The amazing adventures of me

Lavania carrying Arlo on her back in the midst of a wildflower field on a sunny day.

This is our family adventure blog – the journal of our life – which is a bit of everything really.

We’re a fun loving pair. I’m Lavania, a single mum and teacher. I have a whole host of hobbies and interests – right now it’s all about balancing the craziness of life with Arlo, who is a five year old little whirlwind. We are based in Birmingham (UK) .

We share guides to our adventures in Birmingham as well as arts and crafts projects which keep us busy at home.

You can also find lots of play ideas and toy reviews, family friendly recipes, our home renovation projects, holiday journals, and the occasional journal and opinion based post within our family blog .

We hope you enjoy reading all about our days out and find inspiraton to have a family adventure today.

Recent posts

Essential Tips for Men’s Health: How To Maintain Good Health and Well-Being

As a man, your health and well-being should be your top priority. Taking care of your mi…

What Manicure to Do for Luck?

Are you looking to bring a bit of luck into your life with your nails? Or maybe you just want to loo…

4 Fun-Filled Days Out Ideas for Families Visiting Barcelona

Renowned for its world-famous architecture, the vast expanse of coastline, breath-taking a…

the_amazing_adventures_of_me

Creatively Parenting a little whirlwind
U.K. blogger and digital content creator
Our favourite colour is rainbow
We eat, play and go places

What’s in the fridge This evenings dinner is a

What’s in the fridge

This evenings dinner is a rather unique combination of pesto pasta with asparagus tips, peas, red pepper and sausages. Arlo said that’s what he wanted and so that’s what we had as there wasn’t really much else I could think of as an alternative.

It was surprisingly good too.

Throwback Thursday Back in 2021 I shared this pi

Throwback Thursday

Back in 2021 I shared this picture. It was my first day back at uni. After the chaos that was 2020 I decided to embark on a career change and train to become a teacher. I wanted to do it and at the time the govt promised that the starting salary for teachers would be £30,000.

This was a huge drop in terms of the salary I was capable of earning in my previous role but I did the number crunching and figured out that not having to pay for childcare during school holidays would make it worth my while. So I sent off my ucas application and was delighted to be accepted.

I will say right now that I love being a teacher. I actually wonder why I didn’t do this sooner - and then I remember….. it’s because it doesn’t pay the bills.

The promised starting salary did not materialise. This is why I still write as a freelancer and continue to create content for social media.

There’s thousands of teachers who like me also have second jobs. The time spent working elsewhere would be time I would gladly put in to developing my professional practice or subject knowledge.

What’s even worse is that some choose to leave the profession because they have been offered more money elsewhere for far less stress.

In turn this whole dynamic is creating a statistical nightmare. The number of people choosing to train to teach is low. Especially in subjects where there are lucrative alternative jobs. I totally understand this and I don’t blame anyone for making a choice which suits them.

The problem is where does this leave our children?

When teachers simply can’t afford to teach then what kind of education will my child receive? Will they leave school with the qualifications to pursue the career of their choice?

This uncertainty is why I was on strike yesterday and I will continue to strike for change.

New plates I’ve reached a point in my life now

New plates

I’ve reached a point in my life now where buying new plates makes me happy. I bought this and a spotty blue number from @habitatuk / @sainsburys - I have this glass fronted cupboard in my kitchen which is full of random plates and bowls which all come out whenever I set the table. I like having little bowls for dips and different colours really do make a difference when it comes to the appearance of food. (I have to admit I did think these would look cute on the grid too).

With that being said I’m going to extend my collection and start adding interesting plates to my classroom for the pupils to use when presenting their food. I’m going to start in charity shops and then also head to car boots but if anyone local has any nice plates going spare then I’ll gladly accept donations too.

Breakfast was natural yoghurt with cereal and mixed berries. I fancied chocolate so added a little cocoa powder and some sprinkles too.

Look and see! I’ve spent hours browsing throug

Look and see!

I’ve spent hours browsing through last years pictures in my phone - there’s thousands of memories there and so I decided to pull the best bits of 2022 in to an album and get them organised and printed off in to a keepsake book.

