We have never really done a beach holiday with our daughters, well apart from some quick trips to Tenerife and Spain with our eldest. However on these occasions she has either been freaked out by sand or the waves. Since this our kids have shown increasing interest in the beach and we thought a beach holiday where they can spend the days jumping the waves, building sandcastles and relaxing in the cabana with us would be great. So for summer 2014, we booked a holiday full of experiences and finish it with a relaxing break at the beach.
So this year we flew to New York, we stayed at St Giles Court Hotel which was located on the corner of Lexington and 39th Avenue. It may not tell you a lot but for us it was amazing. It was bang in New York with most in walking distance or just a block to the nearest Subway station. Across the road was Pip Gluten Free bakery, and just a 1 minute walk down Lexington was a Diner that had a good selection of gluten free food and not to forget a Deli across the road which a large selection of lovely food. The big bonus was the view of Empire State from our hotel room. I can highly recommend this hotel. While in New York our eldest attended International Gymnastics Camp in Pennsylvania and joined us at the end of our stay before we all flew to Tampa where we spent the following 10 days at Tradewinds Island Resort. Ten relaxing days at the beach, chilling in the cabana and watch our kids build sand castles, pick shells and jump in the waves. The reality however was that my kids loved the beach for a total of 3 days… then they were fed up. They thought it was boring, they didn’t enjoy it much at all.
So our days at the resort was spent at the pools, the overcrowded pools. Here they lived in the water and loved to swim, jump, splash, dive and just perfect their skills. It was amazing to watch their skills develop during our stay and also watch their confidence in the water grow. Our oldest has always been a water baby and although we never actively thought her to swim it was a skill she ended up teaching herself. She is a very determined girl who set goals and do the most to achieve them. Towards the end of the holiday our youngest also decided that she did not like the water wings and started to doggy paddle both over and under water. She has a long way to go before she can swim confidently however I think it is a must that we as parents take her swimming more often when we return to teach her how to swim.
We also thought that taking the kids to a resort that would make lots of friends and we would hardly see them. Yet again how wrong was we? The reality is however that 90% of the time the girls played together, they had each other and did not really see the need to make additional friendships.
At the end of the trip we have concluded that sharing a room with the girls is ok for shorter times, but not for 2.5 weeks, also beach and resort holiday is not really for our family. Saying that though, we have had a lovely time together of a family and created a lot of memories.
This month I am linking to Sarah Ferry who has shared a piece of her life in her blog post.
