Early this year I decided to make a list of all the things I would love to do as a family.
Spare family time is super precious and I wanted to make sure I didn’t waste any of it.
Even after a lot of time off my feet after an operation in February I am still impressed at how much we packed into 2017.
So what did we knock off the bucket list for 2017:
1, Camping
It took some doing but I finally convinced Ollie that camping with the kids in August was the way forward. Thankfully even after it threw it down the first night Ollie agreed with me and fell in love with camping too.
Being our first trip we didn’t stray too far from home and did camp with our amazing friends, The Roger’s family at Thornton’s Holt Campsite. We can’t wait to get in a proper holiday camping hopefully next year.
5, Paddle In The Sea
We thought we would do this while in Italy in June but we forgot that we were staying in ‘Lake’ Garda so in fact it was only a lake not the sea.
It took till August to finally tick paddling in the sea off the list when we visited Butlins in Skegness. This family break was one that I hadn’t expected to enjoy as much as I did and in fact we fell in love with Butlins while there too.
6, Go Pumpkin Picking
This is one of our all time family favourite things to do in the Autumn and I have to be honest it was even more fun this year taking Jacob who really got stuck into picking his own pumpkin.
I love how this teaches the kids that food needs to be grown and nurtured and not just bought from Asda!
7. Visit A Maze
At a National Trust visit to Belton House in August we finally ticked this one off the list.
Although it wasn’t the biggest of mazes it still was a one. Joshua soon learnt that sticking together was key for any maze adventures as he shouted he was lost and began to freak out just a little.
I would still love to visit a bigger one next year.
8. Go Strawberry Picking
This year we got chance to let Jacob help with our annual strawberry picking session. I am not going to lie it was hard work trying to explain to a toddler we don’t crush them in our hands.
Joshua was super helpful holding his hand and showing him where to look for them. Although in honestly he much preferred taking them off other people and squishing them
Next year we might get a lot more in the basket.
22. Visit London As A Family
Before my operation in February we headed to the capital at the end of January to spend the weekend in London staying at The Royal Garden Hotel.
It was the most amazing trip and we visited the London Eye, Travelled by big red London bus, visited Leicester Square and walked out legs of passing through landmarks that make our capital so amazing.
I can honestly say if we only get to do one thing next year I hope it’s making another trip into London to make more special memories!
23. Go On A Boat
This summer we were immensely lucky that last year I won some vouchers to spend on a holiday with Canvas Holidays to take in 2017 and in June we jetted off to Lake Garda in Italy and stayed at the Bella Italia resort for 2 weeks.
I honestly think this was by far the best family holiday we have ever had to date. The resort was amazing, the food was delicious and the sights were packed with history and super interesting.
As part of this holiday we got chance to take in some of the other villages round Lake Garda by boat and not only would I love to go back to Lake Garda I would like to fit in a lot more boat trips round the lake.
Joshua absolutely adored the whole day exploring and jumping on a boat to get around.
For 2016 our word for the year was FAMILY and for last year our word was TOGETHER … I think this year even though we didn’t tick everything off our list we had one of the most amazing years together so far.
Did you manage to get everything on your lists completed for 2017?
Great video Jaime. The boys certainly have some fantastic experiences. X