Holly's Pre-School Pictures June 2017

Today Holly's beautiful pre-school photos which we ordered a few weeks ago arrived. They look even more amazing than the proof prints. Absolutely love these pictures of my little princess. Please let me know if anyone wants copies and if so how many and what size?

 

School Sports Day 2017

Fortunately the forecast rain held off today which was great news given that it was the school sports day. I had managed to work it so that I could work from home today which meant I could watch all their races and stay for a picnic lunch with them afterwards.

 

Joshua competed in the hurdles for his first event where he placed 2nd. Then he had the sprint race which he came in 4th. So one silver medal for Joshua. Brandon came 3rd in the obstacle race and then 3rd in the long distance, so two bronze medals for Brandon. I felt Brandon was a little unlucky in the long distance as he was cut off on the track and just sat back too much for the first 3 laps leaving his turbo sprint finish a tad late. But he still did very well in a very competitive race which had the most runners out of every event that day.

 

Its always good to watch the kids on sports day and both of the boys did us proud and gave it their all. Both have an outstanding record of taking medals at every sports day since starting school. I think Joshua was a bit disappointed with his sprint and now wants to switch back to long distance next year.

 

Opening ceremony parade lap for Brandon's class.

Opening ceremony parade lap for Joshua's class.

Joshua storming to a 2nd place in his hurdle race.

Action shot as Joshua crosses the finish line.

Joshua receiving his silver medal on the podium.

Brandon racing to a 3rd place in the obstacle course.

Brandon takes 3rd place on the podium for his first event.

Joshua gets a bad start on the sprint and never recovers coming home in 4th place just outside the medals.

Its not often you don't see Joshua on the podium, but he gave it his all.

Brandon lines up in the biggest field of the day on the long distance race. 4 laps of the track.

These 3 pretty much held their positions for the whole race but Brandon just left his turbo finish a tad late.

Brandon gets his second Bronze medal of the day.

Very proud of our boys keeping up their track record of medals at every school sports day.

Rayleigh Boys Football Tournament

Super proud of Brandon's U8 Tigers team this weekend. Yesterday they competed in only their 2nd 7v7 football tournament at Rayleigh Boys and they did absolutely outstanding. This is the first tournament they have won going 4-0 winning all their games (1-0, 1-0, 4-0 and 4-1). Pretty amazing achievement given that they have only been playing 7v7 for a few months and are learning to adapt to the bigger pitch and more players on the pitch.  Yesterday they all really clicked together and to only concede one goal in four games is amazing.

 

The U8 Tigers with their medals for the Rayleigh Boys 7v7 tournament.

 

Champions, 4 games played, 4 games won!

Holly's 1st Homework and our New Entertainment Wall

Little Holly is getting so clever and often asks if she can do her homework when the boys are told to sit down and get their homework done. So we used to give her some stickers, or a colouring book or maybe just some plain paper to draw on. However today we started her on her own 3-5 year old toddler homework books and she absolutely loved having her own work to do and getting a gold star sticker for her hard work. The problem we had today was getting her to stop, she just wanted to carry on page after page after page.

 

Tina sitting down with Holly to do her first toddler homework book.

Concentrating hard as she matches the numbered pictures.

Happy Holly with her gold star for completing the end of a page.

 

Today we have had a fairly relaxed day as there was no football. After a late start to the day me and the kids decided to jump in the jacuzzi before breakfast. After some nice homemade waffles I took the kiddies swimming over the Sporting Village. Then in the afternoon we headed over the driving range to hit some balls. I took Holly for the first time and she was so keen to have a go herself, so we got a small iron and she hit about 15 balls or so. I had to give her a lot of help as she could barely lift the club to swing it on her own. So whilst she is ready for homework, and loves swimming, I think its a tad early for her to start golf.

 

The kiddies at the Sporting Village for a family swim.

 

Holly's first trip to the driving range.

Not sure that shot will make it past the stones.

Finally for today I can reveal some modifications I have been working on in the conservatory. Its still a long way from being finished but its now usable. I have basically built a stud wall on top of the dwarf wall and mounted a recessed TV along with the kids Wii and Playstation. The plan being that we can have the TV in the living room for an evening relax time and the boys can play their games consoles on a big TV in the conservatory without having to hog the living room. So the main structure is up and all the TV, PS3 and Wii are wired in. Next jobs are to install some back lighting, a double socket and then I can start with the plasterboard. Brandon seems to enjoy the new set-up though and is loving his Gran Turismo on the big screen.

