Project 365 – May

May is always a very fun month, as it’s an important one! This year, we started to add Spring to our household, I gave a talk in London, there was plenty of Pokemon, we all went on holiday, and we celebrated Family Day. Each day of May I shared a photo and little diary entry, as apart of Project 365. This is a challenge to share a photo and bit about your day, every day, for 365 days. Some bloggers post daily, some weekly, and others post monthly like me. You can check out some of the other bloggers taking on this challenge at the bottom of this page.

May 1st – Tasks

Thursdays are often a big catch up day, but today was particularly a big catch up as tomorrow we are going on holiday with our kids! It’s Robin’s new years resolution that she goes on more holidays, and as we didn’t manage to get the dates to line up with Easter, we decided to go on the bank holiday weekend. With that in mind, Dann and I did a bunch of work in the morning, then started doing tasks. The weather has held and been fantastic, which is great, so I pulled the dead plants and weeds out of the front garden box and planted new ones. We got a new lawn mower, replaced one of the kids beds, washed all their bedding and dried it (the sun was so good we made the beds again the same day!) I mentioned that one of our cats have learned how to open all of the handles for our doors, so Dann started the process of replacing all of our door nobs and I did some re-arranging of art and washing the walls, etc. Lots of little tasks! In the evening, Dann made Greek Chicken and we watched make some noise on Drop Out until I fell asleep.

May 2nd – A Road Trip

Only Dann and I know we are all going on holiday. When we first went to Woolacombe Bay, we just picked everyone up from school and went straight there, as a surprise, so we are re-creating that. Dann and I packed all of their stuff up, got snacks, loaded up the car, and then did a bunch of work before getting them all from school. The drive was a bit of a long one, especially as Kai had had a very bad start to his day at his other house. He didn’t have half of his school stuff by the sound of it, and had to go back. So, him collecting all of his stuff did throw us off timing wise. We did get to Woolacombe Bay in the evening, having a packed dinner in the car, and we all settled into our rooms and went to bed.

May 3rd – Woolacombe Bay Day 1

Our days at Woolacombe Bay are PACKED! Robin woke up first, so we both had an hours wonder around the camp, checking out what had changed and what is the same. We then went to the little shop and got everyone breakfast before returning back to our caravan. Amelia and Robin got ready to go to Water Walkerz, where they went in giant beach balls and ran on water. Kai went to the gym with Dann. We all then met up to do pottery painting, which came out beautifully, before returning to our camp for lunch. We then went to the nature area to make wooden bird houses, bows, and other arts and craft. After that, Amelia and I went to the spa while Dann, Robin and Kai went swimming. We all then had dinner, and the kids went on a giant obstacle course before returning home. In the evening, the girls and I went for a walk through the bluebell forest, while Dann and Kai had boys movie night and saw the new Marvel film.

May 4th – Woolacombe Bay Day 2

The second day was just as packed as the first! Robin slept in, so I went to the shop and grabbed breakfast, and then we all got ready for the day. The first activity was a different form of Water Walkerz, for Amelia and Robin, before heading to the gym for Kai. We then played a bit at the arcade, before going to our nature crafts. This time, it was clay, frames, and beaded necklaces. We then did fire lighting and had hot coco, before going to another arcade for a bit! We actually got nearly 2000 tickets at the arcade, which was very exciting! Kai went to the gym and the rest of us went swimming, before we went to a map reading course where we found hidden stamps around the camp. Then, we all packed up and went to the beach to have dinner. Most of us had pizza on the beach, but Kai, due to his lifestyle, wanted something that fit his macros better, so we found a local seafood place and got him seabass. We all then headed home for bed.

