Holly's Hand Me Down's

This is going to sound really bad, but since Holly has been born we have hardly spent any money on clothes for her. The crazy thing about that statement is she probably has the largest and fullest wardrobe in the house with many clothes that have never even been worn. The reason for this is that Tina has so many contacts and friends at the school and quite often they send bags and bags of clothes around for Holly. Most have had very little use and are in perfect condition and believe it or not some still have the tags on and are brand new having never been worn. It has saved us an absolute fortune and Holly loves sorting through the bags and trying on new clothes.

This week Holly has received two batches of hand me downs from friends and one of them was a tonne of Disney clothes which couldn't have come at a better time given that we are off to Euro-Disney next Monday. There's even a really nice Disney Princess travel bag which Holly has packed ready to go already.

Holly with a sample of the hand me down clothes she got earlier this week.

And this is her new Disney travel bag all ready for Disneyland Paris.

South East Essex Foot Golf

Not much to report for this half term as we are trying to save all our money for Disneyland Paris next week. The kids all spent a day in Stubbers Smash Camp earlier in the week and this was the first time Holly has been able to go as she is now 5 and a half. She seemed to really enjoy it and can't wait to go back next time. Then yesterday they all went out for a McDonald's lunch followed by watching Aladdin at the cinema. Holly thought it was scary, Joshua took after his old man and fell asleep, Brandon and Tina both enjoyed it.

Then today I took the two boys out to South Essex Golf Course to try out the Foot Golf course for the first time. Joshua was messing around a bit making it an easy win for Brandon. The course is pretty good and a bit more varied than the Moby Golf course we have used previously. If nothing else the boys got out in the fresh air and got some exercise and some serious step counts in.

Joshua tee'ing off on a foot golf hole.

Considering Brandon is the footballer, this looks pretty bad technique!!!

Joshua eyeing up a simple putt.

Another tee shot by Joshua driving the ball nicely up the fairway.

Brandon preferred playing off the grass rather than the mats.

My two boys out enjoying some footgolf. Unfortunately I was too sick to join them.

Brandon beheading his brother with the flag pole!!!

It had to be done, kick Joshie's ball in a bunker and let him fish it out.

Holly get Star of the Day

A little late on this blog update but super proud of Holly for getting Star of the Day last week for her super neat hand writing and concentration. Unfortunately there was a yin and tang effect as the very next day she was put on the "red" status for being led astray by someone during breakdown and jumping all over a load of paper mache that was left outside to dry. So she had her first detention and had to miss out on some playtime the next day!!!

Proud of my little Princess getting "Star of the Day".

Nice to see Holly's picture on the door and her coming out of the class first for once!

As the weather is getting better now, Holly and Tina have been meeting over Wick Park one evening a week with some of the the other kids from Holly's class and their Mum's for a picnic. Last week the girls were given a special treat as one of the Dad's stopped by who just so happens to be a fireman. So they all got to jump up inside a fire engine.

Holly and her friends climbing up in to one of the Dad's fire engines.

3 happy little girls playing in the fire truck.

Precious

Sometimes some of the most precious moments with your children are when they don't even realise you are watching over them.

My precious with her monkey teddy and unicorn bedtime lamp.

New 6 Seater Garden Table

We have been a family of of 5 for nearly 5 ½ years now, yet we have somehow got by with just a 4 seater garden table. In Holly’s early years it wasn’t really a problem because we would just take her high chair out in to the garden and sit her at the table next to us, but as she has grown we have really needed a bigger 5-6 seater for a good 2-3 years. Up until now we have either not had the money, not found one we liked or left it too late in the summer to justify buying one and thus we just never got around to it.

Well this week we fixed that problem with an absolute bargain of a garden dining table set from B&Q which cost us just £96 in the bank holiday sale. To add to the good value we managed to sell our old table on Facebook the same day for £25 so the cost of the new table was only £71 really. It’s a nice grey colour and therefore matches our hot tub, gazebo and rattan furniture. The table is a really good size for 5 of us and as it was lovely and sunny we enjoyed our first evening dinner on it last night. So bring out the summer BBQ’s as I can now sit at the table with the other 4 instead of either standing or using an old stool which I kept in the garden.

Out with the old, £25 for something I was going to scrap, happy!

And in with the new matching all our other grey garden bits.

First family meal in the sunshine on our nice new garden table.

Nuclear Rookie Rush - Love Mud!

