Tina's Birthday at Bella Italia

Thursday was one of those rare occasions when both Tina and I had the day off work at the same time. Better still, it was Tina's birthday, none of the kids had any clubs to attend, and Joshua wasn't working. That meant we could actually get out and celebrate together as a family — something that seems to happen less and less these days. It feels like it's been ages since the five of us last went out together.

As it was Tina's birthday, she got full control over the choice of venue and eventually settled on Bella Italia over in Bas Vegas. In all honesty, it turned out to be a really good choice and we all enjoyed it.

One of the biggest surprises of the evening was Holly's appetite. The boys and Holly all ordered pizzas of exactly the same size, yet Holly was the only one to polish hers off completely. Both boys ended up taking a couple of slices home in takeaway boxes, which naturally gave Holly plenty of bragging rights for the rest of the evening!

More than anything, though, it was just nice to sit down together, enjoy some good food, have a few drinks, and relax after what had been a busy week. The only disappointment of the night came from Joshua, who was apparently quite upset that nobody asked him for ID when ordering his cider. Seems that he already looks old enough not to be questioned!

On one side of the table was Holly and Tina with Brandon in the middle.

On the other side me and Josh and as Brandon was in the middle he could crash both photos.

All 5 of us celebrating Tina's birthday at Bella Ialia.

Very rare that we all get out as a family of 5 these days.

Me and the birthday girl.

Brandon's Theory Driving Test Part 1

Yesterday Brandon had his first attempt at the Driving Theory Test and, unfortunately, much like Joshua on his first try, he didn't quite make it. The frustrating part is that he only failed by two marks. He passed the hazard perception section comfortably, finishing four marks above the pass mark, but came up just short on the multiple-choice section.

Looking at the breakdown, it seems most of the lost marks were on road and traffic signs, so at least he now knows exactly where to focus his revision before the next attempt.

As much as I hate to admit it, the result didn't come as a huge surprise. I had a feeling he wasn't quite putting enough time into his revision and there may have been a touch of complacency creeping in — the classic assumption that if his older brother could pass it, then it would be straightforward for him too. Hopefully this serves as a bit of a wake-up call. The theory test isn't something that gets handed to you; you still have to put the work in. Now he knows exactly what's required, I'm sure he'll approach his second attempt with a different mindset.

To make matters even more annoying, while I was waiting for him I parked in the car park behind the Royals and bought a parking ticket, which was clearly displayed on my dashboard. Despite this, I somehow still managed to receive a parking fine for allegedly not having a valid ticket! Needless to say, that one will be getting challenged.

So, all in all, it wasn't exactly a day packed with success stories. Brandon missed out on his theory test by the narrowest of margins, and I came away with a parking ticket I shouldn't have received. Hopefully the next attempt goes better than the first — and hopefully my appeal is more successful than Brandon's theory test!

Holly's Parents Evening & District Shot Putt Tryouts

Well, this evening I had the absolute “pleasure” of sitting through twelve separate Teams meetings with Holly’s teachers for parents’ evening. I say “pleasure” jokingly because, in reality, it was genuinely brilliant to hear the incredible feedback from every single teacher — regardless of whether the subject is one Holly loves or one she would rather avoid altogether.

There was such a consistent theme running through all of the feedback. Every teacher commented on what a sweet, polite and lovely girl she is to have in class. They spoke about how she always contributes to discussions, isn’t afraid to ask questions when she needs help, and how organised and conscientious she is with her work. Above all else, they repeatedly highlighted the effort she puts into everything she does. She is currently on target in every subject and giving maximum effort throughout. As a parent, I honestly couldn’t ask for more.

Holly has had a few personal struggles at school recently, particularly some anxiety issues stemming from incidents back in junior school that we had hoped were now firmly behind her. Fortunately, she was listening in during the parents’ evening calls and was able to hear first-hand just how positively her teachers view her and how highly they think of her as both a student and a person.

I made sure she knew just how proud I am of her. She is doing everything right when it comes to her education and school life, and tonight’s feedback proved exactly that. I told her not to let these lingering issues drag her down or overshadow what has otherwise been an amazing start to her secondary school journey. Hopefully hearing those comments directly from her teachers will help her move forward with a little more confidence.

To top it all off, Holly has also been ranked as the second-best shot putter in her year group and has earned herself a place at the district trials next Monday. Looks like there might be a few Daddy-Daughter gym sessions happening over the next few days!

1st SUP of 2026 - NO CREAM TEA CAKES!!!

Miraculously, the May bank holiday weekend brought us the hottest weather of the year so far, and the kids were desperate to get out on the paddle boards. Unfortunately, with the growing popularity of SUP, I knew the river would be absolutely rammed over the long weekend, so I wisely decided to avoid it like the plague.

