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Last year I read a post by Cathy of Mummy Travels who 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.
I put together my list last year and we took a whopping 54 trips!
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 what did we get up to in 2016!
January
The beginning of the year started really well (6 trips in January alone!). I’d just finished working full time in December and whilst I still worked 3 days at home I had two days off a week with the twins as they didn’t start school until September. We went to Chester Zoo which is brilliant in the Winter, we spent an afternoon at the Lady Lever Art Gallery dressing up, we went to the Ice Cream Farm on a very cold day and we had a lovely day at the Blue Planet Aquarium. There was also a day out on the pirate ship in Hoylake too!
Matt and I also got away on our own to the Lake District and had an amazing evening at L’Enclume in Cartmel the food was absolutely incredible.
February
In February we went on a cold walk to Rode Hall to see the snowdrops, visited the World Museum which is an old favourite, enjoyed the Alice Experience at St George’s Hall and also spent some time with friends at an indoor golf adventure!
We then flew to Portugal for 4 nights at Half Term to find out what Martinal Quinta and Sagres had to offer! It’s so lovely to get some sun at that time of year!
I ended the month with a weekend away with some friends at Blognix a small blog conference in Northampton.
March
I was lucky enough to start March with another weekend away with the girls, this time to Carden Park in Cheshire. Me and the girls went into Liverpool for a day which included Mattel Play. We then went down to Cardiff for a long weekend with friends and called in to see Stopping at Two and her family and took a trip to Slimbridge. On the 30th March we flew to Florida!!
April
April was a incredible month as we had 14 days in Orlando and it was amazing! We did Legoland, Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Universal Studios all sorts. I’m only putting this down as one holiday though – a truly wonderful magical one!
When we came back you’d have thought we’d have had a little relaxation at home, but no, we had a day at Speke Hall with friends and the following weekend went away to stay at North Star for a Woodland Escape which was bliss. The month ended with a trip to Belfast for one of my best friends weddings, which was crazy chaotic drunken fun (kids with the grandparents!
At the end of the first quarter we are up to 19 trips!
May
May really wasn’t any quieter. We had a day out at Loggerheads with Rachel of The Ordinary Lovely, We attended two fabulous festivals The Lost Carnival and Geronimo. Both totally different but equally as fun. I went with a few other bloggers and Regatta to a park in Kent to play with tents (the things we bloggers do!) and had a lovely weekend in London with friends.
June
In June we spent the first week in very very rainy and stormy Kent, whilst my husband stayed at home in glorious sunshine. Strictly this should have been an amazing trip to Port Lympne Reserve but the weather made it a little damp squib, sometimes you just can’t rise above the gale force winds!
We then went away for our very First Camping Trip as a family, which we loved. We will definitely be repeating this trip in 2017.
I ended the month with a trip to Bavaria and a London trip to Brit Mums!
July
July brought with it an amazing weeks holiday to Sivota in Greece. We absolutely loved very bit of it! We returned from that and went straight off to Tattershall Lakes in Lincoln for a trip with my brother and his family too, great fun but slightly less sun than Greece.
We finished off the month with another trip to Speke Hall this time to see the Beatrix Potter installations.
August
If you are still reading this post now (I hadn’t realised it would be so long!) we went on lots of day trips in August including Roald Dahl’s Adventures at Tatton Park, Speke Hall – Game On, Bramhall Park, Mattel Play, Speke Hall for a show.
We then went on two mini holidays, the first to Greenwich and the second to Surf Snowdonia. Finishing off the school holidays in style!
September
In September I took a trip to London to attend the MAD Blog Awards with some friends and was very pleased to defend my title and win. We then went on a weekend to the Lake District with some friends, all 19 of us!
At the end of September I took another child free break and went to stay in Richmond with some good friends in a beautiful barn before coming and heading off with the family to the Apple Festival at Erddig with The Ordinary Lovely family too.
October
October was a quiet month for days out as we fit in three family birthdays and parties during the month. We did however visit the Enchantment of Chester Zoo before heading off to Cyprus for Half Term.
November
In November I spent 3 days in London at World Travel Market soaking up more travel adventures than I could manage, before heading to Leeds for a weekend with the girls I met at university a long time ago! Towards the end of the year the Christmas events started and with a Liverpool St George’s Hall trip and a festive visit to the Ice Cream Farm.
I was then lucky enough to head off to Paris with a number of other bloggers for a conference and some cultural exploration!
December
The last month of the year has been no less busy. We’ve had a trip out to Liverpool, been to Alice’s Adventures at Erddig, a trip to the Rock n Roll Panto at the Everyman, Liverpool, attended Singalong with Santa at the Liverpool Philamonic and will be heading to Delamere Forest in-between Christmas and New Year.
Phew!
If you are still with me Thank you!!!
Thanks to everyone too who reads this blog and keeps me motivated with kind comments. It’s been one crazy wonderful year!!
53 trips!!
Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
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WOW 53 trips – that’s more than one a week. Very impressive. Merry Christmas x
Phew what a year! It’s looks like you had a great time Karen. Merry Christmas to you and all at Mini Travellers, have a lovely time xx #mycapturedmoment
Phew! I need a lie down after reading that! Talk about a fabulous year! Pure inspiration for anyone who thinks a life of travel with kids is not possible – brilliant!
Wow such a busy but fun year with lots of great pictures!! Have a lovely Christmas #mycapturedmoments
Wow that is quite a year! I love this challenge, it’s great for inspiring and reminding about just how much you can fit in. 53 is quite a tally!
Wow what a year, what a crazy and exciting world we are in with so many wonderful opportunities for our families. It been fab to share some of those adventures with you.I am not sure how many I have clocked up, not quite as many but I dont think we have done bad either. Merry Christmas to you all and heres to next year xxx
Aw loved reading about all your adventures Karen. It’s great to look back over the year isn’t it. I am sure you have lots of wonderful things planned for 2017 too x
Crazy and amazing are the words that came to my mind too! As you know Karen I follow all your trips and adventures and always find them so inspiring. Your blog is going from strength to strength and I’m so proud to call you my friend. I hope we can do some more adventures together in 2017.
Thank you for supporting My Captured Moment for the past two years xxx
Such wonderful family adventures. A great way of looking back and remembering them all.
Here’s to lots of fun filled adventures in 2017
Wow so much traveling and so many wonderful places! You have such a beautiful family 🙂
You’ve made me realise that we have done so much more than I think. I need to go back and see how many adventures we have had. Love seeing your photos and reading your posts x
Sounds like you had a great year last year! I’ve heard a lot about the Take 12 Trips challenge and I think I’m going to try to do it this year. #GetGone
That is an impressive amount of trips! Glad that you’ve given camping a go, can’t wait to hear about more adventures this year.
What a wonderful year you had!! Such fun! You visited lots of our favourite places, we love Chester zoo and ice cream farm! And tattershall lakes is on our list for this year too. Love reading about your adventures!