So I was about to say how I’ve only just got round to writing my June roundup as I usually try to write it on the first of the month and I’ve realised I never even did a May roundup!  It must have totally slipped my mind.  So I’m going to go back through my May and June planner now to see what we got up to and share it all in this blog post.

Welcome to my latest monthly family roundup.  Once a month I look back through our photos and my planner to record the highlights of the previous month.  It’s a great way to create an online scrapbook that I, hubby and the children can look back on for years to come.  I always think that even if the rest of my blog fails somehow one day, I’d still write these posts and use my blog as an online memory book for me and the children.  I bet they’ll love reading through this category when they’re grown up!

Bella’s birthday

At the start on June, Bella turned six!  It’s crazy to think we have a six year old.  In four years she’ll be in double figures!  She’s also nearly at the end of year one which has of course whizzed by faster than we could ever imagine.

For her birthday we went to Legoland and All Things Wild as days out in the half term.  Her birthday has always fallen in half term so far which is great.  On her actual birthday we invited two of her cousins to ours for a sleepover and to go bowling and to the soft play.  We picked up pizza on the way home (Pizza Hut do a vegan cheese now!).  She had a great time and said she wanted it to be her birthday every day!

All Things Wild

We spent a day at All Things Wild Nature Centre and thoroughly enjoyed it.  Reuben loved the dinosaur section – he was in his element!  There is so much to do their for kids from a large soft play to a dinosaur train, pond dipping to a lemur walkthrough, a giant indoor sandpit to a stamp trail and so much more.  We hope to return again this year as the kids loved it.

LEGOLAND Windsor

We visited  LEGOLAND Windsor for two days and had an OK time.  We were expecting a bit more from the famous LEGOLAND and our expectations were high.  To be honest we won’t be going back and I think somewhere like All Things Wild as mentioned above is more suited to us.  I just can’t stand all the ridiculous queuing at these ‘big’ theme parks for disappointingly short and run down rides.

Sacroiliac joint injury healed

It’s mad to look back through my blog posts and see I still had a really bad sacroiliac joint injury.  It took 5-6 weeks to totally heal and now it’s all forgotten about!  It was the longest and worst injury I’ve ever had.  It was agony!  I’m glad it’s gone and hopefully I won’t do it again.

Campervan purchase

We purchased a Mazda Bongo campervan!  We’d been looking for a while and saw a good one so went for it!  It was a bit backwards as we were meant to sell Ben’s car first to fund it, but decided to get the good van we saw first, then pay it back after.  Unfortunately or rather typically, a warning light then came on it Ben’s car. Grrr!  So we haven’t been able to put all our savings back yet and so we’ll be manically saving at the end of the year to replace all the money we lost on his car to get our emergency fund savings back on track.

But the van is great and we are going for our first one night camping trip in the van mid-July and then have more planned throughout the summer.

Bella sports day

Bella had her second sports day now she’s in year one.  In reception she hated it and stopped and cried so we were all panicking this year!  Even the teacher said she got upset in the practice and didn’t want to do it.  We gave lots of encouragement and amazingly she didn’t stop and ran right to the end of each race, even enjoying it!  Yay!  Well done Bella!

Top brace off

I finally had my top brace removed, but it wasn’t as happy as I had thought.  Read why here.  I’ve got even more craziness going on with my teeth in July.  But regardless of the temporary missing teeth, it’s one step closer to my perfect teeth and smile!  I’ve had braces 28 months now so it’s been a long journey and I have up to NINE months left!

Purton Hulks

When we got the Bongo campervan the kids wanted to immediately visit somewhere, so we drove to Purton Hulks to see the ship graveyard.  It’s so much fun driving around in the sun in the Bongo.  If another goes past they always wave!

Purton Hulks is a lovely walk along the canal or river, or both as they are next to each other and it’s amazing to see the old beached boats.