However, the Tuesday after the bank holiday was forecast to be even hotter — somewhere around 33–34 degrees — so on Sunday evening I fired off a late email to my boss and booked the day off work. The plan was simple: get up early and enjoy a full day out on the river before the crowds appeared.

Josh had been working double shifts at Tesco and, despite having the day off, decided he’d much rather relax in bed. Then Brandon asked Maia if she wanted to come along, which meant I was relegated to walking the riverbank with Tina while Brandon, Maia and Holly claimed the three SUPs between them. That said, I still made the most of the day by jumping into the river every now and then to cool off in the heat. Even Tina was dipping her bad foot into the water, as the cool river seemed to soothe it nicely.

By the end of the day the kids had paddle boarded around two miles in total, and along the way we stopped off at Papermill Lock for tea, coffee and cake. Unbelievably, the bank holiday crowds had wiped out all stock of their infamous cream tea cakes with strawberries, so I was forced to settle for my second favourite instead — carrot cake. The only other bad bit of the day was I brought the wrong attachment for the electric pump and had to blow up all 3 paddle boards by hand!!!!

Brandon and Maia - both now very skilled and competent on the paddle board.

Returning from the lock on their knees ready for the 0.75 mile back to where we had parked the car.

What a beautiful location when it isn't rammed with other river dwellers.

Perfect day to get out on the water and soak up some rays.

Meanwhile I am relegated to walking the river bank with Tina.

Chilling out by another lock and Tina giving her foot a cool soaking.

Going Tursday instead of over the weekend was such a good decision as the river was very quiet.

Another of the locks which we paddle boarded up to.

Beautifully calm and clear waters of the Chelmer.

Brandon dunking Maia in the cold water.

Trying to find the shady side of the river bank.

I think Holly sometime feels a bit like piggy in the middle when she is out with Brandon and Maia.

Most of the time they all get on, but every now and then Brandon winds her up and she strms off ahead.

The lockwhich the nutter Holly was jumping off of.

Wifey taking a rest after the walk up to the first lock whilst the kids played in the water.

The water felt so nice and cool on such a hot day.

The two lovebirds.

Picture from off a bridge as the 3 of them go underneath.

How can they paddle when they are all so close to each other!

The Story of Milo the 6 Year Old Labrador

Me and the kids have wanted a dog for years, but Tina has always firmly put her foot down against the idea. I’ve always grown up around dogs myself — we had them throughout my childhood, and all my brothers and sisters have dogs too — so I’ve always felt our kids were missing out on a really special part of growing up.

Then, last week, Amy stumbled across what seemed like the perfect opportunity. A friend of hers was looking to re-home a six-year-old Labrador called Milo after sadly being widowed. With young girls to look after, she simply couldn’t commit the time and attention the dog deserved. She wasn’t asking for any money; she just wanted to know Milo would be going to a loving home where he’d be cared for properly and given the attention he needed.

So me and the kids quietly sneaked off to meet Milo and take him for a walk. To be honest, we were smitten almost immediately. He was everything we could have hoped for — calm, friendly, affectionate, and just an all-round lovely dog. Tina, however, understandably saw things a little differently and wasn’t too impressed that we’d gone behind her back, even though we hadn’t made any commitments.

After everyone had calmed down, we arranged for Milo’s owner to bring him round to our house so Tina could meet him and see how he settled into the home environment. That visit actually went really well, although Tina still wasn’t entirely convinced. So, the next step was agreeing to have Milo stay with us for the weekend to see how we all got on and whether Tina might warm to the idea.

By the end of the weekend, me and the kids had completely fallen in love with our new four-legged friend. Having Milo around just felt natural, like the missing piece of the puzzle in our house. Tina could also see the positive effect he was having on the kids. The problem, though, was that she had started experiencing tightness in her throat whenever she was at home with him — symptoms that seemed to ease whenever she left the house. With Tina already suffering badly with asthma, and Labradors being known for triggering allergies, it became clear that this could potentially be a real issue.

What we couldn’t establish over just one weekend was whether Tina’s body would gradually adjust to Milo and whether her symptoms would improve over time. So, together with the owner, we agreed to keep him for a full week to really give things a fair chance. During that week, I bought an air purifier for downstairs and Tina kept on top of her allergy medication, but unfortunately there was no real improvement.

As heartbreaking as it was, we had to accept that our family’s health had to come before having a pet. In the end, we made the very difficult decision to return Milo to his owner.

If I’m honest, I think the decision hit me harder than it did the kids. I’d grown really attached to Milo over that week and genuinely felt like I’d become his “alpha”. He came with me on early morning runs around the Wick and would then happily sit with me in the gym at 5:30 every morning while I trained. He really was the perfect dog. Joshua had also taken to him brilliantly and was doing an amazing job training him and teaching him different tricks.

