'Pimms' by izzy's-photos

Pimms, a photo by izzy's-photos on Flickr.

Today it rained a lot which is always rather a pain when it's the school holidays. I won't complain too much though as it did cool the place down and I'm feeling nowhere near as hot as I have been lately. Also it's provided a great opportunity to show you this gorgeous rainbow picture. I could sit and look at a rainbow like this for hours so it's a shame they never really stick around that long. I also like the fact that this was taken from a barge and that there's a rather cool looking fella wandering across the top of it. Loving the Pimms brolly!

'Sunrise over Rayleigh, Essex, 12 Nov 12' by Deptford Draylons

Sunrise over Rayleigh, Essex, 12 Nov 12, a photo by Deptford Draylons on Flickr.

And so ends another lovely summer weekend. The past two days were full of variety. We started off by selling loads of baby things at a nearly new sale and it feels great to finally start making some space in the loft. Then Grandpa came to stay which excited my children very much and also meant that my husband and I actually went out on Saturday night TOGETHER! This is something that doesn't happen very often. And today was mainly spent in Ikea, which for me is a treat not a chore!

Here's a photo that I've been wanting to share here for ages as it's simply stunning. It looks like the sky is on fire. It can be hard to capture something beautiful like this and do it justice but this photographer appears to have completely succeeded.

'School's out for summer' by Me

School's out for summer, a photo by PhotoPuddle on Flickr.

I know most schools only broke up for the holidays yesterday but my daughter's pre-school term ended over a week ago. We are therefore well into holiday mode. We've been really busy going places and seeing friends but have also really loved not having to rush to get ready in the morning. I already know getting used to the school run again in September is going to be hard!

Here is a photo I took of my daughter whilst out walking in the local woods the other day. I love it because it just seems to sum up that carefree summer holiday feeling. Here's to many chilled out days in the sunshine. And here's hoping that my little girl's last ever summer holiday before big school is a fantastic one.

'Shoreham Airport Tower' by Gordon Haws

Shoreham Airport Tower, a photo by Gordon Haws on Flickr.

Today we had a brilliantly spontaneous afternoon. My husband decided that it was far too hot to be at work and took a half day's holiday. When he got come home we jumped in the car and off we went. We weren't actually a hunded percent sure where we were off too,we just knew the general direction. In the end we stopped at Shoreham Airport to watch the planes landing and taking off. Both the kids loved it and I highly recommend it for a visit if you're ever in the area. Parking is a pound but other than that it's free unless you want to eat or drink in the lovely cafe/restaurant/bar. This isn't a sponsored post by the way, we just really loved it there and wanted to share!

After that we decided to head to the beach. Once again we weren't sure which beach we were going to go to but we ended up stopping in Lancing just because they had pretty beach huts. Photos to follow shortly! It was lovely on the beach though and we ended up staying much longer than we planned. The best bit was being able to paddle in the sea. My little boy REALLY loved doing that as well! In fact he just wanted to keep going further and further in!

And to finish off the afternoon we headed on to Worthing where we treated ourselves to pizza for dinner before heading home tired and happy. It was such a wonderful day made even more exciting by the whole spontaneity of it.

Here is the coolest picture of Shoreham airport I could find. It's a rather fancy looking Art Deco building which makes the whole airport feel rather grand even thought it's just an airport for little planes. I love what the photographer has done to this image. The colours work really well. Especially that lovely sky.

'How to take a photo of some apples in a colander' by Me

How to take a photo of some apples in a colander, a photo by PhotoPuddle on Flickr.

Apparently my laptop is full so I've been busy going through it and deleting what feels like a zillion photos. It's been interesting having a look at what "arty" shots I've taken over the years. I really like taking pictures of random objects around the house and trying to make them look pretty. This is often easier said than done with small children around though. This is the day I tried to take a photo of a colander. My daughter, who was quite little at the time, appears to be enjoying herself. Despite her trying to steal my prop I think I still managed a pretty good picture!

'Lifestyle Beach Hut' by brent.darby

Lifestyle Beach Hut, a photo by brent.darby on Flickr.

I've realised I've not posted anything here since Sunday. I knew it had been a few days but I didn't realise it had been that long. I completely blame the gorgeous weather. It's just too hot to contemplate doing anything unless it's really necessary. I feel I should post something about my children though as I have been bursting with pride this week. It was my daughter's last day at pre-school this week and they had a little graduation ceremony for them. The teachers said such wonderful things about her and although I'm really sad I won't be taking her there any more I know that she is completely ready for big school and I'm excited about the new chapter in her life. That's not to say I won't sob a little when I drop her off on her first day!

And I want to mention my son as well as he had his one year check up today (a bit late as he's almost 15 months) and he is progressing brilliantly at all things baby and toddler! Might need to do something about his confidence though as he has far too much. Today his favourite game was climbing onto the sofa and then falling head first off it! Thank goodness we have a lot of cushions!

Anyway, I want to wish you a lovely weekend. I hope there weather where you are is as lovely as it is here. I shall leave you with a fantastic photo which just shows a perfect beach scene. I feel all relaxed just looking at it!

'Flip flop' by Me

Flip flop, a photo by PhotoPuddle on Flickr.

Oh my word it's hot, hot, hot! Nothing I can't cope with just yet but I've checked the ten day weather forecast and it's apparently going to get as hot at 33 degrees! Let's see if I'm complaining about the heat then! I kind of guessed that might happen. After such a long and cold winter I thought it might get balanced out by a very hot summer.

This weather has meant an excuse to point my camera at all sorts of things and get great shots of everyday objects in beautiful sunlight. Here's a pair of flip flops. I think they're rather pretty!

