Posts in category: Personal

We have had a nice gentle start to the school summer holidays.

We’ve been to the library and the children have signed up for the summer reading challenge again.  I can’t remember if we actually went back at the end of last summer in time for them to properly complete it so I really want to make sure they do it this year.

Nerys picked out a big book of ‘things to do’ so that’ll be great for when we have days at home.  It’s got things to cook, things to make and activities to try and looks like it should keep us busy for a while.

I braved taking the children with me to Aldi one morning and they actually loved it.

They each had a shopping list, one on my phone and one paper copy, and really seemed to enjoy finding all the things we needed and crossing them off the list.  I have a feeling the novelty might have worn off by the end of the holidays though!

We’ve also done a trip to the park to try out some different sports with ParkLives, a nice amount of time just taking it easy at home and a trip to the beach.

The plan for this summer is to visit quite a few different beaches on Gower and this week we decided on Langland Bay.

It’s a really popular beach on Gower but we don’t tend to go down there all that often.  So it was lovely to go somewhere different and the children loved exploring the rock pools and paddling in the sea.

We weren’t planning on being at the beach all that long so didn’t take swimming things for the children.  I had a sneaky feeling they would still want to splash in the sea though, so I put a change of shorts in a bag for them.

Good thing I did really because it wasn’t long before Rhys was pretty soaked up to the waist and had to take his shorts off to try and dry them out a bit.  Well, if you can’t jump around in the sea in your pants when you’re a kid though when can you?!

We made it.  The summer holidays are finally here.

Well, technically the last day of term is today but the school made it an inset day.  I’m so pleased that they did, because going in for just one day at the start of the week would’ve felt so pointless!

Last week was a busy one for the children.

They’ve both been working really hard with all the rest of the school getting ready for a concert that took place on Thursday night.

It was the first time I’d seen the whole school perform together, and it had to be held in the Brangwyn Hall to fit everyone in.

Nerys’ class sang a rousing rendition of ‘Don’t stop me now’ and Rhys sang and signed ‘A thousand years’ with his year group.  Each year group did a different song and the whole school sang together a few times.  There were also performances from a dance group, the taiko drum club, the orchestra and the school choir.

It was an absolutely amazing evening and all the children were fantastic.  They all sang their hearts out and I just felt so emotional watching them.  I did well though, and didn’t actually cry at all!

After all the work and energy that went into the concert the children were quite tired by the end of the week, so we had a really lazy weekend.  The furthest we went was to swimming lessons then the little park on the way home.

The children have never really gone on the see-saw together for some unknown reason, so it was really nice to see them playing well on it at the weekend.

They’re quite nicely balanced in terms of weight these days so I think it was really fun for them.

We’ve not got too much planned for this week; I’m sort of easing into the holidays with a trip to the local library to sign up for the summer reading challenge and maybe a trip to town or the museum later in the week.

Have your summer holidays started?  Are you raring to go or are you taking things slowly this week?

It always makes me happy when I have months where I look through our photos and find that I have a few different ones to choose from of the children together.

This month I was quite on top of things apparently, and snapped pictures of Rhys and Nerys together on three different occasions.

The first was a few weeks ago at the school summer fete.

One of the activities that was really popular was a bit of a scavenger hunt in the dell.  The children were given a sheet with different animal footprints on.  They had to guess which animal they thought made each foot print, then search in the dell for pictures to find out if they were right.

They had a great time exploring all the corners of the dell and were thrilled when some of their guesses turned out to be right.

The next photo for this month was from our walk in Clyne woods the other week.

We’d been taking some family photos for the me and mine project and I got Rhys and Nerys to quickly pose together too.  I really love their smiles in this photo, it’s definitely one to print our for our photo album.

The last photo was taken yesterday when we went for a late afternoon trip to the beach.

Steve had looked up the tide times and suggested we take a picnic tea down for the children when the tide was right in, so they could have a swim afterwards.  We really are so lucky to have the beach so close by, and I love when we have days like this where we mix up the routine a bit to really take advantage of it.

We’ve now just got this one last week of term to go and then we’re in to the school summer holidays.

The children are beyond ready for the break and are looking forward to plenty more trips to the beach to practice their swimming skills.  I’m just looking forward to that first week of not needing to make packed lunches and rush about for the school run every morning!

One more week to go.  The end of term is almost within reach.

Last week was a busy one with various sessions at school to meet the teachers that the children will be with next year and to see all the work they’ve been busy doing this year.

I took the camera with me when I went to pick them up on Wednesday so I could get some photos for a personal project I’m doing over on my photography website.  It’s the 10 on 10 project where you take 10 photos on the 10th of each month.  I decided to use those 10 photos each month to sort of record our life as it was that day.

So this week’s living arrows photos are from that day while the children played in the yard and the woods after school.

We’ve got another busy week this week before the children can slow down and relax at the end of term.

The cubs are having a camp fire to mark the end of term one evening and I think we might all pop along for that.  It’s the first time the children will have been to anything like and I think they’ll really enjoy it.

Rhys has been loving cubs since he made the decision to properly give it a go.  He actually got his first badge last week and was absolutely buzzing.  And he’s been told if he can do a few bits and pieces over the summer he should be able to get 2 more badges almost as soon as they start back up again in September.

I’d better get my needle and thread ready to do some sewing after the holidays!

Both children have then got a big night towards the end of the week as the whole school is putting on a concert at The Brangwyn Hall for all the parents.

They’ve been working really hard learning the songs they’ll be singing and I can’t wait to see it all come together.

I know I’ll find it really emotional though.

