The hammock life

We had the pleasure of going to Riveria Maya almost a year ago for the wedding of my brother and his new wife.   It was beautiful!   Being a home learning mother I thought I would look up some information to share with the boys on the Mayan culture and general information about the locations in Mexico that we would be visiting.  We tried to learn some words as well and the children loved "donde esta el bano?" or "where is the bathroom?" They made quite a few friends with the staff at the restaurant who remembered them when my parents went back to the same place a few months later.

One of the most influencing bits of information that I came across was how some people in the mayan culture and across the world choose to sleep in hammocks.  Immediately the idea intrigued me.  After reading up on hammock sleeping I was determined I was going to buy one when we got there.  It was quite the fiasco to find a quality one in the touristy areas.  I was continually told to get traditional quality hammocks we would have to go about 2 hours further into Mexico which we couldn't do on this trip.  I finally found one that I liked and one for each of the boys.  Ours was a natural cotton and the boys made of brightly coloured nylon.  I couldn't wait to get them hung up when we got home.  

Chris smiled and went along with my idea like he usually does; bless him.  I think he was afraid I would throw out the bed.  It was an intersting experience the first night, just gettng in was a hilarious site.  Being that it was December we were a bit chilly with only a blanket on top of us.    I can't say I loved the first night but we had brought them across North America so we gave it another try.   The next night we put a blanket under us.  It made a huge difference and we found it much easier to get into it more gracefully even by that second night.   I think after that night we were hooked. 

The children's hammock experiences were not so successful.  The nylon hammocks didn't spread right and were not comfortable at all. Plus the boys like to sleep together and the single size of the nylon didn't accomodate them all.   So their hammocks went into the closet until I found some cotton hammocks online that I had shipped from seasidehammocks.com along with a slightly bigger one for Chris and I.  They were perfect!  And the colours were gorgeous! The boys sleep in theirs about 50 % of the time or more.  They get to choose if they sleep in the bed or the hammock each night.  Sometimes they choose a little of both.  Finding space to hang three hammocks in one room was quite the challenge and took 4 adults five hours to find the right positioning so that they weren't bumping into dressers or each other. 

Chris who I am sure was rolling his eyes up into his head when I first told him is now a converted hammock sleeper.  We dread having to sleep on mattresses and know that there will be aches and pains in the morning.  We went so far as to buy a portable stand to take our hammock with to sleep in when we tent. When Chris trods off to work in the morning I look forward to first Eoin joining me then Seamus and then Liam. It is our morning ritual to hang out together in my hammock saying good morning and cuddling. Priceless!  You can't help but cuddle in a hammock!

I have no investment in nor do I sell hammocks but I love telling people about how wonderful they are.  Here are some of the benefits we have found

*better nights sleep
*little or no discomfort in the morning
*cool and breezy in the summer
*cuddle close to loved ones
*less back aches all day
*more rested
*no pressure points
*tucks away to leave floor space (although we still have a bed in our room)
*great conversation piece (you can't imagine the questions we get....or maybe you can :))