First Day.

Last night, as I do every night, I crept into big shrimps room to watch her sleep and to give her a final kiss goodnight before going to bed myself. Last night though, I couldn't help myself. I climbed in next to my teeny tiny little girl who looked so incredibly young and innocent still as she lay clutching the three Dalmatian dogs that she'd bought with her birthday money, and I snuggled up with her and held her tight...listening to her little breaths as she submerged herself in dreamland unaware that the very next morning she was to enter the next chapter of her life!

I quietly left her room, climbed into bed and sobbed and sobbed!! Not just a little cry but proper sobs coming from deep within, It took me a little by surprise. I have been dreading letting her go, not being her 'whole wide world' anymore, but I didn't realise that I would be this upset. I guess I just needed to get it all out of my system. I thought this morning that maybe all the tears were over and done with, but oh no...........who was the only mother that welled up in the classroom this morning and had to leave before I made a total show of myself.......yep...that's right, yours truly! I'm guessing this gets easier as the days go on, yes?

Big Shrimp was fine, as expected. She was just excited about wearing her new uniform and seeing all her friends again because horrible old mummy had made her spend the summer in Devon, so she hadn't seen any of them since July. She was so eager to get there she skipped along holding Daddy's hand. I think even Daddy was a little sad to let her little hand go as she entered the classroom for the first time.

I even managed to get this sneaky shot of her first few moments of school. I have no worries about her. She's more than ready having missed starting school by 2 days last year, she's very keen to learn. Even her new teacher (who had spent time with her previously last term), said that she thinks that she'll be the model student...... there you go Shrimp, that's something to live up to!!! No pressure there then!

Mr Shrimp had me in stitches last night when he said that he'd spent a great deal of time yesterday thinking about how we are now responsible for her educational development.... He then went on to say how he thinks he should start to brush up on his long division and fractions...I pointed out to him that she was only in reception class and I think he had a while before he need worry about that!! He then asked how my times tables were.....when I rattled off my 9 times table in a fashion that resembled an auctioneer at a cattle market, he decided that he would be responsible for teaching 1 - 6 and I would be responsible for teaching 6 -12!!!!! As he has it so easy, he can take on the fractions and long division!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My baby's all grown up!

Whats a mother to do?............my poor sad heart can't take it!!

Today she turned 5 years old and tomorrow she starts school. They say; "It goes so quickly"...they're right!

We've had a lovely weekend at Big Shrimp's favourite hotel near to our family. There were lots of presents, lots of cake eaten and lots of catching up with family and friends.

Now a very tired little 5 year old is tucked up in bed ready for her first day at school tomorrow...

Happy Birthday sweetheart, mummy and daddy love you and your sister very, very much and can you please stop growing NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you.

Bank Holiday in Beesands...

My goodness, it was hard to imagine this morning when I got caught in a heavy downpour that this was just a few days ago on Bank Holiday Monday, when we spent the afternoon enjoying the pretty coastal village of Beesands.

Beesands is a lovely beach, it's a little way along the coast from Slapton Sands and Torcross, but a little harder to get to, therefore it's never quite as busy. We're lucky to have this beautiful beach just 15 minutes from our home.

The surroundings are lovely and fabulous for walking the dogs.

How lucky are these fellows enjoying not only a sea view, but rolling countryside?

It's a busy beach for local fishermen and evidence of their days catch is there for all to see....

Look how clear this water is.....It was wonderful to sit this close on such a lovely sunny day listening to the gentle waves lap against the shore; so relaxing.

The 'shrimps' entertained themselves skimming stones as we relaxed and enjoyed the last few hours of our Devon Summer before heading home the following morning, our heads full of wonderful memories of a fantastic summer.

In the blink of an eye.......

How can they go from this...................

.......to this in a blink of an eye?

Today I made my first purchase that made me cry....shopping NEVER makes me cry, but today it did.

We left Devon at 6.30am this morning to return home to normality after the most wonderful summer spent in Devon. I hadn't even unpacked the bags and put the washing in before 'Big Shrimp' and I went off on our 'mummy and daughter' morning that I'd promised her, to Bath, to purchase her first pair of 'big' school shoes for when she starts next Monday.

Now, starting to panic is maybe a slight understatement....... When you're living in the heart of the South Hams believe me there isn't much choice when it comes to buying school shoes so we made a special trip to Plymouth last week, as it was a rainy day, to go and see if we could find any. Unfortunately the rest of Devon and Cornwall had the same idea and no shoes could be found in an 8.5F ANYWHERE!!!!!

Luckily we had a little more luck in Bath. We thought we'd start at a lovely little shop called; 'One Small Step' where we have previously bought all of the girls shoes and hey presto.... the shop was quiet (not what I was expecting), during what the shoe shops say is one of the busiest days of the year! However leaving it so late there was very little choice left. All the lovely old fashioned styles had gone in her size, but we did manage some very plain black shoes that fitted her perfectly.

We thought we'd pop into Clarks for some winter boots but OM'IGOD..... It was HEAVING....we had certainly made the right choice!!!

After a lovely lunch together we made our way home with me feeling so sad that it would be one of the last trips we'd make together apart from holidays and weekends when, more likely than not, little shrimp would be with us.

