Scooty Wooty's Pony Riding School

For years I have been saying that I think Holly would be really interested in trying her hand at horse riding but never got around to find somewhere for her to give it a go. Then last week I stumbled across Scooty Wooty's Pony Parties in Battlesbridge where they do 30 min groom and ride. So as the kids have now broken up from school we decided to get Holly booked in for last Friday and as expected she absolutely loved it.

Scooty Wooty's is not just a pony making company that plonk children on a pony and trek up and down a few times. They actually teach the kids the different parts of the pony, teach them how to care for them and groom, how to be safe around pony's and horses and then horse riding skills as well. So Holly was taught how to squeeze her legs when using her voice to give the money a command such as trot on or gallop. 

Holly concentrated really well and although this was her first lesson she actually advanced to a little gallop. The teacher was so impressed that she gave Holly a large rosette as a reward. Once Holly had finished with her pony riding session we had a nice little walk around Battlesbridge and enjoyed an nice cup of tea and cake at the tea rooms.

Now the question is how much is this new hobby of Holly's going to cost me as she wanted to book up another lesson next week!

Holly with her safety helmet on and ready for her first pony riding lesson.

Before riding the kids are taught a bit about the pony's and how to care for them.

They teach the children about correct posture and having your feet turned in to ride.

Then it was time to start learning some basic riding skills.

Holly took to the pony riding really well and progressed rapidly in her first lesson.

So much so that she was given this large rosette as a reward.

Exploring Battlesbridge antiques wearing our face masks which has now become the new normal.

Interesting motorbike bursting through a wall.

Holly wanted a picture taken with all of the antiques.

And this one.

Holly also took a liking to this dog which resembled a baby Gino but turned out to be a 9 year old dog!!

Whilst Holly was riding the pony, the boys were abusing Tina.

Brandon trying to show Holly the carp in the pond outside the tea rooms.

Interesting use of old prams!

Holly with an old steam engine.

Enjoying some tea and cake, finally the masks can come off.

Holly feeding the ducks left over chocolate cake.

The End of Abacus Primary and Juniors for Brandon

Today was Brandon's very last day at Abacus Junior school as he has now broken up for the summer and will then continue his adventure at Beauchamps senior school in September. Obviously due to Covid-19 it was by no means a normal send off and to be honest Brandon really didn't seem bothered or phased by any of it.

As with Holly the school had arranged a farewell picnic for Year 6 leavers but again only one parent could go, so once again I missed out. Some of the usual activities took place such as a year end signing book, writing on each others t-shirts and a tunnel walk through all the parents as they exited the school for the very last time.

Brandon got some lovely cards and gifts from the school including his leavers t-shirt with all their names on it, an Abacus school USB stick, a framed picture with the class as emoji characters, some bubbles to play with and a few other bits and pieces. Then once they had finished school he met up with all of his mates over the park for some food and a farewell play.

Brandon also brought home his school report but as with Holly's there is not much to read in to it given that they have missed so much schooling this year. Brandon appears to be where he should be for his age in all areas except writing (which surprises me as his writing is very good). His report also has some very nice general comments about and how he has flourished in smaller bubble groups as pats of the Covid situation. The report also mentions that he is a keen artist that produces some very good work and also that he loves PE (especially team sports) - no surprise there.

Brandon setting of for Abacus for the final time wearing his class of 2020 t-shirt.

Where did those 7 years go????

Some of the Year 6 2020 leavers.

Tina and Brandon at the Year 6 leavers picnic today.

Brandon with one of his teachers, Mrs Peck.

Brandon with Mrs Lee.

Then with Mrs Fergerson.

And last but not least Mrs Bright.

Brandon exits school for the final time along a tunnel of teachers and parents, side by side with Zac.

Most of the Year 6 kids wearing their leavers shirts given to them by the school.

The "20" on the back of the shirt is made up of all the names of the class of 2020 students.

Brandon was a little lazy getting people to write on his shirt so Tina chased around and did most of it for him!

