Halloween @ Mercedes World

You wouldn't really associate Halloween with Mercedes World, but we decided to have a day out at Mercedes World in Brooklands today as we had been promising Brandon we would take him for ages. They had a few Halloween activities on which were great for Holly, plus she got to wear a fancy dress for the day, "The Wicked Witch of Wickford". Strictly speaking we shouldn't have gone out today as Brandon is supposed to be self isolating, but I had only taken one day off this half term due to starting the new job last month and we had planned a day out for that one day.

All the kids got to have a go on the driving simulators with Joshua beating Brandon around the Imola track by about 4 seconds. Holly got to do a pumpkin search around the museum and also coloured a lovely witch night light. The boys also challenged me to a race on the giant scalextric track which turned out to be a mistake on their part - they lost to me by over 4 laps. Guess you can't beat experience.

Anyway we had a really good family day out and saw some absolutely beautiful cars that are all well out of our price range, still it is nice to dream.

Holly all dressed up as the "Wicked Witch of Wickford" for our day out.

Do Wicked Witches courtesy???

The first car we saw was Lewis Hamilton's Championship car from the 2020 Spanish GP in the new black livery for BLM.

Holly with Hamilton and Bottas.

The car is huge and the curves and detail are just stunning from every angle.

Got a spare £100k+ for an AMG GT3?

View from the 2nd floor looking down on a 2015 Mercedes F1 car.

Time to hit the simulators in the Little Racers section.

They had a simulator small enough for Holly which she thoroughly enjoyed.

I thought Witches rode broomsticks.

Brandon all set and ready to race Josh around Imola. He would love this set-up for his PS4 F1 racing game at home.

Amazingly Joshua beat Brandon by 4 seconds.

Joshua and Brandon head to head on the simulator.

My 3 mini racers.

Holly enjoyed colouring her Witch candle light ornament.

Whilst Holly finished this off, me and the boys hit the scalextric track.

A skeleton wearing a Mercedes mask.

The Mercedes Formula-E car is a stunning looking machine.

Far more futuristic looking than the Formula-1 cars.

Never mouth off challenging someone with experience!

I ended up beating the boys around this track by over 4 laps.

The formula 1 steering wheels always amaze me. To think they cost of £50k just for the wheel, that's more than my whole car!!!!

Probably one of the ugliest F1 cars - these noses were soooo bad.

One of the many hidden pumpkins which we found.

A small selection of Lewis Hamilton race memorabilia.

The 3 kiddies with an impressive display of a stripped down F1 car. And even better I didn't have to nag them to smile for the picture due to the masks!

Brandon has class as his favourite car of the day was the old Gulwing Mercedes.

They even had some of the earliest cars produced from the late 1800's.

We enjoyed watching the race cars on the track and the skid pan.

Proper petrol head day out.

Other than perhaps the old black and gold JPS race cars, this is arguably one of the prettiest F1 cars in my opinion. Love the chrome and red livery.

Pumpkin Carving 2020

Trying to keep the kids entertained during half term when we are on a tier 2 lockdown is certainly challenging. Although we have managed to get the 3 kids to Wipe Out trampoline park on Monday and today the 2 boys managed to go go-karting. We have now just found out that one of Brandon's teachers has been diagnosed Covid-19 positive and as such the school have called us advising that Brandon now has to self isolate until November 6th!!!

Anyway we managed to get some pumpkins and yesterday all 3 kids got carving. Despite Joshua being a teenager and generally not interested in family activities - he jumped at the chance to do his own design. Holly was also very keen to get carving and made a witch design with heart eyes and a carrot nose. Brandon didn't want to do his at the same time as he was watching his new Fantastic Beasts DVD, but he did come down later and carved some kind of Harry Potter symbol in to his pumpkin (which I am reliably informed is the "Deathly Hallows". As for me, well I kept mine quite simple this year and just done a very straight forward Unicorn for Holly.

Holly getting to work scooping out the seeds, the messy part.

Really pleased Joshua got stuck in as I thought he had outgrown pumpkin carving.

