What did you do with the long Eid Al Adha weekend? I’ve been cleaning the house and the files on my PC (and my phone). I actually spend more time in the digital cleanup part, because I tend to look at photos and get stuck there. I’m actually looking at old photos again now.

So, the holidays. I am stuck looking at the photos of our previous holiday, the one just this summer. We go back to the Maldives. To the topic of The Maldives, that is, because we are not going back there. Yet. Not now. Though I wish to!

We spent five glorious days at The Sun Siyam Irufushi Beach and Spa Resort in the Maldives last July and everyday I wished I could freeze time.

So, what does a typical day in paradise look, you may wonder.

First, we wake up from this bed. We stayed in a beach villa that opens up to the private pool and to the beach.

Can you imagine how difficult it is to wake up from this heavenly bed? You’d think I was struggling (like all normal people do when given a bed as awesome as this but me and my stubborn body clock that never sleep beyond 7 in the morning…I get up alone and walk outside to the beach while the husband and the kids are still in la-la-land.

There’s no one there so I have this little piece of paradise all to myself.

There are times when I wake up so much earlier, sit by the beach and feel like I own this sunrise.

When they all wake up around 9 am, we do our quick morning rituals, getting dressed, take a shower. The shower is at the back of the villa and I must admit, I have become addicted to the open air shower. Imagine the feel of cool water while your skin bathes in warm sunshine. How I wish to be able to do this every single day of my life.

(This beach villa is enclosed as to provide utmost privacy so no worries.)

Open air shower all year through. Think about that. Gotta love tropical life!

We walk to Iru restaurant where breakfast awaits. There are buggies (small vehicle like golf carts) operating around the resort but we always preferred to walk – because the kids don’t do that a lot in Dubai!

Iru Restaurant is not just about great food and wide variety of choices.

After breakfast, we would take a stroll around the island (because we are still too full to swim!)

Benjamin loved to play in the sand.

There’s big chess board on the island. I let them break their heads while I lie down in the hammock…

Sometimes, we would go to the docking decks where small ships dock to pick up the trash, every single day. We’ve always wondered how they keep the island resort so clean (almost no flies!) – it’s because they don’t keep trash on the island. The trash is being collected and transported to a designated place (in another island) every day.

We watch the boats come and go from this hammock by the beach. If there’s one thing I terribly miss about The Sun Siyam Iru Fushi, it’s the cool, crisp, clean sea breeze. It’s the most soothing feeling in the world.

Then we go back to the villa and either swim in the beach or in the pool.

The we have lunch at our perfect spot. This is near the water shed, beside Bamboo restaurant. There is WiFi in this location so people tend to flock. However, we were always lucky to have this table to ourselves every day.

After lunch, we walk around a bit more, or either take the kids to the kid’s club and then go back to the villa to take a nap. When we wake up at around 4 pm, we take a stroll again and take photos and more photos.

Because time flies doubly faster when you’re having fun (and because that’s how Murphy’s Law works – time flies faster when you pray it would not end). Sunset comes.

And dinner time.

Playing in the sand until the sun sets. The hours in the day never seem to be enough.

We could not forget our short but very memorable time in paradise. The kids still remember it and ask to see the set of photos again and again. Still debating whether traveling is worth it with smaller/younger children (in our case, our son Benjamin was 2 years and 9 months when we traveled to the Maldives from Dubai)? Read my post why I think traveling with smaller/younger kids is not a waste.

So that’s how, more or less, how we spent our time in paradise. We also went for a snorkeling trip during our stay. But I was too much of a scaredy cat to even tell an interesting tale to share. Maybe next time!

The Sun Siyam Iru Fushi Resort has won two categories at the World Travel Awards Africa & Indian Ocean Gala Ceremony 2014: Indian Ocean’s Leading Family Resort and the Maldives’ Leading Spa Resort. It’s easy to know why they could have won the “leading family resort” category – this resort is not just for honeymooning couples, we know from first hand experience that they’re also great for kids!

* Photos without watermark are provided by Sun Siyam Iru Fushi.