Ever seen the BBCs adaptation of ‘Just William’?  There’s a little posh girl in it who cries to get her own way, and her most common saying is “You’re making me cry”.  She does this in the most whining, irritating voice ever but it always works for her and she gets what she wants.  Children have this act down to a fine art.  They really are masters at getting what they want, and my children are no exception to this rule… so I thought Id give it a go, after all why should the kids get everything huh?  So after spending a depressing amount of hours standing over a laundry sink scrubbing the families clothes in a camp-site with not very good facilities, I decided that I wouldn’t be doing it again for while.  It really sucked standing there in the hot weather scrubbing bicycle oil off shorts and T-Shirts… and it got me thinking that actually, I don’t have to stand there cursing doing something I don’t want to do while everyone else is off having fun.  So the next week I had the kids do they’re own laundry, and to my utter amazement, they actually wanted to do it and enjoyed it!  Why hadn’t I done this sooner?  My chore really was their pleasure… funnily enough though, they had absolutely zero interest in washing anything belonging to me!  But hey, I wont complain!

At home, this obviously wouldn’t have been an issue, I just stick everything in the washer and Voila!  But it is only fair that where they are capable, the help out? Right? It is our job to help prepare them for the world isn’t it?… and what’s more, doing their laundry wasn’t on my Pro list when we considered having children.

Travelling around with less ‘things’ is teaching us so much.  Not least that…it’s so much easier to look after everything when you only have the floor space of a camper van and belongings that fit into a rucksack.

I know the weather is probably beautiful back at home, and that’s great.  I don’t like to think of everyone at home still having to deal with with the torrential rain that we suffered throughout the entire month of April.  Jeez that months weather was enough to drive even the most patient of people to the edge.  It was definitely a contributing factor to taking some time out, escaping from the weather.  But we didn’t really manage to escape it until now.   We’re currently in Sitges, Spain.  I don’t know what the temperature is, but its really lovely and hot.  Not warm, but hot.  I don’t really usually do weather talk… its a bit boring… but in this instance, I don’t care… I’m doing the weather talk.  This sun makes me feel entirely different.  I mean really different.  I feel like an entirely different person.  I know its sounds a bit over the top, but its true.  I think I must be one one of those SAD sufferers, but not here and not now.  The sun has brought me a renewed sense of well being and definitely a burst of Spring/Summer energy.

I can see it with the family aswell.  As we settle in to the traveling, we are finding new routines and patterns of behaviour.  I think, the one who has been affected the most though is the Good Hubby.  I’m used to being with the children 24/7… and its taken Court a bit of adjustment, but he’s done it in record time, and its a bit funny really because…

Pre children, when you (I/we) only had to get through time for ourselves, work however hard for ourselves, party how ever hard for ourselves, lay in bed till god knows when for ourselves… Then it all seemed so simple.  Then, when the children came along and I exchanged after hours whiskey for breast feeding schedules and weekend long StarTrekathons for Toddler group, it somewhat meant that Court was left to continue on the work path.  He took the main responsibility for earning the money, paying the bills and putting food on the table.  Don’t get me wrong, I have also always worked… but the emphasis has not been on me having to (work).  Court having to work, has meant that he hasn’t been able to spend the time with the children that I have… I know,  know… this is the same story for nearly everyone.  One or both parents these days don’t get to spend the time they want with their fast growing family.  I’m just So, So, So grateful that I do.  And now, I’m also grateful that Court is getting the chance to spend some real quality time with the children as well.  And I don’t mean any of this is a braggy way, because believe me, it has taken a lot of hard work, stressful juggling, and sheer determination for this all to happen.  And, now that it has, I am eternally grateful.  It means so much to me, that we have this opportunity to travel and experience this special time with the kids.  This may seem silly to lots of people but I keep playing a scene from the other day, that I don’t think will ever leave me… and its such a silly little thing, but it meant so much.  I was sitting reading, whilst Court spent hours with the children fixing up their bikes.  Fixing brakes, fitting bells, hiring seats… and the they were all working and playing together as happy as pigs in shit.  I know, its silly right! but it just dawned on me that it was such a rare occasion, and that the fact that it was a rare occasion was indicative of a hard working husband who does his very best for us all. He’s Top Banana!

Any way… We’ve had 2 very lazy days of relaxing in Sitges, and today we’re actually going to venture into the hustle and bustle of Barcelona.  Eldest is desperate to visit a museum whilst youngest just wants to buy Pokemon cards, Hubby is determined to try every local tipple he can get his hands on… and Im just enjoying the ride

• The interesting and kind people that we are meeting
• The bread, the cheese, the wine…. oh yes the wine!
• The tank full of fuel
• The coffee in my cup
• The love
• The smell of damp forestry and soil from a night of rain.
• Google Maps

The last couple of weeks have been crazy busy.  There’s been so much to organise; business paperwork, house sitters, packing, travel documents etc…. Ive not mentioned it on here before, and I don’t know why… maybe because I don’t think I really believed that it was going to happen… but it has! We’ve left our Valley behind and have embarked on the Adventure of a life time (part2).  We decided that we wanted to take 3 months out to travel around Europe… and here we are, one week in, in a very sunny and gay Paris.  Its been really quite hectic, we’ve been quite rushed. I think today will be the first day that we take it a little slower.

Wow, we’re here.  I really didn’t think it would happen… or couldn’t imagine that it would happen.

Internet is intermittent, so I’m not sure how often I will get to update this blog while Im away.  Im sure that not everyone really gives a hoot about the ins and outs of life on the road… but I know that some will, family and close friends that I promised to update regularly.

