exactly how much fun can you cram into a few sunny days?

Living here in Northern Ireland, many of you will know we suffer terribly from thinking the summer is going to be great (how could it not be after the last 10 years of cold?!) only to be disappointed once again by wall to wall grey skies. We bundle our kids up in fleeces and carry umbrellas as necessities and head out to a park or beach, determined to have a slice of summer fun despite the cold. We watch the weather forecast and tut and sigh as we are shown more images of 'weather fronts' aiming right for us with another deluge of rain on board! The upside of generally cold, damp summers is that when we do get a few sunny days strung together, we manage to cram an entire summer's worth of fun into them!Towards the end of July we had a run of sunshiney days that allowed us to play out many of our summer hopes and dreams. Simple things like putting the paddling pool up and lazing in the garden.The paddling pool afforded a few funny photo opportunities, like the time where a shark overturned a boat and killed a surfer, a diver and a policeman. Sad but true!We ventured along a path only 10 minutes from our house that I am ashamed to say I had never walked along before. It's a coastal path from our town to the next, and it was just lovely.The small town the path leads to is Groomsport, which is the home of our favourite beach to play on with friends. So that is what we did later that same day. It's such a simple pleasure being able to skip about on the beach, collecting shells and lying in the sand with some of our favourite people. We especially love it when they bring their extremely cute pup with them!We have walked along the beach closest to us, nodding and saying hello to all the jolly sunshiney people out enjoying every last drop of the light and warmth, and being both shocked and excited by the number of jellyfish that have been cast up lately.One of us took part in a football camp, working on his skills, learning new tricks and generally having a whale of a time. The trophies at the end were a bonus, especially the one that was won for points collected by the end of the week!And when it got too warm to even play outside, there was an exciting box of daddy's old Lego from Nana's garage to build and play with. Lego fun has been taken to all new levels this summer with funny little scenes created with minifigures, inspired by this blog. And that, my friends, is exactly how much fun you can cram into a few funny days!