Us All Archives - Roughley Loving Life

Mar

The Minak Theatre, Porthcurno & Sennen Cove

2017

Today was positively British. I had no idea what to expect when Gareth said we were visiting this open air theatre on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean. The first show happened here in 1932 and it’s still being used today. Imagine!! Seeing a performance with that stunning ocean view as the backdrop. It was incredible. Kay said to me – imagine this place being in Britain! Well…I can’t imagine it being anywhere else (except Greece…I could definitely see it in Greece).

Roughley Originals Photography002-2

I would love to see a show here once, but I have to say…Max and I tried the seats out. They aren’t the most comfortable.

The view from the Minak Theatre showed us Porthcurno right below, so we had to go have our lunch there, and play for a while.

The wind picked up and we all got chilly. Callum was soaking wet from walking through that freezing cold water. Max was soaked from falling over. So we stripped them and changed them and headed to our last stop of the day – Sennen Cove.

Callum had a gazillion questions about the Lifeboat Station – how does the boat come out? How do the people know what to wear on the boat? How do they know someone needs to be rescued? It’s no wonder his brain is on overdrive these days.

Another full, beautiful day.

Categories:
Travel, Us All

Comments:
Leave a comment

Mar

St. Ives

2017

We drove down the twisty turning roads from our cottage we had rented to St. Ives. We parked at the very top of the town, so now we walked all the twists and turns down to the sea.

I really want to remember the crazy amount that Callum is walking right now. And that Max is right there behind him shouting “me doooooo it!”. Their bodies are moving and their brains are on overdrive.

We made it down to the water, and it was positively warm. Gareth pulled his boots off, so incredibly happy to dig his feet into the sand. Callum spotted him and asked if he could take his shoes off too. Max was right behind him, and mine came off soon after. These boys haven’t spent much time at the sea – in fact this trip is Max’s first visit to the ocean – so they need to soak it in as much as they can.

The day was incredible. We set up camp on the beach, walked, dug in the sand, ran, played, and the boys had a great time shouting at the seagulls.

St. Ives is a city like nothing I’ve seen before. At first glance it gave me that Bondi, beach side kind of a feel, but with the ancient buildings and the church bells ringing, it really is completely different. We walked up through the town after we were down on the beach, and the lanes were winding and the close, the buildings were oh-so-British.

Cornwall, you have our hearts.

Categories:
Us All

Comments:
Leave a comment

Mar

Tintagel

2017

When I come to the UK, I want to see castles. Castles and coastline, thank you very much. My mother in law laughed when I asked to visit Tintagel while we’re in Cornwall. YES Kay, another castle!

Tintagel castle is wrapped up in the myth of King Arthur.

The site is one of the biggest ruin I’ve ever been to. There are ruins on a few different hill tops, the stairs up to reach them are steep and uneven. Taking a 4 year old and a VERY headstrong 2 year old up these steps? No problem at all!

Callum walked the whole thing. He has amazed me on this trip! There is so much to look at and he is so interested in it all that he doesn’t seem to notice the work he’s doing. We walked around 300 steps (ONE WAY!). It’s no wonder we can’t seem to feed the boys enough these days.

Callum and I left the paved path and went climbing

Wooo!

All Max wants is to watch the water

And up we go

First stop. Snack time!

If you want to give this mom a heart attack…this was the place to do it.

Kay, Geoffrey, Callum, Me (Shauna) and Max on my hip

Probably the only 15 seconds I wasn’t clutching onto him while we were on the edge.

Stomp stomp stomp

There was so much to see Callum needed his binoculars

This was, most definitely, one of my very favourite days of the trip so far! How incredible to see these castle ruins on the top of these cliffs, with that stunning ocean view below.

Categories:
Us All

Comments:
Leave a comment

Mar

Bury Port

2017

Grandma Kay loves, loves, loves the ocean. There’s no denying that. All she wants is to spend some time with the boys in the sand. So we suited them up and headed to Bury Port (after stopping at Tesco for some wellies for me!). It’s a large, flat beach perfect for the boys. They have no experience with the ocean – Callum was here when he was 1, but he doesn’t remember that. So grandma Kay had to show them some long, strong shells the boys could dig with – they’re called razor shells – and they went to work using them like shovels and digging up the beach.

Max was instantly into it, and adored digging in the sand. Callum wasn’t so sure, he didn’t quite “get it”. So grandma walked with him and answered all of his thousands of questions.

Max digging in the sand

Drawing in the sand

It’s really cool to see the boys exploring something so incredibly different to home.

When we were finished on the beach Callum a gazillion questions about all of the boats in the harbour. They’ve never seen anything like that before.

As you can imagine, their brains are on overdrive.

