Brandon's Year 6 Inter School Cross Country

Yesterday Brandon competed in the Year 6 inter school cross country race in some very cold and windy conditions. Brandon has not really been able to train with the school squad this year is their training morning fell on the same morning as his SATS booster sessions which have taken priority. This lack of training showed and he suffered more so in this race than ever before.

Brandon tried his hardest and was sitting around 6-7th place out of about 30 boys after lap 2. But then you could tell something was wrong and he was really struggling. In the end he came in 15th place and was just pipped to the finish by his mate Brett. After the race he said his organs feld really bad which I assume meant he had stomach cramps or a stitch.

Brandon in the purple top looking strong on lap 2.

The year 6 boys cross country team. Their final year at the races in junior school before they all head off to secondary school in September.

Turkish barbers and Pony Tails

Joshua has now reached an age where it is no longer cool for him to have a home hair cut performed by yours truly. So after Xmas I gave in and took him to this Turkish barbers that his mates all use in Wickford High Street and to be honest they did do a very good job for the price. Then during the February half term this has now evolved to not only being not cool to have a home cut by Dad, but Dad can't even go to the hairdressers with him and instead he went with his mates.

So I had to drill in to him exactly what he was to ask for and send him off with some money hoping for the best. I even gave him an extra £2 to tip the hairdresser and the cheeky bugger decided to pocket the money himself and went to buy some food at Favourite Chicken instead!!!!

Brandon on the other hand is still OK with Dad cuts and he has been trying to grow his hair long as he wanted a man bun / pony tail (Tina was dead against this). So it makes the hair cuts a lot easier as it only involves trimming the back and sides. Anyway it is now at a length where he can just about get a small pony tail and he complained that having his hair tied back hurts his head (talk about a girly footballer). So much to Tina's liking it looks like his long hair will get trimmed back this weekend and he no longer wants to tie it up.

Brandon's mini pony tail which will probably all be cut off this weekend. Didn't last long.

Joshua's posh new haircut from the Turkish barbers in Wickford High Street.

Shrove Tuesday Pancake Flipping

Yesterday was Shrove Tuesday which meant one thing - PANCAKES! The kids started early and wanted pancakes for breakfast so I cooked up a few for Brandon and Holly which they polished off with some syrup. 

Then after dinner we smashed the pancakes for pudding. Holly had 3 mini ones with Nutella on top. Brandon tried matching my 4 pancakes but only managed 3 in the end with a mixture of lemon and sugar, and Nutella versions. Joshua surprisingly only had 1 pancake as he was keen to head off to his room and get back on the PlayStation!

After the pancakes, me, Holly and Brandon had a bit of pun flipping a leftover pancake around the kitchen (not sure Tina was too happy at it being flung all over the newly decorated floor and paint!). Brandon was even nailing some trick flips with a 180 spin, a 380 turn, the under the leg flip etc.

Holly going for a little pancake flip.

Then getting braver going higher.

Then ending up on the floor.

Brandon was a bit of a dab hand and had apparently been having pancake tossing competitions at school!

Showing good technique and getting the pan high.

Judging by his eyes I'd say this was the one that came down on his face!

Trying to wind Tina up by doing high flips touching the ceiling.

Delta Force Paintball

It can be difficult to keep the children entertained throughout the school holidays and especially in middle of February when the weather is never great. To try out something a little different I booked the boys and two of their friends on their first ever paint-balling day at DeltaForce in Billericay. Fortunately the weather held off despite all the rain earlier in the week, however it was very wet and muddy under foot.

I think the boys enjoyed the day and will hopefully be tired after 11 games on the battle field. They all came away with a few souvenir war wounds despite wearing gloves, body armour and camo overalls. Overall the blue team that the boys were on was pretty useless losing most of their games. Despite all the time they have spent on first person tactical shooter games, such as Fortnite and Call of Duty, they seemed to have absolutely zero tactical strategy and also seemed a bit scared of being hit.

Brandon did well in the very first game and managed to grab the flag from the enemy camp. After the 10 main games everyone else had left and the boys still had a little ammunition left, so their instructor let the four of them have a bonus last man standing game which was won by Joshua's mate, Tom. Brandon enjoyed the paint-balling, but I don't think he is too keen to go again as he had a nasty fall in the woods on one game and then in the final game Joshua blatantly shot him in the shoulder when he was out of ammo, raised his hand and was walking off to the safe zone.

Josh, Tom, Ethan and Brandon with their body armour and overalls ready to start battle at DeltaForce. 

The old army helicopter is in the main camp area. 

Masks and a big box of ammo, let the games begin.

The boys masked up and ready, just need a gun.

Practice on the firing range, except Joshua who was aiming at me.

On this game both teams had a bus at opposite ends and had to attack the other team to capture their bus.

