It's raining.....

....it's pouring!

What a way to start the Summer Holidays with a massive storm.

Last night I was woken, well when I say 'woken', I jumped out of my skin by the biggest clap of thunder and Biblical torrential rains. The storms rumbled around for at least the 3 hours I was awake. So I had a lazy start to the holidays - a lie-in and chance to catch up on the missing hours of sleep.

I then had the delights of going through Sophie's wardrobe - her figure has changed so much in the last 6 months so with that in mind, she has an epic shopping trip planned for Monday! No doubt I'll have an empty purse and will be worn out by the end of it. I need to go through Sam's clothes too but can not face that today - one child is enough!

Before the storms arrived, we had been enjoying some gloriously hot, sunny weather.

I've continued with the swimming, signed up for a season ticket and can now comfortably do 32 lengths in just over 30 minutes. It's apparently half a mile so I'm quite happy with that for now.

The garden is beautiful and thankfully it's still looking okay this morning after last night's rain. A few of the grasses look a bit flat but my sweet peas and sunflowers are still standing tall.

I'm so glad the sunflowers are in full bloom before we go away on holiday - I would have been disappointed if I had missed them.

And my sweet peas are brilliant this year, so much so that I could give a friend a posy.

The car smelt divine all the way to our coffee date.

All our meals have been enjoyed down at the bottom of the garden - it feels like you are on holiday when you eat outside.

I have been giving some consideration to next years holiday plans. We're considering France but we're not sure how far South you have to go to get guaranteed sunshine without the soaring temperatures of say Greece. I've been to France with school as a child but am otherwise clueless. There's plenty of time to research - we want to probably ferry it and then drive, doesn't have to be coastal but would otherwise have to have a pool for the boy! Something to look forward to.

So let this years Summer holidays commence - 6 1/2 weeks of no real routine - heaven. We're off to Cornwall for a few days soon to see Mum and Dad and celebrate my Granny's 91st Birthday! Then we have our week in Majorca to enjoy and Sam's 12th Birthday. Then it's home and the odd day trip out and about. I intend to enjoy every minute, September will come around far too quickly.

Have a great Summer - Cheers!