Summer Holidays - Weeks 3 & 4

Continuing my look back at our Summer Holidays. (Weeks 1 & 2 are here)

Day 17

James was half way through his 2 weeks at Army Cadet camp, and his little buddy Ally (7) was beginning to miss him. This was what he drew in his worksheet at church that morning.

Day 18

More sports today. This time Ally got to take part too. He and David had an afternoon of football training. Ally loved getting to go along and take part in something sporty like his big brothers often do, but was a bit tired out by it when tea time came!

Day 19

The weather forecast had said that this was going to be the hottest day of the summer. Sure enough, the sun was shining from the moment we woke up and so we headed to the Traigh Mhòr with a picnic, to make the most of a rare day of hot sunshine.

It really was my idea of a most perfect way to spend a summer's day. The boys had such a great time. Fraser (2) loved being in the sea and he loved playing about in the sand too. He was having such a great time that every so often he would say to me, 'we not go home yet' :0) 

I couldn't really narrow down the photos to share from this day to just one or two like the other days though!

'Look out boys, this is how it's done.' 

Which may not have been such a good idea, as we discovered a day or two later!

We came home to see my dad had fired up the barbecue.

And enjoyed a lovely evening in the sunshine.

Rounded off with s'mores.

Perfect.

Day 20

Everyone was quite tired out after their full day at the beach the day before so we had a quiet day. But we did venture out to the sports centre for a wee game of football. Fraser was very keen to be the goalie. Daddy joined in the football too, even though he was complaining of a painful ankle.

Day 21

The painful ankle was now swollen up like a balloon and there was pretty severe bruising going right up his leg. Since we couldn't pinpoint what had happened to it, we didn't think it could be too badly injured. After all, you would think that if you had badly injured your leg, you might actually realise at the time that it happened! So, poor daddy soldiered on again when we went for a walk around the shops. By the time we were heading home he could barely walk on it though, and when he collapsed in a chair with his leg up we saw that the swelling was even worse and the bruising had spread even further. So I took him along to A&E, and a short while later he was back home with his leg strapped up and the diagnosis of a fractured ankle! The only thing that we can think could have caused it was jumping off the sand dunes at the beach.

Day 22

We went for a run around on the beach at the bottom of my granny's croft. It was very strange being there and not calling in to see her before or after. Ally seems to be agreeing with me here that it doesn't have to be hot and sunny to have fun at the beach.

Day 23

We popped into a craft fair in town and saw my aunt who was selling her hand knits. She sells them to raise money for a hospice on the island. Ally and Fraser both got these gorgeous jumpers.

But the best thing about this day was that when the boat came in in the evening, it brought James back from Army Cadet camp! We were all so glad to have him back, especially the youngest boys. He was a bit exhausted from his two weeks at camp, but he achieved so much while away, including a promotion to Lance Corporal.

The boys all stayed up late listening to James' stories from camp, as well as telling him their own tales of what they had been up to while he was away.
And that left us nearly half way through the summer holidays already!

Summer Holidays

Hello, remember me?
I've been a bit too busy enjoying the long days of summer to get any time to record our happenings!
What with lazy mornings, long days and late nights for the boys, it hasn't left much time for me to escape to the laptop.
Here's a snapshot of what's been happening in our houseful of boys over the last couple of weeks.
A couple of weekends ago my parents had some visitors from Korea staying for the weekend. Imagine coming all the way from Korea to what you think is a peaceful little island and finding that your hosts have their five grandsons staying too! Seriously though, they were a lovely couple and the boys really took a shine to them. One afternoon they took the Koreans to show them the rock pools at the shore at the end of the road where Granny & Shen live. The clouds were especially beautiful that day.

One incredibly simple highlight of the holidays so far for the boys, was a scramble that my Aunt's husband did for them. 

Is a scramble just a Scottish thing? 

If so, then it's simply handfuls of coins thrown in the air and you have to gather up as much as you can. Whatever you gather you keep. It used to happen at weddings - the bride and groom would throw handfuls of money out of the car to the children. James (15) was very noble and helped Fraser (1) and Alasdair (6) to collect the money.

We've made sure to pop in to see my Granny as much as we can.

This photo was taken last weekend before James and dad headed away from the island. James is now away at Army Cadet camp for two weeks and my hubs went back to work this week. The other boys and I are staying on a little longer.

One thing Alasdair wanted to tick of his list of things to do was a round of Crazy Golf.

This is, apparently, how all cool guys stand on a golf course.

Of course Fraser didn't want to miss out on any of the action!

Another huge highlight for Alasdair so far was the chance to finally buy some Lifeboat wellies. 

He has been after these for months and months.

Fraser likes to go and visit Shen in his study so that he can listen to some of his music.

Whenever the weather has been dry we have tried to be outdoors. 

This week we spent an afternoon at a playpark at the north of the island. It's built in amongst some sand dunes.

The park is also right by the beach.

I could happily spend all day sitting by the sea. It wouldn't have to be sunny.

This beach is on the Atlantic coast of the island so the waves are more impressive than on the other side.

Also impressive are the sand dunes.

Perfect for jumping off.

Or running down. In your lifeboat wellies.

Now, just in case all the photos so far have given you the impression that we have been having beautiful weather so far this summer, let me just put that right.

There have been quite a few that looked like the one above, but that just gives us the excuse to spend some time like this...

But back to those rare beach weather days, when I obviously take a lot more photos than on the more common grey ones.

Today we headed to a beach that lies just around the headland of the beach in the previous post. With yet more rain forecast for the next few days we were determined to make the most of today's sunshine!

David & Calum drew out their badminton court in the sand.

David was so excited to discover a couple of little caves.

And that's us all up to date with the summer holidays so far!