Happy 10th Birthday to Brandon

Today Brandon hit the double digit milestone and celebrated his 10th birthday, unfortunately for him it was on a school day. After finishing at Crossfit this morning I rushed home to see him before he headed off to school and to make sure he got to open his presents, even if it did mean I was an hour late for work! Family first though!

His main present this year was a 24" dual suspension mountain bike. After Joshua got his one last year Brandon really wanted one as his old geared mountain bike is way too small for him. This 24" is slightly smaller than Joshua's 26", but still has plenty of room for him to grow in to. One of his other presents was to add some mud guards to the bike as he wanted it to look like a dirt bike. Now we just need some good weather and to head over to Hadleigh mountain bike course!

Brandon's other 10th birthday presents included a jump ramp for his Anki overdrive, new shin pads, the Chelsea development squad football kit, some football books, a Linkin Park CD, Dirt 4 PS4 game and Fortnite t-shirt and finally £30 in cash which he has pretty much wasted on V-bucks.

We didn't go out anywhere this evening as we treated Brandon to a birthday meal on Sunday at the kids favourite restaurant, Spoons in Basildon. So tonight he got to play with some of his presents and celebrate his birthday at home with his family. Holly sang happy birthday to Brandon extremely well as he blew the candles out on his homemade Fortnite cake.

Brandon's new bike and presents all set out for him in the morning.

I think Brandon is taking after me and had a very good guess at most of his presents.

The birthday boy now in double digits.

Brandon also had Victorian day at school today hence the scruffy hair and white shirt.

Brandon's new dual suspension mountain bike. God knows how I am going to fit another bike in the garage.

I think Brandon can't wait for Friday evening to wear his new Chelsea Foundation Squad kit at training.

A homemade Fortnite cake for his 10th birthday.

Brandon ready to blow out the candles, we couldn't price him from his gaming chair.

Holly singing happy birthday.

I'll huff and ill puff.

I liked this picture which Auntie Nicky sent to Brandon.

And finally as Dead Pool is currently one of my favourite films - this picture is from me to B.

Electric Cars

This blog is not so much about Joshua, Brandon or Holly but more about a major change in automobiles which will greatly influence them in years to come. Last week I changed my company car and due to company car tax rates I was kind of forced to go down the electric route and now have a black Hyundai Ioniq Premium SE Plug-In hybrid electric vehicle (that's a mouth full!).

With reducing global oil supplies, increased fuel prices and the environmental impact of petrol and diesel engines due to their emissions, it is highly likely that Joshua, Brandon and Holly will be driving fully electric vehicles and possibly even full autonomous vehicles. The battery range and the charging infrastructure is not quite mature enough for me to go the full electric route just yet, hence our first dabble in electric vehicles is a plug-in hybrid. But I am sure that in 3 years time when this car is changed that we will be looking at full electric vehicles.

The Ioniq is an amazing small family car absolutely packed with technology and it gives you a real sense of what the future holds for automation and what the kids can look forward to in years to come. The kids like the car mostly because it has heated rear seats which is something we have never had before, normally it is just the front seats.

So the world of electric cars starts here for the King family, but in years to come this will be the norm for Josh, Brandon and Holly.

The King family's first dabble in to electric cars - the Hyundai Ioniq Premium SE Plug-In Hybrid.

Hopefully our weekly fuel costs will now be halved as I charge the car whilst at work completely free of charge!

Joshua's Tech Centre

Joshua has certainly taken after me and is showing a real keen interest in home computing. His laptop has pretty much become redundant now that he has his new gaming PC for Xmas. To add to his set-up I have now hooked up my work monitor so he is now running a dual screen PC set-up. To think when I was his age we were lucky to have one colour TV in a household, Joshua is now sitting there with two colour monitors and a colour LCD TV - how times have changed!

Holly gets 100% Attendance Award

Holly is having a great start to her school journey at Abacus and has been rewarded with a 100% attendance certificate for her first full term.

Frosty Park Run PB for Holly

This past Sunday Holly did absolutely amazing on her park run and set a new PB of 12:55 minutes which absolutely smashes her time from last week and is the first time she has gone under 13 minutes for 2k. She was the 20^th female to cross the finish line and was 17^th in her age group. What makes this more impressive is that the temperatures were sub zero dropping to -2 degrees with a frosty ground and she still smashed it. Not bad for just 5 years old.

