2015 A Year in Pictures

I’ve done this for a few years now, it’s a bit out of character for this blog but I hope those who just come for the ranting will forgive a little self indulgence just for one post!

Overall 2015 was a pretty good year. Looking back through my pictures has reminded me of all the fun things we’ve done as a family. There was no single stand out event but I guess I’ll remember it as a year of getting outdoors and sleeping under canvas as I had the opportunity to become a festival reviewer and we spent much of the summer in sunny fields watching bands or, more often, kicking back while the kids had fun. By the time we finally packed our tent away for the year MissM was decidedly unimpressed with the idea of sleeping in a house again!

It was also a year dotted with sadness. Of course you don’t get to 36 without having lost some people who were important to you but this year we unexpectedly had to say goodbye to friends our own age who we had known since university. I’m not sure I’ll ever feel old enough for that.

These are the things that make up life though I suppose, love, loss, crowded commutes and drinking cider in the sun. Watching your children grow through days that can seem unending while years are gone in a blink.

So goodbye 2015, here’s your edited highlights from the SouthwarkBelle family:

January

We visited the Otters in Battersea Park and MissM braved the cold on Peckham Rye

February

There has been a lot of dressing up this year, in Ferbruary it was “Flamingo dancer” for MissM and Tinkerbell MissE for World book day – I made that tutu! Me! I did craft!

March

MissM moved into a big girl bed, so we did our first ever Ikea hack to make bunks with a den.

And we returned to Coombe Mill in Cornwall for another lovely Easter holiday. MissE and I went a bit Poldark when she had her first go at horse riding up on Bodmin Moor and MissM made some new furry friends.

April

We came home via Devon and some more ponies, the girls also got a visit from The Easter Mummy

May

We kicked off a summer of outdoor fun with festivals number one and two (of five). First we returned to Feast In The Woods, with the whole family this year (last year MissM had chicken pox so MissE and I went alone). We finished up the half term with my first assignment for Festival Kidz, reviewing Wychwood Festival in Cheltenham.

Its a tough job being a festival reviewer!

June

More camping, this time just the four of us in the woods, the kids had their tea while Daddy inflated our new, enormous, inflatable tent (I honestly think it’s bigger than the first studio flat me and MrSB rented in London).

July

Time to start the main festival season, three weekends in a row starting with a very VERY wet one at Jimmies Farm. MissE had a great time though, taking to the stage with the wonderful Flying Seagulls Project…

and it would have taken more than a wind and rain to put the girls off enjoying Justin Fletcher and Mr Bloom

August

For festival no.2 the sun came out and we had a blast at Standon Calling

MissE storms to a win in the Kids v Hen party dance off

Kids science workshops! Yay!

We finished off our festival year at the gorgeous and really rather posh, Wilderness festival

Wilderness – where the kids craft activities are run by The V&A

Me and MissM went for a walk and found a Mardis Gras parade

Chilling out with a view of the main stage

Oh and someone turned 6!

September

We’d bought a family membership for Historic Royal Palaces in the Summer so made use of it with trips to Kensington Palace and Hampton court

October

We spent half term with my parents in Devon and found ourselves with some keen babysitters and for once good weather up on Dartmoor so MrSB and I headed off for a good long walk and found this gorgeous ancient oak wood.