Holiday Day 4

On the Monday of our holiday we had a relaxed morning and then got into our swimming stuff just before twelve to go swimming. Our holiday park, Lower Hyde, had two pools on it - one indoor and one outdoor. But it turned out that the outdoor one was shut as the boiler was broken. They weren't sure when it would be mended. We went into the indoor pool, but it was very cramped and badly in need of refurbishment. We were disappointed, but we were allowed to go and use both pools on the nearby holiday park, Landguard, so we decided to go there in the afternoon. We drove to Tesco for something we needed, and got some lunch, and then got to the pools at Landguard for 2pm when they reopened after lunch.

The sun was out and it was really warm so we sat at the outside pool and obviously went in it. It was quite warm, and quite deep, and really nice to swim in. It was quite busy but not too busy. We didn't leave until it shut at five pm! We went back to the van and had showers before tea. We just had snacks as we'd had a bigger lunch. We watched a film.

I was wearing this pink shirred dress which I'd had for ages but hadn't had a chance to wear. It was soft and comfy after my shower but cool enough as it was still hot. I was only wearing it with a soft bra so it's not a full outfit but I still took a photo! 

Sitting in the car waiting for Lee, unimpressed that I wasn't still in a pool

The pool - there was barely anyone here at this point but it got busier

Selfie in sunglasses - I took contact lenses to wear every day so I could wear my fun sunglasses

Typical holiday pose

Ice cream! We had a lot of ice cream that week

Just as the pool was closing... I would give anything to be there right now! 

Bits for tea - the pork pie was vegetarian and tasted quite nice

And finally my new pink dress!

Holiday Day 3

The day after my cousin's wedding Lee and I went to the Isle of Wight for a few days. As we were already in Southampton it made sense to just go on the ferry and have a few days away. We booked an Airbnb on a holiday park in Shanklin, and booked the ferry for around 4pm. We had breakfast with my mum and stepdad and then said goodbye to them. 

We drove down the estuary from Southampton a bit just to look at the water a bit. We stopped and had an ice cream and just relaxed a bit. Then we went to Sainsburys to buy supplies for the week, and some petrol. We were early for the ferry so I decided to see if we could get an earlier one. We could! We paid £8.25 for the privilege which was fine, and we sat on the docks for a bit before loading on. On the ferry we had a drink and something to eat. It only takes about an hour so it wasn't long before we were driving through the Isle of Wight countryside to Shanklin.

Our caravan was nice and in a really quiet part of the park. It had everything we could need. The only problem was that the bedroom wasn't very quiet or restful - the curtains were really light which kept waking me up, and the flipping wood pigeons started cooing at a stupid hour of the morning too! 

We had a quiet night, we made katsu curry and watched a film and just generally chilled out! 

Looking across the water to Southampton

Eating ice creams in the car

The ferry coming back to Southampton as we were crossing to Cowes!

I started my satnav when we were still on the ferry and it did indeed have me in the middle of the water, haha

The living room of the caravan. I do like going in a static caravan for a holiday, they're very cute. We ended up moving the dining table to in front of the sofa which was more useful for us

And here's some of the wood pigeons!

My Cousin's Wedding in Southampton

As I said, my cousin got married towards the end of June in Southampton, where Beth is from and where they are now living. Peter is one of my favourite people and has been since he was a tiny baby, so I was really proud to watch him get married! 

We had breakfast in our hotel and got ready, and then set off early to the church. We parked just up from it and got to talk to both my cousins and my aunt and uncle before the wedding, as well as one of Peter's best friends. Peter didn't seem nervous! We took some photos and then sat down. 

The wedding was lovely and afterwards Peter and Beth went off in a horse drawn carriage! The rest of us walked up to Beth's parents' house which is where the reception was. First of all there were drinks in the garden, which was all non alcoholic and very delicious. Then we went through to garden to a shared space at the back where a marquee had been put up. There were more drinks and canapes while photos were taken. It had been really hot the day before but wasn't very warm on the day of the wedding which was a shame but it's the one thing you can't control!

Beth made her wedding dress and I think you'll agree it was absolutely stunning. She had hand embroidered the flowers on the top layer and had covered all the buttons herself. She works as a theatre costumer so it's no surprise she could do this and I'm so pleased she did - it was absolutely gorgeous and just perfect for her. 

