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, currently studying full time. 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 four 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

What to pack for a summer Staycation for a five year old

We can’t wait for the summer holidays to commence. It’s been a very busy first year of school for bo…

Flower fields in the Midlands

Step outside, summertime’s in bloom! Well we have had one day of a heatwave and it’s got me all exci…

Thirty days of mindfulness

Thirty days of mindfulness

I’m a huge fan of thirty day challenges, I’ve written about all sorts of different thing…

the_amazing_adventures_of_me

🎨 Creatively Parenting a little whirlwind
📍 #Birmingham Based #familyblog
🍴 We Eat and we cook
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🚗 We go places #daysoutwithkids

Pesto pasta I tried out some dishes from @wearet

Pesto pasta

I tried out some dishes from @wearetheflavourists last month and this pesto pasta is one which we have gone back for. The trick to a good pesto pasta is to set aside a little bit of the boiled water before draining the pasta and mixing this in with the pesto sauce for a good coating all over the pasta.

These plant based meal kits have been recently launched in @waitrose and are also available on @ocadouk too.

Man on a mission Just love this pic of Arlo I sn

Man on a mission

Just love this pic of Arlo I snapped yesterday when we went out for a walk - he’s looking so grown up all of a sudden.

Peas please Adding peas to any meal for an extra

Peas please

Adding peas to any meal for an extra portion of veg - super easy way to bulk up any dish in a healthy way. This is a beef keema - made with minced beef, onions, garlic, curry powder, tomato paste, fresh tomato and a portion of peas and edemame - served with rice and fresh coriander.

I would love to lay claim to this recipe but it’s actually one of @musclefooduk ‘s ten minute recipe kits.

I’ve been working with musclefood for over a year and I’m still ordering new things every month. Quick, convenient and healthy, these are sold in individual portions. This is great to reduce food wastage and also make sure you’re getting the serving size right.

These are priced at £5 each and if you buy five then there’s 20% off automatically applied on the website.

Inclusivity for bears and all /ad This delightfu

Inclusivity for bears and all /ad

This delightful new story “Five bears” follows a bear as he wanders through the woods and makes some unexpected new bear acquaintances. Whilst every bear looks different and at first are not too keep on forming friendships, eventually they discover that united they can tackle their biggest challenge.

A powerful message from award-winning author and illustrator @catherine.rayner about celebrating differences for children in the most beautiful illustrated story. Arlo was engaged throughout and able to recognise all of the different bear species and delighted to see them all work together at the end - Arlo bought the tale to life by rescuing his own bear from a tree!

Perfection in a bowl! Not an ad….. I decided t

Perfection in a bowl!

Not an ad….. I decided to visit the @nonna_tonda stall at the @bbcgoodfoodshow and signed myself up for a box to sample the fresh pasta delights. You guys know I love a meal kit for trying out new cooking ingredients and techniques.

I’m really envious of fresh pasta because it’s something I’ve never really been able to manage to do properly. Simple food cooked well is always a winner with me and this weeks veggie option of Sicilian red pesto with a pine nut garnish was right up my street.

More than ample portions - each kit is designed for two people to share, takes minutes from box to plate and I think reasonably good value at £8.25 a portion for a dish of restaurant quality.

If you’re trying to cut down on eating out but still want to try out some exciting meals at home then this is certainly worth a shot.

This scene would not look out of place in dads gar

This scene would not look out of place in dads garden - the hat, the glasses, the deck chair, the book, the pots, the gravel which looks like it’s been swept level and all the pretty florals.

Made me giggle because it was another exhibit from @bbcgwlive

I can’t wait to get in to our garden and give it a good study up this summer - feeling so inspired and motivated after seeing so many awesome ideas.

*press visit

Swift as a shadow, short as any dream Happy midsu

Swift as a shadow, short as any dream

Happy midsummers day. Here’s a pic of our @insectloreeu butterflies as they were released. On the brief time we have with our caterpillars as they grow before turning in to chrysalis they provide so much learning opportunity.

Each butterfly paused with us fleetingly as we released them before disappearing amongst the flowers in the garden to go out and pollinate.

Enjoy the sunshine today

Wonky veg /ad The superstars @earthandwheat have

Wonky veg /ad

The superstars @earthandwheat have done it again. We loved their wonky bread box so it made sense to try out their veggie box too.

All of the veggies in this box have been saved from the food industry waste pile. Can you believe that a third of food produced ends up being wasted?

I can’t see anything wrong with the contents of this box which includes:
Cauliflower, broccoli, courgette x2, butternut squash, red onion x3, red pepper x3, sweet potato x2 and red chilli x5.

I’m going to get a soup cooking immediately using most of the veg and that will be useful for my midweek meals. I will probably make a med veg style roasting dish with some herbs from the garden which will work as a nice meat free Monday meal too. I quite like having a surprise as it makes me think about trying different meals out.

There’s over 5kg of veg in this box and it’s all from U.K. based farms which reduces food miles.

Certainly worth checking out - boxes can be ordered on their website which also includes bread and biscuit options.

Good food! As promised I have lots of awesome foo

Good food!

As promised I have lots of awesome food to share with you all and first up I have this awesome @lotusbiscoffuk fudge from @stickychocolateltd - their display at the @bbcgoodfoodshow was piled high with some delectable fudgy treats. (Stand FC44 if you’re there today).

Sticky Chocolate is a family run business based in Blackpool and founders Paul and Gaynor pride themselves on creating the finest high quality fudge.

One of the best things about the good food show is being able to find lots of small/independent businesses and to try out new things. There’s so many stalls to explore in the producers village that you’re spoilt for choice.

Do my worry if you can’t get to the show - they travel up and down the country so might be coming to a show near you soon…… of if you can’t wait you can order from sticky’s online!!

*press visit

I’ll bring you flowers in the pouring rain! To

I’ll bring you flowers in the pouring rain!

Today was so much fun - I visited @bbcgoodfoodshow and @bbcgwlive with @donnaoluban.

Lots of snippets from our day are in stories - we originally planned to go just for the food show but I’ve got bags full of flowers I didn’t plan on buying! Watching dems from celebrity chefs and finishing the day with the iconic Dame Mary Berry was the highlight for us.

I’ll pop up a show report on the blog and will be sharing some of the amazing brands we discovered at the show for weeks to come….. and of course trying out some new recipes too!

*press visit

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