Follow me +

Browsing Tag:

sussex

InFamily, Lifestyle

- August 11, 2016

Our First Fruit Picking Experience

As a first time Mama, in those early days you and your baby will share a lot of ‘firsts’ together. But as your baby grows they become much less frequent. Well, last week Bella and I shared another ‘first’together. We both went fruit picking for the first time. I knoooow. How the hell have I got to twenty two and never been strawberry picking? I’ve clearly lived a very sheltered life 😉 It’s been on my Summer bucket list since before Bella was even born and despite my best intentions, we have just never got round to it!

We went along to Maynards which is pretty local to us with my sister and niece on a beautifully sunny Wednesday afternoon and had such a lovely time. I honestly could not believe how much enjoyment we all got from something so simple, Bella especially! She had such a blast searching for all the fruit and every time she found some she was so pleased with herself. My sister and I couldn’t stop laughing at her as she skipped along with her little basket saying ‘Ooooh amaaaaazing’ at every plump little raspberry she spied!

We must have spent a good hour and a half at the farm and our little basket of fruit cost me less than £4 which is an absolute bargain. For that price, I think fruit picking has quickly become our new favourite sunny afternoon activity!

I think it’s super important to teach children where their food comes from and fruit picking is wonderful for doing just that. We already have a raspberry bush in our garden which Bella loves going to pick fruit from and we of course have our hens for our eggs but I’d love to maybe plant up a little kitchen garden for Bella to grow bits in too. Any tips on fool proof fruit or veg to grow then do let me know, let’s just say that gardening isn’t exactly my strong point! 😉

Harriet xo

Share on

18
InFamily

- July 24, 2016

The Ordinary Moments ’16 #26 | Summer Evenings At The Beach

I’m not entirely sure why but summer always seems to bring out my spontaneous side, I suppose I just feel so much more relaxed about things when the sun is shining. I’m all about the last minute picnics, impromptu family BBQs and spur of the moment trips to the beach with friends at the moment and let me tell you, I am loving every second. Making memories with your nearest and dearest is what summer is all about, right?

The weather was so beautiful on Friday evening we decided to make the most of it and ignore the fact Bella’s bedtime was nearing and instead we jumped in the car and headed to the beach for dinner and a paddle in the sea with a couple of friends. I’ve said it before but spontaneous Friday night trips to the beach really are one of my favourite things about Summer, they make me heart so so happy.

Bella adores the beach too so she always has the most wonderful time and my gosh is it a challenge trying to tear her away when it’s time to leave. Watching her running along the sand, giggling away without a care in the world, is quite honestly the best sight. I could watch her all.day.long. These moments are what it’s all about and it’s one of those things I wish I could bottle up and keep forever. Life seems simpler at the beach somehow and there really is nowhere else I’d rather spend a sunny friday evening.

A few of my favourite photos from our evening, the sky was absolutely gorgeous and I lost count of the amount of times I said ‘It’s such a beautiful evening, just LOOK at that pretty pink sky’ 😉

Linking up with Katie to share #TheOrdinaryMoments
Harriet xo

Share on

3
InFamily

- May 8, 2016

The Ordinary Moments ’16 #19 | An Evening Trip To The Beach

Where we live we really do have the best of both worlds. We are so lucky to be surrounded by beautiful Sussex countryside but we’re also just a short 15 minute drive from the coast too.

On Thursday evening when I was putting Bella to bed we were chatting about the things we were going to do together the next day and I promised her that if it was sunny we would go to the beach and get fish & chips for dinner as a little treat. Admittedly it was a bit of a bribe, you know the ‘if you go to sleep without a fuss then we will do WHATEVER you want tomorrow’ sort of ones 😉

It totally worked though so I’ll have to remember this one for future use. She went to bed like a good girl as promised and as soon as she got up Friday morning she started asking me if we could go to the beach with Daddy to get ‘chipppysss pleeeeease’ so there was no getting out of that one! The weather has been absolutely gorgeous all week here in Sussex and Friday was no exception so we managed to drag Josh away from his desk at work much earlier than usual and we headed to the coast to blow away the cobwebs.

There really is nothing I love more than a spontaneous evening trip to the beach with my little family at the end of a busy week. There is something about the beach that I find so calming and I always leave wondering why I don’t visit more often. I left my phone in the car so that I had no distractions as I wanted to just soak in every moment with my two favourite people.

