Good Morning dear reader, it's Wednesday again, half way through the half term holidays so well done if you have made it to this point!  I'm having a bit of a chill this morning while I wait for Looby to come home from her friends where she spent the night!

It's been a bit of an epic couple of days here with days out at Kielder and my favourite National Trust property, Cragside

There've been a lot of giggles, a few hissy fits and the occasional 'What on earth?" and I have to say that I am a bit tired today but that's because I've been clocking up 12-14,000 steps a day!

There's no secret that I love spending time with the kids and I love school holidays, it just suits the way I live, no early mornings and waking up when your body (or your dog) thinks you should.  I've said for many years that if I had of known about home schooling much sooner than I did I would have done it, at least with Looby anyway as she's such a free spirit it would really have suited her and she's not at all looking forward to secondary school, she often says she'd love to just give it all up and travel around the country with me and she informs me that everything she needs to know in life she can learn from me or daddy.

I think the rest of the week we have a beach day planned tomorrow, sounds lovely, the reality is it'll probably be the coldest day out yet!  I also quite fancy a museum day but I think we'll have to leave Holly at home for that one unless we go to dog friendly Beamish, I should state now if you're reading and want to take your dog, I wouldn't if I was going for the first time as you can't take them in any of the buildings barring the pub but as we've been so many times before and a ticket lasts for a year it doesn't really matter if we just stick to the outside areas!

It's funny when you have dogs, you have to get to know places again, you need to discover the dog friendly spaces and places and I have a full blog post coming up soon all about the dog friendliest places in the North East, I am still on a voyage of discovery though so if there's anywhere you would like me to try or you run somewhere dog friendly you think Holly and I would love then do get in touch.

So lets have a few photos from Cragside and Kielder...

Petunia the Husky (Holly's BFF) doesn't like water, however, she's also a bit daft and didn't even realise she was in water until she was up to her middle!

I haven't been hiding an extra child, this is Looby's BFF who came along yesterday, she's exactly like Looby and together they're double trouble!

So that's been the week so far, I hope you're all having fun, do stop by and comment and let me know what you've been up to and I hope you all have the best time for the rest of the week.

A family trip to the Cragside estate in Northumberland

Yesterday as planned dear reader we had a family day out to Cragside in Northumberland, for just a few hours we got to be a normal family, never have I enjoyed being normal quite so much!  It's of great comfort to me that we can always get together as a proper family and go out for a day in the countryside.  It's just a shame that it was my last Sunday off for a little while, it's the peak time for me as a photographer as people get together and want family portraits to give to friends and relatives for cards and gifts for Christmas and even though I am working a little less there was always going to be a time every year when I have to work a little more than the rest of the year.  I think we're arranging some more mutual family days out during half term though so that's something to look forward to.

I adore Cragside, you can go every week and never go on the same route twice because the estate is so vast although we always seem to end up at the adventure play ground and the labyrinth, strangely the kids didn't fancy the walk where you start at the bottom and climb all the way to the top which is a pity as it's really good for waistlines!

Abigail, Looby and I decided that we would shoot the image for our Christmas cards yesterday so it's either going to be this one (1)

Or maybe this one? (2)

Or perhaps this one? (3) I really can't decide, I love this bottom one but I also love the other two, please do let me know which one you think should be our official Christmas card for this year.  I'll take advice and a vote on that one and then get the one which wins off to print before the end of the week, it pays to be organised in these cases.

Petunia is such a poser, it actually takes a great deal of work to get her to look the right way, she's not one for paying attention and we make all manner of noises to try and attract her attention, we always seem to win in the end though!

I love forests, they're so magical, I'm sure there could be fairies hiding in there somewhere!

I also love this throne which we found for the very first time, as I mentioned before, even if you have been going to Cragside for many years like us there's always something new to see

It makes me so happy that even though we might not all live in the same house anymore but we can still go out and have family fun together

I have to say that it was probably one of my most favourite days out ever because when you're not together all of the time you really truly appreciate the quality time you can spend with each other, I hope we can always do this and certainly it makes me cherish the ones I love and love the ones I cherish more than ever before.

