Friday 29th August 08 - a long hike

We spent the week vaguely aware that there was a beach "within walking distance" of our caravan, but never committing ourselves to actually walking far enough to find it. My sister and I tried to find it on one of our morning runs, but to no avail, and we let it slide after that.

On the last day of the holiday though, we decided to finally give it a try and cajoled the children into trudging the requisite 2.5 miles - which took a lot longer than everyone had promised us before we set off! It was worth it, though. The Pentewan beach was rugged and wild and perfect for a farewell-to-Cornwall swim, which Zac undertook with gusto.

Thursday 28th August 08 - the rain came

So we went to Padstow. Padstow holds fond childhood memories for my husband; but he doesn't remember it raining. Still, we had a nice day, and I bought clothes, which is always good for making me cheerful. In the afternoon we took the ferry to Rock, which had Zac wriggling with excitement as he couldn't remember going on a boat before.

Wednesday 27th August 08 - Kits, cats, sacks and wives

I really love this photo of Z, taken as he watched the tide come in from an upstairs cafe in St Ives. We had an absolutely beautiful day. The sun shone, the children smiled, and no seagulls stole our ice-creams.

I got a REALLY dirty look from the car-parking attendant as we set off back to the caravan, though. I'd handed our parking permission ticket (with about 6 hours still unused) to an arriving driver, and the carpark attendant shook his head vigorously at me with real malice. His glare haunted me for about 10 miles.

Tuesday 26th August 08 - Return to Eden

Making the most of the Annual Passes we'd bought (same price as a day ticket!) we took the children back to Eden to experience den-building, which we hadn't had time for on the Sunday. Our den was excellent, thanks almost 100% to the eager participation of the Daddies. We also bought delicious vegetable stew from the Eden firepit, and subsequently spent a long time in the gift shop looking for a recipe book that might contain the stew recipe. There wasn't one.

The photo is of everyone except me in our den, together with snacks.

Monday, 25th August 08 - Par

Monday's quest, once the sun had appeared, was to find a beach without a coating of seaweed. We drove to Par, which fulfilled the brief beautifully. To my delight Tabitha - a sand- and beach-phobic baby - decided to throw caution to the wind and actually learned to enjoy playing with sand, although she still wouldn't put more than a toe in the water. Here she is being studious about her newfound play skill.

Sunday, 24th August 08 - Eden Project

Yasmine, Zac, Tabitha and their cousin Seb, at the Eden Project. We loved it there - so much for the children to do and see, and pretty awe-inspiring for us adults as well. I wish, however, the wasps weren't as fond of the place.

During the afternoon the sun shone brightly, so we trailed to Mevagissey in search of a beach. We eventually found one, encrusted completely in seaweed, and let the children spend a happy hour becoming Shrek-alikes.

Saturday 23rd August 08 - Travel

So we pretty much spent all day in the car travelling to Cornwall...and I forgot to get the camera out.

It was a nice day, though. After we arrived at the caravan, the sun appeared, and we took the children swimming to get them nice and tired before bed. Great tactic and they slept beautifully despite paper-thin walls and transparent curtains!

Today's picture was taken by Yasmine at the Eden Project on Sunday. Quite an eye, I think!

Slump

Today the children were at my sister's house for the morning and wore themselves out having water-fights and playing with mud. This afternoon we did the obligatory and hideous school uniform shopping trip, so by late afternoon we were all exhausted. This pic shows the view from my slumped position on the third sofa - three lazy children, chilling out in front of the TV on a rainy August afternoon. For some reason the flash didn't work, but that doesn't matter - it WAS gloomy and dark. I'm amazed the window looks so light when the rain was pelting down!

Thursday 21st August 08 - Shelves

Inspired by a friend's blog, this is a bookcase that I really need to sort out and tidy...

Top shelf - reference-type books, plus a picture Zac made for me, plus some photos of the children that I had enlarged and never bought frames for, and the camcorder.

Next shelf down - more books, a candle-holder that the inlaws bought us for our anniversary (which was in Feb, still not found a proper home for the candle-holder), a painting Zac did, a lacing card of Tabitha's, my little sewing basket (I've been doing clothes repairs), and a framed photo of Emily, my husband's niece who sadly died in 2005 aged 14 months.

Next shelf down - books, a couple of photo albums, my husband's beloved Ipod dock/DAB radio combination thingy, a birthday card from Zac's 5th birthday which was 3 months ago, a bowl of assorted shells, and a random oil-burner.

Next shelf down - double row of books, mostly my trashy reads. Horizontally across those we have two more photo albums, which Yas has been trying to rearrange. At the end of the row is a box full of more photos, which is also a photo frame as well (cunning!).

Next shelf down - more books, fairly neat apart from some library books horizontally across them. Probably the neatest shelf of the lot!

Bottom shelf - big books that won't fit on other shelves, and my knitting basket.

I really need to do a book purge and make space for new ones.

Gonna build a house

We are having the back of our house extended and re-arranged at the moment. This is what it looked like this afternoon.

Today was a nice day. This afternoon I took the children to a friend's house, and we ended up with a little overnight guest at the end of the day, so Yas is a happy girly. None of the children disgraced me and they tidied up before we left, so I'm a happy girly too.

Tuesday 19th August 2008 - "It not nice and clean. It a bit wet"

Tuesday was a sad and low day for me, and I didn't take any photos. I've used one of the ones I took today (Wednesday) instead. Tab disapproved of puddles on the picnic table.

Monday, 18th August 2008 - Day out

We went to Hunstanton, in Norfolk, for the day to meet up with my bestest friend. In this photo, my brood of 3 meet the penguins at the Sealife Centre (incidentally, I do think that £30 is a rip-off admission price for 3 people and a baby!). After we'd seen our fill of sea creatures - including some rather cute otters - we had a suitably grease-laden lunch and took the children on some suitably scary fairground rides. Everyone was happy.

Sea air, exhilarating rides, full tummies - I thought the drive home would be a silent oasis of calm as the children slept. No such luck. I foisted them out of the car and onto their father at our doorstep with a grim vow that I will try never to take all 3 of them on a journey of more than an hour, on my own, again.

Sunday, 17th August 2008 - Oops

I failed! This is the first time I forgot, for a whole day, to take a photo.

So, I've popped in one from Saturday. Tabitha, hiding from the camera at the playground.

Saturday, 16th August 2008 - Home again

She's back! A whole week of kayaking, abseiling, zip-wiring, raft-building and archery and Yasmine's cheeky face is back in the family. She had an absolute ball, but wasn't too big or proud to cuddle up with me on the sofa to welcome her back. Zac and Tabitha were delighted to see her. In this pic she's slumping in front of the TV after unpacking.

Friday 15th August, 2008 - Self-portrait

Apparently, us 365-ers should pop in at least one self-portrait a month, to remind ourselves of what we look like. Here's mine, taken as I rushed out of the door to work - and what a depressingly shite photo it is! Out of focus - clearly my arm length needs work - and beautifully lit in order to highlight my shiny skin, exhausted purple-ringed eyes, and not-quite-dry hair (in need of a cut, hence worn tied up almost every day for work at the moment).

Thursday 14th August 2008 - Missing Yasmine

Yasmine has been away since last Saturday, on a PGL holiday in Shropshire (with a couple of schoolfriends). It's by far the longest she's been away on her own, and even her arch-enemy Zac is missing her madly. Here he is talking to her on the phone and too wrapped up in his conversation to do his usual photo-pose.

Wednesday 13th August 2008 - Benificence

Our neighbour has been bringing produce round from his garden this summer - we feel almost accepted in the neighbourhood for the first time since moving in four years ago. This week's offering is these gorgeous runner beans.

Tuesday 12th August 08 - Rainy afternoon

So every toy in the box ended up on the floor. This is a small sample.

Monday 11th August 08 - Back

Inspired by a friend's blog, here's a pic of my tatty trainers - I went back to the gym after a nigh-on-two-week abstinence due to chronic tonsillitis. Wonderful! I decided to run steadily for 30 minutes and see what happened - I've definitely lost speed (did 4.35k) but it didn't wear me out, so general fitness is hopefully still OK despite the break. More achey than usual afterwards, though.

Sunday 10th August 08 - sun and sisters

Bit of a cheat here - I didn't take this photo, as I'm in it. However, it was taken on my camera!

The sun came out and Sunday was a much nicer day. My other sister Angela joined us at the caravan for a while, so the 3 of us were united - a rare occurence! In this photo I'm flanked by Hannah (youngest sister), Vicky (cousin), and Angela (middle sister) plus my cousin's daughter Beth, and Zac. I am conspicuous for my lack of sunglasses.

