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Reading some blogs yesterday I found this blog by Cathy of Mummy Travels who this year has joined in with the Take 12 Trips challenge. Thought up by another blogger, Need Another Holiday, the idea was simply to take 12 trips in 12 months.
The trips didn’t need to be huge adventures, they could be in your home town or abroad, it’s just a way of recording what you’ve done. Need Another Holiday’s Claire suggests, just visiting the museum you always walk past but never go into, or maybe going on a trip to the beach. So I propose to set myself this challenge for 2016 but to also use this challenge as a way of recording the trips we’ve taken in 2015. So here are the 54(!) trips we enjoyed this year!
January
We took a day trip to New Brighton Beach and ran around in the sun taking photos of our shadows and spent a fabulous day at the Crocky Trail in Chester which was loads and loads of fun.
February
February saw a lunchtime trip to The Tiger Who Came to Tea launch with the girls, a walk out to Hilbre Island and a trip to London Tranport Museum with my eldest to see her godfather, a good friend of mine. I also managed a weekend in Belfast with my girl friends from university, catching up like it was yesterday.
March
March not only saw us go on our first and totally amazing ski holiday with Mark Warner to Tignes but also to Eureka in Halifax with some great friends, and to Arley Hall for Fairy Tales and Trails with all our family which was great and a place definitely worth visiting.
April
April was a incredible month and we packed a lot into those few weeks. We cruised on the Anthem of the Seas and adored every minute of the time spent with Heledd, Running in Lavender and her family. I took the girls to see Beauty and the Beast and Mr Tumble, and had a really great Easter weekend in Wales with some great friends, and met the lovely Karen from Stopping at Two en route at Puzzlewood. We also went for a walk at Delamere Forest.
May
May really wasn’t any quieter. We attended two fabulous festivals which we are definitely attending again in 2016, The Lost Carnival and Geronimo. Both totally different but equally as fun. I went with a few other bloggers, including Sarah at Extraordinary Chaos, to Go Ape at Delamere Forest and had a scary but fun day. We went back to Chirk Castle for the day with some friends, met my second cousins at Thomas Land and spent a day at Blackpool Pleasure Beach with the Running in Lavender family meeting Poppy Cat. We also found time to go to the theatre twice; once to see the M6 perform a lovely play One Little Word and once to see Stick Man live on stage. Phew what a month!
June
In June we spent two weeks at Mousses in Lefkas, Greece. It was an absolutely brilliant two weeks (highly recommended) and we all loved every minute of it. Would love to return but having been twice we need to find new places to explore. When we got back we slipped in a visit to the Chill Factore.
July
Having had our main two week holiday of the year in June (eldest didn’t start school until September 2015) July and August saw lots of day trips. We attended a brilliant show in Tarvin Sands with lots of Disney characters. Went on a day trip to Knowsley Safari Park, spent an afternoon on the pirate ship at Hoylake Beach and visited the newly renovated and completely transformed Cheshire Ice Cream Farm. Hubby and I were also lucky enough to be treated to a day out to Dublin in a light aircraft with one of Matt’s work contacts and I spent a day away at Thornton Hall Spa with my good friend Sarah from Extraordinary Chaos.
August
If you are still reading (I hadn’t realised this post would be so long!) we went on a few local day trips. One to the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool to do their Big Art, and another on a very rainy day into Liverpool One to watch their show and try out the new kids menu at Cafe Rouge. We had a really lovely long weekend glamping at a Lantern & Larks site up in Bowland and I went down to Southampton for Ladies Day to sail with Sunsail in a race. Sadly their was no race as there was no wind, but it was a very fun day. Finally we went up to the North East to spend a long weekend with hubby’s Mum and went to Auckland Castle, walked the Superworm Trail in Hamsterley Forest and visited Binchester Fort.
September
In September I took a trip to London to attend the MAD Blog Awards with some friends and was so pleased to win. We stayed in some great apartments and had really really good fun. We also had a wonderful weekend away at Carden Park followed by some kite flying on the local beach. Our eldest also had a fab weekend in the Lakes with her Grandparents.
October
In October I had a lovely weekend away in the Lakes with some friends at the Old Joiners Shop and we also spent a weekend (19 of us) in Whitby in a very large house. One weekend we took a trip to Madame Tussauds in Blackpool and at the end of October we spent half term in Turkey with Mark Warner and had such a brilliant time.
November
In November I went back to London with my eldest for a weekend. We spent a lot of time with friends and we had a lovely afternoon tea at the Reform Social and Grill. Saw Mister Maker Live on Stage and spent a very rainy day at Chester Zoo.
December
The last month of the year has been no less busy. We’ve been to two pantomimes, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty, visited two national trust properties Lyme Park and Speke Hall, had two local days out to Hilbre Island and New Brighton and met friends at Thomas Land to see Father Christmas.
Linking up for the final week this year of Heledd’s My Captured Moment
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Wow, that’s an amazing amount of trips out!!! Are you ever at home?
