Dear ones, a lonely cabin in the snow, reduced electricity, a fireplace for warmth – this is where mum Mona (38), dad Freddy (41), Sina (17), Alina (16), Maik (14), Dario (11), Melina (7), Amy (4) and Tamira (2) are holidaying before the family continues to grow in March (we had an interview about baby no. 9 here ). Many would perhaps enjoy comfort in this cabin – but for Mona’s family, this is true luxury. Here she tells us about it.
Dear Mona, before the baby arrives in March, you went on holiday again. Who’s with you and where are you?
Yes, we’re back in Switzerland, in beautiful Graubünden. The cottage is in the middle of the snow, there’s a ski resort nearby, an ice rink for ice skating and a toboggan run, so everyone gets their money’s worth!
We were there with seven children, so 9 people in total. Our eldest wanted to stay at home, look after the animals and mentally prepare for her new job. When we get home, she will be leaving for several months shortly afterwards.
The hut is not a classic luxury – you have to make your own fire and fetch your own water. Why did you decide to do it that way?
Yes, that’s true, you won’t find classic luxury in this hut. But it has a lot of other things going for it: the peace and quiet, the view and the feeling that life is so much more intense.
We stayed in this hut two years ago, when our youngest was still a baby, and we really enjoyed this slow-paced environment. When we talked about where we wanted to go, we all quickly agreed that we wanted to go to this hut again.
What do you think? What do the children learn in the hut and its surroundings?
We actually live in this special environment as we did 100 years ago. The children learn how little you actually need in life to be happy. No digital devices, reduced electricity thanks to a small solar system, baking bread together after successfully lighting the fire. They learn that the fire needs to be rekindled regularly to keep the mountain hut warm.
You get closer as a family and have fun in the snow, sledging or having a snowball fight. We make raclette with Swiss cheese and delicious meat straight from the farm (family who own the mountain hut). You realise how nice it is to simply watch the snow fall over a hot cup of tea or cocoa.
We wake up with the first rays of sunshine, the children can go out into the snow straight away every day, they only come in briefly to eat or drink and spend the rest of the day playing in the snow. The highlight is of course when we fire up the hot tub so they can relax in the warm water.
Would the classic all-inclusive hotel holiday be something for you too?
Hotel holidays with all-inclusive are of course also great and children’s hotels are also great because there is so much on offer for the children. That’s exactly why we’re planning a trip to Disneyland Paris soon with 1-3 days in an all-inclusive hotel right before the Disneyland entrance. There would be something for everyone: the little ones could go to the park, the older ones could also go to Paris.
However, it’s not yet clear whether we’ll be able to do this before the birth, especially as it’s a long way to drive. Maybe it will be a theme park in Germany. We’ll see when we get back from our holiday.
When do you start packing for a holiday like this and how does it work for you?
For this winter holiday, I started packing two weeks in advance, got new shoes and winter clothes for the children that no longer fitted in terms of size. Then came the fitting: ski trouser jacket, gloves, hats, winter shoes.
I pack for my husband, the very young children and myself, the other children pack their own suitcases. We parents look over it again afterwards, remove summery glittery clothes and add the odd warm jumper or put more socks or underwear in the suitcase 🙂
What should definitely not be missing in your suitcase?
For our planned winter holiday, we need enough thick winter clothes for every day, as we won’t be able to wash there. Then we shouldn’t forget the bathing things for the hot tub and our favourite stuffed animals either, that would be quite a drama with the little ones. Toothbrushes, hairbrushes and little things like nail scissors or spices that aren’t available in the hut.
It takes a lot of planning beforehand, but in an emergency we also go shopping again on holiday if we forget something really important. Various staple foods are included in the house, so we don’t have to take quite as much with us.
Is there a funny or gross story that you experienced on holiday as an extended family?
We’ve had some really funny experiences as a large family: in Spain, we had quite large swimming toys for the children when the waves were quite strong and Alina realised a little too late that her giant flamingo was drifting towards the open sea. The lifeguards then brought it back to us by boat, which made for a pretty funny picture as they towed the flamingo away.
We also had a tyre burst in the middle of the Spanish motorway with the camper van, which was really cool. We had to wait for three hours while the lorries sped past at full throttle and we waited far behind the crash barrier.
On the beach in Spain, we once discovered a cave that you could only get into by boat. So we bought two rubber dinghies and were able to explore the cave. It was a bit like a pirate treasure hunt – the whole thing was a bit adventurous, but the children found it super exciting.</p
Many parents find holidays with kids more stressful than everyday life at home. What’s it like for you?
We don’t find the holiday itself stressful at all. Preparing for the holiday, planning it in our heads, doing all the shopping beforehand, packing our suitcases and the often quite long car journeys are pretty exhausting. Especially when you’re stuck in a traffic jam or the weather doesn’t play ball, the children can’t really play in the playgrounds because it’s raining too hard or storming etc…
But as soon as the journey is over and the holiday begins, it’s relaxed and we enjoy family life and the excursions. The children are then super relaxed and well occupied on the beach, in the sea, in the pool or in the snow – depending on where we are going. It’s even more relaxed in the motorhome, we have a built-in TV with a DVD player if the weather is really bad.
Where would you like to go with the whole family?
Our absolute dream holiday would be a trip to the Maldives or Bali, the Seychelles or Fiji. Or a cruise on a really big ship, with amusement parks, water parks etc. In winter, we would also like to visit Lapland or Norway/Sweden.
And where would you go if you had 2 days all to yourself?
I wouldn’t want to travel alone. I once travelled to Brussels with a friend, which was nice, but somehow I miss something. I just want to have my family around me to share nice experiences with them.
What I could imagine, however, would be a short trip with my eldest daughters to an Italian city – but only if the rest of them didn’t feel like coming along – which will probably never happen 🙂