I can’t wait for it to arrive and to look through it all with Arlo. Now he’s five he’s got an insane little memory - it’s funny how the mind works because he recalls things which I forget about so he’s going to love looking through it all.

This year we’ve started a scrap book to store the memories as we go. He’s heavily involved in the creative side of things and has been drawing pictures, writing things down and sticking things in - it’s a little chaotic but I love it even more.

I can’t wait to see how this year unfolds, we’ve made it to the end of Jan already and there’s so much more to come!

Curry club 🍴 This week is time to prepare one

Scratch that itch Today we went for a lovely win

Scratch that itch

Today we went for a lovely winter walk @bodenhamarboretum and happened upon the winter wassail, where the apple trees were wished good health - morris dancers and their music could be heard ringing out across the ponds and lake.

Arlo’s favourite spot on the estate is the farm yard and today he was particularly besotted with these cows.

Last year we saw one being born and he thinks that this could be the one, and he also said they had matching curly golden hair. 😂

We spotted a sign which said calves are due in March so certainly worth penciling in a date in the diary to visit this beautiful Arboretum as all the daffs will be out by then too.

Anyway - bodenham fits in to our #tennertickets series. Right now it’s £4.50 for adults and £2.50 for children and that includes a free return before the main season begins. Bargain!!

Main season begins 18th Feb when tickets are £6.50/£3.50 - three and under are free so still coming in at budget.

We love that car parking is free, there’s an awesome snack station and restaurant open on selected days. Equally you could bring along a picnic as there’s lots of benches and places to pause for a bite to eat. You can also buy duck food for £1.50 - but beware of the fish!!

There’s a longer walking route which takes you through woodland - plenty of bird boxes to investigate, pools to explore and dens to build. Arlo’s highlight is the working farm yard with cows, pigs, sheep and donkeys to greet. With beautiful landscaped parkland to explore with some beautiful follies around the main lake there’s plenty to see and you can amble around at your leisure for hours.

We took along our leaf identification kit from @woodlandtrust and also did some observational drawings of ducks and fish whilst sat at the “giants” table.

Top tip: wear wellies!!!

Dreaming of beach sunsets It’s got to the end

Dreaming of beach sunsets

It’s got to the end of January and I’ve caved in and booked in a little mini break for us to look forward to. I’m on a very tight budget so I’ve used the newspaper holiday codes and scoured the internet for offers and managed to secure some amazing deals. Heading away in a caravan for less than £80 is fab - there’s usually loads to do on the holiday parks including swimming pools and evening entertainment plus of course being walking distance to a beach for views like this is a novelty when you live slap bang in the middle of the country.

Perfect pie day I’ve been thinking about a Shep

Perfect pie day

I’ve been thinking about a Shepard’s pie all week and every time this week I attempted to cook something cropped up - but today I finally got around to it and boy it was worth the wait! I’ve taken to spooning the mash on top like this to get more crispy bits and it was a hit with Arlo.

This is super easy - I browned the minced meat in a pan with onions and just planned to add peas - but then I had half a pack of casserole veg in the fridge so added that which bulked the pie out, doubling the portions. I left it on the hob for a while, topping up with stock, seasoning and my fave herbs. I added the whole lot to my dish, lots of liquid left means there’s no need to make any extra gravy - there’s no way to take a pretty pic of the plates I served up but for food like this it doesn’t matter as it tastes soooo good!

Food club After a busy few weeks of healthy eati

Food club

After a busy few weeks of healthy eating in the classroom we decided that we needed a treat in club and so what better time to practice a few pancake recipes? These chocolate beauties are fluffy American style pancakes - showcasing perfectly the food science of raising agents when you compare the rise and fluffiness to traditional pancakes so it’s an educational experience too - winwin!

Chasing the sun Yesterday morning I realised tha

Chasing the sun

Yesterday morning I realised that for the first time this year it wasn’t dark on my way to work. I know we’re still technically in the middle of winter but getting to see the sunrise before stepping in to the building did wonders for my mood.

By the end of next week I should be leaving before the sun sets too…….and then before we know it, I’ll be setting up the table in the garden for alfresco evening meals, and dancing bare foot in festival fields.

I’ll try and hold on to those thoughts when I’m de-icing my car first thing!

Load More Follow on Instagram