Kid Holidays are Knackering

Returning from the jungle

About 10 years ago, my awesome friends Carl and Lorna came to visit us in Singapore after a long and relaxing holiday in Thailand. Their boys - Ike and Archie, who were approximately six and two at the time – arrived late into Singapore (wine tasting in the airport distracted them apparently so we waited for ages, went home thinking they missed their plane, only to have to come back and get them, hello!) and I looked at them and said “shit guys, you look completely knackered.”

Carl looked at me, pointed at the kids and nothing more was needed. The message was clear. A relaxing holiday in Thailand it was not.

Dancing with the elephant

Wind the clock forward by a decade and I TOTALLY get what they mean. After only five days on Bintan, Steve and I are sitting on the ferry, heading back to Singapore on The South China Sea, and we are completely rooted – completely. The first root-able part of the experience was losing an hour, so not only did they wake up like clockwork, we had a 6am start every morning.

The kids’ club had absolutely zero potential to keep our loves engaged for any longer than five minutes – although five would be pushing it – so it was 14 hours of intense “mum I want, mum Lex/Jax hit me, mum I’m tired, mum I’m hungry, mum I want to go on [insert most dangerous option available for kids], mum I’ve already done this activity, this activity and this activity, but if I can’t do this additional activity I’m going to scream, mum can I have an ice cream/chips/chocolate/sugar-of-any-description-or-better-yet-chips-covered-in-really-bad-flavourings-and-additives-that-make-me-crazy, mum, mum, mum…. It was long days keeping them moving and entertained...

Robin Hood x 3

But to top it all off, Steve had great hopes of Mummy and Daddy time in the mix?! Yeah right love. Every night we’d lie in a stupor on the bed, deliriously exhausted, ready for another bone aching sleep on our really REALLY uncomfortable bed, knowing one of us had to do the early morning rise/distraction to keep the boys quiet just a little bit longer so we could sleep - and I should note, Steve let me have the lie-in every morning, thanks love - before doing it all again. Mummy and Daddy time was definitely NOT on the cards. Seriously how do people manage four or more kids?

Some serious concentration and he was awesome

With all that said, we had some really lovely experiences. The boys tried archery and shooting for the first time, got over their fear of elephants and went for a ride in the jungle with the Mahouts alone, Lex danced with an elephant in front of a crowd (bless), Jax played a number game with another elephant, they learnt how to do somersaults on trampolines, went jellyfish hunting on the beach, enjoyed excessive amounts of sugar at the breakfast buffet (they could finally eat Honey Stars), and spent a whole lot of time just swimming and hanging out with Mum and Dad – something they seem to enjoy doing?!

As was Lex - crack shot!

So it was a good but wearing adventure and it ain’t going to stop us doing more. After a couple of days at home, we’re going to head off into Malaysia for a bit of a road trip to Malacca – one of our favorite cities in Asia. We haven’t done a road trip with the boys yet, so we are expecting it to be interesting, but Lego Land and a few other adventure parks might keep them satisfied? Nah, what are we thinking. It’s still all about them.

Anyone else knackered from kiddie holidays? I swear it’s easier being at work!

Yours, without the bollocks

Andrea

My favorite pic