FVC: Happy Ever After

Hang loose Mother Goose..."Fables and Fairytales" was the theme this year at the Family Vacation Centre near Santa Barbara. And there was a happily every after for us...in the family photo session. Minutes before, the kids were digging through their dirty washing - as usual! Amid cussing and swearing from me - as usual! -  didn't I tell them to pack a pair of jeans and white shirt? But somehow Peter, the magical photographer made us look Loving Family-ish. Dreams Do Come True dot dot dot.

Photoshoot including CD: $75. Being Family-ish: Priceless.  Photo: Peter Vandenbelt

Me and Harley, nearly 15. Photo: Peter Vandenbelt

The family camp is at the University of California, Santa Barbara; you stay in student dorms and eat at the cafeteria and the student counsellors take care of the kids while adults go golfing, cycling, shopping, surfing, wine tasting or just act like students again.

Harley and I viewing student digs round the corner...old bikes and last night's beer: " Stay in school son and one day all this this could be yours."

Santa Barbara Museum of Art

Harley on ropes course Photo: Peter Vandenbelt

Santa Barbara County Courthouse

Jackson, 13, and me on Leadbetter Beach

Tallulah (blue glasses) and camp friends. Photo: Peter Vandenbelt

Santa Barbara Marina

At Brophy Bros

Oil painting with Chris Potter

Casa del Herrero

Tallulah in our student dorms

Food: The student cafeteria is a veritable cornucopia of the fresh and the good. But we watched Tallulah, 11, and Cy, 8, head straight for the burger and fries - by-passing the salad bar, Asian stir fry section, roast pork with three veg and organic fruit. Did I see Cy add ice-cream to his Coke for breakfast? Did Tallulah really dip her pizza in Ranch dressing? A vision surely...

Tots to Teens: This is one of the few "all-inclusive"vacations in the US where the kids' programme takes one-month-old infants to 18 year-olds. Catering for teens is tricky and the new director Sheri Fruhwirth, formerly of Disney Cruises, wants to do everything she can to keep the teens coming back. Rope courses, rock climbing, surfing and sleeping under the stars seemed to do the trick for our 15 year-old boys but it was the counsellors who made it all so fun. For the first time our boys entered the family swim race and made wooden race cars for the "Pinewood Derby"

Harley and his friend Nate Photo: Peter Vandenbelt

The final morning Cy threw up, wept, and fell fast to sleep on the bathroom floor. Harley, nearly 15, mused how cool would it be to have a scripture tattoo on his rib cage. Too much enjoyment of life in the land far, far away. Time to return home to reality.

High Fives:
What to see outside the FVC...
1. Brophy Bros: Best fish and chips (or "fush and chups" as we Kiwis would say) and beer-boiled shrimps on the coast. At least a half-hour wait, but worth it for a view of the yachts and local Old Salts mixing with star-lettoes from West Hollywood.

2. Lotusland: I'm fascinated by crazy rich broads and Ganna Walska, a second-rate Polish opera singer who married five times was a doozer. She spent 43 years creating this 37-acre wonderland of cacti, succulents and natives surrounding an enormous conch-adorned pool where she swam naked (of course!) at midnight.
3. Kitson: Bizarre mix of goodies including Chloe cardigans, compilation music CD by Perez Hilton, cute baby T's and "Naughty Girl" dot-to-dot books.
4. Santa Barbara Museum of Art: cutting-edge modern art will shake the sand from your hair.

5. Santa Barbara County Courthouse: white and orange-tiled intrigue that makes you want to live your whole life surrounded by Spanish Colonial.

(Today, my post on cycling in the Pyrenees is featured on BritMums, in a travel round-up by the award-winning blogger, Trish of Mum's Gone To.... Thank you Trish!)