I honestly can not believe how quick this year seems to be going. I am so excited for Autumn and Winter and I will be honest, I may have watched my first Christmas Movie of the year the other day!
July is an exciting month, not only is it my birthday but it is the start of the Summer Holidays in the UK. Read on to find out more.
Firstly, lets take a little look back at June.
We have had a fairly quiet June as Craig had major reconstructive surgery on his shoulder. So we have mainly been enjoying our little garden in the sunshine.
However we did manage a few things such as staying at Weardale Retreat. This was just Craig and I as the boys went away on their first camping trip since lockdown with scouts, which they all thoroughly enjoyed.
At Weardale Retreat we had a fantastic time, it was super peaceful and we got to sit in the hot tub all night which was bliss. You can read all about our stay HERE.
We also visited
Cragside National Trust
Went to see Lightyear and Jurassic Park Dominion
Visited Rievaulx Terrace
Spent the Morning with Farmer Chris and The Yorkshire Vet on a special open farm day
We had an afternoon tea party to celebrate the Queens Jubilee
We were then contacted by Caledonian Travel and collaborated on a press trip to London and Warner Bros. Studio Harry Potter Tour. The trip was fantastic and the boys really enjoyed it. You can Read More HERE .
The Rest of the month we have just been enjoying the sunshine in our little garden and going on doggy walks. Giving Craig plenty of time to rest and recover ready for the full swing of things in the Summer months.
The Boys
Adam - Adam has worked really hard preparing for his GCSE exams and he had his last exam last week. I can't believe he has finished that chapter of his life. How quick did that go by? He is now going to enjoy the summer before heading to college.
Toby & Elliot have continued with home education and we have enjoyed learning about WW2 and reading "The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe" as our study book. Come September, Toby is off to college 1 day a week to start his GCSEs. So we will be using this time to continue learning with Elliot on a topic of his choosing.
The boys all went away for a weekend early June with Scouts, which was such an exciting time as they hadn't been away since lockdown, so all of the Scouts were very excited.
The Garden
The garden is in full bloom now and we have lots of lovely flowers and plants. We are super excited because we dried our own Pumpkin seeds from Halloween and planted them and we have around 5 large plants now. This year we decided to go for a pollinator display rather than loads of fruit and veg. We have been seeing so many different species of Bee which has been wonderful. We do have strawberries, blackcurrants, Raspberries, Tomatoes and Courgettes. We also have a herb garden which is doing great too, but my favourites are the nasturtiums with edible leaves and flowers.
Our July Plans
It is my birthday on the 14th and I will be 35!
I have no idea what I want to do for my birthday, so check back in on socials to find out what we end up doing. I usually ask Craig to cook my favourite meal for me but I'm not sure that will happen this year with his shoulder.
We are planning on having as many days out as we can and making plenty of memories, I am hoping to get a few beach days in too, so we can just go and sit on the beach all day with a picnic and just be lazy for a while.
We don't have any holidays booked for the summer months as we like to take our holidays during term time.
On our radar for July is
A revisit to see the Lego themedmaze at York Maze
A summer visit to Hannah's Meadow
We are going to be visiting plenty of National Trust and English heritage Properties
Heading to Ripon again to visit some of the museums
Lots of picnics
and lots lots more.
I don't think I will add to the garden until Autumn now to be honest, unless we decide to pop in a small pond. I am quite happy with how it is at the minute.
During July we reduce the amount of learning we do with it being the Summer Holidays but we still do some. However July/August is when I make plans for what learning is gong to be taking place.
July's Sky
Full moon is on the 13th July
This month it is the Buck Moon which gets it name from the new antlers that grow every summer. It is also known as the Thunder Moon because of the storms we get in Summer.
July is a fantastic time for star gazing and in the northern sky you should be able to spot Draco, Hercules, Corona Borealis and Serpens. Jupiter can be seen 5 hours before sunrise on 1st July you should be able to see Saturn too towards the middle of the month.
Dates for the diary
If you are just joining me on my journey, I love to add a dates for the diary section, not only for those who love to use the dates on social media, but to also have a laugh because you get some pretty strange dates.
2nd World UFO Day ( I mean what are we supposed to do for this one?)
4th Independence day (USA) we are going to have a mini party to celebrate, make some funnel cakes and corndogs
6th Frida Kahlo's birthday We are going to create some art work based on Frida's work
7th World Chocolate day I am sure we can eat some chocolate today! Learn about coco beans
14th My 35th Birthday it is also Bastille day.
16th World Cherry Day - you could make a pie!
22nd National Marine week. We are going to learn more about marine life.
28th Beatrix Potters Birthday. My favourite Author, We are having a tea party to celebrate. Maybe do some sketching of our own rabbit Albert
29th International Tiger Day. It is all about tigers today.
31st National Avocado Day ...
Movie Releases for July (I try to keep these to just family friendly movies)
1st Minions The Rise of Gru
8th Thor Love & Thunder
8th The Sea Beast (PG Netflix)
12th Bobs Burgers Movie rated PG13
15th The Railway Children Return
15th Paws Of Fury The Legend Of Hank
29th DC League Of Super Pets
That's it for now!
I am busy working on my What's on for the summer Holiday guide and I also have some awesome new posts planned so please do keep an eye out for that one.
Check out these posts and have a wonderful start to the Summer Holidays.