Sunday a Little Different ~Beach Day in Wales

I thought instead of going through my week I'd rather just write about the bit I found most interesting- a daytrip Dad & I took to go to the beach on Monday!

Our first stop was Porthmadog, a beach town Dad hasn't been to in quite a while so we had a little look around, mooched the harbour and even saw the steam train come into the station across the main road (weird!). This is the view inland off one of the towns bridges.

We moved onto Criccieth and went to go look at the view from the castle, but you had to pay to go in and I was still dying of sleepiness so we just had a look over the walls there before looking further up the coast.

Our next stop was Pwllheli, where we stopped at the Asda and grabbed some lunchy snacks and then headed to the beach to watch the sea and eat, exactly what you're required to do when you go to the beach X3 I always used to dislike stone beaches when I was a kid as they weren't comfortable on the feet and you can't build much. Now I prefer them I think as I don't get sand everywhere and if there's a breeze you don't get whipped with sand! I also like building little piles of stones :x

We went off then to a part of the coast we've not been before, I can't remember the name of it now, but we went down this tiny road that led to the beach and found this bay area. The little village across from us looked so sweet tucked in front of the hills with the sea to look at. We tried to drive over the hills behind it to see if we could visit, but got totally lost on some back track XD It was a good tiki tour though!

It had got quite late by this point so after stopping for some dinner back at Criccieth beachfront (the breeze had got a bit nippy by this point so we ate in the car!) we headed back home. We went back a different way to normal though, past these reservoirs. We stopped at this one to look over it as the sun set.

We had a really good day exploring the coast, and the weather was stunning for the time of year x3
Where do you like to go to the beach?



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September Photo a Day ~Week 1

It's my first week in the September photo a day! I can't say it's been the most exciting week, it started out really slow so my photos were a little lame. You wouldn't believe I did this nearly everyday for 3 years straight and still didn't manage to pick up any tips on how to stay creative in getting photos :x


02.09.15 Considering he's the bigger brother, he's the shy one!


03.09.15 I finally got a letter to acknowledge receipt of my application for citizenship, fingers crossed all goes through quickly and well.


04.09.15 I went over to West Brom Park Inn to help program the new menu into their tills. Although I had to do this on my day off, it's something I generally enjoy doing. If only I could get this as a job for all the hotels!


05.09.15 I went with Dad to see the Kast Off Kinks, it was his birthday present x3


06.09.15 Sunday was a beautiful day! Of course, I had to work. But first I spent an hour outside reading the new Pets at Home magazine. You don't understand how keen I am on free shop magazines :x


07.09.15 Monday Dad and I went to the beach! We visited some beaches we've not been to before and again the weather was so good, it was a long but really great day. This pic was taken at Criccieth after we ate dinner x3


08.09.15 This plant was given to me a few weeks ago by someone Face knows, it's a melon plant! I'm not sure if it's going to get far at this time of year but it is certainly trying, climbing the date plant like crazy!
Remember you can join in too! Let me know if you do, I love to check out other photo-a-day projects!



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Sunday Catch-up ~Tiki Tours Galore

Another week gone already? It's been busy, but I'll let you know more about that another time :]
In the mean time, what did I get up to this week? Well, Monday I went to help our sister hotel set up their till banks for a new promo we have starting. No one there knows how to program the tills and so I get the privilege, but to be fair, I don't mind xD It's something I enjoy doing anyway and being the needed person is fun too x3

Tuesday was a work day, so without much time to myself I just dossed around the house and played with the pets :] The gerbils are getting so much bolder now! They are mostly fine with the lid of their tank opening now, and even come out to get sunflower hearts x3 I'm so proud!

Wednesday was a busy day. Dad and I were supposed to going out to Derby for an arranged flight he got for Christmas, but the weather wasn't quite right so as I was up and I'd managed to get the day off we went out for a tiki tour anyway XD
Dad suggested Llangollen, his go to spot for days out, and I usually try to steer him into something else cause it feels like we always go there XD But I thought that I've not been there for a while now so away we went. We had a really good day too! We checked out all the usual spots and yeah the weather wasn't always at it's best but we had a good day exploring and seeing what we could find x3

Dad managed to rearrange his flight for Friday, which luckily I already had off work. We set off pretty early and ate some breakfast sandwiches in the car on the way there x3 Dad's Christmas present was a 30 minute microlight flight and he seemed to really enjoy it! He saw some good countryside and got to try an experience he'd not done before.

