Saturday 24th June 2017
P is 4 years, 3 1/2 months old
R is 3 years, 3 months old
We are just back from our first foreign holiday as a family of 4. We were in Portugal for 2 weeks and we had a brilliant time. P and R loved the freedom of being able to play outside in the sunshine all day every day. DH and I loved being able to spend every day with them with no work to go to and none of the other usual pressures of life.
We spent many happy days playing at the kids pool in our complex and also went to the local beach a couple of times where R was obsessed with collecting as many shells and stones as possible and P loved just standing on the beach watching the sea, holding either my or DHs hand waiting for the waves to come up to her feet.
We went to a big water park called "Slide and Splash" two different days. The first day P wouldn't go on any of the slides at all and it took R a little while to get going but when he did there was no stopping him and he had a brilliant time. The second day we went both P and R got straight onto as many slides as possible getting more adventurous and brave with each one

I remember at one stage watching both of them sliding down a water slide together whopping with excitement and I thought to myself how incredibly lucky I am to have two beautiful, healthy, happy children

We also went to a brilliant theme park called ZooMarine two different days. P and R loved the different shows. There was a dolphin show, a pirate acrobatic show and a seal-lion show. They also loved the 4d cinema, the big ferris wheel, the carasouel and the little train but their favourite amusement was the roller coaster so we must have all gone on that at least 10 times
The first day we went to ZooMarine P really loved watching the dolphins in the dolphin show and she was saying she wants to be a dolphin trainer when she grows up

During the dolphin show they had a little boat that two little kids got into and one of the dolphins pulled the boat around the huge tank with his nose (all very tastefully done without any harm to the dolphins

) Afterwards I was talking to the receptionist at our hotel about it and she told me that if I asked at the office at the entrance to ZooMarine I might be lucky enough to get our kids onto the boat and to interact with the dolphins so the second day we were there I asked about it and very luckily there was one space available and I was able to put Ps name down for it! So when the time for the show came she was put in a life jacket and in front of at least 1,000 spectators she very bravely and excitedly rode around in a little boat pulled by a dolphin and then got to touch and kiss the dolphin. It was a magical moment and we were able to get professional photos to take home

I was very very proud of how well behaved and brave P was in front of so many people cheering
Another great simple memory I will treasure from this holiday is of R gathering every stone, leaf, flower and snail shell he could find from the gardens surrounding the restaurant we had our dinner in every evening and of him falling into bushes etc and getting straight back up and saying "my ok mammy"

Now we are home we are getting stuck into toilet training R in earnest. I have tried to train him a few times already and failed miserably and left it be but this time I am going to stick with it no matter how many poopey pants I have to change. He is starting preschool on 31st August and he has to be fully trained by then