May 5th – Back Home

Today, we woke up and headed back home. There was a bit of time in the morning where we got the car set up, Kai went to the gym, and the rest of us took a little walk through the bluebell forest. We then took the long drive back, stopping off a few times as needed. Our goal was to get back in time for raid hour, which we did! We found that Kai had actually not done any of his homework assigned on Tuesday, so when we got back in, there was a bit of a break where he had to focus on that. It’s quite annoying that he hasn’t been doing any homework at his other house – but there wasn’t a way for us to check while on holiday as there isn’t really much internet. We did make it back in time for Robin to make a card for her friend’s birthday, before we met up with them at Pokemon Go Max Monday! There was a handful of people out, which was nice to see, and we enjoyed playing together before Amelia, Robin and I headed home. Kai and Dann went right to DnD, so the girls and I ordered dinner and watched a movie before bed. I then stayed up a bit late doing the layout for the fete we are helping out with.

May 6th – Back to work

Another Tuesday pretending to be a Monday, and I woke up starving. All day I felt like I was starving if I am honest, I just was craving food after food! Absolutely wild. In the morning, after packing lunches and getting everyone into school, I went straight to work, I had a lot of meetings from Monday pushed to Tuesday and then my normal meetings on Tuesday. It was a lot of back to back to back meetings, but I feel like I got a lot done. In the evening, Dann and I went out for Spotlight hour – and even found a hundo, though it ran from Dann, and then we went to our committee meeting for the fete we are helping out with. It’s nearly the time of the fete so these are the last few meetings – everything is really coming together. We then headed home, I watched a little bit of Drop Out and then went to bed.

May 7th – Pokemon Go and Movies

It’s a Wednesday – another one full of work. I am not sure if people really want to hear about work in this, but I do work quite a bit. I woke up and started work with tasks for a corporate company who does training. Once I had done quite a bit of tasks there, I moved on to influencer marketing for a Roblox company, then made a plan for a meeting in the evening for a game development and porting company who I do some consulting for. It is a balancing act, really! I also looked over my book for the final time and helped run an event in Dubai for another games company, providing remote support. By 5pm, I was very much done with work. Dann and I headed out for Pokemon Go Raid Hour, which was a bit of a smaller one, but the Pokemon this week isn’t that interesting. I already have 3 shinies, and many people are saving their raid passes for Go Fest. We then went out to dinner at Mui and Koko with two of our friends, who then joined us for the movie this week! We saw The Accountant 2, which was a good action movie – lots of fun moments to break out the seriousness of the entire thing. We then headed home and I went to sleep as I needed to get up early tomorrow!

May 8th – Going to the Dentist

Today, I had a dentist appointment. Dann and I did some work in the morning, cracking on with some stressful things, trying to race against the clock when it comes to school runs. In the morning, I had to go to the dentist for my 6 months teeth cleaning. I really dread these, as someone who just started actually taking care of my teeth in the last year, it’s a scary experience, but I survived! Once it was time for the school runs, Robin had a club, so Dann left to pick up Kai and Amelia but I got to stay home. Amelia and I played with some slime after school and spoke about plans for tomorrow, as she has the day off, before Dann headed out to get Robin and take her to gymnastics. Kai went to the gym at that time, so everyone was sorted. Amelia made some dinner with me, her classic fried fish, and then I made the cheese cake filling for our kids Easter Egg chocolates, to decorate and eat them. Then, my dad called in the evening, letting me know he has found me on Youtube and can see my videos, which was a real delight. It’s great that he is using technology more and that he can interact – previously I have had to mail him pictures for him to see what we are all up too!

May 9th – Amelia’s Day

As previously mentioned, Amelia had the day off of school today. I woke up early, packed two lunches and bags, and then Dann got Kai and Robin up. After a bit, Amelia came down too for breakfast. Kai and Robin went to school, then we picked up Amelia’s friend to hang out for the day. We went to The Potty Painting Studio, as the girls wanted to paint some pottery, where we had boba tea and painted some lovely pottery! We then headed home, where I made lunch and they both played Minecraft for a bit, before it was time to bring her friend home and pick up Kai and Robin. Kai went to the gym directly after school, as he had sorted going with a friend from his school, then we all packed up for a windy dinner at the beach! The beach was a bit more windy then I expected but we had some lovely food, stuck our feet in the sand, and then headed back home for bedtime.

