"Wherever you go, no matter what the weather, always bring your own sunshine."

It's not very often that we get to spend a day with Mrs M mid week so we were excited when she informed us she was going to book a day off for us to do something fun. The heat blasting through the car window driving home that day discussing our possible plans guided this exciting information towards us planning a day at the beach.

The weather had been glorious for days so the idea of lounging on the beach and walking in the sea as the waves crashed against our feet seemed idyllic. Sadly (and I wasn't at all surprised) the weather that morning had other ideas and as we drove towards our destination the weather seemed to get increasingly worse. By the time we had driven on to Shell island the rain was thrashing down, Mrs M didn't look very impressed at all!

We had arranged to meet our friends Emma, Wilberforce and Waldon and despite the grim weather i for one wasn't going to let it ruin our fun. While the girls and Walden went to the cafe for drinks i took the boys along the beach in the rain, climbing across the rocks and splashing our feet in the water. Who needs bright sun and high temperatures? they are just overrated.

In keeping with all of our dinosaur activities me and Opeie had been filling our week with (and i really need to catch up writing about), I buried some dinosaur bones in the sand while the boys were not looking and got them excitedly digging for possible dinosaur skeletons and fossils. Opeie was hoping to find a dinosaur skull and his little face lit up when all that play paleontologist training payed off and he could use his findings to continue his studies.

As much as i didn't want it to, the weather inevitably took its toll on Mrs M and after a few hours of sitting on a wet, windy beach she had had her fill and wanted to be back in a warm car and travelling home. Within 20 minutes of heading off the sun came out and was burning my right arm as i drove along the coast and through Barmouth. We probably could have stopped off at a different beach for some early evening seaside fun but i think some one had other ideas...

The summer holidays are almost upon us and i cant wait to get Seth involved in more of the random outings that we have. I do sometimes feel a little guilty that he's stuck at school while we are out having fun so its time to fully embrace the time he has with us.

"Oh i do like to be beside the seaside..."

Health wise its been a pretty bleak Easter holiday for us at Gifts from the Pirates, Seth kick started the holiday off with Tonsilitis, Both Myself and Mrs M had Bronchitis and then Opeie joined the Lurgy club with a bout of Chickenpox (or Chicken spots as he liked to call it). We managed to get out and do some things but there was a fair bit of time at home relaxing and trying to get back to health.

Today was the last day of the Easter holiday and that's really quite a depressing thought. We love having Seth off and now that Opeie is at Nursery too the holidays are even more important. yesterday we had planned to go to Legoland but the Metoffice informed us that there was going to be heavy rain in Windsor so we decided against the 3 hour drive just in case it was right. The boys had been talking all week about going to the beach so we checked the weather for Barmouth and surprisingly it said sunny and dry so we packed the car and headed out for some sun,sea and sand. 

about an hour in to the journey the sky turned grey and everything started to look a little grim, had we made a bad decision? Mrs M checked the Metoffice again, 30% chance of rain, She then decided to check Windsor again, dry and sunshine! yep that about sums us up. we ventured forth though adamant that there was fun to be had at the beach.

We stopped off at the supermarket just before hitting the beach because we were ill equipped for a picnic, changing our plans when we woke up threw a spanner in the works so by the time we arrived we were all hungry, it was cold and windy outside so we had a very cramped car picnic, needless to say the car is now in dire need of cleaning out. The boys couldn't wait to get their coats on and grab their nets, buckets and spades. Despite the cold and gloomy weather fishing in the rockpools and hunting for shells was loads of fun. The boys were really excitable which was great and they ran around on the sand with big smiles.

Mrs M donned her shades and wooley hat and although she doesnt like the cold at all she was relishing her time with us. The sunshine desperately tried to stay out and when it did show its face it warmed up nicely but the whole time we were playing on the beach we could see the rain heading our way. After splashing in rock pools, digging a trench and looking for crabs we headed back to the car to venture to the other end of the island. Opeie decided that this was a perfect opportunity to have a sleep and as Mrs M was feeling shattered too so she stayed in the car for a bit while me and Seth went searching for adventure.

The weather was taking a turn for the worse and we knew we wouldnt have long before the rain came thrashing down. Seth decided he wanted to do the thing he loves doing most at the beach and that was dig a nice deep hole...

...and of course, climb inside it!

As expected though the sky turned grey and the light showers turned into a heavy downpour so we headed back to the car, with Seth though there is no such thing as heading straight for your destination so on the way back we had to climb up some pretty high sand dunes and then throw ourselves down them.

 It was a pretty amazing afternoon at the beach and although id have loved a visit to Legoland I'm glad we ended up where we did. Its so nice to have us all back to (almost) full health, its just a shame that it happened towards the end of the holiday.  Time to count down to half term now.