Vulcan Open Day

This weekend we took the boys to Southend Airport for the first Vulcan Bomber open day of 2013.The XL426 is a B2 Vulcan and was the 44th of the 88 Vulcan B2s built. Its maiden flight was made in 1962 and its final flight to Southend airport was completed in 1986 where it has resided ever since. The Vulcan Restoration Team are hopefully to get the Vulcan to taxi a runway at full speed by the end of this year, however unfortunately this plane will never get airborne again. The open day was the ideal opportunity to let the boys learn about this amazing piece of British engineering at its best and to experience what it is like in the cockpit.

 

The incredible XL426 Vulcan Bomber at Southend Airport.

Tina and the boys pose for a picture with the Vulcan.

You can just about see me and the boys in front of the Vulcan's front wheel.

 The Vulcan is painted with the insignia of No. 1 Group (A black panther's head).

Earlier this week both Joshua and Brandon were telling us how they wanted to be pilots when they grew up. So it was great to give them the opportunity to sit in an actual pilots chair from a Vulcan Bomber.

Captain Brandon on deck.

And Captain Joshua taking his turn.

The open bomb doors. Can you spot the small inflatable Vulcan toy which incidentally the boys both have hanging up in their bedrooms?

The tail of the Vulcan XL 426.

Joshua standing behind the rear wheels of the Vulcan.

Whilst we were waiting for our time slot to go into the cockpit the boys were both more than happy to kill time by watching all the other planes landing and taking off at the airport. We were even treated to a little drive by of some airport fire engines. 

This little blue helicopter gave us a very close fly by whilst we waited for a cockpit viewing time.

Me, B and the Vulcan.

 

Me and B checking out some of the bombs from the Vulcan.

Finally we got to have our turn in the cockpit. It was quite an adventure for the two boys to climb up the ladder and into the very confined cockpit. For such a big plane it is amazingly cramping and almost unbelievable that 5 pilots can work for up to to 16 hours in such a confined space. We even got to see the special urine tube that the pilots had to use, although nowhere knew what the protocol was for doing a number 2!

The cockpit of the Vulcan.

Joshua and Brandon inside the Vulcan.

Controls and dials everywhere.

Brandon sitting up high by the pilots chairs.

And up Joshua goes into the Vulcan cockpit.

I give Brandon a helping hand up the first stage of the ladder to get into the Vulcan cockpit.

Joshua was fine getting in and out on his own. But Brandon still needed a helping hand with his little legs.

The woman from the VRT team said Joshua looked like a natural the way he got into and out of the Vulcan.

Another great day out and hopefully the boys learnt a lot and have plenty to write about during story time at school tomorrow. It is such a shame the boys will never get to experience this amazing aircraft fly. Still at least they have managed to see it up close and personal and even go inside which is more than most people ever get to see.

Superman Onesie

Check these out for the ultimate onesie's which the boys nanny bought them. They both love them and now refuse to take them off as they want to wear them all day.

Star of the Day (again)

Following last weeks star of the week award, Joshua returned to school today and earned star of the day. The star of the day gets their name on the window and gets to stand at the front of the line at home time. So as the blind goes up all the parents can cheer the star of the day.

 

Joshua earned his star of the day for his weekend news letter. Apparently he wrote that he had a picnic at Auntie Lisa's studio and then went on some bouncy castles.

 

St Georges Day @ Wat Tyler

Today we celebrated St Georges day with a family fun day at Wat Tyler park. I can honestly say I have never seen Wat Tyler so busy as we queued for about 20-30 mins from the Tesco's round-a-bout to the car park! Fortunately the weather was once again fantastic and we had packed our first picnic of the year. So first port of call was a spot of lunch.

Picnic time in the sunshine.

After lunch the boys had one thing on their mind - bouncy castles. They had about 5 or 6 bouncy castles set up for the kiddies and charged a reasonable £2 a child for 10 mins. Great exercise for the boys to burn off their lunch. 