Can you spot Brandon's emoji character in the framed picture.

A little keepsake to go in Brandon's box.

Brandon's USB stick gift from the school and is class of 2020 autograph book.

Some lovely words to Brandon in his card from his head teacher, Mrs Blakely.

And some equally nice words from his main teacher, Mrs Mitchell.

Celebrating the end of their Juniors and Brandon is smiling for once.

Showing off their Class of 2020 leavers t-shirts.

Chaos as t-shirts are left everywhere for people to be able to sign with some sort of social distancing rather than writing on them whilst wearing them!

Brandon's last ever school report from Abacus.

Some very nice general comments in the report to set Brandon up for his next journey in the seniors.

Holly's End of Year 2 Picnic

Holly officially finished Year 2 yesterday and only had to go back for a few hours in the afternoon to have a farewell picnic. Sods law that I am now out of work and can easily attend such events, however due to Covid-19 they were only allowing one parent to go!!!! Just my luck. Its not quite the normal end of term that the kids would experience, but it is better than nothing and the teachers gave Holly some leaving presents including a bag to colour, some crayons, a super hero mask and a balloon.

Holly also got her end of year school report yesterday and it was a bit weird really. Obviously Holly is the youngest of 3 and we have always felt she is very advanced for her age and has hit all the key milestones that you look at way ahead of the boys. Having a houseful of older people always seems to have advanced her development. However Holly's school report shows that she is below age expectation in all areas which was initially disappointing to see. After giving it some thought though I have come to the conclusion that in these unprecedented times and due to the Covid-19 lockdown the reality is that Holly has missed half a year of schooling in her Year 2, so maybe this should have been expected and is the same for the majority of the children in her year.

Tina and Holly at Holly's end of Year 2 picnic.

Holly goes up to receive her gifts from the head teacher.

Happy Holly with her gifts from the school.

Holly with her teachers from L-R Mrs Cooper, Mrs Blakely, Mrs Borely.

My two ladies.

First Meal Out Since LockDown

Finally as lockdown measures are slowly relaxed we managed to have our first meal out since February on Sunday just gone. After much debate we all agreed to go to the Brazilian restaurant called Preto in Chelmsford town center (although Holly wanted KFC or McDonalds!).

It was so nice to get out for dinner as during lockdown we had missed Mothers Day, my birthday, Tina's birthday and Fathers day - all of which we would have normally gone out for something to eat. The food in Preto was amazing as always with some of the best cooked steak I have had. It was a little weird not being able to go up to the salad bar yourself and being serviced by a masked waiter!  The restaurant was dead quiet (no pun intended) and so we pretty much had a very personal dining experience with all the staff waiting on us.

We all made an effort to dress up a little and Holly and Tina almost wore the same outfits! Fingers crossed we can start getting out to more places over the summer holidays.

Like mother like daughter, all dressed up for our first meal out in 6 months.

Table service only at Preto's at the moment.

Soooo much meat. Meat overload.

Holly wanted her picture taken with the Brazilian dancer which is part of the decor.

Nearly the End of Juniors for Brandon

So it is nearly the summer holidays and all I can say is thank god for that. Home schooling since March has been really challenging, how on earth teachers do it for 30 kids is beyond me. I think we all need a break from schooling this year, not just the kids.

Joshua's home schooling work is really winding down now and I doubt he will do much next week. Holly finished last week and only has to go back this week for one day for a picnic. Brandon still needs to go in until next Wednesday when he has his leavers picnic and then his juniors is all over. Its such a shame as he will hardly get any kind of send off compared with what Joshua had last year. We have got him a leavers signing book and a class of 2020 t-shirt to wear - but really that's about it.

On Friday Brandon brought home all of his school books for Year 6 and  have to say some of his work is amazing. His presentation and hand writing is exceptional, there's a really good shaded drawing of an apple and some rather embarrassing bits on his recent school sex education talks! Below I found an interesting BK football that he designed and also a Star that he created at the start of this year with 2 targets - one to raise his hand more in class and secondly to learn his 7x table.

