Sunny, Sandy Sunday

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There's not much more relaxing after a long, hot afternoon at the beach that a cool shower to wash away the salt, sea, sand and sun-cream. Even more relaxing is knowing that your little one is dropping off happy and clean but exhausted next door on nice, fresh bedding.

It has been sweltering today, a marked contrast from a fortnight ago on The Boy's 2nd birthday when it widdled it down torrentially all day. The sky has been azure blue with a few wispy clouds here and there, accentuated by the criss-cross of the jet planes ferrying holiday makers around the world.

Of course on a day like today there is only one place to go: Barry Island (our nearest blue-flag sandy beach).

Only that's where everyone else in south-east Wales had decided to go. The road leading in and out was chockablock with cars crawling along at a snail's pace. I veto-ed the decision to go to the usual Whitmore Bay (the Island's main beach) and the alternative Jackson's Bay; instead we ventured into the unexplored Watchtower Bay and Old Harbour. At the top of the bay lay the skeletons of old boats ready for exploring by curious little boys at low tide, at the entrance to the harbour is a huge expanse of silky soft, golden sand.

Better still there were about ten families over the entire ares! Whereas around on the main Barry Island beach, we'd have had to fight the seagulls, rubbish and chavs to find a metre square to set up on! The cross is where we set up 'camp', in the protection of the harbour walls.

We had great fun! The Boy, daddy (especially his ears) and I were slathered in our new sun-cream (UltraSun Professional Protection) and built a whole load of sand-castles, trotted down to the fast-receeding water's edge and paddled away to our hearts content.

Definitely going there again as opposed to the usual beach; no chavs and no fairground noise!

Is it here to stay?

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Shhh! I might scare it off by saying this but, do you think summer might be on its way?

This morning, after dropping the car off for a quick service (pah!), we ventured out in the pushchair for a jaunt up town. Well, him in the pushchair, me 'jaunting'. The sky was azure blue and the sun was beating it down. Very quickly I regretted wearing black, but the rather scrummy frappucino from Starbucks soon made up for it (did you know you can have skimmed milk frappucinos now? Significantly less calories, surely? Means I can have a big one!). We went to the Under Fives playgroup for the first time. They put an apostrophe in the 'Fives' which really annoyed me but I refrained from rubbing it out. Just! The Boy had a fabulous time and I wondered why I had never been there before.

The day went a bit haywire from there on in, mainly because I had mild hysteria that the 'quick service' turned into a 'you need new brakes and a new pollen filter' situation. At the start of the month you can do without double + the amount that you first expected going out the bank.

Yesterday was a much better day. Yesterday saw us trotting off to Barry Island with Little Miss Cheeky and Oldest-Friend for fun in the sun. She brought along her older children, both boys; Curly-Mop and Football-Mad, who commandeered a decent section of the huge beach as their football pitch. Little Miss Cheeky and The Boy had great fun digging for water and building sandcastle, while Oldest-Friend and I had a good old chin-wag and avoided footballs and flying sand.

We were very comfortably ensconced in our cocoon of oblivion; stunning canvas windbreaker from EcoFriendlyBags and parasol, which was bought from Lyme Regis beach years ago. I must be a snob here and say how nice it was, not only to be shielded from the wind, but also to be shielded from some of the sights on the beach! Put it away woman, cover yourself up mister (who looked 11 months pregnant); I don't want to see it!

Anyone fancy winning one of those windbreakers from EcoFriendlyBags? You can over here.

Canvas Windbreaker

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Knowing how much time we spend on the beach, the lovely people over at EcoFriendlyBag have recently sent me a stunning canvas windbreaker to review.

It really is quite gorgeous and far nicer than the other options that I've either seen on display on the beach or in the shops! All too often they are made of horrible nylon, more akin to an old woman's shopping bag on wheels. Not this one, it is bright, colourful, attractive and made from 100% environmentally friendly cotton material. When we'd toddled off to have a splash in the sea, it was also very distinctive on the beach. The material works just as well as the manmade fibres at blocking out the wind, and allows for the added bonus of being able to go in the washing machine!

