This week marked the official start of Autumn and I am beyond excited - it's my favourite time of the year but I can't help but mourn the summer.
Like everyone, we had a lot of plans for this year and our summer was due to be full of fun days out, picnics with friends and their little ones, mini-breaks around the UK and a Parisian mini-moon but as we know, things don't always work out. With 2020 being dominated by COVID we've had to make the most of a crap situation so that's meant lots of sunny walks to the shore, takeaway coffees and pastries in the park and running wild as the sun shone on us.
As much as our summer wasn't what we expected, we made plenty of memories, had a lot of laughs and spent some wonderful moments as a family and so in the spirit of making the most out of an uncontrollable situation I wanted to share some of our favourite moments, like a little diary entry I suppose to look back on in years to come.
The voice of the sea speaks to the soul
My love of the sea isn't unknown so we tend to gravitate there a lot - Joshua seems to have taken after me when it comes to water so he loves nothing more than playing with his water table, splashing in his paddling pool or throwing stones in the sea. We have a special spot where we always go to collect pebbles and shells to craft with at home and inspect the surroundings. It's been such a great way to introduce more nature to him plus there's nothing quite like sitting on a blanket and looking out to sea while the sunshine beats down on you.
Bakers gonna bake
Baking has been a huge part of our lockdown so as a family we're really excited for the start of this year's Great British Bake Off. We have baked a lot, experimented with some fun recipes and let Joshua have free reign with the flour while baking a cake which resulted in little flour footprints through the house. I love involving him in any cooking and baking and he now stands there saying "flour next, eggs next, butter next"! Our plan for Autumn is to find some recipes to try with delicious spices and of course pumpkins.
Coffee and then the world
Coffee rules my world so the minute we felt comfortable enough to go for coffee (takeaway, we're not ready to sit in yet!) we headed over to one of our favourites for flat whites and babycinos. I don't know who was more excited about the babycino - Joshua or us! We've done this a couple of times now early Saturday morning followed by a run around the park and it's the best way to start two days off as a three.
Time spent amongst trees is never wasted
I'll forever be grateful for the incredible weather we had throughout lockdown - I think it would've been a totally different experience had it rained throughout but we really did have quite the summer this year! It meant getting out was even easier - we walked amongst the trees while the birds chirped, exploring wooded areas for fairy doors and ran through country parks looking for bugs. We have so many photos and I keep meaning to create a photo album, maybe that can be one of my hobbies as the evenings get darker.
Life was made for good family & great adventures
I think our favourite moment of the summer was being able to see family again. We're all really close and live just a five-minute walk away so to go from popping in on the way home most days to not seeing them at all was tough - especially on Joshua who didn't quite get why his grandparents had been yanked from him all of a sudden.
Watching him run to them was such an emotional moment, he was so happy. We've stuck with just my parents and sister since we've been allowed so we've formed our own little bubble of six and hopefully, it stays that way! I really don't want to take him away from his grandparents again.
Despite COVID, we've had a fabulous Summer and we've made some of the best memories. I've spent many an evening looking back on the photos and I can't wait to create our photo album of memories.
Saying goodbye to the light evenings and warm weather will be hard with current restrictions in place but as we head into my favourite season, I'm looking forward to the memories we make next. We just need to keep our positive hats on.
But first of all, we must celebrate a special little boy's third birthday.
