Summer Holiday Week Five

It's hard to blog in the summer holidays when your days are filled with children and fun (mostly), so you get to see another epic set of photos to describe this past week!  Last Saturday was James' birthday which he celebrated by sleeping under the stars on Dartmoor with Ben and Ethan on Friday night, and a gathering of friends on Saturday night to enjoy some Indian food.  James asked me to make a raspberry and white chocolate cheesecake, and that is what he had:

On Sunday afternoon we went for a stroll on Dartmoor.  We walked over bridges...

...walked through ruins of an old hut...

...found the way to Heaven's Gate...

...found a wooden bridge...

...and got a little geographically challenged!

We walked a little farther than planned, about five miles in all, but it was fun!
James managed to get another week off work so we hit the beach on Monday.  The beach again?  Yes!  It never gets boring to go look for fish:

Or get on that boogie board again:

(By the way, that water isn't brown, it's the red sand being churned up!)
Hurricane Irene sent us some heavy rain showers across the Atlantic, so by mid-week we were found barbecuing in the rain.  We are nothing, if not dedicated to outdoor fun:

Friday we left for a long weekend break to visit with my sister Amy and her husband Ian.  We drove through some pretty bad rain to south Wales but by Saturday we had some sunshine again.  James' brother Steve and his wife Ellice joined us with their two children to hike up Cwmcarn Forest (pronounced Cum-carn) to climb Twmbarlwm (pronounced Tum-BAR-lum).  The walk up to Twmbarlwm was steep, but nothing like the final ascent to the peak!  This looks like a pretty short but steep hill:

 

It wasn't short, that horizon just kept on going and it was a lot farther to the peak than I first thought:

Once you reach the summit of Twmbarlwm (which is wonderfully flat) there is a mound at the far end which is known as the 'Tump'.  There are remains of an Iron Age hill fort:

The Miles' and the newlyweds on the Tump:

Can you tell how much Rosie loves her Uncle Ian?  LOTS!  Steve and Ellice were feeding their little ones so they weren't in the photo, but they made it up there too!  The views were beautiful:

Walking back down Twmbarlwm was a lot easier on the lungs!:

And my nephew Timothy entertained us all the way down:

We can't leave out niece Isabella posing for me:

The children did so well walking up and down!  Rosie slept like a baby that night:

Church on Sunday was rather interesting.  We arrived at my sisters ward to be greeted by an older guy who shook our hands and left us all with sweets (score!).  I sat through a lesson which included discussions on different, painful ways to die (umm...?).  James was directed to the under 30's class.  Yes, someone thought he was in his twenties!  It made his day.  Later, as I made my way to sacrament meeting, a man approached me and said 'You must be Amy's mother!'.  I died a little inside and replied 'No, her SISTER!'.  I know there is almost eight years between us in age, but still, her mother?  In his defense he was wearing glasses.  And was old.  Oh dear, it still doesn't help, he thought I was the parent of a 26 year old!

Yesterday we said our goodbyes to Amy and Ian and returned to England, stopping to visit with our friends in Stroud, where James grew up.  We went to Rodborough Common to fly kites whilst dodging cow pats!  Rosie and her friend named the kite Rainbow:

James had a go on the bigger kite (and had to be held down by his friend a few times!):

Ethan:

Ben:

Noah:

How cute is this baby?:

It was such a fun weekend!  I can't believe summer holidays are almost over for us, it has gone so fast.

I Need A Holiday To Get Over My Holiday

The first week of the summer holiday is over and man did we pack in a lot of fun!  I give you fair warning, there are a lot of photos in this post.

Saturday:
We left home for west Wales to camp at James' sister and brother-in-law's farm in Plwmp (pronounced 'plump').  We enjoyed our holiday there two years ago and decided to repeat it!  This was the view from our tent, and where the children could be found most of the time we were on-site:

Sunday:
We attended church followed by dinner at James' parents.  There is no photographic evidence of this but rest assured that the gammon was delicious and the brownies for desert were scrumptious!

Monday:
We went to our first beach of the week, Newquay.  The children enjoyed rock pooling, Rosie found a crab:

Ethan caught some tiny fish:

Ben dried out his wet feet:

Noah played with the rocks:

And so did Daddy!  Like father, like son.  Look at my two lefties:

That evening our good friends the Wright family arrived and after helping put up their tents we gathered around for the first campfire of the week.  (There was one every night, of course!)

The children toasted marshmallows and bread, Ethan and James kept a close eye on the food:

Tuesday:
James, Ben and Ethan spent Tuesday walking a mountain.  James helped his sister Amy out by taking her and the young women from church up Cadir Idris.  Ethan walked up part of the way with Nanny Miles and Ben made it to the top with James and some of the girls!  Rosie, Noah and I spent the day with the Wrights relaxing on my favourite beach in Wales, Mwnt.  (Pronounced 'munt'.  I still don't understand the Welsh language or their spelling habits!)

Rosie was straight into the water with her friends (she's in the middle):

Noah spent his time digging in the sand and looking cool, despite the rising temperature:

The children caught a jellyfish in the sea...I still don't understand how they weren't stung in the process!

Wednesday:
As the sun was still gloriously shining, we went to another beach, this time it was Llangrannog.  (Pronounced Clan-gran-nog.)

Look, I got another photo of Ben!

Rosie carried on body boarding:

As did Ben:

Noah dug some more holes with his friend April:

Ethan also dug a big hole... and buried himself:

Thursday:
The children spent the day playing with their cousins on the farm while we packed up our tent.

I'd like to say that the sunny photo above was taken on Thursday, but it wasn't.  Thursday was a typically Welsh day: permeating rain!  We said goodbye to our family and friends and returned home rather late to Devon.  I am definitely a fair-weather camper, I do not like rain!

Friday:
We attended the wedding of Asenath and Ollie!

Twelve years ago Asenath was my Beehive (I feel so old) and recently we served for a couple of years together on the Young Women's presidency.  She is fabulous.  This next photo serves as a reminder to you all that I am not in the slightest bit photogenic or good at posing.  Why is my arm in the air?

After the wedding service James and I travelled with friends to the London Temple for Ase and Ollie's sealing.  If I were a good photographer I would have taken the following picture at an angle where the temple could be seen.  I am not, so you get to see the lovely couple in front of the accommodation centre instead:

Saturday:
Day two of the wedding celebrations: a garden party with a hog roast!

There was lots of dancing:

Noah enjoyed a boogie with Zilpah:

This brother and sister were the sweetest dancers:

Isn't this the cutest red-head you have ever seen?  I may or may not have wanted to steal her:

I have had the best week, but now I think I may need to lie in a quiet, dark room for a while.