I was able to press the poles in with minimal force. Possibly, I was a little too forceful at first as the whole thing fell over. In my defense, I'd like to add that I've never put a windbreak up before, let alone whilst watching an almost 2yr old not fall over in the sand. Having picked it up along with my dignity, the windbreaker was in the ground within a minute or two, and before The Boy had got his foot stuck in the bucket for the second time. At the top of each pole is a hook to loop the canvas onto it, and the whole thing rolls up into a nifty carrycase which has a decent-sized shoulder strap.

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Dear Grandpa SIGG

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How are you and Grandma SIGG?

Splash and I had a good journey over from Switzerland, the journey wasn't too long and we remembered to have plenty of water to drink to help with our ears popping on the flight. We were driven to our new house and it was quite hot when we arrived. So we got to have a wash straight away to wash the dust off, and then we were topped up with lovely fresh water which we helped to keep cool for a long time.

Our new family have got a funny little person in the house that is called The Boy. He has become my new best friend and takes me everywhere with him. The Boy seems to really like me; he keeps flipping me open and shut because he thinks my green hat is funny, his mummy taught him how to turn my neck so that my hat sits properly and he is very careful not to spill any of my water now. His mummy is very fond of my big sister Splash, and takes her to a big building called school a couple of times a week. She is getting very clever, she helped me to write this letter Grandpa.

I'm having a marvellous time here in Wales. The Boy, his mummy and his daddy have taken us to lots of different places. One of the the places that they take us to quite regularly is called the beach. You and Grandma would love it there, it has lots of something called 'sand' which can be used to build a castle. The Boy is getting quite good at building them and he even let me help him the other day. I found the spade a bit tricky to use.

Grandpa, it was a beautiful beach but spoilt by some rubbish! Most of the rubbish that had missed the bins was plastic bottles. I think many of the 250,000 plastic bottles that are dumped every hour in the UK ended up on this beach! It's so silly to leave them on the beach, I saw one get swept away with the swishy water and I remembered what you taught me about the million sea animals that get killed each year! I hope someone picked it up. I'm shocked that this country is still using so many plastic bottles; haven't they heard of the SIGG family over here? I felt really sorry for the others, they only get used once and then thrown away. I don't like to think what happens to them once they've done their job once, they must feel so underused and dejected.

You wouldn't believe how dull they look as well, they obviously haven't had anyone pick out their clothes and dress them lovingly, like you and Grandma did with us. Splash and I felt so sorry for them that they don't have anyone to love them like The Boy and his mummy do with us. We could make their world a much better place by showing off the lovely colours and patterns on our coats!

The Boy was really kind and he even shared his potato rectangles with me. I quite like them, I hope he lets me have some again another time.

I must go to bed now Grandpa, it is getting passed my bedtime.

Lots of love

Your little Desert Fun!

Bouncy Castles v. Sand Castles

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Today we went to a birthday party. Little Miss Chatty was celebrating her 2nd birthday with soft play and then party food. When I was telling The Boy about this last night, he was able to tell me straight-away that you have cake and 'b(all)oons' at a party. We talked about the fact that there would be a bouncy castle there which he wasn't sure about, and that he'd give her a present.

As it so happened another work colleague was there with her little boy who is slightly older, Mister Rough and Tumble, and The Boy thought he was the best thing since sliced bread! Or since bubbles anyway, he doesn't really have an opinion on sliced bread. He followed him everywhere and had great fun trying to copy everything he did!

After he'd filled his Doodles with party food, we trotted off to Barry Island for half an hour playing in the sand building sand castles. It was a little parky and full of tourists. I think we'll be giving it a wide-berth on weekends until September!

5 Ingredients to My Perfect Day

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After having a terrible week with an ill household, Kate had been dreaming of a day without digital thermometers and sweaty dressing gowns, and therefore has come up with another corker!