Sweetheart, I've treasured each and every little trip we've made together; our little lunches together, trips into Frome to mooch on Catherine Hill in all the vintage shops, our visits to art galleries, girlie days spent together at the Country House Hotel & Spa we belong to....It all went far to quickly and now it's over I'd give anything to have it back. Thank you for a delightful summer in Devon helping mummy look after little sister. We had a lovely time together didn't we? and mummy was so proud at how fantastic you are at body boarding now. I love how you're growing up as an outdoors girl. I hope that you've enjoyed your early childhood darling and I've made it fun for you. Next week is a brand new chapter in your life, one which I'm sure you'll enjoy just as much...even if mummy is finding it a little difficult to let you go........

Dartmoor....

When we watched the weather forecast yesterday morning and saw that showers were forecast...AGAIN!....it meant that the beach was out of the question, so we decided on a visit to Dartmoor.

We were hoping for a little sunshine so that we could all play out on the moors, run around a little, sit outside little coffee shops (we had the dogs with us), and maybe a little paddle in a few streams. The weather had other ideas though, but we made the most of it playing; "Who can count the most ponies", roaming free on the moors.

We also managed a few stops along the way to take in the beautiful scenery and local landmarks such as Two Bridges.......

and.............

Badgers Holt........

We walked along the meandering streams and babbling brooks.


We even stopped off at the Battery Hen Welfare Trust, Mabel had great fun staring this chicken out!!........................The chicken won!!! She took to it so much it almost came home with us!

I'm starting to feel like I work for the South Hams Tourist Board but really you must stop off when you get the chance if you're in the area anytime, it really is spectacular and soooooooooo pretty.

I'm now counting down the days until we leave, not in the; "I can't wait to get home" way but the; "I never want to leave" way. Yes, there have been some difficult and lonely days when I've been here on my own with the girls during the summer, but they have been few and far between. Most days have been fantastic. I LOVE living here.....are you hearing me Mr Shrimp......I DON'T WANT US TO GO HOME...............OK, OK we have to I know and I also know that we're really lucky to have this little cottage here to enjoy all year round but that doesn't stop me not wanting to leave!!!

A Summer's evening in Salcombe....

What I love about living here is that at 6pm in the evening we can suddenly make the desision to go 'crabbing' in Salcombe and be there, sitting on the quayside within 15 minutes.

As a 3 & 4 year old, it must be so exciting to sit on the water's edge dangling your feet over the side eagerly waiting for the crab to attach itself to your bait..then the anticipation as you slowly raise the line out of the water to see just how big the crab is and more importantly, is it bigger than the one your sister has just caught?!!

Salcombe comes to life in the evening. For those of you that know the area well you will completely understand what I mean...views such as this...


Watching everyone come ashore having whittled away the hours tottling around the estuary, ready for an evening meal or a mooch around some of the shops that remain open a little later than the rest.

After a while we gave up on the crabbing and decided to settle on an ice cream for our walk back to the car.

Maybe we should of hopped on board the Rickshaw then Mr Shrimp and I wouldn't have had to listen to the little shrimps moaning that they had 'bendy' legs and couldn't possibly walk a metre more!!

Don't know why you're smiling big shrimp...your special crabbing t-shirt didn't help you catch many did it??!!!!!!!!!!

Hope these fellow crabbers had a little more luck than we did............. Not to worry, I'm sure we'll be going again!!!! Give it an hour and I'm sure another request will be made!!

Totnes....

OH YES........................... An adult in the house and my lovely husband at that.....I was beginning to think I was stuck in the land of children's television. All small people talk and no intellectual conversation to be had for weeks on end. I've suddenly turned into an old person, talking to any adult that would pass the time of day with me, I'm sure I'm now known as that lady that talks to anyone and everyone. Don't get me wrong, I love my little girls but there's only so much I can take of colouring, painting, dressing-up, Cbeebies, singing, catching butterflies etc etc....

After a weekend of visitors we decided to take ourselves off to one of my favourite towns; Totnes.....want to come along?..........

This is my favourite little shop; Gazebo..Doesn't it look intriuging?? Want to take a peek inside ladies?

Doesn't it look glorious?

Look at these dressers full of beautiful china......

Bag anyone? Which of these lovely new Cath Kidston bags would you choose? Me, I have my eye on the new green Polka Dot one!

Polka Dots and Greengate.............Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh...........How I resisted!

A rainbow of 'Rice' products...another favourite of mine.

More Cath Kidston to tempt me................

A little further along the lane is this marvellous shop, but boy was it full to bursting! I couldn't get any internal shots as all you'd see were people so I settled on a peep through the window.... The lady that runs this shop has started a blog, go have a look...


Across the road is this marvellous shop full of furniture and decorations made out of driftwood, it gave me lots of ideas.....

What a great idea to re-vamp an old set of drawers with a coastal feel.....


This shop was closed so I had to make do with a little snoop through the window, it was full of all things vintage.

Onto Dartington Trading Centre, somewhere we frequent a lot . A cluster of lots of individual units set in pretty buildings such as this

You would happily whittle away a few hours mooching around here believe me...I often leave my husband and the girls in one of the cafes whilst I scoot around child free with my purse burning a hole in my pocket!!

On my way back to the car park I walways pop into this little gardening shop...look how lovely it is inside......

Hope you enjoyed your 'virtual' visit to Totnes, please go if you get the chance, it's a wonderful little town which I'm sure you'd enjoy.