It was the most beautiful evening at the beach and Bella was so excited to be there, she couldn’t wipe the smile off of her face. As soon as we got near to the water she was tugging her shoes off and demanding I did the same so we could splash around in the water. I’m pretty sure I spent most of the time with my heart in my throat as I watched my darling two year old fearlessly running through the water, with not a care in the world, looking like she was about to face plant into the sea at any moment 😉 It felt so good to feel the sand between my toes and the evening sun beating down onto my shoulders, there really was no where else I’d rather have been.

Spending Friday evening eating chips and walking along the beach splashing in the sea may not sound very exciting to some, but to my two year old, it made her whole frigging week! And seeing that look of pure happiness on her face as she chased the dog across the sand, well it made mine too. Children are so innocent and I love how they can find joy in the simplest of things. Something I need to practice more. Gosh, this kid teaches me life lessons every.single.day.

Linking up with Katie to share #TheOrdinaryMoments
Harriet xo

Share on

11
InFamily

- April 3, 2016

Me & Mine {March 2016}

I can’t believe we are now entering the fourth month of the year! January was a nice quiet month for us, February however, was pretty stressful. Bella was poorly on and off all month, Josh had a super busy few weeks at work and did something crazy like 60+ hours overtime and I just generally felt a bit demotivated and like I was stretching myself too thinly. I stupidly left it right until the last minute to capture our family photos for February and sadly we just ran out of time and we never got around to taking any!! I was so annoyed but sometimes life just gets in the way and that’s okay.

I am determined to be more organised in future so that we don’t run out of time again… Maybe starting from April (?!) as this months photo was a bit of a last minute job too! We took these photos in our back garden which I’m determined to make the most of this year as we’re super lucky to have a lot of outside space. We even managed to get a couple of shots with our hens and the dog in too! Despite them being a bit last minute with an annoying bit of sun glare and a slightly wonky tripod, I really love how these photos turned out! I think they are very ‘us’ 😉

March sadly didn’t go exactly to plan either and was probably just as stressful as February was, I blogged a bit about what’s been going on here. Although we did have a lovely long Easter weekend catching up with all our favourite people and over indulging on mini eggs so it wasn’t all bad 😉 I have high hopes for April though, hopefully the weather will warm up a bit so we can get outside and explore a bit more and thing’s are always much better when the sun is shining!

Me & Mine in March.

Share on

11
InFamily

- October 15, 2015

Muddy Puddles

During the week Bella and I only get two full days together; Wednesdays and Fridays. The other days I’m at work and she is either at nursery or with my Mum. I miss her stupid amounts when we’re apart and I’m always sat at my desk wondering if she misses me too or if she’s too busy having fun. I always hope for the latter. I really try to make the most of our days off together because I know that they won’t last forever. Just like she won’t always want to hold Mama’s hand. Sob.

Last Wednesday we headed to our favourite woods for a walk with my friend Emily and her three kiddos, Daniel, Charlotte and Matilda. Luckily the weather was dry when we went but there had been a couple of wet days earlier in the week which meant there was plenty of muddy puddles for the two older kids to splash in. They were both a bit unsure at first but after some encouragement and a couple of demonstrations (from me, which I probably enjoyed waaaay more than I should have!) they soon got the hang of it!

Bella first met Daniel when she was about 8 weeks and he was only 2 weeks old and they have been buddies ever since. Emily then went on to have twin girls and Bella is completely and utterly obsessed with them and has been since the moment she first laid eyes on them! She is always wanting to hold them and cuddle them, luckily the girlies are very tolerant of her persistent affection towards them! 😉 Whenever I see how much Bella adores Charlotte and Matilda it makes me ~~SO BLOODY BROODY~~ very excited to hopefully give her a sibling one day!

Autumn walks are definitely my favourite. I love putting on that extra layer, wearing my wellies and not having to worry about Bella getting sun burnt/too cold! I’m sure I just feel so much more relaxed throughout the Autumn months. The woods we went to looked super pretty with all the rich coloured leaves. We had some lovely family photos taken by my wonderful sister in law Charlotte Rawles Photography in these woods for Bella’s first birthday last year and are having some new ones done in a few weeks time and I can’t waaaaaait!!

Thanks for reading
Harriet

Share on

4