We started July, and the school holidays here in Scotland, with a week at the seaside.  The absolute best way to start our six weeks of summer.  We returned to the beautiful Budle Bay in Northumberland for a second year: back gate onto the beach, the most amazing sunsets.  

Here’s a list of holiday things I wrote while we were away:

crazy golf / ice cream every.single.day / rockpooling / pastries on the beach / soggy socks / sand in the bottom of the bath / everyone a bit allergic to the holiday cottage / rain shower the minute Ross lit the BBQ / high winds / drying wetsuits / missed naps / sweaty heads / jigsaws / lego / the Euros 24 / election coverage / chips / sunsets / onesies to warm up from chilly beach trips / Trix going blue / kite surfers / the 2p slot machines / watching boats in the harbour / puffins / crabs on the beach / stroking a velvet swimming crab on a boat / cuddling a guinea pig / Barter Books / Charlie and the Chocolate Factory / snail shells / Scooby Doo / seals / power bombing / salty skin / a two tier pavlova / no sleep

One of my favourite things about holidaying with kids is seeing how the change of environment expands and changes their brains and their understanding.  Wide-eyes and curious minds.  Ross & I do a fair amount of daydreaming about where we’d go for a holiday without the kids, but it is only daydreaming, I wouldn’t swap the pure joy of a holiday with the kids for anything.  I would swap in some sleep and less laundry.

My nature highlights were: a family of Reed Buntings that seemed to be in the garden/track to the beach almost all the time; a lone egret who lives on this stretch of coastline and apparently has done so, mate-less, for years; a boat trip to see the fabulously lumpy seals on the Farne Islands.  Piglet asked the boat man what seal poo looks like and he didn’t know the answer!  

Sketchbook pages: