68th Secondary Schools Swimming Championships

Last Friday I had to finish work very promptly as we had an hour and ten-minute drive ahead of us to get Holly over to Watford, where she had been selected by her school to compete in the 68th Secondary Schools Swimming Championships.

Only eight students from her school were selected to represent them, so for Holly to even make the team was a huge honour in itself and something she should be really proud of.

The events were all relay races, with mixed teams made up of two boys and two girls. Even just sitting there watching as a spectator, I was genuinely in awe of how good some of the swimmers were. The standard was incredibly high!

Holly finished 4th in both of her races, but she certainly held her own, competing against some very strong boys in her heats. It pains me to admit it, but she is now by far a better swimmer than me — which means all three of the kids can officially outswim their dad! 😂

Thankfully, I still have them at running and cycling… for the time being anyway! 🚴‍♂️🏃‍♂️

One thing that impressed me most with Holly was just how good her kick turns have become. She looked really strong in the pool and it was great to see how much her swimming has developed. The only slight disadvantage she had was with her dive. She doesn't get many opportunities to practise diving, and she wasn't confident enough to dive from the block, meaning she was the only swimmer in her race to start from in the pool.

Even so, she got stuck in and gave it everything, and it was an absolute pleasure to watch her compete and represent her school.

And what a great start to the weekend for me. Despite not getting home until around 10pm, I wouldn't have it any other way. These are the moments you happily give up your time for as a parent — travelling halfway across the country, sitting in a swimming pool for hours and getting home late, all just to watch your kids do something they're proud of.

You really do live for these moments. ❤️

Proudly wearing the Beauchamp's team swimming hat.

Showing great technique and holding her own against the boys.

Setting up for the kick turn at the half way stage.

Drawing level with 3rd place on the return leg.

Part of me wishes I had her technique in the pool. Effortless and minimal splashing unlike me!

Then she just started to tighten up and get tired.

Touching the wall timer in 4th place but still in a very quick time.

Joshua - Top Honours at College

It is now officially confirmed that Joshua has successfully completed his second year at college, and for once we get to have a proper gloat because he's achieved top honours!

Yes, our Joshua has achieved an overall Distinction in his EAL Level 2 Diploma in Engineering Technologies! 🎉👏

This is a fantastic result and something he should be genuinely proud of. It also goes to show that he absolutely does have the ability to achieve great things when he's studying something that interests him and, perhaps more importantly, when he puts the effort in!

After everything we've seen with Josh over the last couple of years, it's brilliant to see him achieve such a strong result in something he clearly enjoys and has a natural aptitude for.

Well done, Josh! A Distinction is a fantastic achievement and thoroughly deserved. 💪🎓

Joshua Gets Tattoo Number Two!

No sooner had Tina finally started to get over the fact that Joshua had gone behind her back and got his first tattoo, he's only gone and done it again!

This time, though, he's gone bigger—and considerably more expensive—as he's started filling the other side of his forearm with what is shaping up to be a stunning lion and cub design.

Because of the size and level of detail involved, this one is going to take a couple of sittings to complete. At the moment I'd say he's around two-thirds of the way there, with the remaining work including some detail around the side of the cub, followed by the lion's head and mane.

Even though it's not finished yet, the detail that's already there looks seriously impressive. It's certainly a much bigger commitment than his first tattoo, and I suspect Tina is going to need a little more time to come to terms with this one too! 😂

At this rate, I don't think we'll be calling this his "second tattoo" for very long...

Tattoo number 2 still work in progress but looking very impressive so far.

Brandon Passes His Driving Theory Test!

As the summer holidays start to draw to a close, Brandon had set himself another little challenge before heading back to school—resitting his driving theory test.

The test was booked for last Thursday and I'm pleased to say that he successfully passed at the second time of asking! 🎉

Once again, Brandon absolutely flew through the Hazard Perception section, scoring an impressive 62 out of 75. The Multiple Choice section was a slightly different story, though, and he scraped through with 43 out of 50, which is literally bang on the pass mark. 

But a pass is a pass, and that's the important thing. The theory test is now officially out of the way and we can finally move on to the next stage—getting his practical driving test booked.

Well done, Brandon! One more step closer to being let loose on the roads! 🚗💨

Chessington World of Adventures – Another Holiday List Tick!

Last Wednesday I took a day off work so we could tick another item off Holly's summer holiday "to-do" list. This time, it was a trip to Chessington World of Adventures.

Joshua decided to give this one a miss as theme park rides aren't really his thing, plus he had work early the following morning. Brandon's girlfriend Maia has a Merlin Pass, though, so she joined us instead, giving us a group of five—me, Tina, Brandon, Holly and Maia.

