Family camping in the New Forest

With a busy spell of weddings out the way, I had chance to sneak in a couple of days camping.  
This achieved three things:
1) gave us chance to test out our new tent, 2) tested my patience in coping with only the bare essentials in life (oh how we laugh), and 3) how many consecutive hours the kids could stay awake for, before they'd finally give in to sleeping in a tent.

All packed up and off for camping.  Needless to say it took about 12 hours to pack - OMG.....packing for camping is a nightmare.  Next time we'll stay in a house with all our cooking, sleeping and eating arrangements already there.





"Ball" - yep, this is one of the few words Barney can now say.








Yep that's me, and at that angle I do indeed have double chins...also strange arms.  It's hard taking a photo and being in it - back-button focus on a DSLR wasn't designed for 'selfers' - (sorry that's geek talk again)



Ohh the blue skies - if only they'd lasted to the day we packed up camp, rather than a torrential downpour to soak us through for our journey home!


Barney has a strange magnetism towards pink things and dolls.  His bed looks somewhat untouched in leau of Daisy's side!? :-)


Take it easy luv, I'll do all the work around here!




Ade makes washing up that little more enjoyable with a Magners to hand.




When night falls I soon become bored without a laptop to entertain me.  Painting with light was my solution.....although the kids did try their best to stay up until midnight!






Below we have my friend Ade - also known as Abe (as he can't spell so well after a few beers).




Night night campers.  And no, it wasn't meant to be a hedgehog, but yes apparently it does look rather like one.


Next day we went off to Moors Valley, which is great for kids.  The train ride was a highlight.  The picnic in a force 12 gale however wasn't such a hit!


"OK kiddies - we're going to go on a train ride, but you have to wait patiently for it to arrive."  Freya found something to occupy her time well!



This is Daisy's "can I have some sweets" face. 









A tasty blackberry or two on the way round.



This isn't some photoshop trickery, just a slow shutter speed.  For those of you geeky enough to care - 1/2 sec shutter, f6.3 and a rather steady hand was required.

Kingscote Barn Wedding Photos

Alex and Emilie - Kingscote Barn

Too many weddings to even have time to think at the minute, but this was a great day at Kingscote Barn, with a selection of British and French guests creating a super mix and ambience (say that last word with a French accent - it makes the sentence read far better!).

The wedding was a beautifully relaxed affair - no real concerns over times, no need for a tremendous quantity of group shots, what more could I ask for - perfect.

Wedding shoes by Vivienne Westwood that get eleven out of ten.  Ohh yeah.  The extra one was simply because they smelt so nice - I kid you not.



Emilie does robotics whilst having hair and make-up!



Sweet, sweet light.  (how many times do I say that on my blog - too many!)


Ahh, the make-up lady, as I'm sure someone will ask.  Well, meet Amy who runs A Brush With Beauty - doing Hair and Make-up.  Apparently she was very good (according to the girls) and FWIW I thought she was great too - but I'm no make-up expert!


Yeah baby - the girls confirming with each other that they look pretty darn good!







Those blusher brushes are sooooo ticklish.


Cool flowers huh.  Check out this lady for wedding flowers - she did 'em.


Love this moment with dad - clearly top arks for the bridesmaid for her reaction too.





Yep, he's definitely camera aware - my dark clothing and slim physique clearly isn't working....I may be discrete, but I guess I'm not invisible.


Noah decided the ceremony floor was a great place to lie.  I joined him - eh voila!










Connect four.  But is it the same kid below I ask - clearly all the games pooped him out.






Cute little wedding details.  I believe Ikea are responsible for the material.  One sourced, get yourself one pair of crimping scissors, spend a long time cutting out the right shape, bake some goodies to go inside and tie it all up nicely.  Then repeat the same process to make meters of bunting as well.










So the registrars 'forgot' to have the second reading during the ceremony - classic!   The best man had his turn a little later during the food instead.





With many guests being French, speeches were kept brief and instead a slideshow set up of photos from the couples childhood.
















Looks like a Marilyn Monroe moment going on.