This year we decided to go to Mallorca for 2 weeks during the 6 week school holiday. We were desperate for a bit of sun and it would also be two weeks out of six that we didn’t have to organise, and pay for, childcare. We chose Mallorca because it was close (only 2.5hour flight) and you could pretty much guarantee the sunshine in August.
As we all** have fairly sensitive skin and have a history of Eczema, prickly heat and heat rash finding a sun cream that would be a high enough SPF in 30 degree heat and not aggravate our skin was certainly a challenge. Having previously tried most of the usual lotions widely available in supermarkets etc it became clear that the answer would lie in more specific sensitive skin brands. I contacted a few companies for samples and received some from Sunsense UK.
** when I say all I DO NOT include Martyn in this statement. He is some weirdo with skin that instantly goes golden-no redness-nothing. *tut*
The samples I received were amazing. I never knew factor 50 could be so light and easily absorbed. My past experience was of smearing something thick and chalk like that even after hours won’t rub in. I was impressed. As a consequence none of us suffered with any of our usual complaints and we were able to concentrate on enjoying our holiday.
Plus… I GOT A TAN
EVEN MY LEGS.
Unfortunately there is no photographic evidence because…ewwww my legs…just no.
As we didn’t have skin irritation to fill our time with we did loads of fun stuff! We did lots of swimming, which,
by the way, is way more fun with a GoPro camera.I got it for Martyn for his birthday right before we went and had no idea just how much it could do! We have all these weird and wonderful attachments that strap it to your head, chest, and underwater case-it was seriously fun.
I think in part it was so entertaining for me because when I was a kid 
you had those cameras that had actual film inside that you had to wind on after taking each shot. Does anyone else remember the ones which came with funny face monster stickers so you could personalise your disposable camera?
Not now-kids have access to underwater, digital, super duper cameras. Crazy when you think about it.
The boys went snorkelling but Seren and I preferred the hotel pool so left them to get sandy and salty!
One thing which I thought was quite funny was how different you are on holiday. I know most people talk about feeling relaxed and happy on holiday and how it’s a false emotion because it’s in a false environment but actually in my case I just became socially awkward **laughs**
At one point we were sat by the pool and I remarked to Martyn that I recognised the family opposite from back home; which was pretty unlikely considering how far away we were. Anyway, the next day I found we were sat next to said family on our sunloungers. Before my brain had even kicked in to gear the words ‘Hi, where are you from because I am sure I recognise you.’ were out of my mouth. **what. a. weirdo!** After finding out they were in fact from the same area as us I became really tongue tied-I think at this point the realisation that I sounded really odd had sunk in and I was trying hard to come across like less of a weirdo.
I failed-family avoided us for the remainder of the holiday. **face palm**
Now would probably be a good time to point out I am normally perfectly appropriate socially and actually could be deemed as sociable; as in socially able. So god knows what happened to me on holiday. There was one time when after chatting amicably to a family who were leaving that day to go home I remarked ‘see you later’ now this in itself is a completely normal way to end a conversation. I could have just left it there..but my holiday social awkwarditis meant I just had to add ‘well, not really. Because you are going home so…have..a..nice… life erm… I mean journey.’
**oh god someone shut me up**
Martyn just looked at me incredulously with a smirk on his face. ‘what’s wrong with you?!’ *shoulder shrug,head shake*
Luckily however you don’t have to talk to many strangers on holiday unless you want to so I then took my holiday social awkwarditis to new heights and developed holiday stranger muteness. Which actually was preferable.
Aside from my social condition we had a whale of a time and even 3 overcast and slightly rainy days did nothing to dampen that. These are the days that make memories and family time is just so damn precious. I just want to breathe it in and commit it all to the hard drive of my mind.
Mrs Os Musings 