Oh, I love this post. You have done so much. You must be absolutely shattered. But it all looks like so much fun. And I love looking at all the happy smiley faces in the pictures. Hugs Mrs H xxxx
Karen what an incredible year, its has been not only great following your journey, but fantastic sharing some of this moments with you. Heres to a very exciting 2016 cheers xx
Wow! You guys are certainly adventurers!! It’s amazing how much you’ve seen in just one year. Exploring more is a goal I set for our family for 2016. We don’t have to go far, but little trips here and there will be fantastic. #MyCapturedMoment
You definitely had a busy year in 2015, it’s amazing how much you all did. It’s amazing the amount of things you do without realising it, and this challenge is a great way to document it! The best thing about this is the great big smiles on the girls faces in each of the photos. Thanks for linking up with me on Country Kids.
What utterly beautiful photos – the ones from June are definitely my favourites. Wishing you an extremely Happy, Healthy 2016 #mycapturedmoment
This is such a great way of looking back over your year, you have done so much the girls must have had so much fun. Its inspired me to make more plans in 2016 to get out and about. Thank you #CountryKids
Wow! You have had a very adventurous year. Your girls are getting so many amazing experiences that enrich their lives and learning. I love the idea of 12 trips in 12 months. I will have to start planning some for my kiddo. Wishing you safe travels in 2016.
What a brilliant round up of your year. You’ve been so busy and had so many amazing adventures. I hope we can do more together this year. I love that shot of you and me on the ship, it was such a fab weekend – one of my favourite of 2015.
Thank you so much for linking up and being one of my most loyal followers #mycapturedmoment xx
Wow, what a year! You have had so many fantastic days out and adventures. Loved following your trip to Greece, looked like you have had such a fun time. Can’t wait to see what you get up to in 2016! #MondayEscapes
Sounds like you had a very fun year! Congratulations on completing the Take 12 Trips challenge 🙂 Where are you traveling in 2016?
I cannot believe how much you’ve fitted into one year! I’m going to take part in the 12 trips challenge this year too, not sure I’ll manage 54 of them 🙂 Happy new year and happy travels in 2016. #Mondayescapes
Wow! You did so much! I’m a bit exhausted just reading it! You will have noooo problem with the 12 trips in 12 months! Look forward to hearing more about your adventures! #mondayescapes
Woah – 54 trips?? What an incredible year for you and the girls. They look so adorable and happy through it all, too. I particularly liked the sound of your Tignes ski adventure. Sounded marvellous!
Wow you have been busy! We are seriously considering Mark Warner for our summer holiday this year as hubby and I love water sports and the kids facilities sound fabulous! Thanks for sharing, your family travels are inspirational! #MondayEscapes
Thanks again! I can’t believe how much you’ve fitted into your year – 12 trips should be a doddle, I feel 112 might be more of a challenge 😉 It’s been so lovely reading about all your adventures last year, I can’t wait to see what you do get up to in 2016.
I’m loving reading everyone’s 2015 round-up posts. You had such a packed year – 54 adventures, wow! And you’ve got some amazing photos to look back on from each of those occasions. Many there be many more adventures in 2016! #MondayEscapes
It looks and sounds like you’ve had very busy year! I like the sound of the 12 trips in 12 months, might give that a go. #MondayEscapes
Looks like a fun-filled year! Jealous of the ski trip – I definitely want to take the kids skiing next winter.
Thats a great idea to keep busy. I especially loved all the pictures fun pictures of your kids.
Wow! You had a year just as crampacked as we did. We traveled every single month last year as well. We flew 12x all over Europe (including a flight to the US). Looks like you all had an amazing time! -Mommyof3
What a fun year!! So are you planning to try and top 54 in 2016?! 🙂
Love your year’s recap! Looks like you’ve had an amazing year, and made a ton of memories for your little ones 🙂 Great holidays and days out, I’ll be picking some ideas from here for our time now in the UK x
What a big adventurous year. I love learning and seeing more adventures in Europe as we plan on visiting at the end of the year. Bron
What a great year and what a fun idea, the challenge! I love that you mixed further away trips with local stuff: it’s easy to overlook what we know well but kids are a great way to experience a place with new eyes. Bit of a cliche, I know, but still true 🙂
Looks like you had an amazing 2015! We went to Geronimo and Blackpool as well this year! =)
Your girls look like they are having the best time in all your pics! Thats a great idea to do 12 trips in 12 months, might have to join in too 🙂 #sharewithme
Looks like you had a great year full of adventure!
Wow Karen what an amazing year in family adventures and days out experiencing life and the world as much as possible. I love all the photos. Thank you so much for linking up to Share With Me blog hop. I hope to see you again this week for another great round. #sharewithme
OMG, your year was amazing!! You got to meet other bloggers too, that’s awesome! I had to laugh when you said you didn’t think this post would be so long, it happened the same with me on my best moments post hahaha 😀
It was a a pleasure discovering you on #MondayEscapes, thank you for linking up with us! 😀 And Happy New Year!