Summer Holiday

Dad just finished his project and Nicholas starts school soon so it seemed like the perfect time to sneak off on holiday. We would have preferred something longer and something more adventurous but constrained by time off and the state of our passports we had to choose something close to home. Thanks to another excellent last minute deal we ended up at the lovely all inclusive Merton Hotel in Jersey. I must say I was really pleasantly surprised by the island that is part of the UK but is closer to France. It has lots of lovely beaches, even though the island is small we tried out a different beach every day, some touristy and others totally deserted. The best thing about the hotel was the awesome swimming pool complex which we enjoyed every day between 4pm and 6pm when we dragged ourselves off the beach. The food, especially the seafood, was really delicious too. The boys loved all the things that go with a beach holiday: swimming, wave jumping, boogy boarding and body surfing, kayaking, rock pools, snorkelling, sandcastles, building dams, drawing in the sand, looking for shells and pebbles, eating ice cream and just simply having fun together as a family. In that sense it was absolutely perfect!

Good-bye England (Poole)

Hello Jersey (St Hellier)Jambo the Gorilla in the Hotel's gardenThe amazing swimming pool complex
Seafood FeastsPortlet Bay

Jump! Jump! Jump!

Catching waves

St Brelade's Bay
Green IslandLa Rocque Harbour

GoreyGreve de LecqSt Ouen's Bay
St Aubin's Bay
BeauportCorbiere Lighthouse (low tide)Corbiere Lighthouse (at high tide)
Carpe Diem
(Danny was extremely photogenic at that moment - so I took advantage of it and ended up with this collection of portraits - I love them all and couldn't choose only one)

Playdates in the park

During the summer we had quite a few play dates in the parks around Putney. It made me realise how lucky we are to be surrounded by so many green spaces each with it's own atmosphere and attraction. Our favourite spots this summer were Putney Heath/Telegraph and Leaders Gardens/Thames Towpath. Every year it's different!

Telegraph with Freddie, Lawrie, Olivia and Ernie
Putney Heath with Phillipa
Leaders Gardens with Phillipa
Thames Towpath with Jose-Luis

The Arty Farty Nutty Professor

Every day when Daniel is having his nap Nicholas chooses an activity for us to do together. I always try to incorporate some reading or writing but it often involves something arty and lately some sort of science experiment. This post contains a collection of photos from some of the things we did over the past few months. Nick has an extremely good attention span and will almost always finish whatever he starts. A quality of his that I admire just as much as his enthusiasm. I'm really going to miss this special time that I share with my little big boy!

Good old fashioned drawing

Painting is always a popular choice

CollagesMake your own aeroplaneDinosaur mouldsMetamorphosis
Homemade compass
Experimenting with volume
Bobbing Raisins
Experimenting with density