'sunrise' by takekazu

sunrise, a photo by takekazu on Flickr.

It's been a funny old week. The days have been amazing and we've had such fun the sun but by the evening I have been completely shattered and feeling rubbish. I even took myself off to bed shortly after 9 o'clock the other night. It was still light outside! Anyway, not feeling quite so tired tonight (perhaps that's because it was cloudy this morning!) so thought I'd get a quick blog post done.

I love this so much. That sunrise is just beautiful and I love the sparkly sun peeping out from beneath the wing. Considering I simply cannot sleep on planes this is the kind of view I would see on a night flight. Yes, I'm the one opening the blind to peek outside when everyone else is sleeping in the dark. Also this photo makes me want to go on holiday. Even though we got an term time priced holiday at the beginning of June it's a bit annoying we've been away already this summer as I'm going to spend the next few months on Instagram, Facebook etc being jealous of everyone's holiday snaps!

Hope the sun is shining where you are and you all have a wonderful weekend!

'Big boy, little pool' by Me

Big boy, little pool, a photo by PhotoPuddle on Flickr.

I've been suspecting it for some time but today it hit me for real. My baby boy is most definitely a toddler now. I was watching him playing at a toddler group earlier and he wasn't playing like a baby he was playing like a little child. And he looked just as big and grown up as the children there that I would have considered to be toddlers. Then this evening after making a complete mess eating a youghurt I changed him into the nearest clean top lying around which happened to be my daughter's pre-school t-shirt. Shockingly he didn't look that swamped in it. I can't believe he'll be at pre-school himself in little over a year. They say time goes faster with your second child and they (whoever they may be) are definitely right.

And don't get me started on my little girl who's four going on fourteen right now. When did my baby girl become such a big girl? She starts school in September and I've already bought most of her uniform. The other day I decided to dress her up in the whole lot. I thought she'd look so little but I was wrong. She really suited that uniform and she looked so natural in it. She is so ready to start school.

I love the saying "The days are long but the years are short" and it really, really is the case. I'm going to blink and my babies will be leaving home. Sniffle......

Here is my boy demonstraing just how big he's getting. This is a family sized paddling pool. I'm just kidding obviously. It's a ridiculously small one I bought it a pound shop but it actually got played in just as much as the regular sized one!

'all in a row' by jaz_on_tour

all in a row, a photo by jaz_on_tour on Flickr.

Well the week has started well. I took my boy to the music group he loves, we went to a picnic in the park to celebrate a first birthday, we got the paddling pool out for the first time this summer, we had a sneaky barbecue for dinner and during what turned out to be an extra long nap time I decided to ignore the housework, sit in the garden and read my book. Trust me this is something that never usually happens. I'm also happy because I got lots of laundry done. I love doing laundry in weather like this as it's so nice to be able to hang clothes outside to dry. This has inspired my choice of photo tonight. Not only do I like hanging washing out on the line I also kind of like pictures of it. I love the pureness off this image. The laundry is such a bright white. The detail of the wood on the pegs is perfect and it definitely looks like it's a bright sunny day.

Here's to a week filled with sunshine!

'beach hut art' by vintage 1953 & wackymoomin

beach hut art, a photo by vintage 1953 & wackymoomin on Flickr.

I started the weekend feeling a bit stressed out and down about things. I hoped that a jam packed weekend in the sunshine would help me snap out of my mood and guess what, I think it did. I am not feeling anywhere as stressed and anxious as I was last week so fingers crossed the coming week will involve lots of chilled out fun in the sun.

My weekend was full of good friends, family, dancing, playing, nice meals out, a barbecue at home, winning prizes, the whole family running in races at sports day, evening beers in the garden and getting excited watching Wimbledon. I thought I'd therefore finish the weekend off perfectly with a lovely beach hut photo! This one is really interesting and well observed but I mainly love it just because of the beautiful colours.

Hope you've all had a lovely weekend too xxx

'Summer's here...[Explored]' by Barbara Taeger

Summer's here...[Explored], a photo by Barbara Taeger (formerly Pianogram) on Flickr.

Here's another post that says 'hooray, summer finally turned up'! The weather today was beautiful so we went off to the park for a picnic with some friends. According to the forecast it's meant to get even hotter over the next few days. I've got lots of lovely things planned for the weekend including a big night out with the girls. Hopefully this will chill me out a bit. For some reason, I don't really know why, I have been feeling really stressed and full of anxiety this week. I really am all out of sorts so fingers crossed a few days of sunshine with family and friends will help me regain some confidence in myself and stop me worrying about anything and everything.

Urgh, enough of the self-pity - it's the weekend! I hope you all have a wonderful time whatever you're up to. Here is a suitably summery image to share with you. The swimming goggles against that bright aqua background really give me a holiday feeling. It's just a shame we've had our summer holiday already. Did I mention we went to Cornwall? ;-)

'My boy on the beach' by Me

My boy on the beach, a photo by PhotoPuddle on Flickr.

Do you know what I find really cute? Babies crouching down. I think it's really adorable when they toddle along then see something on the floor they want to look at or pick up. Maybe you don't quite get what I'm going on about so here is a picture I took of my little boy crouching down and examining something on the sand. When we booked our Cornish holiday back in January I was hoping he'd be walking so I could see him really enjoying the beach. Crawling on sand just isn't the same. He had only really been properly walking for a few weeks when we went but by the end of our stay he was an expert walker on all kinds of terrain including wet and dry sand. As he's a pro on his feet he's now perfecting his climbing skills. Oh the places I've found him! And we can't even think about leaving the stairgate open for a split second as the moment he hears the click of it opening he is there ready for climbing. I'm so proud of my little man but his adventurous nature does make life a bit stressful.