We have returned from a completely restorative weekend away. What was originally supposed to be a long holiday weekend with my mother at a bungalow near at Lauwersmeer National Park, turned out to be the same— just missing one of our favorite travel partners.
I feel completely reset. I’m pretty good at keeping low expectations when we travel, but this time I felt like I started this 4 night mini-vacation with zero expectations and it turned out even better than I could have expected!
This little corner of the north feels a little off beat. Not really a town (just a small harbor) and a national park in Groningen, but right at the Friesland border. You can’t really go to the beach up there, but we had some great beach time at the lake collecting sea shells. Sea shells at the lake! The whole thing was a little bizarre. I loved every minute of it and the kids had a blast.
Flora kept saying, “I love this vacation.” On the last morning, sleepy head Thibault says, “I love our new house.” They played well together the entire weekend and spirits were high. Lazy mornings full of coffee, reading books, watching T.V., jumping in the hot tub in the rain, jumping on the trampoline, and arts and crafts. We spent our afternoons driving to Dokkum for some incredible ice cream at Zuco, playing at the lake, walking along the harbor at the Wadden Zee. One morning we followed at 1,5 km nature walk in the national park. Every day brought small beautiful moments.
I love how my children are appreciating the really small things, especially now during this corona time. A simple trip to get ice cream (because it is so rare now) is the greatest thing to them. It really is wonderful.
This trip also felt like one of the first times (in 6 years) that I was not completely dead tired from traveling with my kids. No breast feeding multiple times in the middle of the night, no drama in the middle of the night, nobody getting up before 6:00 a.m. needing something or asking for something. I “slept in” with Thibault until 8:30 each morning. It felt amazing.
We originally canceled this weekend away, but I’m so happy we stuck with the plans. I can feel/see the immediate impact fresh air and the great outdoors have on my kids. It was several days full of gratitude and appreciating the little things. It was a weekend in nature that our family needed to reset everything for our next corona phase together.
I feel like our pictures don’t even do it justice. The view of the mountains of the lake was massive. Flora was swimming around like a little fish. Thibault was throwing rocks and collecting pieces on the side. There was a full hour of zen there for me interrupted by Thibault almost drowning. Yes—I was watching him 100% of the time not distracted and I was watching him wading into the water to pick up a floating stick and boom. He fell right under and I sprang up to save him. It was only a second of being submerged, but it scared the crap out of me and I could not stop thinking about it for 48 hours.
I love this picture of Flora. It pretty much sums up her mood the entire trip. She said repeatedly that she loved Slovenia. That was a relief to hear. There was a lot of planning that goes behind something like this. Making sure we have kid friendly swimming opportunities, a balance between parent and adult fun, and frankly— Jaap and I always are thinking with the children in mine, so I don’t need her seal of approval. But, I loved hearing her say how much she was enjoying this vacation. The sights, the sounds, and most of all, the swimming!
Mama Flora 