Cut out the Crap: Our family holiday....

Good Morning! I hope this finds you all well.

As promised the other day, I am here to share with you some highlights from our recent family holiday. Every year we go to the beach for two weeks….one week is just never enough time for me to fully relax and wind down….two weeks is perfect!

I love this photo taken of me with hubby by our Miss 11 – I didn’t know she took it until I saw it on the camera later x

We packed our car and a trailer (YES with 2 adults and 4 kids we need a trailer – and this year we had an extra adult with Bekah joining us) and off we went. The kids are quite good travellers …. although Master and Miss almost 3 did take it in turns of asking every 15 minutes “we beach yet?”

Car snacks: My family always gets hungry or thirsty the moment we get into the car – typical hey! So I always pack plenty of healthy snacks. I packed water for all, super food bars for all (available on my website) an apple each and Loving Earth kale chips. YUM!

A handbag full on Superfood bars!

What we do: Relax, eat, chase kids, swim, read, fish, chase kids, eat, chase kids and eat…..a typical holiday right??!!

Just arrived selfie : time to relax x

There is something about having your feet on the sand – peaceful x

Love this pic of Bekah and my Miss 9 going for a hike! Yes, that splash of colour is them!

Picnic time for my family – it was spoilt slightly by an angry and growling HUGE Roo!

What we eat: I really ‘try’ and loosen my attitude with 100% additive free eating when on holidays. I feel that I am in a situation where I simply CAN NOT eat certain food due to my intolerances or I will end up violently ill – additive free is a choice for my family and whilst, yes, my Miss 9 does react with awful behaviour (to say the least) when she eats additives (and gluten and refined sugar), she is also a little girl who needs a holiday too. I ordered Pizza for the first night we were there (for her the cheese only one) and a few days later we went to our favourite Gelato shop (where there is even a Sorbet I can have : Mango, Water and Sugar and that’s it) – sadly though Miss 9′s behaviour was horrid (as we expected) after eating the pizza then later the ice-cream, so we pulled the reins back in. It was worth a try and she was happy she got to eat the pizza and ice-cream!
The twins (almost 3) don’t like to sit still for long so we don’t go out to restaurants much and we much prefer a BBQ and Salad on our Verandah watching and listening to the waves in our PJ’s after a long day of fun, playing at the beach. I take up a heap of fresh fruit and veg from home, I take my juicer, my favourite frypan, my can opener and vegetable peeler (I have been caught with dodgy ones before that I can not work!) – I take meat also (frozen and packed in heaps of ice-bricks) as the choice of meat there is not great.

Night one: Pizza for my family! Mr twin won’t look at me – he is too busy looking at the Pizza!

Holiday breakfast for my hubby, toast with avocado, fried egg and fried tomato!

A pile of fruit an veg I took – gorgeous fresh Kale from my sisters garden!

Hubby and I snuck off for a Sorbet and Ice-cream!

What we love the most: Hardly any TV or computer time, daily sunshine, lots of laughs, walks, the park, our yearly tradition of Grandpas Breakfast (we dress in something nice and all head out to brekky and Grandpa pays!) being away from the hustle and routine of a busy life, all the memories we make and of course the number one thing is the quality family time we get to spend together playing and chatting. We were blessed enough that the first week my in-laws came up also and stayed near us as they do every year and my Mum made the long 4 hour drive by herself on our second week to spend ONE night with us. This warms my heart so much as she only lives an hour from where we live! The kids spending time playing with their Grandparents means a lot to us and SO much to them!

Off to the movies one night to see “Diana”

My 3 girls – at Grandpas Breakfast x

Love this photo! Father and Son fishing! x

Cuddles for Grandma and Grandpa x

me with my Mum x

My family x

Family: In-Laws, Bekah, hubby, our 4 kids and me

What we miss the most about home: I know this may seem a funny thing to talk about but it helps us come back to reality on the drive home! Hubby and I both agree that we miss our coffee machine (sad I know but I am sure that hubby makes the best coffee in the world!), our bed (so soft and comfy compared to the holiday one) and even more so our bed without sand in it (even though we shower after the beach every day our bed was always full of sand!) and as a family we all missed our Puppy, Matai, who turned ONE on the day we got home (although I am not sure if he wanted to come home as the friends who looked after him spoilt him rotten, gave him loads of cuddles and loved him so much!)