OUR 'BEFORE SCHOOL' BUCKET LIST

Noah starts school in September and I'm all to aware of the impending journey that we're soon to begin. It's exciting of course it is but that doesn't mean I'm not internally mourning having the entitlement to his every waking hour. He's my first so every experience we go through together on our parenthood journey with him, is new, we're just winging it and hoping to get the best outcome for our boy. I've thought about his beginnings at school probably every day since he turned three, and in my head I come up with wild ideas and exciting days out that we just have to do but so far, I've not really gotten around to putting the words into action. With the days turning into weeks, and those soon after becoming months - it's time we started to plan how we want to spend our last term before school starts.

I always thought I'd be excited when my sons went to school, after all, it's waving goodbye to the ever increasing childcare bills and having a lot more stability and consistency for them. In some respects I am, it'll be nice to see Noah starting his education journey properly though I can't help but feel that we need to embrace every single moment that we have left of freedom. I've compiled together of the things I'm eager to tick off with him over the next few months, some are ambitious, but that's how we like to be, shoot for the moon and if you fail at least you'll land amongst the stars, right?

1. Visit the theatre - We've just booked in a trip to our local theatre for next week, it's a Dinosaur show and I'm intrigued to see how he'll be. He's at an age now where by he does sit down for a long time and concentrate, he's a dab hand at the cinema so I'm sure he'll love it.

2. A night away - Bar holidays, we don't really do nights away in hotels, especially with the boys. I think Noah would find it super exciting, especially if we can centre it around a day trip. I'm hoping to find one with a swimming pool so we can take him for a splash before bed. No Patrick will mean no distractions and he'll have our full attention.

3. Alton Towers - We have a themepark for toddlers and he adores it, I don't think there isn't a week that he doesn't talk about Sundown Adventureland. Alton towers is just a bigger scale and with the hotel and water park he'd think all his dreams have come true at once. This is on our potential list for Patricks birthday.

4. Park picnics - Another one of my boys favourite things to do. We have a dedicated picnic basket now so it would be a crime not to picnic as often as possible, wouldn't it? With the bank holiday now upon us, and the warmer weather set to stay, I'm hoping this will be done sooner than we think. There's something really calming about setting up base at a park, watching the boys play whilst tucking into sandwiches and sausage rolls. I want him us to be able to run around, bare feet, and have water fights - it might be a bit idealistic, let's face it, nobody wants a foot bunion, but to be so carefree for a while will be lovely.

5. Late nights - It sounds trivial, but late nights will strictly be off the cards when school begins. Noah would still nap now if I gave him the chance, so I know school will wipe him out for the first few months. I want to take advantage of the free mornings to let him lay in, and stay up for movie evenings with popcorn and sweeties. It's such a small thing, but I know it will mean the world to him.

6. Travel - Of course this is top priority, I don't think anything can leave bigger imprints on children than travel and I'm excited for my boys to experience as much as possible. Next year we'll be confined and ruled by school bells and term times, so I want to cram in as much of the world as we can before that happens. We're heading away next month, and I'm hoping to squeeze in another trip in August, but it'll all depend on getting the right price as holiday companies love to hike the prices as soon as the school holidays hit.

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