The flight gave him an idea of what to explore next and we headed to a local town he'd flown over...and the name slips my mind. It was a lovely little town though, but we weren't parked in a great spot so moved on to look at a place called Dovedale. It was very similar to some Shropshire beauty spots, but of course it's always fun to explore somewhere new x3

We moved onto a beautiful proper English village called Ilam then. This is the kind of place people imagine when you talk about England I think, just look at it! There was also a national trust manor house there which we checked out, as the gardens were free to get in X3 The sun was out in full strength by now though and it was really sapping our energy, so we headed back to the river that ran through the town and found a nice shady tree to sit under- where we promptly fell asleep for 20 minutes XD

On our way back towards home we spotted a random car park in the middle of nowhere, so out of curiosity we went to see what it was about and found this massive ex-train tunnel! We were not expecting that XD It was a good way to finish off our day of exploring though x3

Today was our local area's funday. It's always quite a small affair, but I love that they put the effort into putting it on, even though we haven't always got the best reputation as an estate :x It started out raining but luckily brightened up to give them a lovely day for a fete-like event x3 After me and Dad were done checking it out, we went cherry hunting around the estate. It always astounds me that people don't realise that cherries off a tree are the same things they buy in the shops, but I'm glad as this way I get to eat them all! (Okay I'll share with Dad & Face ;p) This year has a bumper crop going on too so I'm soon going to have more than I can manage I think XD
Have you had a good week? Get much exploring done? ;3



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July Photo-a-Day ~Week One

I realise that my photo a day for July was supposed to be updated on Saturdays, but I didn't predict how busy I was going to be this Saturday! So far I'm 11½ hours into a 16 hour shift, but thought I would type on my break :]
So, let's jump straight in, shall we?

A Statue of a Dog or Horse
This one was taken while over at Wolverhampton racecourse checking out a camera show :3 You'd think the photo for this day would be 'camera' right? But no, it goes to this statue of a horse I found while there and I thought it seemed like a good chance to tick this one off the list as you don't come by statues of horses or dogs very often, right?

A Pond with a Fountain
Another thing I don't see very often, so took the opportunity while in The Quarry, Shrewsbury. The Quarry is a beautiful spot and we sat and admired it's wonderful landscaping and gardens, this pond and it's surrounds reminded me of some of the Japanese gardens me and Face found while over there x3

Transport
Some of these prompts I already had an idea for when I started the challenge, but I didn't see this for this one XD While out and about in Wales, Dad and I stopped at a aqueduct next to a viaduct and while we were walking next to the canal a train came over, he even blew his whistle and waved at us as he went past! I was pretty impressed!

Camera
Heeeeere it is ;p I knew it wouldn't be long before I managed to fulfill this prompt, the question was just with which camera? This camera is borrowed from a friend in Wolverhampton who also likes to collect old school analogues and I took it out while visiting Horseshoe falls in Wales. Hopefully I'll have got some good shots when I get the film processed x3

Reflection
This was taken at Ilam house (manor?) Friday, a beautiful day and perhaps a little too warm to be wandering around some old house's grounds XD Still, finding this spot was a bonus and we watched the reflections of the river under the bridge for a while in the shade before moving on again.

A Castle Turret
I'm not entirely sure on this one, if it counts or not. It's a decorative part of the gardens at Ilam manor, but it is distinctly a castle turret, isn't it? Let me know if you think I cheated on this one ;p

Free Shot
I thought I would use this week's free shot on this adorable greengrocers in Llangollen x3 I always take a photo of this place if we pass through as I just find it so...authentic? I imagine back in the day there would be a shop like this every couple of streets with displays outside to make people buy from them, but you rarely see it these days. What really topped this place off was the lovely cherries they sold! We had to get more on the way back the first lot had been so good XD
Hope you enjoyed the beginning of July's photo a day, which was your favourite shot? Are you doing the challenge with me? Let me know x3



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Tiki Tour ~Aberystwyth

Another week I'm not going to do a catch-up, but that's because I really didn't take many pictures this week or get up to much. Dad was away for the later part of the week and we had the house to ourselves. Face has got to enjoy it as he has the week off work, but it's just made me lazier, if that's possible! I've spent most my free time in bed, playing pokemon or just dossing with Face. But I still had to go to work every day, fail!
I thought I would focus on writing about Tuesday as that was the most interesting day this week and we got up to quite a bit! It was Dad's birthday and we'd decided as the weather was going to be good to go to the beach! I'd planned on driving, but something was niggling at the back of my mind...and when I checked, I'd run out of MOT. Oops! Dad had to drive all the way as unfortunately I'm not on his insurance but once he brought his mind around to it he was okay about it :3

We arrived in Aberystwyth about 1.30 and parked in town. We first went for a wander up the promenade then moved onto the beach. The weather was beautiful and we had a good time skipping stones into the barely flowing sea. We sat around for a while absorbing the heat and then realised that the time on the parking was up so Dad nipped back to the car and moved it then came back for us two, just in time to stop us napping against a large rock XD

It was starting to get really warm then so we moved into the arcade on the pier for some classic beach 2p slottie games! We'd collected some 2ps at home so we had to see how long our share would last. Dad managed to keep his going for quite some time, whereas me and Face lost ours pretty quickly. I had my eye on a fish keyring though that Face helped me win so we got something out of it XD

Once we'd all lost our 2ps we were getting pretty hungry so although we considered proper fish and chips from a chippy that was particularly good last time we were here, we thought Face might get sunstroke if he spent any more time in the sun (he's terrible with heat) so we moved onto the local Wetherspoons, which is in a big victorian train station which is pretty cool x3 And guess what we all decided to get? ...Fish and Chips! Aha. Even though you would expect spoons fish and chips not to be able to match up to a seaside chippy, they really outdid themselves and it was all really tasty. And to think I nearly had pasta...at the beach! What was I thinking? ;p

The heat of the day had died off just a little by the time we left and we popped by a Poundland for some sweets for pudding then went back to the beach and played rock throwing games by making targets from piles of rocks then having to knock them down. Simple things! We did that for a couple of hours in between dossing and eventually the weather cooled and we thought it was about time to get moving before Dad felt too tired to drive all the way back.

