Olympics Day 3 Lee Valley Slalom Canoe

Today was our long awaited Olympic experience at the Lee Valley white water rafting centre to watch the slalom canoeing. The boys were getting just as excited as I was for our first ever Olympic experience. So the day started early with Joshua and Brandon getting suited and booted in their all new Team GB outfits including Union Jack cloaks and tattoos.

Team GB supporters at the tender age of just 3 & 4.

Rear view showing their Union Jack cloaks.

The day out was completely amazing, I cannot begin to describe just how well organised the whole event was and the atmosphere once we got there. After a drive to North Weald airport for our park and rise service we boarded the Olympic double decker bus for our short transfer to Lee Valley. 

Our Olympic Nr.41 bus.

Brandon looking out of the bus window counting the Olympic buses passing on the other side of the road.

After about an hour and a half total travel we arrived at Lee Valley and the adventure begins....

Security was very tight and thorough, but all of the soldiers and police were very friendly and were interacting with the children which was a nice touch. After a little walk around to familiarise ourselves with the surrounding we located our seating block for the days activities.



This was our block 101 where we were to be seated for the event, row 26, seats 101-104.



Brandon and Joshua getting comfy in their seats before the crowds arrive.

Our view from the seats was absolutely stunning considering our tickets were relatively cheap ones. We were right in front of the start pool/line and had a perfect view of the first 8 gates. We could then see right across to about Gate 18 at which point we had to revert to the big screen for the final 4 gates. The arena was completely packed today and I am sure I heard them say there was 12,000 people in attendance which is pretty amazing really.



The start pool/line.





The initial drop down to Gate 1.

The view down to the first bend at Gate 8.

A nice picture of me and Brandon with the white water in the back ground.

The atmosphere once the event started was just amazing. The PA system and commentary was phenomenal. The crowd got behind every single canoeist that took to the course, but when team GB came out the place just erupted. Their were flags flying, everyone shouting, feet stomping - it was deafening. The boys absolutely loved it and got right into the spirit of things with shouting, stomping and flag waving.

And he we go all ready at the start line, Team GB in the C2 men's pairs.

And this is a shot of the Team GB ladies C1 entrant who finished 2nd overall.

Team GB head into Gate 1. Both Team GB men's C2 teams qualified for the semi finals. So a good days work for team GB.

Once the canoeist was out of sight we reverted to the big screen to watch the action.

I am so pleased that we have been able to provide Joshua and Brandon with this opportunity at such a young age. Hopefully they have learnt a lot today and will remember as much as possible from the day. To think this is Brandon's first ever Olympics since he has been born and he has been able to attend an event, how cool is that. Joshua was born just before Beijing in 2008 but obviously will not remember anything about that Olympics. 

Two happy boys enjoying their first ever Olympic experience.

Brandon and Mummy cheering on Team GB.

All smiles again.

Given that the event started at 1:30 and ran on until gone 5:00 I had no expectations of being able to keep the boys sat down and entertained by canoe slalom for that longer period of time. We took along some munchies, their Innotab/Mobigo, some drawing material and stickers and their toy Olympic taxi's to help keep them entertained. Overall they did extremely well. At times they were a little restless but they managed to sit through two rounds of the men's C2 class and 1 round of the women's C1 class. I never expected them to last that long. So in all we only missed the second round of the women's event.

This is the big screen which showed all the actions, replays, score boards, times, positions etc. So all the info we needed was right in front of us. 

Team GB men's C2 rowers.



Team GB women's C1 entrant.

Brandon holding a banana in one hand and then single hand clapping with my other hand!

Quality time off with my boys!



A family picture at Lee Valley Olympics.

So our Olympic adventure finishes and I now can't wait until the next time we get to go out on our inflatable kayak. I just hope the boys don't expect me to start looking for some white water to make our kayaking a bit more adventurous. The boys were absolutely amazed at the speed of the water and were curious whether anyone could swim in it. I seem to recall the commentators saying something like 13 tonnes of water flows down the course every minute or something ridiculous like that. We managed to see only one canoeist capsize throughout the whole day, but several ended up sideways and out of shape on a few occasions. Lee Valley is a brutal course, but a stunning venue, and a great day out.



Joshua's Nursery Graduation 2012

On Friday I had a bit of a dilemma which was a bit of a no win situation really. You see the Olympic torch was in my work and it would have been a once in a lifetime opportunity for the two boys to get to hold it. The trouble is they were at nursery. Now normally nursery would not have stopped me from taking them into work for an hour or so to get a quick picture, however Friday was also Joshua's graduation party from nursery. So rightly or wrongly I made the decision to let him have his party and graduation rather than miss that to get a picture with the torch.

The party was pirate themed and there was lots of activities for the kiddies to do. From a personal perspective it was great to see the boys playing in the nursery and showing us around and what they get up too all day long. Brandon had a go at "pin the patch on the pirate". He managed to get the right height for the eyes, but was about two foot right of the pirates head!



