Sunday 20/7/2014 – Bubbles

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2014, 365, photoaday, photography, photos, postaday, sunset

Tonight we went to see “Pudsey the Movie”…starring Sx and Gx.

Oh – ok, they didn’t “star” – but they were extras in it and it was a real film and they did feature! It was a terrible film though so I can’t recommend you go to see it. But if you do…look out for Sx as the boy scout to the right of the vicar at the summer fete. Such a shame he was doing strange things with his mouth during his five seconds of fame!!

Earlier – Dx and Lx had a great time with the bubble wand.

   

And then in the evening Gx got up to tell me I needed to go outside and take some photos of the clouds because they were so beautiful. So I did.

 

 

Sunday 21/7/2013 – Cotton Eye Joe

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2013, 365, Amsterdam, boat, childhood, children, family, Holland, home, landscape, photoaday, photography, postaday, sunset

Over in Amsterdam the sun was shining – what better weather for a trip on “Cotton Eye Joe” my brother’s boat named after my Uncle Joe who died last year.

First we negotiated the busy canals of the city – picking up Susan en route (a girl I used to work with 10 years ago who is Dutch and who had returned to Amsterdam. When my brother moved here I introduced them and they are now friends too – which has been surreal sometimes when I have skyped them and she has been there!)

Lx loved steering the boat when we were in quieter waters but she was glad to get to the restaurant for lunch and sit in the shade as it was SO hot on the boat. After lunch she had a little nap – when she woke it was cooler and she was refreshed and she loved the rest of the trip.

At one point we had to arrange for the bridge to be raised for us to fit under – the “bridge keeper” came cycling down the path to go and open it up for us.

The waterways were beautiful – reedbeds and waterlilies, bridges and windmills.

A special “bridge” where the cyclists or pedestrians pull the bridge across on chains.

When we got back we left Barry and Janet to “put the boat to bed” and we went on into Amsterdam for a drink. Susan had a brainwave and took us to a beautiful – and quiet – bar by the water where we watched the sun set.

The waiter even managed to find some milk and some bread and honey for Lx.

milk moustache!

A beautiful end to a wonderful day.

 

 

 

Sunday 28/4/2013 – Home again

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2013, 365, family, holiday, home, photoaday, photography, postaday, spring, sunset, UK, weekend

We came straighgt back home this morning instead of having a day at the beach as the weather wasn’t great and nothing seemed to have been organised. (and I think Sx and Gx just wanted to get home and chill out as we haven’t had much time at home since we got back from holiday).

I see other people take great photos with their iphone so am still trying to find out how. It is so convenient to have a phone with you at all times it would be great to be able to take photos “to keep” so I keep on trying. And last night as I walked home to the caravan I took this one – just 50 yards from the caravan. Shame it was so cold as it was a lovely location.

Thursday 25/04/2013 – Nothing to report

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365, childhood, children, family, holiday, photoaday, photography, postaday, sunset

Nothing worth blogging today. The usual round of school/ballet/drama/rugby (rugby tour this weekend so needed to go to extra rugby training instead of football training. He has been put in B team instead of A team – and is delighted by it!)

So rather than share a photo of today for the sake of it…here is one from our recent holiday…

7/12/2012 – Time to say goodbye…

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2012, 365, children, christmas, family, finland, holiday, home, landscape, lapland, photoaday, postaday, sunset

365 Photo a Day Project Photo
“Winter Wonderland”

The rambling part…
Time to head home from our winter wonderland today. We debated whether to get the children up early to go tobogganing – but they weren’t massively enthusiastic on the other days and we decided they needed a little extra sleep more.

So instead I had a quick last sauna before we packed our cases, had breakfast and headed home.

twin room…

lounge with sofa bed…

our little kitchen (used only for wine and coffee!)…

Whenever we go into the hotel we need to use the card key to get into the building (Lx’s job) and then again on the door to our room (Dx’s job). They take these responsibilities seriously and love getting the green light to flash!

Home to a beautiful sunset, the motorway at rush hour..

and a meal at the carvery with two grandparents who were exhausted after 3 days of looking after the two boys! (This is Gx’s plate – not bad for a 9 year old who has chosen what to have by himself. And he ate it all!)

6/12/2012 – Part One – Visiting the man himself!!!

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2012, 365, childhood, children, christmas, family, finland, holiday, home, husky, lapland, photoaday, photography, postaday, santa, skiing, sled, sleigh, sunset

365 Photo a Day Project Photo

“Homeward Bound”

The rambling part…

so today was the big day. The day we got to meet Santa on his home turf and despite still being incredibly tired – we were all very excited!

The first event of the day…was husky sledding. I wasn’t sure how Dx would be as the huskies start off at quite a pace before settling into their stride – but he was fine (and was even secretly waggling his fingers which the helpers had told him makes the huskies run faster!!)

time then for a little tobogganing…!

and then we heard that we could go on a magical sleigh ride to visit Santa…

(Of course this was the point my new expensive camera decided to fog up – coming inside from the cold.  😦 Luckily we had a point-and-shoot as a back up…)

by this time the children were feeling the cold – so time for a quick defrost indoors with coffee and cookies..

When we could feel our faces and our fingers again – we went outside to try the skiing and the snowmobiling

Lx was so determined to go full speed at the snowmobiling (attached to a tree by a rope so that they could only circle it) that she took her mitten off to be able to squeeze the controls better. She regretted it at the end of the ride as her poor hand was frozen!

Remember I said they could only go in circles? Dx decided to go one better and decided to create his own paths within the gouged out circle from the hundreds of riders before him! Getting closer and closer to hitting the tree the helper quickly stopped him and put him back on track!

then we had some lunch before going on a reindeer ride…

which took us to an ice bar in an igloo…

where we were able to buy massively overpriced baileys and schnapps!

We watched a show with a couple of naughty elves – who then happily posed for some photos afterwards with our own naughty elves…!

time to head home and the sun was setting already at 2.30pm! Poor Dx fell asleep almost before we pulled away from Santa’s wonderland and slept as Matt carried him back to the hotel..

to be continued… 🙂

20/10/2012 – The wanderer returns!

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2012, 365, autumn, childhood, children, family, football, home, landscape, photoaday, photography, postaday, son, sunset

365 Photo a Day Project Photo

“Sunset – World on Fire”

************************************************

The rambling part…

I got to take Gx to football again this morning as Matt was clearing all his stuff out of the dining room ready for us to have visitors for lunch tomorrow. It was a misty morning so harder to see him when he was on the other side of the pitch – but every time I go to watch he seems more animated, more enthusiastic and to have enjoyed it more when we talk about it after.

(I wanted to go for a kind of painterly feel to this – those painters who do a blob for a head and a couple of lines for legs. Not sure if it just looks like I hadn’t had my coffee yet!? Still it is good to try new things..!)

————————————————————————————–
“You lot follow me…”
“Gx come here a minute…”
“Lx Lx, just do this a sec”
“Mummy, just listen to this…”

Yes, Sx is home again. In his normal fashion he doesn’t recognise “exhaustion” but has just said he feels a bit funny. He came home desperate to get out his keyboard and play on it for the rest of the afternoon – while getting his siblings to help out where necessary! The “bom bom bom bada bom bom” of Queen’s “Under Pressure” is now throbbing in my head!!

By bedtime they were all cuddled up together as usual.