I always find it hard not to start welling up when I watch the Christmas concerts so I know seeing my children do something like this will just really get me.

At least I feel pretty sure that I won’t be the only parent in the audience who gets emotional, we’re all quite a soppy lot really aren’t we.

The event we’d been waiting months and months for came around this weekend – the Wales national airshow.

We’ve been every year since they started doing it here in Swansea and every year it’s an amazing show to go and see.  We’re really lucky that we can walk down to the beach from our house in about 20ish minutes, so we packed up a picnic, a blanket and a bucket and spade and wandered down on Saturday to spend the afternoon watching all the displays and playing in the sand.

Rhys just loves being on the beach, especially when our friends are with us to help him dig a huge hole in the sand.

He found a dead crab at one point that he was fascinated by, which is what he’s examining in this photo.

Nerys was a bit more interested in the planes than Rhys I would say, and did sit and watch them a bit more.  But she also just really loved the chance to play on the beach, especially when one of her friends from school came over to join us.

I mentioned recently that Nerys seems to prefer playing with the girls most of the time at school, so I really enjoyed seeing her playing and having so much fun with this boy.  They dug in the sand together and chatted and generally just had a great time together.

He also seemed to enjoy playing with Rhys at the times when Nerys sat with me and Steve to actually watch some of the airshow.

This year was a bit of a special one because they did an evening event too for the first time.

So after popping back home at around 5 for some food and to put some warmer clothes on, we went back to the beach for sunset.  There were so many people there, but in a way that created a really lovely atmosphere rather than feeling crowded.

The tide was in, the sun was going down and it just felt like a really special moment to get to have as a family.

Once it was almost dark the displays started with planes flying by with fireworks trailing from their wings.  Then we saw the parachute team jump and float down with flares and pyrotechnics which was pretty impressive to see.

There were hot air balloons too, although they weren’t as impressive from where we were standing on the beach.

What we all loved though was the firework display at the end.

It brought back memories for me of the fireworks we used to watch from the beach in the south of France every summer when I was younger.

The airshow is a 2-day event here, so on Sunday we walked down again to catch the red arrows, because they are always worth going to see.  Then we headed off to take the children to their swimming lessons.

The rest of the day then was spent at home, generally taking it easy after a late night the night before.  Although we did all jump up and watch out of the window when we heard the Eurofighter Typhoon flying over.  It is so incredibly loud, it makes me laugh so much remembering how both the children slept through it roaring over our heads at the beach when they were babies!

Have you ever taken your children to an air show like this?  

We’ve moved into the slightly crazy end-of-school-year stage.

Where every week there are different things to remember, all sorts of meetings to go to at the school and various activities and events on for the children.

Last week it was sports day for both the children, so I spent pretty much the whole day at the school.  At least with one child in the infants and one in the juniors I felt like I could properly watch and support them both.   I really felt for the parents who had more than one child in the infants and had to somehow split themselves in half to be able to watch both of them do the different events.

Rhys had been on a hike along the seafront with the cubs the night before so didn’t quite have his normal energy levels but he still really went for it with each of his events, and he was beyond excited when his team won at the end of the morning.

With a busy few days though we decided to have a quiet one on Saturday.  Nerys and I went to the library but that was about it.

So on Sunday we went for a good stomp in the woods after swimming lessons so we could all get a bit of fresh air.

One of the things we love about Clyne woods is that there are so many different little paths you can wander down and explore.

I reckon you could go there week after week for months and have a different walk each time.

This time round we found a patch of mature woodland that seemed almost like it was set up for a little bmx track.  There was what looked like a ramp towards the top that the children had great fun jumping off.

I’m so pleased I managed to get this action shot of Rhys leaping off it (with sticks in his hands of course).  It makes me think of the matrix with the pose he was doing in the air.

We only meant to pop out for about half an hour but ended up walking in the woods for about 2 hours.

The child in me loves exploring and finding out where different paths go, and Steve loves showing us different parts of the area and telling us about the history of the place.  If you’re ever in the area and want a local history tour then he is definitely your man!

How on earth are we halfway through the year already?

It feels almost like I blinked and we were at the end of June, and I’m pretty sure July will be just the same.

I think this time of year life gets so busy with various things going on at school as they gear up for the end of the year, so the time just flies by.

The children have had a good month though, with Rhys being invested into his pack at cubs and Nerys making her promise at rainbows.  They’ve also both been doing well with their swimming lessons too recently.

Nerys in particular has made so much progress, her teacher apologised at her last lesson for costing us a fortune in all the badges she’s been getting lately!

I’m so pleased though, it makes me that bit more relaxed when we’re at the beach and they head out into the water.  We’re all hoping for plenty of warm days like we had last summer so they can swim in the sea during the holidays.

The weather has been a bit all over the place these last few weeks so our family photos for June were taken on a walk in Clyne woods on a cooler, rather windy day.

We normally just take one set of photos each month, but this time round we took some in two different spots in the woods and I really love having just that little bit of variety in the pictures.

Now we hurtle into July and the children couldn’t be more excited about the school holidays on the horizon.

We’ve not got any big plans and I don’t think we’re going away anywhere but they’re just looking forward to the break from school.  We’ll be baking and cooking and crafting and making.  There’ll be trips to the park and the beach and the woods.  We’ll be sorting out playdates with their friends and meeting up with my sister and her girls.

Before all of that we have the airshow coming up next weekend which I’m really looking forward to.

We’ve been every year and it has always been fantastic.  As long as the weather cooperates and it stays dry it should be a brilliant weekend, and hopefully a chance to get July’s family photos sorted nice and early!