Royal Decameron Day 1

Saturday 18th January 2014

We set off from our house a little after 6am and got to the resort at 7.15am which was faster than we expected to get there since there was no traffic. We hung around in the lobby area until 8am (check in time). After checking in we changed into swimming costumes and put our bags into the storage area (we couldn't get a room until the afternoon). We had a bit of a walk around and had our first dip in the pool. Chloe enjoyed it much more than I expected. 

We ate dinner and then went to get our room and all had a short nap. While the kids slept Armando and I went into the jucuzzi. When we went back to our room the kids were awake so we went to eat and saw someone drawing character pictures so we had one done of all four of us before going back into the pool. 

When it started it get dark we went back to our room and got ready for the evening meal. We put Elliot into his pjs straight away since we figured he would fall straight to sleep. He slept while we had a few drinks then woke up while we were eating but Chloe fell asleep instead so at least we only had one child awake during the meal. After we'd eaten we went to see the fire/water show they had in one of the pools. They had dancing on platforms floating in the middle of the pool and fire poi and other things. We didn't stay right to the end of the show because it was getting late.

New Year 2014

Well 2013 has ended and it was definitely filled with a lot of great memories and also a LOT of not great ones. There were a lot more challenges than I ever expected to face this year but it's over now and we are all so much stronger after facing it.I have learned a lot of lessons the hard way starting with the fact I have to be so much more appreciative of the things I have and stop just trying to aim higher. I have so many wonderful things in my life (mainly my husband and two wonderful children) so I really have to see the beauty I have right in front of me and not just take it for granted.
Last new year I said I wanted to complain less and that I wanted to be the best Mother I could be. I think I have succeeded in both of those things. I will spend my whole life trying to be the best parent I can be so that's something that is just an on going thing for the rest of my life that I hope to always achieve. And when it comes to complaining I know I probably still do my fair share of it but I have definitely tried to just cool it a bit this year and not see the bad in everything like I always have. Being a single parent for a few months was definitely challenging but I coped with it, I tried not to complain about it much because I got to be with our children and Armando was the one who had to be away from us all and that is so much harder. I did complain a lot about soreness during pregnancy but that doesn't count, that's aloud!
On 2013 we brought in the New Year by announcing my pregnancy to all of our friends - this year we have an almost four month old son and we couldn't be prouder of the little guy. We are so lucky for both Chloe and Elliot.
To welcome 2014 we all got dressed up and had a few drinks. We just stayed in our neighborhood like usual but it was great to be around lots of friends and enjoy ourselves.


2014
So I've decided to try and actually make some proper New Years resolutions this year but I'm not going to be too disappointed if I don't succeed at any of them.
- Continue to blog regularly and also try to catch up on reading other people's blogs (I love reading blogs but especially in this past month when I've been following more people I haven't been keeping up with reading).
- Try to read 15 books (last year I tried 12 books and read 14 so I set the goal a little higher this time).
- Catch up on writing about things on my bucket list.
- Scrapbook more often to try and catch up a bit (at the moment I have pictures from Chloe's birth that need to be done on our scrapbooks so I'm way behind).
- Pick up as much Spanish as I can - try my best to go on the Duolingo app every day.

Books I read 2013

• Middlemarch by George Eliot 2*
• Salem Falls by Jodi Picoult 4*
• Picture Perfect by Jodi Picoult 3*
• The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins 5*
• Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins 4*
• Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins 3*
• Lone wolf by Jodi Picoult 3*
• Whatever you say I am by Anthony Bozza 2*
• Divergent by Veronica Roth 5*
• Insurgent by Veronica Roth 4*
• The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon 4*
• The Transfer by Veronica Roth 5*
• Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck 2*
• Allegiant by Veronica Roth 3*

Book: Allegiant

Allegiant by Veronica Roth

Book description: The faction-based society that Tris Prior once believed in is shattered - fractured by violence and power struggles and scarred by loss and betrayal. So when offered a chance to explore the world past the limits she's known, Tris is ready. Perhaps beyond the fence, she and Tobias will find a simple new life together, free from complicated lies, tangled loyalties, and painful memories.
But Tris's new reality is even more alarming than the one she left behind. Old discoveries are quickly rendered meaningliess. Explosive new truths change the hearts of those she loves. And once again, Tris must battle to comprehend to complexities of human nature - and of herself - while facing impossible choices about courage, allegiance, sacrifice, and love.

Picture and description taken from goodreads.com


What I thought of the book:

***

After the first two books in this series being so fantastic and having to wait for the release to read this book it was definitely a big let down. With the first two books I read them so quickly, couldn't put them down and I just wanted to know more but I just couldn't seem to get into this one.
Some parts of the story are clever and they do wrap up some loose ends left behind previously but the ending to the series was a huge disappointment and not what you'd expect.
I did enjoy the series as a whole and if you've read the first two books I'd still recommend reading this last one because other wise you'd be left in a cliff hanger with a lot of unanswered questions.

Book read December 21st 2013.

Day At The Beach

Saturday 21st December 2013

This morning we went to the beach. It's still crazy to me that just a few days before Christmas I now live somewhere that's so sunny and hot enough to go and walk along the beach and splash around in the sea. This was Elliot's first time at the beach and he enjoyed rocking in a hammock (as he has been at home too lately).
Chloe was fine walking along on the beach at first but then as soon as she went near the water and started getting splashed by the tide she cried and didn't want to even walk anymore.
We played a while in the pool before eating.
We walked along the beach to find a shell to keep in Elliot's keepsake box (for his first time at the beach).
It's such a beautiful place and I'm glad my kids get the chance to grow up somewhere with such beauty and so many great places to make fabulous memories.

London Trip - Buckingham Palace

Tuesday 19th November 2013

We would have liked to be able to go and see the river Thames, London eye and some other things but we didn't want to be rushed and end up missing our coach home. When we arrived at the coach station there was still a few hours waiting time so we decided to look up how far away Buckingham Palace was - it turned out to be about 10 minutes away so we walked over there to see it and get some pictures. We saw some horse drawn carriages and the famous Royal guards.

When we were done being tourists it was time to head home. Our coach set off at 4.30pm and it was already starting to go dark at that time. Both kids slept pretty well on the way home and I even nodded off for a little while. When we arrived back to Liverpool we still had to get a bus back home so we arrived back home at about 11pm and all went straight to bed.

London Trip - Madame Tussauds

Tuesday 19th November 2013

On day two of our trip to London we got up early to have breakfast before catching a train to get to Madame Tussaud's. We were waiting outside before the doors were opened so we got in pretty fast.
It really is amazing how life like all of the figures are. We took pictures with all of the celebrities we know (Armando took photos of the rest too even though we had no idea who some of them are).

Chloe was really staring at and trying to touch some of the models, I'm not really sure what she thought of them but she seemed to like it (especially Emma Watson for some reason).
There are all kinds of different celebrities there. Lots of current film and music stars, some iconic figures like Shakespeare and Albert Einstein, sports stars, musical legends like Michael Jackson and the Beatles, the Royal family, the American president and lots of British political figures. There was even a dungeon section that was supposed to be scary, Chloe jumped when she heard dogs barking on a recording but we stayed out of the main section (while Armando went through it).

The last part was a Marvel section which had Spider-man, the hulk, wolverine and some other characters. In that section there was a 4D film with some super heros getting together for a meeting, the special effects were pretty good - even Chloe kept her glasses on to watch the whole thing.
We had a look around the Madame Tussaud's shop and bought some gifts and suvenirs before eating and getting a bus back to the area of the coach station.