Doing what families do best ..

My sister Tina and her family live a couple of hours' drive away, so my sister Fiona and I aren't able to just 'pop in' for a cuppa regularly like we do with one another - to remedy this, now and again we schedule a day visit to Portchester for a sisterly catch up, more often than not with a variety of offspring and their partners in tow ... 'Auntie Tina's' it seems, is a popular outing!

The rabble ...
(And a rare shot of the 'lesser spotted Tina' on the far right!)

Last weekend, we arrived mob handed with Stuart's grandson, my daughter, my son, his girlfriend, my sister Fiona, her partner, daughter and their granddaughter, in time for a lovely lunch followed by a tromp round the armouries at Fort Nelson.  

Walking and talking ...

Unfortunately a rain squall blew up from the Solent, so we couldn't explore as much of the fort grounds as we would have liked, but we still had a great time exploring the fort's tunnels ... and the boys spent ages inspecting the museum's massive guns, as I suppose most boys are apt to do!

My son immersing himself in big gun history

The girls were understandably slightly less enthused by weapons of destruction, but even so, enjoyed the opportunity to be out and about, doing something a bit different together.

Fay inspecting arms!

Never quite off duty, Tina, a professional photographer by trade, snapped away on her camera while the rest of us went exploring ...

... and one little boy proved to be a very popular subject!

For Stuart, it was a special day packed full of boy stuff with his grandson ...

Stuart and his grandson doing boy stuff

... and for all of us, it was a day to relax, chat, laugh and share family time together ...

Wet and windy, walking with my daughter

My niece and her mum

Playing!

Chatting

... because that is what families should always do best!

Tina!

Incidentally, catching Tina on camera is nigh on impossible as she always has a camera pressed to her nose!  Thanks Tina, for capturing these special family memories for us all and most of all, for a lovely day ... here's to next time, see you again soon xxx

Most of the photographs above were taken by my sister Tina ... if you would like to see her professional photographic work, you are welcome to visit: 

www.tinaallinghamphotography.co.uk