What makes a perfect day? Many of the ingredients were present when we were just a couple, but are dim and distant memories now. Some of them would be boring without my little shadow to oversee the events. The first three are entirely possible if we get a decent summer! A girl can dream can't she?

  1. A lie-in: I am certain that many of us would choose this, but as parents to young children it's allowed! I'd ideally like The Boy to wake up at 8.30, chatter away to himself and then happily call us over the monitor. He'd patiently wait while we saunter in to see his happy, smiling face.
  2. A scrummy breakfast: Continental, buffet-style would be my choice here. Sat on the patio under the umbrella with the sun shining down from a brilliant blue sky and the water-feature trickling in the background.
  3. The Beach: Pop everyone into the car with all necessary equipment for fun in the sun and drive down to Rhossili on the Gower. Have a generally marvellous lunchtime and afternoon building sandcastles, splashing in the sea, flying kites, not getting sunburnt and no sand in any crevices please.
  4. Italian: Clicking the ruby slippers together and popping over to our favourite restaurant in Reading which no longer exists: Mia Beni. I would like the Tagliatelle Fiorentino (this version was cream, spinach and blue cheese), followed by coconut sorbet, and a rather stunningly gorgeous Chianti to accompany. The Boy would have been escorted home by nana, who also had ruby slippers by the way.
  5. The Theatre: click again and off to the Haymarket to view the wonder of Christine and Raoul's devotion thwarted by the evil, but desperately lonely Phantom. Final click of the ruby slippers and home to bed with a night that sees The Boy sleeping through without any teething pain.

Please?

Yes I have the song going through my head, but the Children in Need version not the Lou Reed version.

Beachcomber

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The day started with my bedroom door being flung open, after several failed attempts, and The Boy running in to my open arms shouting "mummy, mummy, mummy". This is a usual occurence on the weekends. Hubby is kind and has the good sense to let me sleep in 'til 9am both days, when he helps The Boy to wake me up in my favourite way. I'm quite grateful for his failed attempts at opening the door, it means that I have time to turn over, grab my phone (which is on charge on the bedside table), fling it under the pillow (otherwise he plays with it and it's my phone) and stretch my arms out. My eyes are not open during any of this. He then gets lifted up for a huge hug, and my eyes slowly work themselves open.

Today was more special than others; The Boy was 20 months old today. That's 1 year and two-thirds. I can't believe how quickly the time has passed! Where has my little squiggly ball of flailing arms and legs gone? Bizarrely, he has a new game at the moment; he crawls around and says "baby". I'm hoping it's a game anyway, and that he's not regressing for some reason!

After various naps had happened (both boys tottering back off for a 2hr nap) and lunch had been administered, we decided to head off to a local beach, not my nearest but The Boy doesn't move easily on pebbles at the moment.

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Ladies and gentleman, this is no ordinary beach, this is Barry Island! Yes, that's right I said Barry Island. The one on 'Gavin and Stacey'. Yes there are slot machines, and yes 'Marco's Cafe' is real, but Butlins has long gone (now an expensive housing estate) and the funfair is seriously lacking in both 'fun' and 'fairness'. However it does have a rather fabulous sandy beach which has been awarded a Blue Flag in the past few years.

Wellies on, bucket and spade swinging in our gloved hands, hats on (it may be sunny but it's still February); off we marched. Paddling first, so pleased we wore the wellies. I had secretly been worried that the rubber had perished on the joins and that I would literally be paddling in my wellies, it hadn't. We splashed, splished and paddled to our hearts content. Hubby didn't lift The Boy up in time and he got soaked by the 7th wave (hubby grew up in the middle of England and doesn't believe me about these things). I ranted for a little bit but it's only water and I am a sensible mummy and always have spare clothes. Then the boys made sandcastles with the rakes and spades while I wrote messages in the sand. It was absolutely gorgeous there, definitely the first of many trips before the end of the year.

It was a lazy Saturday and I didn't want to cook so we popped into a local restaurant for our tea. As we were packing up in the restaurant, the background music changed to (and I absolutely kid you not) 'Fantastic Day' by Nick Heyward & Haircut 100.


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