Tag: Family

Resolutions 2020: Better late than never

On By lex270In Fitness, Parenthood, Travel, UncategorizedLeave a comment

I’m not sure where December and January went… anyone know?  Ah I remember, December we were wiped out with a horrible virus that just.would.not.leave, and January was spent on the back foot, catching up with everything missed in December.  But we’re here now and back up to speed.

So Resolutions!  2019 I listed a whole bunch which were mainly focussed on a family effort to cut down on our waste, you can check out what those points were here Resolutions 2019  I feel that we stuck to a lot of the goals when it came to cutting down waste, but there is so much more room for improvement.

Things we nailed were: water bottles, travel coffee cups, metal straws, carrier bags, soap bars, washing powder, rechargeable batteries, ground coffee, making packed lunches (instead of buying in wrappers), natural shower scrubbers, reusable make-up cloths, shampoo bars, loose fruit & veg, buying less stuff, saying no to receipts on non important purchase or getting them emailed, splitting items that are part recyclable and part non recyclable, washing out packaging before it goes in the recycle bin / glass bin, making our own pizza dough which is healthier and no packaging!

Room for improvement: 

I’ve gotten slack on taking my own containers to supermarkets, as you really seem to have to fight your case as to why you don’t want to buy in packaging.  This is a shame as somedays I’m up for the conversation, and some days I’m more like, meh..  I will try my best to take my own containers going forward.

I have yet to visit a new re-fill store that has opened up near to me which I should have done a few weeks ago..

I don’t like my hair conditioning bar, its not very good?  Help, please let me know if you’ve found one that leaves your hair feeling silky smooth.

So thats the waste section done.. on to diet, health and fitness.  Last year I continued on my ‘journey’, everything is a journey, so en trend, anyway, I still practice yoga every single day first thing in the morning (thats 18 months guys!!) and I still love it.  (You can read about my 365 days of yoga here.)  I started to dabble in doing a Hiit workout before my yoga, which I did manage to do a few times, but I would like to make more effort this year, when I do get up, I enjoy going into my day knowing that I’ve already got a sweat on, and feeling smug AF.  I also focussed on getting stronger last year.

Diet.  I get asked about my diet, a lot.  Like its a big secret, but its really not. I’m an active person, I cook at home and I don’t eat many processed foods, and I drink a lot of water.  My diet does change as I’m always learning about what food can do to your body and the science behind it, like I’ve been researching a more plant based diet over the past few months.  The biggest change I’ve made is switching from cows milk to a non dairy option, at the moment I’m loving oat milk.  But this might be another blog entirely, (let me know if you want a ‘what I eat in a day’ blog).

Time: now our kids are four and seven, we’re out of the trenches, we can, and do, take them anywhere (not that that stopped us before! but its easier now) as they can start to interact with the family activities now, like we ALL went rock climbing last week and it was so so fun!  And also more date nights.  We’re big on family dinners in our house and we all sit down for a home cooked meal in the evenings, which is a luxury now, because just a couple of years ago, my husband used to leave for work before we woke up, and get home after the kids were in bed.  So these meals are great, but they revolve around the kids, so we don’t actually get to have a good catch up, so 2020 is the year of the date night. Investing in my man.. and any chance to not have to cook an evening meal. Seriously, is there a competition where I can win a chef for a year?  Sign me up.

So there are my Resolutions for 2020:

1. Continue to cut down on waste and learn more about different ways to cut down

2. Get a workout in before yoga a few times a week

3. More date nights

4. More activities with the kids

5. Continue to learn about food and how they are linked to health

6. And work goals… I’m excited for this year.

How to surf after having kids | Top 10 Tips

On By lex270In Fitness, Parenthood, Surfing, Travel, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Hey there!  I recently, or not so recently, wrote a blog to answer one of my lovely instagram followers questions on how to fit in wakeboarding and surfing after having kids… well I managed to write, edit, add photos and publish the wakeboarding one.  So now I’m just getting around to the surf one.

I don’t live by the coast, any coast, in fact, I’m probably the most land locked you could possibly get in England.  So we have to travel in the UK or abroad to get waves.  And no more surf day trips to the coast.  They will be shelved until the kids can surf.  (sob sob).

Surfing has changed, possibly for the better actually (I’m already in denial). Before kids we would surf at dawn if there was surf, eat, tan, surf, then do it all again all day, every day for the entire surf trip.  It was total shit.  (It was awesome.)

Then we tried to do the same thing with a baby.  Which is totally possible.  (It’s just not possible.)  A baby, or a small child (or multiple), is just not going to allow you to hang/bake on a beach all day long.  We’ve had to modify our holidays quite a bit, but they do work for us at the moment, we’re just on the cusp of having to do more kid focussed trips.  The main one being that we can’t really go somewhere in Europe for the waves in winter, no one wants to sit on a cold windy, rainy beach with small children.  And its not fair to ask anyone to go on a surf holiday and stay in the accommodation all day with nothing but internet and a DVD player to entertain them.  So we’re missing out on winter swell, which sucks.  See summer waves in the photo below…. it just ain’t the same.  Enough said.

