Footprints...

...mark the path taken by Daniel, to meet Esme in the sea. (She's the little black dot. He's the blurry man-shape.)

Dom and Nathan - wave jumpers

Wave jumping from an early age!

Leia in the pool

Leia also loved the water. Pools like this are meant for splashing, and she knows it.

Very messy, very happy

Rose adored the seaside. All the sand, and big sandy rock pools to play in... In fact, she leapt into one of these pools, fully clothed.

Here she is, covered in sand and suncream, delightfully happy.

How she manages to have such a white smile is beyond us. Tooth-brushing is not her favourite activity. In fact, it is two person job, and even then, more often then not, Rose 'wins'.

Swimming with Mummy

Ana and Lara spent a little while in the sea.

Rose didn't want to go in, so Tim stayed (warm and dry) on the shore. After Ana had had enough, Lara stayed in for a 'proper' swim.

A comfy spot for a picnic

Here we are eating our picnic.

This was not one of those relaxing picnics, where one lazily eats a pack of pringles while watching the clouds go by. No, this was one of those picnics where you spent most of the time chasing the girls, stopping them from falling into a large crevice, or into the sea.

Nice geology, though.

Rock jumping

We went exploring the inter-tidal zone. Ana jumped quite a lot of the way. I carried Rose.

And no one fell into the sea!

A successful exploration, me thinks.

Big stone

How big a splash will this one make, Ana?

Let's see.

Sitting in the rock pools

Rose was desperate to play in the rock pools on the beach, and got straight in, clothes and all.

At high speed!

This is Ana pushing Rose around the campsite as fast as she could.

Perhaps the driver's view was slightly obscured, but I'm sure Rose was telling her which way to go.

REALLY early in the morning...

So this is the first morning of the camping trip.

Rose had finally fallen asleep in her buggy well after midnight, after being pushed around the campsite for about, oh, two hours... (Lara says it was not two hours, but it sure felt like it.)

We collapsed into our cosy sleeping bag, only to be woken at 5 AM by our darling little Rosebud, who was ready to get up and play. So was I. Really I was. (Ok, I wasn't, but I did. And was rewarded with this beautiful sunrise.)

Yes. we are BONKERS!!!

Camping with really little ones. A stress-free, relaxing break...

Well, they loved it (except for sleeping in the leaky tent). Here are our two and Nathan sitting in Auntie Crystal and Uncle Dom's tent consuming fish and chips.

We'll post some pictures of the days out - we were in Wales, near Cardiff - and it was beautiful (even if the campsite clientele left rather a lot to be desired.)

Princess on a Trapeze

The swing in the garden has had a number of iterations - here is version 2 - the trapeze. Ana said today that she wanted to be a princess when she grows up. She later said she wanted to be an acrobat. Here she is a few weeks ago being both!

Tonight Ana sid she wanted to be a butterfly when she grows up! Other aspirations have included being a cement mixer, and a Sunday School teacher.

Balloon Fun

Balloons are wonderful!

Breakfast Picnic in the lounge

Picnics are fun - even inside and at breakfast time.

When was the last time you ate your breakfast on a blanket on the lounge floor?

Putting on a show

Both girls love music, and here they are putting on a performance for us from the platform on their climbing frame. I can hardly wait to see what shows are produced as they grow older.

Summer BBQs!

This has been a great summer for BBQs. Dad and Mum kindly gave us this Canadian BBQ (made in my old home town!) to celebrate 'completion-of-the-PhD'. We've been experimenting with cooking random things on it, the most popular of which has been apples.

Ana's artwork

Here is a drawing of Ana's she produced a month or so ago.

The creature in the top left corner is a spider, and the other figures are various people (you may well be one of them) and Humpty Dumpty. If you look in the lower right corner, you will see Ana's name at least once...

Bouncing on the bed

We now have a spare room (Hooray!) The kids like it too. The mattress on the spare bed is extra boingy, and makes a suitable alternative to the trampolines at baby-gym!

Rose Petal Tea

We have a vibrant pink rose at the bottom of the garden, which gave its petals for a higher cause - to be made into a delicately flavoured tea by two enthusiastic tea makers.

DIY from a young age

We took the bathroom doors off and put them on the other way around so that they opened outwards, rather than into the bathrooms. The girls were desparate to help, and here they are helping switch the orientation of the latch. Ana actually got the hang of the screwdriver, and Rose was not far behind.

"Look, I'm a Piggy!"

We have these great tiny silicon cup cake things. Ana thought that this one made an excellent pig's nose.

Why we have to bath the girls every night

Rose loves her food. Most (by which we mean, greater than 50%) of her food goes into her belly, with appreciated sounds. The rest of the food is squashed, splattered and spread all around her face, hair, the table, chairs and the wider room.

Rose was demonstrating the actions to "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" with hands covered in yoghurt. This was a little messy.

Drawing!

Ana has inherited some of her parents' love of drawing, and she is now beginning to draw some really great (by which we mean, recognisable) things - here is one of her first drawings of a heart (on one of those magnetic drawing things...)

This is her showing her work to Mummy.

The swing!

We promised the girls a swing in the new garden, and here it is.

Due to the inherant bendiness of the birch-tree branch from which it hangs, the swing has a rather unusual, swaying, off-centre, rotating action, but I'm hoping that just adds to the fun. The girls seem to love it anyway, and have now taken to moving the chairs so they can climb into it themselves.

I found Ana today, like a monkey, swinging holding on to it from underneath with both her hands and feet. So funny!