May 10th – Pokemon Go in the Sun

Robin woke up very early for a Saturday, but I was already up catching up on some housework. She ended up playing with some new toys we had to review, which is always fun. In the morning, before lunch, we went up town to do Dynamax Raids in Pokemon Go. They were extremely tough, but we have such a good group, it was easy work. Amelia and Robin got shakes from Five Guys, before heading over to their other house. Dann and I had lunch, I did a little bit of work, then we headed out for the evening slot of Dynamax Raids, which saw even more people! I also picked up some more litter picking bags from the council and did a bit of a litter pick on our block, as the sun is out so we want to make sure our area is clean. I am thinking about purchasing a bee house for the grassy area outside, but am not sure, as it’s technically not owned by me. In the evening, Dann made steak for dinner and we both watched some Drop Out.

May 11th – Cooking Class

Every few months, a local Chinese cooking school runs a cooking class, that I volunteer to help with. This was today! So I woke up, did some house work, and then headed out, as I am the person who works the door. We made spring rolls and summer rolls, which were both very fun. This is the type of class were you end up with tons of food, no matter what, and lots of fun conversation. I’ve really made a lot of friends there! Once it was finished, we dropped the food off home, then heading up the town for Pokemon Go Community Day, which was Pawmi, a new shiny. I always hunt for the shiny background Pokemon, but didn’t have much luck – though I still ended up with nearly 20 shinies. It was very fun to connect with our Pokemon Go friends, as there is always so many people out for Community Day. Dann and I also tried some new drinks from Starbucks, and I used my points so one of them were free. In the evening I watched FRESH on Disney Plus and ate leftover spring rolls.

May 12th – Pokemon and Friends

Today was a bit of a running around day. Dann and I had a few errands to run, he has been replacing all of the door knobs to ones that our cat cannot open, so needed a few more to finish them off. We also had some items to post, and drop off at a friends who is writing for B3. I had a lot of back to back meetings in the afternoon, but treated myself to the Cherry Lemonade they have at McDonalds, and a cup of pickles, as a little snack. Dann made lunch, which was wings. In the evening, he went off to DnD, and I went off to Max Monday. One of my best friends’ train was actually cancelled, so we both ended up going out to Nanado’s for dinner, which was fun, and hung around until DnD was done. Dann normally gives a few people rides home from DnD, so he gave the person I was hanging out with a ride too, before we headed home and went to sleep.

May 13th – Into London

I woke up early today, for a very long day. I made some breakfast then headed out to London to give a talk on using LinkedIn at Happy. This was quite fun – I also stayed for some interesting talks and had a fantastic lunch. At the end, there was even a pub quiz, which our team won! I then headed back home just in time for a committee meeting for the fete we’ve been helping out with. I had grabbed some cupcakes from Lola’s Cupcakes, which we all very much enjoyed at the meeting. It was a long one, and when I got home, Dann had a friend over to play some UNDER NDA Pokemon Cards. He ordered dinner in, which was needed, and I ate with his friend before heading up to bed early as pubic speaking does zap my energy.

May 14th – It’s Wednesday!

Today Dann wanted to go to Costco, as we had a bunch of stuff that we needed to get from there. There are a few items that Kai loves that we can only find at Costco, and I had promised to pick up a few things our girls love. We grabbed a curry for dinner and ate lunch there. We have been collecting some donations from toy brands we’ve worked with for a raffle Robin’s school is running, so I dropped some items off as they were stacking up, and more came in the evening! I had a few meetings and bits of work to do, before heading off to Raid Hour. It’s a fun Pokemon this week! We then saw the movie Final Destination Bloodlines, which was a little intense! I have not seen any of the series, so felt a bit wild and wacky.

May 15th – We didn’t go out!

