So we've been in Cannes for the last week after a blissful 6 days in Avignon where we're returning on Thursday-and it must be said, holidaying by the coast with my kids is totally different to my usual champagne-fuelled film festival shenanigans (naturally)- but it's been just as awesome (despite the constant urge to get booty shaking by night)!
The sun’s finally shining and summer has belatedly arrived, so there’s no reason for new parents to be stuck indoors....
Oh Wales-it seems so long ago now that we were there but it was literally only a week ago! Luckily, I treated myself to yet another notebook (I have a REAL and pretty consuming obsession with notebooks-and stationery in general)! but this one was a necessity- and meant I could scribble down notes during our lush week away making it easier to reflect back and write this post.
Two weekends ago saw this family head to the Yorkshire Coast for a relaxing break to celebrate the launch of Esso Synergy Fuels at the breathtaking 100-acre Raithwaite Estate, a place we'd never visited before, but instantly fell in love with.
The weekend just gone saw this family head to our happy place of the Yorkshire Coast to spend some quality down time in the breathtaking Broom House on Egton Bridge as part of the Dorset Cereals Dorset B&B Awards campaign.
I have been incredibly fortunate to work with the wonderful swimwear and beachwear brand heidi klein for sometime now and I was over the moon when they asked me to take part in a swimwear shoot on a recent vacation to Jamaica to the magical Beaches Resort (read my full review here).
I've recently returned from a incredibly relaxing and restorative break at the Martinhal Beach Resort and Hotel in Sagres, Portugal, where I spent 5 lush days with my favourite lady, my Mum, Vasoulla.
We're now back from a dream holiday in Jamaica reviewing Beaches Resorts Ocho Rios, and while there, my little heros learnt how to swim in utterly stylish gifted swimwear by celebrity favourite Sunuva.
I honestly don't know where to start when writing about our Beaches Resorts' Ocho Rios family holiday because it's literally blown this little family's minds.
So 'passportgate' was rather stressful but it sort of all ended up for the best with each of our sons getting undivided attention and time from my husband and I respectively.
I enjoyed Marbella with my toddler and folks and Oliver and Daddy had a truly wonderful week in the UK with sunny adventures in Yorkshire where we live, and mini breaks in Liverpool, Southport and Anglesey in Wales, fishing, catching crabs, playing in fields, visiting castles and having lots of father-son bonding time.
Last week saw 'part' of this family spend 7 days in Marbella, staying at the palatial Casa Haniel, a James Villa Holidays' villa in San Pedro, above, for a fabulous, relaxing, fun and invigorating week away.
As you get older and perhaps a little wiser (or in my Dad's case, sillier, much, much sillier-it can go both ways) you start to realise what really matters in life.
I think having kids can do that to you, that whirlwind of new love for the kid you made merged with the mammoth overwhelming weight of responsibility (no more spontaneity in life is pretty sobering) and puts everything that came before, and after it, into sharp perspective.
You don't need to have a kid for this I should add. Yay for being wiser without having to actually use your cervix! Life experience, travel, pets, nurturing plants, charity work, whatever it is that takes you out of yourself, can be enlightening,
It got me thinking about all the tiny touching moments that make up the bigger picture, the intricately woven happy-making little things I reflect on right before I go to sleep or if I'm away from my kids, missing them madly, or my zone out to more joyous times when I find the children fighting over toys/films/my affection and I need a happy place pronto.
Last weekend saw us head to the stunning Ox Pasture Hall Hotel for a weekend break. You can read our review HERE-warming you will want to either get a train or move to Yorkshire as soon as you do and you'll feel very hungry!