Staycation Summer: The Plan (and a few memories from last summer!)

I've had this post in the drafts section of my brain for a while. My brain is full of blog post ideas that have never been written... the sad truth that writing has been forced onto the back burner of life for a season. I do miss the days of finishing up each evening with a daily post. Though at the time it resulted in a lot of late nights, I'm thankful for the record I have of my children's little years... and hope one day to be a little more regularly present here again!

Usually, you'd find us at this time of year fjordside... spending our days pottering round quaint Norwegian villages, and our evenings sitting on the veranda of the cottage, looking out at stunning mountain and fjord views and freaking out about the bat-birds (long story, but I will tell it to you one day!) 

We are incredible privileged that our summers are filled with beautiful memories - picking raspberries along the lane, freshly baked rolls from Bestemor, boat rides with the wind in your hair, children splashing in the icey fjords, stunning mountain views, precious family time, bunches of wildflowers and copious amounts of norwegian waffles. When we realised we weren't going to make it this year, I think its fair to say all of our hearts broke a little bit.

 

Good news is, I discovered bizarrely that I'd never actually shared our photos from last summer in Norway, so here's a little taster of our usual summer shenanigans, and after a little scroll you might understand why we were so sad not to be heading back for a Scandi summer this year!

We are, however, eternal optimists, and I am always, ALWAYS up for a challenge. So when we realised we weren't going to be travelling the world this summer (thank you Covid!), we decided as a family that the world better just travel to us. 

In our back garden.

A free, fun-filled, family "trip around the world" from the safety of our own home.

Each of us picked a destination... one place we would really like to visit together as a family. We decided we would spend a week "in" each country - exploring the culture, food, landscapes and history. It has turned out to be so much fun! And so I thought I'd share it with you!

Here were the pickings...

Elias (3 years) - France - well, he actually said Disneyland Paris, but we felt that wasn't broad enough!

Jonas (5 years) - Germany

Heidi (7 years) - Holland

Ava (8 years) - USA
Me (not giving the years away!) - Italy

Dave (Definitely not giving the years away!) - Scotland

We have had so much fun recreating these countries, being a bit creative and having a lot of fun along the way. We have been fairly free about it all too... we want to enjoy our holidays after all and not feel too tied down, so each "week" has actually consisted of 2-3 days of more intentional themed activity, and then a lot of down time at home too. Something we've learned to appreciate more over lockdown!

Huge thanks to all of you who helped me out over on Instagram (@liferoundclarinas) with ideas for the different countries - we have utilised some of them, and will continue too as the remaining weeks unfold!!

For now, I'll leave you with a few Norwegian memories... and will post tomorrow with our French week! We had a lot of fun!

I'd love to know where you would choose to go!! What would be your Staycation destination of choice?? Let me know in the comments!!