Our Mid-Term Break in Sligo

Last week was Matthew’s first ever midterm break from school. He was actually really looking forward to it. Even though it was only two days, everyone had a lovely break. So much so that yesterday, when Chloe went back to creche, she was full of chats to her minder. She is never anything like that in the morning. She is normally clingy and doesn’t leave daddy’s or mammy’s side. I guess it does her good not to attend creche all the time.

We actually got really lucky with the accommodation. Because it was midterm break, all hotels were occupied. Some of them were a bit too expensive for our liking as well. I emailed one of the hotels to see if they had any cancellation and luckily they did. So we stayed in the Clayton hotel. I have to say it is probably one of the nicest hotels I have stayed in as a family, if not even the nicest hotel. The family rooms are so spacious. You can literally run around. We had a king size bed and two single beds. Massive room.

We arrived at grandparents house around lunch time. Their granny was so kind and made them a lovely meal. Matthew ate it all. It’s funny because whenever we are over for a visit he destroys the food. Matthew had a bit of playtime in the living room and then watched some TV while me and Chloe sat in the kitchen and had a bit of a chat. This included some tea and biscuits.

Later on we left to check into our hotel. The kids settled in and I decided to drive into town to buy us a large pizza shared between us as a treat. I also went to Tesco to buy some chocolate and sweets. As we were on a mini break, the kids were allowed to stay up a bit later but not too late because Matthew was up quite early that morning for whatever reason.

The next morning we went down to have some breakfast. Hubby’s dad joined us and the kids were excited. Thankfully the weather decent enough and the sun was actually shining for once. This meant we could go out for a walk. We went to Hazelwood. The kids always liked going for walks there when we lived in Sligo. Plus this is where hubby and me had our first date. Granddad joined us for the walk. I brought the kids wellies so they could jump around anywhere they wanted.

Shortly after that we went back to grandparents house to have a cup of tea. After that we were off to the office. This is where I used to work. They have moved since though. The kids had a look in every room including the games room and had a game of table tennis. Matthew then walked into someone’s office (no one was in there) and practiced his letters on the whiteboard. I said hello to everyone and chatted with a few people.

It was time to go back to grandparents house for a bit of lunch. Soup was on the menu which was delicious. The second day it was raining quite a good bit but after lunch we braved down. We walked around a few shops and called into O’Heirs for a little treat. The kids had a cupcake each. We had offered grandparents to take them out for dinner but they wanted to cook us a bit of dinner. So everyone enjoyed their chicken curry. Matthew ate it all so it must have been really good. There was even dessert which was custard with apple in it. It was getting a late and we drove back to the hotel to get the kids ready for bed. Once the kids were asleep, hubby went off to meet a friend and I went to sleep.

The next morning it was time for our last yummy hotel breakfast. For whatever reason Matthew absolutely loves staying in hotels and having the breakfast there. He must be telling me something but not say it. The breakfast never failed us each morning. After breakfast, we walked up to our room, pack our bags and check out. The weather picked up again and the sun came out.

This time we drove down to the beach in Strandhill. I used to go here quite a good bit. Mainly for a bite to eat in Shell’s cafe but it’s always very busy in there so we stayed away from it with the kids this time. First we walked down to the beach. It has gotten a bit rockier and sometimes I was struggling to walk over the rocks, particularly with Chloe on me. She was refusing to walk on the beach due to the rocks.

We came back up and decided to walk the other way along the beach which is a lot easier. Daddy and Chloe stayed on the path while me and Matthew went up into the dunes. Matthew called it our little adventure.

The kids then wanted to go the playground. It’s a simple walk over the camping site. The bigger playground was quite mucky but my two are two big for it anyways, so we walked over to the protected one. In between we met one of our work colleagues. What are the chances. We spent about half an hour or so in the playground before we walked back to the sea front to have lunch in the Strand Bar. One of my favourite places to have lunch.

Being at the sea front, we couldn’t leave without having ice cream. Once we paid for our lunch, we walked over to Mammy Johnston’s to have some delicious ice cream. If you are ever down in Strandhill, you definitely have to call in here. They do the normal flavoured ice cream but they do some serious other ones such as Reece, Kinder Bueno, Oreo and many many more. I went for my usual one which was Blue Surf. I just love my blue ice cream. I know.. such a child. The kids also had blue ice cream but their one was bubble gum flavour.

A great end to our mid term break. It was time to drive home and get back into the normal routine. I very much like to do this more often during the year when Matthew has a small break from school instead of sending him to creche full time. It makes such a difference to him.

Did you have a nice midterm break?