How Do You Even Leave The House With All Three Kids?

Ever wondered how people with more than one kid ever leave the house?

I do.

In fact it’s something that I think about all the time.  Which could be because I happen to have more than one child, three to be specific.

Guys, I’m not even talking about getting them ready in order to be dropped off somewhere for the day, like school – that’s easy, often even welcomed.  No, no, no, I’m talking about willingly getting them dressed and ready to happily take them out for the day.  You know, into the real World to spend time together as a family – shopping, going out for lunch, chilling at the beach, going wine tasting, just generally not being in the house kind of stuff.

But we do it.  All the time actually.  I can’t think of one weekend where we’ve just stayed home the whole time.  It seems that we have a deep seated need to torture ourselves, uh, I mean to get out the house.

Just this weekend we were invited to the Old Biscuit Mill to check out the Glade Scent Gallery that was happening there.  Now, I feel like I should just explain something.  Have you ever been to the Old Biscuit Mill?  It’s in Woodstock in Cape Town.  If you’ve never been, let me give you a run down of what it’s like…

In order to find parking you have to have the eyes of a hawk and driving skills of a car ninja.  Finding a spot to park is a miracle in and of itself and then squeezing into tight spaces requires skills that I just don’t have (thank goodness for Seth or we’d never go anywhere fun).  Then you need to walk from the car that you parked 5 blocks away, to the Mill.  There are people EVERYWHERE.  Why?  Because there are so many awesome stalls selling trendy gear and little stands with amazing food.  Basically the people flock to it for the experience and all the things that you can do there.  It is JAM PACKED with people living their best lives.

Now, normally if Seth I had gone alone I would have enjoyed it, although still feeling slightly claustrophobic.  But add three kids to the mix and I was on edge.

Oh, did I mention that they were hungry?

After trying not to lose any of the kids in the market section we gave up and went to the restaurant, only to find that it had no kids food or breakfast vibes.  We had to head out of the Mill to go back to a restaurant that we passed on the way in.  There were no people – which makes me happy but so totally doesn’t work for Seth (if you followed our Snapchat you’ll know exactly what I mean).

With full bellies we finally headed up to the Glade Scent Gallery – ready for our experience.

I wasn’t sure what to expect but we were pleasantly surprized.  The idea is that you walk through 4 different rooms and each one has its own unique experience and feel.  When we shared that we were going on our Facebook page, a lot of comments were concerned that their sinuses would be under attack or they’d be walking into a room that reeked of toilet spray.  But the scents were subtle and not offensive to the nose like the typical “toilet spray” and our sinuses weren’t assaulted with fragrances that were too strong, which was great!

In the morning freshness room you had to get moving in one of those air boxes and try and catch the green leaves as they floated past your head – it was so much harder than it looked!  I always looked at people doing that to get money and just assumed that I could do it better than them, but I had to cheat to get any haha.  The kids were too scared to go in by themselves, so Seth went in with Knox and then the girls took a turn on their own too.

My favourite room just so happened to couple with my favourite scent of them all.  The Lavender and Vanilla really did evoke the feeling of calm in me, although it could have been magnified with the massage that went with it!  The kids enjoyed their massages so much that Knox was actually drooling.  It was so funny!

I loved this scent because it was subtle, not overpowering and really did bring out a calm feeling that I hadn’t felt all morning!

Next up was the Clean Linen room (my second fav scent of them all) where the kids could jump on the bed or you could take a power nap and wake up feeling fresh and new.

We ended it all with an ice cream and sand castle in the Ocean Escape room.

I think if you had to ask the kids which room was their favourite, they might have been a little bit biased!

By the time we pulled into the driveway at home, I was officially exhausted.  To the point that I actually had to take a time out in my bedroom to recover.  While I was sitting there, I realised that I give myself a lot of time out’s.  But with three kids I think it’s kind of necessary isn’t it?  For like, sanity and stuff.

The lounge is free reign for everyone and often trying to relax in there while the kids are still awake is like lying in the dentist chair trying not to feel terrified.

So the only safe haven I have is our bedroom.  But the more time I’m spending in it on my time outs, the more I’m realising that the space needs to be more than just a place without children in it.  It needs to be a hotel room across town.  No, I joke, I joke.  Really, besides being free of kids saying Mommy on repeat for 4 hours, it needs to be pleasing to the eye, comfortable and also have a scent that aids in the calming scene.  I’ve been using the Glade Lavender and Vanilla in the room and I can feel the difference when I walk in there.  So much so that it’s really hard to walk out again!

Do you have a space to regroup after a particularly trying day?  What do you do in it to make it somewhere that you can relax?