More holidays...

 Gorgeous Highland scenery- on a beautiful Forestry Commission site- stunning walk- free parking, deserted, beautiful picnic facilities, compost toilet (kids always find them terribly exciting)- could have stayed all day

 Continuing the beach fascination- a rocky/sandy beach on the Moray Firth near Fort George- another beautiful afternoon of wet mooching children, deserted beach so parents can watch from the bench next to the Motorhome- with a pot of tea- and actually talk to each other for once.

 Dolphin spotting at Chanonry Point- am not sure which species was watching the other??

Children that actually like each other- everyone getting on quite well- when they arent arguing...

Holidays

 Another beautiful Scottish holiday- with a slight detour to Lincolnshire to the Memorial Flight to continue our WWII airplane obsession

Wonderful sunshine- hardly a midge- we went to the right side of Scotland this year! We totally beached the children out- if that is possible! Few quiet days in the countryside on a site in the grounds of a Stately Home. Then some wild camping on Rannochmoor (but still both a Tesco and an Asda Home delivery vans went past!!!)- up the beauty of the A9 into the Highlands and Invernessshire- where we visited Ft George and watched Dolphins swimming off Chanonry Point on the Black Isle...

Camping at Rosemarkie- 5m from the Sea- friends playing all day...Moving onto North Berwick and a huge amount of friends- whereby we lost them for most of the day (and half the night too). Lots of brown skin- rubbed skin from flip flops- buckets of shells.....

Exam done, assignment uploaded and now a rest and a hard think about whether to go further....

Some site scouting done and some long discussion re Future- just need to get house moved on a bit now- however Weather makes it too hot this weekend!

A Rollercoaster ride...

Well- heres what the kids have done today......a paddling pool in Mablethorpe, plus an NT property and a whole day on the Beach yesterday....

And I have completed an assignment and revised and revised and revised- plus a little shopping!

Looking forward to tomorrow night and exam being completed- feeling a little better about the amount of prep this time- thanks M- love you!

And then to enjoy a summer- last few Playgroups, days out, reading fiction........

Finally done.....and then new challenge

 My beautiful swan princess- so proud of you. A long and tiring but exciting weekend- so exciting to be backstage

 And to take pretty dreadful photos during the show (should have run round to the other side)- just awaiting the DVD now.

Atonement from DS1- who has been having some shocking moments recently.... a few issues we are having to take in hand- so hard to get the balance of allowing them to make their own mistakes and yet trying to protect them from getting into lifelong bad habits.

And personally the next module assessment approaches- a little overwhelming- fast approaching exam- which has eaten into our holiday painfully and the pressure of an assignment to get done before we go so that that doesnt wreck the remainder!

Busy, busy, busy

Full on meeting ourselves coming back......

 Final preparations for the Show at a large City Centre Theatre- where she is doing four dances- 2 classical ballet- Swan Lake Cygnets and a Frank Sinatra song then 2 stage- jazz to the Time Warp and Tap to I'm a Believer. Wonderful experiences but wearing a little thin on all the extra rehearsal times that are eating into our precious days- sometimes twice a day for the different disciplines! But a few proud mummy & daddy moments coming up

 Beast Quest meets Papermache- in a sword and shield bearing the talents of the original good beasts of Avantia. Some very proud night moments with a boy who is working to overcome his own obstacles.

 

 

And the Harry Potter thing continues- a cage designed for Hedwig but actually allocated to Plop the owl who cant fly- as well as being afraid of the dark........

 

We have started reading my mothers all time favourite series- which Enid Blytons Adventure series- they are being sucked in and I have so many memories of family holidays with chapters at the end of the day.

 

So...Cub Camp approaching in the new chapter, Beaver activities, dancing shows, holidays and weekends away, Reenactment events, play days...busy, busy, busy.......

And the highlight....

The Making of Harry Potter- Warner Studios....

 A new Gryffindor

 The beyond fabulous model of Hogwarts

 My favourite- a baby Mandrake

 

 

Diagon Alley.....

 

A fabulous afternoon (made more fab by the fact I had paid for it a few months ago- so the ouchness of that had slightly receeded)- magical.....entranced children- even the four year old.....squeals of 'Aragog' 'Dobby' 'Buckbeak'.....Riding broomsticks and wand duelling....Drinking butterbeer and standing outside 4 Privet Drive

Magical...


 

London Trip

 Two years ago we had a sucessful family holiday in London- so decided to repeat the experience but with a new set of outings....

Thanks to the bargains that is Tesco Clubcard Deals we got incredible value days out vouchers for an open top bus trip around the City....Big Ben and the Palace of Westminster, the Abbey and St Pauls, the Charde and Tower Bridge, Marble Arch and the new Bomber Command memorial...   to name but a few....  a boat ride down the Thames, climbing Tower Bridge...the Science Museum and the dinosaurs at the NH museum...

 Walking past Downing Street and HorseGuards Parade to the Churchill War Rooms....

And probably the Childrens highlight.....a buffet meal in China Town and a Visit to Hamleys- where we spent over two hours going from top to bottom via all of the demonstrators and their crafty bits plus careful contemplation of how to stretch out their pocket money (plus extentions to their 'birthday lists'!!)- which translated to remote control cars for the boys and a glitter tattoo set for FI....

Lots of Underground Travel- including challenging SJ to guide us across various routes- to prove that he could, completing various childrens activities at the museums