Here we are again, it is January and I am sharing my check in and what's to come post. I feel like time is going by super quickly. I realised it was 20 years since I left high School and that is just so weird to me.
First of all I am going to share a quick look back over 2023 before heading into our 2024 check in.
2023
We headed on holiday to wales which was somewhere we had been wanting to visit and I am so glad we managed to finally get there. It is 100% somewhere I want to explore further. We had a fantastic much needed week away and enjoyed some of the best attractions we have been too in years. We really did enjoy the whole week. You can read about our Wales holiday HERE
We were invited to stay at the gorgeous Budle Bay Croft which is just stunning, ran by amazing people and I just loved the night away from the hustle and bustle of city life. They also do the most amazing pizzas including a sweet pizza which was delicious.
You can read about it HERE
We had birthdays, including our Grannie who turned 80 in December. The dogs have been great and we celebrated 10 years with Summer who is still going strong, although has slowed down a tad. Iris turned 5 which is crazy and I can not believe how quick that has gone by.
We had lots of lovely fun family days out including:
Lots of walks
Karting with Teamsport
Ripon Museums
A week in wales
Richmond castle
York
Lakes cruises
Kielder observatory
Thorp Perrow
Cuddled goats with west barn
Visited Palely Bridge
Blackpool
Blackpool zoo
Beamish
Kiplin Hall
Aglow
and lots lots more.
The Boys
Adam is almost finished his second year at College and has been offered a place at his first choice Uni which is super exciting. He is almost finished his driving lessons and he started a really good job making some money to give him a bit more life experiences and some funds to save up.
Toby is almost finished his GCSEs, he knows what he wants to do in College but has yet to decide on which college he wants to go too. He has come on really well with everything actually and we are excited to see where his next steps take him.
Elliot has been a busy little bee with Home Ed work and meeting his little group of home ed friends and he still attends Scouts which he loves, he has so many badges and awards now he is going to need a second shirt!
Yarden
We created a lovely wildlife haven in our yarden and even made a pond which ended up with some kind of water snail living in it. We enjoyed lots of lovely birds, bugs and butterflies. Winter we haven't done anything with the plants and have just left everything because we have just been so busy and we have been focusing on other things.
The Blog
We have worked our socks off this year with the blog and have been so happy with its progress especially on Facebook. Instagram continues to be a thorn in my side and I am determined to crack it. Last year I set a target of 30k by Christmas and I as type this I need 300 more to get that 30k on FB! We took on some writers to help out when we are too busy or its things to cover that are too young for us. We are really going to utilise having a team in 2024 to bring lots more reviews and ideas for the whole family to suit all ages. I am excited for a brand new year of Adventures. I have had a good think about the blog over the last few weeks and have some mega plans for 2024
2024 Plans
Nothing is set in stone for 2024, we are mainly just going to wing it and see where the new year takes us.
We do have a few plans in place such as:
Our Plans
We are expanding and will be adding lots more to the blog for 2024 please do keep an eye out for these exciting times ahead. Socials and building following is a priority especially on Instagram which is one of the biggest pains in my side ever, a lot of other "Influencers" Have bought followers and its obvious, I have never done this and I don't tend to do it either! I want real followers so I have plans in place to start growing organically. Facebook is just flying lately and I am so grateful for everyone that follows our adventures.
The boys will be turning 12, 16 & 18 so we do have a few plans for celebrations, mainly family meals and lots of treats.
Holidays are coming along nicely and we have agreed on a week in London to enjoy the attractions in and near. For December we are hoping to head to Germany to enjoy a proper Christmas market. I feel like the North East is just lacking in authentic German style markets. We are hoping to get away in the summer too but No plans just yet because we can't decide where, plus we need to see how money is and then decide. If we do go away though, we quite fancy Tunisia.
Me
So for 2024 I really want to focus on my fitness. Self care is one of my top priorities and I will be coming up with ways to focus on myself. Craig and I will also be dedicating at least one day a month to have a proper date night. I will be going back to having the full weekend off and schedule posts on socials on a Friday so I can do this. I find it so important to have a bit of a break or I end up burnt out. On my weekends off I enjoy reading, crafting, baking, watching movies, game nights, going to football games and just spending time as a family.
Resoloutions / things I want to do in 2024
I get asked this a lot and to be honest my reply is exactly the same each year. I don't really do Resolutions because no one ever sticks to them. Again for 2024 I will be kinder to myself and have more of a can do attitude instead of being a negative Nancy sometimes.
