Thank you all!
DH was fine by the evening of day 2 thank god, the migraine went as fast as it appeared. I did feel sorry for him, he felt awful leaving me with both kids but was laying on the bathroom floor vomiting into the toilet in the dark because the light was hurting his eyes at one point!
We are day 3 now and things are much better, we got a free upgrade to a family suite, we asked at reception if they had any bigger rooms as we didn’t realise wuiye how small the “apartments” were and they offered us it for free so now DD3 has her own room, us and DS have own room, spacious balcony, a small kitchen area so just having more space has chilled us out a little. DD3 very set in her ways, loves her room and bed at home, loves sleeping alone after a story and cuddles etc so being able to do this has improved her behaviour as feel like she slept better last night and tonight she was falling asleep at dinner at 17:30 so she was in bed by 18:30 and hopefully a good 12 hours will do her good.
When she was 4 months, we went to Portugal for a week in a villa, loved it, she was a super easy, sleepy baby so we had a great time.
We did Spain the following year, again, 10 months old, super easy and chilled, crawling but not walking yet, loved it.
Skipped last year as was heavily pregnant with DS in the summer.
This year?! I’ve been put off for life. It’s like overnight, she has become a stroppy teenager and we absolutely do correct her, tell her we cannot hear her or understand her when she shouts/whinges/screams, please/thank you and general manners have been from the get go of her talking and I could have full conversations with her before she turned 2. It’s like she’s forgotten all of this since she turned 3 and it’s like treading on eggshells around her because most of the time, she’s a lovely little girl, brilliant sense of humour, loves her books, shares beautifully with other children but she can change in an instant and she’s so
unpredictable, I won’t lie and say I’m not struggling with this because I absolutely am. I’m embarassed when she screams or shouts in public.
Both DH and I were lucky as kids that both of our families mixed city breaks with UK breaks with foreign travel but neither of us ever did AI with our families. We always had villas or apartments and would alternate days of exploring and then pool/more chilled and think this is the mistake we’ve made. Personally, we are not big drinkers so don’t use the alcohol of AI, it’s nice to be able to get breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks without thinking about the cost but we are tied to the hotel because of this, there is nothing cultural about it and I think we are more cut out for a mix of exploring and pool/beach days and want our children to experience different cultures and their people, their county, their food etc. so AI has been a mistake.
We live and we learn!
We love Devon so thinking of doing an Air B&B lodge near beach but also within walking and driving distance of activities next year then the following we are looking at booking Croatia, DD will be 5, DS will be almost 3 so can explore a bit and still do pool and beach days.