Project 365 – June

Another month full of travel and adventure! The weather has been fantastic, we have got up to a lot of fun activities, and there was so much Pokemon! I really enjoyed the month of June and cannot wait until school is out. As a part of Project 365, where bloggers are sharing a photo of every single day of the year, I have written about June. Some post daily, some weekly, and other’s monthly. You should check out all the blogs at the very bottom of this post and hear about our active life.

June 1st – Pokemon and Parties

First day of June! And it’s a Sunday. We got up and got ourselves together, ate some lunch and played about until it was time to play Pokemon. Kai stayed home to study, Amelia and Robin and I went to Pokemon and Dann went to go help his friend out. Amelia and Robin had a good time as their friends were there. It was a Giantamax day, with lots of Pokemon to battle, before I dropped Robin and Amelia off at their other friend’s birthday party, which was laser tag! They had a fantastic time, we picked them up, and then we all went to Wipeout at Lee Valley, which was the best we had been too. The weather was nice and warm, and it was just a fun time. After Wipeout, Kai went to the gym with his friend and we all went home, where I made dinner and everyone had their showers / baths and did normal Sunday night things.

June 2nd – Monday to Barcelona

Today was a bit of a travel day for me! I woke up, packed lunches, and helped get everyone ready for school, then Dann dropped me off at the airport to head to Barcelona. He is coming tomorrow, but I need to be there today because I am running an event the next day before a flight would be able to get me there. I arrived, checked into the lovely hotel, and then spent some time helping set up before heading out for some food. I went to a steak place, had a fantastic lunch, then headed back to my hotel room to do some work. Dinnertime came around and the team had a big group dinner, where I had some fantastic food before retiring for bed.

June 3rd – Running Events

Today was a very busy day! I got up, had a lovely hotel breakfast – I swear they just do it better in Europe – and then headed off bright and early to the event venue. I got set up and helped out with directing indie developers, before having a few meetings ahead of lunch. Lunch was a buffet, by which time Dann was on a plane coming to Barcelona, and got m y fringe event ready. Everything went really well! After it was packed up and ended, Dann arrived, and we hung out a bit checking out the show floor before heading out for drinks at the after party. There wasn’t really a dinner formally on this day, which resulted on us both drinking on empty stomachs! It was fun, though, and we got a lot of networking in before returning to the hotel to sleep.

June 4th – Panel and Event

Today was very similar to yesterday; beautiful hotel breakfast (abet a bit hung over) before heading to the venue to run my fringe event. This time, the event took place in the morning. Dann was one of the judges, and everything went smoothly, with us finishing at the last bit of lunch. We grabbed some food, then went back to our hotel to nap for a bit, before we returned in the afternoon for my panel. It was on the future of indie games and went very well – I really do like hosting. I then presented the awards for the fringe event I ran, before helping the team pack down. After pack down was done, we went to the rooftop bar for the mixer, but it was a bit warm and we didn’t want another night of drinking so we retired to our room for a bit before dinner. We had dinner at the same place I got to eat at two days ago, which was so much fun to have with Dann! I really love the team there and had a fantastic time, everyone was in good spirits as the event went so well, then we went to bed.

June 5th – Another Travel Day

We were heading home today, so woke up, had our last breakfast, and then headed to the airport. I did some work there before we flew back home in time to collect everyone from school. Robin went over to her friends house for dinner, as her friend had come over two weeks ago. Kai had a meeting with his personal trainer today, which he seemed to enjoy, and the house was in a pretty good state too! We all kind of chilled, unpacked, and got back into the flow of being home ahead of the weekend.

June 6th – School as Normal and Cupcakes

Today started off like a very normal day; waking up, packing lunches, getting our kids ready for school. They headed off and I was ready to start work – until I feel for a scam and my accounts were all hacked. I then spent the rest of the morning and afternoon recovering things, changing passwords, and generally feeling exhausted with everything that happened. I did get some work done, though not as much as I wanted too, before I headed to pick up Robin from school. There were tons of bumble bees out, which was nice to see, and I was glad to be away from my desk! Afterschool, Kai went to the gym, I made dinner, then Amelia and I headed to our monthly cupcake class. This time, the theming was all around piping flowers! It was a long class, but a very fun one, and the cupcakes looked stunning. We then headed home, ate some cupcakes and went to bed.

