Wow it is September already! I feel like this year so far, has gone so quickly. Going by the calendar it is officially Autumn now. I am so happy about this, Autumn is my favourite season. I just love the crisp cold air and the leaves changing from a bold bright green to an amazing orange and red. The weather lately has been crazy with the heat and the storms, so the coldness of Autumn is definitely much welcomed from me.
I decided to create a bucket list for Autumn, after all it is one of my favourite seasons.
The List
Collect Conkers. This has been a tradition for many many years. I would collect conkers when I was younger and now we collect them with the boys.We have a few favourite spots that we like to go to. Last year was a great year for them and we collected so many. We painted some, tied some to string, and we made decorations with the rest.
Leaf Fight! You can not expect to get through Autumn with kids and not have a leaf fight! We like to go to the local park and just have lots of fun.
Make Pumpkin Pie - Now not everyone in this house likes Pumpkin. So I am not too sure how well this idea will go down. But we will absolutely try it. Last year I tried to make sweet potato pie and it was the most disgusting thing I have ever tasted! I love Sweet potato and I make a good pie!
Autumn nature goodies - An idea I came across on a friend's Facebook page. I want the boys to collect some Autumnal goodies and then cast them in resin so we can look at them with a microscope! How awesome is that!
Autumn crafts for the house - One of the things we like to do since we moved here, is making a garland from the natural goodies we find. We have an old ugly stone fireplace and it just brightens it up a bit.
Visit a Pumpkin Patch. We struggled years ago to find anywhere that let you visit to choose your own. However around 4 years ago we stumbled upon a hidden gem in Pickering North Yorkshire, They have some huge huge pumpkins and some teeny ones to choose from. We get ours there every year now. We keep a few for in the house and then we put some outside for the animals to enjoy.
Carving Pumpkins together. I have no doubts whether this one will happen because we do it every year, as the boys have gotten older they have become pretty artistic with there's.
Autumn baking. I will share my favourite spiced cookie recipe soon. I swear your house will smell amazing!
Visit a few Halloween events. When we still lived in the city, we used to visit Beamish Open Air Museums halloween nights. We haven't been for around 3 years now because the distance and how many people go after it became so popular. Unfortunately we have yet to find anything like it here. :(
Fruit Picking. I have put this on the list because our farm is jam packed with berries. Blackberry pie here we come!
Visit a Bonfire. You can't have Autumn without a Bonfire. The smell, the sounds it just reminds me of growing up. Now we get to enjoy it all with the boys and we love it! We usually attend the local Bonfire so please be safe.
S'mores & Ghost stories. We want to sit around the tree in the garden, wrapped under thick heavy blankets drinking hot chocolate, eating freshly burned s'mores and be scared out of our boots listening to Ghost stories.
Woodlands. All three boys are Home educated, and one of our topics right now is Autumn. We are so lucky to live right near a few amazing woodlands so we plan to visit at least 5 and explore, add to our nature box and see what critters we can find.
Visit the Enchanted Forest in Perthshire. We have not been yet however we have heard some really great reviews.
Scary movie night. Blankets, Popcorn, Snuggles... Perfect! Leaf Art. With the amount of trees around us, we want to create something amazing from the beautiful coloured leaves that have just fallen.
Make Bird Feeders. We have so many different birds here and they honestly eat so so much. We have quite a few feeders out already but we want to make one super dooper special feeder for them.
Visit Kielder Forest, We are super super lucky to only live 40ish minutes away from this absolutely beautiful part of the country. We have taken part in the special kids trails since they started doing them and Elliot has always been obsessed with anything Julia Donaldson. This years trail has been all about Zog.
Morning Photography - Have you been outside on a morning when dew is covering everything in its path? Next time take it slow and see if you can find a spider web, they look absolutely stunning! So we want to take pictures of them.
Explore Hibernation. Not for ourselves, but I think they boys would find it fascinating. Maybe we can hibernate for a day. :)
Chilly Beach Walk. I have always been drawn to the ocean, so we don't just limit a walk on the beach to just summer. We will take a breezy chilly walk along the freezing cold sand and look for shells.
Make a Hedgehog House. The boys have asked if we could make one a few times, we are planning on finding as many natural things as we possibly can to make it. When we first moved here we spotted a really really big hog but have not seen one since and it's been 3 years.
Fireworks displays. We visit a really well organised local display, we always have done. We plan to visit a few new ones this year.
Animal prints. Keeping in line with our Autumn topic we want to find at least 3 different prints and then maybe cast them.
Sycamore Dragonflies. One of my favourite memories growing up was to just throw loads of sycamore seeds up in to the air and watch them Helicopter! We like to make dragonflies out of them ( I will do a post on how to )
Daily Bird notes. We are going to be making notes throughout Autumn on the changes to birds in our garden. Unfortunately we have seen a massive decline this year.
Harvest Festival. We get involved with harvest every year. We do like to donate lots of food, clothes and anything else that is needed at that time ( we donate throughout the year ). I think one of the things I like about harvest is everyone coming together and helping each other.
Blackpool Illuminations. Honestly, we have not been. I have when I was a child and so has Craig but i'm not sure why we have never taken the boys. Definitely one I want to tick off our list.
Chester Zoo Lantern Parade. I have always wanted to go. Fingers Crossed
Make a Scarecrow. So much straw on this farm and we have some old clothes that are no longer wearable so why not.
Batwalk. We actually have a few bats that live in a barn here and we see them on a night flying above our heads. We want to take the boys to an actual batwalk.
Pinecone heaven. Collect them and decorate, cover in peanut butter for birds, or drop some of the christmas scented oil we have for them and smell christmas for a few months.
Elmers Great North Parade. Elliot LOVES Elmer so we have to do this!
That is all that is on my list for now, simple things, but memories that will last a lifetime.
Have a wonderful Autumn, play in the leaves, laugh and just have fun.