We had a great day and I think Dad really enjoyed his birthday. I'm so glad I could finally drag Face out on one of our daytrips too, I really like it when we all go out x3 What's your favourite thing to do at the beach? Although we don't usually spend much time on the sand I think this time was a bit of an exception and we all had a good time because of it!



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Sunday Catch-up ~A Little Late

Awww man, sorry I'm so late on this post...I went to do it yesterday but what can I say? I totally got caught up in a Steven Universe marathon x.X I'm a sucker for cartoons. Anyway....

I had a busy enough week, on Monday I did a lot of washing and unpacking from Download and basically just relaxed the day away after that XD I got a few photos of my babies, they only stop still for sunflower seeds! Really, they are a strange couple of gerbs, they don't like any other treats! At least they're better for them than yoghurt drops I suppose XD

On Tuesday I went out with Dad for a bit of a tiki tour as we haven't had a chance for one in ages. We went first to Pistyll Rhaeadr falls in Wales. I'd not been in so long and it was good to see it again. We usually walk to the top but neither of us were feeling it and instead we went to the local shop and picked up some bits and pieces and had a picnic while watching the falls X3 It was a really nice relaxing way to spend part of the afternoon, I really felt I needed some time to just doss and watch something different.

When we decided to move on we went over to Lake Vyrnwy and discovered a couple of things over that way we'd not visited before- a small church up on the hill and a sculpture park on the other side under the shadow of the dam. It made the place a little more interesting, we even did a little bird watching in the hut built up near the tourist shop x3

The next few days it was back to same old, same old as I returned to work and got used to seeing lots of newbies around the place, usually a good thing as the old ones get a little complacent and we need newbies to refresh the lines, you could say! On Friday I got a Graze box...I used to post these every time I received them but lately I guess I've got used to getting them! They are still looked forward to though and this weeks was another good selection x3

Lastly on Saturday before I had to go into work as Dad was away I decided I needed to get out and get him some presents as both Fathers day and his birthday were fast approaching! I had some ideas in mind with a little help from my sister so had a good couple of hours mooching shops XD There were one of his 'main' presents- he loves the Kinks and this band is made up mostly of old members so I'm hoping it'll be a good show.
And that was my week pretty much. The weather has been up and down but I'm hoping it'll give us a few good weeks soon so we can get a little more time outside x3 Did you have a busy week?



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This Time Last Year

This time last year...well, after my trip to Tokyo, I was so hyped up, but luckily I had plenty to do back in the UK to come down gently XD

Not long after we got back was Cosford Air Show. It's super local to us and I do try to go every year, if I can ^^ It was just me and Dad and we did what we always do- pack way too much food and drink and find a good place to watch from a local country lane XD Cheapskates for the win! We sat around for nearly 4 or 5 hours with the car radio tuned into the airshow broadcast so we even knew exactly what was flying and what was coming next. There were loads of cool planes but of course the Red Arrows are always one of the highlights x3

We got a few day trips in too in June and one day Dad had to go out to visit a mate in Bangor, but he only had to be an hour or so. As I'd managed to worm the day off work I went too. While he visited I went for a little explore up the beachfront and then we had the rest of the day to ourselves. We decided to move on from Bangor and went to Conway, looking around the walls and over the town. It's a really lovely place, especially with the castle overlooking everything.

We then went on to look at Llandudno, I'd not been there before but I can see why people like it as a major seaside town. I particularly liked the pier, where we wandered to the very end and watched the sea for a while. There were loads of small jellyfish in the sea for some reason, I don't know if there was some sort of migration going on (do jellyfish do that?) but it was cool to see and we even spotted this massive one bobbing about!

Another trip out took us to a more local destination for an evening, exploring an old quarry pool. It's really interesting as the water is truly blue, but for some reason I didn't get a good shot of it, just this one of us wandering through the woods on the way back at dusk. I thought it was pretty atmospheric so here it is x3

Of course June is the month of Download, our festival of choice x3 2014 had beautiful weather too with only a couple of spots of rain and a great lineup, so as ever we had an awesome weekend seeing bands new and old. My particular favourites were Bowling for Soup and the Offspring <3 Can't beat old school early 2000's! I can't wait for Download next week already and just looking through the pics I took last year is getting me hyped to go again!
Have you got much planned for June? I've only got Download '15 at the moment, but I'm sure I'll find plenty to do! If you've got any suggestions, feel free to comment ^^



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