Posts in category: Photography

There seems to be a bit of a bug going round our house at the moment.

Both the children have had runny noses and have been sneezing a fair bit over the past week.  And Steve and I have just felt wiped out, so tired and foggy-headed.

On Saturday we had a really lazy day at home.  We took advantage of the rainy weather and had a pj day, watching tv, playing on the computer, doing puzzles and things like that.

I think we all needed it.

Yesterday though, we ventured out for a blast of fresh air.  It was so windy here we decided against going to the beach, so just went for a quick scoot round Victoria park and a play on the swings.

One thing I love about Victoria Park is that it’s just across the road from the beach, so you still get the benefits of the sea air.  As soon as we got out of the car you could smell it, and I’m sure breathing in that salty air does us all a lot of good!

Rhys had great fun on the tyre swing with another little boy he met there.  His dad was pushing them both really high and Rhys thought it was brilliant.  It always makes me smile when I watch him being bold in those situations.  He will chat to anyone, striking up conversations with people as we pass them on our way round the park.

He’s so much more outgoing than I’ve ever been!

Do you remember the episode of Friends, when Ross and Rachel take Emma to the park together?

Rachel is scared of letting Emma go on the swings because she caught her hair in one when she was a child, and they had to cut her free.

“And to get me out, my mom had to cut a big chunk of my hair, and it was uneven for weeks”

I can’t look at this photo without thinking of that, and it keeps making me smile.

Nerys spent almost the entire time she was on this swing complaining that her hair kept blowing in her face, and getting caught in her mouth.  I have got some brilliant out takes of her with such great facial expressions as she tried to deal with it without letting go of the chains!

I really need to start ‘doing’ her hair more I think.  It’s long enough now for ponytails and little pigtails.  And she looks so sweet when her hair is tied back.  But there is something that feels a bit more ‘her’ when it is down, and free, and just a little bit wild.

Her name is derived from the old Welsh for ‘lady’ but that doesn’t sit quite right with me for her.  I prefer the other explanation that it relates to the modern Welsh ‘nêr’  and ‘nerth’ which mean hero and courage.

There’s a strength to my little girl, a certain boldness that I think will take her wherever she wants to go in this world.

Would you believe it, we did it again.

Our family photo for May was taken well and truly before the end of the month.  Three months in a row now we’ve not only managed to get a photo of the four of us together, but we’ve managed to avoid a last minute indoors-at-bedtime-kids-in-their-pjs photo!

Our photo for May was taken on our holiday to Bluestone, and all credit goes to my mother-in-law who captured this fab picture for us.

I absolutely love this photo of our little family.

From our strangely matching-yet-clashing outfits to the happy looks on our faces.  All against the gorgeous backdrop of the Bluestone lake.  I think this might be one to print out and display at home.

What did make me laugh about it though is that we managed to mix up our pose.  Not a lot, but see, in all our family photos so far this year it’s been me holding/next to Nerys and Steve holding/next to Rhys.  I’m not sure why, that just seems to be our natural formation!

And I pointed this out to Steve at the end of April, after looking back at the me and mine photos we’d taken so far.  So it has made me happy that we managed to get a slightly different arrangement for our photo for May.

Who knows, maybe we’ll really mix things up in June and try a different pose altogether!

I normally feel like I’m one step behind when the weather heats up here.  I tend to be scrabbling around for suitable clothes to wear, searching for last year’s sunhats that are now a bit on the small side, and hoping the sun cream in the cupboard is still going to be effective.

Not this time though!

This time when the sun appeared I was ready, with brand new hats for the children.  And brand new bottles of sun cream.  I even managed to get this one a haircut, just in time for what must’ve been the hottest day of the year so far.

Rhys is so like his Dad, they both have a lot of hair.  And they both get really hot and bothered in the summer if their hair gets too long.

So off we went to the hairdressers.  And oh my word I couldn’t quite believe how much hair was left on the floor at the end!

He looks like a different boy.  There’s something about a new haircut that just seems to make children look older isn’t there.  It suits him though I think.  And he was much cooler in the mini heatwave.

Of course, it’s since gone cloudy and wet again here.  This photo was taken at the weekend in a soggy Victoria park.  But when the sun does reappear, which I’m sure it will soon, I’ll be ready with the hats and sun cream!