Over the course of the week we had tried to find somewhere to stay in Coffs Harbour but nobody could accomadate a family as large as ours, without having to book out the whole resort (ok, that might be stretching the truth just a little) so we decided we would stay at Paradise Resort one more day. The kids were happy but David was nervous, having to do a flat run to home with no decent break in between.

Somehow the 12 hour drive in the daylight always seemed longer than when we travelled through the night. By dinner, it was obvious that Ivy and Noah’s 2 hour sleep at White Water World was not because of being worn out by all the excitement but rather a symptom of the croup that had invaded their airways. After over a week of perfect, stress free health the lurgy had found them once more.

Come morning, their temps were high and the purchase of baby Panadol had been made. Once it had kicked in and the babies had rallied, we walked along the beach in the morning sun, for one last time.

We ate outdoors at a gorgeous cafe that sold all day breakfasts for five dollars - toast, egg, bacon, tomato and sausage. Then we walked around Surfers Paradise.

At the beginning of our holiday Imogen and Madeline had mentioned they would like to have their nails done. So when we stumbled upon a little salon I booked them in. I was surprised to hear that Lily wanted hers done as well. I thought the tomboy in her would be fighting those ‘feminine, lets be pretty’ hormones all the way into adulthood but Lily was the first of the girls to slip into the beautician’s seat.

While all this was going on David was becoming increasinlgy worried about Noah, who was slumped in his arms in a febrile induced sleep and Ivy, who was becoming grotty and tired again, in her fight to fend off the illness. A decision was made that he and Mum would take them and AJ, Mal and Lily (whose nails were finished and beautiful) back to the resort.

Mum would learn just how heavy 11kgs of sleeping baby girl could be when walking one and a half kilometres back to the rooms. David said later that she had almost collapsed by the time they’d returned but the determined (stubborn) woman had kept powering on until the end.

While Immy and Maddy were being pampered I wandered down to a surf shop to look at a pair of Globe sneakers that AJ had mentioned he liked. I was gobsmacked when I found the price tag! I knew this time would come when no name shoes and clothes would become uncool and I knew that my wallet would take a beating but maybe I was hoping that it wouldn’t start quite so soon…

I bought them anyway because he had been so good and because I understood wanting to be cool and like the other kids at school.

When we got back to the resort we all had lunch and some time in the rooms. The babies slept and the rest of us packed. It was quiet and the kids were subdued, sad that our time in the sun was over.

David and I decided we would have one last venture down to the beach.  Mum begged off, she was exhausted from her morning stint of being the packhorse for Ivy.

We stayed until the sun started to set, the breeze cooling on our faces. I relished in our time as a family, having longed for the togetherness for a while. I looked around me as the children built sandcastles and played on the beach. Noah, now comfortable with the ocean experience, sat, not on a towel but amongst the sand, shovelling the grit onto his lap. Ivy ran as free as her spirit, Imogen in the sea, Maddy and Lily building a world together, AJ and Mal, soaking up every last moment of the day and David, who struggles so hard to find balance in work and family, now relaxed and happy.

As we were walking towards the boardwalk, leaving Surfers Paradise behind us, Noah, who was weak now from fever and allowing me to carry him back to the rooms, turned once more towards the beautiful setting where the ocean and the earth kiss and waved goodbye to the beach…

‘Bye - bye the sand’, he whispered.

The next day we travelled home. The twins horribly sick, the kids and the adults a little grumpy from the long trip, reality of the normalcy of everyday life hurtling towards us. I couldn’t help but wonder what our next break would be like. Whether it would all change now, with Imogen, Madeline and AJ racing towards that turbulent adolescent time. Whether, we would feel as close as we all did now.

Whatever happens, I will be forever thankful for our hoilday. Everyday a gift and a wonderful memory to tuck away for a time when I need some sunshine.

Happy birthday to me.

Happy birthday to me

Happy birthday dear 35 year old, worn out, saggy, baggy mother of way too many children (don’t you know what a television is?),

Happy birthday to me.

Hip Hip hoorayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!

Picture this, if you will, five children, two babies two parents and a senior (sorry mum) matriarch lined up on banana chairs. Towels down, sunscreen and swimmers on and a whole world of water before them on a perfectly sunny day. Not too hot and not too cold. Add to this scene the mother and her mother in "like totally dude", happenin’, surfy- labelled boardies and an equally expensive labelled shirt and you have the setting for the day.