I drew Holly's design on the pumpkin so that she could start carving it out.

Not sure what Joshua's design is, I think he said it is a gamers or YouTubers logo.

Trusting Holly with sharp tools!!!!

Have you ever seen a carrot nose pumpkin before????

Later on Brandon joined the fun but again got me to draw his design on the pumpkin first.

A rare occasion with all 3 kids doing an activity and no arguing or fighting.

Brandon's design looks pretty cool lit up at night.

And here are the four entries for the pumpkin carving competition from Wick Palace in 2020.

Pumpkin Cookies

So as the second spike of Coronovirus kicks in and we enter a tier 2 level of lockdown, it leaves us wondering what kind of Halloween / Bonfire night we will have this year. Certainly Bonoween is not going to happen (well not in person) as we are only allowed 6 people per household mixing only two households. Given there is 5 of us, that only leaves space for one other person. I can't see the kids being able to go our "Trick or Treating" due to social distancing and firework displays will be out of the questions due to no outdoor gatherings.

So we are going to have to make the best of Halloween at home in our own little bubble. This started at the weekend with Holly making some rather delicious pumpkin cookies which I certainly enjoyed and I know Holly has devoured at least two! 

Later this week we will do some pumpkin carving, but other than that not really sure what else we will be doing for Halloween and Bonfire night this year.

Holly getting creative with some pumpkin gingerbread cookies.

She also covered them in loads of sprinkles, but no pictures of that as she ate them too quickly.

Holly's finished masterpiece.

Joshua Turns a Teenager

So it seems like only yesterday we decided to start a family, and then today we wake up to find we are now living with a teenager who is nearly as tall as me already! Yes Joshua turned 13 today. Although from an attitude and behaviour perspective I think Joshua has been a teenager (aka Kevin and Perry style) for sometime now!

All of Joshua's mates are mad on these very expensive Mafia Bomma wheelie bikes and peer pressure meant this was really all Joshua wanted for his birthday this year. Initially we were really loathed to buy him another bike (especially as he only got his Carrera last year). However we really had no other ideas for him and he does use his bike daily for school so we knew it wasn't a waste of money.

We also bought him some clothes, an Alexa dot for his room, a teenager mug and coaster and then instead of having a party or going karting this year. we have bought him a driving experience / lesson in a Mini at Brands Hatch. The funny thing was we gave him all of his presents except is Mafia which was hidden in the back garden. We convinced him that his main present was his driving experience and after opening his presents he was desperately trying to not show his disappointment at not having the bike that he so wanted. We managed to string keep this going for about 30 minutes before finally putting him out of his misery and showing him the bike hidden in the back garden.

He was absolutely over the moon with the bike and felt it looked much better in the flesh than the pictures. Then we pretty much didn't see him for most of the day as he was out playing on his bike with his mates and trying to learn how to wheelie a bike. We managed to drag him back home in the evening to head out for a really nice birthday meal in Prezzo's in Wickford High Street.

All ready for Joshua's 13th birthday - but no Mafia bike insight.

A few teenager banners around the house.

A really nice 13th birthday banner/mural.

Joshua woke early for his birthday and was desperate to go down stairs and open his presents.

I thought this "Level 13 Teenager" t-shirt was just perfect for Joshua.

Trying not to show the disappointment of not getting his Mafia bike.

How did I get a teenager and one that is nearly as tall as me?

Finally we put Joshua out of his misery and this is the new Mafia bike (the smile on his face says it all!).

Even the seat is branded with his surname.

Once he was out on his bike there was no getting him back in the house. The little sod did remove the reflectors when he was out with his mates as apparently they aren't cool!

All that money on a bike and it doesn't even have a front brake!

Holly gave Joshua the teenager mug and coster.

The coaster will look good on Joshua's desk and remind him just how old he is.

Celebrating with the birthday boy. The hair is a bit wild, but he did get it cut later in the day.

Birthday meal out for Joshua at Prezzo's in Wickford. Lovely food and service.

And a very nice chocolate birthday cake to finish off the meal.