Packing Family-Friendly Travel Snacks

Arriving into Abu Dhabi airport at midnight with two snackish children in tow, I was relieved to not be reliant on the questionable options on offer. Having a child with special dietary needs (Lovely is glute-free) is occasionally a good thing for everyone. Namely when Mama has packed snacks :)

Dry roasted almonds. Yum. Substitute with any nuts of choice for an easy protein hit. We also stopped at Burger King for water, and T may or may not have purchased fries. Cough. #notpartofmyhealthyplanning!

While aimed at the baby 'market' I personally think these handy sachet-style snacks are a good travel option for everyone. This Bircher Muesli is gluten-free and filled hungry bellies.

Corn Crunch. While I usually try to minimize packaging by steering away from individually wrapped serves, there are moments in life when it does make things easier. Like not asking jet-lagged children to share. 

My boys don't like these Raw Food bars as much as I do (yum) but I think they're a great pick-me-up for weary travellers.

Obviously, when you're flying you don't want to bring more than you'll eat in transit or you risk having to declare it with customs at your final destination. But having a few decent snacks on hand is always a good thing. If I'm packing snacks for a road or train trip I'll generally also include fresh fruit and crudités, plus maybe hummus and some crackers.

What are your family's favourite travel snacks? 

On The Road (Squeeeee!)

Sept 16. 2013 ❤ The day I had daydreamed about for years... the day we were FINALLY back "on the road" with our munchkins!!

Brisbane - Singapore - Abu Dhabi - London. Erm, I pretty much don't recommend flying that far without a stopover. #crazy. Luckily, the boys thought the in-sky entertainment system was the best thing. Ever. Particularly the retro game "Pong". 

First stop Singapore. Can you tell they also thought the airport shops were awesome? Lol. 

I may or may not have been more fixated with the orchids :)

T checking email at midnight in Abu Dhabi.

Lovely riding a brass camel. Err, sans teeth.

Loving the arabic text.

C'mon Mama. We've got a plane to catch...

London here we come!!

Packing up & hitting the road!

Packing your bags is a lot more fun than packing up your house!
Believe me. I speak from experience ;)

Today was a million-appointments, finalising design jobs, sealing last-minute boxes, phone calls to the utility companies and banks and cleeeeeaning.

But, wow. 2 days / 3 sleeps to go. I'm in that utterly surreal phase right now where I am doing all the things that need to be checked off the list but I really can not fathom what we are about to undertake...

Like, really - we'll be getting on a plane on Monday morning? Seeing a performance of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' at the Globe Theatre in London next Thursday? Celebrating Hug's 10th birthday at Legoland Windsor 2 days later? No way that can all be true.

But... maybe it is :)

Oh.
My.
God.

Squeeeee! *insert exhaustion-induced hysteria*

Everything we have been working towards and thinking about and dreaming of for so many weeks, months, (years even!) is about to kick off. Feeling so blessed right now!

A. XO

When things don't go as planned...

I've been MIA.

All my best laid plans - my juice-healing, our travel planning and house pack-up, my camera repairs, my blogging, even school... EVERYTHING - has been on hold because Hug continued to be unwell.

No measure of optimism can sway things sometimes. 

Some things just don't go as we planned.

It's been four weeks since he started feeling bad (primarily it's excruciating stomach pain). After a myriad of doctors appointments and rounds of tests we ended up spending four nights in hospital, finally coming home last night.

I am forever grateful to the people who choose to work as doctors and nurses (and all of the other varied but no less important roles) on a children's ward. It is a hard thing to let someone else take a portion of responsibility for your child's health into their own hands but even more amazing that people are willing to accept that grand responsibility.

And, as hard as this has been for our whole family, I have been completely humbled in this experience by the knowledge that one of closest friends is also nursing a very sick child right now - a little girl who has been far sicker and has a far greater recovery to make than Hug. I am in awe of their strength and the perspective that this has brought me.

So, we are home. And we have 5 days til we fly. 

Oh man.

The house is a disaster-zone (though I have to give thanks to my own mama who came and helped pack up some boxes in the kitchen today!) and I still have a design job to finish (eeeeek) and to be completely honest I'm a bit frazzled... I just burnt the soup I was reheating as I type this. Whoops.

But, what can I say... Hug is starting to feel better! And that's my number one goal. He's not back to his usual robust self yet, he still has some pain and is a bit miserable, but I think he's going to be good. We've had the all clear to fly with him (even yesterday I wasn't sure that was going to be possible) and I'm guessing my wildly optimistic and busy plans for our first two weeks in London may have to be dampened but this is certainly the best-case scenario right now.

A big thanks to everyone who sent love and good wishes on my FB page. Your kindness filled my heart even in the most frustrating moments.

So, here's to acknowledging that the universe is bigger than we are. 
And to brighter days ahead! 

I'll try and post again in the next fews days but otherwise I'll see you in London :) A. x