Buckets of Fresh Air Make Kids Sleep Longer

Fed up with the bus fumes, traffic noise and the concrete that we love so much, we decided to escape our city for a few hours on Sunday. Our usual scramble to get out of the house was followed by a relaxing 25 minute train journey to Malahide. As we stepped off the train, the fresh air went to work on us. Hair was blowing, scarves were flapping, and our cheeks quickly turned a healthy pink. We walked, had coffee and then headed to the beach. We could taste the salt as the gale force winds assaulted our faces, but it felt so good. And the sun shone for the first time in a week.

The kids loved having all the space to run around in. And luckily they wore their wellies and we brought a change of clothes, because after all their jumping in the water, they were soaked.

We returned home tired, our hair tangled and knotted and completely refreshed. "Why don't we do this every weekend? The beach is so close! And we only spent 6 euro today!" I know life gets in the way of these things, but we're recommitted to taking excursions like this one.

Next week we're going to Wicklow for two nights. We'll walk in the woods, see the lakes in Glendalough, visit my favourite pagen well and hopefully visit a farm on the way home so the kids can actually see a chicken. And for the first time in 14 weeks I'm looking forward to something. That wind and sea air moved something inside me, and I am better for it.

Plus, the kids slept uninterrupted from 8 pm until 7:30 am. Bliss.