Finding the balance

Workload, playtime, relaxation, exercise, parenting, dog walking, paying bills, + all those mundane chores or tasks that you need to do (or feel obliged to)..... sometimes it is hard to find the balance. I feel i have this fairly well set - work hard at work, work hard at home, work hard as a parent and make sure you carve out a little time for yourself. With no family close, we have very little time [together] without the kids - we get outside in nature a lot - hence why the John Muir Family Award is such a great tool for us to get out and frame our time as a family. So as we dropped off our 'mini Muirs' at their grandparents camper van, parked up and nestled in the north west corner of Anglesey for 2 nights, ready for their own Family John Muir Award adventure with 'Nian' and 'Tiad' - we set off for our own adventures in Nature. We already had solid plans for Saturday - climbing and canyoning in the heart of Rhyniogs, but as we were already in Anglesey, it seemed unthinkable not to make the most of the last few hours of sunlight and explore some of Anglesey's breathtaking coastline - so we grabbed a picnic and headed for Newborough Forest. Newborough is an beautiful place - where you way catch a glimpse of a red squirrel or a crossbill, or hear the guttural call of ravens flying overhead as the forest hosts one of the largest raven roosts in the world. The forest was planted between 1947 and 1965 with Corsican pine trees for timber to protect the village of Newborough from wind-blown sand and to stabilise the shifting sand dunes. A windy forest track leads you through the pines to the car park with a barricade of sand dunes between you and the Irish sea. Out of the car, picnic in hand we headed over the dunes and onto the beach, stopping for a moment to gaze at the stunning beauty of the Menai straights and the mountains of Snowdonia and the Llyn, a jagged blanket against the horizon.....