Au revoir Paris – Hello Manchester

So on Wednesday morning after seven nights in Paris we left for the airport to fly to Manchester. We so enjoyed out week there and it was honestly so much easier than I had expected it to be. I am so proud of my little travellers. They have done so well. By the time we arrive back in Dublin on Saturday they will have been on five flights in two and a half weeks. I have to say that Paris was a great experience with the kids and I expected it to be a lot more challenging.  This experience definitely makes me feel quite confident about international travel with young children, so if we can save a few pennies, perhaps there will be some more holidays like this for us in the future! 

Rian is really getting the hang of flying, he’s almost blasé about it now. As a happy coincidence the taxi driver drive past the Eiffel tower on the way to the airport so Rian could say his last goodbye. The kids did brilliantly on this flight. There was a spare seat so we could use Kaelan’s harness and Rian just did colouring and played with stickers peacefully for the duration.  When we arrived in Manchester, however, our hire care was not ready and was to be delayed for up to an hour. Just what every parent of tired young children wants to hear coming off a flight.  After a delay, we ended up getting a car for much the same price by asking at the different rental counters for availability and eventually got on our way to Daryl’s cousins house in Chorlton which was a short straightforward drive from the airport.

Rian and Kaelan were delighted to see a room with toys that belonged to their second cousin Ameera (who is two and a half) and Rian wasted no time in jumping on a little toy car and careering round the hallway. We put Kaelan down for a sleep and didn’t really do much for the afternoon besides some grocery shopping. Ameera arrived home from nursery and was slightly disenchanted to find two small boys playing with her stuff, but this soon wore off and they were soon outside on the slide and in the playhouse together.

 

   

The next day we went with Shaina and Ameera to visit Daryl’s aunt and Uncle Margaret and Safi and his cousins Iqbal at Saddleworth. On the way home we stopped at a park with a manmade lake and fed the ducks and geese with the children which they loved. The geese were a bit cheeky and tried to take the bread out of Ameera and Kaelan’s hands. Ameera was not too pleased!

   

   

       

On Friday the boys were wearing thin having had a couple of busy days so we didn’t really do much. Daryl and I have been in Manchester at least twice before so this time we weren’t really too concerned about sight seeing. We also knew that Saturday was going to be a long day for them as we had Daryl’s other cousins visiting in the morning with their two boys (Omar and Jamaal) and then in the afternoon we were flying back to Dublin and then driving down to Wexford. The cousins has a great couple of hours together in the morning especially the boys all running around after each other and playing on the toy cards and trains. Ameera was a bit out numbered and for a little while sat and watched Peppa pig while all the wild little boys ran around her in circles.