Holiday Fun

For once I am saddened that it’s the end of the school holidays. As a stay-at-home mum, one tends to dread the long days of entertaining bickering kids. But as a working mum, I welcome the time catching up on things at home and, more importantly, spending time with the children. As well as the good times, this means getting stuck into the nitty-gritty.

After completing most of my spring cleaning in the first week, we headed off on a holiday to Mount Maunganui.

During the five-hour drive, we only had one casualty on the vomiting front: While driving through Dome Valley with nowhere safe to stop, Miss Five, who against my advice, had decided to sit in the back of the seven-seater, informed me she had a sore tummy.

“Hang on, we’re nearly in Warkworth – it’s just around the cor-“

“Cough, cough – blarghh!”

Doh! Too late.

The boys were unimpressed and let their poor sister know it.

I pulled into what I thought was a deserted side road and we leapt out while an upset Miss Five slowly clambered out.

She’d managed to miss herself but the back of the car, in the furthest-reaching corner had copped it.

Once again, it was wet wipes to the rescue and I used nearly a whole packet cleaning up the mess, on the side of the road while a steady stream of traffic went past, its occupants rubber-necking.

I’m sure they knew what had happened – we see it all the time. What I hadn’t noticed, was that I was on the road to Sheep World – hence the volume of cars and the lack of privacy I’d hoped for.

With most of the carnage cleaned up but the aroma certainly lingering, we continued on. If we drove with all the windows down, it went away, but we could only last so long like this in the cold weather.

It came with us all the way down to the Mount and Miss Five copped a fair amount of flak from her brothers for it.

The Mount had a somber feeling and, if not for the dodgy weather (hailing one minute, brilliant, hot sunshine the next) I would have kept the kids and their noise away from that end of the beach as a mark of respect. But they’ve seen it on the news and, as it happened, when we ended up there on Sunday waiting to meet friends, they made wee Jack their own creation to add to the teddies and candles awaiting him.

Back home (the vomit smell had almost completely disappeared by now), it was a quick bath and straight into bed ready for the twin’s birthday.

Being their sixth and having done the big party thing last year, this time I decided to keep it simple: they were each allowed one friend to play for the day and they were stoked with this.

In keeping with the simple theme, the cake was a huge box of ice cream, tipped out onto a chopping board, which the kids had a ball decorating with lollies and sprinkles. The idea was to slice it into rectangles before sticking an ice block stick in it and there they’d have their own decorated ice blocks. However, the kids had so much fun decorating the ‘cake’, it began melting rather rapidly so they were shuffled off outside with their ‘íceblocks’ in a bowl.

Despite the simplicity, they claimed it the ‘best day of my life!’ Admittedly they say this on a regular basis but it was still humbling.

In fact, the whole slower pace of the holidays was humbling. But alas, all good things must come to an end and it’s now back to the rush, rush, rush of getting kids and myself out the door.

Until next time. In a strange reversal: ten weeks and counting.