The children scatter. The littlies to Wiggle World, where they can splash through musical fountains of water, stand under a flower shower or swim in the ankle high pool. The older children are thrilled with all they see and make their way to the various adrenalin pumping rides. The Rip, The Beach, The BRO (blue ringed octopus), the hydrocoaster and… THE GREEN ROOM!

A monsterous tunnel that throws you and three others into what appears to be a conical sink hole flipped on it’s side. As the occupants of the clover shaped tube slip from the top of one side, down and almost all the way to the top of the other side, the mother thanks her lucky stars that the boardies she chose are dark blue, so they will adequately mask the stain she will aquire when her children (or adrenalin junkie husband) push her onto said ride (and she knows it is coming).

The grandmother is forced to find a designated smoking area, such is her fear of these kinds of rides. She is also thankful that boardies mostly come in black and blacker because she has promised the children she will attempt at least one ride.

The adrenalin junkie father is overloaded by all that he sees and he takes a moment to recover from the expanse of gut wrenching, whirling,vomit inducing mechanical giants (that and the cost of the boardies) by reverting to organisation of posessions so the family is free to wander the park without having to worry about anything being stolen. Once he has calmed down, he attempts to feign amusement as he watches the toddlers spray each other with Dorothy The Dinosaur and Wags the Dog water guns (secretly he is wishing he could run wild and free with the eleven year olds and the nine year old who thinks she is eleven).

His wish soon comes true as the babies become restless and tired from morning beach walks and Wiggle overload. The mother finds herself in a banana chair, watching one sleeping child in the pram while the other is asleep, like a kitten, on her lap. The children come to drag the Daddy away. His fake protests fall on deaf ears and his poor acting skills do not convince the mother that he wants to stay to help out with the cherubs. She laughs and shakes her head. He pretends to be pulled away by the children but  once he thinks he is out of the mother’s line of sight she can see him scurry ahead of the kids.

After an hour or so he returns, saturated and happy. A smile splits his face from ear to ear. There is a sparkle in his eye that the mother has not seen for a long time. The children are beetling around their hero father, excitedly telling the mother and the grandmother of their adventures. They eat their lunch hurriedly and then all of them, including the fully adrenalised father, scuttle away again. The grandmother is almost chain smoking now, knowing that her number is up next. The mother remains on her banana chair, watching as the cherubs sleep and listening to the Wiggles music playing in the background, thinking of all the thing she would like to buy in the shop that sold her the board shorts.

The toddlers are blissfully unaware of all that is going on around them and continue to sleep for another hour before waking to consume a bucket of chips each and half of the mothers burger. They are back in Wiggle World before you can say ‘Captain Feathersword’ and the mother and the father are released from parental duties to ride the waves together (the grandmother thankful for an excuse to buy more time).

The father rides The Rip with the mother and two of the children, after making her stand under a huge Nickelodeon water bucket that spews massive amounts of H2O onto her head, soaking her to the very core. He then convinces her that The Green Room is not as scary as The Rip and leads her to the top of the ride. As they get on the cloverleaf raft, he turns to her and declares that he lied and this is by far the most petrifying ride he has ever been on. As she leans over to hit him as hard as she can the ride controller heaves the raft into the tunnel and the mother once again (amongst screaming her lungs out and holding on for dear life) thanks the surfy labels for the dark coloured boardies.

The ride lasts about 9 seconds but it is a few moments of absolute childlike enjoyment. The mother feels light and happy and free. For a day that she thought would be boring and of very little enjoyment for the adults, it has turned out to be the best day so far.

As the parents return to the banana chairs to find the babies pulling apart a garden, the other two big kids drag the grandmother off to face her fears. She returns later, shaking and wet but she has not let the children down and they see her as a hip, cool Gran with a bad ass attitude! They circle her and bask in her heroism.

The sun is starting to set and the family are one of the few remaining in the park, having had the most wonderful of times, they are reluctant to leave it behind. Knowing that the holiday is drawing to a close.

The mother shops her heart out and the family purchase photos snapped in an instant of time. Some showing children smiling and happy, some with looks of terror on their faces, some with their favourite Wiggles character. It is a day none of them will ever forget.

for the comment and to answer your question, yes. AJ was scared at first. He was afraid of the sharks but they had to watch a dvd on do’s and don’t’s  and he learnt that the only sharks in his part of the tank were ones that were deemed not dangerous. After that he felt alot better. I love the dolphin experience! The girls have done that one but when we tried to get AJ into it, we found it was booked out until November! Now they have a family experience and that looks great!