snowboarder

Gah so much stuff! It'll be fun, right?!? It's costing more than I'd pay for 3 nights in a hotel!!

We are going here - anyone been? http://www.billycancamping.co.uk I can see we are going to be taking a car full - keep the tips coming!

I would get both! And some spare swim shorts. We seem to go through many outfit changes/stripping off/wanting to put back on again etc whilst at the beach/pool.... My two quite like the jojo lycra type sun hats with the neck protection that they can wear in the water.... And sunglasses!

We're off on our first family camping (ummm, glamping maybe?) trip this weekend (yes I've seen the forecast). Any tips and must not forgets for first time amateur soft-used-to-home-comforts campers? I'm slightly traumatised about the thought of no ipad/phone...never mind the toilet/shower situation :-)

I tried a bit harder at this with my second after spectacularly failing with my first. As others have said I just estimated how long he'd been awake (say about 2.5 hrs at around 3 months i think?) and used to take him up to his crib and pat his tummy and he used to drop off. But he was a much more obliging baby than his brother who would have screamed the house down at such amateur attempts at making him sleep. And the tummy patting was actually a lovely sleepy, just the two of us moment, very different to the exhausting rocking, pavement pounding sling waearing and pram pushing techniques of baby no 1 :-)

We have tripp trapps for our boys which are great for this stage (not that they want to use them, kneeling on an adult chair seems to be the preferred seating method in our house :-/) - but how about something like this from ikea? Not sure how tall they actually are.... http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/50207036/ But generally my three year old won't hear of being in any kind of 'high' chair, especially when out and about!

My youngest dropped his nap at about 2 1/4 - which was distressing as his older brother had his until he was 3. It started taking him ages to settle at night - like I'd put him to bed at 7 as usual and he'd be chatting away at 9.30, so the nap had to go! Even now a year later if he drops off in the car it really affects bedtime. It did take a couple of weeks to get into the groove and yes the first couple of nights with no nap weren't great, their body clocks just need time to adjust I suppose. Ultimately because he was the youngest and we often had to wait in for him to sleep actually the demise of naps was pretty liberating, I found! Maybe not so much with the eldest doing it....

Like others on here we decided to go for a third about two years ago...and despite the first two coming along no problem at all baby no 3 has proved elusive and I am now just the wrong side of 40, so I think that ship has sailed for us now. So many things are easier these days with a 5 and 3 year old, and my two are hard work sometimes so a third might break me, but I do feel sad. Still, nothing to be done other than take life as it comes, I suppose!

Do let me know how it is if you end up going there :-)

Not hugely helpful but we are going to the lefkada villas this summer - they are new to simpson for this year - they used to be part of the Thompson travel empire I think. I've heard good reports of both places though and have used simpson travel before and always been happy...

We have the trunki boostapak which I think is similar - works well as a travel option for our 5 year old and he loves the novelty value of wearing it as a back pack...

Goodrich are going through the forum guessing people's user names??!? Seriously?!?

What would people consider the ideal ages? We are considering a trip in the next couple of years (maybe!) but thought it would be best to wait until our two boys are at least 6 and 8ish... And is it gruesomely hot in the summer? Is Easter a better bet?

The September after he is 4 - so yes, September 2016.

Hmm yes I too am learning that school summer holidays are restrictive and everyone seems to book up in about November! I did think some of the stuff on this site looked nice - http://www.alternative-aquitaine.co.uk/family-holidays We are all searching for the same thing really I think - non package holiday but non tent sociable self catering holidays with sunshine and fun stuff for the children!

Haven't been here but on this years trawl of options I came across this place - little cabins in Menorca - http://www.campingsonbou.com/02_ing/home_ing.htm I know some cool looking places which are more like little farm stays in Portugal and Italy have been suggested before. I also like the look of 'Glisten'!! - http://glistencamping.com/

Last year nothing came through until post 5pm, I don't think. I went online to look rather than wait for an email, which came through about 8pm! Good luck - so nerve wracking!

There might be a board that fits (although I think I've hear icandys are particularly awkward?) - look on the lascal website as they are pretty universal and def fit the maclaren. BUT you would have to get two sets of connectors as whilst you can detach the board fairly easily sometimes the connectors are more tricky. And they are hugely annoying to walk with....but admittedly they do serve a purpose and on the rare occasions we use a buggy these days on long days out my 5 yr old does hop on when knackered.

I quite like some of the properties on here and they seem v helpful - http://totstotravel.co.uk/ Or some of the hotels in greece or the villas with kids clubs here are lovely - http://www.simpsontravel.com/luxury-family-holidays As mentioned before on here Mallorca def fits your bill and somewhere like Puerto Pollensa is very doable without a car - an apart hotel or something there might be more affordable?

I haven't been to the others but my boys love Hever. The water maze is really cool, and they often have sword and shield painting etc in the hols... (jousting in the summer which is fab!)

We love Pollensa and Puerto Pollensa too and have stayed in both. Whilst I'd probably prefer Pollensa town, Puerto Pollensa is so easy and lovely with small children, easy accommodating restaurants on the beach, shallow sandy waters, town square with playground just next to it and markets and surf style beach shops. Nothing's too high rise and the mountain backdrop is beautiful. The beaches just up the coast at Formentor are worth a trip by boat or by car. We've booked private apartments sourced through here - http://www.puertopollensa.com/rentals/ - the Pine Walk area is the nicest side of the town, but not too far from the centre. Cala san Vicente is gorgeous but really quite quiet and I've been there a couple of times where the sea has been pretty rough - Puerto Pollensa is very sheltered. Soller and Port de Soller are also worth a look at though on the west of the island.

Yes - we go that way often and do A3/M25/M3/A303 I'd avoid friday afternoon certainly - evening or early start best. It's lovely down there - have fun :-)

We have the expedit too - they do work quite well....

I honestly don't think it makes much of a difference - we never got on with the balance bike but my eldest learnt to ride without stabilisers at 4.5 after a brief few months getting cross with them!

Hard to tell what is healthy/unhealthy these days but certainly in our house margarine is banned as being basically closer to plastic than food - http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/mar/23/everything-you-know-about-unhealthy-foods-is-wrong?CMP=twt_gu The spanish apple cake is nice - I've made it before and am certainly not a baker!! Worth a try.