A rare day in our household, today we didn’t go out. We did a bunch of work, I had some ramen from Costco, and we started sorting our back garden which is a never-ending job. Dann got an entire tree knocked down, which brought a lot of room to the back garden. Our potatoes are sprouting, along with some flowering poppies at the back of our garden and our lily pad flower is back again! It’s nice to see the blooms. It felt like a normal, boring day. In the evening, we both watched all of Stolen Girl on Disney Plus, which was a neat series. Otherwise, nothing really happened.

May 16th – To the Circus

Today started off with lots of bits of work and running around last minute before the weekend. I saw the Circus was in town, so after school we picked up Kai’s girlfriend and went to the circus. She was very nice, this is our second time meeting her. She had not been to a circus before! Everyone had a fantastic time, then we went home for dinner, homework, and getting ready for tomorrow really. I was exhausted for some reason, so I headed to bed early.

May 17th – Packed Saturday

Today I woke up early and packed some lunches, as we had a busy day! We went out to see a new exhibition at the Museum of Natural History, which we were invited to for our blog. Very exciting as this is the second time we’ve worked with them! Dann and I were actually featured in the ads for their previous exhibit. Then, we headed back to our town with Kai going to the gym and the rest of us heading to the town centre for Shadow Raids. The weather was lovely, our girls got ice creams, and everyone enjoyed catching shinies in the sunshine. We headed home at just gone 4:30, and then I got on with some housework while Amelia played Roblox, Kai did revisions, and Dann and Robin played a bunch of video games. Dinner was simple and easy chicken burgers, before drumming, playing, trampolining and heading to bed as tomorrow is another packed day.

May 18th – Lego Festival at Legoland

Today we went to the Lego Festival at Legoland Windsor. It was a pretty fun event, with lots of activities all throughout the park. We also got a chance to go on some of our favorite rides to boot! It was a long, fun day of Legoing. We packed lunch, so had a bit of a picnic there, and also tried out some of their new treats for the Lego Festival season. We then headed home in time for loaded potato skins and steak for dinner, and for Kai to go to the gym of course. We then packed a bunch of school bags for Monday!

May 19th – Max Monday with Friends

Monday is always really busy, and this time it’s even more jumbled. We started off strong, waking up early so that we could pack some lunches and get out on a good foot. Kai had some stuff that he needed to sort with his school bag, so there was just a lot going on. We have a busier than average day ahead! I went straight into work, especially as two of the events that I run have major milestones today, which is exciting. I feel like I really got a lot done before picking up Robin. One of Amelia’s friends has been wanting to come out with Amelia to Pokemon Go, so she came over right after school, and we all went up town to play Stomp the Plank at Geek Retreat. We then returned home for dinner, before going back out for Max Monday. It was fun to have more people to play with. It’s going to be quite a friend-filled week, but we always love being a home that everyone can come visit. The girls then came home for Girls Night where we watched The Hannah Montana Movie and did face masks. For our dessert, we got a really fun little treat from a local Polish bakery.

May 20th – Busy Tuesday

We normally have people over on the other Tuesday, but due to working last Tuesday, it’s sort of moved to this week! So, I woke up and had a bit of cleaning to focus on. After packing lunches, checking PE kits, and brushing hair, I went straight into a work meeting, and then started some cleaning. We had an area of our kitchen I have not really given some time too, as well as the filter in our Mila needed replacing, etc. There was a lot of little tasks. Dann made some fried rice for lunch, we went shopping as Robin has a bake sale at school this week, I had more meetings, and then we went to Spotlight hour in Pokemon Go. I also finished watching You before spotlight hour – really disappointing ending. After spotlight I started making burgers, fries, onion rings, and fixings for our friends. We played a movie trivia game for tabletop – Tom brought desserts – and had a chill evening.

