"It takes a village. We just didn't realise how lucky we were to have ours."

We're about to fly to the UK, and I keep catching myself grinning about it.

Part of it is the obvious stuff like seeing everyone, the kids running wild with their cousins and friends, a propa Brit-ish summa (more on the heat wave later, because im not convinced). But the bit that's really got me is something Danielle and I haven't done in about eight years.

We're getting some time. Just the two of us.

You don't fully appreciate the people around you until you stop and count them. This trip works because of family. Full stop. The kids get to be with their Great-grandparents and grandparents, me and Dan and those who'll have them while we're away. Basically always surrounded by the people who love them most. They'll get to see their cousins. They get to knock on doors and play with the friends they've missed. They get to just be with family, in the place a big part of them still calls home (Especially Harvey).

That's the village. The aunties, the uncles, the grandparents, the great-grandparents, the cousins, the friends who feel like family. When you live abroad you learn quickly that this kind of support isn't a given, it's a gift. And we've got a good one.

The kids have got plans, and honestly their itinerary is busier than ours. First up, a party — they're inviting their friends round for a jump session at Uncle Shane's development, a jump park in London. (Trampolines, soft play, the lot. I fully expect to hear about it for weeks.) Then it's off to see their friends properly, the ones they only get to catch up with when we're back.

While Danielle and I are away, they'll be spending time with Auntie Sandra and Sofia and they're buzzing about and then back chilling with the grandparents. By the time we land home they'll have packed in more memories than most kids get in a whole summer.

And then there's us. Three nights in Ibiza. No kids. For the first time in around eight years.

I don't think I can properly explain what that means to anyone who hasn't done the parenting marathon. You love them with everything you've got and you'd still trade a small organ for an uninterrupted lie-in. We get to be Danielle and Perry again for a few days. Not mum and dad. Just us. The version of us that existed before nappies and school runs and "have you seen my shoes."

We can only do this because we trust the people holding the fort. That's the village again, quietly making the whole thing possible.

Here's the part I'm not taking for granted. Time with the great-grandparents. Sitting down, playing dominoes, slamming them on the table, asking Grandad if he knows what he's doing - awaiting that rude comment back, the beer cans in th bag (im expecting no less than 7), the comments to Grannny when things get a little heated and then the comments that are not meant for our ears... lol the usual arguments about the score. It sounds small. It isn't. These are the moments the kids will tell their kids about one day... three, four generations in one room, no rush, no agenda, just being together with both sides of the fammily. Oh and in one of the places we used to call home. You just couldnt write it.

You don't get an unlimited number of those afternoons. So we're going to enjoy every single one.. and then were going to go to the pub and enjoy some more.

After we get back from Ibiza, we've got a few last days with everyone before we fly home to the UAE. And the timing? A British heat wave. I've moved to the desert and I'm still genuinely interested to understand what this UK sunshine brings. I'm not taking any shorts as everyone says its cold, guess we'll work that one out. But there's something about a hot summer back home, gardens full, everyone outside, that just hits right. Including the hayfever and no breeze.

So that's the trip. The village back together agin, a jump park, three nights of being a couple again, dominoes with the people who started all of this, and hopefully a tan.

We're grateful. Properly grateful. I'll let you know how it goes.

— Perry