest to the farm has a massive climbing and sliding area. These barns are really high and the biggest slide is really high up. Of course Lucy didn't want to be left out. After a quick height check she went in with me and we got a mat and made our way to the top of the biggest slide with me helping up some of the harder things to climb. Once there we got on our mat and she sat in the front and me behind her and we set off down the biggest slide. She loved it so much we had to do it again and again before we stopped for some chips and a drink before we found a even better slide. It wasn't as big as the main slide but it was faster and a lot more fun. It was great to see her and the rest of them having having so much fun. I could have spent all day going down that slide with Lucy. We had so much fun together.

Next we headed for the next big barn for the falling chair ride. It is Emily's favorite ride in the whole of Twinlakes. I'm sure if I would let her she would have spent all day on the ride going up and down. She just loves it since she first went on the ride last year when all the girls were together. Lucy and myself headed off for the bouncy castle and the soft play area for some fun. There wasn't so much we could do in this barn compared with the other barn. All the same we managed to find enough to do to keep us going until we could extract Emily and Catherine off the falling chair ride. 

Next we went back outside and to the bigger outside rides. Emily headed of for the rocking ship and Catherine went off to watch. Lucy and myself spotted the caterpillar roller coaster and set off to see if Lucy was big enough to ride with me. Thankfully she just made the height limit and on we got and off we went again and again. She loved it. I was so glad she could go on some of the the rides and didn't miss out. Although the final ride I went on with her, the bouncy cars, wasn't my ride of choice. I can do that in real cars. While I was on the smaller coaster with Lucy, Emily and Catherine tried to go on as many of the big rides as they could time and time again.

The 5 hours past really quickly and with tired but happy children we returned home for tea. They had a lovely time and we must go again soon next time we have some spare pennies.