For years now I have wanted to enter the boys into the Nuclear Rookie Rush adventure race but for one reason or another I just never got around to it. My pure chance one of Joshua's friends (Luca) older brother dropped out at the last minute and his Mum kindly asked if Josh wanted the place instead. Needless to say we jumped at the chance and also got Brandon entered.

For the 9-14 year olds it is a 3k race with some pretty impressive obstacles to overcome. Joshua went flying off at the start as he always does and then gassed out leaving Brandon to storm home first in just under an hour. Joshua eventually came in 5-10 minutes behind Brandon and then Luca was another 10 minutes or so behind Josh. All 3 of them did amazing tough and didn't bottle out of any of the obstacles and in the course of doing so, got absolutely caked in mud. In fact the mud was so bad that I had to hose everything off in the garden before even contemplating putting it anywhere near the washing machine.

At the end of the race they were awarded a very nice medal for their efforts and all 3 are now dead keen to do the next Rookie Rush in September. The event was absolutely amazing and so well put on and run that I am happy for them to do more of these races, In fact once I got there and heard the music pumping and saw everyone lining up on the start line I just wanted to join in and run myself. I so wish they had activities like this for kids when I was the boys age, they are sooo lucky.

Luca, Brandon and Josh with their war paint on ready for Rookie Rush.

Brandon with his face paint ready to race.

The boys did the Rookie course for 9-14 year olds.

Two laps of the assault course!

Luca, Brandon and Josh at the Nuclear Race.

They might love the zip wire, but they weren't very good on it.

Getting warmed up to some dance music from the film Blade ahead of the start of the event.

There was no easing in to the race, it was straight in to muddy water.

Buying them yellow Nuclear Race t-shirts was a real bad idea!

Joshua went off quick at the start.

But it didn't take Brandon long to stretch out his legs and take the lead.

Josh with mud in his eye.

Clambering out of a ditch.

On this section of the course they had to drag a chain and ball around a maze.

Joshua dragging his metal ball.

Both Brandon and Joshua fell off of this obstacle into the muddy water.

Joshua trying a different forwards crawling approach - it didn't work.

Swinging across some mud.

And nearly making it.

Brandon on the zip wire on his first lap.

His grip fails him due to the slippery mud and he takes a dip.

Then has to try and climb out up this yucky mud bank.

Joshua following up on the zip wire.

Again didn't make it far - splosh.

Brandon climbing over the tire wall.

And leaping down ready to run again.

The muddy hands are too slippery for him to hold on.

But he did complete the swinging climbing wall.

But then squashed his nuts on the swing bar!

Joshua in action.

Also managed the swinging climbing wall ok.

I was giving B plenty of encouragement to fall in here, but he held on.

Joshua on the wobbling balance beams.

Then the rope bridge.

Crawling out of a dark tunnel.

Then over a wall.

Before tackling the big cargo net.

Commando crawling under a cargo net through thick mud.

Then sliding through a tube in to a mud pit.

They really weren't joking when they said you get wet and muddy.

Nearing the end of lap 1 and there is a large water slide.

In to yet more muddy water.

Crawling under the monster truck to start lap 2.

Another mud slide into more water.

Splash.

Climbing out of the water.

Brandon successfully managing to hang on to the zip wire on lap 2.

Through the tires and sprinting up the hill.

Another wall to climb.

Action shot of Brandon enjoying every bit of the race.

His nuts appear to have recovered as he straddles the tire wall.

Back on the climbing wall for lap 2.

Brandon on the wobbling balance beams.

Looking wobbly on the rope bridge.

But smiling as he comes out of the underground tunnel.

Nearly finished and B starts to knuckle down and push the pace.

SLiding off the wall.

Over the cargo net for the last time.

This was a lot higher than it looks. The kids were all very brave.

Brandon decided to do a proper commando crawl under the cargo net laying flat down in the mud!

Mud soup.

The yellow top is looking good!

Brandon coming out of the tube slide.

B coming down the water slide for the last time.

Cleaning off some mud, with more muddy water.

Still smiling.

The final sprint for the finish.

My little champ proudly wearing his medal that he definitely earnt today.

Nice looking medal.

If he didn't love mud before today, he does now!

Joshua on his final sprint to the finish.

And then being awarded with his medal.

Well earned Josh.

My two Rookies completing their first Nuclear Race.

After a little clean up the 3 boys almost look human again.

Holly also wants to have a go next time, but because of her age I have to go around with her (what a shame!). For today she had to settle for some bouncy castles and bouncy slides.