Me and Mine - July

Last July was swelteringly hot, the evenings were sweaty and it felt like summer was going on forever.  I remember watching it out the hospital window, consoling myself with the strong rays I was protecting my children's skin from.  We missed a whole month of sunshine, of being outdoors and this July we have tried to make up for it.

Our days have been spent outdoors as much as possible, with plenty of mornings at the beach, picnics at lunch time and afternoons in the park.  We have spent lazy evenings eating fish and chips out of paper cones watching the children build sandcastles on a deserted beach and if we need some quiet, we have driven motorbikes round the garden, enjoyed bbq's and played with the sandpit.

One evening we met a local photographer down at the local beach, and she took some lovely photos of our little family, capturing us now.  My not so little toddler who is excited and ready for new adventures.  My slightly crazy 17 month old, who would spend all day in the sea and loves to roar, and the bloke and I, enjoying the best side of the place where we grew up, and where we are bringing up our family.

Mummy is loving her new laptop, dinner time picnics, having a new baby niece to cuddle and the way Archie tells you back off if you tell him off first.

Daddy is loving our new sofa,  going out with his brothers and gaming buddies, cooking pulled pork in the slow cooker and when Dylan asks him about his day as soon as he walks through the front door after work.

Dylan is loving his first session at nursery summer club, doing pages in his phonics book, the excuse to eat ice cream far more than I would usually allow and having friends over and then dissappearing to his room to play together.

Archie is loving roaring, at everyone and everything, piling cushions on the floor and practising dramatic falls and other stunts, saying more words and when I let him walk rather than putting him in the buggy.