We recently had the privilege of being invited along to a special birthday beach camping session with some of Wolfy's friends through work!

We left around 5pm on Friday and headed west to the secret beach location, and when we finally arrived around 7pm, the sun was still high in the sky. In fact, it was still light out at 11:30pm. Camping near the summer solstice (June 21) means it never really gets fully dark, so if you enjoy watching the stars, you would be disappointed.

However you would NOT be disappointed with the absolutely gorgeous sunsets and beautiful scenery that you can enjoy late into the evening.

One of the couples brought a whole wagon of sea kayaks! They own their own outdoor adventure company, and they were more than willing to guide us out onto the water. I admittedly have a fear of being on open water (when I can't see the bottom) so I was a little apprehensive, but once we were out on the water, all my fears melted away and I was stunned by the absolutely gorgeous water and views.

If you ever get the chance to go sea kayaking, do it! Even someone like me who has no upper body strength and is scared of deep water had a blast, and it was the highlight of the weekend.

Since we are being honest, I also want to tell you about the WORST part of the weekend...

Midges. (pronounced "midgies")

Midges are tiny (almost invisible) flying bugs that bite you and suck your blood. It hurts and itches like crazy. And there are millions.

You will find them between May and September, anywhere with grass and moisture (or should I say, they will find you!). It was my first real experience with midges since it's my first Scottish summer.

It's Scotland's dirty little secret... the thing that no one talks about in the brochures or the beautiful Instagram posts. And I'm not exaggerating with I say that midges can absolutely ruin your day.

So, it was a warm weekend and the midges were fierce. They attack any open skin, so the best defense is covering up. That sucks when it's really warm, but it's still better than getting eaten alive. It was so bad though, that we had to use midge head nets

Imagine a bunch of people sitting around the campsite wearing these! It's such a funny sight, but you don't understand how necessary it is until you experience a midge attack. Midges can't fly in the wind, and we lucked out with some nice breezes for part of the weekend, so we didn't have to wear these the whole time. But I did have to sleep in mine both nights.

ANYWAYS... enough of that horror story.. for the most part, the weekend was beautiful. Here are some of my favorite photos from the weekend.