 

Brandon playing GT3 on the PS3 and testing out the new entertainment wall.

Still work in progress, but it will look good when it is finished.

 

Cubs Canoeing 2017

As if last weekend wasn't busy enough for us we also had to fit in the boys Cubs Canoeing event over at Barleylands on Saturday afternoon. This year they really organised the event well and split the kids into smaller groups. Then they had 3 different activities whilst on the lake, single seater kayaks, Canadian canoes and barrel rafts.

 

Joshua and Brandon really seemed to have a good time and obviously they love canoeing anyway and have good control of their boats having owned their own kayak anyway. They couldn't have picked a better weekend weather wise with temperatures hitting 30 degrees meaning the kids and the instructors all enjoyed having water fights out on the lake and jumping in the water.

 

Me and Holly kept ourselves entertained by feeding the fish some bread and also picking some nice flowers and teaching her the buttercup test.

 

Joshua's group of cubs for the canoeing.

Brandon with his group all geared up and ready for the water.

Brandon pulling himself up on to the barrel raft. Unlucky Nr 13 helmet.

Joshua being tipped out of his single seater kayak.

 

I think Joshua wants one of these hard kayaks next instead of the inflatable.

Brandon at the front of the Canadian Kayak with two other Cubs.

Joshua taking a breather at the side of the lake.

The Canadians raft up and take it in turns to swap boats.

Team work is the name of the game on the 4 barrel raft. Brandon on the back right hand side.

Joshua out on the Canadian Canoe.

Joshua looks in deep thought as he rows along...

Brandon's raft picking a water fight with an instructor to cool everyone off.

Brandon had great control of the single seater but spent most of his time ramming the rest of the cubs!

Joshua's turn on the barrel raft.

Team work.............

Holly looking as pretty as ever as we hunt around for flowers whilst the boys are on the water.



Yeh, Holly likes butter.

And finally another action shot of Brandon.

Fathers Day 2017

Fathers Day 2017 has been just magical for me. I was woken up at about 7:30am by a very excited Holly who came running in to our bedroom to give me her card and a beautiful Dad sign that she had made. This was shortly followed up by the two boys who had made some Dad's BBQ aprons and I also got a new pint glass full of chocolate raisins and nuts!!!! Earlier in the week I had also attended the boys school for the annual Fathers Day lunch. This year we had an all day breakfast which was rather tasty. Its nice to have a school lunch with the boys but you soon get an unwelcoming feeling as they make it clear its time for you go as its taking up their playtime.

 

After breakfast today we decided to have a beach day as the weather was forecast to be over 30 degrees. I often feel that we do not appreciate just how close we live to the coast and that we should make the most of it. So we loaded the car and headed off to Shoeberry for about 5 hours. The tide was out but we had a lovely time playing in the pool area. Joshua went off with some other kids and was collected dozens of crabs. Brandon met some other kids in the pool and they were towing each other around in their inflatable boats. Holly was not quite herself today and acted quite tired. So she had a doze on the beach and a little play in the boat.

 

We took our new little burner to the beach and cooked up some very tasty sausage rolls for lunch. We then washed that down with an ice cream (Holly had candy floss again) and then we headed over to see the Poppy Wave before it is taken down next week. The wave is not as impressive as the Tower of London display but it is still impressive and good for the kiddies to understand the meaning behind the poppy and the displays which are going on around the country. Brandon in particular was very inquisitive about the MoD base and some of the history.

 

Fathers Day school lunch with my two little men

Brandon tucking in to his all day breakfast.

 

Holly doing some row, row, row your boat at Shoeberry.

Joshua was off and catching crabs straight away.

Brandon taking his sister for a ride in the boat.

Holly looking at Brandon as if to say,"Do you know what you are doing?".

Tina and Holly chilling on the beach.

The heat was just too much for Holly and it was time for a nap.

Lovely picture of Brandon in the inflatable.

Good rowing technique.

Brandon met a friend from Trinity football club and they were passing a ball between each others boats.

Meanwhile Joshua was still collecting crabs!

Time for me to knock up some sausage rolls. Damn I forgot my new aprons.

Me and my cheeky girl enjoying some beach time.

Tina and Holly. Holly still wasn't brave enough to go in the water.

Me and the kiddies on Fathers Day.

Quality family time in scorching weather.

A short trip down the road and we could see the poppy wave.

I think the kids were disappointed they couldn't go on the pier.

The 3 kiddies by the Poppy Wave.

All my precious ones enjoying some family time on Fathers Day.

Me and my babies.

 

The fitting end to my lovely Fathers Day.