Me & Mine: November & A Trip to Beautiful Bodnant

I've been wanting to join in with Me & Mine for a while now, it's a monthly portrait challenge where you take a photo of your family each month and blog about it! You would think that we would have no shortage of photos to contribute! but I realised they are either always of Ella and I or Ella and her Daddy! and we rarely get ones of the three of us!

So we wasted no time in enlisting Granny's help when she came to stay with us at the start of the month! and we took a day out to Bodnant Garden on a beautiful crisp autumn morning with a bright blue sky, it was the most spectacular day to be visiting the most spectacular gardens!

We started our day in the Welsh Food Centre, and had some delicious lunch at their little cafe there.

Ella got reacquainted with Granny 'oh yeah, I remember you now, the lady who always has awesome beads and necklaces'! 

This was the view from where we had lunch...

and the view as we arrived at Bodnant!

The last time we lived here, I visited Bodnant twice but both times it was summer and so I wasn't really sure what to expect from Bodnant in November.  

I needn't have worried! It certainly didn't disappoint! and was just as magical in Autumn as it had been in summer.  In fact I was especially excited, because I had seriously been missing all the vibrant reds and oranges that we got to experience in Vancouver's autumn and so I was delighted when the first thing I saw were these Maples bursting with colour! 

We also discovered an Arbutus tree, which again was pretty special! We fell in love with these trees in Canada, especially my mom when we came across one in Victoria.

So we had to pose with the Arbutus for old times sake!

If you've never come across an Arbutus tree before, their bark peels away to reveal a very reddish bark underneath, and we just kind of love them! 

A little throwback to our beloved time in Vancouver, there was also an Arbutus street in Vancouver too which had the most beautiful mansions all along it!!

Be prepared for a picture overload, there was just too much beauty not to share it all! 

See what I mean about the gardens being magical?!

and all the colours are so vivid!

and our forester daddy was loving the trees!!

and I was loving all the photo ops! 

Even though these hydrangeas were dying off and on the way out I still wanted a shot of these! I loved the turquoise hues mixing with the brown! 

The glowing sunlight created even more beauty as it reflected of all the trees!

and we came to this peaceful spot by the waterfall!

Love this pic of my mom looking on! She was meant to be looking at the camera too, classic mom! 

and Ella snuggled in and shared some giggles with me.  She is a nature lover like her daddy, that's for sure, and there's nothing better she loves than to be out walking amongst the trees! 

Pretty reflections

We also loved these Redwoods! Byron, because of his love for trees, and me for my love of California and the memories they bring back of our road trip! 

We also came across lots of plants and flowers we'd never even seen before! and my mom is a flower expert so that was unexpected! 

We loved these pink little petals with orange buds! So colourful and fun! 

and my purple loving self loved these leaves...

and teeny tiny purple berries!

This tree was bursting with colour!

and we left this gorgeous view behind us on the way out! 

Bodnant, you're our fave!