School Shoe dilemma

Phin is starting school in September and I'm having a crisis over his school shoes. There's nothing to be done about regulation viscose sweaters but how to make the right style choice when choosing shoes? Unfortunately Phin's school recently switched from brown to black and this has added a whole other layer of problems. Somehow brown leather has the ability to look chic. It wears well, often looking better the more aged and scuffed it gets. Black however just looks heavy and cheap. So here are the best of the bunch! Please do let me know if you find any other sources of great footwear.

• JCrew Kids' leather driving mocs £74.22

• Kids' Blundstone® boots £75.91 hardwearing and easy to pull on from JCrew.com

JCrew Kids' leather oxfords £82.65

• Boys' G.H. Bass® & Company leather-lined penny loafer £ 75.06

Pricey but oh so chic,

• JCrew Boys' classic wing tips with contrast sole

£99.52

These suede boots from www.dpam.com are €35

French website Du pareil au Meme www.dpam.com do some great shoes at affordable prices. These moccassins are €32.20

These are from British shoe store Papouelli. They do a fantatsic range of school shoes for boys and girls. Some styles are sturdier than others and they even go up to big boy sizes for when your little angels feet start to morph into monster sizes.  I love the soft leather shape of the Barnie loafer from £59. wwwpaouelli.com

These lace-ups are very elegant, Brogan by Papouelli from £82 but are off limits to my 4 yr old who still has to master tying laces. Although as you can see velcro shoes have been left firmly off my list! They're a no go bar on sports shoes. Leather and velcro just doesn't go.

Simple easy style, Tommi by Paouelli from £69

La Sardina Loca

Our two love going to la Sardina Loca, our local bar and restaurant. But it's not their culinary delights that gets them enthused, instead it's the basic playground situated next door. And whilst the see-saw, swing and slide keep them amused it's the 'sand' and I use this word loosely -it's more akin to dusty dirt - that really excites them. Phin likes nothing better than rolling around in it. Here they are pre dirt rolling, Phin in his tangerine t from H&M and Stella denim roll up shorts (bucket hat optional) and mini in her Bicester Bonpoint Madras check top and Gap denim shorts. Mucky pups.

Pose off

It's a pose off in front of Es Vedra. Who wins? Tom in his Uniqlo navy linen blazer or me in my ALC Grecian dress?

Messy faces

Faces full of ice cream. What could be better?

Look at me!

Magnum ice cream anyone?

Slot machines and ice cream anyone?

Mini met up with great pal Woody for dinner. She finds it a tad confusing that she gets to hang with him in london, LA and Ibiza but hey that's the life of a jet set kid. After a fantastic tapas in our little town of San Jose we moved next door for an ice cream. Of course mini had ditched her beautiful white dress, a gift from our nanny Sarah-Jane and was instead running barefoot in her knickers around town clutching her dripping Hello Kitty ice cream. Phin was meanwhile in his red check shirt from Bonton and white drawstring pants from grandma & Papow but after some charismatic jumps in the playground they split! Talk about two rather dishevelled ragamuffins.

Formentera vs Es Vedra

Today we spent the morning visiting our new house in Cala Carbo with its view of Es Vedra, the dinosaur shaped rock which lies just out to sea. The most beautiful and captivating symbol of Ibiza. It's the third most magnetic place in the world after the north pole and the bermuda triangle. Mini was wearing her Bonton floral cornflower dress and coordinating frilled bikini bottoms for a later jaunt with the Livingstone's aboard their Boston Whaler to the island of Formentera for a spot of lunch. Which island wins?

Yoghurt monsters

Mini rocked her striped Stella 50's pin up swimsuit during lunch at beach side restaurant Ses Boques and then as a special treat we headed into Eivissa old town for a bit of frozen yogurt. I managed to save Phins white tshirt before the chocolate sauce hit and mini's Mykonos dress edged in gold embroidery was surprisingly left unscathed (or is that just because as an overprotective clothing mother I'd allowed her a topping of smarties but no sauce!)

Sunnies

It's hard getting these two to wear a hat or a pair of shades in the day. But when they do their choice of sunnies are definitely funky high fashion. Phin's acid green 80's Carrera style are from H&M and he paired them with an orange ribbed tank from American Apparel and tomato denim shorts from Bonpoint courtesy of Auntie Peggy and his trusty leather sandals from Mykonos.
Mini was wearing her new embroidered hippy dress from Stella with her round framed white sunglasses by DVF for Gap. They definitely add a touch of attitude, not that these two done have enough already!

Burying treasure

We spent today discovering a new beach courtesy of a fellow fashionista friend Charlie and her wonderful girls. They introduced us to the retro charm of Talamanca and although she had to dash off after lunch for a shoot we got to hang with her two daughters Hope and Scarlett who with our two terrors spent the afternoon burying each other under mounds of sand. When they weren't naked Phin was wearing his Stella blue shorts and turquoise American Apparell tank while Mini was in full on JCrew.

Dribble queen

After waving off our friends jagger and Avalon we went off to the beach for some more sandcastle sessions. Mini looked the part with her Ibiza inspired beaded kaftan top, a gift from Suzy in L.A. Whilst i rocked a hippy dress a la Abigail's Party via Topshop.
Phin spent the day perfecting the art of dribble castles with a little help from me and we happily wiled away the hours swimming, fishing out jellyfish with our new nets and grabbing some zzzz's after lunch. Perfect R&R

Four little ducks in a row

Jagger, Avalon and Mini all in their matching Bonpoint spot print dresses and Phin in supergas & stripes. Ready to go out to dinner. Four little ducks in a row.

Beach babies

We spent all day at Cala Bassa Beach Club and despite having some gorgeous loungers to lie on we spent most of the day making dribble castles by the sea. Mini was in her cornflower blue Bonton frilled bikini and Phin in his flamingo trunks. Trees were climbed during lunch and at the end of the day he put on his Morrocan djellaba from godmummy daisy with the perfect tassel swinging from his hood.