summery things

It's lovely in August when the Isle of Wight trebles in population as all the holiday makers arrive. There are non stop summery events on all over the Island...Garlic Festival, VW show, County Show, Ploughing Contests, Scooter Rally and Carnival Processions in every Town and Village. We wanted to see as much as we could but in the end we have burn ourselves out with all the camping and trips to London, all we wanted to do was stay at home!

But one day, some friend of ours came for a visit from London and we very happily found ourselves in my hometown of Ventnor...and my favourite beach, which was absolutely packed! Also experiencing the highest tide of the year along with big waves meant that we got soaked whilst eating our lunch in the beach cafe.

After all the blustery salty air, we visited the Botanical Gardens above the cove, which I have been coming to since I can remember. Its a great place for the littluns (our friends have a wee tot too!) to run about safely and explore.

Our littlun loves sniffing flowers and going 'ahhhh' in a satisfied manner (even if they don't have any scent).

and the huge carp and goldfish in the pond is a winner with the kiddos, they were literally swarming around it like little mosquitos.

lots of running and chasing...

and dancing

 

we loved the amazing cacti, who'd have thought they could grow in drizzly old Blighty eh!

In the evening it was the Ventnor Carnival which we try to see every year (its the best on the Island I'm told, however I haven't seen many others).

we brought along her zebra outfit but it was hard to get her to keep her 'head' on as she hates hats of any description.

she LOVED it, and loved wiggling her tail and joining in with the procession along the high street.

 after that, it was time to watch the fireworks from my mum's balcony.

a few days later (today in fact) was Yarmouth carnival. I'd never seen it before...

It was a lot smaller than Ventnor Carnival, but here were my faves...

RNLI boat

and stunning ladies on horse back dressed up as Alice in Wonderland characters!

ah I love carnivals, I get so emotional, especially when I see little kiddos all dressed up, and all the effort that people have made to be creative just to make people laugh.