Getting Ready for the Holidays

Our family summer holiday is just around the corner. 13 more days and we are in Spain checking into our hotel in Benidorm near Alicante. We are going for 10 days. I don’t really see the point in going for just a week with 2 small children. By the time you are leaving again, the kids are just settled in. So 10 days is absolute minimum. This is our first family holiday going abroad. I am planning to go somewhere hot with the kids every year from now on. (shhh, I didn’t break the news to hubby just yet) My mum and I went abroad every year from the age of 5. I would like to give my kids the same experience and let them see the world.

Apart from the mini heat wave we had over the weekend, Ireland isn’t exactly a place you can holiday in. It’s mostly raining and windy. I do like to take a mini holiday in autumn or Spring but the summer should be dedicated to places like Spain or Portugal.

The holiday we booked, was actually supposed to be our “family moon”. To anyone who doesn’t know what a “family moon” is… It’s a honeymoon really but you are enjoying it with your kids. As some of you may know, hubby and I were supposed to get married in less than 2 weeks. Sadly though, our venue closed down at the beginning of the year. This made it impossible for us, to find a venue we like last minute. For that reason we decided to push out the wedding a bit further and find something we like. Because I already spent so much time on organising it, we more than likely will have something small this time. We are like a married couple anyway, so why spend an extraordinary amount of money on something that will be just on an official piece of paper.

I like to be organised when going away well in advanced. It may have go to do with the fact that I am German. German people are efficient and organised.

I’ve been busy shopping for summer clothes for us and the kids. Generally I don’t have that many summer clothes in the press. Simply for the reason that we only get about 2 weeks of hot weather in Ireland. I think I am at the end of it now and should have everything. In the next coming days I am going to take everything out of the press to see if we have enough or if I have to purchase one or two more items for either us or the kids. Least thing you want, is not have enough clothes and end up washing on your holiday.

I have done a good bit of research before I booked this hotel. Originally I wanted to go to a place my mum used to take me. But the flights are very awkward. We have to change flights in Madrid and it’s just too much at Chloe’s age. I based the holiday pretty much on the flight times. Anywhere in Spain near the beach. Alicante was the best airport in this case. We are leaving 10 am in the morning and the flight back is in the afternoon which gives us plenty of time.

I am not a person for self catering at all. We booked Full Board. This gives us breakfast, lunch and dinner. I don’t like to cook anyway and certainly don’t want to do it when on holidays. We can still go out to a restaurant if we want to but at least we are covered for meals. There are theme dinners every week. Plenty for the kids to eat.

They have 2 children swimming pools and a playground based on a Flintstones theme.
The only thing that is going to be hard to deal with, is the room for the four of us. They do have interconnecting rooms but it’s not guarantee we get that and it costs extra. For that reason we decided to take turns when going out in the evening time. On this note… has anyone used the babysitting service abroad before?

The only way for me to keep track of the clothes and things we are taking with us in our 2 suitcases, is to create a list. I went out of my way this time and created a cute little list for each of us in Pic Monkey.

I am planning to buy a new suitcase in the next few days as well. Hubby’s suitcase has done a good job lasting about 7 years but it has a few bumps and scratches and needs to be replaced with a more sturdier one. I did order one from Samsonite but it turned out to be too small so I had to send it back. To be safe, I am just going to pick one up in Argos.

Matthew’s Trunki is his carry on luggage filled with snacks and entertainment. I might have a seperate post for it. I bought him these cool Superman headphones for kids at the weekend. He is always on about Superman and he absolutely loves them.

The countdown is on. Spain here we come. Have you got anything to add to our list?