So this week, even if you are doing something with family that you always do, look at it as a unique event, embrace the quality time, celebrate just being able to be all together in the same place at the same time and never let the ones you love stop knowing just how important they are to you.

Hoarding Yankee candles and trying to be more frugal

I woke up to a nip in the air this morning, I could feel the chill on my arm as it dangled out of the duvet dear reader, I think there was a definite realisation from beneath the comfort of my cosy flannel bedding that it would soon be time to click the on switch on that thing we call central heating!

I'm sitting here with black coffee this morning because someone (me) forgot to get milk yesterday, I forgot to do most things yesterday apart from hoarding more Yankee candles, seriously, it's become and addiction and you know what, I seem to burn them all at the same time so is there even a point to selecting different fragrances?

This morning though it's a beautiful sunshiny morning outdoors and a day up to Cragside is on the schedule.  I love the days we (minus Iain because you'll remember he has to remain plugged into technology in the dark corner of a room at all times) all spend together because it makes me feel normal and I know that the kids love it too.

So today I shall be looking out for pine cones, conkers and old bits of bark, all of which make excellent autumnal house decor and of course all very frugal and if you want lots of frugal hints and tips of how you can live a better life for less you need to go and check out my lovely friend Helens blog Witty Hoots, she's got a frugal family challenge going on, the last time I saw her she'd cut her weekly shopping down to £25 a week!!!  I think I need to follow her lead, I believe she's doing Christmas lunch for £20!

After yesterdays washout with work I have an exceedingly busy week, a wedding in Harrogate and 17 separate photo shoots, if you are considering booking me for your Christmas card photos or gifts for family and friends please do it quickety split, my diary is bulging and I never want to get to that fateful point where I can't take on anymore work!

I'll leave you with a thought for Sunday dear reader and you'll forgive me if I quote something I found on Pinterest - It might take a year, it might take a day but what's meant to be will always find a way.

Have a super sparkly Sunday everyone!

Embracing Life

Yesterday dear reader I had a photo shoot in the late afternoon in Jesmond Dene so walked there and back through Armstrong Park which for any of you who aren't local is a park which connects Heaton Park to Jesmond Dene gifted by Lord Armstrong in the 19th century to the people of Newcastle and if you don't know who Lord Armstrong is, well he had the very first house (Cragside in Northumberland) to be lit by electricity.

I digress, my point is that yesterday was the most beautiful sunny autumn afternoon and if you were stuck in an office then all I can do is apologise for the afternoon you missed.  Luckily for you I took just a couple of photographs on my walk home.

This first one was in Jesmond Dene, I love paths which lead the eye but you can't see exactly where they're going, it could be anywhere but for me it means that adventure is just around the corner.

These 2 just show the glory of Armstrong Park at the moment and I get to walk through this park every day when I have a photo shoot in Jesmond Dene, I get to enjoy and embrace this beauty for free!

Now on my lazier, fatter days I have been known to get a taxi straight to my photo shoots and still do if they're really early morning but for the most part now more than ever I find myself walking and walking and walking some more, sometimes on my own and sometimes with Petunia who of course loves a walking adventure.

It's a month today since I started living on my own (well apart from the kids, the cats and Petunia) and the thing I've learnt is that you have to go out there and grab life by the neck and enjoy every minute of it, you have to work less and be slightly more broke but love more, cherish the ones you love and love the ones you cherish because work may bring success and financial gain but you can't go to bed at night cuddling work!  Now more than ever I remember my life plan and the commitment I've made to change.  I am very much living the simpler life and there is an adjustment to not working as often and if I can find a way to make a residual income I am working on finding that.  I have though spent just about every Sunday with my family and we've had some great times and this Sunday we are going to the aforementioned Cragside estate for a family stomp around.

So if you haven't done it yet, go read that life plan, embrace the ones you love and care about before it's too late, please understand that I don't believe that my whole marriage collapsed due to me working too many hours but it was certainly a contributing factor and the thing I've chosen to work on and change and I can already see that it's being appreciated that we get so much more quality time together as a family.

Today I have a couple of afternoon photo shoots and so I once again get to walk through the autumnal landscape of some of the most beautiful parts of Newcastle embracing every footstep that I take.