As i'm sitting here typing on my sofa the sun is just starting to dip, it's the start of the golden hour and the end of the most beautiful weather day of the year so far.  It's been a bit of a scorcher in parts today, by the sea it was still uber chilly but in my garden when we came home from the beach it was nearly 30c, it does catch the sun with absolutely no wind though usually because of the walls.

Today was such a difficult day, bank holidays for me have always been about family time, every single one for the last 15 years has pretty much been a whole family adventure of some kind or other so I hope you'll forgive me for feeling, well just sad really, if some days are harder than others this one is definitely one of them.  7 months on almost exactly to the day since life changed forever and I wouldn't say that it hurts any less now than it did back then.

I don't want to dwell but I have always been honest thus far and what's the point of lying to yourself (and 20,000 readers a month) someone is going to find out...

I do hope that today marks the start of sunshine all of the time until at least October, in fact if I'm honest I'll be happy if it lasts until our Berwick holidays are over, 8 sleeps to go, I have a treasure trail, Looby has packed her suitcase and I'm considering selling a body part to pay for all of the expected activities that Haven has to offer, I remember the last time dear reader and it was not a cheap experience.  At least this time I have Holly who's my get out of jail free or rather "I can't come and play family bingo because someone has to look after Holly at all times and she's not allowed in any of the buildings" (haven't quite worked out if Haven really is dog friendly or more along the lines of dog tolerant, they're quite different animals).

Speaking of animals, Holly is now a stinky beagle after rolling in manure today at the beach, I thought I could smell the whiff of freshly fertilised fields carried on the winds all day until I worked out that the smell was actually coming from Hollys neck, she wasn't amused by the bath at all and she's probably grumpy because she can smell herself and yes, she's going to need another bath tomorrow.

What Looby and I did do today to make the best of the situation we've found ourselves in was go to the beach (again, again, again.....) we walked from Tynemouth to Whitley Bay via beaches and promenades and the sun shone on our faces and warmed our skin and I was glad I'd remembered to put  my factor 50 on my face this morning, sun can be ageing when you're my age so it's full on sun block at every opportunity.

We decided not to wait in the huge queue for ice-cream or to partake of the (probably overpriced and underwhelming) fun fare which has been set up at Whitley Bay for the bank holiday weekend.  Oh no, we're going back again tomorrow without Holly, yes the beach again, ice-cream and the fun fare (probably still overpriced) but that's what Looby wants to do so yes that's what we're doing.  I feel I really should move to Tynemouth, I seem to spend more time there than I do at home.

Whatever you get up to tomorrow dear reader please go and embrace your families and do something with them, enjoy every second, savour every moment because you just never know what might lie around the corner of life.

It's not all work...

Hello Dear Reader, how long it seems to be since my last post, in real times it's about 2 weeks but that is a while for me.

It's been horribly busy as ever, I never ever seem to stop...except I do, for 3 whole days this week I had fun and frolics and relaxation, all in the aid of Abigails 11th birthday.

I went away and I didn't even take my camera, so here's my weekend in Instagrams -

It started with a day of mini sessions at Tynemouth, note to self, remember the sunscreen next time.

on Saturday evening we did a 6 hour drive down to London to stay in the Jurys Inn, Croydon, this was my Sunday morning view from the 11th floor.

Thorpe Park was our day on Sunday, we thought we'd let the girls beat each other up in a safe environment, they're like North and South Korea at the moment, I've threatened to change my name to referee on several occasions.

Laura, queen of butterfly land

hubby, ruler of the beardy folk

all of the kids trying to photo bomb each other, oh and Dorito, Loobys dog she's had since she was 2 years old and he's been everywhere, he's more well travelled than me!!

shockingly bad couples portrait of us but after 13 years of marriage you take what you can get

Bank holiday monday morning and another theme park beckons, Drayton Manor was our Monday day out

I decided not to go on this after a very traumatic ride on something similar at Flamingo land where I actually prayed out loud for the ride to be over.

we didn't get home until Midnight on Monday and as it was Abigails birthday on Tuesday we let them sleep in and took one of our "Bohemian Rhapsody" days, it's not all about school you know, our bohemian style of parenting is something I'm really proud of and all the kids are doing so well at school, Abigail is doing SATS at the higher level next week so some occasional days off only seem to make them more nourished well balanced children.

We love Alnmouth so much, it's one of our favourite places on the beautiful Northumbrian coastline

Abigail and her daddy taking a stroll

love this one, they stopped arguing for a whole minute and then Abigail got very wet and then very sandy and then complained we'd ruined her birthday because she was too sandy, the girl cracks me up!!

oh thats me, I made a sand portrait of me before i straighten my hair in the mornings!

It was lovely to take some time out, just keeps me refreshed and I love family time so much, it's really hard to switch off when you love your business but it's necessary so you don't burn out.

I'll be back with a regular worky type post tomorrow with tons of new portraits of the little people of the north, i have another full day on Sunday and on Saturday I have a wedding at one of my favourite venues, Whitworth Hall near Durham, they have their own deer park you know!

Alton Towers and Thorp Perrow, a bank holiday adventure

They're a funny thing Bank Holidays, even though hubby and I are self employed we always try and take bank holidays off unless it so happens that I'm photographing someones lovely wedding.  So this weekend early on Sunday morning we raced down the M1 (clearly observing the speed limits of course) to go to our favourite theme park Drayton Manor, we got 2 miles away, stood in a traffic queue for an hour and a half, turned around and went to a hotel in Derby, it would seem the theme park was full!!  Not to worry though we had a lovely afternoon in Derby and we decided that the best plan of action was to go really early to our other favourite theme park Alton Towers for it opening on Monday morning.

Here's the story of our weekend in photographs

This fountain is in the main square in Derby, I've photographed the girls here before, it's going to be interesting to compare the photos and see just how much they've grown.

The eggs from the new Ice Age 4D ride at Alton Towers

Looby and I found a chicken and other fabulous animals at Old Macdonalds farm at Alton Towers

On Tuesday we decided to go to Thorp Perrow on the way home, a beautiful wonderful family day out complete with animals.  You may notice Loobys dog, Dorito who has been with her since she was about 2 years old and found him in a charity shop, he barks too, he's apparently had a lovely weekend away with us.

I hope you all had a wonderful bank holiday weekend, it's now the last week of the summer school holidays and we're making the most of it, normal business resumes next week and in as much as I can't wait to get back to it, I'm really going to miss having so much family time, it's been the best summer holidays ever in my opinion, make sure you enjoy every last minute of yours because in a breath it will be all over