The positive to come out of the whole experience is that Tina has now finally come around to the idea of us having a dog one day. We just need to find one that’s more suitable for asthma sufferers and less likely to trigger allergies. So, finding the right dog for our family will become our next little project once we’re back from holiday later this year.

Milo, the 6 year old Lab.

Joshua really took to Milo and worked so well with him.

Within no time he was completely settled and it was like we had always had him around.

But Tina's asthma and allergies had other ideas for Milo.

For the first 3 days I didn't get a chance to really walk Milo as the kids all took turns and wanted to do it.

He loved just sitting by the back door and made this his spot looking out for birds etc in the back garden.

The dog had managed to bring the 3 kids together and get them all out of the house together to take him for a walk!

It was so nice to see them all getting along and enjoying spending time outdoors.

Wick park looking glorious in the sunshine.

Milo was so good on the leash and even Holly could handle him fine.

None of us had an issues with Milo, but he didn't seem to like Brandon's girlfriend and snarled at Tina every now and then.

Milo cuddles with Holly in the front garden.

Holly also took on Milo's daily grooming without even being asked.

1st Child to get Inked

Well, it was always going to happen one day, but I don’t think Tina expected it to be quite this soon. Yes, the first of our children has officially been inked. Joshua has been thinking about tattoos for a long time and was determined to make his first one meaningful.

After plenty of research and deliberation, he decided to get his right forearm tattooed with a dove, a clock face, a rose, and the date his Nan (my Mum) passed away. Josh certainly didn’t go small for his first tattoo either — it covers pretty much his entire lower forearm and took a whopping six hours to complete. By the sounds of it, he was an absolute trooper and sat through the whole thing without taking a single break.

As much as Tina was against the idea of a tattoo, she can’t really say too much as he’s 18 and paid for it himself (£450!). He seems really pleased with it, though, and has already been getting lots of compliments. I’m just glad he chose something that genuinely means something to him, rather than something random or the latest trend that might look a bit questionable in years to come.

Joshua's first tattoo and as you can see he didn't go small.

Great detail and shading for his 6 hour session.

Lovely tribute to his Nan.

100 Merit Milestone

How good is this? Not even 1 year at Beauchamps and my little Superstar Holly has achieved her 100 merit certificate. To put that in to perspective, Joshua didn't get a 100 merits throughout his entire secondary school!!!! 

Canvey Beach Clean Up

We recently took a nice afternoon walk along the coast at Canvey Island and I was super proud of Brandon and Holly as they decided to have a beach clean-up and trolled the beach looking for any rubbish that they could pick up and dispose of in the bins. We also tried skimming a few stones and enjoyed a nice ice-cream to finish off our coastal walk.

On a sunny day it is amazing to live in a place where we are just 20 mins away from the coast and can enjoy such nice walks. If you can overlook the bad reputation Canvey Island has, it can be beautifully scenic as you can see in the pictures.

Beautiful scenery on a sunny day in Canvey Island.

I think our coastline is starting to clean up as it becomes harder and harder for companies to dump waste in the sea.

I know it is shallow, but the water actually looks cler and clean here.

These two were on a mission to clean the beach and went on a rubbish collecting mission for the afternoon.

Annual Car Clean, Parking Ticket and Insurance Cancellation!!!

Joshua has had a testing couple of weeks with his car as of late. It all started when he picked up his first parking offence in Wickford resulting in a £60 fine. However much worse than that, his black box for his insurance detected him doing 48 mph down Cranes Farm Rd (which is a 30 mph limit) and therefore notified him via email that this is dangerous driving and that they were cancelling his insurance. The annoying thing about this is he was only 2-3 months away from getting his first years no claims bonus. So I have had the stress of having to cancel his old policy (before they could cancel) and then sort out some new insurance so that he can still get to work and college! 

On the plus side he has now had Tina's Fiesta for nearly 10 months and up until this week I think he had only washed it once or twice (through a car wash, never by hand). Yesterday was the first time since owning the car that he has actually bothered to clean the car himself. This was  only because he bought one of those spray guns with the foam cleaner from Tik-Tok and was keen to try it out. I have to say it actually works really, really well and when fitted to my old Karcher jet wash it brought his car up beautifully clean. Needless to say I will probably be pinching that off him for my car as well! Let's hope with his new toy he actually keeps the car clean now and that this wasn't a one time novelty for him.

It has only taken 10 months for Josh to clean his car by hand for the first time.

He bought a new foam sprayer gun with foam cleaner from Tik-Tok to clean his car.

So whilst I say he cleaned it by hand, he really cleaned it by spray gun and hardly touched the actual car.

But it did work very well and I will no doubt be using this as well.