Pappa Roach

The title of this blog is actually a nice little play on words and not a direct reference to the nu metal band that made it big in the 90's. You see there is one outdoor activity which has never ever appealed to me. That activity is fishing. Personally I can't imagine anything quite as boring as sitting by the side of a river or lake and just waiting for a fish to bite only to throw it back into the water again. Whats the point? However for some reason both Joshua and Brandon seem to be fascinated by fishing which means I have to go fishing. Oh the ups and downs of being a parent. One day I am sitting in the Olympic Stadium watching Usain Bolt, the next I am sitting over Wick Park trying to catch fish!

 

At the weekend both the boys bought themselves a roach pole to go fishing with. I think they are too young for a full fishing rod set, but a roach pole is just perfect as it is a complete set, simple to use, ready to go and minimal fuss. Even with my very limited fishing experience I managed to set up the roach poles and within no time at all the boys had some sweetcorn hooked up as bait and were experiencing their first real fishing.

Joshua casting off with his roach pole and waiting for a bite.

Brandon seemed to struggle holding the long pole up for long periods, but still managed to cast off and fish just fine.

All smiles as Little B fishes.

Within no time at all Brandon got the first catch of the day with a little roach, I was kind of dreading this moment as it meant I had to try and get the hook out of the fishes mouth which is something I have never done, and wasn't really sure the correct way to go about it. However I managed to unhook the fish and was absolutely amazed that Brandon was dead keen to hold the fish once I had unhooked it, and then to throw it back into the lake. Joshua initially wanted to know whether we could take the fish home as pets!

 

How can I deny the boys some fishing when you see Brandon's happy little face with his first catch.

It wasn't long before Joshua then pulled in his own roach, slightly smaller than Brandon's one. The real surprise here though was that Joshua was a bit squeamish when it came to holding the fish! This is a little boy that picks up worms, snails, spiders, etc.etc., scared to hold a little fish. So there was only one thing for it - hand it to his little brother who was dead keen and wanted yet another picture taken.

 

Little B with Joshua's first catch.

A close up of the beautiful little roach showing its yellow eyes and orange fins.

Once the boys got the hang of fishing there was absolutely no stopping them. I think in the end they caught something like 6 or 7 roach and I pretty much had to drag them away from the lake kicking and screaming. It was a very hot day and we had taken no drinks or food plus Brandon was desperate for the toilet - but they just didn't care. All they wanted to do was catch more fish!

Brandon with yet another catch, A bit slimy and a few scales came off in his hand.

The roach poles work really well but every now and then they do get a bit tangled up and both boys really need supervision whilst fishing (if nothing else to keep hooking up more bait for them). I found it very hard to juggle between the two of them at the same time and quickly learnt that we needed to put one of the poles away and get them sharing one pole between them. Once they are a bit more independent and competent I can probably manage both boys at the same time with two poles, however for now we will keep to just having one pole at a time and sharing. I also had a few scary moments where one of them would whip their pole out of the water with no warning and suddenly a hook is flying towards my head or embedded in my hand (ouch!).

 

Joshua was really settling into the lifestyle of a fisherman.

Anniversary Games - Olympic Stadium

So after several miles of site seeing around London in blazing summer heat we finally arrived at our destination - The Olympic Stadium. As most people know we were fortunate enough to take the boys to see some Olympic Kayaking at Lee Valley last year, but was unfortunate enough to not get tickets for the athletics in the Olympic Stadium. So you can imagine how thrilled I was to not only find out that there was going to be an Anniversary Games at the Olympic Stadium 1 year later, but that I was fortunate enough to get tickets for all four of us to go. Pretty lucky really when you consider that 80,000 tickets sold out in about 45 mins!

 

As we approach the stadium the crowds were already in full flow.

 

The Olympic Tower still stands but it didn't look like i was open to the public.

Little B tucking in to his burger and chips in front of the Olympic Tower.

Joshua showing us his Sainsbury "Go GB!" sign which he was given to hold up and support our athletes.

When we arrived the stadium was fairly empty, but within about 30 mins there was hardly an empty seat and the atmosphere was buzzing.

Waiting patiently for the athletics to being.

The inflatable Sainsbury balloon circling around the 400m race track.

British Athletics here we go.

 



Joshua lays down waiting for the games to start and Brandon cools off by stripping off his top.

The athletics started a little bit slowly with the discus down our end of the  stadium and the women's pole vault at the other end. The two boys loved learning about the sports and really got into the spirit of things when it came to cheering on team GB. They were waving their banners, shouting, pumping the air with their fists etc.etc. As these two events came to a close the real track action started with the 4 x 100m women's, men's 200m, 400m, 800m and 1500m races. The discus event used little radio controlled trucks to recover the discus's back to the athletes, at one point two of them even had a drag race down the 100m track!

The discus competition in full swing.

Of course the main event of the evening was the 100m men's final and despite this not being on until around 9:50 there was absolutely no way I was leaving early to miss the crowds and get the boys home early'ish. How often will we get the chance to see the fastest man on the planet, Usain Bolt, racing in the 100m in the Olympic Stadium? However before the events started Usain Bolt was introduced to an eruptuous crowd as he did a lap of honour on the back of some sort of weird aeroplane cockpit type of car. Needless to say both Joshua and Brandon now know how to do the Usain Bolt celebration.

The fastest man on the planet working the crowd before his big race.

Fire erupting from the back of the aeroplane car.

 

A stunning view of the men's 100m B race earlier in the evening.

A quick ice cream break in between events and I couldn't resist another picture of the Tower.

As the sun started to set over the stadium the pyramid lights lit up the track and field.

When it is pitch black the stadium looks amazing all lit up.

It is incredible that the stadium looks like daylight despite being pitch black outside.

