Summer?!

It has been another summery weekend, with lots of lovely sun and opportunity for going outside. Alex and I have had a wonderful time in the park and garden, with Alex helping me to do the weeding and preparing of the ground for having our turf laid on Tuesday. The plan is to extend and tidy up the lawn. I even managed to persuade Tim to spend some time outside with Alex while I did the shopping yesterday morning. Alex has had me in hysterics this weekend by playing a laughing game whereby he does a fake laugh and then gets the giggles, which makes me laugh. It has been the greatest of fun. We also had a very giggly game of chase where I chased him with his slippers which he found the funniest thing ever for some reason. Today he has been very tired though, alternating between tired grizzles and manic laughter. He was so tired after his lunch while playing before his naptime, that he fell asleep on the floor! I moved him to his bed where he slept for 2 hours...unheard of! We have also been doing a little drawing together. I have to confess to having done very little housework, but for once have done some gardening as the weather was too good to be stuck inside. I have also managed to do loads of crafting. I have completed three more pages for my vintage scrapbook. This first one is of my great grandmother, known by me as Nana. Her name was Annie Merritt and the journaling plaques read ‘Born 9th July 1894’ and ‘Annie was born in Great Crosby near Liverpool. This photo was taken when she was 6 months old’. I have decorated this with a mixture of Hot Off the Press papers from the Vintage and Heritage Paper Pizzazz sets, a purple Onion stamp and a few scraps of other papers I had available that matched to make a baby girl layout. This second one is of my great-grandad, called Alec Holes. The papers are from the same two sets and again I used a Purple Onion stamp. The journaling reads ‘Alexander Henry Charles Holes was born in Bitterne on 13th February 1896, eldest of four children. His mother and sister called him Charles, but everyone else called him Alec. This photo was taken in 1896’. This final layout was of Alec Holes later on in life when he was a ships engineer on RMS Andes. The journaling reads ‘Alexander Holes (1896-1980) worked on a farm until he was 15 when he served as a pantry boy on ships playing to the Isle of Wight until he was old enough to start his engineering apprenticeship. His first deep sea assignment was in 1918 on the Araquaya to Halifax, Canada. He sailed into Halifax shortly after the ammunition ship exploded in the inner harbour completely destroying the town. In 1920 he joined the RMPS Company (Royal Mail and Pacific Steam) and sailed mainly to South America. He was on the RMS Almanzora on her maiden voyage and on the RMS Caraquet when she foundered on a reef in Hamilton, Bermuda in 1923. These photos were taken in 1922 on board RMS Andes. He left deep sea vessels in 1924 (on request of his wife) and did a spell on the twin funnel paddle steamer Bournemouth Queen sailing to Cherbourg and the Channel Islands before leaving ships altogether in 1925’. The two brass buttons are images of buttons from his dress uniform. My mother has the actual buttons which I hope to put on the layout. I have also made lots of fun and summery ATCs as the weather has been so lovely and summery so I leave you with a taster of them. I hope you all have a great week. More soon,
Love,
Caro
x