Pre-baby I used to spend all my annual leave travelling and last year after going back to work I divided my annual leave between one 2 week holiday, 2 weeks when family came and sick days for DDs nursery illnesses. This year we don't have any spare cash so no holidays and even after a few sick days I still have 4 weeks annual leave left. No family in the UK to visit and none visiting us. We don't live near the coast or have that many interesting options for days out so days off tend to be pottering around local parks, swimming, going to the library and at home. DD is now 2.5 years and might have a sibling on the way. How would you spend the annual leave in this case? DD is at nursery so would be paying for childcare no matter what. I have considered using it to take one day off a week for a few months over summer and spending or it with DD or taking it in blocks of one week. Could also take a few days to myself but if I've ever done this before I tend to end up catching up with stuff at home.
I'm fully aware this is a nice problem to have as we will need all our annual leave to cover school holidays in a few years time.