June 7th – Activity Packed

There were lots of things that we did today! Starting off the day, we headed to Cammas Hall to pick strawberries, as they are in season, and got far too many to eat. We also picked up some bits from the little farm shop – it was a great start to our morning really. After that, we hung out at home doing homework and video games primarily until it was lunch time. I made sushi bowls and then we headed off to the Panic Room to use up some vouchers that Robin won last year. We took along Kai’s girlfriend, who really enjoyed the escape room, before they went shopping for more t-shirts for Kai (along with Dann), and the girls and I headed home to pick up one of Amelia’s friends. Kai then headed home and Dann met us uptown for Pokemon Go Gigantamax raids. I ended up getting a hundo Pokemon, which is very rare, and we had a fun time. Then, came home for dinner where Amelia’s friend stayed a little into the evening, before we all got ready for bed.

June 8th – Father’s Day

We celebrated Father’s Day today, as we are away in France for the date of Father’s Day! So, we started off the morning a little different with gifts and cards to Dann. Our children all made really lovely cards, as always, but this year some of the meaningful messages they wrote were really fantastic. We then hung around at home until lunchtime, then headed to Hyland Estate’s food market. This was super packed, but they had a lot of good food. We had sushi, wings, burgers, fries, and did a bit of shopping! Then, we headed home for a bit before Kai went to the gym. I dropped some of the cupcakes that I had decorated off to the local cinema we go to every Wednesday, as we weren’t going to eat them all, and then we grabbed Kai and headed to Wahaca – a Mexican restaurant that Dann really loves. We all ate tacos and burritos before heading home and getting read for bed.

June 9th – Girls Night with a Twist

Back to school, back to packed lunches in the morning! I had a lot of meetings today and a lot of unfinished work, so got right to it when all of our kids got to school. Dann, for whatever reason, really wanted to go to a new Taco Bell location that has opened nearby, so we went there for lunch, before getting back home and finishing some more work. Once it was time to pick everyone up from school, I was pretty done with work. As normal for a Monday, we went to Geek Retreat where Kai started DnD and the rest of us played a board game, this time Something Fishy. Then, we went home for dinner, Spam Fried Rice, before we all headed back out for Max Monday. We did some raids and some Dynamax Battles with friends, before going to How to Train Your Dragon! Amelia and Robin play Pokemon Go with another family, who have two children basically the same age. As both of our kids all wanted to see How to Train Your Dragon and the movie was out on Monday, we decided to all go. It was a lot of fun! We headed back home late, after running into a few more people, as it was a packed night. There was this one person we ran into, that had not met Amelia before, and said “she looks just like you, a spitting image”, which always makes me smile. Everyone did sleep well on Monday!

June 10th – Community Events

Today was a busy one! We started off the morning early, packing bags and getting everyone ready to go out the door. Once all of our children were dropped into school, I started work calls. There were a lot moved to today for some reason, so I spent a lot of time at my desk. In the afternoon, we had a few back to back real life events; Spotlight Hour in Pokemon Go was a smaller one, but one full of excitement from those going to Paris later on this week! We then went straight to our fete committee after-event meet-up, which had food already made there. This was such a fun little celebration about how well we all did with the fete, along with our learnings for next year. It was very exciting to hear from everyone! Feeling a little drained, we then headed home, where I had made some crock-pot chili and some corn bread during lunch, so that we could have dinner with our friends who came over for Table Top. We played a new game Dann had picked out called Big Boss, which really was fun once it was going! I was excused before the end of the evening and excused myself to bed, but woke up early the next day to find Dann had done all of the dishes while I slept.

