Weekenders | The Seaside, Splashing & Saving Memories ♥

This weekend was a good one, Jacek was off work on Friday and Saturday and although he had to study for his final law exam (which is today, eek!), we did get to spend some quality time together as a family. These are the kinds of weekends I love. It's so important for us to have a close-knit family and any time we can both spend together with our son is so special to us.

The sun was shining again this weekend (yay!), even if it was sporadic, so we wanted to spend as much time outdoors as possible. We took out the paddling pool from the shed, filled it up with water and then I thought - why not add some bubbles to it too? Then we went all out crazy and popped the end of the slide into the pool too for extra splash-tastic moments for Tyler Lee. What can I say? We sure do know how to live on the edge... Sadly though, our boy wasn't that interested, only going into the pool when his daddy did and only frequenting the slide a few times... I mean, this is the boy who runs into the freezing cold Atlantic Ocean with all his clothes on, but a lovely, sunny, bubbly pool with a slide in his own back garden he wouldn't have the least bit of interest in. Only our child! Doesn't Costa del Dolly Dowsie look rather fetching above? All I was short of was a deck chair to lay in the sun sipping on my Prosecco and reading my new Lorna Byrne book.

On Saturday morning we drove to the neighbouring county of Waterford to the sleepy little seaside town of Ardmore. I hadn't visited this place since I was a child and I didn't recognise much of it apart from the beach so it was lovely to get familiar with it once again, this time with my boys in tow. Our first stop was to St. Declan's round tower and oratory, where we immersed ourselves in some history, the tower itself dating back to the 12th century, or so it's believed. Up there at the tower we had a gorgeous view of the bay below and I couldn't help but snap some pictures of the place in the beautiful sunshine. We also visited a little castle (with no floorboards!) which Tyler Lee swiftly claimed for himself calling it 'Tyler's castle'... I suppose my little prince does deserve a castle all of his own so we'll let him have this one.

Down in Ardmore we also enjoyed (or almost got blown away!) going along the cliff walk. It really was beautiful with all the purple and yellow blooms growing along the cliff side, the deep blue sea crashing upon the cliff face and the seagulls flying everywhere. I have no idea what kind of face Tyler Lee is pulling in his picture with me, I think he was fed up of the wind at that stage! I love the shot I captured of him and Jacek, the sea looks like some kind of weird backdrop that they're up against.

Of course, no weekend of ours during the summer would be complete without a trip to the seaside and while we were down in Ardmore we just had to visit the beach there with it's fluffy sands and clear, shallow waters - so perfect for our boy to splash about in. We got ice-creams at a little pink shop just around the corner from the beach - the more sprinkles the better in our case! In true Tyler Lee beach bum fashion he took his shorts off and dove straight into the water in his nappy, remember, this was the boy who wasn't too keen on the paddling pool in the back garden! He was frolicking around in the sand, spinning around in circles making himself dizzy, doing stretches on a nearby sloping wall and then sat in dug out holes on the beach, least to say there was sand everywhere, even in his curls, which was a task to wash out, especially as he's not too keen on anyone touching his hair! It was such a lovely day down in Ardmore and just sitting on the beach with our cones together, it reminded me of those old-fashioned Irish seaside holidays that everyone used to go on in the 90's, so sweet.

On Sunday afternoon I went and printed out some photos from our family holiday to Jersey to complete Tyler Lee's travel journal which my dad's lovely girlfriend kindly gifted to him and filled with snaps and memories from her phone. I began sticking the pictures in, adding some Peter Rabbit stickers which an old pen pal of mine sent to me, to the pages of him in his vintage Peter Rabbit outfit. I also added some words to the pages just to explain to him what was going on when he's reading through it when he's older. I still have a few empty pages so I need to print out more pictures, I also want to get more travel themed stickers. I think this is such a lovely idea and I'm going to make him a travel journal every time we go on holiday. I must put together one for him from last year. It's so lovely to be able to save memories and him and I love having the albums to look back on too.

This weekend coming is looking to be okay, Jacek has Friday off so hopefully we'll do something nice. I hope the lovely weathers stays with us!

My Weekenders post is now a weekly thing to inspire me to make the most of our weekends as a family and I've also decided to make it a weekly link up too so please do feel free to pop by the blog every Monday to link up any posts you have about your weekend. I shall be commenting on each post linked up over the coming days and can't wait to read about everyone's weekend adventures!

An InLinkz Link-up