The Ideal Clothing For A British Summer

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When I was contacted by House of Fraser just over a month ago and asked if I'd like to choose a raincoat and wellies for The Boy to see him through the Summer, I must confess that I chuckled. The sun was streaming through the open French doors, the ice was melting before I could add it to my glass of water, and The Boy was squealing as he ran through the swirling and squirting hose.

"Ha!" thought I, "Raincoats and wellies? Seriously?!"

Little did I realise that within the month we'd be in dire need of them as the British Summer descended.

Children's raincoats

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Country Kids: Three Boys, A Hoop & Copious Amounts Of Rain

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I detest this time of year; from the second week in January until the third week of February, the post-Christmas blues hit me and Spring seems such a very long time away. It was alleviated somewhat by our snow days, but this past fortnight has been foul. I needed a break and so we booked into a Premier Inn in Weston-Super-Mare and headed directly across the channel. (Or rather around it, due to a lack of ferry or barrage.)

As we were in the area, I checked with Jenny from Mummy Mishaps if she and her gorgeous family were free; they were and we spent the day with them in their gorgeous, palatial, new house. Both Jenny and I were hopeful we could go to the beach or one of the beautiful parks in the area, but the torrential rain put pay to that. We did however spend a fun half an hour in the garden with the boys and an old hula-hoop, and really tested the theory that there's no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing!

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Giddy up, horsey!

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A friendly game of tug of war!

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Running through a rolling hoop!

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Jumping up and down in muddy puddles!

We had a brilliant time with Jenny and her lovely family, the boys played beautifully together and it was so great to see The Boy enjoying the company of his friends. I've also got a new vegetable recipe to try out with alongside my Jenny Craig meals, and need to try and convince Mr. TBaM that we don't really need an XBox Kinect (while I actually want one myself!).

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coombe mill

Country Kids: A Cloudy Carnival

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Every Summer our town has a holiday fortnight, culminating in a carnival and fireworks.

Well it used to be a fortnight, and it used to have a parade with about thirty floats in it. It also used to be sunny in the Summer but there you go. I wonder if it was health and safety that put pay to that as well? The dreaded H&S ensured the end of our very popular parade as community groups and schools could no longer afford the spiralling costs of the insurance. We haven't had floats in about ten years, nowadays it's a walking parade which quite frankly, is pants. And because there's no focal point for the day now, it has slowly dwindled to a handful of stalls down the beach front, a few children's rides, and a few bands who take their turn.

Today was carnival day, so we prepared to head down to the beachfront late afternoon. And while we were standing in the porch it started to rain. Just for a change. So we donned waterproofs and wellies, and trundled down anyway.

While everyone else was huddling under any shelter they could find, we splashed through the puddles. All three of us. We had great fun, as did the people watching us. Sometimes you just have to embrace the weather and deal with it.

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