June 11th – It’s a Raid Hour

Today, I was working on getting everything squared away before out trip, which was very, very early in the morning. I had a lot of work to prep, as there was a lot of work to do while I am away. In the afternoon, we ran Raid Hour like normal. It was a very fun raid hour, as people were really excited for the raid Pokemon. We then had dinner at our local Chinese place with a big group of our friends, who then went with Dann to see some scary clown movie. I was not staying up super late, as we had a flight to catch that required leaving at 4 am, so I went home and went right to bed.

June 12th – An Early Started

So we had to wake up at 4 am to make it to the airport in time, which was fine, but very tiring as one would imagine. Dann and I got airport breakfast, which was fantastic, before heading off and landing in Paris. Checking in at our hotel was easy enough – some of our Pokemon friends are at the same hotel, which is right next to a little shop so we got snacks – then we headed to the park for some of the ambassador activities. There wasn’t anything going on in-game, but at the park itself we got let into the Pokemon Merch store a day early, to pick out anything we wanted to buy (I got a bunch of shirts for Dann, Amelia and I, as well as some smaller items), before we all went to a drinks / dinner mixer. We also got to see the park empty, but full of Pokemon items! It was pretty cool. The drinks were at a fun venue, and there was plenty of food. I got the chance to meet with some localish ambassadors and not-so-local ambassadors, before Dann and I headed back to our hotel.

June 13th – Go Fest 2025 Day One

Pokemon Go Fest 2025 has been a hot one! The weather has been so warm today, I thought I was going to melt. We did the early time at the park, collecting all of the merch and checking out everything it had to offer. As Dann and I are also video game journalists, we both also get press passes to these sorts of events, which include lunch, so we ate lunch at the park, eating a nice crispy chicken rice bowl, mango tapioca dessert and some drinks. It was a fun time, though we were avoiding the sun a lot! We also ran into some players from our community, which is a big plus. There were some ambassador activities on in the afternoon, which we stuck around for, before heading to our hotel to refresh after lunch. We were both just a little tired from the day. We then headed out in the afternoon to meet our local Pokemon Go Harlow community at a place to eat for dinner. This was such a fun way to connect with everyone! Dann and I then departed to a mixer for press, where it was fantastic to bump into a bunch of industry friends. During the day, our event that we are running in Brighton later this year, went live, so we had a lot to talk about at the mixer before heading back for some much needed sleep.

June 14th – Exploring Paris

We woke up in Paris and wanted to do a mix of Pokemon Go and general exploring, so we had a half and half day. As we had done our bit in the park, we could catch Pokemon while exploring the rest of the city, so we headed to the Lourve early in the morning! This place was busy and huge – we got to see the Mona Lisa in real life – which is a lot smaller than all of the replicas I have seen – and generally saw a lot of statues and other works of art. It was quite beautiful and fun, though a little hot. We then exited the Lourve and then went back to the Go Fest Park, as I had an interview set with Niantic, along with some free food to have! The interview went well, then we grabbed the same lunch we had yesterday, before exiting the park as it was just too hot there and we needed a bit of a break. We headed back to our hotel, where I did a touch of work in the air conditioned room. Nearby our hotel, we found a sort of food hall, that had pinball machines and an arcade, so we had to check that out getting far too much food. We had a good time listing to the live music too, before heading out for a long walk (so we could play more Pokemon) to the Eiffel Tower. We wanted to see the tower sparkle, and had some friends heading there as well, so met up with them and enjoyed the magic, before heading back to our hotel to sleep.

June 15th – More Pokemon in Paris

Today was a very, very packed day! We started off the morning checking out a massive park that is full of Pokemon players, as there are fantastic spawns there. We had a good time actually catching and seeing so many other players! Then, we were recommended to go to Steller for lunch by our friends Molly and Husky, who went yesterday. It was a fun space-themed place, with really fantastic food. I had a fantastic time there, before we headed to The House of Dreamers, which is a sort of instagram-esque museum of different rooms to take pictures in, which all felt very magical. We both really enjoyed this! Then, we headed out for a walk around to see some of the historical buildings in Paris we hadn’t seen yet – this was a big walk, but a fun one we even saw some live music at a bandstand, and we ended at the park we started at to finish off Go Fest. Once the event was over, we went back to our hotel to grab our bags, stopping for some delicious ice cream, and then headed to the airport, making it home at midnight.

