NOT that any of you need reminding, I am sure, but half-term is here.
You are likely benefitting from the lack of school-run traffic while seeing kids everywhere else you go, like swarms of locusts.
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This week we have been in Majorca, Spain. Mark was there on a training camp and so, with the kids off school, it was logical to visit him.
The cycling season is fully underway and that means lots of distance between our crew, so every couple of days spent together helps.
Is it a holiday? Kind of. We get some sunshine, routine goes out of the window and we aren’t sleeping in our own beds. But in reality we are doing whatever it takes to keep our family ticking over.
We spent hours at the velodrome while Mark trained on the track in three-hour blocks.
‘Go Daddy!’
The kids took the chance to do laps on their bikes, practise gymnastics and subject me to endless rounds of: “What’s the time, Mr Wolf?”
This part of our break is all about supporting Mark.
He gets to see the kids’ faces between sessions and the children in turn can see what goes on behind the scenes of Daddy’s job – not just the races they watch on television.
They see the sweat, the retching over a bin after a huge effort . . . then Mark getting back up to do it all over again.
Delilah loves to do the lap board and ring the final lap bell, Casper pretends he is racing alongside Mark and finishes with his arms aloft, while Frey occasionally cheers: “Go Daddy!”
The kids adore the track and I love them being a part of it all.
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But it is not easy to police them – while letting Mark work – with a smattering of hugs and chat about Power Rangers.
Someone on Instagram messaged me when I posted a picture of the children at the velodrome saying that, in his opinion, the children probably didn’t want “dragging” there again.
For a second, I felt a pang of guilt.
Then I remembered this person doesn’t know my family and I realised I don’t care for his opinion.
Our family life isn’t nine to five. It isn’t textbook. But whose is?
We all do what we need to glue together the pieces and make our families, jobs and lives function in their different ways.
So, for now . . . it’s a case of “have kids, will travel”.