We all took our seats in the marquee for the wedding breakfast. There was a sort of serve yourself buffet on each table - gammon, fish, and some veggie options, plus salads and potatoes. We were sitting with my mum and stepdad and one of Beth's aunts and her husband. It was nice to meet them and talk to them. There was a trio of dessert which was delicious. Then there were speeches, which were lovely. My uncle was Peter's best man, and his speech was just adorable. 

After speeches was a ceilidh! I don't do dancing but it was nice to watch. It was pretty cold but they had provided blankets so I sat under one of those until it was time to say bye to Peter and Beth which we did by making an arch for them to run through to get to Peter's car! It was a truly gorgeous wedding and I'm wishing them a lifetime of happiness together. 

Look how well my nails matched my dress! I did enjoy the gel nails and managed to not chip one, but they seemed to grow out really quickly, and removal of them was NOT fun and took forever!

Peter and me before the wedding, and before he put his jacket on

My uncle fixing Peter's buttonhole

In the garden area for the reception - I wanted this photo to show Beth's beautiful dress

Which is why I also took this photo of the back! Isn't it just so lovely?

All my cousins! I am so happy to have such lovely cousins and their now wives (who are both called Beth!)

Peter and Rob. Rob and his Beth got married five years ago

My mum had bought this dress when in York with a friend, it's linen and lovely isn't it?

The flowers were lovely, with SO many roses!

The cake! It had a few different flavours - Lee and I went for pieces of the chocolate orange layer

I made this decoration as a present for Peter and Beth. I made one very similar in a workshop at my craft club and decided to make a wedding one. It's by no means perfect but I was pleased with it

Our trio of desserts - apple crumble, raspberry mousse, and a chocolate torte

Peter giving his speech - I was so proud! 

Beth giving her speech 

Waiting for the first dance - Beth was ready but Peter had disappeared! It was funny

Dancing! It was a Paramore song I think

Beth having her dress pinned up ready for the ceilidh

My aunt and uncle dancing! 

And finally Peter and Beth and some of their friends later in the evening

What a gorgeous joyful day!

Holiday Day 1

My lovely cousin Peter got married towards the end of June, in Southampton, so we obviously went down for it, and since we were already on the south coast, we decided to have a few days afterwards on the Isle of Wight. I went a few times as a kid and more recently with my friend Von, which I blogged about here as we had an amazing time. Lee had never been though (it's a long way from Durham) and I knew he'd like it, so we booked an Airbnb for five nights. 

More on that later though because first there's the wedding to get to! And before that, this, the day we travelled down to Southampton. Lee had to work in the morning so I did some errands - I went to the post office, I bought lunch, and I took the cats to the cattery where they would be staying for the week. That meant that when Lee finished work at 12, we could set off soon after. We managed to leave by 12.20 which was great. It took us til nearly 5pm to get to Southampton though, thanks to traffic. We were staying in the Premier Inn at the airport because it was cheap, and when we finally pulled up my mum and stepdad were already there, having a drink outside. We were so hot and sticky but we got checked in and then had a drink outside too. 

There was a restaurant in the hotel but it wasn't very exciting, so we looked around on the internet and everyone agreed on Kuti's Restaurant, which was an Indian. We booked a table and set off some time later. It turned out to be right next to the Red Funnel terminal where Lee and I would be getting on the ferry on Sunday, which was useful info. 

We had nice food, but nothing special. I found it a bit odd actually, but no matter. We looked at the estuary before we went back to the hotel. There we found my older cousin, Rob, and a family friend who was coming to the wedding, so we had a drink with them before bed. 

I had a peach bellini which was nice

Onion bhajis, which were nice but didn't come with raita which annoyed me a bit

Paneer karahi, it was nice and spicy

Looking up the estuary

And down, towards the ferry terminal

And Lee and I for good measure!

Gel Nails at Quirky Sparkle

I had my nails done in the middle of June ready for my cousin's wedding at the weekend (post to come!). I have never had gel nails done before and was under the illusion that you had to have extensions with them, which I didn't want. I have long natural nails myself so don't want anything that will wreck my own nails. I didn't realise you can just have gel polish done but then someone posted in a local Facebook group about her salon, based in her home in a village not far from mine, and mentioned something about natural nails. I messaged her asking if I could have a fun pattern and manicure and she said of course, so I made an appointment for a Wednesday morning. 