Brandon and Joshua coming down a bouncy castle slide.

Joshua flat out on his belly as Brandon looks on.

Brandon exits one of the bouncy castles.

Joshua charging around like a bull in a China shop.

The fun day was packed with activities and displays from martial arts, to brass bands, to crazy golf, bucking bulls and so on. There was even a few old classic cars and speedway motorcycles to view. 

One of the miniature horses on display.

The boys played 9 holes on the crazy golf and had a pretty good idea what to do having been down the driving range with me and also having played crazy golf extensively on the Wii. However keeping a scorecard was pretty much impossible as there were both cheating like mad (I can't imagine where they get that from!).

Brandon is first to sink his ball at the 1st hole.

Little B preparing to sink his 2nd.

Little B needed some help cracking a ball around this circular wire frame.

What a great back swing displayed by Joshua.

At times I think Brandon thought he was playing hockey more than golf!

Can you crown please hush as Tiger B prepares for his next Tee shot.

Joshua lines up for a put with Brandon looking on.

Can you spot Little B in the land of the little people?

After spending a good few hours over the family fun day we headed back to Lisa's Laboratory art studio to participate in some St Georges day arts and crafts. Both boys enjoyed relaxing and colouring in their Knights in shinning armour and then using the split pins to assemble them together. We ran out of time to build their shields as Joshua wanted to head over to the boating lake to play with his radio controlled boat. But we can make the shields up one night this week. 

Joshua all smiles with his Knight in shinning armour.

Brandon needed a little help but did a great job colouring in his Knight and he even managed to cut the shield out on his own.

Battlesbridge

Today saw us take a little trip over to Battlesbridge with our country cousin Claire and her daughter Leyla. Despite the temperature being in the low teens we had beautiful crystal clear blue sky and having already been outside playing football for 2 hours, me and Joshua have got sun burnt faces! It was a pleasant trip but to be honest there is not much for kiddies to do and there is only so much walking around antiques that they can take before the boredom sets in. So I had my work cut out for me today as I tried to keep the 3 of them entertained as best as I could.

 

Joshua and Brandon did keep themselves entertained for about 10 minutes playing pretend garages with these old Pratts fuel pumps. I am not sure the shop owner was too pleased and as we left she gave me a very cold look as she had to get up from her chair and put the pump handles back onto the pumps. Stroppy!



 

The boys playing garages with some old fuel pumps.

Brandon filling his imaginary car with diesel.

 

I have always said that for me one of my most memorable manly type experiences which I will never forget and makes you feel really grown up is the very first time you pick up a fuel pump to fill up your own car. I waited 17 years for this feeling, the boys have got to hold a fuel pump at 4 and 5 years old. Still I guess it is best they do this now as by the time they are driving the cars are likely to be fuelled by hydrogen, electric fuel cells or some other carbon free fuel type.



 

Leyla, Joshua and B at the Battlesbridge lock.

Despite the temperature being low teens, the boys follow my suit and don the shorts for the day.

Joshua was most impressed by this rotten old boat.

The car park at Battlesbridge was stacked with a few little gems today. We saw a gorgeous Aston Martin and a nice looking Porche. However mine and the boys favourites was thus stunning little Westfield. Joshua had never seen a car with exhaust pipes running down the side seals before and had a million and one questions about the car. I love it that the boys (especially B) are complete petrol heads. Coming home from Battlesbridge they saw an old muscle car and two wedding cars on the road and got so excited at seeing them. 

The boys admiring the Westfield.

Star of the Week Hypothesis

Joshua has had a very good first week back at school after the Easter break. In fact he has been so good that this week he was awarded the "Star of the week". We are so proud of him. Lets hope he keeps up the hard work.

 





Joshua proudly showing his star of the week award.

