Summer baby

Our youngest daughter turned one the other day (where has the time gone?!). One of the advantages of being a summer baby is that you can have an al fresco celebration. In this instance the celebration was quite low key as Mini Me 3 gets her big party later in the year when we have her christened (not that she's going to say much about it either way!).

Three kids running in three different directions

I've been wanting to take the kids to a beach for a while as we usually try to go at lease once over the summer break. Living in London means that you can get to a beach in an hour. Although I have been taking all three kids out and about I think the beach is one place where another adult can come in handy. All that open water and three young kids running in three opposite directions is enough to stress out even the calmest parents! It was lucky that my husband was able to take a day off so that we could spend some quality family time....and have more chance of going home with all three kids intact!

Southend beach

We started the day with a little puja (hindu prayers) we're a multi religion family (I think that's a topic for a future post!) and suji ka halwa for breakfast. It's a little tradition that we adhere to on all the kids birthdays. We then chose to go to Southend beach as it's one of the closest to us. Slightly less than an hour away if traffic is ok (which it rarely is!). Southend isn't the prettiest beach in the world but it didn't really matter as it was clean-ish, big enough to explore and had good amenities. The beach is quite long with a mix of sand and small pebbles. There is a beach funfair and amusement arcades which we stayed well away from! There was a time when I was obsessed with the 10p machines that keep pushing coins out depending on how you throw your coin in. Thankfully those days are long gone and I'd rather play with sand and stones with the kids. It seems to keep them entertained for hours! Mini Me 1 was determined to dig a hole to the ends of the earth whilst Mini Me 2 insisted on walking out as far as the tide had gone! The birthday girl was content with hanging with Daddy and eating birthday cake.

Ice cream and doughnuts

Even I relaxed my no-sugar rules and indulged in some hot sugary donuts and ice cream! As you can see from the pic it was basically type 2 diabetes on a plate but it was super yummy. We all had a lovely time and it was nice to spend time together and let the kids dictate the agenda....and I can tell you that digging holes, looking at crabs and licking stones were all high priority.

MummyImperfect x