May 21st – Pokemon, Meetings and Movies

Today was the longest day on Earth. Each time I completed a task, I looked at the clock, and it was like no time had passed. I got a lot done, but it was exhausting! Normally time moves more quickly. I had some meetings today, lots of writing and little tasks to do. It was quite boring and unremarkable. In the late afternoon, cupcakes were delivered from a local baker as Raid Hour tonight was a little special! It was Violet’s birthday, and her brother’s birthday was last week on a non-Pokemon day, so I ordered some custom cupcakes including their favorite Pokemon Muk and Dedenne. They were delighted with the cupcakes and everyone else enjoyed eating them too. I had ordered two dozen, which was the perfect amount for those that eat cupcakes, which surprisingly isn’t a ton of the adults that come. It was also a food bank donation day – the second one we had this month – so we are going to be donating all of the month’s gatherings tomorrow morning. After raid hour, Dann and I went to our fete committee meeting, as the fete is Monday, and finalized some stuff. We then went with Liam, Tom, Ryan and Emily to the movies, which was Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning. This isn’t the first Mission Impossible movie I saw! I enjoyed it, but it felt like the longest movie after the longest day. We got home after midnight and I went right to bed.

May 22nd – Pizza Party

I am not quite sure how today ended up the way it did. Originally, Amelia had asked if one or two of her friends could come over, but by dinnertime, there were 4 of her friends at ours! It was fun to have so many people over; we did make your own pizza in the pizza oven. Robin had a lot of fun playing with everyone and Amelia was pretty happy too. Kai did not have pizza, as it didn’t fit in with his lifestyle choices, and instead was very kind about me making him something different. We had a lot of PE kits to wash and various chores to do, so it was a packed afterschool time. Robin’s friend who was over even lost their tooth! Kai went to the gym, of course, and we all settled back into the evening once everyone had gone. I had a bunch of baking to do for Robin’s bake sale tomorrow; rainbow cookies and white chocolate rice krispies.

May 23rd – MCM Comicon London

Another, extremely busy day. I woke up, finished packaging up the treats for Robin’s bake sale, packed some lunches and back packs, and then everyone got up to get ready for school. We had a long day ahead! Once Robin, Kai and Amelia were dropped into school, Dann and I went straight to MCM Comicon London, where I spent way to much money on stuff, and needed to dart around to cover various aspects of the event. It was a fun but busy time and we were exhausted by the time the school run came around. Robin had a friend over after school, to go to the Lilo and Stitch movie. We went straight there, grabbed some snacks, and then went in. Her friend was very excited, as was Robin and Amelia – Kai opted to hit the gym. Once the movie was over, we all headed home, and I made up some dinner. Kai came home, I left Dann with Robin and her friend, and Amelia and I went to our cupcake class which was fantastic.

May 24th – Rock the Park and Baking

On Saturday we wanted to check out the Rock the Park 2025 event in our local town! Kai’s girlfriend was actually preforming later in the day, though Kai was at his other home and not able to attend to show his support, so we stopped by to wish her the best. The music itself was very good, primarily from students of Rock School, and it was fantastic to see their talent. Sadly, there wasn’t many food stalls this year, so we ended up going to Subway for lunch, before heading to Pokemon Go Community Day. I got 12 shinies, which is fantastic. We then headed home where I spent some time working and cleaning up the house, as we have a busy few days ahead.

May 25th – Another Busy Weekend

We started off the morning early, with me making some of the rice krispy treats I needed for the Potter Street Fete tomorrow. Then, we went to Brick Festival in our town, which is a celebration of LEGO. The event was on the smaller side, so we spent about an hour there, then headed home to do a bit of baking, before Pokemon Go Gigantamx Battles. There was a massive turn out, 120 people ended up battling with us! This was a very fun event, though no shinies today. I then headed home to continue baking pretzels, jam cookies, lemon cookies, sugar cookies and sprinkle cookies. We went to bed early, as we had an early day the next day.