We will be having our January clear out, something we have done every year for a while now. I like to be clutter free, however Home education comes with clutter. So areas to focus on this year will be books that are no longer needed, board game clear out, toy clear out ( not that they have many toys as they don't really play with much now)
I really want to continue with a nature journal, in 2023 I did this for the first few months and then for some reason give up so I really want to do this for the full year. We have set up a few challenges for us to do in 2024 which you can find out more on socials when we announce them. I still haven't published a book. So for 2024 I will be publishing my children's book and will be working on my cookery book series to hopefully get the first book published next year.
December is such a busy month for us so my weekends off have not been happening at all lately and I want to go back to having a break. I want to get back into my photography again which I have fallen out of love with lately. We have so many plans for 2024 in terms of getting out and about that I am turning it into a series on the blog so I do hope you follow us and enjoy it.
Movies to look forward too in 2024 include:
Sesame street the musical - 19th February
Kung Fu Panda 4 - 8th March
Ghostbusters frozen empire - 29th March
Mickey 17 - 29th March
Godzilla x Kong the new empire - 12th April
The Garfield Movie - 24th March
Inside Out 2 - 14th June
Despicable me 4 - 3rd July
Mufasa the lion king - 5th July
Venom 3 - 12th July
Twisters - 19th July
Beetlejuice 2 - 6th September
Transformers one - 13th September
Wicked - 27th November
The Karate Kid Sequel - 13th December
Sonic The Hedgehog 3 - 20th December
Dates for the diary
There are lots more dates throughout the year but these are the ones I think I can do something with and take part. I will also use some of the below to do extra learning with Elliot
January
1st New Years Day / Start of Veganuary /International Self Care day
5th National Whipped Cream Day
6th National Bean Day
15th Brew Monday
17th Museum Selfie day
19th National Popcorn Day
21st World Snow Day
23rd National Pie Day
25th Burns Night
27th National Chocolate cake day
28th National Lego Day
29th National Puzzle day
30th National Croissant day
February
1st Black History Month
4th British Yorkshire pudding Day
7th Safer Internet Day
9th National Pizza Day
10th Lunar New Year
13th Pancake Day
14th International Book Giving Day
20th National Love your pet day
March
1st Women's History Month / world candle day
2nd Teen Mental health day
4th British Pie Week
10th Mothers Day
14th Pi Day
20th Spring Equinox
21st International Day Of Forests
23rd National Puppy Day
27th World Theatre Day
29th Good Friday
30th Earth Hour
31st Easter Sunday
April
1st April fools day / national sourdough bread day
2nd International Children's Book Day
3rd National Walking day
4th International Carrot day
10th National Siblings day
18th National Poetry Day
21st National Tea Day
22nd Earth Day
23rd World Book Day
25th World Penguin day
27th International Sculpture day
May
2nd Harry Potter day / world tuna day
5th Cinco De Mayo / World Laughter day
11th Fair Trade Day
17th Endangered species day
18th International Museum day
19th Baking day
20th National Rescue dog day / World Bee Day / tea day
23rd Turtle Day
June
1st Reef awareness day
3rd World Bicycle day
4th Cheese day
5th Environment day
8th world oceans day
16th Fathers day / National Fudge day
18th Picnic day
20th World refugee day
21st Take your dog to work day / yoga day
22nd World Rainforest day
27th National Bingo day / Pineapple day
29th National Camera day
30th International Asteroid day
July
1st Joke day
2nd UFO day
16th World snake day
August
1st Lammas day
8th international cat day
11th National son & Daughter day
14th World lizard day
17th Geocaching day
18th Fajita day
26th National dog day
30th Beach day
September
2nd World coconut day
6th Read a book day
13th Roald dahl day
18th National Cheeseburger day
19th Talk like a pirate day
21st National Chai day
22nd Hobbit Day / Rhino Day / Rivers day
24th Gorilla day
28th Rabbit day
October
1st World Vegetarian day / music day
4th National Taco day / world animal day / space week
6th Grandparents day
7th Habitat day / architecture day
8th Fungus day
20th Sloth Day
21st Back to the future day / Reptile day / apple day
26th Pumpkin day
31st Halloween / Samhain
November
1st Diwali / world vegan day / day of the dead
5th Bonfire night / Redhead day
19th Monopoly day
28th Thanksgiving (for those who celebrate)
29th Buy nothing day
December
2nd National Mutt day / International day for the abolition of slavery
3rd Giving Tuesday
4th Wildlife conservation day
5th International Volunteer day
8th National Brownie day
10th Human Rights day / Nobel prize day / animal rights day
11th Mountain day / UNICEF birthday
14th Monkey day
21st Yule / Winter solstice
24th Christmas Eve
25th Christmas
31st New Years Eve
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