I love my children. I am a mother – they are my world, but today I have really felt that I have just about had enough of them! I am trying my best to be understanding and I know that we are dragging them along at our pace. I have tried to lower my expectations as they are just little – I know! But there comes a point when you question whether your children are defiant because they like to see your reaction? Maybe they’re just bored? Or possibly they are not as bright as you thought they were!
I find myself cursing more than often and I have wished more than once how wonderful it would be to find a babysitter and just leave the boys sleeping, while hubby and I go and have a romantic meal, walk at a proper human pace, not have to carry a little person because they’re tired, no dragging of the feet, enjoy a drink or two or three or FOUR, stay out as late as we want, not have to hear “WEE WEE!!” yelled out at the most inopportune moments, enjoy the night without ANY whinging/whining/crying, and not feel like I have indigestion post dinner! Am I a terrible parent for wishing this???
I love seeing them smile, and get excited over jumping castles and lights and ice-cream! But I also want to have a night where I am NOT a mum. I guess I need to remember it’s not all about me, but these excursions are about creating amazing experiences for my boys so they too will love adventure. But oh how challenging is it to remain calm and collected sometimes!
The unplanned Christmas eve
Christmas Eve and we arrived at Da Nang not knowing where we were going or where we were staying – let along where we would have our Christmas dinner!
Christmas dinner ended up being in a Beer Garden surrounded by noise, bottles on the floor and anything else that was dropped from the tables – and this was perfect! I didn’t stress about the boys making a mess or making too much noise. Unfortunately most of the food that we ordered got changed and lost in translation by a drunk man who wanted to “help us”. He thought he was doing us a favour by replacing our PLAIN steamed rice to fried rice with prawns, and every single vegetable Mr 4 doesn’t like to eat. Not to mention the fact that all the dishes he chose were far too spicy!
Was it the best Christmas? Some might say it was unconventional – it sure was! 😂 BUT I was with my little family and that to me was perfect and all that mattered!
Worthwhile visiting Danang?
This is a big city and had we known it would be the way it was, we probably would not have chosen to come here. We were told it was a big city, but that it was amazing and different to Hanoi. Unfortunately it is lacking a certain ambience and uniqueness that was present in Hanoi, Ninh binh or Dong hoi.
We noticed there weren’t many westerners (not that it means much, as not many westerners in Ninh binh either) but we realised that DaNang is not high up in the books for backpackers, as most who arrive at Danang station go straight to Hoi An and skip Danang. The place is aesthetically pleasant and a lot of infrastructure has occurred in what appears to be a short amount of time. I guess the “newness” and growth must attract Chinese tourists. It was full of Chinese tourists!
If you like big cities then this place is probably for you. I’m glad we only stayed one night. We caught a taxi to Hoi An on Christmas day evening. I wonder how different Hoi An will be?
Family Excursions Abroad 