Laboratory Plates and Fruit Kebabs

So one week of the school holidays has passed already!!! The boys have had a pretty busy first week and have certainly been getting about. Earlier in the week Tina took them down to their Aunties art studio to make some stunning plates and some rather scrummy fruit kebabs. From what I hear the two of them ate more than their share of the kebabs and still managed to bring home 3 or 4 for me to have as pudding.

 

 

Brandon hard at work decorating his plate.

Joshua looking like a happy little boy doing some arts and crafts.

Brandon making some fruit kebabs.

Joshua slicing and dicing some fruit (and probably his fingers knowing him!).

Brandon clearly likes banana. We always said he was a little monkey.

Brandon's finished plate. Just beautiful.

And Joshua's work of art.

Beaver Family Camp 2015 Day 3

Our final day on the Beaver Summer camp and the day started as usual with a nice cooked breakfast in the mess tent. The boys didn't wake up until quite late, I think it was gone 8 o'clock and so I got up earlier and started packing some stuff away. Once the boys were up and we had finished breakfast we quickly got the tent packed away in time for our 10 o'clock activities. This worked out to be a great plan as we got all our gear packed and loaded into the car before the heavens opened (again). So at least we didn't have to unpack everything when we got home in order to dry it all out. 

 

Joshua queueing up for his breakfast.

Can you spot Joshua and Brandon in the mess tent?

So our first activity of the day was called Water Rollerz. These were basically giant inflatable hamster wheels that we set in a over sized paddling pool! Given how much the heavens had opened up they were probably the driest place to be!! The boys had about 4 or 5 goes on these rollerz and went on individually and as a pair. They seemed to really enjoy themselves.

Hamster Brandon.

Joshua falls over in a water rollerz.

Joshua climbs out to let someone else have a go.

Joshua and Brandon team up to try and get this thing spinning.

Let the battle commence.

Careful not to slip in.

Love this picture of the two boys having fun together.

So much for good team work, they both fall over.

Brandon trying to spin Joshua around.

I think Brandon is getting Joshua a bit dizzy.

Joshua risking hanging out of the opening and falling in some rather dirty water.

 

After the Water Rollerz the second activity of the day was a lot more my cup of tea - archery. The archery facility at Belchamps is indoor and therefore we got to get out of the rain for a while and dry out. The bows were sightless ones which is slightly different to my bow that I fire at home. So my first couple of rounds were pretty poor as I had to learn a new way of aiming. I was soon knocking in the golds though. Joshua did very well at the archery and clearly had the strength to use the children's bows on his own. He just needed to slow down a bit as he tended to rush his shots. Brandon struggled a bit as he had to work really hard to pull the bow string back.

 



Brandon getting some tuition on the archery.

Great form being demonstrated by Joshua, really nice high elbow position.

Brandon really struggling to pull the bow string back.

Joshua looking like a real pro.

Great shot as Joshua hits the target again.

Sharp shooter.........

Brandon checking out where his arrow landed.

Me and my boys after a really enjoyable archery session.

 

So after the archery we headed back to camp for the annual AGM and then a rather nice lunch of fish finger sandwiches followed by yet more cake. We then all helped take down the mess tents in the rain and then headed off to our cars for the journey home. Overall we had a really great weekend full of activities. The camping was fantastic even if the weather was lousy. This was a proper boys weekend away to remember.

Beaver Family Camp 2015 Day 2

Day 2 of our Beaver Family Camp started with a nice cooked breakfast of scrambled eggs, sausages, bacon, beans and bread. After breakfast Brandon decided to go and do some more loom bands whilst Joshua went off to play in the woods with his friends under strict instructions to not get wet and muddy after the previous nights down pour. I should have known better really!!! About 30 mins later I went to go and locate him and to find him absolutely caked in mud, shoes and socks soaked through having been jumping in streams and in a complete mess! I found it hard to have a go at him as he was basically just being a proper little boy though!!! The biggest problem was that we had packed limited clothes so I had to hand wash everything he was wearing and then hang it outside the tent to try and dry it all out.

