Half Term Bowling and Crafty Katie's

The first half term of 2022 has been and gone. Both me and Tina were working all week so we didn't really have any days out with the kids, but then that was probably a good thing given that we had 3 storms blast through over the course of the week.

The two boys went to the cinema one day last week and watched the new film called "Uncharted" which they seemed to really enjoy. Then they both went go karting over the indoor track in Basildon as well, once again Brandon being the quicker of the two. Given the stormy weather I was actually quite pleased we had booked the indoor karting and not outdoors.

Holly had a few events planned during half term. She spent one whole day at her Carousel Gymnastics clubs doing a gymnastics holiday club. Then she had a day at her Crafty Katie's club which she often does in half terms. The unlike the boys she had an inset day on Monday whilst they both went back to school, so to keep Holly out of my way whilst I was working, Tina took Holly bowling and around to see her Nan.

Holly enjoying some inset day bowling by beating her Mum.

Holly enjoying some arts and crafts at Crafty Katie's.

Disney Suit Case

We are reliably informed by Michael that we are now within 6 months of our big holiday to Florida this year. So preparations are underway with replacing outdated passports etc. We have also decided this year to replace our rather tired and very dated suitcases with some new hard shell cases. Joshua already has a new plain black one which he needs for his ski trip in America next month. Holly however is really getting in to the Disney spirit with her Minnie Mouse case which she picked out.

She ma be all smiles now, but once filled I bet it is me pulling it around the airport!!!

Brentwood Tubing Birthday Party

It is not often these days that Joshua and Brandon get invited to birthday party's purely because of the age they are at. However this weekend Brandon was invited to a tubing party over Brentwood ski slopes by Joshua who is the skipper of his Hashtag football team. As Tina was sleeping from working nights I had to take Holly with me and fortunately managed to sneak her in. She really enjoyed the tubing and spent most of her time with Joshua's little sister Isabelle.

Hashtag under 13's at Joshua's tubing party.

Action shot of Brandon.

Going down backwards.

Holly and Isabelle linking up to go down joined.

Brandon sending it down backwards again.

The hill doesn't look that big but the tubes certainly get some speed up.

Holly and Isabelle again.

These two barely left each others side and left the footballers to get on with it.

Holly getting tired out coming back up the hill.

Harry Potter Studio Tour Part 2

Second blog update from our recent Harry Potter Studio Tour with some extra pictures taken by Auntie Nicky. Again a lot of them I have left blank as I really have no idea what I am talking about!

Floating candle cafe.

Holly with her choccie ice-cream.

Birthday boy with his milk shake.

Holly doing some magic and making a broom float.

The mirror of dreams - or something like that????

Hagrid's house, at a guess???

Me enjoying my first ever Butterbeer.

Holly wanted me to get a Butterbeer moustache.

Learning how to make Howlers.

Some movie secrets showing how to make letters float out of a letterbox.

Me and B exploring Harry Potter Studio's (yes he is nearly as tall as me).

Holly and the trolley.

Me and the kiddies in the HP bank.

Goblin type characters.

My pretty little girl obviously has a liking for gold bars.

The best bit of the studio tour for me was the dragon scene in the bank.

Amazing special effects as the dragon burns down the bank.

Harry Potter Studio Tour

After years of promising to take Brandon to the Harry Potter Studio Tour, we finally got to go today as a belated treat for his birthday. Unfortunately no Joshua with us as he wasn't really interested and wanted to go fishing instead. Also there was no Tina as she was working last night and thus was in bed. So it was me, Brandon and Holly with our special guest guide for the day, Auntie Nicky.

I have to confess that I have personally never watched any of the Harry Potter movies from start to finish and therefore probably didn't have the same appreciation of the tour as Brandon did. However the tour really opened my eyes to the amount of work and the level of detail which is put in to these movies from all of the hand painted pictures, tapestries, animatronics etc.etc. I am definitely going to make an effort to now sit down and watch all of the movies.

Even Holly enjoyed the tour and as usual was very keen to be in loads of pictures. There was only two bits of the tour which she didn't enjoy and that was the large spiders in the wood and then the dragon scene in the bank.

Brandon had saved all of his birthday money for the shop at the end and I have to say was very tame with his spend and in no way got anywhere near close to challenging some of Amy's spends. In the end he only spent £132 on 3 wands and a Harry Potter watch. I also treated him to another bottle of Butterbeer as he really enjoyed the glass that I had with lunch.

Anyway thanks to Auntie Nicky for guiding us around and being able to have intelligent conversation with Brandon about the tour (as opposed to dumb Dad who knew nothing about the Harry Potter World). This blog is a bit of a picture fest and for once I am not going to embarrass myself by trying to explain what most of the pictures are. Maybe I'll sit down with Brandon at a later date and update the picture descriptions, but for now most are blank.

Brandon's 1st visit to Harry Potter Studio Tour for his 13th Birthday.

Nicky, Holly and Brandon with one of the large chess pieces.

Marauders map.

The floating candles in the cafe.

Holly with a large chocolate ice-cream which she couldn't finish.

Brandon enjoyed a rather nice looking cookie dough milk shake.

Hopefully the kids won't complain about the size of their bedrooms again!

The great hall.

Really thought Brandon would get his picture taken with his favourite house.

Some of the moving stairs and loads of the hand painted paintings used in the films.

Now why can't the boys keep their rooms as tidy as the dorm?

A selection of the 5,000 wands used in the film.

Brandon is now looking forward to the Florida roller coaster ride based on this.

Bringing back memories of my childhood with the Ford Anglia from the film.

Magic carrot cutting, ironing and dishes etc. If only we could use these spells at home.

Ever wondered what Holly would look like being bigger than her Dad.

In to the woods we go where Holly got a little scared of the spiders.

Platform 9 3/4. Nowhere near King's Cross station in London (who ever thought Harry Potter Studio Tour was in central London????).

Brandon and Holly made some Howlers.

Me and the kiddies with the train from the Harry Potter films.

Magically pushing a trolley through a wall.

And Holly's turn.

On the Hogwart train.

The sweet shop on the train.

Lunchtime and mine and Brandon's first experience with Butterbeer.

I never realised the Knight Bus was 3 floors until today.

The wonky bridge.

Me and the kiddies in the Ford Anglia.

A happy me in an old Ford.

Until I get kicked out by Holly on a swivel chair.

Never knew there was a shark character in Harry Potter.

The spectacular marble bank.

One of the goblins working in the bank.

The engineering behind this vault door is incredible when you see all the intricate moving parts.

The destroyed bank scene which featured the really impressive dragon scene that scared Holly.

The amazing Diagon Alley

Us 4 in Diagon Alley.

Puking pastilles in the sweet shop.

At the end of the tour - the very impressive scaled model of Hogwarts.

Attention to details is just incredible.

They even projected a firework display on the side of the model.