Monday, January 21, 2013

The Great Escape...

What a gift to meet up with two of my dear friends.
The husband's coined it the Great Escape right from the start.
and it was exactly that.
 We had endless time to ask all those questions 
we never get around to asking 
AND the time to answer them! 
We had leisure meals with no worries 
about getting back to babysitters or kid responsibilities.
 We ventured out most days and 
had fun exploring the local views.
and then back to swim, chat and relax some more!
The men all did amazing holding down the fort.
And the plans are already being made for the Great Escape II
for the HUSBANDS this time!!

Saturday, January 12, 2013

Ruined by Paradise....

The Maldives
We did so much of this....
Enjoying the beauty of the sand and ocean.
Walking out straight to our little section of beach 
and swimming in to snorkel.
We saw everything.  Even sharks!
Oscar wasn't a huge fan of the ocean...
or of Mama being out in it without him!
Daily beach exploring
It felt like we owned this entire beach it was so deserted.
Thankfully they had fun kid activities.
Cooking class making sushi & chocolate cake.
Tennis

Kids Club
The older kids activities allowed us to have 
some relaxation time with THIS LITTLE ONE.
so cute but oh so busy.
Enjoying the sunset just Oscar & I.
Even sharing my sunset drink...
Not really of course it was Jeff's:)
Cheers!
We did venture off the beach every so often.
Max's favorite activity was trying to catch the sand crabs.
Oscar loved the washing up bucket!
The big boys went fishing with Daddy and caught tons of fish!

And then we had a nice family dinner
eating the freshly caught fish that night!
We went from beach to pool
to beach to pool.
It was a tough choice.
 
We played and played.
And had some quite moments together too.
And then before we knew it
we were saying goodbye to Paradise.
Back to reality.
Reality hits so so quickly!!
This post was a tough one to write.
I want to be honest in how our life is portrayed.
But honestly who wants to see photos 
of angry ugly moments in a family?
Tantrums, melt downs & struggles.  
We don't want to remember them either.

This trip was a once in a lifetime trip 
and it had some amazing moments.
This post is about the good moments captured.
Be assured that travel for us is NOT easy, 
not calm and not usually even very happy.
We capture the good moments to hold on to
in the midst of tears (the boys AND mine)
 battling angry brothers and 
toddlers that wake up at 4am ready for the day.

This is not the season of life I would have chosen 
to be doing this kind of travel with our boys.  
But we've been given this time and adventure NOW 
so we're making the most of the wonderful moments along the way.