Thursday photo #209

What a week it has been. Isn’t it amazing how a bit of sunshine and a bonus day off work can make everything seem better?

Bank holiday weekend

In our usual disorganised manner, we hadn’t booked anything for the bank holiday weekend until the last minute. But with the weather looking so good, we knew we needed to make the most of the camper van and head to the beach.

We ended up in a gorgeous campsite called Pencarnan Farm near St David’s in Pembrokeshire. My husband and I both spend quite a bit of time in Pembrokeshire before we met, so it’s always a favourite for a getaway. I will be writing a proper review of the campsite, but suffice to say it comes highly recommended.

Our pitch was in a field about five minutes walk from a quiet, secluded beach. Unless you’re staying on the campsite or walking the coastal path, there’s not much to bring you to Porthsele beach. It’s dog friendly, relatively quiet and perfect for swimming, paddling and generally having fun in the sea.

Of course, the girls were happiest with a bucket and spade digging in the sand. Several caves dotted around the beach made for little adventures when we went exploring and a walk along the coastal path to Whitesands was the perfect way to spend a morning.

Open water swimming season and a birthday

I’m still working with XLS nutrition on their weight loss plan. It has been a little harder this week. We ate out and ate well while we were away, so even with two shakes a day I struggled a bit. I also didn’t do quite as much exercise as previous weeks. Despite this, I’ve lost another pound and hope to get on rather better next week.

The exercise I did do was more enjoyable than usual, with the open water swimming season starting up. I swam in a local lake last Thursday, then at the weekend we hired a stand up paddle board for the sea. Needless to say, having never done it before the SUP was hard work. It wasn’t all bad though, when I gave up I managed to get a bit of open water swimming in. Even if Bubbles did rip my wetsuit to shreds when she got a bit tired of swimming and climbed up to sit on my shoulder instead.

It’s Lia’s birthday today, so yesterday was spent juggling work with baking. I’m hoping her cake will be a success, if not it won’t be for lack of trying! We’re lucky that neither of the girls want anything major for their birthdays. We’ve just bought Lia a selection of little things that we’ll wrap up in one big box. They’re all based on pink, sparkly and unicorns – everything she loves. I can’t wait to see her open them.