Family Holidays
Kathryn March 31st, 2011
Beautiful Sydney views from the zoo!
On Saturday we got back from spending a week in Sydney to visit with family, the whole trip was wonderful! It contained many of the elements that make holidays such a wonderful time!
First – I didn’t feel guilty for not constantly thinking about the washing, the dishes, the ironing and all the other household duties that fill my day at home. Now I don’t want that to sound negative because most of the time I feel a great sense of satisfaction and accomplishment when I have a pile of clean ironed clothes and a clean bathroom and kitchen – but it’s nice to have a break every now and again!
Second – We had a couple of days where we spent almost the whole day just as a family, the 3 of us spending time together having fun and enjoying each others company. As I’m sure you all appreciate it’s not something that most of us get to do very often – having uninterrupted family time is a unique and wonderful opportunity that we always take with both hands.
Gorgeous Baby Elephant at Taronga Zoo
The third thing, and in many respects the most treasured, is that we were able to take time to visit with our extended family. We stayed with Dallin’s brother and his family and although it was crazy, hectic and at times stressful, it was so wonderful to watch the kids play together, they had a wonderful time! I loved being able to play with our niece and nephews and watching them laugh and play, as well as seeing Joshy’s face light up while he was playing them. One of his cousins now does ‘Joshy kisses’ and Josh learnt to say ‘BLAY’ it was really sad to leave them!
The boys have a blast on the trampoline!
One of the high-lights for me was on the last night when we met up with Dallin’s Aunt & Uncle along with his cousin with her kids. Dallin hadn’t seen his cousin in around 7 years and although I knew who she was we had never really spoken before so it was great to see and meet them. What made it so wonderful is that although you could say we had never really met there was no time lost in the introductions and getting to know each other – we were just family.
The girls catching up!
While we were in Sydney my family were back in Adelaide working hard to pack up and clean my Mum’s house in preparation for her move interstate (and yes, I do feel guilty that I wasn’t here helping!). Mum and Adam left on Tuesday for a 12 hour drive and are now relaxing in Mt Beauty for a few days before Adam comes back on the weekend and Mum starts her new job on Monday. Although it is of course sad to see Mum leave, we’re excited for her starting a new job in a new town. It will be a big change but I’m sure that she will love it and probably won’t ever want to come back!
Mum and the kids!
So after the holiday and farewells we are coming back to reality, but it has all reminded me and impressed upon me how wonderful and important family is. Whether we live just down the road or millions of miles away and whether we spoke yesterday or haven’t spoken for years, nothing changes the fact that we are family. That bond will always be there and I hope I can always appreciate it!
