We do however think that our perfect family holiday always contains five key ingredients - Good food, a chance to explore new cultures, time together as a family, time together as a couple and the chance to have fun trying something new.
We've been looking at old photographs and have re-lived lots of happy holiday memories based on these five key ingredients and would love to share them with you in this post. Let me know what you think.
1 - Good Food
Good food is hugely important to us as a family - it doesn't have to be expensive or fancy as long as it is fresh and tasty. Some of our happiest holiday memories have been created sitting around a table of delicious, local food and everyone digging in.
Family meals are the time we all re-group and get the chance to re-connect and share what we've been up. We also have a soft spot for romantic meals for two on holiday which are the perfect way to relax and enjoy some grown up chat.
Chocolate brownie in a fancy restaurant
A Sunday lunch feast
Oysters during a date night for two
A visit to a Japanese restaurant
The time we all went for afternoon tea - so many cakes!!
Making our own pizzas
A snap of hubby on a recent date night
2 - The chance the explore new cultures
We aren't the sort of family who like to stay in our resort for the whole holiday - we will always plan at least one afternoon where we can venture out and visit the local sights. It is really important to us as a parents to introduce our children to as many different cultures as possible and we have been lucky that our children have always embraced experiencing new sights, sounds and tastes with us.
Heidi walking down Las Ramblas aged one
Posing outside La Sagrada Familla
Exploring the local food markets in Turkey
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Looking out to Sea at Sitges
Some much needed Orange Juice in Marrakech
I work weekends and my husband works shifts so our time together as a family is really important to us - we love our family days out and creating new memories going on new adventures but equally if there is a park or beach around we'll use our imaginations to create our own adventures too.
Enjoying a walk by the sea in Spain
Taking part in craft club on a family holiday
The best way to cool down together in the summer
Playing together in the park - whatever the weather
Rockpooling and pirate fun on the Yorkshire coast
Working together to make one giant sand castle
Having three children that are close in age can really test any relationship. We love our children dearly and our family days together are precious but it is very important for us to spend time investing in our marriage as well. We believe that happy parents=happy children and regular 'date nights' really are one of the reasons we are still happy after many years together.
We always make time to enjoy a date night just for us every couple of weeks - this could be a meal out, cooking for each other and watching a dvd or maybe a trip to the cinema or trying something completely new. We always try and make time for each other on holiday too whether this be using a kids club, taking grandparents with us to help with babysitting or simply putting the children to bed early one night and sharing a bottle of wine on the balcony.
Our trip to Glastonbury
Trying out the ice bar
Date night in Portugal
A night at Gidleigh Park
5 - Having fun trying something new
Our family lives by the ethos that 'you only live once'. We are given one life and really do want to live it to the full. We will honestly give anything a go once and our family and friends will often roll their eyes when we tell them about our next venture or idea (the latest one being camping in the UK in December!) but who cares what they think? We will throw ourselves into everything we try and will turn any new experience into lots of fun and create lots of memories whilst doing so.
Staying on a farm and learning to look after chickens
Getting very wet during a speedboat ride
Dancing in the mud when we went to a local music festival together
Preparing to take part in a battle against real life Vikings
Trying our hand at Moroccan cooking
Learning to trust a friend as we tried a blindfolded woodland trail
Staying in a wigwam and learning how to build a fire
So these are what we think are the key ingredients to a perfect family holiday. Do you agree? I would love to hear what you think.
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