May 26th – Potter Street Fete

After nearly half of a year of meetings, it was finally time for Potter Street Fete. Me and Dann showed up at 5 am to do set-up with one other member, and there was a lot to set up before the opening at noon! We hung banners, got the arena set up, and did a lot of the general moving stuff around. At 8 am, others started to arrive and some of the stalls went to be set up. I was in charge of the map, guiding people where to go, and Dann was in charge of showing them their stand area and making sure everyone had space. Then, at noon, the event started. I gave out maps and liter picked, Dann took photos and ran stuff about, loads of others were helping too. It was a really, really good event! Community is so important to me, and having one like this, is so much fun. The event ended at 4:30, Dann stayed until DnD helping with clean-up, but in the end myself and that other person from 5am were the last ones moving chairs and putting stuff away until 8pm. I then went home, completely exhausted, took a bath and went to bed.

May 27th – Tuesday feeling Monday

On Tuesdays that feel like Monday, there are double the meetings, so I spent a lot of today in meetings. My body was pretty done with me, due to my spinal issues and doing so much work over the Monday. We did some cleaning up and I watched all of the Hunger Games series today. In the evening, we went out for Spotlight Hour, where a few people walked around with us, but I went home early due to my walking issues. It’s just a rest day I suppose!

May 28th – Raid Hour and Movies

Today I realized that I would soon be going to Spain and needed to get a lot of work done, so I spent a lot of today focusing on work. I got some news about my book going to the next stage and about marking plans, which is super exciting! In the evening, I headed out to raid hour, but took it easy as my back still isn’t fully there. We then went home, Dann cooked a really lovely gnocchi dish, and then we met up with friends to watch the newest Karate Kid: Legends in cinema. It was a very good movie, though some of the action shots were really blurry. We then hung out until our local mall closed.

May 29th – Another Movie?!

We picked up our kids early today from their other house, and then I spent some time working, making lunch, and playing! Robin is into drawing today, Amelia has done her drumming and have been playing Roblox. Kai has been doing Kai things, with him going to the gym earlier in the day. We had an early dinner, then headed to the open air cinema! This had a real community and family feel to it, with us all enjoying walking around the woods and getting settled into our comfortable seating area, before the movie started. Before we went, we grabbed a bunch of unusual snacks from our local Asian grocery, which was even more fun. On the way home, after watching Inside Out, Robin talked about how much she wanted to go again, before we settled in at home for an evening of games and hanging out.

May 30th – Family Day

Today, we celebrated Family Day, which is the day we all became a family. This is our sixth year as a family, which feels like such a long time! Each year, we tend to re-create the same thing that we did the first year, our first major family outing, which was to Norwich Gaming Festival, a festival full of local video games, alt controls, and gaming-related fun. Norwich Gaming Festival this year had a few more alt controls than last year, which Amelia and Robin both found to be super fun. Robin even played on an old telephone! Kai liked the game jam games, finding some strategy to sink his teeth into. Outside, we also played with all of the video-games-in-real-life like volleyball for Pong! It’s a neat little event. Afterwards we explored the shops, stopped at our favorite fruit market for some exotic fruit, and did some shopping before heading to Gonzo’s Tea Room. Kai is on a different dietary course this year, so he grabbed some food to go at a chain that had calories, and the rest of us ordered food at Gonzo’s eating all together. We reflected on the last year of being a family and how much our lives have all changed.

May 31st – Fairy Gardens and Pokemon

Robin started off the day playing a new video game, which had just come out on Xbox, and had basically finished it by the end of the day. It’s so good to see her find new media she really enjoys! Amelia spent some of her morning drumming and drawing, before we had lunch. Our local museum and walled gardens was holding a Fairy Forest day, so we went along to that right after lunch today. There were fairy houses to find, people dressed up and acting in character, little mini-games, stories by the fairy queen herself! It was a magical time, particularly for Robin who fit in the age group, but the rest of us did enjoy being out in the sun for a bit. We then headed home where Amelia, Dann, Robin and I went out for Pokemon. Robin and Amelia’s friends were there and the turnout was huge, as it was Gigantamax day, with a new feature Pokemon. We did a few battles before Kai met us and then went to the gym, then we went shopping for some birthday gifts for a party tomorrow, before returning home to cook dinner, play video games, and make cards.