Hot Sand On Toes, Cold Sand In Sleeping Bags

What a summer we've had! The six week break has gone far too quickly for my liking, but we have squeezed in lots of beach days, family days, garden days, pool days, camping days and rainy days. We finished up the holiday with a visit from my sister Amy, her husband Ian and baby Isobel. The poor girl was surrounded constantly by fascinated cousins and she had plenty of cuddles. Ben was a natural with her:

It was back to school for Ben and Ethan last Wednesday, Ben is in year 10 now (he starts his GCSE's and will finish school in two years!!!!) and Ethan is in year 8.

Noah and Rosie went back to school on Thursday, Rosie is in year 6 (her last year of primary school) and Noah is year 3. They were excited to go back:

We had a lovely afternoon on Dartmoor this Saturday, we took a walk up to Haynes Down to see Bowerman's nose. The children love climbing the rocks on the moors:

Bowerman's nose:

Noah thought this tree trunk looked like a reindeer....can you see it?:

We all decided we would like to move into this gorgeous cottage near Hound Tor:

On sunday we went on another walk on the moors, this time with some friends. The children did some letterboxing and found lots of boxes along the way:

Ben thought he'd try on Noah's coat, I have no idea why:

I love these trees and dry stone walls:

 

Unfortunately I had an altercation with the barbed wire and I had to make good use of James' first aid kit. There was a fair bit of my blood left on the moors. (I went to A&E for some stitches later on, all's well!) We climbed up to Rippon Tor next and were nearly blown off it, the wind was insane up there:

Even on a bleak day it's pretty up here:

Oh, come back summer!

Last Week Looked Like This...

I was asked to attend the stake girls camp this year as a Level 4 leader so I happily spent most of last week roaming around Cornwall and sleeping in my tepee. We camped in Vicky's fields again (our stake YW President) so it felt very much like deja vu for me.

I was so excited to be back with the young women again, I have missed them all terribly since I was called back in to Relief Society. Lots of my previous Beehives were in my level four group so it was great to spend more time with them. I arrived at the site the evening before camp started so I could do a run through of the overnight hike for the girls. It meant that I woke up to a quiet and peaceful sunny morning and had time to sit and meditate for a while, a rare opportunity for me!

It didn't last long, I helped put up a couple of tents and just when I thought the sweating could end and I could have a rest I was found by a girl who was sent to 'get Naomi, she knows how to put up tents!'. It's good to be good at something right?! We had some great activities over camp, but I always enjoy the evening at the beach:

We had a camp fire every night with lots of singing:

I took the Level 4 girls on a hike to Vicky's house where we were surprised with boxes of hot pizza and lots of chocolate! We each had a much longed-for hot shower too. The girls slept on the trampoline again which was covered in tarp (it rained all day) so it felt like a luxurious tent! I slept on a wooden sun lounger at the entrance and it was surprisingly comfy:

It took a while to wake the sleeping angels!

It's been 22 years since I first attended girls camp at the age of 12, and I think I've only missed out on 5 of them ever since! It was lovely to be there this time with my mum, she's on the YW presidency in her ward and it's the first time we've been at camp together. James and I did a switchover on Thursday when he came up for YM camp with Ben and Ethan and I got to to spend a few days with just Rosie and Noah. We decided to treat ourselves to a meal at the Pizza Cafe after we'd finished shopping for new school shoes:

We finished the weekend with a trip to the emergency doctor for Ben, he came back from camp with raging tonsillitis and lumps in his glands. The upside is that it's led to snuggles on the couch with my sleepy boy!

To end on a random note, I've been scanning old photos and came across this one from 1997:

It was in our second year of marriage and I had just returned from girls camp! (I do miss our Beetle.)

What We've Been Up To

While the sun has been shining we've spent some more time at our local beach in Teignmouth:

We've enjoyed sunny afternoon BBQ's with friends:

We had a day out with family to Portland and Weymouth...

...where we climbed the lighthouse 'Portland Bill'.

James and Ben climbed some rocks that hung over the sea:

We found a stone chair along the costal walk:

The Olympic sailing is taking place in Weymouth and the children were excited to see all the flags and drive by the Olympic village:

The boats are all down there somewhere!:

At church we bumped into James' old mission companion and his family who were in the area on holiday, so we took the chance on Friday to show them around our favourite spots on Dartmoor.  Who wouldn't love the old bridge at Postbridge?

Or the even older clapper bridge?

In between all this fun we've been glued to the Olympics, there's been lots of excitement and tears of joy as the gold medals keep piling up. It's been a pretty good start to the holidays!

Beach Day

Today looked like this:

I love where I live!

Sun Happy

The start of the summer holidays has met us with hot sunshine and we are lapping it up! On Saturday we tidied, dug and painted the garden so today was spent relaxing in it. Ben and Ethan were out with friends so with only three of us home it was rather peaceful. There was reading time:

Colouring time:

Paddling pool time:

And get mummy wet time!

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.