Having enlarged the photo, I see that Tabitha had sneaked into view behind me too...

The journey home again only took 4 hours, so that's a plus too.

Saturday 9th August 08 - It rained

And rained and rained. A caravan + five children + pouring rain + no contingency activities = something that I never want to do again. Funnily enough though, the children adored it. Here's Tabitha, Zac and Sebastian in a civilised moment.

Friday 8th August 2008 - Holibobs

My sister and I took three children (two of mine and her son - Yasmine is away at PGL and far too busy even to phone her Mummy!) down to Southend-on-Sea to stay in a caravan for the weekend with my cousin and her two children. The journey took nearly six hours and very nearly took my self-control as well - least said about that, the better. This pic shows Zac and his cousin Sebastian tucking in to bread and butter before bed, as we arrived too late for a proper meal. They were very excited at this point!

Tired and tantrumming

Oh dear. Tabitha didn't want her photo taken today, and her sister and brother were out with their Nana for the day, so I had no one else to photograph! This pose is a result of me mentioning the fact that she might need a bath imminently...

She amused me at dinner, though. She announced "I am trump". We're trying to get the potty training message across, so I asked her if she had, indeed, trumped. "No Mummy," she replied, "I am just jokin".

Wednesday 6th August 08 - Watch it

Simba the moggy, looking pointedly at....a Lego brick, I think. He's a very cautious cat, as any cat would be when sharing his home with 3 children. Sometimes he punishes us by bringing injured birds in to flap wildly around the kitchen and poo everywhere.

Joined at the hip

This photo's a cheat. I didn't take any photos today, because I'm ill, and I feel sorry for myself. I did get a photo in an email though from Zac's teacher and I think it's lovely, so I'm using that instead.

It's another picture of Zac and his best friend, taken at school when they had an Ugly Bugs' Ball. He's going to miss her so much now she's moved...

Monday 4th August 08 - Back to work

I'm back at work this week, so this is what I look at all morning. Actually, after a week at home with the children, it's quite a welcome and almost a relaxing sight! (Almost).

The certificates on my wall are the best thing in this picture - they're all about me, and I'm smugly proud of them, as they took a long time to earn. The phone is the worst thing in this picture. It's a grey malevolent presence, always threatening to ring and create more things for me to do. I wish someone would tell me the secret of how to turn on Do Not Disturb.

Him indoors

This is my husband. He has a scary and important job and spends a lot of his time on the phone - I've caught him in a very typical pose, which is a feat as he hates to be photographed. I love him unreservedly, especially when he's smiling, and particularly when he's smiling at me or at the children. I like to make him smile. He is the nicest of men, and I am very lucky to have him.

I'm still ill, and would like to blame that fact for my inane ramblings - I don't usually gush this much.

Saturday 2nd August 08 - Artist

Zac unexpectedly decided to get out a painting set, which he's ignored since he got it for his birthday in May, and sit in quiet concentration filling it in. He did a beautiful job for a little boy who has tried to ignore anything drawing- or writing-related for the last four years! I can't believe how different he is this summer from the little boy he was a year ago, it's really amazing.

Yasmine has spent all weekend at a friend's house, so the house has seemed a bit empty, and I've been ill again - photo opportunities have been thin on the ground.

Calling grandma

Tabitha is just learning to talk on the telephone. Zac, who is a veteran and likes to chat for ages to his grandma, as often as possible, was very careful this evening to make sure that Tabitha spoke loudly enough and he offered his own shouted commentary into the phone when he felt that Grandma might be having difficulty understanding Tabitha's murmurings.

I love to see how much the children adore their grandparents. Having not been close to my own (we lived too far away, and they had too many grandchildren to bother about us!) it's a relationship I'm not familiar with, but it's such a special one. (The delightful Zachary described my mother in law to my mum this week as "You know, my other grandma, the one who is my favourite").

This evening, Zachary proudly brought his Junior Monopoly downstairs and asked us to play with him. He had watched us playing regular Monopoly with Yasmine the night before, and wanted a piece of the action. I helped him set up the game board and explained that he could play with Daddy while I got Tabitha ready for bed. Zachary's response was a trembling lower lip and the words "But you played Monopoly with Yasmine. Why won't you play with me? What's wrong with my game?". Of course, I couldn't say no after that. However, I'm increasingly suspicious that he's wise to my trembly heart-strings, and played on them mercilessly tonight.