Crossfit Open Games 16.1 & Easter Egg Homework

This weekend was spent mostly on football and homework. On Saturday we had two really good coaching sessions with the U7's and U8's, but Sundays U8's match was a very bad 8-3 loss as our boys played really bad. Admittedly they are not really used to playing on the 3g so playing over Len Forge rather than on real grass certainly didn't help us.

For homework, Joshua was completely stacked up this weekend with math's homework, reading, spellings, his activity book and his creative homework. One of his creative homework's was to make an Easter Egg so out came the old Easter Egg moulds and on went a bar of Dairy Milk to melt down. We made a decorative box with a handle to put his egg in and then decorated it with chicks, bunnies and come coloured paper for the egg to sit on. I have to say I think we did quite a good job really.

 

 

Joshua proudly shows off his homemade Easter Egg homework for school.

Nice looking Dairy Milk egg with white chocolate flicks decorated with Easter chicks and bunny's in a homemade basket.



Why do I always get worried when I see Joshua carrying Holly around the house like this?

Holly with her hair all tied up thanks to Auntie Lea. Looking very cute and girly.

The other big news from the weekend is that I have entered myself into the Crossfit Open Games for the first time. Having been doing Crossfit for a year now I set a new years resolution to enter an event this year. The open starts with 5 weeks of gruelling workouts to find the fittest people in the world who then advance to the regionals and so on. This weekend Joshua accompanied me to Crossfit Rayleigh to run through the 16.1 workout which was a 20 min AMRAP (as many rounds as possible) of the following:

 

• 25 ft of walking overhead lunges with a 95lb Olympic bar (back knee touching the floor on each rep)
• 8 burpees jumping over the bar
• 25ft walking lunges going back
• 8 chest to bar chin-ups

It sounds like an easy WOD but was absolutely brutal. I set a target to try and complete 6 rounds and ended up being just 6 reps of the chest to bar short of hitting 7 rounds. So very pleased with that. Josh was a little star down the gym and was working the wall clock, updating the WOD board with our scores and so on. He even did a few exercises of his own whilst he was there. Anyway as of last night I was ranked 13th in the UK masters so far. Pretty pleased with that. Entries are still going in today so that position will probably change. Now to recover and get ready for next weeks 16.2 workout which gets published Thursday night, then you have until the following Monday to submit your score again!

 



Me powering away with some 95lb Olympic bar lunges whilst Joshua watches on.

Free Clothes and the WOD Board

This is going to sound really bad, but when you consider Holly is over two years old we have actually bought very little clothes for her. Tina has some really good contacts within the school Mum’s circle and it is amazing the number of them that have just given us a bag load of clothes which their little girl has out grown and would have otherwise gone to the charity shop. Most of it is in such good condition and looks brand new having either hardly been worn or outgrown so quickly. This week’s haul was yet another bag of lovely clothes which will keep Holly going for another 3-6 months.

 

Holly's pile of donated clothes.

And a selection of shoes to accompany them.



 

Holly is really doing well at her swimming club lately and I had the rare pleasure of taking her during the half term week. It is amazing how much she has progressed and how confident she is since I last saw her. I have very few regrets about leaving the David Lloyd gym, but missing my family swimming time is definitely one of them. I promised myself I would try and keep taking them at the weekend but the public pools are never open outside of the football training / matches time making it near impossible!! Holly is also still really enjoying her little abs club and below is her latest creation.

Holly's latest art work from her Little Abs club.

Finally for today I think Joshua and Brandon are now hooked on Crossfit and WOD’s after their half term experience down Rayleigh Crossfit. Last night I made a deal with them that if they finished their homework they could each write out their own WOD and then we headed out to the garage to get it done. Brandon’s WOD was a 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 rep increasing range for squats, kettle bell swings, toes to bar, press ups and burpees. Joshua’s entailed the same exercises with a different rep range plus he was incorporating several 100m runs in between. They enjoyed their WOD’s so much and it’s great to see them having fun and doing exercise. They stuck their WOD sheets up on my WOD board in the garage gym as shown below. The neighbours were looking out of their window and must of thought I was some sort of Sargent Major drill instructor forcing my kids into a brutal regime of after school exercise!!!

