It's Beginning To Feel A Lot Like.....

 ....Christmas. With Joshua's birthday out of the way and Holly's looming more quickly than we would like to think - it is now time to start switching our focus to Christmas. That means Xmas shopping, new decorations and visiting the garden centers to check out the Xmas displays.

Found this little "Jacked Santa" in The Range. Holly was disgraced when I said I had to buy it. She insisted I have to put it in the gym and not the house.

Holly and Tina at Alton's Xmas display.

Holly at one of the Xmas displays in Summerhill Garden Center.

Brandon and Maia at Summerhill.

Me and wifey out on a Xmas shopping trip with Joshua at Freeport. Josh didn't want any pictures!

No Josh again. So just me and T getting in the festive spirit. Bring on a Costa gingerbread late and mince pie.

Year 7 and Year 12 Updates

Last week we had the first parents evening for Holly and Brandon for the 2025/26 academic year and we couldn't be any prouder of them both. Given all the problems that Holly had in Junior's, she has completed turned the table in Senior's. Apparently she is an absolute joy in form, she has established a really nice little friend circle, she attends early morning pre-school reading clubs to help with her dyslexia, she has received a bronze certificate for 25 merit awards, and not one of her teachers had a bad things to say about her. Even more amazing is her grades, she has been rated grade 1's and 2's across the board in every single subject (1 being the highest they can achieve)!!!!! I really hope she keeps up what has been a fantastic start to senior school.

It was pretty much the same story with Brandon. He is working really hard in all his 6th subjects and on track for A's and B's across the board. Apparently the start of his 6th form has showed a renewed enthusiasm and interest in education and he is working very hard in and out of lessons keeping on top of all the work. If anything they said the only problem with him is time management (especially in tests) as he is now going in to too much detail on the lower marked questions.

Bronze merit award within 1 term and this is only half the story, already she is up to a total of 41 merits and therefore on her way to silver.

The Plot In You - O2 Forum

Thursday this week I got to enjoy and absolutely amazing evening with Brandon at the O2 Forum in Kentish Town, London for "The Plot In You" concert. This was the first time I had been to the O2 Forum and it is quite a small theatre type venue that can support around 2,000 people - so a lot smaller than Linkin Park at Wembley. 

The doors opened at 6pm and I think the show started around 6.30pm with 3 support groups. First up was Cane Hill: A four-piece band from Louisiana, then it was Saosin: A post-hardcore band and finally Currents: A metalcore band from Connecticut. Cane Hill and Currents were both really good, Saosin I wasn't quite as sold on, however 1 or 2 of their songs were pretty good. 

To be honest I felt we had already had out monies worth with the 3 support bands. But then 9:30pm and "The Plot In You" made a pretty grand entrance and their whole set was just mind blowing. The vocals superb, the base and kick drum had your nostrils vibrating, the lights and LED's perfectly in time with the music and very visual. I think I knew all but one of the songs they played and I have to say they are so much better live than pre-recorded. Me and Brandon both agreed that we actually felt like the gig overall was better than Linkin Park and would definitely go and see them again.

The security at the front of the stage were amazing as they were really looking out for the crowds well being by supplying drinks of water and catching crowd surfers so that they could circle back around and in to the crowd.

It wasn't a cheap night. Brandon wanted a souvenir top which was £50, then there was something to eat, trains, and a round of beers for me and Brandon costing £16.70 each time. But the money became irrelevant in the end as we had such a great, memorable evening. Joshua hates this type of music and would never come to a gig like this which actually makes me sad because I honestly think he is missing out and would enjoy this type of music live and appreciate it.

Great view of the stage on the O2 Forum at Kentish Town. Beers in hand and ready for a great evening.

£50 for Brandon's long sleeve souvenir top!!!!!

Currents were the final of the 3 warm up bands and were very, very good and very, very loud.

We had a perfect view from where we were up on the balcony.

Definitely a very memorable gig and a really good set.

Hopefully I will get to enjoy some more concerts with Brandon in the future.

Dazzling lights throughout the entire set.

Finishing the show with the epic song "I Feel Nothing" which me and Brandon both recorded the entire song.

Halloween 2025

A little late but here are a few pictures from Halloween 2025. This was the first year in circa 17 years or so that I have not gone out trick or treating with the kids. Instead Brandon and his girlfriend Maia dressed up and took Holly out whilst I manned the door for the stampede of kids knocking at our front door. The two of them actually made quite a bit of effort with their costumes dressing up as Joe Goldberg and Love Quinn from the Netflix series "You" - which most people probably haven't seen and wouldn't of known what they were from. Holly was just dressed up as a black witch.

This is also the first year that I actually just didn't have time to do my annual pumpkin carving. Holly did hers and was very creative making a tea cup type pumpkin which looks really good in daylight. Brandon and Maia then carved theirs one evening, Brandon doing the Harry Potter glasses and Maia doing a face with a love heart eye.

Me and H dressed up for Halloween.

Brandon and Maia dressed as Joe Goldberg and Love Quinn.

Me, Holly, Brandon and Maia. Tina didn't dress up and Joshua was sleeping having been at work with an early start.

Brandon's Harry Potter glasses pumpkin.

Our selection of pumpkins outside ready for Halloween.

Holly's tea cup pumpkin lit up at night.

I think it looks better in daylight, great use of the little curved pumpkin to make the cup handle.

Maia's heart eyed pumpkin.

Joshua is a Working Man Again

 

Joshua has once again been taken on at Tesco's in Pipps Hill as part of the Xmas temp intake. We have been somewhat disappointed that no positions came up after his temp position finished last Christmas, so this was a good opportunity for him and much needed. He started about 2 weeks ago and this time he is on the dot com side of things preparing peoples online orders rather than working the checkouts. So far he has made a good impression and it is looking highly likely they will keep him on permanently after his temp contract expires.