 

I am sure that Joshua will give you his "hypothesis" as to why he was "Star of the week". Hypothesis is a word he has learnt from watching Dinosaur Train and it is so funny to hear him use it in everyday language. He  doesn't have thoughts or ideas anymore, he has a hypothesis's instead. You will be sitting there playing a game or doing some homework and he will just come out with, "I have a hypothesis as to why....................". He must be the only 5 year old in the world that uses hypothesis in his every day vocabulary.



Going to the Olympics

Woohoo. Finally got tickets for me, Tina and the boys to go to the Olympic's! No I am not bonkers and no I have not invented a time machine. Today I bought 4 tickets to the IAAF Golden League Olympic Anniversary Games to be held in the Olympic Stadium on 26th July.Well chuffed. It may be a year later but I finally get to see Usain Bolt run the 100m live. The boys will be so excited when I tell them as they are constantly asking me when they can go to the Olympics again (RIO is still 3 years away and will probably be way out of my budget!).

On the day we are going we get to see the mens 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, discuss and high jump, plus the womens 800m, 1500m, 5000m, 400m hurdles, 4x100m, pole vault and triple jump. So there is a real good selection of events to keep us all entertained.

Abacus for Little B

Today we received the great news that come this September Little B will be joining his big brother at Abacus School. Given how close we live to the school and that Brandon had a sibling already there, it was pretty much a given Brandon would get entry - but it is still nice to have it confirmed in writing. When Tina gave him the news this morning he was so excited about being able to start there soon and even more pleased when he discovered one of his best friends Zac will also be going to the same school. Although I have to say that Brandon is such a clever little boy that I am starting to think I should have put him down for Oxford, Cambridge or even Harvard or Yale as opposed to Abacus (but lets take one step at a time).

Brawn, Brains & Beauty

This weekend Joshua & Brandon got to spend some time with their 3rd cousin Leyla from Norfolk as she came down to stay for the weekend, The three of them get on so well together and its lovely to see them playing.On Saturday we took all three of them swimming, then badminton and then on to some soft play (and all this after Joshua had already been to his football club!). You would think they would all sleep well after that lot - but no!!! This time around Lelya slept end to end in Brandon's bed for the first time (Joshua said he had no room in his bedroom as he has too many boxes!). Anyway Joshua went to bed about 8:30 and was out for the count. Brandon and Leyla however were little chatter boxes who didn't shut up and messed around for about half an hour before finally going to sleep. Little monkeys!

 

The three B's. The  Brawn, the Brains and the Beauty.

Happy 41st Birthday Dad

Our not so beautiful spring weather put paid to most of my Birthday celebration plans for today. So a quick re-think after after opening my presents this morning and we decided it was best to stay out of the rain and thus we ended up going bowling. I can honestly say I was trying my best and ended up getting soundly beaten into last place by a 4 year old and a 5 year old. Lets hope I can continue to hold the boys off on getting the upper hand in my other sports such as golf, running, cycling, karate etc. unlike bowling where I was completely thrashed today!

 

Me and my boys at the bowling alley.

Even Brandon is strong enough to handle a 6kg ball without any help now.

Ans the champion of the day with 104 points was little B!!!!!!!!!

In the evening Tina and the boys took me out for a birthday dinner to The Quays. This is pretty much becoming our local restaurant now and the boys absolutely love it there. When ever you say to them that we are going out for dinner, The Quays is always their first request and we have pretty much no choice for other venues. The main reason for the boys fondness to The Quays is quite simply down to one thing.............pudding!

The ultimate pudding, cookie dough pizza with vanilla ice cream.

Spoons armed and me and the boys get ready to tuck in,

The pudding lasts no more than a few minutes as Joshua treats it as a race fearing that everyone will eat it before he has had his fill. This was similar to the starter we ordered which was a combo for 2 which ended up being a combo for 4! I swear Joshua could eat this entire pudding on his own if given the option.

 

 

So another year older and another birthday done. Next big Birthday for the boys is for their Mum to celebrate her 40th this year,