Madhouse Family Reviews: Madhouse Diaries : Every cloud has a silver lining (and a lot of rain !)

We had so much fun at the Sailing Tour de France/Festival of the Sea on Saturday that I promised the kids we'd go back. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't so nice the next day, but it didn't stop the snails coming out and having fun, so why should it stop us ?! The silver lining was that there were a lot less people so we didn't have to wait around for long to do the different activities.

The kids were very impressed with the Mickey Mouse cars.

Especially this one !

We watched a bit of boat jousting.

Splosh ! At least we found someone who was wetter than us !

Juliette had fun making a little sand garden in a jam jar.

The ponchoes given out the day before were worth their weight in gold !

Open-toed sandals and an umbrella - welcome to the summer in Dunkirk ! Pierre was still smiling though and the umbrella kept his cake nice and dry !

Sophie was very brave and climbed up to the second, top level of the free style bag.

Lots of people wimped out but she jumped !

Despite looking relieved that it was all over ...

she went around for another go !

We finished off with the hamster balls which were great fun. I couldn't help but laugh when Sophie fell rather than climbed inside !

Get ready to roll !

If you look closely, you can see Juliette upside down in the background !

All three of them had a go together but Pierre was terrified and wanted to come straight out.

He opted for a gentler ride in the paddle boats !

Just listen to the squeals and giggles !

I thought we were mad for wandering about in the rain but it was a cheap day on the trains for all the people from Lille to get to the coast for €1 so there were even people braving the cold and rain and swimming in the sea. Nutters !