Mark Warner Ski Holiday • The big surprise
Over the last year or so I've poured my heart and soul into my blog, my photography, my Instagram and everything that goes with being this weird and wonderful role that is a blogger. I've fallen more in love with blogging if that was possible and over the last 18 months I have stopped introducing myself as a property consultant and instead I always start with, and proudly I might add, I'm a blogger.
I've made lifelong friendships with people which started as a Twitter chat back and forwards and worked with companies that quite frankly are dream collaborations.
There's been a lot of discussion in the blogging community lately about the purpose of your blog, getting back to the true essence of why you started, not succumbing to the commercial world that is so tempting as your follower numbers start to grow and taking more time out, to reconnect off line and embrace a slower pace of real life.
But I feel differently, blogging makes me feel empowered, as a parent and as a working mother. My blog is a way that I can reach people I might never meet, who can know me, know my family values, read my waffles, worries, celebrate the highs and get me through the lows of real life. I may not always share them, but they are there, in the background, estranged family members, heated arguments with my husband and tearful conversations with best friends when you feel like you are trying to do everything and failing and achieving nothing at all!
My blog is a way to involve my children in my working life. Not to put them to work - but give them a sense of appreciation and respect for what I do for 8, 10, 12 sometimes more hours a day, and a way for us to record some incredible memories. To show them how hard we both work, why their playroom gets taken over as a photography studio and why I think it's important to work hard and be nice.
This blog has brought my little family together.
I love that I have this record of their young lives, a digital footprint for them to look back on. They might not always be the focus of this blog but everything I do is with them in mind. To work to earn money to pay for house renovations, new clothes, Christmas presents, trips out with friends and family and making connections that lead to new family friendships and companies who we would be proud to represent.
This year it has been our great pleasure to be a Mark Warner holidays family ambassador and share what was honestly the best holiday we have ever been on. We literally will talk to anyone who vaguely shows an interest about a family holiday about what a game changer our trip to Lakitira in the summer was. We repeat the phrase we heard so often around the resort "Once you go Mark Warner, you never go back!"
It made us look at the meaning of a family holiday in a whole new light. 7 days to make you feel relaxed, refreshed, rewarded and reconnect with your children. It's hard to explain how a holiday with childcare helps you do that but it does. It makes you appreciate them more, because you want to rush to pick them up, you want to spend all lunchtime chewing their ears off about what water sports they have just learnt or what songs they are for the end of week show. You don't want to pass them your phone to keep them quiet under the glow of the Youtube video. You really want to be with them.
I don't think it's shameful to admit a holiday is for you too. Time to be a family, time to be alone and time to remember the couple you were before your had your babies. For us there is no going back ;)
So can you imagine how hard it's been keeping a big secret from the boys?! Tomorrow morning we fly to Méribel in France for our first family ski trip with Mark Warner. I'll be taking over their Instagram account for the week and sharing lots of photos online so come along!
I made a jigsaw and set a treasure hunt around the garden and it took a few minutes for it to really sink in. They were sort of in disbelief at first and then the screams came...!
I'm listening to them snoring in the hotel at Gatwick and I can't sleep. I just keep thinking of their faces when we land and get to the resort and they see the snow. Even at 6, Sammy can't really remember the snow storms we had in the UK a couple of years ago, he looks at photos and smiles but they are not real living memories. This is going to be the magical one, the one we talk about for years to come. We haven't even got there yet but I just know it's going to be extra special.
See you in the snow!