Categories:
Us All

Comments:
Leave a comment

Feb

The Lanes in Wales

2017

We woke up to a gorgeous site the morning after we arrived. Lush green rolling hills out the window greeted us as we adjusted to the day.

The boys stayed asleep for a long time, Max was finally awake around 10am, eager to be in grandma Kay’s kitchen. He quickly spotted the birds outside and he needed out there. Jammies still on, jam his feet in his boots, and he was out. Grandma Kay was very close behind.

Once Max had explored their yard it was time to hit the lanes.

Callum woke up around 11:30 am, and after breakfast/lunch, he suited up and got out there too.

Opening the gate for grandad to get in at the end of the day.

It’s so, so nice to be back.

Categories:
Us All

Comments:
Leave a comment

Feb

The Journey to Wales

2017

We left on Sunday afternoon to start our journey to Wales. We flew out of Edmonton, to Calgary, and we were scheduled to fly out of Calgary at 6:30pm.

The flight to Calgary went great! The boys were excited and happy and strapped in their car seats. It was a juggle to get both boys, us, and all of our gear including the car seats through the airport, but was worth it.

We had a ton of stuff with us – life of a traveling photographer. We had:
1 rolling suitcase full of the boys stuff – backpacks, stuffed animals and blankets
1 rolling camera bag
Diaper bag
Laptop
2 car seats

I laugh to myself – how did we get through it all?! Did you know there’s no luggage trollys after security? We sure didn’t.

Gareth put the laptop over his shoulders and carried the car seats.
I had Max on my back, rolled the two rolling bags and had the diaper bag sitting on top of that.

We made it through the airport in no time and we were ready for the long flight. Callum kept up no problem.

We got onto the second flight, boys were settled, Callum watched a show and then asked for a story, he was ready for bed.

And then we got deplaned. In the end we waited 8 hours while they had our plane repaired. The boys dealt with it better than I ever expected they could. They found a little friend, and a play area, and they played and ran and laughed for hours. In the end Max fell asleep on me at 1 am, and we were back on the plane at 1:30am. We took off at 2am.

The flight went well – there were some groans and moans and a few cries, but both boys were so good overall. They got nothing but praise from the other passengers.

We arrived in London at around 5pm local time. Off the plane, Max strapped on my back again, Callum hustling along. We didn’t stop the whole way through the airport. We split up at customs, the boys with me, Gareth and the car seats through the EU line. But the customs lady was having none of that. She wanted to know where the children were that belonged in Gareth’s car seats. They called us over, and then shuffled us past the lines and up to the front of customs. A boy on my back got us some special treatment I think.

Through customs, we walked up and our suitcases were coming out. What timing! It was the fastest we’ve ever heard of someone getting through Heathrow airport.

Down to the rental car (a shuttle bus away) – the boys were strapped back in and we were off. The leisurely drive we had anticipated when we booked everything had turned into a drive, after dark and in the rain. The boys were back asleep within half and hour and so we drove straight through for the next 4 hours (with one quick stop to get Gareth some snacks to keep him going).

And we were there! Into grandma Kay and grandad’s house, and we got the boys to bed at 2 am (7pm Edmonton time)

PHEW!

Categories:
Us All

Comments:
Leave a comment

Feb

My Valentines

2017

Heart shaped pizzas with my three boys. That’s everything I need.

(Max’s concentration, Callum’s giggle, and Gareth’s little smile. Just the best)

Categories:
Us All

Comments:
Leave a comment

Feb

The Greats

2017

Lunch, birthday cake, and board games all afternoon. It’s always a good day when Nanny and Poppa come to play.

Poppa had a boy on his lap the whole time.

Categories:
Us All

Comments:
Leave a comment

Feb

Happy Birthday to You!

2017

Our birthdays may not be epic right now. They may not be wild and crazy or something insane.

But they involve two little boys who worked so hard to make a cake for their dad. Who wrapped his presents almost by themselves. Who sang happy birthday over and over and over again with all of their hearts.

And of course a wife who is grateful every single day for you. For your calm presence and silly dance moves (stop copying mine!)

So right now Gareth’s birthday involved a super secret cake baking mission and a tea party just us four.

Happy birthday Gareth. You are so, so incredibly loved. We are the luckiest three in the world to have you xoxo

Categories:
Us All

Comments:
1 Comment

Feb

Edmonton Ice Castle

2016

More from our visit to the Edmonton Ice Castle. We went around 4pm on a Thursday. It wasn’t too busy and the weather was warm, which is a huge plus with kiddos around.

Callum explored and watched and his eyes were wide with wonder and amazement. And Im pretty sure some confusion. I don’t think he fully understood that the entire structure was ice.

He wanted to go down the slide over and over again. We stared in awe at what it must have taken to build this castle completely out of ice. Pretty amazing Edmonton!

Edmonton Family Photographer010006

Categories:
Us All

Comments:
Leave a comment