50 days of River

Fifty days of River: Connection, isolation and everything in between.

travel

  • Bye Bye, Holiday Home

    The last day was fairly muted. River had decided he wanted to go home and spent most of it saying “bye bye holiday.” We went to the playground where he fell off the zip wire, spectacularly. I felt awful for laughing once I realised he’d genuinely hurt his knee. There was a brief attempt at Read more

  • Christmas, Slowed Right Down

    It’s 5pm on Christmas Day and I’m back at the playground, listening to Disney tracks in Spanish. So much for a traditional Christmas. I woke up at 4am and put a few little presents at the end of each of their beds. I was awake again by 7, convinced Summer must be up but no.8.30am, Read more

  • This blog post feels muddled because it is muddled. It was written over a few days, in snatched moments, and honestly that mirrors how my head has felt. The hotel is huge, a maze of elevators, tunnels and dark pockets of fake volcanic rock. It’s built into a castle, which sounds magical, but mostly means Read more

  • So, I know I said no extra admin this Christmas and I did mean it but obviously going on holiday does come with a slight drawback… actually getting there. And because Jet2 holidays only fly from airports that are nowhere near my house, this was always going to be an adventure. Step 1: Leaving the Read more

  • Playing It Safe… Until We Didn’t We’ve been playing it pretty safe these past few months. Not really risking as much as a bus journey. So, to keep us on our toes and obviously to provide a wonderful look at how we transport ourselves, we decided to visit my Dad. My dad lives in the Read more

  • Day 36: Running on Empty

    Morning Whistle Chaos The tiredness is not going away. I slept again till 8.30am but still feel awful. My spoons have well and truly run out. Summer and River were on their iPads for the morning while I did my usual clean-up and second breakfasts. Summer went to make her bed and found an old Read more

  • Day 25: Home

    The Morning After River slept through and woke at 6.30am. I woke up feeling like I’d been hit by a truck. My arms ached, I know I should actually lift weights like Kike. I honestly think I’m going to have to. River isn’t getting any smaller and I don’t see ‘keeping him safe’ being something Read more

  • Day 24: The Final Push

    A Quiet Last Night Our last morning began with River stirring in the night, but I managed to soothe him back to sleep.Kike and I had our long-planned dinner together. It was nice enough, no children demanding snacks, no Halloween hum in the background but honestly, we were both so tired and not even that Read more

  • Day 23: River’s Plan

    Waking Up Flat I woke up early to find River stirring but he’d slept straight through from 7 p.m. the night before, still in his holiday shirt. I climbed in beside him for a bit. I already knew: today wasn’t going to be my best. Last night at dinner (Mexican night – nachos), the weight Read more

  • Last Night’s Recon Mission Kike and I went on our reconnaissance trip to the beach last night, just the two of us. It’s about a ten minute walk from the hotel, down a little winding path that opens out to a boardwalk leading right to the sea. There are signs claiming “disabled access” and to Read more