 

Nice cooked breakfast to start the day.



"If you go down to the woods today........." - what a mess.

Anyway our morning activities for today were pedal karting followed by wall climbing. We started with the pedal karts which were a really good blast. The kids all raced each other and then the adults got to race each other. Brandon was struggling a little bit with the hilly parts of the track and found himself getting pushed along by Scout leader, Dave (Eagle). Joshua was absolutely flying and being very competitive in nature, he went steaming off for the race win.

 



Hard hats on and ready for some pedal karting.



On your marks..............



And they are off.........



Brandon turning in for the apex.



Joshua takes a lead as he storms to a race win.



Joshua and Brandon racing each other.



The chequered flag and a bottle of bubbly to celebrate the win.



Brandon waving the chequered flag as some of the other kids have a turn to race.



Brandon did really well considering how big the karts were.



Joshua and Brandon line up for another race.



Joshua takes top spot on the podium, Brandon takes second and a very grumpy looking Joseph in third.

 

After the karting we hit the climbing walls. Joshua was really excited about this but Brandon was somewhat apprehensive and not very keen on participating. In fact the only way I could get him up the wall is by me promising to go up with him and help him out. Joshua did very well on the climbing part, especially as he had to wear welly boots having soaked his trainers earlier in the morning. Even the staff said that they had never seen anyone on the climbing wall wearing wellies before. So whilst Joshua climbed very well and managed to reach the top, his descent was far less graceful and he really couldn't grasp the concept of abseiling. Instead he was sort of slamming face first into the wall.

 

Brandon was the complete opposite. He really struggled with the climbing and needed lots of assistance, but when it came to the descent he was like a real pro. In he looked like a little S.A.S soldier as he bounce jumped down the wall putting his older brother to shame.

 

Joshua sets off on his first climb wearing welly boots.

Joshua really got to grips with the climbing wall.

Managing to keep up with the older child to the right.



Almost at the top.



And he makes it, now for the tricky descent.

Joshua really enjoyed his first climbing wall experience.

Me and Brandon then get hooked up for our turn on the wall.

Me trying to give Brandon plenty of verbal instructions and motivation to climb the wall.



It was slow but step by step he managed to make it 3/4's of the way up the wall.

Me and my boy on the climbing wall.

Selfie of me and the boys enjoying a wall climbing experience.

Joshua starts on his second attempt up the wall.

Brandon looking a lot more confident on his second attempt up the wall.

With a lot of help from the Scout leaders (pulling Brandon up more than him actually climbing), he manages to beat his record and almost makes it to the top of the wall.

Joshua couldn't get the descent and every time he pushed his legs straight he just slammed into the all.

After lunch the boys did some backwards cooking on an open flame fire. First he tried to make a chocolate banana which looked pretty sickly and even he didn't like it. After that both the boys made a wrap pizza which was wrapped in tin foil and then baked on an open griddle.

 



Joshua's open flame wrap pizza.

Chef Brandon making his pizza.

The foil wrapped pizza's cooking on the griddle.

Brandon really enjoyed his pizza and soon scoffed it all down.

Joshua and Brandon doing some shooting with some indoor crossbows.

These cross bows were great fun and I think we might have to invest in some of these for at home!!!

Sharp shooter Brandon.

Brandon enjoying his time at Belchamps.

After dinner we settled down for the evening camp fires songs. Its a good job Tina didn't hear some of the songs about eating worms, and poking people in the eye etc.

Joshua and Brandon keeping warm at the camp fire.



All the Beavers group sit around the camp fire as night draws in.

Sitting around the fire waiting for the flames to die down so that we can start toasting some marshmallows.

With just the hot embers left the kids are allowed to put some marsh mallows on some wet sticks and cook them over the fire. They then sandwiched the melted marshmallows in between two chocolate biscuits (yum!).

Brandon tried the marshmallows at every opportunity, but he never seems to like them.