August 2016 – Iceland (the other bits!)

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2016, 365, children, family, iceland, photoaday, photos, postaday, summer, travel

I thought as I took so many photos in beautiful scenic Iceland that it was probably best to split them into two posts. We were only there for three days but you wouldnt think so from the number of photos.

The other post (my previous post) was of all the beautiful landscapes – this one covers all the photos of us as a family in Iceland – and our time in  Reykjavik

Our first stop was the Blue Lagoon – a spa which has a lagoon heated naturally by hot springs. The silica mud from the bottom of the lagoon is provided to be used as a face mask.

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OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

We stayed in a great airbnb right in the centre

We wandered round Reykjavik enjoying the colourful houses and the local shops…

We visited the fabulous Hallgrimskirkja and went up to the top of it for views over the city. Unfortunately poor Dx was picked on a bit by his brothers and ended up seeking some solitude in the church

We went on coach tours to waterfalls where we played pooh sticks over the rivers and skimmed stones…

And we had a picnic and played “push  your sibling off the log” before exploring a volcanic beach and trying some more stone skimming

Monday 28/7/2014 – Paddling Pool

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2014, 365, photoaday, photography, photos, postaday, summer

We met up with friends this morning and after an inauspicious start – the weather changed back to the “normal” sunshine.

After a quick game for the kids and a coffee for the grow ups we headed off to a local park with a huge paddling pool and had it to ourselves!

After lunch I suddenly came over very nauseuous. no idea why but we had to suddenly pack up and head home in case i got worse. A few hours in bed and i was feeling a little better but still not great. Hopefully I will be back to normal tomorrow.

200 Followers and an award!!!

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2013, 365, award, childhood, children, family, followers, France, holiday, home, photoaday, photography, postaday, summer, UK

Happy days – in the last week I have got my 200th follower (hello!!) and have won an award. I have been very tardy in posting about the award and passing it on as this week has been full of returning from holiday, remembering what happens when we are at home and sorting the children out getting back to school.

This weekend I fully intend to post about it – and to pass the honours on as is the tradition with WordPress awards. I am so so thrilled to have got it.

And I am so pleased to have 200 of you interested in the everyday ramblings about our lives. There is only 1 person in that 200 that I have actually met and know (and she introduced me to the wonders of wordpress). That means 200 “strangers” are keeping up with our news, our triumphs and disasters and our photo diary. Feels a little strange sometimes – but in a good way 😉 !

But some of you have become more than strangers – through comments and reading each others blogs, through messages of support when times are tough I hav felt the warm side of wordpress and thought I would take the time right now to say “thank you”.

So…the Oscar style speech is over. But I thought I would mark the occasion with 10 of my favourite photos from the summer. It has been a wonderful summer and I thought I would pore through all the pics and find those which are among my personal favourites – to dot about this post. They aren’t the best technically, they aren’t the “prettiest” – they range from photos taken with an iphone (above) through a point and shoot and waterproof camera right up to my DSLR. But they capture the bits I want to remember most about this summer. The ones which evoke the memories for me. I hope you don’t mind me indulging myself 😀

   

Wednesday 4/9/2013 – And then there were three

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365, birds, children, family, home, meal, photoaday, photography, postaday, school, school. legoland, summer, UK

The youngest three went back to school today (Sx starts tomorrow). It was very strange just having three uniforms to get ready and three sets of PE kits.

Sx and I thought we would go to Legoland to make the most of his last day of freedom. But the best laid plans sometimes go awry and we got caught in a huge traffic jam due to an accident. We decided to cut our losses, cancel our trip to Legoland and go for a really lovely lunch instead.

A lovely lunch for Sx HAS to include pasta carbonara so we checked out the local Italian restaurants. He thought the interior of Prezzo looked really posh so that’s where we went.

Iced glasses, fanta, garlic bread and spaghetti carbonara earned me a hug.

When I upped the ante with a chocolate fudge cake and ice cream…and a cup of hot chocolate he voted me “best Mum in the world”.

And when he told Gx what we had for lunch, Gx said

“I can’t WAIT till its my turn to go to secondary school!”.

 

Monday 3/9/2013 – In Denial

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2013, 365, childhood, children, family, holiday, home, photoaday, photography, pool, postaday, summer, UK

We got back at 11.30 last night and were out at 8.30 this morning. It’s amazing what you can do when you want to. And we wanted to deny the summer was coming to an end. Deny the need to unpack cases, do washing, ironing, tidying, preparing for school starting and generally anything to get our house in order for the return to routine.