June 16th – Back to Reality

It’s a Monday, which is full of meetings, and a busy Monday at that. Robin had a school trip today, so we needed to drop in a bunch of stuff for her school trip early. I then spent the day working, before I picked her up and Dann picked up Amelia and Kai from school. You know when your kids have been to their other house for a bit too long and all come back with problems? That was very much the vibe of this. While gone, Robin had completely chipped a tooth, Kai didn’t have his locker key anymore, so didn’t have his stuff from his locker which he did need cleaned for the next day, and we have been struggling with Kai’s social media usage, which isn’t monitored by his other house, but he had been posting inappropriate content for the last week, which is the third strike this year on inappropriate content. We contacted the other house, who acted like they were going to take it seriously, then simply didn’t. It’s such a struggle to raise children when at one house they aren’t allowed to post inappropriate things and at another it’s not considered inappropriate. Anyway, after school, Kai went to the gym as he hadn’t been going recently at his other house, Amelia, Robin, Dann and I played board games and had milkshakes at Geek Retreat. Then, we went home, had dinner, and Kai met Dann at DnD. Amelia, Robin and I went to Max Monday in Pokemon Go, before coming home for girls night, where we watched Freaky Friday, had some desserts from a local bakery, and did face masks before heading to bed.

June 17th – Busy Day

Much like yesterday, today was a lot of work and meetings. I had a bunch on in the morning, before heading off to get my hair re-dyed. My stylist has changed locations, due to her old place shutting, and so that was a whole new experience (and it had been far too long). I was exhausted today, and really felt it while getting my hair done, so I took a small afternoon nap before m y evening work and calls. I did impulse purchase a new pool yesterday, with a frame so the sides were higher, and we got that set up in the garden so the water could heat up over the next two days, making it ready for a little pool party. Then, at 6, I had a three hour lecture for a local Uni, which was all done online, on showcasing your indie game at expos. These are always quite long and take a lot out of me! Dann made a really good dinner, which powered me through, and he went out to run Spotlight Hour in Pokemon Go for me. After the lecture, I watched some TV on the couch before going to bed early.

June 18th – It’s Wednesday!

Wednesdays are always busy in our household, and this one was no exception. I had a lot of work to get done and not a lot of time to do it, which is something I am always fighting against; the clock. It did feel like a productive day, however, which was good. I then headed out to Raid Hour, to fight some raids, and did about 10 of them. We brought ice pops along as it was so hot, and there was a fantastic turn out. Towards the end of Raid Hour, we had to dip out early as a local charity had invited the fete committee (as they are one of our selected charities from the fete this year) to attend an event they were hosting with the local council chairmen. We went along, spoke to some people, fired a bow and arrow, played bingo, and spoke to the people who attend every week. This is a charity focused around running events and creating a safe space for those who are disabled, so it’s a lovely one to be at! We then met back up with our friends and went to the movie Ballerina, which was a fantastic action movie! I really enjoyed it, even though the main characters were clearly bullet proof. We had collected food bank donations from Pokemon Go, which often include a bit of cash (and Dann and I like to get a top up for each one) so after the movie we went to the shops, did a bit more shopping, then headed home to package up all of the food for drop off tomorrow morning.

June 19th – Pool is Open

We started off the day early, as Amelia has a school trip, so we needed to pack her a lunch and drop it in. She is going to the theatre and won’t be back until late, so we packed a bit of a big lunch for her. I then got down to work, getting a lot of tasks signed off. After school, Robin had a club so Dann and I picked up Kai to talk to him further about social media changes, before he went off to the gym. Robin was picked up from her club and then two of her friends came over to open the pool with her. They had a fun time and we had a burger bar as well for dinner. Amelia came home in time for dinner, quite tired, but she had been texting us all day and had a fantastic time at her play. We then did a bit of homework after friends went home and then settled in for the evening. Robin has a bake sale so Amelia and Robin helped make rice Krispy treats for it before bed!