Also last week Brandon had to take his bike to school and successfully passed his level 3 bikeability course (but to be honest this is no surprise and he would have been in big trouble with me had he of failed!).

Brandon's very artistic football design I found amongst his Year 6 school work.

Some Year 6 objectives of Brandon which he made in to a star at the start of the year.

Well done B for passing his level 3 bikeability course.

No real Year 6 leavers picture for Brandon. Instead this is his Covid-19 bubble. From L-R Fraser, Jake, George, Max, Zak, Brandon and Miss Mitchell.

I also found this amongst Brandon's school work and thought it was an interesting piece of work. This year he really has taken a keen interest in learning about space and the solar system.

Brandon Can Now Ride No Handed

Ahead of starting seniors in September Brandon seems to have grown up so much this year and with that growth he is getting overly confident on his bike. He skids everywhere and a few weeks back burned the rubber down so low it blew the tire out and I had to buy a new one for him. I couldn't really tell him off as I remember doing exactly the same when I was around his age.

Anyway in addition to the skids he has also taught himself to ride his bike no handed like Joshua can. I went out with him yesterday and I would say he was managing maybe 50m lengths riding no handed. Good to see he is at least still wearing a helmet though!

Brandon now getting pretty handy at riding his bike no handed.

GeoSafari

Earlier this week Holly was a little bored and so I decided to dig out the old GeoSafari learning computer which Nicky passed on to the boys once Zoe and Amy had out grown it. Holly absolutely loved the GeoSafari and sat there quietly and worked through about 8 of the different cards on her own.

It is great that this is still in the family and still getting good use. I think once Holly is done with it we should keep it in the family and pass it on to little Rory next.

Holly engrossed on the GeoSafari learning computer.

Holly's Rainbow's Marigold Update

Sometime ago Holly got some marigold seeds from her Rainbows club which she had to plant and grow. Well her marigold's have certainly grown very, very well and look absolutely beautiful outside our new front door. In fact they are getting so big we might have to move the pot soon as we won't be able to get in the door!

Holly's marigold flowers which she grew from Rainbows.

My New Little Workout Buddy

Since lock down began back in late Feb / early March I have been training at home in my garage gym. Despite sometime lacking motivation I have forced myself to use it 6 times per week and absolutely love it. Having had my birthday during lock down helped as I managed to add to some new equipment with a wall ball and slam ball, plus I built a 24" box jump and a wall for doing hand stand push ups against.

To try and keep to some sort of routine I set my alarm for 6:15 everyday and usually hit the gym around 6:30 for an hour or so. Holly usually wakes up shortly after me and will more often than not head out to the garage (knowing I am there training) and then join me for a workout. She watches what I do and just makes up her own little workout along with a bit of cycling and running thrown in to the mix. 

So who would have thought that despite having two sons, my new home workout buddy has become my 6 year old daughter. Sometimes it can be a bit dangerous in there when I am heavy lifting, but I don't want to discourage her from training. Although she can be a real pain at time as the girl can talk for Britain and just doesn't shut up at times, I can be in the middle of a hard WOD blowing out of my you know what, and she will want to start asking me questions!!!!

Holly working on them guns.

She copied this exercise purely from watching me, I didn't show her or tell her what to do.

A bit of bench press. Talk about competitive, she has to do more reps than me.

And even some overhead lifting. Love my little training buddy.

Lock Down Sports Day

School sports day for 2020 was very different from previous years due to the Covid-19 lock down. It was pretty much cloak and dagger type of event held behind closed doors. The kids lost out on the usual pre-sports day PE training sessions, the parade lap with their class banner, competing in front of the proud parents and ultimately aiming for those podium spots. 

2020 marks the first sports day I have not been able to go and see and the kids didn't really know what events they were doing until the day. They were simply told to wear their PE kit to school as they would be doing the Sports Day during their PE lesson. So both Brandon and Holly did this, I have no idea what events they did or where the finished - but they both came home with certificates for participating (no medals this year).