Last weekend we purchased new car chairs for the kids. Dylan was getting too big for his baby car seat and would have been too uncomfortable for a long drive. After checking the Internet and what the shops had, we eventually decided on the forward facing Chicco car seats with IsoFix. They are really nice seats and will serve the kids until they weigh 18kg (not too long for Dylan in other words).
It was a bit of a risk going on the drive down to Dullstroom in new car seats. I had done a fitting the day before to adjust all the settings and got plenty of smiles from both Emma and Dylan. The drive turned out to be an absolute pleasure. We timed it such that we left quite early to coincide with the kid's nap. They were awake for the first while and then fell asleep. We made it all the way to Belfast before we took our lunch stop. Belfast is 30km short of Dullstroom. This meant we made the whole trip down with only one stop. We are definitely getting back to our more normal travel routine for a driving holiday. We also took our new travelling side by side MacLaren pram. With some nifty packing tricks I managed to have it packed in the boot such that it was accessible for the stop. With this pram we could even take two of our suitcases along, one of them our very big one as opposed to the last holiday where we were constrained to tog bags as the pram took up most of the boot. This meant that we had lots of space for stuff which we needed as Dullstroom is very cold this time of year.
We stayed in a lovely hotel called Peebles Country Retreat which is in Dullstroom. We had a massive room (more than 100 sq m). The best features of the room where the underfloor-heating in the room and the bathroom. The day we arrived it was raining and really miserable and cold. We all froze the first night even with the underfloor-heating. Emma and Dylan caught their first cold of the year, actually first cold ever, the Saturday before we left on the Tuesday, so they were still recovering with runny noses and coughs. We therefore tried to keep them as warm as possible. Dylan slept in his little dressing gown over a number of other layers of clothing. The hotel provided cots. They were average. Dylan’s was broken on the one side and hence was lopsided. He loved it anyway. The kids took well to their sleeping arrangements. See the pictures below.
After our trouble with eating out on our holiday in January, we decided to make use of the in-room dining option this hotel offered. We had a small dining room table and chairs in the room so this was extremely comfortable. On most nights we managed to get the kids to sleep before dinner was served. One night however Emma was awake and cranky all through dinner. The food from the hotel was really superb. They had a daily dinner menu with three options per course and served a three course meal. If you didn’t like anything from the menu you could order something from their Ala Carte section at a small surcharge. We ate very well, given the cold we had to. Breakfast we had in their breakfast area. We took the kids with us to breakfast, just after they had finished their cereal and fed them their bottles. After the second day we managed to get the kids to have their morning nap, which didn’t work out on the first day. This meant that they were in a better mood for the rest of the day.
On the last day we managed to go to the Bird Rehabilitation Centre just outside Dullstroom. One of my departments at my company sponsors one of the birds there, Sid. This was something the guy I took the department over from had instigated and I took it over from him and continued to sponsor the bird. The bird centre had some very impressive birds. We could not watch the show as our double pram is not very good on the off-road and most of the park is very uneven with no paved paths. Given the fact that it had rained alot this made for heavy going. Anyway after chatting to the owners we managed to find Sid. His cage was marked incorrectly. Mission accomplished.
On the travel back home, the kids were a little more cranky than the way down, however we still only needed to stopped once for lunch. The fact that they now face forwards means that they can see us and Anina can interact with them. This makes them much happier. Yesterday when we got back we were all pretty much exhausted. The kids went to bed early and Anina unpacked all the holiday goods and started on the mountain of washing. Today (Sunday) we took it easy.
Pictures of the Kids and Dullstroom
Dylan clowning with the camera:
Dylan in his first public high chair at the Wimpy:
Emma and Dylan ready for Dullstroom cold weather:
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