He is finding the shifts hard. Although he only does 3 days at work (Thu, Sat and Sun), he starts at 6am and finishes between 1 and 2pm. So on work days he is up at 5:15am and this means he pretty much falls asleep as soon as he walks through the front doo and hits the arm chair. We all know he is home and knackered as the snoring reverberates around the whole house!

So now he is at college 3 days a week, work 3 days a week, so he only actually has one day a week (Wednesday) where he has nothing on. Still he will enjoy having the financial independence and the benefit to us is that he can start paying for his own petrol now. The other plus side for me is that he can no longer take the mickey out of me when I am asleep on the sofa at 7pm having woke up at 5:30am to cold plunge and gym!

Foxes Farm Pumpkin Patch

Last weekend we managed to dodge the bad weather and get out quick visit out to Foxes Farm for their annual pumpkin patch which has now been running for 10 years. Unfortunately Tina had to go to work and Joshua was already at work (more to come on that in another blog) and so it was me, Holly, Brandon and Brandon's girlfriend Miai. 

As it was cold I dusted off the DryRobe thinking I was being smart but then when we arrived it was blue skies and I was roasting. Then literally within minutes a big grey cloud came over and it bucketed down for about 10-15 mins. Needless to say the DryRobe was a blessing and clearly I have brought Brandon up well as he gave up his jacket (albeit a small one) for Maia. Anyway luckily the rain blew over quickly, blue sky came out and we managed to enjoy a couple of hours outside picking up some rather odd looking pumpkins and enjoying a nice hot chocolate / coffee to keep warm.

10 years of Foxes Farm Pumpkin Patch.

Literally as we arrived a big dark cloud descended on us.

Before the rain came down and we had to seek shelter, we had a few photo opportunities.

Brandon and Maia.

Holly on the pumpkin patch tractor with our wheel barrow full of pumpkin picks.

Blue skies came out again.

A real mix of pumpkins from grey's, turks, and everything in between.

Me challenging Holly to try and do the balance beam with the wheel barrow.

Brandon and Maia again.

I swear the range of pumpkins gets more diverse each year.

Holly was more than happy to do the wheel barrowing.

And then she wanted one of these rather ugly grey pumpkins that seem rock hard.

They even had some very small ones.

I am officially 7 pumpkins tall!

We found some very, very weird shaped pumpkins.

Brandon, Maia and Holly on the Scarecrow Pull-A-Face.

Holly at the pumpkin pile-up.

The lovebirds. Note Maia wearing Brandon's jacket - good lad.

Even pink pumpkins!!!!

Happy Halloween from Brandon and Maia.

Holly pretending to be dead.

Our complete overhaul for the visit which cost around £24 in pumpkins, not too bad.

But the most unusual one of this year definitely goes to this rare specimen.

Star of the Week for Holly

How incredible is this, Holly received "Star of the Week" at school this week for progressing and exceling in all her subjects. This is such an amazing achievement for her as she does have some difficulties with her dyslexia and was also super anxious about secondary school. So far she is smashing it. She has even been going to a ready club 4 out of 5 mornings before school starts to help with her reading.

Joshua's 18th Birthday - Come Alive!

Yesterday Joshua's childhood officially expired as he turned 18 and enters the world of adulthood. His main present this year was the maturity of his trust fund which should now set him up nicely for years to come along with the "parent price" which we sold the Fiesta to him for. However we couldn't not get him anything for his 18th so we bought him a Boss watch that he wanted, an 18 throw type blanket (to stop him nicking other peoples) and the obligatory 18 pint glass with some ciders now that he can legally drink. In addition to this Holly bought him a couple of neck chains and Brandon got him a dashcam for his car.

In order to celebrate his big day we had also purchased tickets to watch The Greatest Showman - Come Alive show at the Empress Museum in London. We was somewhat surprised when he asked for this but he does like The Greatest Showman and given that we all enjoyed the movie, it was a rare chance for us to go to an event like this as a family. So we had a nice day in London having a wander around the Tower, Earls Court, the Embankment etc, grabbed some food and then headed over to Earls Court to catch our evening show.

The "Come Alive" show is absolutely incredible. We all had a fab time watching some truly spectacular acts and enjoying some West End quality productions of some of the big songs from the movie. Probably our favourite acts was a woman who performed some aerial acrobatics hung from her hair and a chap who did some amazing gymnastics on a tightrope that was just insane. Also I got to enjoy a beer or two with Josh without worrying about underage drinking restrictions which was nice.  

Your childhood has expired.

Joshua's new throw/blanket for those cosy winter evening's.

Birthday cuddles with the lady who brought him in to this world 18 years ago.

Birthday stroll around London.

A quick lap of the Tower before heading over to the Embankment.

Finally the front facing camera works on my new phone for taking selfies!

Traitors Gate.

Pumpkins out in Covent Garden.

Then after some food it was on to the Empress Museum to get ready for our evening show.

A few displays outside the Museum.

The Greatest Show on Earth.

Lot's of interesting displays and artifacts to walk around before the show started.

The inside was really well decorated out for old school circus feel.

The famous jacket from The Greatest Showman.

Me chopping my own hand off.

Enjoying a birthday bevvy or two with Josh.

It was supposed to be my rest day, but I found some circus weights to play with.

The Greatest Show.

Me and T really enjoying a rare family day out. We don't get many of these as the kids grow up and have their own interests.

Holly thoroughly enjoyed the whole day and had a good old sing-a-long to the show.

After exploring the museum and having some food and drink we took to our seats ready for the show to start. Absolutely fantastic views in a really theatrical top hat arena.