farewell to the summer

Just because its summer. And because there is simply no such thing as too much beach spam if you ask me. I bring you yet another beachy adventure. This time lady luck was seriously on our side, because we booked our 'farewell summer' beach hut day back in the winter and while the days either side of our little trip were overcast, wet and a bit cold, the day of the trip dawned with blue sky, bright sunshine and it was so hot that I think we were definitely in the best place; enjoying the coastal breeze with natures paddling pool a few feet away.

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a 'just us' weekend

We are a seaside family. It's our happy place. And I say it all the time, but it just makes us all smile to have sand between our toes and a nice salty breeze in our hair. 

At the moment we are in that strange limbo stage while you wait for a new baby to arrive, where it feels like an era is ending; and while we are all so excited to become a five, it also makes us desperate  to cling onto these memories of life as a four. And where better for a beach loving family to make some lovely simple memories, than a weekend at the seaside.

So we borrowed my Nan's static caravan on Mersea Island and we had the loveliest time together. Mersea has to be one of our favourite places; we just love spending time together there. It is the quintessential seaside town, but so unspoiled and so beautiful, with the added touch that it gets cut off from the mainland during high tides. It really was the best kind of weekend. We played, we ate ice cream, we paddled our feet, we saw crabs, we hunted for shells, we took lots of sunshiny walks, we counted boats, we spotted jellyfish, we went out for breakfast, we met a friendly seal, we rode on a boat... and we came home with that sun kissed skin, windswept hair, sandy toes and suncream smell that tells you you've had a perfect weekend.

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a favourite place

I love that we live where we do. Not necessarily our specific home or street, but the area. Because we are utterly spoiled with being surrounded by some beautiful parks and gardens and pretty spots, as well as being equidistant to the bright lights of London, and the calming air of the coast. We can be at either with 45 minutes, and I think it gives us the very best of both worlds.

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preschool class of 2015

This past weekend our beautiful boy graduated from his preschool. It was a lovely celebration of his time there, and a day that made him feel super proud of himself, and us even prouder of the little boy he is becoming.

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making rainbows {52 adventures}

With the kind of hot weather we've been having of late, there appear to be two options when it comes to small children; hide away in the cool, or go for some water play. We definitely did our fair share of both last week, but my pair of water babies will always prefer the latter option and seem to be drawn to water like a magnet.

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a beach hut birthday {52 adventures}

When you are seaside and beach hut obsessive like me, there isn't really a better way of spending your birthday than enjoying those two things. Add to that the fact that the sun came along to play (which practically never ever happens on my birthday) and you have a recipe for a lovely adventure.

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rhs hyde hall {52 adventures}

I am going to start this post by saying that, if I were to right a list of the top things I love about living where we do; Hyde Hall would be one of them. It really genuinely is one of my favourite places to visit, it's just beautiful. But despite a few visits last year, I was still yet to drag Rich along to this little piece of heaven nestled in the Essex countryside. Until this particular adventure...

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in amongst the bluebells

Bluebells are something of an annual adventure for us. We've made a trip out to the woods to visit those beautiful purple flowers every single Spring, and it's always one of my favourite adventures. This year was definitely the best yet, with two bright and inquisitive little people searching for wildlife among the flowers, talking about bears and Gruffalos that may be hiding, and generally making the whole event into an even bigger adventure. 

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a 55th birthday party {52 adventures}

In my grown up years, pre-children, birthdays became a bit flat. They seem to lose their sparkle a little bit as you grow older and birthdays no longer include lots of wrapping paper, copious cake and a party. But now that we have children, birthdays have come back on our agenda in a big way... because birthdays are a big deal, they are a celebration, and my children are massively partial to birthday celebrations that include cake and Nanny's rice krispie crunch.

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climbing, balancing, learning {52 adventures}

Sometimes the best little adventures are the surprise ones... the ones you didn't plan, or planned differently, and they end up being amazing fun. For our adventure this week, we found ourselves with an hour to spare on a weekday afternoon, and itchy feet to get out and do something. A brief check of the list of local spots we want to visit this year, and we hopped in the car headed for a nearby country park. Only half way there the traffic ground to a halt, and suddenly it looked like we might waste our adventure time sitting in the car. Some quick thinking, a quick u-turn and a change of direction later and we found ourselves on a whole different adventure.

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sunday lunch {52 adventures}

We've always tried to eat out regularly with our children, because I think it's important that they learn early on about the manners and behaviour that go along with 'eating out', plus it gives them access to different foods that they may not try to freely at home. And eating out is fun... there is none of the prep and clearing up for mummy and daddy, so we really enjoy eating out together as a family.

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one day and one really big adventure {52 adventures}

When we set ourselves the challenge of having 52 adventures this year, we didn't imagine for a second that we'd be planning this one. We saw ahead of us, a year of exciting days out near and far, an excuse to use our passports for some foreign adventures, and a lot of memory making along the way. Never in our wildest of dreams did we imagine an adventure quite this big and quite this exciting. But this year is clearly shaping up to give us some even more amazing adventures and memories than we could have dreamt up.

It felt like how we broke the news to our children was going to be really important. This really big adventure will be for all of us, and we want them to feel like a part of every step. So this was how we started the adventure for them; with a normal morning, followed by an exciting hospital trip with a new introduction, and an afternoon together celebrating our family.

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little easter moments {52 adventures}

The Easter Egg Hunt is without doubt the best bit of Easter in our family... apart from the long weekend of family time of course. It makes me giddy just watching the children's excited faces as they run around in search for the eggs the Easter Bunny has left for them. I always feel like I'm making a little bit of magic when I go out to hide them, and although the whole things always seems to be over as soon as it's begun; it is the most fun.

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down at the farm {52 adventures}

This particular adventure is definitely an annual family favourite of ours. Every Easter we venture to Wales to visit Rich's aunt and uncle who own a farm there, and every year it seems like the children love it a little bit more than the year before. 

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beach hut days

After a very big and exciting eleventh adventure, I knew that we were going to need something to cheer us up on our post Disney holiday come down. So a little while back I booked us a day at a beach hut for the week after our holiday, I thought it would be a nice little kick start to the Easter break, I crossed my fingers that some nice Spring weather might come our way, and figured that whatever happened at least we'd get some fresh air and I could feed my beach hut obsession a bit.

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the disney dream

The Disney dream is something that just sucks you in. The familiar songs, the well known characters, something about the charm of place where anything is possible with dreams and love and pixie dust... it is pure magic. The kind of magic that I still fully buy into as a fully grown adult.

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backyard adventures {52 adventures}

It is starting to feel like spring is really arriving lately, and with it has arrived one of my favourite things... going out without a coat. There is something so refreshing about not needing to wrap up to venture out of doors, about just being able to open the door and get some fresh air.

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meals full of happy {52 adventures}

This probably seems like a very random kind of adventure... and it is really. But it was one, and it was as adventurous as we got this week with a Daddy away with work and a Mummy recovering from flu. So yes, I took my children to McDonalds for dinner, it saved me the prep, the cooking and the clearing up. And it made them happier than happy things... mainly because I got them their first ever Happy Meals.

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a stroll along the prom {52 adventures}

It's been at least a few weeks now since we last had an adventure involving a nice bit of sea air and water and boats, so with the sunshine coming out to play we went on a lovely adventure to walk along the prom at Maldon.

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signs of spring {52 adventures}

I am so proud of the fact that this little weekly adventures project has made "adventures" such a big part of our family vocabulary. And this week's adventure was at the children's prompt, their design, their adventure... and I went along for the ride. I could easily have called this post 'park spam' because that is exactly what it is. 

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