Hopefully you'll be able to get off somewhere, on your own with the kids, despite Her Moodiness putting a downer on things and pulling out on your trip.
We're due to go off next Friday with our regular camping duo, their actually in a caravan this week as they were washed out the weekend with the weather (they'd gone away for a 12 day touring stretch, we're meeting them for the last site and 4 days), but the weather got the better of them. So we're meeting up Friday with some new/begged/borrowed and "stolen" camping gear for their last site, poor buggars!!
We've just returned from our latest camping trip. It turned out that some friends of ours had booked onto the same site, although they arrived more than a week after we did, so we only overlapped for four days before our time was over.
We've always shied away from 'joint' holidays, for all of the reasons mentioned in this thread! But it actually worked quite well, because we did our own thing during the day, but socialised with them in the evenings. We barbequed together one night, and the others we just joined them for a drink later on.
It was also nice for them to get presented with a cuppa when they arrived, and our kids played with theirs while they pitched, and vice-versa when we were packing up.
They were in the same field, but across the other side, so again it probably helped that we weren't on top of one another. All in all it worked well, and was interesting as a 'toe in the water'. We are now thinking about the same next year, under the same terms.
------------- *Only boring people get bored!
*When camping, I miss the dishwasher more than the TV.
I go camping quite regularly with another mum and her two lads...her elder one is my boy's best friend. We both muck in with the work, yell at each other's kids at random, make basic food and spend a lot of time sitting outside the tent gossiping while the kids mess around. Works for us....far better than if either of our OHs come. Why is it men (especially my Hubby) need meals every day?
On the other hand I had to put my foot down about going on holiday with my (now late) SIL. She loved going on holiday with me, because she regarded me as her domestic staff. Hubby put up her tent, I organised all the bookings, the food and did the cooking, clearing up, child care etc etc, plus looked after her boy in the morning while she had a lie in because "Oh, you're up anyway, I'll just tell him to go to your tent when he wakes up". She was a single parent by then because her other domestic staff/husband had run away and felt she was entitled to a complete break on her holidays, given that she was looking after their son alone the rest of the time. Her and the au pair that is! I recall the last straw was when my daughter was 4 months old, I was feeding her plus keeping an eye on the dinner cooking plus watching our two three years old and she got stroppy with me when I wouldn't get up to fetch her another beer. Bah. I told Hubby he could take the kids next time and go with her, or go with me, but not both of us ever again. It caused a lot of fuss but I did make it entirely clear to her as to why this was happening. I don't think she ever really forgave me for it.
I have been reading all these posts for the past 20 minutes or so, some made me crack up laughing and others I actually got wound up about (and it wasnt even my 'friends'!!). We are going camping on saturday to a site we went to last year, there will be 6 families in our 'group' - 4 of whom are related - then my family and another family. When we went last year we got on well, sometimes doing separate things, other times things together. The only thing is that on one of the evenings last time we went to bed about 10:30 pm as me, my husband and the kids were knackered. We had a meal with all the others and sat drinking & chatting but by 10:00 we had had enough. They all stayed up till around midnight I think. The next morning my friend said to me "were you all ok last night? you went to bed quite early, was anything wrong?" etc etc, I'm sure she thought we had the hump! I told her we didnt but you know when you can tell someone doesnt believe you?!
I'm a bit concerned this will happen again during this weekend!
Amazing family weekend with old steam engines, classic car displays, market stalls, and full catering and bar. And camping on site - Save £25 by booking in advance.
Topic: Go camping as friends return as ?
