Noirmoutier… we woke up in the middle of the night because it was too hot…I looked out the vent of the van and

the moon was lighting the sky the stars were out and we could hear the sea from the van! bliss!
After a leisurely get up penny and I went to get the bread…. croissants for stew and I, fraser had a pain au chocolate and penny decided she would eat the whole baguette! there was no real rush to get out. Stew and I had a little browse of the wifi, Stew checked his fantasy football league whilst i looked at the mortgage rates (situation normal!!) whilst the kids played on the park and I had a coffee! totally chilled.
After a while we headed back and got ready to head into town on the bikes. The ride is through a nature reserve and as soon as you get to the bottom of the campsite road you can see the town’s castle and church. Past the salt flats and a random donkey, and loads of posh looking boats we weaved in and out of the other cyclists and pedestrians. We parked in a little square (noted that there were some nice looking restaurants for later in the week!) and parked our bikes. We found little shop selling all kinds of random beady bracelety type things, and got some new leather cord for stews key…. we each have a key around our neck for freckle when we go away…. that way we can’t loose it and stews was getting a little worn. We also found a cool toy shop where fraser bought a catapult, on the condition that he never used it against his sister! we headed up towards the castle and found ourselves in a french carboot sale type affair… all kinds of random stuff for sale…. we popped out of carbon sale street right by the castle. We walked around the edge and found a posh restaurant we’d have to sell a child to eat at and then decided instead to run about in the moat of the castle instead. We ended up back where we started in time for an ice-cream. A wonder back through the shops and then i remembered the shop where the best bread in the world is sold… we saw them sprinking something on the top of it, i think it’s some kind of addictive narcotic! once we started the loaf it was impossible to stop.
We still hadn’t managed to find any oysters, as the fish shop was closed. we found a market and luckily it was shutting but not before we found the oyster stall. 12 oysters was £2.45 (roughly) and it got me wondering why we don’t have more in the UK especially when the afternoon when the sun is shining and you have a cold glass of wine in your hand and a big smile on your face! We got back to the campsite after a trip to the supermarket to grab some other bits and did exactly what you would expect with the oysters… and bread… and some prawns. Yum!
The children had a bit of time out of the sun and we sat and relaxed, chatted and generally came to the conclusion that if we were millionaires we would still have the same holidays, only for longer.
Next on the activity list was pony riding. there were some little ponies on the site which you could go on a trip on… so the children spent some holiday money on a trip around the campsite on a pony! Fraser completely loved it, and kept stroking it. He especially liked feeding the pony. Penny look like a professional, and the man thought she was a rider. We came back and the children had filled pancakes for tea before an early evening trop to the beach for a swim in the sea. Penny found some other english girls who were doing gymnastics and went and joined them whilst fraser tricked stew into going in the sea!
Home, a shower and an early night tonight for our scamps as they are tired out from all the fun. we are about to light the bbq and enjoying a little aperitif in the sunshine, before we have some fish and salad… lovely day, more to come tomorrow!
Bon nuit!

Yesterday we were having too much fun with the Spencers to be fill in the blog… sorry!
After a completely promising start… stew pumped me a coffee, and delivered it to my bunk! the sun was shining and the children were lovely!
The day started with a leisirely cycle into the local town. It was only about 1Km from the site, but there were 4 children and 4 adults to coordinate on this mammoth task! Once we had found the right cycle path we were sorted! Mainly downhill, along the side of a pine forrest, the cycle was easy and fun. Penny and Holly really enjoyed each others company, and Henry certainly enjoyed the “unicycle ride”! we arrived and abandoned the bikes just outside the small market. Just as we had finished the bikes a man on an accordion stated playing… it was like a scene from “Allo Allo”… with a beautiful cobbled street and a church to match the moment could’t have been more french! The market itself was a little disappointing… with a few sweet stalls, once cider stall and some random toys. As we moved through the handful of stalls, we could hear what I can only describe as the french derek from the frog and frigate, sitting on a bar stool playing acoustic guitar outside a bar with a pint of beer. We decided that we would find a spot, grab a coffee or an oragnina and enjoy the moment! The girls played marbles, the boys wanted the guitar in fascination and the grown ups just chilled for a blissful relaxing moment, including a French version of the Rolling Stones’ Sympathy for the Devil!
We cycled back to the campsite… it’s enormous. We decided to do a lap of the site, and saw an idea for a break later in the year, the coolest tree houses which you had to climb a ladder! amazing and definitely one for my bucket list!
Time to head back for a lunch of pate, cheese and still warm bread…. after which the girls chilled a bit more and played marbles whilst the boys enjoyed a game of football. Katie and I sat down and meant to read our books… but just ended up putting the world to rights. Stew went for a pint with fraser too!
We gave the kids and early tea, before heading over to the “ibiza pool party” which was very cold!!! the children loved staying up late at the pool and the loud music, and fraser enjoyed the slides. We headed home and got the children warmed up and snuggled down for the night…. before we decided on a takeaway pizza for ours. Spenny and I decided it would be fun go on Henry’s unicycle – or better known to most as a tag-a-long bike! hilariously with me on the front and Spenny on the back we cycled down the path, how the bikes survived I have no idea… photos to follow….we decided to walk!
A lovely, less cold evening followed probably with a little too much wine, and very happy mummies and daddies! cracking fun!
This morning was a similar affair in terms of a leisurely get up, this time we had to pack freckle up and get ready for our departure. We were packed quickly and then headed over to the pool for a morning of fun! slide races, wave pool fun, mummies being dunked and children with huge smiles were all the order of the day. around lunch time we headed back for a repeat of the previous day lunch before all squeezing into Freckle and headed to the ice cream parlour for a last event as a gang…. as we waved goodbye to Domain des Ormes and the Spencers, we looked forward to our favourite place, Noirmoutier and all the fun that would have in store.
We made good time on the journey, and I obvs loved the Nantes bridge!! (goes without saying). Once arrived, camp was set up in super quick time…. the sun was shining, the sea was blue and we headed to the little restaurant on site and had a fest of mussles and pizza, fraser found some friends to play table football with and life literally couldn’t be any happier for team adamson this evening! I absolutely LOVE IT here!!!
I will update again tomorrow! Promise!

s 

The wind howled through the night, but by morning it was brighter. I promised myself that I would run every other day, and so on went the trainers and I headed to the front for a nice seaside run… with my trusty accomplice on his bike (fraser)… and before we knew it found ourself in a running race! We were getting a lot of funny looks as we were well befd the field! Fraser put his turbo speed on and we headed back to camp! Once back, we put the coffee on, enjoyed some of the most amazing popping candy chocolate spread and then started packing away. it was so easy this time..

we headed down the road to meet up with the spencer family… near Dol de Bretagne. On our way we got stuck in a traffic jam as we went passed mont saint Michael, where some crazy french man was hanging out the window taking photos of Freckle…. Once we arrived, we managed to get booked in without any dramas! It more like centre parcs than a campsite…. with endless swimming pools, bars, a golf course and activities.

We headed straight to the pool, and the children were pleased to see each other.

After a swim we gave the children a bbq and had a couple of early evening drinks…. before dinner the girls went off for a shower on their own and we started thinking about our BBQ or chicken, sausages and scallops…. it was more of a bbq tapas than a meal.
By the time we had eaten the stars were out and there were even a few shooting stars! 
Right much fun to have!
Laters