So… the story so far…

We spent the first couple of days in and around are home forgetting things, picking things up… generally not being very organised, but living in the campervan none the less.  We finally got our proverbial together on Thursday afternoon when we, after a whole day of fannying around, drove straight to the nearest and accepting channel crossing; which for us was the Folkstone to Calais Channel Tunnel. We crossed at 1:30am with youngest blissfully unaware of the change in mode of transport. We crashed at the Port in Calais (metaphorically speaking Mam…..its modern day speak for slept

We spent the day at Dunkirk.  Very nice and clean and quiet and abandoned and dead… but lovely moules marieness and frites for all.

Paris has been a bit of an experience, we’ve seen all the usual suspects which really don’t need the mentioning.  Most surprisingly, were the abundance of the Ladies of the night.  I have a funny feeling we chose a pretty choice spot to get some rest that first evening in Paris…… either that or Hubby had the whole thing planned….I’ll never know.  Out on our bicycles at dusk, we saw an unbelievable amount of scantily clad ladies who left hubby alone but were flashing me their bits!  What was all that about.  Court thinks that maybe they were warning me that I’ve brought the kids in to the red light district…I’d kinda worked that one out after the first butt flash. I guess I just thought it was a one off until the next lady flashed open her trench coat to reveal some smart leopard print panties.  Needless to say, I wasn’t really keen on explaining in too much detail everything to the kids, so we turned round and went back to the van for the night.  Home education by Christ….we all got an education that night.

Co piloting the motorhome through the centre of Paris was fun lol…. I have vague memories of saying ‘Oh come on Court, it cant be worse than Gobalfa round about….can it’.  Well the answer was yes!  Court drove like a pro…. and I got us to the campsite using a map… Yes, a map everyone.  Not a satnav, but a map.  Check me out!

Met a real nice family from Canada who are also homeschoolers.  They had 3 lovely children and were spending 6 weeks touring France.  We exchanged contact details this morning before they left.  We’re hoping to catch up with later on in the trip.

Tired, aching, sun kissed…. and feeling very very lucky.

Today’s gratitude.

• that Im lucky enough to have celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary yesterday
• for the fact that neither hubby or myself gave up on each other at our difficult times
• that I feel respected, loved and cared for
• for the path that brought me here
• for the yoga that lets me learn about my body and its contorted ways
• for the children’s chatter, laughter, crying and (seemingly) constant bickering (lol) that provides me memories
• for the silence (however infrequent) that allows me to feel connected and grounded

What I find interesting though is how after EBR1, I still feel full of energy, but that flightiness has disappeared.  I know feel energised, calm, peaceful and the real big one for me is grounded and centred.  I think its because I don’t think about the activations as consciously as I do EBR1. I just do the activations to wake up and warm up, but when I do EBR1 I slow down, I do it mindfully, I listen to what every part of my body is telling me. Aches, pains, tingling, warmth etc…

I also notice that I use my imagination with EBR1.  I imagine myself feeling strong, I feel my energy rising, I feel good in my heart, I have even convinced myself that when I do the side stretches I feel like I’m painting the air with something… I don’t know what it is, but I can definitely feel something.

I feel very lucky at the moment.  I’m finding the time to practice 3 times a day, I don’t know how long I’ll be able to do this for, but I’m happy to make the most of it while I can… and I feel wonderful.

Remembering some advice from the lovely Alys Conran my class mate I put on her recommended song, Diamonds in the soles of her shoes by Paul Simon, and I instantly feel a bit better… maybe because I know what’s coming next.  I shake my feet, ankles, lower leg upper leg and begin my usual activation routine. I finish the activation movements a little sooner than the music so I take the opportunity to dance to the rest of the tune.

I feel awake, I feel energised, I feel like I can take anything on… including that blocked drain that’s caused me so much upset this morning.  I’m feeling good now, healthy in the body and mind. While I’m here I may as well do EBR1 and some Asanas.

I made some pretty big deal decisions at the end of last year (big deal for me anyway),  and decided that I needed to take time to make sure I stay healthy.  To me, that doesn’t just mean healthy food and exercise, it also means feeling good and pursuing interests.  Ive used the old ‘but Ive got a family to look after’ excuse way to many times, and now I think about it I was just an excuse so that I didn’t have to make any extra effort… or start something I would be unable to continue… or just simply fail at.

Maybe I think too much, I don’t know! But, I often think that when I meet new people and they ask the inevitable question “What do you do?” I reel off a pile of daily activities like… my job, or the fact that we homeschool etc… but people don’t really mean “What do you do?”.  What they really want to know is “Who are you?” or, what they’re really thinking is “How can I connect to this person”.  We have a crazy obsession of defining who we are with the job/work that we do.  The problem is, I know that just because my expertise is in Marketing doesn’t mean I am this or that! … I have trouble understanding this though, especially when there’s very little else that I do.  Am I marketing?!  No I’m not!

And so that brings me to why the hell I’m trying to pursue the things that interest me.  So that I can find me in amongst the taxi driving, dish washing, clothes laundering, business owning, mum, wife……..

Make any sense?

Yoga helps me  find a space of peace, stillness and awareness that helps me feel more like me than at any other time, and if I can learn how to safely pass on this practice so that others can benefit from yoga then I think that’s a worthwhile path   So that is why I decided to do my Yoga Teacher Training.  Ive been doing it for 3 months now, and I’m committed to the rest of the course one weekend a month for 2 years… I’m sure I’ll probably blab on about it here.

Wishing you a lovely weekend!

Wishing you a lovely weekend!