Yesterday afternoon after a lovely photo shoot hubby and I decided to get away from it all for a few hours, it's no secret that I love going up the Northumbrian Coastal Route, it's a gorgeous road which goes through Amble, Warkworth, Alnmouth and Seahouses finally ending at Berwick, there are so many places to stop, nature reserves, beautiful villages and gorgeous sandy beaches, I'd probably say the most beautiful beaches in the country but then I am a little biased!

We drove up to Alnmouth a quaint little seaside village where I'd spent many a happy summers day at the beach as a child.  When you approach Alnmouth from the south you look over the Estuary and see the houses with their pretty painted exteriors, not unlike the coloured houses of Tobermory.

and so a 3K walk along the estuary and beach, here's our afternoon in photographs

yeah someone got wet shorts!

we spent 3 hours just wandering and taking photos and it was bliss, I feel like I had a mini holiday, if you're on the north east coast sometime soon why not get away from it all just for a little while and enjoy Alnmouth!

The Romantic Weekend with the mysterious case of the Purple hair

Had a fabbio weekend with the hubster at Gisborough Hall Hotel, very relaxing although we went to Flamingo land on Sunday and it was such a giggle going on all the big rides without the kids tagging along, much as I love them one weekend alone in a swanky location every 8 years will do me just fine!!



This is where we stayed, Noice!!



Imagine having a wedding here ;)



I loved this kooky little dragon above the doorway.

On saturday night we both decided on a change of hair colour, mine is now a little redder than it was and Pauls well he's gone from Blonde to....



PURPLE!!!!



I have to say though for a man with purple hair I think he's rather dishy don't you???!!

Ooh and I forgot to mention the Alpacas which lived just outside the hotel..




Fab or what!!

Holed Up

No weddings this weekend so hubby and I are holed up at the Gisborough Hall Hotel which is lovely though terrifyingly expensive, I nearly passed out when I discovered that it was £7.50 for one glass of wine, we hastily retreated to the nearest supermarket and bought some nice bottles to have in their room, now I must stress that you do get a complimentary corkscrew so we're obviously not the first couple to faint at the drinks prices!! To be honest the food isn't horribly expensive just the alcohol, aah well, not to worry! One thing I must say about the Gisborough Hall Hotel is that it would be the most fabulous place to have a wedding.

So no pics yet as I can't honestly be bothered to connect the lead from my camera to my laptop, I might share some tommorrow night!!I could have fun with Paul if we were trapped inside a small cupboard together!!

Toodlepip it's face-mask time!

Sports Day and Yashimoto Nara at the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art

Monday and Yesterday was sportsdays at school so off I went sans camera to capture a little of the action.




Abigail absolutely loves sports day.



she really loves the football!



as you can see in this action shot!



and imagine my delight when she won first place in the year 1 girls race!!

Yesterday was stonkingly hot and humid for Loobys sports day




I loved watching her jumping!



and having a well earned drink at the end of the day!




Today, there was a strike by members of UNISON so it meant school being closed, it's a little odd because they go back on Friday for one day and then it's summer holidays!!

anyway I decided that we wouldn't waste a good day so we went to see the Yashitomo Nara exhibition at the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art and Wow, I loved it, the kids loved it, it's fab!!

Goodness only knows what we'll get up to tommorrow....

Alnwick Gardens for Fathers day

Where else could we spend the day with our dad of the year, mr gardener himself, my gorgeous hubby!!

I love Alnwick garden and even better, Paul got in free because he was a dad!! Here's some photos from our day!!




SNAP!!




Don't you just love Loobys hat?




She sniffed nearly every single flower in the walled gardens!



Awww, isn't dad the best!!



Iain getting splashy!!




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Lovely Lupins!



The magnificent tree house!



Serious water play!




In the water fountains all three of them went and look how wet they are!



Soggy!!

Finally, I love this one



and this one!!




Happy Fathers Day!

The National Media Museum

In Bradford is lots of fun for parents and children alike, obviously I was quite attracted to the fact that the Henri Carter Bresson exhibition was on and it did not disappoint and neither did the Imax 3D presentation of Space Station. It was the first time I had seen a 3D Imax movie before and I was blown away by it all! Can't wait to see another really!

So onwards with some photographs from the museum :-




Iain was delighted to have photographs with a Dalek.




He also tried his hand at reading the news.




Ok this one is a bit of a dodgy photo but I love it, Looby was on a blue screen with the teletubbies and here she is watching the tv which showed the Teletubbies with her, she was a little confused as to where they were.


Standing against the blue screen.




Iain with his 3D glasses on waiting for the movie to begin.




What is hubby concentrating so hard on?




Why he's colouring in a monster of course!!



The original cast of Playschool



Gordon T Gopher, one of my favourite TV icons!

and ending the day and the story of our holidays with who else but....



George and Zippy of course!

So Monday night and we returned rested and relaxed, we crammed so much in and had the best time ever, I love holidays. I've hardly seen Paul since we returned as he's so busy with gardening that he's actually got someone helping him at the moment.

I really can't wait until our next weekend away, when will it be and where? Well I don't really know but you can guarantee it will be fun, fun, fun!