Instead we went and got some last bis of school unform from the school shop, some bits for lnch from the supermarket, and then headed out to a friend’s house for the day. Where we spent our time lounging in the sunshine, playing in the pool, catching up on summer news and enjoying the last rays of a lovely summer.

When we got home the mess and the chores were still there – glaring accusingly at us.

But there is always tomorrow for those!

Sunday 1/8/2013 – Homeward Bound

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2013, 365, Beach, childhood, children, family, holiday, photoaday, photography, postaday, summer, UK

Our last day in France – a leisurely breakfast in the hotel room and then down to the beach to spend most of the day.

The kids were happy to amuse themselves on the playground, in the sea, building sandcastles and generally burning off some energy.

We stopped for crepes before heading to the channel tunnel for the train home.

After crepes we discovered an ice cream stall with more flavours than I have ever heard of – so they had ice creams too.

I love that my children share with each other – and other people – as a matter of course – and with a smile on their face.

31/8/2013 – All good things…

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2013, 365, childhood, children, family, France, gite, holiday, photoaday, photography, postaday, summer

…must come to an end and today our holiday had to end and we set off on the journey home.

I did a quick tour of the gite for some last minute photos before we went.

We stopped a few times on the way for food and toilet breaks but it seemed to take forever.

A looooooong journey as we set off at 10am and arrived at Boulogne at our overnight stop at 9pm. Thank goodness for in-car DVD players!

Dx was thrilled to be 6 as it means he can go in the top bunk a the hotel ( Lx slept on the top bunk on the way down and we had told Dx he would be old enough on the way home as he would be 6 then as per the sign)

30/8/2013 – Birthday Boy

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2013, 365, Beach, birthday, boules, childhood, children, family, France, home, photoaday, photography, postaday, summer

Dx’s REAL 6th birthday today started with an early morning trip to the beach – we had it to ourselves which was wonderful. We took one of his presents with us to the beach – a boules set from his grandparents.

We soon discovered his boules skill didn’t translate to sand (cue temper and tears from “Mr Sore Loser”). Luckily we found a patch of grass and he won all three games there! He does have a real skill when the balls are able to roll.

We had a great morning at the beach and even by lunchtime when we left there were only a few more people on the sands.

In the afternoon the gite owner Mark gave Dx and Lx a birthday ride in the trailer of his mower. They loved it and got the big tour through the wilder parts of the garden.

More birthday cake in the evening!

Thursday 29/8/2013 – A Very Happy Unbirthday to You

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2013, 365, birthday, childhood, children, family, France, holiday, photoaday, photography, postaday, summer

As Dx’s birthday falls on the day we will be packing to come home we have decided to celebrate his birthday over 2 days. Today (a la Alice in Wonderland) is declared his “unbirthday” and will be celebrated by a meal out at lunchtime and cake later.

The meal out was at an Italian restaurant at another pretty medieval town called St Yrieux (preceded by a quick family photocall while we were all looking semi smart. The top photo was taken by the method known in the family as a “magic photo” where I take a photo and then everyone stands still and someone from the original photo takes my place to take another with me in – for me to merge the two photos later. Hope you can’t spot the join 😉 )

I had a great pasta with salmon (a nice break from the pizzas so far – the staple diet of a non meat eater abroad!) and the children loved the “ears and faces” on their ice creams.

A very special treat for Dx – coke. Not normally allowed in our family till you are 8. (Such terrible parents!) But it was his birthday after all – so perhaps just a small one! Scott loves Orangina (not found in the UK) and very generously allowed Dx his first taste of that.Tomorrow is his real birthday when there will be presents, more cake and a trip to the beach pre-packing.

In the evening I took a few more photos of Lx.

Wednesday 28/8/2013 – My Muse

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2013, 365, childhood, children, daughter, family, holiday, home, photoaday, postaday, summer

Every now and again I feel guilty that I never take “proper” photos of my children. I never do a proper photoshoot with them. THis guilt rises especially when I am in scenic surroundings and have less demands on my time than usual. So tonight Lx and I had a mini “photoshoot”.

Partly as I wanted to try out the wonders of the “Golden hour” which I had never really used (when I took photos for clients their children don’t tend to want to stay up that late!) We took a few photos around the gite in the amazing gardens here and once again I was amazed by how photogenic my daughter is.