Life Inside the Doll House

We really enjoy camping. After buying our tent late last summer and having a couple of single night trips to local campsites we were very keen to get the tent out again this summer. We pretty much looked forward to it all year. We managed two trips again this year and by now we are starting to feel like we know what we are doing. Our first trip was a return overnight visit to a local place we used last year.  We even have a few go-to favourite camping activities. The ole mentos-in-the-diet-coke-explosion trick has been on the kids' bucket list forever, but we have never had the opportunity to try it out until  this camping trip. I just didn't fancy the sticky mess in our small back garden. In the future I am thinking that we could try things like smoke bombs and steel wool fire spirals. Roo is certainly up for it.  This was one of my first outings with my new 35mm Sigma Art lens. I love this lens so much. I was also heavily under the influence of Kirsten L...

I think it is safe to say that summer is over and we have entered the early stages of autumn. There is a definite nip in the air and Bear and I are now eagerly waiting for the conkers to ripen and fall so that we can collect them. I love so many things about autumn but I usually find this transition from summer to autumn quite difficult. When I was younger I felt a vague sadness about summer being over but in recent years this has morphed into a bit of a panic. I dread the long cold evenings, bundling up in layers and layers and having to force myself outside into the rain.  We had a good summer this year and I still have literally hundreds of photos to edit. Now that the kids are back to school, I have had a chance to go through my photos from our holiday to Ireland. I say holiday, but I don't feel that that word really captures the purpose of these trips home. It feels so much more meaningful for me to go back to Ireland these days. I have such a strong sense of going home. ...