Brandon seeking cover behind some barrels.

Josh advancing forward in a very muddy battlefield.

Joshua, Ethan, Brandon and Tom readying up for the next round.

Chilling in the helicopter between rounds.

Captain Brandon. Hopefully this doesn't end like Coby Bryant!

Josh messing around in the helicopter.

In the Zombie church zone the teams had to battle to capture this gruesome looking zombie head from the chapel.

The chapel deep in the woods.

Waiting for the reds to attack instead of pressing (this was the story of the blue's).

Joshua's mate Tom taking cover behind a tree.

On this game I managed to hide out at the top of the castle and view the battle from above.

Brandon covering anyone flanking from the sides.

Another action shot of Brandon.

The battle zones were extremely muddy even though the weather was nice today.

Ready for the final last man standing round, The chap in the yellow top was Nathan who was their Marshall for the day.

Never a good sign to see when walking through the woods!

Brandon battling it out in the final round.

One of the boys darting for cover. I think this is Tom who eventually won the battle.

Brandon's 1st Leather Jacket

One of the things Brandon really wanted for his birthday this year was a leather jacket. So we ordered him one that he wanted which was size 11-12 and amazingly it was too small for Brandon (which was surprising as Brandon isn't big for his age), so disappointment for Brandon. So we returned it for a refund and then searched around for a size 12-13 jacket for him which was "apparently " lost by Royal Mail and therefore a second refund was required. Finally after 3 attempts he got a jacket that he likes and that fits him late last week and  today Brandon got to wear it out for the first time as we all went to the cinema to watch Jumanji - Next Level whilst Holly was at Crafty Katie's.

Poor Brandon seems to have been a bit unlucky with birthday and Xmas presents as we are also having lots of problems with his new gaming PC which is causing me no end of issues!

Brandon with wearing his new Birthday leather jacket and posing with Batman.

Brandon's Karting Birthday Party

I know it's a couple of weeks after his birthday but today Brandon had his Karting Birthday party at the Basildon indoor karting track. As his birthday is right in the middle of winter the indoor tracks are a much safer bet as you can never guarantee reasonable weather in Jan/Feb to race outdoors.

There was six boys in total including Joshua and Brandon. The other lads were Ethan, Tom, Riley and Brett. Ethan was the star driver of the day winning two of the three races. Brett was a rebel who got black flagged for constantly crashing the other karts, and Riley was the most disappointing as he took a shunt in race one and lost all confidence. I talked him in to trying race 2 but by race 3 he had given up. This was really annoying as the karting isn't cheap so to have something not go out on the track is frustrating to say the least. Even more so when you think I could have taken that place and raced with my boys!!

Anyway Brandon enjoyed himself and after the driving they all got to sit down and enjoy some pizza for lunch.

From L-R Ethan, Tom, Josh, Brandon, Brett and Riley.

Joshua had his best race in Race 1.

Brandon was consistant and switching places with his brother throughout the races.

Brandon and his race mates chilling between rounds.

Lined up and ready for the final race.

Another race done.

And top podium spot goes to Ethan and the Birthday boy.

The final leaderboard for the day saw Brandon 5th and Joshua a very close 6th.

Baby Sitting Olivia and Losing Her!

For the second time Holly has been allowed to bring the Rainbows mascot doll, Olivia, home for a week. The idea is that the Rainbows are supposed to take pictures of Olivia joining in with typical weekly activities and then they have to update a journal before returning it back for someone else to take. It seems like both times Holly has had Olivia have been on weeks when the weather has been poor and we have had hardly anything interesting going on!

So the excitement for Olivia this last week has been sharing food at dinner time, sleeping in a bunk bed next to Holly, joining us in the hot tub one evening and then going along to Holly’s dancing and swimming clubs. The most excitement we have had around Olivia was the mad panic trying to find her on Wednesday night so that Holly could take her back to Rainbows. We turned the house upside down all evening and couldn’t find her for blood or money. In the end we gave up looking and Holly had to go to Rainbows with her tail between her legs and own up to losing their long time mascot! I am not sure this went down well and doubt Holly will be given another chance to look after Olivia.

All that being said, all’s well that ends well as Olivia was found the very next day left in the school hall of all places. How Holly managed to leave it there is beyond us, but at least it is found. The bonus now is that there is no Rainbows in half term so Holly gets to keep the mascot for another 2 weeks. Fingers crossed we can find something more exciting to do and to update in the journal during the half term!

Olivia tucking in to Holly's hamburger at dinner.

Holly and Olivia at her swimming class.

Olivia tries out King's dance school.

Olivia tucked up for sleep in Holly's bedroom.

Olivia joins Holly at her pre-school Kelly Care club.

Holly and Olivia enjoying some late night hot tub time.

Olivia is found in school after being lost for a day.