What my kids have been up to on holiday with their grandparents.

This Sunday gone, I drove my two children down to a little village just outside Cambridge to stay with their grandparents for the week. I'll be making the 2 hour drive via the M1 (J26 - off at J19), A14 to Huntingdon, then A14 / M11 to Duxford and then along the A505 towards Royston this Friday to pick them up and bring them home on the Saturday morning.

Here's just a selection of what they've been up to:

Helping Mamma deliver church leaflets around the village.
Delivering a 'get well card' to someone who was in hospital, but out and back home when they called with the card.
Playing on the 'Wooden Park' - an adventure playground in the village recreation ground whilst Mamma tidied up the village hall.
A nature walk around Fowlmere nature park - lots of birds, ducks with ducklings (two) and baby rabbits as they left.
Walk to the Animal Shelter in the next village on Wednesday - the little charity shop is open and Georgie wanted to buy something for her kitten, plus lots of fussing the cats and dogs homed at the shelter.
The obligatory trip to the local town's toy shop to be treated.
Swimming at the local swimming pool.

Plus loads of cuddles with Sadie - my parents highland terrier.

So they've had a good week and it's not over yet. Even the sun has shone so far.

Can't wait to see them Friday - they'll be allowed to stay up late for my arrival - and catch up with their excited news.

Mandy's taken her girls to visit her parents on Anglesey - staying in a nearby caravan - and travelled yesterday. I'll be catching up with their exploits via mobile phone (if she can get a mobile signal - it's not very good there). Just checked out the beach webcam and it looks pleasant enough though so fingers crossed for good weather the rest of the week.

What did you get up to on your last holiday?

Summer 'factory fortnight' comes early

Just an update for you - Fabulous Photo Gifts is now shut for its two weeks annual holiday as of Saturday 12th July.

You can still place your personalised photo gift orders online (securely) but please ignore any automated delivery replies you may receive. Our phone system will take messages so if you call, please leave a message with your phone number and we're hoping to check in remotely to access any recordings.

Orders that were placed by the 10th July will be delivered as normal.

Don't forget our great July photo competition - just order any photo gift - personalise it with a wedding or anniversary 'themed' photograph and you'll automatically be entered into our free competition to win a personalised deluxe photo panel (small).

We'll see you in a couple of weeks (we hope the wilds of Anglesey allow some internet connection so we can update the blog and keep up to date with any emails), hopefully tanned, rather than drowned, as we grab our buckets and spades and hope to have a lovely time the day we go to Bangor.

P.S Augusts competition theme will be holidays so remember to take your camera with you on those holiday outings....

Holiday photographs - what to do with them all?

Holiday photographs – what to do with them? "Why did I take so many photos on holiday?" is a cry often heard resounding throughout the land.

Holiday photos – photographic souvenirs of great moments on holiday, either foreign holidays or ones closer to home on the beach, from holiday cruises to holiday skiing, we accumalate a fair number of holiday 'snaps' in a lifetime.

The other day, I decided to go on a bit of a late spring clean and discovered some old holiday photographs in a dust covered tin.

Looking back through them bought back some great holiday memories and I picked out one of the kids and put it to one side.

You see, you can now turn those lovely holiday photos into fabulous personalised photo gifts.

Holiday photos make a great photo gift. There's usually lots of colour and action in them for a start, as well as the sunny daylight making photos seem really alive and full of detail.

The people in them are usually smiling – practically beaming from ear to ear. They are on holiday after all.

Anyway, back to that particular picture I pulled out of the packet. I thought it would make a great birthday present for my Dad next month. He's always joked about having a mug with our mugs on.

At Fabulous Photo Gifts, they don't just do personalised photo mugs. They do all kinds of gift ideas including probably one of the largest selections of jigsaw puzzles you can personalise with your own photos online.

Mousemats, chopping boards, t-shirts (in more sizes than you can shake a stick at) etc, all lovingly prepared and printed by hand.

Back to that mug for my Dad – it doesn't matter that I haven't got a digital camera and file of the picture I've chosen. Fabulous Photo Gifts also offer a postal service which includes FREE scanning.

So you don't have to wait for the summer holidays to be over before you can order a photo gift, however, I hope I've inspired you for when you get back home from this years travels and start to wonder “just what am I going to do with all these photographs?”.

Annual Summer Holiday - workshop closed for week

Holiday Shutdown

Dear Customers of, and visitors to Fabulous Photo Gifts.

Yes, it's that time of year when the braying of the donkey and the lure of 'Kiss me Quick' hats drags your favourite photo gift company away to dune swept shores.

So please be aware that our office will be closed from Saturday 28th July 2007 to Sunday 5th August 2007 for our annual summer holiday workshop shutdown.

Orders placed by Tuesday evening (24th July) will be completed and dispatched on-time. Regrettably, orders received after Tuesday 24th July will incur an extra 10 days delivery delay.

Please be assured that our online shopping cart will continue to function as normal and that any orders placed are secure and will be processed upon our return.

Thank you for your understanding and patience. We look forward to serving you following our return.

Tally-ho donkey and don't spare the cornetto's!

Fabulous Photo Gifts.