Flying feet picture of Holly storming to a PB on a frosty Sunday morning.

Thats a happy face enjoying a 2k park run with Daddy.

Holly tearing up the last few hundred meters towards the finish line.

So proud of this little one.

Joshua was a but sluggish today and a couple of minutes behind Brandon and only fractionally ahead of Holly.

Brandon had another top race finishing top 15 with a time circa 9 mins.

Brandon gets Invited to 'High 5' Maths Initiative

We are super proud of Brandon this week as he was invited to participate in an exciting ‘High 5’ initiative running at Bromfords school. This initiative is aimed at Year 5 students who are selected by their teachers from across all the Primary schools in Wickford. What is impressive about this is that each school only got to select 2 pupils and Brandon was one of those picked to represent Abacus Primary School!!!

Initially Brandon had no interest in attending this as he thought it was just an extra after school maths club which would take time away from his PS4!!! However once we explained how privileged he should feel for being selected he finally agreed to go along. So yesterday he had his first session and he was absolutely buzzing afterwards and really enjoyed himself. The focus of the session was to learn about cryptology and solving mathematical problems which is something he hasn’t done in his normal school classes and he found it really interesting and fun.

Joshua Start's SATS Booster Sessions

This week Joshua starts doing SATS booster sessions 3 mornings of the week for maths, grammar and reading. I think its really good that the school identify the weaknesses and provide an opportunity for the kids to do these booster sessions. 

Joshua wasn't best please with the maths booster session as it falls on the morning when he is supposed to be doing his cross country training. But both me and Tina and Joshua's teacher all feel the booster sessions are more important than the cross country training, so we have managed to get an agreement from the school that Joshua can still be part of the school cross country team even though he doesn't train with them because he is doing the 2k park run every Sunday plus two boxing running sessions a week, so arguably he is training more than the other kids anyway.

Holly's New Running Shoes

After last weeks park run we realised that over winter Holly had outgrown her trainers and so it was time to buy her a new pair of running shoes. So a quick trip to Sports Direct last weekend and she has got some nice super fast blue and pink Karrimor running shoes. Holly was really excited to test out her new shoes today and clearly they are good as she smashed out a new PB for her 2k in 13 min 37 seconds.

Holly's sprint down the finishing straight leaving me in her wake.

Post 2k park run after hitting her new PB.

Holly's new "super fast" Karrimor running shoes.

Holly's Bedroom Update - Wardrobe Done

Well it has taken over a year and a half but Holly's bedroom is very near to completion. This weekend's project was to fit some new mirrored wardrobe doors purchased from the funds raised by selling the old climbing frame. The doors are huge and weigh a combined weight of 50kg's which meant it was quite and effort to get these up the stairs and then fitted. They look amazing though and Holly is really pleased with it as she now has a mirror to practice her dancing  and to check out her outfits and hair in the morning.

Unfortunately in fitting the doors I managed to cut straight through one of the alarm wires which was running under the carpet!!!! So annoying. So whilst the wardrobe is done and looking amazing, we now have a redundant alarm system on the house. Anyway the wardrobe just needs a small piece of trim across the top gap and then the final job for her bedroom is a new carpet and some lamp shades, then done and I can move on to the next job/project.

Holly's new mirrored wardrobe doors so that she can practice her dancing in her bedroom.

Also a new addition to Holly's bedroom is this Princess jigsaw puzzle height chart which we bought her for Xmas.

Holly Starts Rainbows

This week Holly had her very first sessions at Rainbows Club which is the equivalent of Beavers for girls and a lead-in to ultimately joining the girl guides. What is funny is that Holly associates Unicorns with Rainbows and couldn’t remember the name of the club, so when she got home and I asked her where she had been she told me she went to “Unicorn School” - hilarious. Her first night was full of craft activities including some cutting, sticking and colouring and it sounds like she had a really good time. In fact when Tina went to take her home she didn’t want to leave. It also helps that there are a few girls from her Foundation Year that have already started so she has some friends there as well.

