ABC Series B is for BOAT

Yesterday having checked the weather forecast we decided to do a day trip to France on a Boat and go to the sandy Beaches of Le Touquet.  When we woke up at 5.30am we could hardly see 100 yards it was such thick fog and everything was covered in frost however by the time we arrived in Dover the fog had cleared leaving us with a beautifully calm and sunny crossing.

P&O have currently got a special offer on their day trips.  I think we paid something like £23 for our crossing which included a box of wine and a 2 for 1 on either a cooked breakfast or fish and chips.  I should have taken a photo of my breakfast as it was amazing but I got side tracked and forgot.

We also took a look around the duty free where I brought some Dior Mascara and an Opi Nail varnish.

Once we arrived in Calais we drove along the coast road to Le Touquet where we stopped for coffee before heading down to the beach for a picnic. 

We had beautiful weather, it was lovely and warm with hardly anyone on the beach.  We stopped for a couple of hours before heading home via Citi Europe.

Wow what fab weather we had all weekend.  What a shame its going to end tomorrow.  We went to the beach early Sunday morning.  There were loads of people out prawning.  It truly was a fabulous day.  Difficult to believe that it was October.  I even donned my swimming costume and dipped my toes.  Bit too chilly for my liking but plenty of other people enjoyed a dip.  We eventually managed to persuade Mimi to go paddling and then struggled to get her back out because she loved it so much.  When the weather is like this I always think how idyllic it is here.  It really feels like you are on holiday.  However in the winter it can be very bleak.

Is this really October?!  What a beautiful morning.

What an amazing view

Mimi finally decided she wanted to go paddling.  Here we are jumping the waves.

Mimi & her little friend playing on the beach.

We caught a couple of prawns and a shrimp.  I always thought that prawns and shrimps were the same so I learnt something new.  A shrimp has speckles and a little tail with black edging where as a prawn is all clear in colour.


In the afternoon one of our friends had a party for their 50th birthday.  They live right on the beach and so most of the party ended up in the sea.

Other than enjoying this beautiful weather I have been putting together a new website

http://www.groov-ekidz.com/

I would be really tickled if some of you guys could check it out for me and let me know what you think.  Most weeks one or all of the supermarkets have offers on Nappies, Baby wipes and other baby essentials but it is difficult to know whether you are getting the best deal or not.  The aim of the website is to bring it all together in one easily accessible place.


 

We have had a bit of a weird week.  I managed to work myself up in to a bit of a frenzy over work, which as usual turned out to be nothing much.

Mimi does not seem to like playschool and poor Mike is having to leave her in tears.  I think it must be a phase she is going through as she did the same with me when I left her with my Dad in the week.

As usual it poured with rain on Tuesday evening for my bus duty.  I don't think it is boding well for the year as I have done two so far and both days it has rained!

However Wednesday the weather improved and we had a lovely couple of days at home.  We made cakes (and a huge mess). 

The end result.  Don't they look great.

Then we took our lunch down to the beach for a picnic.  I hope that there are some more days like this before Winter arrives.  The sea was beautifully calm and the sun was shinning.  

We also managed to get over to see J & H and his gorgeous new sister G.  She is just so cute.

We had some friends over for dinner on Friday night.  I was really excited as I had decided to cook a Green Thai Curry which I knew they like and is also one of my favourite meals.  Unfortunately I had a bit of a dippy moment and didn't bother weighing out the curry paste.  I guestimated and used about 3 times the amount of required paste.  Hence as you can imagine the lovely curry that I had so wanted was edible but only just.  I would like to blame my mad moment on too much alcohol but that wasn't the case.   

Additionally I think I must be getting old.  I think I have been in denial that I am still in my youth when actually I am in my 30's.  I honestly didn't drink very much, but boy I felt rough yesterday.

Check out the clouds this morning when we got up at 6.30am!  Aren't they just amazing.  We don't often see clouds this big.  We looked it up on the met office website and it was miles away.  Well over Ostend. 

Daddy just made pancakes for Mimi's breakfast - this is always a preferred choice given a chance.  However I am not sure Mike washed the pan out properly before cooking them as they had taken on a distinctive curry flavour.  Poor baby!

New school year

This last week saw the return to school after the summer break.  It is amazing how quickly you fall back into the swing of things. In a relatively short space of time you feel like the holidays were a distant memory.

My days have changed so I now don't work on a Wednesday or a Thursday which in a way may be quite good as it will feel like we have two weekends.

Last Thursday we spent  the day at the Zoo with one of our friends and her children and then lunch at this great little place called Mama feelgoods.  We will definitely be going back soon.

Mimi Playing at the park in the Zoo

Friday I had to work until 2.30pm, Mike was really busy with work so Mimi spent the morning over at Mikes parents and I picked her up on the way home.  Isn't it typical we all go back to work and the sun comes out.  

RHDR - The worlds smallest public railway.

Yesterday we were planning on going on the Romney Hythe and Dymchurch Railway but the weather was just so glorious we decided that was something we could do another time and instead went to the beach in the morning.

Then Mike took part in a sailing race which went from the sailing club up to the  Quay in Sandwich.  So we went over in the car to watch him come up the river.

Whilst we were out I experienced my first awfully embarrassing toddler statement.  As we were walking along the tow path towards the park we passed a coloured man, to which Mimi said "Chocolate man" and pointed.  I was just so embarrassed.  I don't think he heard and if he did he didn't turn around.  What do you do in situations like this?

When Mike came in off the water we loaded the boat onto the roof of the car and then I went for a drink with my friend.  We ended up popping into town and having a few more glasses of wine and a lovely Thai meal before walking home in the rain.

Drinks on a lovely calm evening overlooking the pier.