The past six weeks have flown by, as I knew they would. And in the blink of an eye, the summer holidays are over and I’ve already published my annual blog post about Christmas days out. Lia has had her first day of primary school, a much awaited day for the little girl who has been asking to go to school since her big sister started two years ago. Thankfully, it didn’t disappoint. The last hurrah The past couple of school Summer holidays finished in a whirlwind of sorting things out. We’d reach the end of term and immediately go…

Every school holiday, I put off the things that really need doing. Then in the last week, we run around like headless chickens trying to get it done. New shoes, labelling uniform, hair cuts… none of it makes for a fun week. So this year, I’ve tried to be a bit more organised. And remarkably, I think I like it! Last week of the holidays Like most children, my two go back to school next week. This is usually the point where we’d be entering panic mode. But instead, I booked a few days away. I’m not going to say…

There’s a constant dilemma in the school holidays. A tussle between giving them time to relax or packing in exciting experiences. We’ve been so busy for the past few weeks that this week was going to be all about relaxing. But the problem is, relaxing and being busy are somehow the same thing. What does relaxing mean anyway? For a short period of time, we’re all ok with watching television or reading. The children are happy to play at home, making up their own games on the trampoline or doing crafts. But soon enough, we’re all itching to get out…

This week’s Thursday photo post is brought to you from beautiful Northumberland. It’s the third time we’ve been to this area in the past couple of years and it’s an ideal place to be in August. So much quieter than the coastal resorts further south and close to some idyllic parts of Scotland. And yet, this time, we’ve realised that being here is a mistake. Yorkshire Having booked a few days in Northumberland, we decided to extend our holiday with a couple of nights in North Yorkshire on the way. We booked a quiet campsite near to some stunning cycling…

This week it has felt like the Summer holidays are well and truly underway. My husband has some time off work and we’ve been on some lovely days out. Libby is on a holiday camp for a few days and then we’ll be thinking about going away. And by the time we’re back, three weeks will have passed since they broke up. Half way to the end. Suddenly, it’s going far too quickly. Swimming Swimming is a big deal in our family. Building water confidence for the children, triathlons, water polo, open water swimming, we’re always doing something that involves…

Summer holidays are finally here. I’ve been looking forward to them and dreading them in equal measure but now they’re here, I’m delighted. After a manic weekend, we’re spending some time at home before kicking into full-on holiday mode next week. A manic weekend I don’t mind admitting that I’m often terrible at saying no to fun things, even when we haven’t really got time. That’s exactly what happened at the weekend. I’d decided months ago that we’d go to the Nozstock festival. I’d thought we might spend most of the weekend there, although it meant finding someone to look…