OUR SUMMER 2018 BUCKET LIST

Am I allowed to use the word summer? I'm going to anyway as when we gain one day warmer than twenty degrees in my head I've already predetermined the season, and by that reasoning, we're in summer. I do love the lighter evenings it makes the days feel so much longer and that somehow we've gained all these extra hours of activity that we don't have in the winter months. The ability to step out the front door without having to round up matching gloves, a hat, welly boots and a coat is something of a novelty now after what felt like the longest cold snap in history - I'm still not over the snow in April.


I'm a sucker for a good list if it's heading to the shops, planning Christmas presents or of course, writing down what I want to get down over a season, and this post falls into the latter category. It's our bucket list, I love sharing these over here as I feel some what accountable to tick at least 75% of things off, even though all those pressures are in my own head, they're there none the less.

Strawberry picking 
We loved this last year, it was so much fun and surprisingly quiet when you compare it to pumpkin picking in October. The boys can do it quite independently so I know they'll really enjoy it. The farms have only just opened here for pick your own so I'm fairly certain we'll tick this off our list before the month is out. It's cheap and cheerful, but you get a great day out and a delicious punnet of strawbs afterwards - what's not to love? That being said I would like to head around the farm and scout out the other fruits available to pick, we stuck to strawberries last year but I'd love to come home with an array for the fruit bowl.

Visit the corn maze.
We've never done this before and I'm not entirely sure why, it looks right up our street and there is an annual one really local to us. This year we'll be ticking it off and it looks like a good one for the summer holidays. I'm sure we'll be the family stranded in the middle waving the white flag, but as long as we have the weather on our side, we can keep busy for hours in there. I think this will become a popular thing to do this summer and see corn mazes' springing up left right and centre over the next few years.

Really get the garden summer ready.
This should have been done by now, but each winter we totally neglect our garden as we're simply never in it. This year will be different though, we've already painted the fence and jet sprayed the paths. I've bought Patrick a few outdoor toys for his birthday in a bid to get us out there more over the next few months. I grew up constantly playing in the back garden so I don't want to boys to miss out on that, plus everyone sleeps better after copious amounts of fresh air.

Visit the zoo.
This was on our bucket list last autumn with the hopes we cram it in before the cold weather hit, we didn't and for that reason it's back. We were lucky enough to be invited to Chester Zoo last summer and I'm hoping we'll head to a more local one this year, I know the boys would delight at seeing all the animals, especially now they're both a little older and can fully take in everything around them.

Have a BBQ.
It's a right of passage as a Brit to hold a barbecue when the weather rises, surely? We don't even own a bbq, I know, shameful. This is about to change as we're going to grab one this very weekend in the hope that at some point between now and September, we'll get around to using it. I'm not promising anything but the intent is there, I'm not a huge lover of bbq food as bar chicken, I don't really tend to go for other meats. Not a veggie, just preferences, though I know John would like to indulge and it'll be a nice way of enjoying our garden again.