getting into the swing of things.

Getting into the swing of things.

Its strange to be on the move again, and trying to work out the rhythms of family and travel. Our 22 month old Hugo still needs his 2 to 3 hour day sleeps, is still trying to work out how to sleep in a real bed and still loves his bottle, and is in the midst of trying to use a toilet. Our eight year old Pablo adapts to everything pretty quickly because he is so used to traveling, but he is also adjusting to not having all of his friends close by. We love exploring, but more than anything, I love the time out from routine to just spend time with each other gain. To play, talk and just hang out. It feels so peaceful after a day to day life of racing through time, trying to juggle kids and work. We are not sure where this journey is taking us, so far, we have plane tickets to Cambodia, then onto Thailand, then on to Myanmar. But we are just buying a ticket at a time, so we can adjust the pace to suit the kids.

We have been staying in a beautiful, and very large house, with satellite rooms, so all the kids are in with us, as the other bedroom is too far away for Pablo. Hugo has fell out of the bed a couple of times, but we have cushioned the landing. We have dragged a very heavy teak daybed to the end of the bed, and the kids are sort of contained in that. However, getting Hugo to stay in the bed has been challenging. Basically we need to stay with him, and each time he moves off the bed, we gently put him back on the bed, until he gets the idea, and goes to sleep. Its becoming easier, so it will be interesting to see how it all goes.

We are traveling with one 19 kg bag between the four of us. I am still hoping to pare it down in today. I think I have to say good bye to a couple of dresses that i quite like, but I don't think are practical enough. Its Hugo that needs the constant changes. He seems to put clothes on, and two minutes later they have food all over them. His nappies and milk take up a lot of the bag. Its hard to find fresh milk here, so he is back onto formula, which he refused to have anything to do with. I thought he might want to give up the bottle, but no, he now loves it again. Pablo has a little daypack, and so do we. We have a mcLaren pram for Hugo, and also a hiking pack for carrying Hugo on longer walks.  So, we don’t have much, and today I am getting rid of a few more clothes - but traveling with kids, its best not to have much, as you need to keep hands free for the kids.