Women's hurdles in action.

 

Then the moment we had all been waiting for - the start of the 100m final. Usain Bolt limbering up in lane 5. Camera flashes going off everywhere.

Despite a poor start, Usain's typical last 30m was phenomenal as he cruised to a win in 9.85 seconds.

Usain starts his lap of honour and milks the adorning crowd.

 

Once the 100m race was over it was pretty much a stampede as 80,000 people exited the stadium all heading for Stratford train station! I knew this was going to be bad and to make things worse Joshua slightly hurt his ankle coming down the stairs, so he took the buggy and I ended up carrying Brandon on a very hot sticky night in a jam packed crowd all pushing their way to try and get home. In the end it took us nearly 1 hour to get from the stadium to the train station. From there it was home sailing and we were back in doors by about 11:30pm. The Anniversary Games were incredible and it was so nice to see the boys having so much fun and cheering on Team GB. I am so proud to have been able to give them such a great opportunity in life. 

London Eye

As the first week of the school holidays comes to an end me and Tina both booked off Friday to spend the day in London with the boys. We had tickets for the Anniversary Games in the Olympic Stadium later in the evening, but since the gates did not open until 4pm we decided to make a day out of it and take it some sites with the boys. It is something we have wanted to do for some time now but just never got around to it. Even the train journey into London is exciting and part of an adventure for the boys. All the way there they kept asking whether this was an overground train and when they are going underground? So after arriving in Liverpool St we headed for the underground and I explained the underground map to the boys, I then showed them where the embankment was and asked what colour train they thoughts would get us there. Both of them correctly picked the yellow circle line, so off we headed to the South Bank.

 

Tina and the boys on the Millennium Bridge.

The boys were fascinated watching all of the boats on the Thames and really wanted a ride on one.

 

The boys on the South Bank with Big Ben in the background.

Whilst we picked up our London Eye tickets the boys met up with an old buddy of there's, I think his name is David Beckham.

Joshua and Brandon in front of the London Eye.

Two very excited boys killing time in the park whilst we waited for our slot.

It was a very hot day and therefore we had a nice little picnic on the South Bank and then the boys got to play in the park area by the Eye whilst we waited for our time slot.

Joshua on a swing with the Eye in the background.

Little B showing excellent coordination on the parallel ropes.

The wooden climbing frame was a bit big and scary for Little B's legs and he needed a lot of help/support.

Joshua on the spiders web.

A lovely perspective photo of Brandon with the London Eye behind him.

Joshua doing what Joshua does........

Finally our time slot arrived for the Eye and at first Joshua wanted nothing to do with it due to the size of the queue. However surprisingly it moved wry quickly and before long we was collapsing the buggy and going through security ready to board our pod.

Here comes our pod.

On goes Joshua and Brandon, first into our POD.

Brandon looking a little apprehensive and wondering what he is in for.

Up, up and away..............

Joshua and Brandon loved taking in the views and watching the boats going up and down the river.

Little B looking out of the POD. Notice both boys wearing their Olympic 2012 outfits ready for tonight's anniversary games.

Watching the boats below.

A picture of all five of us up in the pod. Incidentally Tina was pregnant with Joshua when we first ever went up in the London Eye. 6 years on and she is in there again and pregnant with number 3.

Stunning views of Westminster and Big Ben from the top of the Eye.

And just how small does the park look and Joshua and Brandon were playing in only 30 mins earlier.

The boys really enjoyed watching some of the street entertainers along the South Bank. They saw everything from film doubles such as Charlie Chaplin and Captain Jack Sparrow, to freestyle BMX's, to guys cracking Indiana Jones style whips and old school string puppet shows.

 

We had a nice ice cream break as we watched this skeleton string puppet perform.

Next on the plan was to head over to Buckingham Palace. The two boys have learnt a lot about the Royal Family since the Jubilee last year and the birth of George Alexander Louis this year. So we thought it would be really good for them to see where the Queen lives.

We left the Eye and headed back over the river heading towards Buckingham Palace.

Big Ben, Big Daddy, Big Josh..............and Little B.

Me, the boys and the Eye from the other side of the river.

As we headed towards St James Park we were fortunate enough to see Horse Guards Parade. Brandon was initially a bit scared by the big horses but very curious about the swords and whether the guards were good or bad soldiers. He also asked why the guards were all so grumpy and never smiled - how funny.

Me and the boys with a grumpy guard.

This guard still wouldn't smile for a picture.

View over the Horses Guard with the London Eye in the background.

After a lovely walk through St James Park we finally arrived home - Buckingham Palace.

Joshua was really gutted once we reached Buckingham Palace as he actually thought we were going to meet the Queen and not just see where she lives! Fortunately there were some military vehicles moving around the court yard which took their minds off of the Queen. Plus they also enjoyed watching more grumpy guards marching up and down.

According to Joshua the RangeRover Evoque was the Queens car parked out front.

Military operations in progress.



Me and the boys standing outside our new garden gates.

Little B was getting tired and therefore had a shoulder carry around the Victoria Memorial.

Me and the boys at the Victoria Memorial.

Joshua and Brandon insisted on throwing coins into the Memorial despite me saying that the Queen really didn't need our money!

Joshua standing under one of the Jack's, Union Jack's that is.

The boys letting off so steam in a sand pit in St James Park.



The stunning view across St James Park Lake looking back down at Buckingham Palace.

 

The above picture kind of makes you realise just how far the boys walked over the course of our day out in London. OK so we took the buggy to give there little legs a break every now and then, but overall they were a pair of little troopers and must have covered several miles during our exploits around our Capital City. Despite all of this walking though we were only half way through the day, next it was back to the embankment to head all the way over to Stratford Station to get to the Olympic Park for our main attraction of the day. Read more tomorrow.........