It was New Year’s Eve. My extended family and I were on the deck of my brother’s house enjoying a glass of champagne to welcome the new year in. It was a fairly warm evening and the kids were in bed, 7 of them between our families. Of course, being the eve of change we discussed the best of the year just been. I love these conversations. I love knowing what drives people, what keeps them going and what they want for their future. It was funny, though, this conversation. As we all presented the same scenario. Our highlights of the year were the same. The vacations we each took with our family.

Vacations don’t take up a huge amount of the year and often we all only have one or two in the year. We may travel for work, but the vacation factor may not come feature as much as we all desire. Vacations can be a few days long or a few weeks long. Some may even be longer, but for the majority of us our vacations are only a snippet out of the usual, daily routine. Yet they can be some of the most memorable times in our lives and certainly a highlight of our year. Yet the impact they can have on your life can be huge. A holiday spent with family where you truly get to relax and spend quality time together can also impact the relationship you have with each other and change the way you communicate. I loved going away on holiday when it was just my husband and I. We had some luxurious vacations all over the world and we did what we wanted when we wanted. We were fun and adventurous, often spending our days precariously without a care in the world. Now, with children, it is very different. We can’t go out to fancy restaurants until late and then expect to enjoy a nice sleep in the next morning. Nor can we spend hours and hours visiting art galleries or going to the theatre like we used to, unless it features children’s puppets and nursery rhymes. But even though our vacations can’t be exactly as they were before children they also don’t need to dramatically change. Taking a vacation with my children is more valuable to me than it ever was before.

When my first born, Squirrel, was just four months old my husband and I flew from NZ to London. My husband had to return to work early so I stayed on with Squirrel and we flew via Dubai on our way home a couple of weeks later. I remember the time in Dubai as being one of the most incredible moments of bonding with my child as we explored the city together. Our first night in Dubai was so hot. After sightseeing for most of the day I changed us both into our bathing suits and I took him for his very first swim. It was picture perfect as the pool was on the roof of the hotel with vast views of the city. It was one of those arm pinching moments which I knew I was so blessed to be experiencing.

I love the heat, and I also love the water. Just being by the sea changes my mood, and makes me feel alive. I love winter holidays too, but I reeeeally love summer holidays featuring the combination of the outside heat and a large pool of cool water. We haven’t been anywhere extravagant in the last few weeks, in fact we barely managed a holiday as we were doing up our house in preparation for sale. We worked so hard, night and day, while also trying to work around the children and their schedules…. which is why I haven’t written a post in so long! It has been a slow process and very draining. But we did manage to get away in the end, and yes, it was so relaxing and very much needed. It also featured my two key happiness makers – sun and a large pool of cool water. It was actually even better than that. Our resort had a pool and was also only a 5-minute walk away from the beach, success was definitely had. It was an incredible experience and the time together invaluable. It was only a three-day excursion but because life had been intolerably busy beforehand the time we were able to spend together was very much needed. The lack of technology was especially impacting and even better because of it, and its absence.

I learnt so much on this very short getaway and was reminded about the beauty of my very own family. That’s what I love about vacations. We shouldn’t really need to be reminded about communicating well with our family, or spending quality time with them –without the crutch of technology. But life can be hairy at times and I think we can all be forgiven for losing the way sometimes. After all, we can’t be on holiday All of the time. But maybe we can make it those three-day excursions more of a priority.