Moonrise

With four boys we have had plenty of fun out of our caravan. We have Christened it the party caravan and spent many (generally wet this year) weekends enjoying the beautiful scenery of the Cairngorms. There is everything we need, walking, cycling, swimming and dam building , at the Glen More camp site where we leave it for the season. The beautiful Loch Morlich offers endless fun for the boys.

Portraits

I am always on the quest for the perfect picture of my four boys. So tricky when each has his own plan of how to hijack the moment. Some of my favourites from Provence.

Swimming

Swimming is such fun. Eddie started the week fully equipped with every floatation devise we could find. By the end of two weeks he could swim a length. What a luxury to cool off in the pool which used a ground source pump to maintain a temperature of 30 degrees. Bliss.

Eating in Provence

One of the joys of living in France is eating on the shaded terrace, under the lush green leaves of vines and fig trees. We went to several markets in Salernes, Contignac, Aups, and Villecroze and indulged in Moules, juicy prawns, artichokes, vine tomatoes that had only seen the back of a truck not an aeroplane. Delicious, with that, an iced apperitife of dubonnet or a chilled glass of wine and we were set up for the day.

Provence 2010

What a fantastic holiday we have had in Tourtour, Provence in a house called Gardure. The children have developed gills and webbed feet. Eddie swam unaided for the first time and Harry who rarely enjoyed a bath was jumping in like a frog. My favourite occupation, when not sunbathing was taking underwater photos.

riding on the beach

The children's faces lit up with pleasure as soon as the sat perched upon their allotted beasts of burden.They all became still and calm somehow knowing that their emotions were passed onto their pony. Off they walked, even number 4 sat atop Rocky, a slightly grumpy tiny little pony, grins fixed and hands gripping on tightly, swaying to their stride. The boys all slid off their ponies at the end full of chatter about the experience and a few demands of regular horse riding lessons to be deflected. They found no problem walking afterwards, unlike us girls, who after two and a half hours were walking, or running in some of our cases, like we were still astride the fat bellies of our horses.

Tea time

Yet another treasure, found this time on the bottom shelf at the Red Cross Shop. It is the perfect centre piece for afternoon tea and big enough to produce vast quantities of refreshing tea. Essential in this fabulous hot weather. Having drunk Earl Grey tea for many years, I set out on a quest to expand my tea drinking horizons. I have settled upon an organic Clipper tea. Perfect for my new teapot.