Blind folded and spun around dizzy ready to pin the patch.

The big reveal, right height, wrong place.

The boys also both got to do some cutting and sticking and make their own pirate hats.

Food time and the boys wasted no time tucking into a plate of food. I no I have said it before, but it is unbelievable just how much Joshua can eat.

My big man tucking into his plate of party food.

Brandon was happy as he found sausages!

After the food it was time for Joshua's to don the mortar board and cloak for his first graduation picture. Lets hope this is one of many more to come and that he follows in his Dad's footsteps when it comes to his further education. I was the proudest Dad in the world seeing Joshua all dressed up in his graduation gown. Roll on next year when it is Brandon's turn.

And finally here is Joshua's first ever graduation certificate from Seymour House.

One for the keep sake box.

2012 Opening Ceremony

After years of anticipation today is finally the Opening Ceremony for the 2012 London Olympics. This is the first real Olympics for both boys as Brandon was not even born for Beijing and Joshua was under 1 year old. So tonight we are going to allow them to stay up and watch as much of the opening ceremony as they can before falling asleep.

You may recall that a few weeks ago Joshua did a stunning painting of the Olympic rings. Well I decided to do this again in order to let Brandon have a go. As you can see below he managed to get the colours correct but didn't quite manage the shape.

Brandon's Olympic Ring painting.

Joshua had another go at the rings himself and some would argue its better than mine given that he is only 4!

All 3 together, Brandon's, Joshua's and my Olympic ring paintings. Start the bidding....

Anyway as everyone now knows the Olympic Stadium has been setup to replicate a typical British countryside. Well here is my spoiler for the day as I reveal the opening scene of the ceremony. It has two handsome young boys in the centre of two of the over sized Olympic rings on a beautiful hillside view. See the dress rehearsal pictures below.

You never would have guessed Brandon would go for the yellow ring.

I have also been buying inflatable Olympic torches to give away to the kids at Forest Glade football club on a Saturday morning, Each week I have been organising an Olympic style, football related race and timing each of the kids. The winner each week gets to take home their very own Olympic torch. Below is a picture of Joshua with his school made torch and Brandon with one of the last remaining inflatable torch.

Team GB Olympians are in town.

However I can top all of the above as today I had the honour and privilege to have my picture taken holding one of the actual Olympic torches. This is a once in a lifetime experience which I couldn't miss. My only regret is that the boys were in nursery so I could not take them down to work to get their picture taken with the torch. Normally I think I would have pulled them out of nursery for such an event, however today was also Joshua's graduation ceremony at nursery so I kind of had to let him go really. 

Me holding the real Olympic torch.

Here comes the sun / beach

Finally summer has arrived after what seems like two months of solid rain. Josh and Brandon absolutely adore spending time at the beach and to date this year I think we have only been once. Sometimes I feel we get a bit complacent about how close we live to the coast and do not make full use of just how accessible it is. There are so many people in the UK and in Europe who are land locked and do not have an option to just jump in the car and head down to the beach for a few hours, so its something we need to start doing more often. Its great for the boys to get out in the sea air and to play in the sand and sea. So with near 30 degree weather then it was an easy decision to make to spend Sunday having a nice picnic and a swim in Shoeberry.

Brandon heads into the water with his new yellow spade in hand.

Joshua brings suppliers by carrying the buckets down to the sea.

The great thing about Shoeberry is that they have a concrete pool area so that even when the tide is out the children can still swim and play in the water. However on Sunday this was not an issue for long as the tide came in extremely rapidly and within about 20 mins we were retreating up the beach to higher ground. 

Brandon posing on the concrete pool wall.

Joshua posing on the concrete wall.

The tide is in and Joshua decided to take to the sea in his inflatable boat.

Brandon enjoying simply squirting sea water as high as he can in the air...........

..........that is until he realises he can shoot his big brother in his boat!

Just chillin'

Brandon racing back to get more water to fill his sand hole.

Joshua was a bit braver than Brandon and pretty much got himself fully submerged and had a little swim. Brandon only went into the water waist height. Although it has to be said the sea was surprisingly warm.

Action shot of Joshua launching a Frisbee at me.

Get ready to duck, his aim is getting pretty good now.

As always Brandon starts to get cold like his Mummy and retreats the the shore for a towel and a warm up cuddle from Mummy. Joshua just keeps going until you drag him from the sea or bribe him with an ice cream.

Warm up time.

Just a cute picture of Brandon enjoying the beach.

All good beach trips end with the compulsory ice cream!

We also made a quick stop off in Southend en route home to pick up some fresh donuts. The bad news is that Joshua now likes my cinnamon donuts and was pinching them as well as Tina's sugar donuts.

After our donut stop we made one more detour to stop by Uncle Michael's and Auntie Lea's where we took this really nice picture of Brandon giving "Lady" a little cuddle. He so loves dogs now......