The Sad End of the Forest Glade U10 Tigers

After an absolutely amazing 4 years of managing and coaching the Forest Glade Tigers which Brandon played for, the team has finally folded. It has been one of the more difficult decisions I have had to make as the boys have come such a long way and developed so much in the last 4 years. There have been some absolutely fabulous memories and some good friendships made which we will never forget.

With the forthcoming change to 9-a-side next season a few parents went in to panic mode wondering whether the team would continue or split up and have decided to leave early resulting in not enough players to field a team. The 6 weeks or so leading up to Xmas were very stressful as there was lots going on with the team and it felt like I was constantly being stabbed in the back and that the parents had no loyalty or support for me. When you consider I coach their children as an unpaid volunteer giving up half of every weekend for their kids when I could be spending time with my own, it was an easy decision to make. 

Finally I am putting being a Dad first and a coach second. For too long Brandon has suffered on the team and his development almost hampered because I never wanted to show favouritism towards him. Well no more, from now on Brandon comes first and hopefully I can stay involved in a coaching role wherever he ends up playing. Currently we are exploring two very good opportunities for him, one is joining the Forest Glade Panthers coached by Dan and the other is a completely new club and joining Essex Royals where a few of his school mates play. 

Telling the parents the team was folding yesterday was one of the hardest things I have done in ages and I really didn't expect it to play out this way as we had such a stable team for so many years. Part of me feels like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders now that it is finished whilst the other side of me wants to curl up in a corner somewhere and have a little man cry. As time moves on though I am sure I have made the right decision for myself and my family.

Such a shame that some of the parents started putting too much emphasis on winning instead of it being about kids playing mini soccer, having fun and developing their skills.

The Tigers came such a long way in the 4 years I coached and we had some great memories to share along the way. But all good things come to an end.

First Park Run of 2019

With no football today we decided it would be good to get up early and head over to Chelmsford for the kids first junior park run of 2019. Firstly getting up early was good to get them ready for returning to school tomorrow and secondly the two boys start the school cross country training this week, so it is extra running training for them. Brandon smashed it in 9 mins flat, Joshua was close behind in 10:45 but some way off his PB, Holly ran really well and hit a PB of under 14 mins.

After the run we had a play in the new park which has been relocated and renovated in Central Park, then we went and had a usual game of poo sticks on the bridge on he way back to the car park.

A cold January morning and Holly runs a whole 2k park run without stopping.

Holly sprints off down the finish straight leaving me for dust.

First 2k park run of 2019 completed.

We always stop for a game of poo sticks on this bridge during our walk back to the car park.

Holly testing out the swings in the new play area in Central Park.

And having a relaxing lay down after her long run.

I think Joshua might be getting a little big for this!

Joshua and Brandon at the top of the climbing tower.

Happy New Year 2019

It is 2019 and we have the excitement and challenges of yet another year ahead of us. Joshua and Brandon were really excited to stay up on New Years Eve and couldn't wait to see the fireworks on TV and sing Auld Lang Syne. Holly had been showing signs of being very tired so unfortunately she went to bed and did not join us to see the New Year in.

We had a really nice evening playing some of the kids new games that they got for Xmas. We started with Joshua's 5 Second Rule game which was really good fun and then moved on to Brandon's Jumanji game which was also very entertaining. However for our sins we then moved on to Joshua's Fortnite Monopoly which was far from the original Monopoly in almost every sense. The boys both seemed to enjoy it and understand what was going on, but me and Tina could lose quick enough. In fact despite trying to lose, both the boys were eliminated first!

New Years day started a little slow as Brandon didn't arise until lunchtime. In the afternoon we had booked tickets at the cinema to watch "Wreck It Ralph 2" and believe it or not this was the first movie that we had been to as a family of 5! The film was actually really good and dare I say it, better than Wreck It Ralph 1 (although I have to confess I was asleep for the first 15 mins and had to ask the boys what happened at the start!).

The boys were very excited to stay up and watch the London fireworks (although we were getting the hump with the BBC keep changing the viewing angle all the time).

The first time we visited the cinema as a family of 5.

And we watched "Wreck It Ralph 2".

Playing the "5 Second Rule" on New Years Eve.

Then once Holly was in bed, out came the Fortnite Monopoly.