Hopes and fears

We're off on holiday tomorrow, which if you follow me on twitter, I'm sure you're sick of hearing by now!

We're all ridiculously excited. It's our first ever holiday as a family of four and our first proper holiday abroad since becoming parents (I'm not counting the horrific week in a filthy farmhouse in rural France during the coldest Easter ever with strict instructions from the landlord to not go mad with the central heating :-s ).

I want it to be the holiday we've been dreaming of over the past couple of months.

I want to create some fantastic memories for all of us.

I want to have some lovely, quality family time and hear my children laugh longer and harder than they've ever laughed.

But I fear there will be tears. Of course there will be. I'm an optimist, but when necessary I can also be a realist. There's bound to be tears - there always is! But I do hope we can at least minimise the tears.

I've been squirreling away little toys for weeks now, colouring books, sticker books, new books to read and the husband has uploaded every pixar film he could get his hands on onto his new toy. Hopefully we'll have enough tricks up our sleeves to avert most tantrums.

Days will probably be filled with paddling in the sea, swimming in the pool and eating ice-cream. As long as I can keep slathering on the factor 50, we should be fine.

I'm under no illusion that this will be a relaxing holiday. But if nothing else, the husband and I will have an hour or two sat on the balcony together once the children are safely asleep. And there will be no cooking or cleaning to do for a whole fortnight. I might even treat myself to a massage and an hour in the gym each day. If I manage that and keep the tears and tantrums to a minimum, I think that counts as a success.

See you all in 2 weeks!