Good Times

Firstly, I must apologise as I did not take my camera out with me at the weekend. Photo below is stolen from my husband! It shows Brighton from a distance.

It was a gloriously hot and sunny weekend, here in the UK (well in Brighton for sure). The kind of day where the most important thing is to find a good way of keeping cool.

Luckily we have the sea, a mere 20-30min walk away (possibly longer with both children). On Saturday, after a noisy and excitable start, I managed to round my two up and leave the house. How do people cope with more than 2 children? We first went to the park, I let them have a good run around. Then we had to head back home, grab lunch, then off we went to the beach.

We met up with a good friend of mine, and her two children. The children all went in the sea. There were no squeals of "it's too cold", it clearly was the right temperature for them. Personally I wouldn't have minded a dip, but I did not have my swimming costume with me, and I don't feel in the best shape at present to strip off!

After that we went to the children's paddling pool, which is on the beach as well (just by Al Fresco restaurant, and west of the West Pier!) It gets so busy there. When my children were younger, it was slightly scary on a busy day, as it is so easy to lose sight of your child. Now they are elder, my 7 year old really looks after the 3.5 year old, it is fine. This is very handy, and means I can relax a little bit! We were all so tired after our day out, that we took the bus home. Oh yes, and watched the last episode of DOCTOR WHO. We are a hooked family. My eldest could not believe it when they said the next episode will be at Christmas (6 months away!)

We did it all again on Sunday, got up, and headed straight down to the beach. I made a packed lunch for us this time. The boys had a great time. I bought them water squirters, they look like giant syringes! Lots of children had them.

I also finished reading a very arresting and moving book, called "Brixton Beach" by Roma Tearne. I would highly recommend it. It follows a Sri Lankan girl, whose parents emigrate with her to England due to the civil unrest in Sri Lanka. You follow all of her family (4 generations) and it's very moving. Again highlighting a conflict in a deeply personal way. I find this a better way to learn about things, as it becomes far more real. I would highly recommend it! Now I just need to find another cracking good read, any suggestions?

Quilt Update: I got round to trimming all the patchworked pieces, for the back, down to the same width! I did it while the children watched "Fantastic Mr Fox". They were engrossed. I'm not in a rush with this quilt. I'm making it just to use up all my scraps of the Midwest Modern range by Amy Butler. The quilt was dictated by all the shapes and sizes of fabric I had to work with. It will be a single bed size though, when I finally finish off the back.