Tina had purchased two of the Gold Fast Track passes, and we actually managed to make them work incredibly well across the five of us. For most rides, two of us would go through on the Fast Track, followed by another two, and we'd rotate them around so everyone got plenty of opportunities to skip the queues. On some rides, we even managed to use screenshots of the passes rather than the app, which bizarrely allowed all five of us to go through together!

Now, Fast Track tickets are very expensive and go against pretty much everything I believe in when it comes to theme parks. I'm quite happy to queue and have always thought paying extra to jump the queue was a bit ridiculous.

However...

Those Gold passes were an absolute godsend!

We managed to go on pretty much every ride two, three and even four times during the day. Our longest queue of the entire day was for Vampire, which was only around 20 minutes.

The best example was the Tiger Rock/Tiger Canyon area, where we managed to get on the ride three times in under an hour. The normal queue was showing around an hour, so without Fast Track, those three rides alone could potentially have taken up half our day!

Needless to say, we definitely got our money's worth out of those passes.

Overall, we had a really good day and the weather was perfect for a day at a theme park. However, I did come away feeling that Chessington is increasingly positioning itself towards younger children rather than teenagers and adults.

There are only a handful of genuine thrill rides now and, with the exception of the Jumanji attraction, quite a few of them are starting to look and feel a little dated. We also experienced a few breakdowns during the day, which doesn't exactly inspire confidence when you're sat waiting for a rollercoaster to start moving again!

The park's newer expansions also seem to reinforce this direction. The latest additions include PAW Patrol and Minecraft, both of which are clearly aimed at a much younger audience.

I suppose this is partly a sign that our kids are growing up. What used to feel like the perfect family theme park is perhaps no longer quite as exciting for the older ones.

So, while we had a fantastic day and absolutely rinsed those Fast Track passes, I don't think we'll be rushing back to Chessington anytime soon. For the next few years, we'll probably be looking more towards Thorpe Park and Alton Towers for our thrill-ride fix.

And, of course, there's always the rather exciting prospect of Universal Studios coming to the UK...

That could well become our new favourite destination once it opens! 🎢

Tina and H on Dragon Fury.

Maia and B on Dragon Fury.

Holly made me go on Croc Drop about 3 times, not good for your stomach.

Maia has a Merlin pass so pretty much goes to all the theme parks each half term anyway.

First trip around on Tiger Rock.

The smaller of the splash downs - perfect for cooling down on a hot day.

The 5 of us on the Safari tour which is definitely getting smaller and smaller each visit.

We saw to giraffes on the safari.

Other than that we saw one deer and one rhino. Ride only lasted 10 mins at best.

World of Jumanji.

This was one of the rides the kids all went on at least 4x.

Action shot of Brandon and Maia hanging on for dear life on Dragon Fury.

This one churns my stomach so I was quite happy to let Tina take this one with H.

See Ya, I'll keep my feet down here.

Another shot of B and Maia on Dragon Fury.

A few pictures whilst doing our zoo walk at the end of the day.

Unlike Maia and Brandon who distanced themselves for the bench pic, me and T tried to at least look like we were a couple.

Never did like this ride since it changed from Bubble Works to Grufallo.

Tina and H on Gruffalo. I couldn't be bothered with this one.

Croc Drop (aka stomach drop) again - thanks H.

Another round on Tiger Canyon and time to flex.

And Croc Drop again, H really doesn't like me!

More from the log flume in Tiger Canyon.

Then some pictures from our photo pass.

Flexing again.

Oh don't they look happy.

Mandrill Mayhem is easily the best ride there now. But Tina doesn't like this one.

Tina and H on Bubble Works (yes it will always be Bubble Works to me).

Rattle Snake is still fun and a good chance to squish Holly on the bends.

Tina and H on Rattlesnake.

Splash down.

Brandon and Maia on Rattlesnake.

Yeh I got Holly to flex as well.

Brandon's hair going a bit wild there!

Tomb Blaster - another one I just can't be bothered with.

Whilst I waited outside for Tina and H a young kid having lunch was almost in tears when he found out I wasn't the real Superman (haha).

Vampire was the only one of the big rides that we only went on once.

That was because it was broken down all morning and they gave out loads of free tickets to those waiting. So they all went in the fast pass queue making it pretty much a normal queue.

Vampire is still the stand out coaster at Chessington though despite its age.

More from the log flume. Holly ducking the splash so it gets Tina.

More from Dragon Fury.

We even did a cheeky and sneaked all5 of us on using the gold fast pass.

How many sharks on this picture?

The clue is there is one less in this picture.