Sweetpeas and Seaside

Baby boy still has deep blue eyes, denim-matching, heart-breaking, sea-gazing blue eyes. We have had an amazing start to our first ever school summer holiday with all three boys. When the weather is warmer than 30 degrees I always miss living on the Isle of Wight, really near a beach but I have now adjusted to the places we can drive to from our home here if the weather is hot. We have visited Stoke's Bay in Gosport recently, eaten chips and played at Lee-On-Solent and picnicked in 100 acre wood. I am actually quite impressed that the baby has settled so easily that I've actually managed to grow a few things in our back garden (while lifting a heavy bag a day from the front). Sweetpeas have been good this year although a few were slug-attacked in the early days. Here are some:

Sweetpea Aurora Borealis

Sweetpea Spanish Dancer

Sweetpea Air Warden

So I'm typing now while baby A. naps. and will post more garden developments later. One of our best seaside outings was on a rainy day a couple of weeks ago...that turned into a sunny day. We visited Bournemouth aquarium followed by the beach. I took a few photographs and experimented with a polarizing filter on my camera.

Three boys for thirty days wild...and one is very new!

We have started the 30 days wild challenge. A challenge indeed with a newborn baby! Today is day 6 and we went to Woodend stream at hundred acre wood to play stone throwing to cool down on a sweltering day. That was, myself and all three boys aged under 5!

Bringing the Outside In....

So, a lot of my blog has been about the outdoors..the environments I've lived in. But now, 36 weeks pregnant I have the urge to home-make and organise. Here are two photos morning and evening of part of our kitchen where I have been thinking out the interior with my husband. Note the beautiful mother's day card and flowers...thanks boys. Our kitchen was looking big and bare and tiled before the arrival of our new dresser which has made us feel like we have a new room at a fraction of the cost! The bulbs on the left of the dresser are from valentine's day so I will need to find them new homes in the garden soon. The pine table is simply covered with wipeable cloth and my pine chairs were painted with Annie Sloan chalk paint in "Provence" colour. They have also been sanded and waxed by myself. This is thanks to J'adore La Maison shop in Wickham who presented me with a £20 voucher after I won a raffle at the Taste of Wickham festival over a year ago. So, while I'm not doing the heavy gardening and big travel/exploration I favour in life at the moment I am enjoying playing "Country Living" with our new (ish) home (ok. we've been here nearly a year and a half now but things take time and money!) and bringing the beautiful outside of spring indoors. There are Nelson Sweetpeas and Dianthus sprouting in my propagator above the washing machine and a guest room now finished with the staircase painted in varying shades of green gloss. Will add more photos soon...depending on how the rest of my organising goes of course!