The END of the David Lloyd

Today we had the car all loaded for a very early start as me and Joshua were going to head over to the Carpenters for our very first car boot sale. We were hoping to sell a load of old baby stuff that we no longer need and in the process pocket some money for our forthcoming holiday. However when the alarm went off at 6am it was raining quite hard so we aborted the plan and will try again next week.

 

So this morning we went and visited Auntie Lisa at her Laboratory art studio in Wat Tyler Park so that the boys could do some craft activities. They had loads of fun making owl frames, sand models, football boots, badges and so on. Even Holly got involved and did a little drawing with some stickers. 

 

Brandon painting his owl frame.

Big girl Holly making her sticker art.

Joshua working on some sand models.

Auntie Lisa getting Holly involved in some art activities at such a young age.

Looking good.

My boys enjoying there time at the art studio.

Holly seemed to find more enjoyment out of tipping all of the pencils out of the pot and then putting them back.

 

After lunch we made our very final family visit to the David Lloyd so that I could have a workout whilst the kids were in the play area, then we all went swimming followed by a little bit of badminton. We have been members for over 15 years and it is almost like a second home for the 3 kids. They are all so comfortable and familiar with the surroundings there and thoroughly enjoy spending time there. All 3 of them have learnt to swim at the David Lloyd as we have taken each one of them almost weekly ever since they were 8-10 weeks old. Needless to say it was a very hard decision to make for us to hand in our notice to cancel the membership 3 months ago.

 

Ultimately the cost of the David Lloyd family membership has just got so ridiculous and I have also since discovered Crossfit Rayleigh where I have started training. So in the end it was a simple financial decision as for me to join Rayleigh and then to take the kids swimming at the Sporting Village each week will probably save us somewhere around £100 a month.

 

Anyway we enjoyed our final day there and made the most of the facilities, but it was also somewhat sad to leave there for the very last time. I sneaked my underwater camera into the pool as I wanted to get a few shots of Holly in the pool to shown how she does he upright leg pedal swimming. I am not sure these pictures really show how effective she is, but I did also take a good little video clip.

 

Holly manoeuvres in the pool in an upright position kicking her legs like she is riding a bike.



Her buoyancy jacket gives her enough buoyancy to keep her head just above the water.



And she is off.........



Photo bombed by a diving Joshua.



Her little head is just about kept above water level as she swims upright around the pool.



Holly chasing a ball around the pool.



Our final visit to Basildon David Lloyd, not sure who will miss it more out of me or the kiddies.



The sad walk back to the car.