June 20th – No Internet

We woke up today with no internet in our house or mobile data, as there was scheduled updates, which now allows houses to have 1 gigabit per second (much higher than we previously have got to have), but we needed to not have access for the morning for the upgrade. So, we got lunches ready, dropped in the rice Krispies, and then I got to baking some lemon cookies for the bake sale. Dann and I went to Costco, mainly to pick up snacks as it’s warm out and we tend to go through snacks more than big meals. I finished off the cookies, did a bit of work, and headed off to Robin’s school. Surprisingly, the bake sale itself was cancelled, so we had a bunch of extra treats that I handed out at the gate. Robin, Amelia and I went to pick out a toy for Robin’s friends party where Robin also got a pair of funky socks, and Kai went to the gym. We then went home where Amelia had a little nap, Robin did a swim, and then we headed off to her party. After her party, which she had so much fun at, we all had dinner before everyone did homework, then Robin and Amelia had a dip in the pool before bedtime.

June 21st – The Longest Day

Today was the longest day of daylight, and it felt like a long day! Robin got up early and went for a swim before breakfast. I am so glad this pool is getting so much use! We do need to drain it starting today as Dann and I are going on holiday, and we don’t want anything to happen to any animals that might make their way into it. But, for now, it’s fun. I made ube pancakes for a fun breakfast, which we enjoyed with some strawberry jam from our Cammas Hall strawberries. We then all went out to see Elio at the cinema, which was a very good movie. Kai’s girlfriend was going to go, but she ended up needing to revise instead, so it was just our family. After that, we went home and had lunch, before Amelia, Robin, Dann and I went to Community Day in Pokemon Go. Kai stayed back to revise before dinner. We came back in the late afternoon, the girls went for a dunk in the pool, and Kai started playing video games. I made ribs for dinner, which everyone enjoyed – they were from Costco and very well seasoned! Kai then tried to go to the gym, but it was shut as he had not checked the times, so didn’t end up going. We then got everyone ready for the exchange, which happened late in the evening, before Dann and I came home to chill.

June 22nd – Pokemon Picnic

Today, we had set up a Pokemon Picnic at midday in our local town. The weather was perfect, we had in-game lures to put down, and everything felt wonderful. Some brought cookies, we brought desserts, sandwiches, ice creams and drinks. It was a really fun way to hang out casually, and we do get a lot of different people at this type of event. Afterwards, Dann and I had our Paris make-up event in game, and we hung out with some of our friends during it, before returning home to watch tv together and generally chill for the rest of our Sunday. We did have a little housework, but we ended up going to bed quite early for Monday.

June 23rd – My Book!

Today, I woke up early to re-make all of the bakes for Robin’s make-up bake sale. I felt that handing in my stuff from Thursday / Friday wouldn’t be as good or as fresh as making it again, so that’s what I did. I made lemon cookies and rice Krispy treats, which were handed in around midday. I had quite a few meetings on Monday and general getting ready for the week, but was told that my book had gone on pre-order, at Waterstones! This was extremely exciting and I was really pumped to hear that we are at this stage, with a solid release date. I met up with one of my Pokemon friends in the evening to do 102 trades, before Max Monday, which was also a raid hour. As Dann and I am on holiday on Wednesday, after Dann was back from DnD, we met up with our usual gang to watch 29 Years Later, which was a really good Zombie movie, before heading home.

June 24th – Holiday

Dann and I normally go to The Lakes Hotel and Spa for our anniversary, but this year we were so busy last month that we decided to go this month. When we arrived, they let us know that they upgraded our room as we have stayed there for four years in a row, which was a really nice touch! We spent the afternoon in the spa, then went out for dinner at a nearby restaurant we had not tried, which had fantastic food I must say, before settling in for the evening in our personal hottub on our balcony. What more could one ask for?

June 25th – Still on Holiday!

