MY FAMILY TRIP

Last weekend we went to North Stradbroke Island / Minjerribah for our family holiday. These days whenever we can, I try to plan a family holiday.
My son has now finished playing soccer and he is no longer playing every weekend. My daughter is in her gap year and hopefully going back to uni next year. So often there are weekends when we can spend time together with my children as a family.

Although as much as I want to spend time with them, they don't really want to spend time with me. They rather spend their time with their friends. 
Recently I started to have more and more of my own time without my children on the weekend. It's kind of strange for me, because I used to be so busy with them every weekend. 

Now my children are teenagers and my daughter has finished high school, I have this strange sad feeling of children leaving home soon.

When I ask my children if they want to come to our family holiday, they don't seem so excited anymore. They can't seem bothered to respond to me. My son asks me if he can bring his friend along. Hmm.... Not sure what to say to him? It was supposed to be a family holiday!
Do your children ask you this? How do you respond to this kind of question? 

During this family holiday, I included a few of those good friends and we took them all along. Originally I wanted to spend time only as a family, but my children are normally either in their rooms on social media, or watching netflix. 
There is no point in us going on holiday. But this time, it was different. 
My daughter and her friends were constantly talking, laughing and so excited with everything and anything. My daughter doesn't react when I tell her about kangaroos normally.

But this weekend their tone of voices were higher and I can see the excitement of the friends' experiences. They played guitar and sang songs, kicked the ball, played chess and laughed a lot. It was such great energy for the entire holiday.

The beach was within walking distance. So they could all walk to the beach and look after themselves.
It was a lovely holiday.

Now for this festive season, what is your family holiday looking like? 
How do you interact with your children?