And relax...

 When we first found out we were moving to India some friends who had lived here before suggested we put the Maldives on our to do list.  I have always thought of the Maldives as more of a honeymoon destination than a family holiday spot.  However, after a bit of research we found that it was not all romantic meals on the beach and that there were specific resorts that welcomed families.  Therefore it made the to do list.  We originally thought it was the type of holiday we might leave until the end of our time here but after the shenanigans with Emily's passport we felt we needed a relaxing break.

All of us were pretty excited as we set off on the 2 January. Although Emily didn't seem bothered much.

Our flights took us via Colombo were we stocked up on a few bottles of wine.  The man in the shop didn't really want us to buy them as apparently you can't take alcohol in to the Maldives.  However, no one seemed to want to search William, Oliver and Emily's bags!!

There were fantastice views from the plane as we came in to land at Male.

After arriving in Male we had a 40 minute boat trip to the island we were staying on.  the crew informed us that the sea was pretty rough and the lady sent to meet us from the hotel said even she was feeling ill.

Everyone made the crossing without being ill but it was a huge relief when our island came in to view.  Although it was getting late the island looked beautiful in the evening sun.

The next five days were spent snorkelling, exploring the island, eating and relaxing.

Emily had learnt to walk over Christmas and it seemed that the Maldives was the perfect place for her new found skill to be perfected.

On our last evening we went for a cocktail on the roof and watched sharks being fed.  Although we had only been on the island for five days it felt like weeks and was just what we needed.