We went to our hotel breakfast today, which was fantastic, before heading back to our hotel to soak in our hot tub until lunch. We went to this lovely pan-asian place, called Gilpin Spice, that I absolutely adore. It’s a Michelin star restaurant that has this pork belly I have been dreaming about since last year. The pork was absolutely perfect! We ate a lot there, trying a lot more of the menu, before heading back to our hotel for our treatments. Dann got a lava shell full body message, and I got a full body message, both of which lasting an hour. It was really lovely! We then went to the spa area and spent time in the pool, saunas, and jacuzzies, before retiring to our room to eat snacks. In the evening we had a cocktail at the lounge, with Dann getting the one inside a dome of smoke, before heading back to our room to watch some movies in bed.

June 26th – Heading Back Home

We slept in on the last day and then headed to the hotel’s breakfast, which was delicious. Dann is such a big fan of this breakfast and I do enjoy all of the fresh fruit. We then, as it was a little bit rainy out, our hotel has a Bentley that they will drive you around, so they drove us to the lake. We then took a boat out in the morning fog, which was a really beautiful experience. We always go out on the boat on the lasty day, which is just a fantastic time! We then got on the road, picking up some snacks along the way, and arrived back with just enough time to get the house in order before going to Pokemon Go Raid Day! It was fun, I really enjoyed playing with everyone, then headed home to do some work and rest.

June 27th – A Long Friday

We had a bit of a long Friday. I spent the morning working, trying to get a handle on everything. I have been working on my next book, as my current book is in the pre-order and printing phase. There is also a lot going on at the Roblox company I work for, so it’s been just tasks! We picked up Robin, Kai and Amelia from school, before Robin needed to get ready for her sleep under the stars event at her school. We got home, Kai went to the gym, Robin packed, and Amelia did some of her schooling. We ate dinner before Amelia, Robin and I went to do some Raids as Pokemon Go had another raid night. Then, Robin went off to her sleep over, where she did extremely well and had a fantastic time! Kai met us in town before heading to a dinner with his friends. Amelia, Dann and I headed home after the raids and got ready for bed after hanging out for a bit!

June 28th – Go Fest Global Day 1

Saturday was a warm one! We picked Robin up early in the morning, everyone had breakfast, then Amelia, Robin, Dann and I went out to play some Pokemon Go because it was Go Fest Global. Robin’s friends were out, we bumped into their cousins (two sets of them) and had a fantastic day. We came home for lunch, Robin went for a dip in the pool to cool off, then we went back out to do more Pokemon! Amelia had a bit of a hard time, as she had a call with her other parent where that parent was determined to make her have a bad day for seemingly no reason, so we ended up getting some treats uptown to cheer her up. In evening we went home for food, met Kai after his gym time, and recharged for the next day. There was another round in the pool before bed, along with some drumming and maths!

June 29th – Go Fest Day 2

The second day of Go Fest Global was a lot like the first. Breakfast, then heading right out. Kai stayed home to play Minecraft as his girlfriend wasn’t free to hang out for the day. Amelia and I got featured on the Pokemon Go Insta, which was nice! We hung out with friends, played a lot, then went home for lunch (and a splash in the pool), before heading back. Amelia and I got all the shinies we wanted, which were fantastic, and we just had a fun day. Some of Robin and Amelia’s friends came over to ours for dinner (and a splash in the pool together) where they played nicely for hours. It was very lovely to hear them all playing. We had dinner and then did the normal Sunday night things, showers, packing bags, and getting ready for tomorrow!

June 30th – A Monday

Amelia had a half day at school today due to the heat, which is lucky for her! We got everyone up and ready and to school, then I did a bunch of work until Amelia came home. We then hung out and did some little activities before needing to get Robin and Kai, then we went to Geek Retreat to play The Sandcastles of Burgundy, which was a lot of fun. Sadly, Amelia’s other parent has decided that Amelia, who is 13, isn’t old enough to pick where she wants to go tomorrow after school (as it’s an exchange day), and brought her to tears for the second time this week. It’s really such a selfish move to make your own child cry like this, but it’s something Amelia is use to, despite her older brother and younger sister being able to choose all of the time. When we got home, I ordered food in for everyone, Kai went to the gym, and we had girls night before Kai and Dann went to DnD. We watched a movie, did face masks, and painted our nails. Amelia was still feeling sad at bedtime, but we talked about it a lot and made the most of it.