Days of Summer...

Oh those endless days of summer, what can I say, we had a perfect summer... the days seemed to go on forever and despite a lot of grey sky and a considerable amount of rain the memories of the summer are filled with days at the beach, the sun warming our cheeks as we played in the surf, cleaning off smeared ice cream from rosy faced babes and washing out endless swimsuits and towels... just bliss... so indulge me if you will...  a few memories of my time with my children when no attention to the time, no need to be anyplace or do anything that we do not want to be or do...I love this picture, we are a bit of a 'Croc family', we all have a pair and have had for a few years now...  the perfect summer beach shoe, when my youngest one got ready for school today he complained at having to wear socks after so many days without having to bother. After my realisation that I had a bit of a thing for photographs of daisies (see previous posts) this seemed the perfect adornment for my shoe.

We spent most of our time away, either camping in the camper van, staying in cottages or our caravan by the sea.  So we got a lot of time on the beach, the beach draws me, it has a calming almost hypnotic effect on me, I have always felt this, my best memories as a child myself involved the annual two weeks trip to a beach resort.  Even when I was pregnant with my children I spent hours in water either at the swimmingpool or in the bath, in both of my labours I enjoyed the deep warm water and soothing effects of birthing pools, my second child was also a waterbaby... you know when you throw them in the water just weeks old  and watch them swim...
I can not imagine going to the beach and NOT wanting to experience the sensation of the sand between your toes or when you absentmindedly run the sand through your fingers as the grains pass through like an hourglass timer...
As for the other important thing in life...FOOD!!!  We eat in some great places, again mostly by water, we had more picnics than I can remember and quite a few bacon butties in seaside cafes when the rain came down...
Of course we took to the water in other ways, a few little boat trips to take us to exciting places to discover and fill our need for adventure...
But when your little the biggest adventure is camping...as the summer drew to an end the night sky came in earlier the children stayed up to star gaze...
With all this activity the children slept like angels ( my children do not usually) so when we spent time in the camper van my wee one would curl up in his nest and whilst he dreamt the evening away this Mommy would get on with some much needed creative time...
Lots of knitting, a little hand sewing whilst listening to some of my favourite podcast.  Now the camper van is small and it is hard to keep it tidy so as you can see a lot of multitasking goes on...
Every night whilst camping in the woods we had a little woodland creature come to visit us, I think it was the remains of the peanut butter sandwiches that enticed him out in the evening, each night I would sit there and hear a little snuffling and then right at my feet this handsome fellow would appear...
The lazy morning followed the pattern of  the lazy evenings.  Whilst I relaxed with my cuppa and a little alfresco knitting the children would run about the trees and come and show me who had the best twig, stick and even branch...
We headed off to Cornwall for our yearly family camping trip (the children's Dad came to) on the way we called into see a special friend and her family, they were moving that week and we turned up right in the middle of the madness, boxes all over the place and total chaos, now you know you have a true friend when, despite all this, they welcome you, they top up your flask of coffee for the second part of the journey and they even share with you some wonderful homemade Chocolate Brownies...yum! The children had a great time playing together as if the months of not seeing each other had been a matter of days and it gave my babes a welcome break from sitting in the van for hours...

A visit to Cornwall would not be complete without a trip to Eden, we have been every year since it has opened and it is great fun, each year they manage to come up with something new to engage the children's interest and imagination, this year was no exception with a den building challenge....
... they provided everything you could need to make a den and just left you to it... we especially enjoyed a demonstration of making fire, this really caught my older ones interest and he has tried rubbing two sticks together to get a spark... sadly (or maybe thankfully) to no avail...
If you asked me what creative activity summed up the summer for me, it would have to be my new addiction to sock knitting, especially on the beach, its portable, easy to pick up and put down...
and it has some fine results...
So as the summer season draws to a close and this weekend I saw the first real signs of Autumn, the leaves on the ground and the chill in the air, well I smile, the last year for us has had some ups and down, but this summer was special, a time of fun, laughter and being carefree...its back to it now though, already the calender is filling up with commitments and appointments, I have a little hospital visit that I am rather nervous of tomorrow, so I will hold on to these special times...I hope your summer memories are as rich and as wonderful as ours....

Edited to add...as most of the pictures are beach orientated...I have used my point and shoot camera so the quality is not as good as my much adored Nikon SLR...I apologise for the quality.