The boys stuck their hand writing WOD sheets onto my WOD whiteboard in the garage.

FIFA16

On or Playstation 3 the boys already have FIFA 14 and FIFA 15 and have wanted FIFA 16 pretty much ever since it came out. However I refuse to pay £45 for a game when in a years time you will be able to buy it preowned for £10-15. However Brandon decided he really wanted this and used his birthday money to buy it for himself. Fortunately he got a good deal out of Game and only ended up paying £30. He absolutely loves his FIFA football and as much as I hate to admit it - he is better than both me and Joshua and pretty much always beats us!!!! Whats funny is that he is getting to know the star rating of the teams and equates that to how good they are in real life. So if you are watching a match on television or go to see a football match, he is always correlating the teams back to their FIFA star rating to understand how good they are.

 

Brandon proudly shows his FIFA 16 which he bought for himself out of his birthday money. The front cover featuring the one and only Messi.

Half Term at Hendon Air Museum

With this half term rapidly vanishing in front of our very eyes I decided to take a days holiday from work today and have a family day out. With the weather being so cold and with forecasts of rain we had to pick somewhere indoors. We fancied somthing a bit more than just a soft play centre and bowling was no good either as the boys are doing that at Wizz Kids tomorrow. So in the end we decided to head over to Hendon air museum as we haven't been there in a few years.

 

We had a really great day and the boys are at an age now where they are actually interested in learning about the the different planes and the various wars as opposed to just walking around looking at them. We also played a game trying to guess the wing span of each plane and by the end was actually getting pretty accurate with our guesses. Holly did absolutely amazing and walked/ran around the entire museum from the moment we got there to the moment we left. She flat out refused to go in her buggy. God only knows how far her little legs walked today. When we eventually settled her in the car for the journey home she was completely exhausted and slept the entire journey home.

 

Holly, Brandon and Joshua arrive at Hendon for a family day out.

The boys head kids trail activities to complete and the first one on Joshua's sheet was the Euro Fighter.

Our 3 kiddies posing in front of a plane.

I was under instruction to take a picture of Donald which was painted on the side of the Mustang.

Me and my kiddies in front of one of my favourites, the Lancaster Bomber. Albeit one that has been shot down and blown up!

Holly and Brandon with a pilot.

This mosaic was very impressive, about 30ft by 20ft and made entirely of little pictures of planes to make a large spitfire mosaic.

Joshua sitting beneath the under carriage of the Vulcan bomber watching the movie about its history.

I think the boys counted 21 bombs all lined up and ready for the Vulcan.

Brandon with a funny looking little plane.

Holly running laps in and out of the Chinnock helicopter.

The 3 kiddies in front of a stunning RAF Memorial stained glass window.

Man over board, 3 kids fall out of a inflatable survival boat.

Joshua and Brandon exiting the 3D simulator having been shaken around and knocked off their seats a few times.

Joshua, Brandon and Holly getting to understand the controls of a plane.

My 3 little pilots.

Holly and Joshua playing in a play helicopter.

Then after playing it is time for Biggles Josh to teach her how to fly a real copter.

Holly having fun in a little play plane.

Joshua learning about jets trying to blast the inflatable ball through the metal ring. Brandon was more interested in doing toes to bar on it (which he learnt at cross fit yesterday).

Joshua and Brandon piloting another plane and learning how to may it lift and drop.

Joshua was such a good boy and helped out with Holly so much and was always there to show her how to do different things.

Joshua couldn't grasp hand gliding on his belly so went on his knees instead.

In the Battle of Britain hanger the boys were both fascinated learning abour WW2 and comparing the German planes with the RAF planes.

Joshua, Brandon and Holly about to enter the absolutely gigantic and very impressive Sunderland sea plane.

Inside the Sunderland.

This was a projection map in the WW1 hanger and Holly was hilarious as she chased around the outside trying to catch the moving planes.

This might be a little ambitious of Joshua to try and teach Holly Morse Code.

Watch out there's a Holly about and she has got a machine gun.

