holiday round up

Thank you for all the lovely comments on Friday's post, feeling much more like myself now.  

Last night's mojitos might have helped.

So how about a speedy round up of the hols? With a truly random selection of pics.

We had a truly wonderful trip. It was Very Hot at times.

 It was quite an effort to not end up looking like a boiled lobster. 

This one was very tasty btw. E liked it too. Miss K pronounced it too spiky to eat.

E discovered a passion for donuts. We did find some gluten free donuts in Trader Joes, they were quite tasty, but not very photogenic...... 

This is Jackson,  New Hampshire. Very Pretty. Natural pools of water for paddling and splashing. Water is a bit theme throughout the trip. I think my family might be partly aquatic, they sought out water wherever we went. Also in the area a mountain side thrills park. Water slides, giant airbags to jump onto, cable car rides, mountain coasters. Thrill seeking children Loved it.... I watched mostly....

Rockport, MA. Frequently used as a film set, most recently "The Proposal" with Sandra Bullock, where it pretends to be a town in Alaska. I've never been to Alaska but I doubt it is quite that hot there. Or as picture book pretty.

We lived there nearly 20 years ago, it's barely changed, and I still love it just as much. 

It was liked going on holiday and coming home, all at the same time.

The Lincoln Memorial, Washington DC. The Mall in Washington is filled with monuments and statues and sculptures and water features. Truly Beautiful. Especially at night.  Also along the Mall more museums than you could ever hope to visit in a lifetime. We saw the biggest diamond ever, touched a piece of the moon, read the fading lettering of the Declaration of Independence, wanted to read all the books at Thomas Jefferson's library, learnt about  evolution, and how toilets work in space, sat in the Botanic gardens, and dipped our toes in fountains and pools, collected tiny pieces of driftwood from the river banks, and walked 1 1/2 miles of the 17 miles of corridors in the Pentagon, and went to the zoo.

Back to reality now, I need to email one of  Miss K's teachers and tell him I've put the letters about next terms text books, and syllabus in a safe place, (probably the recycling.........) and please will he email me another copy of them.

I remember her handing them to me, who knows what happened to them after that............

we saw a t-shirt on holiday that said "nothing is truly lost until your mother can't find it" 

perhaps it should say on the back, "unless it's her fault it's lost"

feeling like it's Friday

feeling a bit flat today. Friday feeling? maybe. post holiday slump? probably. GCSE results stress? definitely. (she did ok). overwhelming mountain of laundry glaring at me? let's just pretend that's not there shall we.........

how about some holiday photos instead? from our favourite place of the whole trip.

take one privately owned disused granite quarry, allow it to fill it with water from a natural underground spring and you have the most amazing swimming spot I could possibly imagine.

deep clean water as far as the eye can see.
so so deep.

a giant telegraph pole to play on, in case bobbing about in the water gets boring.

and for the thrill seekers, endless rocks to leap off from terrifying heights, often whilst playing with a bat and ball at the same time, guaranteed to give mothers of said thrill seekers endless anxst and potential heart attacks........ 

I can't bring myself to publish a photograph of the highest jump, you'll think I'm a terrible and irresponsible person and never come back here.......

let's just focus back on that tranquil clear water shall we............

holiday snap shots from the Yorkshire coast

Whitby Abbey. Standing proud on the cliffs overlooking the sea there are steep steps to climb to reach the Abbey, but it's always worth it. As a bonus the exercise makes you extra hungry for the annual gluten free fish and chips.

Looking north towards Saltburn.

Looking South towards Port Mulgrave.

Stormy seas.

The rescue helicopter. Stormy seas and playing on the harbour wall don't mix, the lifeboat went out to rescue someone who was washed out to sea......... Broken bones but no lasting damage apparently, but the lifeboat crewman we spoke to thought they were very lucky.

There are blue skies in some of these photos, but the weather was described by the forecaster as unseasonably cool. I think I would have gone so far as to say it was cold..... 

Still wonderful though, relaxing, quiet and peaceful, with bracing walks and plenty of cake. Perfect.

anenomes and ammonites

When you've been holidaying in the same place for many years there comes a reassuring pattern of activities, 

places to rediscover,

favourite things to see and do,

(for me this includes much paddling in rock pools, I love how sometimes you discover one that is as warm a as a hot bath!)

and lots of hunting, for anemones and ammonites.

and for that special photograph that sums up the magic of a perfect summers day.

olympic gold medal standard yarnbombing

"So Why are we going to Saltburn mummy?"

"to see the yarnbombing of course!"

"will there be ice cream?"

"knitted ice cream?"

"no, real ice cream!"

honestly you'd think the seaside was about fish and chips and sand and icecream.............
it is clearly a celebration of all things knitted and olympics.
I couldn't decide which I liked more, looking at the knitting, or listening to the reactions of all the people on the pier, which ranged from delight to sheer bemusement! As in the actual olympics I couldn't decide which event I liked best,  but this one is most like how I enjoyed the games!

london 2012 yarnbombing

When you are the only house in the street to have any Olympic decorations you really have to make an effort.

So I proudly present my Olympic yarnbombing.

I thought it might have produced some baffled looks from the neighbours, but I guess they are getting used to us...........

It feels like the Olympics are being brought into my living room through other bloggers, it was a joy to see Stephanie's photos of the wildflowers which are to die for,  and Nancy's tales of the opening ceremony have made me tell everyone I know that "I know someone who went to the dress rehearsal".

Now please excuse me, I might have to make a few more crochet flowers to calm my nerves, the men's road race time trials have started.......

holiday highlights

whilst the rest of the family hunted fossils, I hunted anemones.



we walked the beach route to Port Mulgrave



and marvelled at the blue skies



and climbed the cliff path and marvelled that we were right down there

and whilst this is what some people wanted to do on the beach

this was much more my style.....

important packing

we're going on a trip tomorrow, and I need to pack.
train tickets.
theatre tickets
stadium tickets
a picnic
extra snacks....... (can't risk running out of cake!)
and other very useful things.



but most important of all I need to pack my new socks
well I need something to do on the train.
as well as listening to the inevitable "are we there yet?"

back soon, have fun while I'm away.

what do you pack when you go away?

in which we visit a world of brightly coloured plastic

if you get up at 5.45 (when the excited children of your friends can't resist checking to see if you arrived when they were asleep)

and brave a cross country route (all navigated by me - and we didn't get lost once!), and then the horrors of the early morning M25

then suddenly you are transported away to a magic land



where one second you might be in Holland



or on the beach



perhaps you'll be seeing storm troopers and Darth Vader (this one's for you big lad!)

or watching the shuttle take off

looks there's our favourite angel

and looks at the realistic feathers on this pigeon, oh wait, it's a real one!

but wait, watch out, the zebra with the dynamite might blow up your picnic

but only if these oh so pretty dinosaurs don't get you first

and if you survive from the monsters unscathed you still have to do battle with the M25 at 5pm on a Friday night, oh the admiration I have for people who drive that everyday, I'd rather have dinner with a dinosaur.............