The Queen absolutely rained over us today! God save our magnificent Queen! I have so much admiration for her, she stands up all day long and she's 86!

Our decorations have become a soggy mess after the rain pelted down just after 6pm, but at least we enjoyed them for almost all of the day!

I wanted to share our new garden umbrella! A giant sail made out of a sort of hessian, canvas material!

We love it!

My entry for The Gallery.

It may sound naive to say this, but I try and never say the word gun to big boy. We have a large variety of water pistols which we call sprayers, and a bucket of toy story soldiers, all which hold a rifle or gun in their plastic hands. But whenever we play with them, I always say they are spraying each other with water.

He is just three and some of his peers are already playing out fighting and killing each other. I remember a friend's little boy saying,  when he can't have been more than 6, "look at that aeroplane in the sky, I hope it crashes and all the people die". I and those around me who heard him were horrified.

We all try to protect our children from the horrors in the world. I know that I can't keep my boy innocent forever, that it is almost in built in a little boy to act out being a knight, slaying a dragon and wielding a plastic sword around.

But at three he is too young to understand what guns can do. Too young to be expected to have the emotions to deal with the reality of the devastating effect of guns and fighting.

Just like the victims of the appalling massacre in Syria. The children of Houla were murdered in the most calculating and sinister way, by people who can only be described as pure evil.

They have been robbed of their childhood, robbed of the chance to enjoy the innocence of playing knights and soldiers.

Join in with BritMums protest.