The perfect gift

Despite working in retail, I've managed to have a great Christmas. We all received some lovely gifts and created even lovelier memories. But beneath all that was the fact that it was the first without my Dad. As much as I reflected on that very fact, I tried not to dwell on it... he wouldn't want me to!


One of the gifts we jointly received as a family was an annual pass to the Yorkshire wildlife park. We are blessed to have something like this on the doorstep but I wont lie, costs have stopped us visiting as frequent as we would like. In winter we don't venture to the peak district on weekends as much so this really was the perfect present for our outdoor family..i mean, yesterday we watched lions at sunset!

I didn't really photograph the animals as such, I usually take hundreds and never use them so I spent that extra time mainly just feeling content. I cant wait to go back and create endless memories again there already! Family time really is everything.

A Spring Saturday at the seaside!

Last Saturday we decided spur of the moment to go to the seaside. Although its still very bitter, the sun was out and we thought why not? Once your bundled up its a great way to blow away the cobwebs, and if you've read my last post you will know I had a lot of those!

When it was time to go the boys happily got back in the car but Niall refused to budge. He was having far too much fun crouching watching the dogs play on the beach!

I'm very out of practice with the camera but it felt great to reclaim family time. Watch this space!

Autumn exploring

My news feeds are full of people saying farewell to Summer. Now, I'm not impartial to a bit of nice weather, but personally I'm sat here open armed welcoming Autumn. I love getting cosy on dark nights, wrapping up for walks and stomping through crunchy leaves more than anything. Whilst most families are heading into soft play around this time of the year, we head outdoors more than ever. We explore newly empty areas, bug hunt and just generally just enjoy family time with our boys.

We recently explored a new part of the peak district, and although it was right on the out skirts, it was still very beautiful.

It was the first time that Niall had saw a sheep since he learnt what they 'say', he was in his element baa'ing away in fascination!

Even the most fantastic little walkers need a rest to re fuel every now and then!

I love his little hand gestures, deep in riveting conversation as always!

"You are my favourite adventure"

 "Rarrr", We found a wild Rio lurking in the bush!

 

My boys and the bluebells! - Renishaw Hall

Since going back to work we're finding it hard to have family days out at the weekend. Craig often works Saturdays and working Sunday is part of my contract. So when we do get the chance, like this bank holiday weekend, we really do like to make the most of it!

Regular readers of my blog will already known that we like to explore and discover new places but we actually stumbled across Renishaw Hall on google maps, of all places! And within about 20 minutes of being there it became one of our favourite places, one I know we will revisit over and over again as a family like we do with Potteric carr etc.

We were lucky enough to visit when the bluebells were in bloom and my gosh was it a magical sight.

The walks/garden weren't the most pushchair friendly in places but as this is an award winning garden we didn't expect them to be. There was something new to discover around every corner and I have a feeling we didn't even find half of it.

The courtyard, shops and café are so quaint and totally me. So much so I let my healthy eating guard down and had a slice/slab of coffee cake..it didn't disappoint!