One of the things I love about blogging is being able to document our family time spent together- our holidays, days out and everything in between. Even after nearly 6 years of blogging, I still don’t get bored of doing this, and having a record of our family life is still one of the things that keeps me doing it despite how much blogging and social media has changed over the past few years.
This summer we were lucky enough to be able to borrow our friends’ villa for nearly two weeks on the south side of Ibiza, not far from Talamanca. Whilst both Adam and I have been to Ibiza before, for both partying and family-type holidays, we had never been together with any of the children. We were happy to steer clear of the main party resorts, and Talamanca is a great balance for families- gorgeous, small sandy beaches that don’t get too crowded, yet some fab restaurants and night spots so you still can look forward to going out each evening (should you wish). Our villa was about a 10 minute walk away from Talamanca, with stunning views of Ibiza Town (a 10 minute taxi ride). We’d never done a villa holiday before, and actually it was fantastic for families with kids our age. I liked the fact we had our own pool so didn’t disturb anyone with our cannonballs (LOLZ), and also it meant if the kids were tired and we didn’t fancy eating out one night we could give them an early tea and then put them to bed as normal. We were lucky that our friends’ villa is their second home, so had some home comforts and that made any time chilling out at the villa even more pleasurable.
I realised that after editing all of our photos that I probably have far too many for one blog post, so I think I’ll have to split this into two parts! Here are some of my favourite photos of our holiday, and a whole load more to come in another post:
Our first day at the villa! After not arriving at the villa until midnight, and then Ad and I staying up quite late and chatting to our friends, we felt pretty knackered the day- luckily the kids were more than happy to start making the most of the pool. It was amazing to see how much their swimming progressed over the course of a couple of weeks, especially Sasha, whose confidence just grew when it came to swimming in the deep end. By the end of the holiday she was swimming to the bottom of the pool to find objects that they threw in, which was lovely to see.
My mum and my in-laws came out to join us during the holiday which was lovely (we’re lucky that they all get on really well), and also meant that they kindly babysat one night so Ad and I could go and party a little (more on that later!), and it meant we also got to take the big two to a water park for the day whilst Arlo hung out at the villa. The children loved having 3/4 of their grandparents around, they definitely like the attention!
The view of Ibiza Town from the villa was incredible, especially when lit up at night- it’s probably become one of my favourite ever views.
More pool fun! Arlo is a definite water baby too, and I’m so glad we packed this little boat for him to sit in, and the sun shade that came with it was a godsend when the sun was beating down. Going on holiday with a baby this age is hard- he walks everywhere now, but obviously has no sense of danger so we had to be hyper-vigilant around the pool and also in the villa. Whilst it’s not relaxing, he’s still at a fun age and was a proper future clubber, sticking his arm in the air and moving it to the beat whenever our ‘Ibiza playlist’ came on around the pool!
Insta-cliche number 1 in a doughnut….
…swiftly followed by Insta-cliche number two: cactus’ and posing with cactus’ (or cacti?)
Our little beach bums! Whilst I love being by the sea and water in general, I confess to not being a huge lover of sand (it gets everywhere and feels grim in my opinion!), yet my tribe love it so I’m more than happy to spend some time and the beach for their sake. It was Arlo’s first time and we didn’t have as much sand eaten as I thought we might- result! I loved Talamanca for the fact that there were so many ‘mini beaches’ along the promenade, and all with a restaurant, cafe or bar right near by so we could stop for a drink/toilet break whenever we needed to. It’s a perfect beach venue for families with young children, as whilst there are enough people for a bit of atmosphere, it’s not as crazy-busy as San Antonio or Playa den Bossa.
I hope you enjoyed these photos – In Part 2 I’ll have some snaps of a day trip to Ibiza Town, our grown up night out and some more of the general area and eating out with kids in Talamanca.
See some more of our family travel posts.
