Our Summer Alphabet

This started off as an instagram project - something I could easily do on my phone while the children were around as I was getting frustrated not being able to DO anything in the holidays... but as normal, I didn't really get around to finishing it (see my disclaimer over there in my profile <<) but now as it rains and rains and rains what else have I got to do but finish this?
So here you go; our summer alphabet, just some stuff we got up to in, you know, in summer!

A - Alfresco painting at Gunnersbury triangle nature reserve.
B - Bubbles (both the adult and children's varieties), BBQ, beach... lots of B’s this summer
C - Camping (but only one trip unfortunately) and caterpillar - my sister kept Coco’s pet caterpillar and filmed it when it emerged as a butterfly for her.

D - Brilliant dinosaur puppets at the Regents Park Open Air theater production Dinosaur Zoo (it's on tour until Nov) and dancing... a lot of dancing to Daft Punk this summer.
E - Eating, on the way back from our holiday in France we stayed in a hotel with a great restaurant and Coco and Henry had their first fine dining experience... Coco will tell you the ice cream and chocolate sauce desert was the best; ever.
F - Freckles, Coco is getting more each summer and ferry - we got the overnight ferry from Portsmouth to St Malo and slept in bunk beds, a great way to travel.

G - Gardening - if only Henry really could mow the grass...
H - Heat wave - this is our thermostat hitting 31 degrees - oh, it was nice wasn’t it?
I - Ice cream... natch!
J - Jumping - in and out of the swimming pool like a yo-yo

K - taking liberities a little tiny bit as I think strictly we were canoeing... but you know, I'm making an alphabet here and there are some really awkward letters around.
L - Labyrinth - the maze at our hotel on the way back from France was a source of delight
M - Martini’s on Hugh’s 40th birthday!
N - Nature... we did a great nature hunt at the Holland Park Ecology Center - a good find for holiday activities.
O - The great Outdoors; from the garden to London's parks to waterfalls, woodland and seaside. It was good to be out there.

P - Paddling pool (before it got attacked by a fox one night and totally ruined) there is one photo I wish I had of this summer and it was of all four of our family standing in the paddling pool and eating ice creams on Hugh’s birthday.
Q - sorry - gave up on 'q' (I'm really NOT good at finishing stuff, but sometimes you've just got to let it go).
R - and... Relax (quick, now, while you have the chance)!

S - Sunshine, swimming, sea and sand, so many great summer S’s!
T - Trugs - the most useful things ever.
U - Umbrella, Henry spent a lot of time putting the umbrella up and down and then up again.
V - Vegetables, we’ve eaten well from the garden this summer... salad and onions, peas and sweetcorn, courgettes and tomatoes.
W - Water - Henry's obsession with the tap or hose or any other water source was a pretty strong theme of our summer.

X - X-ray, Henry’s broken collarbone (and the image that triggered off this idea).
Y - In the absence of ice cream it has to be yogurt... in this case eaten by hand.
Z - Zarena, a seriously good auntie who put us up in Wales and came to stay at ours too - the saviour of my sanity over the summer holidays and very usefully, for this alphabet, her name begins with a Z.