Family Holiday
We have been here in Australia for nearly 4 years. In that time we have had one family holiday. It was a week in Boambee Bay in January 2007. The last holiday that involved getting on a plane (other than the one way flight here when we emigrated!) was when Rhiannon (now aged 9) was a baby!
We have been planning a special holiday for a year now. Byron will be 40 next month and when we started talking about it over a year ago I asked him what the most perfect way to celebrate his birthday would be. His answer was that a perfect birthday would be the two of us and our three kids on a beach in the middle of nowhere. No normal life, just a hammock and a cold drink, the smell of sunscreen, the sound of the waves lapping at his feet, Oh, and a hot rock massage?! Easily pleased, my Mr B!
We talked about booking a really fancy holiday of a lifetime and really letting our hair down after a few years of putting all our money into building up our new life here in Australia. We got some brochures, opened a bottle of wine and started getting excited! Then in July last year Byron's US company went under and we found ourselves very unexpectedly without any income. It was a very unsettling time and it took three months before we had any money coming in. All talk of a holiday went on hold.
As we got closer to Christmas and we had two (much smaller) salaries coming in regularly we knew that we needed to adjust our spending. We luckily had been putting every dollar from the US job into our house which was now fully built and had most of the major furniture in place. We put spending on hold and stopped to appreciate what we actually had around us.
We saw friends splitting up, we heard stories about people we know getting bad news on health investigations, people our age, people who's lives were going in a different direction than they could have imagined. We talked about whether it was foolish to spend money on a fancy holiday after a year of such financial change or whether we should grab this chance to celebrate the here and now. That we have each other, the kids, our health.
We decided to seize the moment and plan our dream getaway. AND NOW IT IS JUST 12 DAYS AWAY! Sorry, did I shout that?! I am a little excited! Yes, in 12 days we will be clutching our new Australian Passports in our hands and climbing on a plane to New Zealand, then changing to a smaller plane to an Island called Rarantonga in the Cook Islands. We will be staying in a traditional beach house directly on Aroa Beach and will be able to walk out the door and onto the sand every morning. Heaven! Roll on August!
That looks gorgeous! I'm so excited for your family! In 14 days, I'll be getting on a plane to Tokyo to meet my husband coming home from the Middle East after 6 months, and we're going to spend 5 days before coming home to the kids. So we are both anticipating a special trip around the same time!
You must be so excited! It will be like a honeymoon all over again with no kids around! I hope you have a lovely time together after so long apart. I don't know how I would cope with that long away from Byron?!
It will be, actually! This is the 5th time in 8 years we have done this...two of them were 7+ months, and let me tell you, it's not easy at all. People tell me, "oh you are so strong" but in reality, it feels like he ripped out half my heart and took it with him, so every day is a battle to be a good mom. I do have awesome love letters that I probably wouldn't have otherwise...and the reunions are very sweet!
Excellent! Good for you!! Sometimes you have to treat yourselves...and by the looks of things, you picked a perfect spot to do so!
Go girl go! You deserve some R and R
Hugs
Sandra
Your comment on my blog about favourite daughters left me laughing out loud! Did you like the way I spelled favourite the GB way?
We had a similar experience just after I quit my job to stay home with my children. Hubby was without income for 8 months. I was lucky enough to get my job back but I was shell shocked by the experience for two years.
Thinking about Hawaii in 2010. But then I HAVE to get rid of the flowered swimming suit.
By the way, I don't moderate my comments because I am afraid of hate mail. I am afraid of one of my sisters trying to contradict me.
MY BLOG. MY OPINION! Right?