I arrived and parked on her drive and went round to her salon which is behind her garage. It was light and airy and really nice inside. I find busy salons really difficult to deal with so this was ideal for me as it was just me and Anj. We went through some colour choices and she did my nails with accent nails on my thumbs and ring finger nails, to match the dress that I had bought to wear for the wedding. The whole process took quite a long time, but I was at home just after 11 with lovely nails. I knew they would grow out and mine seemed to grow out quite quickly (I guess my nails grow faster than I previously thought!), but I liked having them done for a special occasion and I've booked to have them done again just before Lee's 40th which is in August. 

You'll see how well they match my dress in my next post! 

Anj was lovely and chatty and put me at ease. The whole thing cost me £27 which I found very reasonable!

You can find her on social media if you're in the Barnsley area

Trip to Filey - Day 3

On the Sunday of our trip we again were up quite early and decided to go swimming again. We had paid for passes for the weekend so it made sense to use them twice, and we didn't have to check out of the Airbnb until later, so off we went. It was a bit colder on the Sunday morning so we did spend some time outside and then a little bit of time inside before the session ended. Back in the van I had a shower and then we had a picnic lunch of whatever stuff was left over from the previous days. We got packed up and left around 1.15pm. I got home three hours later after taking Jac and then Sam home - I was absolutely knackered especially as I hadn't slept well. Lee wasn't home either - he was on his way to Bratislava for work! He wasn't home until the Wednesday so the cats and I just had to look after ourselves! 

I was wearing another new Star Wars t-shirt, which I had again bought on eBay. It's very soft and comfy to wear, and is just fun! I have really got into the habit of wearing these Scarlett & Jo skirts with t-shirts, too. 

The van we had stayed in

Me just before we left

Trip to Filey - Day 2

On the Saturday of our weekend away we were all up quite early, so we had breakfast and set off for Filey beach at around 10am. We were really lucky and nabbed a parking space right on the front. We walked along and down on to the beach. It was quite cloudy, but the sun did peep through every now and then. We took a picnic blanket and took it in turns to paddle. The tide was coming in and it comes in FAST - the beach is really flat there and we kept having to move the picnic blanket back! 

We went up to the shops and bought ice cream and sat on a bench to eat it. It was a bit sunnier but not much, but nice and warm. We then went to Tesco to buy lunch and headed back to the holiday park. There was a tractor train that took people up and down the steep path to the beach, so we hopped on to that just before the driver took his lunch break. At the bottom there's a beach shop and some picnic tables and then the beach, so we ate our lunch at one of the tables before going on to the beach. We set up camp and again took it in turns to paddle - the water was much colder there than it was just a little bit around the bay in Filey! Weird! 

We got the bus back up about 2.30pm and got changed into our costumes to go swimming at 3pm. There's two pools on site - one indoor and one outdoor, which also has a lazy river and jets and water fountains etc. We spent the whole time out there, going round and round in the lazy river and chatting. It was sunny on and off, but lovely and warm and it was just so lovely. We got out at 4.30 when the session ended. 

In the evening Sam cooked fajitas with halloumi and a ton of veg, and we had more cupcakes afterwards which I had ordered from a baker in my village, they were so good. We also did face masks and had some fin and watched rubbish telly, as we usually do. 

Sam took this of her and Jac while they were paddling

And I took this one

Selfie of myself while sitting on the beach. I was wearing contact lense so I could put my cool sunglasses on

Sam and I while we were paddling

I liked this chunky seagull 

Jac paddling

Looking along the beach

Ice cream! I got it in an oyster shell, which I don't think I've ever had before

Waiting for the tractor train  at the top of the hill

Waiting on the train

Looking on to the beach from the picnic tables - it got very busy

Back at the entertainment complex now, here's Jac and Sam 

Phones weren't allowed in the pool areas which is a shame because they were absolutely gorgeous and I would really recommend the park

Fajitas on the go

Face mask time! 

Everyone looks terrifying in these don't they

Definitely!

And finally here's the sunset from the caravan