Taking a walk down memory lane always brings up all of the feels, doesn’t it? Sometimes those memories flood back in the most unlikely of places, triggered by something which could be completely insignificant to the person who passed by it before you, but to you it holds a bucket-full of memories…
Walking down the ‘lanes’ or aisles inside Checkers brought me back to my childhood. I normally try and get my monthly shop done while the kids are at school. It is a massive shopping trip where the trolley is brim-full as I try stock the house with enough cleaning & laundry products and such sundries to last the month, so that all that is required for the remaining weeks of the month is fresh fruit, milk and food items. With it being school holidays, though, and unable to leave 3 kids at home I decided it would be a fun adventure to take the boys with me. The precursor was a stern warning that they not ask me for every single thing they lay their little eyes on… it worked to an extent – it was only every second thing they laid their eyes on! 😉
But having my little lads tag along and point out things we needed at home (Jackson is very helpful, actually!), brought memories flooding back to me as I used to join my mom on her monthly shop. After school we would go to PnP Hyper, and I absolutely loved it. Wandering the aisles, working off a list and picking up the things that were needed, and some that weren’t, was my best. Pretty sure it is where my love for shopping sprouted.
We walked into the fruit aisle and I was SO excited to see Kumquats! Guys… these were my all-time FAVOURITE childhood fruit. Most of my school friends had never heard of kumquats until I brought them to school in bags! This sweet and sour little mini citrus fruit brings back so many (only sweet) memories for me. I bought three punnets and was so excited when both my boys found them intriguingly delicious! Brooklyn is not a fan, though!
More childhood memories include dressing up with my siblings. Sometimes it was to play make believe games, sometimes it was to put on our own dancing show, and other times we would just dress my little brother up like a girl for the fun of it!
Pictured below is us girls as the Spice Girls, and my brother a tiny Father Christmas.
My cousin used to come and stay with us in school holidays (he lived in JHB), and these are some of my best childhood memories. I always wished I had had an older brother, and when he was with us I did. We played, swam until my hair went green from chlorine, and played countless hours of computer games. Tomb Raider was our favourite!
I remember all my many games of “Mommy Mommy” were made so real when I was 9 and my little brother joined our family. He was genuinely my little baby. I looked after him as if I had given birth to him myself. I changed his nappies, tried to soothe him when he screamed for hours with what was then said to be colic, and I showed him off to all my friends at school pick up. I recall my parents went overseas when Chad was around 2 years old, and he had this attachment to my Mom whereby he would soothe himself to sleep by gently stroking a mole she has on her neck. Sounds strange 😉 but true. I remember wanting to try keep him as settled as possible so I tried to recreate a mole on my own neck. I stuck a piece of prestick on my neck where my mom’s mole would be. Just as I expected my baby brother reached up to my neck and looked for the ‘mole’. As he found it it fell off in his little fingers!! Haha! We still laugh about that today.
I was so lucky to have travelled extensively with my family. We went on multiple cruises, 3 skiing trips, which all had lay-overs which we turned into a mini pre-holiday, like Dubai, London and Egypt. We also were spoilt to an incredible trip to Disney World. Each of these holidays holds so many memories. From packing our own lunches for day trips into Disney, to enjoying a Ghluwhein on the slopes of Italy before Apres ski.
Travelling creates so many beautiful memories, ones that are carried within your soul for years (hopefully forever), and I would love for us to be able to take our family on many special holidays in the years to come, both local and overseas. The biggest challenge with overseas travel is that the cost of getting there is a big chunk of the expense. Thankfully there are often specials running and if you are able to plan well, save well, and keep an ear to the ground, you can often find a special that suits your next travel dream; using a service like Travelstart can help as it compares several airlines fares for you, and gives you the ability to book your preference of Cheap flights to Zanzibar, etc.
After taking this little walk down memory lane, the kids and I enjoyed a little paper aeroplane flying competition. We all designed our own planes, and then had a ball in the garden.. another great childhood memory – making our own toys, which amused us for hours on end! I want to encourage you to take a walk down memory lane, too. Relive your best and worst childhood memories, acknowledging what you want to take with you into your kid’s childhood, and that which you don’t. Make a fly a paper aeroplane, have fun! And if that isn’t incentive enough, post a video of your best flight as an entry into the Paper Jet Challenge, and you could WIN Trip for 2 to Zanzibar, a tropical paradise full of history and culture, and incredible exotic food. It is very high on my bucket list, but I feel like this would be a trip for just me and hubby 😉 Spending hours on the gorgeous beaches, swimming beside dolphins, shopping in a bustling market and sipping on cocktails at sunset sound like my idea of a romantic getaway!
Come on, let’s all have fun and #BeAKidAgain.
HOW TO ENTER: Post a video of your best flight video to social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter), tag Travelstart and #BeAKidAgain, and nominate 3 friends to take part in the challenge.
Here is our Entry video:
In collaboration with Travelstart.
I can only hope and pray that our girls look back on their childhood and have so many amazing memories one day. A mama’s dream x
I have absolutely NO DOUBT they will my Cals
Great post. Thank you.
Thank you x
Hi
When does the comp end?
It ended on the 7th 🙂