Surf trips go like this: if the waves are cookin’, one will surf a dawnie one morning while the other parent gets the kids up and fed and makes the lunches for the day, we take it in turns each day to do this.  Then it’s off to the beach so that the other parent can surf.  We play with the kids, take them surfing, have lunch on the beach and then break the day up with some sightseeing, food shop, movie (we take kids DVD’s everywhere, family favs are Surfs Up, Happy Feet and Moana).  Then we’ll head back to the beach for a second surf while one is on the beach playing with the kids, beach walk, ice cream, rock pooling, sea glass hunting…  and then one will surf while the other parent takes the kids home for dinner and a bath, or get them ready to go out for dinner.  We try to stay where we can surf within walking distance of the accommodation as we do rent a car, but the one surfing needs to be able to walk home.  So it’s quite a juggling act, but its good for now.

And as you can imagine, theres loads of quality time with your partner.  (There is no quality time with your partner while on holiday with your kids.)  Actually we’ve started going away with my folks just so that we can have a date night on holiday.  (Love you guys xx)

The reason I say its better? (Its not better, but every cloud…)  Well my surfing was improving quite nicely, but it took a dip after baby number two, (the second was harder to ‘bounce back’ from).  I recently, (as in February) surfed with my husband on a golden weekend away in England, and surfing on my own has changed my surfing.  My husband taught me how to surf (I know, he did well as teaching your other half anything is just disastrous, actually I’m pretty impressed we’re still together, hun remember that time I got concussed by my NSP board and you couldn’t stop laughing?) and I’d only ever surf well with him around.

But surfing on my own for the past six years has taught me how to work my way into the line up and, if need be, hassle for waves on my own rather than him helping me.  And when we surfed together recently, all this newfound confidence went out the window and I just followed him around like a sick puppy!  So I think our setup is pretty sweet for now, and it also means we get some time to ourselves on holiday, when we’re all together 24/7.

Tips for a family surf trip: 

  1. Stay somewhere that you can surf within walking distance of your accommodation.
  2. Watch the wave / weather forecast before you go so you can travel as lightly as possible.  Clothes wise and wetsuit / surfboard wise.  With kids and car seats you don’t want to be taking four surfboards and a million suitcases.
  3. Get in the water.  If its your turn to surf, just go… do not watch the waves for ages (if you know the break that is, otherwise obvs watch it.  Safety first!)  Just run in and spend your hour having fun and taking off on anything.  Big or small.
  4. Teach the kids.  They may not want to surf in the future and thats cool, but while I’m paying for their holidays, they will conform.  (Jokes) Luckily my kids actually beg us to take them surfing and get pissed if they have to wait for one of us to come back in.
  5. Do not attempt to take multiple young children surfing on your own.  One parent to one child ratio.
  6. Appreciate it for what it is.  At this point in time, we cannot go in search of the best, cleanest, warmest waves when the tides are just right (these days will come in time – kids get better so we can go on a Mentawai boat trip. (Thank you please).  You need to just be happy that you are out there.
  7. Surf photos.  Don’t even bother.   You have two little humans to look after on a busy beach with a lot of water.
  8. If you want to get the kids in the water for longer than five minutes and actually enjoy learning to surf, then get them full wetsuits.
  9. Keep fit & flexible.  I train all year round and do yoga every day (I know, total brag alert) but my husband goes into serious training mode when he knows we’ve got a surf trip coming.  He has a training folder with notes and shedules and everything from three months out.  Reason being is that you can get the most from your surf because you’re not surfing as much anymore.
  10. Just go.  Think of all the positives you’ll get from the a holiday with your family and enjoy.  Cheers.

What are your tips from going on a family surf trip?  I love learning new holiday hacks!

Uneasy Rider

On By lex270In UncategorizedLeave a comment

I am 31 weeks preggers now (YEEEESSSS only 9 weeks left / Ooohh shizer only 9 weeks left).  Alas it has not been an easy ride this time, completely different to Ethan.  The first time around I was wakeboarding up until 5 months pregnant (until I couldn’t fit in my wetsuit anymore), I was doing yoga and I was walking an hour a day up until he was born.

Oh how different things are this time..

This time I managed to do buggy bootcamp until I hit the eight week mark I think – which made me feel absolutely pathetic.  But I was so tired and had bad nausea that exercising was the last thing I felt like doing – the last bootcamp I did I started to get tunnel vision so I knew it was time to stop.

I only rode a couple of times as well, once at Club Wake because it would have looked odd if I didn’t ride and I was still in the awkward early stages where you can’t really tell people.  And I rode in Ropes and Wires at BEP (anyone who saw me that day can vouch that I was rough as anything, I said I was ill but it was in fact, morning sickness!)

Once the morning sickness had subsided and I was over my cold as well as the two stomach bugs, along with the dawn of a new year, I got my act together and started swimming and doing some baby yoga.  I was feeling good but a couple of weeks in I caught another cold… and then another one.  I know colds are not that bad, but let me tell you, they suck while being pregnant and running around after a two year old.

I was lucky enough to go to Florida where I had a fabulously relaxing time and upon my return found out I’ve got low iron levels, which explains the extreme tiredness and shortness of breath (sooooo fun).  I started the iron tablets as prescribed and my body rejected them which may as well have been another stomach bug.  Testing out another kind as we speak. 

So now I’ve reached the final stretch, not long to go!  I can’t tell you how much I’m dying to get on the water, or lift a kettle bell, or wake surf, do circuits, yoga, walk more than 50 yards without back pain, ANYTHING… I just want to move my body!  I can’t wait until I don’t have to take a break and sit down while making a cuppa tea!  And I can’t wait to get my pre baby body back! 

I know its all worth it in the end and I really can’t wait to meet this little human I’m growing, but its not been an easy ride.  Its really really hard work making a baby!  

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