My Instagram Week: Double Edition!

Hello friends! We just got back from our holidays today and I thought you might like to see some pictures of what we've been up to. This is a special double edition since I got so many pictures I love when we were at the seaside I wanted to share lots of them with you. The weather wasn't great but we made the most of a sunny day on Tuesday to take baby Joe to the seaside for the first time. All the pictures above are from our afternoon at Lulworth Cove, which is a beautiful little seaside village with a fantastic sheltered beach. As you can probably tell, the pictures above also gave me a chance to try lots of iPhone photo apps for different filters and effects. I am always amazed at the great photos you can take on a phone these days, and since we lost the battery charger for our camera, my phone became our only source for holiday pictures.

1. Lulworth Cove beach
2. Locally caught crabs on sale at the beachside fish shop. We bought freshly caught local plaice and had them for our dinner that night.
3. The fish shop blackboard
4. Me almost getting my feet wet in the sea.
5. You can't go to the seaside without getting an ice-cream cone. I hadn't had mint choc chip for years!
6. The amazing cliffs at Lulworth, which is part of Dorset's Jurassic Coast. The scenery is incredible and there are lots of places to go fossil hunting - I think Joe will love this when he's a bit bigger.
7. The Lulworth Bucket Tree. I have no idea of the story behind this tree but I love it! They have a collection box there to raise money for charity as well.
8. A scallop shell found for me by my two boys.
9. Those same two boys having a paddle in the sea. What a handsome pair!

1. The picturesque village of Corfe Castle. I put this through a miniaturise filter but even in real life it looks like a model village.
2. Corfe Castle, an amazing ruined castle you can visit. We come here every time we are in Dorset, it is so brilliant and atmospheric.
3. Dan and Joe exploring Corfe Castle.
4. It was a rainy day on Wednesday so we took Joe to a soft play centre in Dorchester. He is only little but he loves to climb!
5. Swallows Cottage in Bere Regis, where we were staying.
6. Joe in the ball pool at soft play. It was nice to do something just for him, so we all got to do our favourite things on holiday.
7. On Thursday night we banned TV and laptops, so we listened to Adam and Joe Show podcasts from their old BBC 6 Music show, which never fail to make us cry with laughter, and did this Kings and Queens jigsaw puzzle! It turned into a really funny night and reminded me that it is good to force yourself to have some screen-free quality time together.
8. Joe has started really walking properly in the last few days. This is him in the pub with Dan's Mum, having so much fun walking like a big boy. We left Dorset on Friday and had a few days with Dan's parents, who live in the neighbouring county of Somerset. The pub up the road from them is the Five Dials in Horton. It is really great and family friendly, Joe had lots of fun meeting all the regulars and trying the local cider! They also do great food, including probably the best triple cooked chips I've ever had, I would definitely recommend a visit if you're ever in the area.
9. Milk and Alcohol! (Do you know the Dr Feelgood song?)

We had a wonderful time on our holidays but we were all glad to get home today and back to normal. I have been brainstorming lots of ideas for this blog over the coming months, and am in the process of a move from Blogger to Wordpress. I'm still working on getting to know WP, but I'll let you know once we're ready to make the big transfer. Have you made the move from Blogger to self-hosted WP? I love to hear any tips you might have!