Joshua got a bit of a workout on this contraption. Using the lever he could manouver the cockpit chassis with body weight in all directions to simulate flight.

A Holly size plane - amazingly made from polysterene and wool!

Another plane that Brandon liked and wanted his picture taken with.

An exhausted Holly slept all the way home with her pink cat seatbelt ted to snuggle up to and keep her company.

Crossfit Rayleigh Kids Half Term Club

So far for half term the boys have spent Monday at home in the morning playing some games and then in the afternoon we had a dentist check-up. Once again Joshua was reminded to stop sucking his thumb as it is likely to bend his teeth out. Brandon was also given a bit of a telling off by the dentist as he hasn't been cleaning his bottom teeth properly and has some plaque build up!

 

On Tuesday the two boys had a day at Wizz Kids where they went on a cinema visit to watch Alvin and the Chipmunks.

 

But today was special. During this half term, Brendon who runs Crossfit Rayleigh was running some 2 hour kids clubs and so I decided to book Joshua and Brandon in today. They had an absolutely fab time playing lots of sport games, doing loads of physical challenges and a couple of WOD's. We arrived there half an hour early to pick them up and they were in the middle of a WOD which included kettle bell swings, burpees and hanging toes to bar!!!! After that they played dodgeball, swang on ropes, had a tug of war and a team challenge to travel the length of the gym standing on two 2.5kg discs as a team of 3!!! Both boys really enjoyed the session and Brandon was apparently asking to do more burpees and kettle bell swings. I think it is absolutely fab to get them into Crossfit at a young age and start teaching them good technique.

 

Today was a bit of a trial session for them, but as they enjoyed themselves so much I will probably start booking them in once a week for the kids sessions that Brendon runs.

 

Joshua and Brandon arrive for their first Crossfit experience at Crossfit Rayleigh.

Princess Holly & Facebook Mummy Questionnaire

Holly is really starting to develop her own little character and traits now and has an ever growing vocabulary. She still can't quite say "Josh" and instead calls Joshua "Rosh". She doesn't even try Brandon and instead calls him simple "Bruver" or "B". She has also now learnt to say things like, "My bike", "My IPAD", "My bum bum" and so on.Earlier today I even got her to say "disgusting" when she saw my dirty feet! One of her most annoying traits she has picked up from somewhere is a stroppy stomp!!! When she is told off or made to do something that she doesn't want too, she will storm off stamping her feet (early sign of the terrible twos????).

 

Anyway for today's blog update I just have a few recent pictures of my little princess.

 

 

Holly taking her shopping trolley on a trip around the local Tesco's with Mummy.

Big girl Holly enjoying a swing in the pirate ship play park that we always stop by after we go to the dentist.
 

My little princess Holly playing dress-up at home.
 

 

 

On a different subject I was driving to the Midlands today on business and was using the Sat Nav to get to our Binley Office. Little did I know it took me down "Brandon Road" so I had to take a picture of the Sat Nav screen to show him. He now says he wants to live in Brandon Road so that he doesn't forget his address.



 

Brandon Rd in Coventry pops up on the Sat Nav.





 

Finally for today's blog I have noticed a Mummy questionnaire whih has been trending on facebook for the last couple of days. So tonight I decided to get the boys to answer the questions and got some pretty funny responses:

 

1. What is something Mummy always says to you. :
Brandon : "You can't have bad dreams as you haven't been to sleep yet!".
Joshua : "Stop fighting"

