A change is as good as a rest..

Unless you've got four little kids to deal with..

It was gonna be so restful. The three of us exploring the New Forest, getting back to nature, relaxing and chilling out..

If only...

Are family holidays supposed to be like this? X is normally a sweet, charming dude - until he is paired up with his best buddy Samuel. Add in two younger brothers and you get childminding in a tent.. not a holiday...

It was amazing. I hoped X could hang out with his buddies, even make some new ones. Trouble is, add Samuel to the mix and you have bickering, screaming arguments and super competitiveness. We spent nearly the whole weekend firefighting and trying to diffuse tensions between the two of them. Meanwhile middle brother Richard was whinging and incredibly needy whilst cheerful, dirty William needed to be chained down to stop him running off. I kept on looking at toddler William's snot plugged and dirty face with a sense of dismay. This child was a world away from my immaculate niece - he wore his food like camo paint and had a thick layer of it.. up to his eyeballs!

I did have some moments of peace. I would've liked to have been able to share a few more with Ellen and X, but it was not to be. My appreciation of how unrewarding a 'family holiday' can be is a revelation. As is my respect for Xander's sweeter more well behaved chums. Hopefully we'll be seeing more of them in future, and less of the stressful ones...