Lake Meadows

This blog is predominantly about positive updates on the two boys - however as any parent will tell you, there are good days and bad days. Today has been one of those rare days where the boys have been some what mischievous and have pushed the boundaries to the limit. More often that not today it seems like I have been talking to myself and have had to repeat questions or instructions 3 or more times.

But it wasn't all bad today and to get the boys out for some fresh air and let off some steam we took a drive over to Lake Meadows park. Here is Joshie and Tina on the rocking horse.

And check this out, no surprises here that Brandon is on the slide, but........

.....for the first time he is seen climbing back up the slide instead of using the steps!!

Joshua's climbing is getting exceptional and he had no issues scaling this climbing wall in order to get to the black hole slide.

Brandon also enjoyed this slide but obviously needed help getting up to the top.

Joshua getting ready to fly the plane off on our holiday.

You spin me right round baby right round.......

We even had time for some nature, Brandon in a tree...

...Joshua trying to climb a tree.

Then we found the football pitch.

Joshua cracking a shot straight at me, this one might hurt!

Remember what I said about Joshua's climbing skills. Check him out on the big spiders web.

Even Brandon gave the spiders web a crack but needed a helping hand.

A rather unusual spinning bird cage.

We couldn't quite figure out what this bit of the park was for. I assume some sort of swing type skateboard simulator. Brandon just enjoyed pushing the skateboard backwards and forwards.

After all the fun and even a bit of sunshine beating down, it was time for an ice-cream.

Joshua looking a bit rosey cheeked after all the running around.

Lets hope the fresh air and the activity makes them both nice and tired for tonight. Then raring to go tomorrow for football club and swimming.

I Believe I Can Fly

Finally the summer decides to desert us for a few days and the winds pick up speed. Joshua has been waiting patiently for such conditions in order to get out and fly his first ever kite. Well yesterday was that day. After a bit of a ropey start (after all its been a few years since I flew a kite) we finally got the Lightning McQueen kite airborne. Brandon was a complete natural at kite flying and managed to get the kite up higher than me and Josh, quite remarkable when you consider he is the shortest!

Here is Joshua flying the kite.

And he is Brandon "The Natural" King in action..........

Check out how high Brandon has that kite!!!

Once Brandon got the kite up nice and high he handed the string over to his brother sharing turns (at least this way Joshua got to piggy back off of Brandon doing the work to get the kite up high).

Brandon's little legs carried him far afield as he ran up and down, up and down for quite sometime to keep the kite up as high as possible and for as long as possible.

Joshua about to nose dive the kite into the ground.

The animals came in 2 by 2 hoorah......

The boys got to experience another first today. It was their first ever bus ride into Wickford high street. Despite the looks in this picture, they were both very excited about going on a bus and enjoyed the experience. Fortunately they didn't have to pay due to their age - if only all public transport was that cheap!

Anyway Noah's Ark was loaded with two of everything and that seems to be the flavour of the month for the boys. What with two go-karts, they now also have two scooters as well. It saves all the arguing plus Joshua's scooter is slightly too big for Brandon anyway.  Anyway here they both are on their scooters.

And Joshua makes a dart for it to show Brandon just how it is done.

Now here is a happy little boy with his Chuggington scooter.

Days Of Thunder

Remember the old saying from Days Of Thunder - "Rubbing is racing". Well welcome to the remake of that classic Tom Cruise film with two budding young drivers engaging in a bit of wheel rubbing. Yes after weeks of arguing and fighting over the lone go-kart I managed to pick up a 2nd one at an absolutely bargain price on e-bay. Joshua seems to have claimed the new one and has and passed on his old Toy Story go-kart to Brandon. This is not such a bad thing as the old one fits Brandon's shorter legs better, is slightly easier to pedal and has a brake on it!!!

So let the racing begin. On you marks...........

Pedals to the ready, but look - no hands.

And finally an action shot of Joshua taking the new wheels for a spin.

I am starting to feel left out now and might have to invest in an adult size go-kart so that I can enjoy the fun with the boys!

Surf and Slide

The latest bargain buy was this half price surf and slide garden toy. Perfect for those hot sunny days in the garden. Now all we need in the garden is a slide to propel the boys down the track rather than me having to push them!

The finish line collapses just as Joshua crosses the line.

As you can see the middle of the track is connected to the garden hose keeping the track wet and slippery and the boys nice and cool. Note also that Brandon is wearing pants and not a nappy!

Time for a race, its Daddy and Joshua doing some knee boarding.

We soon figured out that if you stand on the water channel then the squirters go up very high. The boys found this highly amusing running in and out of the water jets (a bit like a garden sprinkler).

Action shot as Brandon slips A over T running through the water.

Do snails swim?

A couple of weekends ago we took the boys to the cinema to watch Disney Cars 2 which was good fun. I think this is only the second time Brandon has been to the cinema. Not sure who enjoyed the film the most out of me and the boys. Here is a picture of the two boys wearing the Lightning McQueen T-shirts and standing in front of one of the cinema posters.

On Monday I decided to take a day off to chill out to recover from the weekends Thunder Run. Given that the weather was so nice we decided to head off to the coast for a picnic. The boys had a great time playing in both the sand and the water – unfortunately for me it wasn’t all that relaxing as I was helping them dig holes, build sand castles, jumping wave’s etc.etc.

Here is Joshua buried knee deep in the sand. 

And here is me and Brandon warming up in tent having got a little chilly playing in the sea.

Yesterday saw a complete change in the UK weather as the gorgeous British summertime escaped us for so much needed rain. This down pour seemed to bring about a flurry of snails over our local park. Boys will be boys and Josh and Brandon decided to start collecting as many snails as possible and collating them on a footpath. For a minute I thought they were then going to run over them in their go kart and scooter, but fortunately they didn’t. Instead however they found a large puddle and decided to perform a little experiment to see if snails could swim!!!! If this is a start of things to come, then god help any insects, bugs and creepy crawlies that cross paths with the two boys - who knows what the next experiment will be?

Anyway here are the boys proudly showing off their snail collection (much to Mum’s disgust). Note brave Brandon with the two biggest snails (one in each hand).

Adidas Thunder Run 2011

8 weeks of hard training and this years Thunder Run is all over. Our team achieved a stunning 320km in 24hrs taking a very respectable 3rd place. This result was achieved in part thanks to our great support crew and having my two inspirational little boys there to cheer me on. This trip was a little baptism of fire for the boys in that it was also their first camping experience. Maybe camp Team X-Men was not the greatest intro to camping, but they both seemed to have a good time.

The ice cold paddling pool was supposed to be for soothing aching running legs. But given that the weeend weather was so hot, the boys seemed to have an absolute blast diving in and out to cool down.

One of my many supporters waving the Team X-Men Thunder Run flag.

The journey to Catton Park was a long haul for the boys and Day 1 involved a lot of running around in some hot weather. Needless to say both boys slept pretty well for their first night out in a tent. Poor old Daddy meanwhile just kept on running all through the night. Sweet dreams little ones.

The next day I think the boys were more interested in visiting the Triumph motorbike stand than cheering our team on at the start/finish line.

Eat your heart out Tom Cruise.

Once the 24 hours were over I did manage to get the boys on the final stretch of the course and allowed them each do run down to the finish line. They absolutely loved this experience and the crowd even got behind them and gave them a clap and a cheer. For their efforts they were both rewarded with a very desirable Thunder Run medal.

And here is a nice picture of me running across the start/finish line holding hands with my two boys. Having run over 70km is 24 hrs the boys are actually dragging me across the line more so than me actually running with them.

And after all that exercise we needed a little sit down before the final trophy presentation.