Why do holidays always have to end with unpacking, five loads of washing, getting up to speed with hundreds (600 in a week!) of emails and opening piles of post? Still, I have come up with the perfect solution...though my husband disagrees!

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Yes, you've guessed it, my suggestion that we just not bother coming back but stay another week didn't go down well. Okay, so I live in cloud cuckooland, but personally I prefer it there (!?!). Anyway, here I am after a week of sun in (of all places) Wales (and Chester)!

We've had a fantastic time. The boys loved staying a few nights in a hotel in Chester and Presthaven caravan park is also a definite favourite. I too enjoyed the beach, Rhyl SeAquarium and visiting Chester Zoo. The baby orangutan and elephants almost had me in tears and I managed to get a snap of one of the lions only about one metre away. (Actually, it was also slightly scary the way he homed in on me with my camera and came over to investigate!)

The only disappointment of the holiday is that the pile of holiday reading I took away is still a pile. Predictably, the boys ended up staying later than usual so my evening reading never really happened. Still, it was nice to be able to relax and enjoy being with them wihout worrying about anything else - for a week at least!