2. What makes Mummy happy? :
Brandon : Helping out at the school
Joshua : Flowers

3. What makes Mummy sad? :
Brandon : When she is cold.
Joshua : When someone dies.

4. How does Mummy make you laugh:
Brandon : Tickling me.
Joshua : Tickling me.

5. What was Mummy like as a child?
Brandon : Good worker.
Joshua : Drama Queen.

6. How old is Mummy?
Brandon : 42
Joshua : 42 (almost 43)

7. How tall is Mummy?
Brandon : 4 foot
Joshua : 1 m 50 cm

8. What is Mummy's favourite thing to do?
Brandon : Shopping.
Joshua : IPAD and TV.

9. What does Mummy do when you're not here? :
Brandon : Holly's swimming lessons.
Joshua : Goes to sleep.

10. If Mummy becomes famous what will it be for? :
Brandon : Cooking food.
Joshua : Art.

11. What is Mummy really good at? :
Brandon : Knitting.
Joshua : Playing on her IPAD.

12. What is Mummy not very good at? :
Brandon : Climbing.
Joshua : Not doing jobs.

13. What is Mummy's job?:
Brandon : Police woman.
Joshua : Playing on her IPAD.

14. What makes you proud of Mummy? :
Brandon : Helping.
Joshua : Helping with homework.

15. What is Mummy's favourite food? :
Brandon : Lasagna.
Joshua : Chinese.

16. What do you & Mummy do together? :
Brandon : Play.
Joshua : Cinema.

17. How are you & Mummy the same? :
Brandon : Brown Eyes.
Joshua : Giggly.

18. If your Mummy was a cartoon character who would she be?
Brandon : Jasmine.
Joshua : Sleeping Beauty.

19. How are you & Mummy different?:
Brandon : Hair.
Joshua : Everything.

20. How do you know Mummy loves you? :
Brandon : Kisses.
Joshua : Kisses.

21. Where is Mummy's favourite place to go?

Brandon : Rain Forest.
Joshua : America.



Valentines Day

So valentines day has been and gone (almost) and the kiddies are still all too young to have received their own valentines cards or gifts. That's has'nt stopped them from enjoying the day and celebrating valentines. Holly had fun tearing into mine and Tina's valentines cards this morning and then after a nice roast dinner tonight we player a couples card game where you had loads of questions to see who knew their partner better. Seems Joshua and Brandon know their Mummy and Daddy very well already and got most of the questions correct. As usual I got Tina the typical chocolates along with a few other odds and sods, but then I also tried to get her something a little more thoughtful with a personalised acacia chopping board engraved with "Mr and Mrs King Est. 13th September 1997". It is one of those presents which was either going to be a home run or a home goal!

 

Tina's personalised chopping board for valentines day.

 

 

As we only had one football match today and that had an 11:30 kickoff, we decided to start our valentines day taking the boys to Chelmsford for the 2k Park Run. It was pretty cold and muddy over there and Joshua felt sick before the start, so no PB's today. Still they both did great for at least completing their 10th Park Run now, one more and they get a wrist band. Brandon looked the part wearing his new West Ham Boleyn training kit. After the Park Run we stopped off quickly at Dunkin Donuts for some valentines donuts to take home for lunch, then we headed over to Barleylands ready for Joshua's away match against Essex Royals.

 

Brandon in his new West Ham Boleyn training kit all ready for his 2k Park Run.

 

Brandon looking strong as he beats his poorly bother again around the 2 lap course.

 

Joshua struggled today but still put on a sprint finish to come 48th out of 100.

 

 

 

Despite feeling sick at the Park Run, Joshua played very well in his football match today. He is really starting to grow into the centre back position and played some very good defencive football today. So much so that Coach Lee decided he should be award MOTM in the boys well deserved 5 - 2 win (which was really 5 - 1 as one of the goals was an own goal). So he had definitely earned his Dunkin Donut today.

 

Joshua and Ethan enjoying some Dunkin Donuts after their 5-2 win football match today.

 

Tina picked me a rather delicious apple crumble heart shaped Dunkin Donut.

 

Joshua with his MOTM trophy for today's win against Essex Royals.

 

 

Holly has not been very well lately with a cold and sickness. It is that time of the year when there are loads of bugs doing the rounds at school and it seems that one of the three kids is always ill this time of year. Holly has hardly eaten in the last few days and had us up at 3:30am the other night, sitting up being sick in her cot. Poor little thing. Despite being under the weather her potty training is still going outstanding and she is virtually dry throughout the daytime now. Also she is still enjoying her arts and crafts at her little abs club.

 

Holly's arts and crafts work from last weeks Little Abs club.

 

Finally for today a really nice selfie picture taken by one of the boys cousins at last weeks Southend football match. Great picture of the four of them.