We set off right as school finished on Friday, dropped off Pepsi for a weekend at Grannie’s in Halifax and then got on the way to Whinfell Forest, just next to Penrith in Cumbria.

A weekend of frollocking and fun with the Thompson’s was on plan and the kids were SUPER excited.

We stopped to get the boys some McD’s in Skipton and got back on the road heading North. We arrived at the location just before 7:30pm and WOW, what a great place – checking was a drive through affair where there was very little to do other than confirm that we were indeed the Rust party of 4 (they already had the car details so knew who we were well in advance) and take our keys (little hand straps to open doors, lockers and even pay for things in certain locations) and the map and we were on our way. It was a little dark around the park, so finding our way and then unpacking the car in the dark was a little painful, but all done in just a few minutes. Sadly daddy had not properly secured his bike so it had clattered against mummy’s bike on the way and broken off the water bottle holder and the bike lock that we were to use for locking the bikes up at the lodge.

The lodge was AWESOME – a two story affair with 4 big bedrooms and a massive living space in the downstairs. We took the upstairs and quickly the boys and mummy got settled in while David showed daddy where to dump Bruce for the rest of the weekend.

We had a lovely meal (the adults) and the beer was flowing nicely so we all retired at just before midnight as a big day was going to be starting soon. Then it happened, Olly was up at around 2:30am and so we took him in with us for the remainder of the night – then he was up again at 6am, being sick – not good. Then he told us that he had been sick in his own bed, and sure enough the poor monkey had been a little. So after cleaning it up, it became clear that poor Olly was not well and was unlikely to be getting better any time soon 🙁

He wanted to stay in bed so we knew immediately that this was to be a problem for us all 🙁 Mummy staying in the lodge with Olly while daddy went swimming with Elliot and the Thomson’s.

The facilities at the centre were all undercover which was really nice and the pool area was really really good. Elliot and daddy made use of all the slides and pool areas, including the outdoor slide (which was really hot considering it was so chilly out) AND the outdoor pool which again was really hot (almost like a bath) and fun.

When we returned to the lodge, it was clear that Olly was still very unwell (he had managed to get to sleep so we left him to sleep for an hour or so) and that he was not going to be coming outside today 🙁

Elliot and daddy went to the tree top trek with the Thompson’s while mummy stayed in with Olly (mummy didn’t fancy the trek so was OK with being couped up longer) and we rearranged the SPA session that Julie and Mummy were supposed to be enjoying for Sunday afternoon.

We had a great time on the trek and whil Elly was unsure in the first half of the session (he and daddy went last in the group of 6), he wanted to lead the second (the BIG section) and once he got going, there was no stopping him – hopefully the video that daddy took with his SunnyCam glasses (new ones were returned to him just this week following their breakdown in Llandegla in January) will be spot on and show him shooting off like a pro.

The final zipwire was a load of fun and all had a great time.

We managed to get Olly out for dinner at Hucks in the village centre, but sadly he was sick again in the night 🙁

We managed to get all of us out on the bikes on Sunday morning for an hour or two and so got some fresh air which definitely helped Olly.

We set off for home once mummy had been to relax in the SPA (about 5:15pm) and got home at just before 7:30pm, in time for bath before stories and bed. Daddy nipped back to Halifax to pick up Pepsi just in case we had more sickness with Olly overnight (hence we would not have been able to collect the poor old mutt 🙁 ) and the weekend was over.

So, sadly, we were not able to really enjoy the park for all it was, although it was still a great weekend with great friends – just hope that we haven’t put them off doing it again some time…