Lots of gyming

As my back had healed I was back to the gym in full swing. We are trying to go for 4-5 hours now a week to see if we can see more of a difference.  3 hours a week just doesn’t feel enough.  The kids also do mini active or multi sports so they get to exercise too in the kids club!

Quotes for house extension

I tried to arrange some quotes for an extension on our home and discovered builders are terrible at organising things or turning up.  One did turn up and we got a quote, but it’s so much money.  We’d be looking at £50000 with this one company to add a kitchen/family room extension and convert the old kitchen to a toilet and utility.  I don’t think I want to do anything until we have our emergency fund saved as I’m self-employed and am conscious my earnings aren’t reliable.  So house moving or house alterations are on hold until I have some security.

Aine Carlin vegan talk

I went to a vegan talk by Aine Carlin with a friend.  I watch a lot of vegan documentaries so it was nice to hear someone in person talking.  It was probably better for someone at the start of their journey and even a more conventional vegan.  I don’t like to eat soy and avoid white foods and sugar, so I fit into a more wholefood plant based vegan category.  She still had some interesting things to say and I like how she said millennials get a bad reputation all the time, but actually they are the ones pushing this vegan movement and they care a lot more about the environment than older folk which is so true.  It got me excited for Vegan Campout though where we will be camping for two nights in August and hearing lots of vegan talkers hopefully!

For my thoughts on all things healthy and tips/advice then please check out my second blog: healthyvix.com

Outside seating area

House things have been fairly slow.  We got some furniture for our veranda and that’s about it.  We just need to do decking and new patio slabs now to complete the look.  Ben has been busy making furniture instead so things have stopped around the house…

Coombe Hill Nature Reserve in Deerhurst

We discovered somewhere we never knew existed that we pass all the time!  Coombe Hill Nature Reserve is at the bottom of a country lane we always drive past and just assumed had a few houses down it.  It’s a lovely reserve with a disused canal that has overgrown and now is bustling with wildlife.  We saw damsel flies, ducklings, butterflies galore, herons and all sorts.  There’s a wetlands with a hide that can be reached over a winding bridge style path.  It’s a beautiful place for a walk and we’ll be returning lots I imagine.

Lots of healthy eating and reading

I’ve now been vegan all year and the kids and Ben are officially ovo-vegetarians which means they don’t eat meat or dairy. They do still eat eggs from our chickens and a little fish when out and about or from the chip shop.  It makes eating and cooking so much easier now we are all doing it together.  I wonder if Ben will totally cut out eggs too, but I’m really happy about the meat and dairy decision as I believe that has the biggest impact on our health, the planet’s health and the welfare of animals.

A real actual summer and heatwave

It’s been super sunny for around one month now and reaching 30 degrees nearly every day.  We usually have two days of this in a row in the summer and that’s it, so this is amazing and it’s meant to continue.  I wish it was like this every year.  Let’s just hope the summer holidays stay like it.

Nuthill walk and pillbox

Ben and I explored a little more of the countryside behind our home and walked up Nuthill where we found a pillbox from the war.  I thought it was a bunker, but it’s a pillbox that they used to peep out of to look for enemies.  We have so much countryside behind our home that we need to investigate, but with having two young children it’s not been possible.  Now Reuben is three it should get a bit easier and walks can get a bit further.

Bella rides a bike!

We bought Bella a bike and she has managed to balance on it by herself for a short distance!  Reuben has a bike too but with stabilisers.  I’m hoping we can take them out lots and get them riding bikes ASAP.

Vix hair cut shortest ever

I had my hair cut to its shortest length ever!   I’ve always had waist length or at least rib length hair.  I now see how ratty it looks in lots of old photos as I just used to grow it and not have it cut for 1-2 years at a time!  Now I’ve gone shorter I love it.  It’s so much easier for the gym and swimming.  I can’t be bothered with the hassle or time spent styling my hair every day.  I’m too busy and other things are more of a priority for me.