Good Friday - Epping Ongar Steam Railway Easter Hunt

Keeping with tradition our Easter Holiday starts on Good Friday and therefore the Easter Bunny visited Wick Palace last night. The kiddies were very excited when they woke up this morning to find they each had 6 Easter Eggs plus a box of little eggs for an Easter egg hunt in the garden.

 

After breakfast we also had a nice surprise for the kids as we had booked a family ticket for the Epping and Ongar Steam Railway Easter egg hunt. The steam railway often runs special events and it is somewhere we have been meaning to take them for a while, so I think I was just as excited as them.

 

We got on the steam train "Jennifer" at Ongar and then travelled through North Weald and on to Epping Forest (travelling in the First Class cabin). En route the kids had to hunt for 10 large Easter egg signs using clues provided and their reward for the hunt was to win yet another chocolate egg! The weather couldn't have been better for our day out with glorious blue skies and temperatures getting near to 15 degrees or so.

 

On the way back the kids decided they wanted to try riding the vintage 339 bus back from North Weald to Ongar instead of taking the train again. This was a traditional old style double decker bus and of course we had to ride upstairs.

 

The Easter Bunny did good in 2016 with a good array of chocolate eggs.

Our 3 little Easter Bunny rabbits getting ready for their Easter Egg hunt in the garden.

Happy Easter from the King's.

Joshua helping Holly to reach one of the hidden Easter Eggs.

Holly has got the hang of this Easter Egg hunt lark, 2 in one arm and one in the other hand!!!

We arrive at the Epping Ongar Railway.

While we wait for our steam train we have a little test of strength to see who can pull a locomotive.

Brandon having his attempt at pulling a train.

Me and the kiddies at Ongar control tower where we found the 3rd Easter Egg on the hunt.

Inside the control tower learning about how the conductor manages the tracks and signals.

Waiting on the Ongar platform.

Our steam train named "Jennifer" arrives to take us on our journey to Epping Forest.

Travelling First Class with rather nice comfortable and very bouncy seats.

The boys were very surprised at just home much smoke came out of the funnel of the steam train.

En route there was some stunning Essex countryside with the odd pheasant, rabbits and lots of wild deer's roaming around.

At North Weald the kiddies got to meet the Easter bunny. Holly was very brave and gave the bunny a high five.

Joshua enjoying the fresh air and sticking his head outside the train window.

The vintage 339 bus, but the wrong one as this was going back to Epping.

We eventually found the correct 339 bus which would complete our journey back to Ongar.

 

We had a really, really nice family day out at the Epping Ongar Railway and the hunt made such a change from the usual Easter activities. The cost was pretty reasonable as well at only £34 for a family of 5 for unlimited rides on the trains and buses plus the Easter Egg trail.

Holly's Play Tent

Everyone knows that I am always looking out for a bargain or two and thanks to Auntie Nicky who recently spotted this buy for Holly which I couldn't resist. It is a pop up play tent / castle which Holly can use in the garden and cost just a mere £10. Tonight when I got home from work I set it up for her in the lounge and she absolutely loved it. Between her and Joshua they fitted it out with her chair, some cushions, some teddies and before long were sitting in there having snacks. Something tells me this will get plenty of use in the garden this summer.

 

Holly and Joshua checking out Holly's new play tent.

What a beautiful smile from my little girl.

Relax time as Holly chills in her tent before dinner and bath time.

Easter Termly Reports

Today we got the end of term Easter school reports for both the boys and to say I am a proud Dad is an understatement. Both Joshua and Brandon are both achieving or exceeding the expectations for their age and they are both putting in lots of effort.

 

Brandon now appears to have surpassed Joshua in the reading and has a reading age of a 9 year 5 month old child!!!! The main focus for Brandon is to try and get him to be louder and more vocal which seems a bit ironic really when he is probably the noisiest person at home.

 

Joshua has been extremely helpful in class and is putting in excellent levels of effort. The main focus for Joshua is loads and loads of reading and to get his hand writing a bit neater and a little bit more detail in his writing/story work.

 



 

Brandon's Easter termly report.

Joshua's Easter termly report.

Stage 11 Reading for the Boys

Joshua has had such a great couple of weeks at school. He has been Star of the Day 3 times in the last 2 weeks and even his school friends have commented that he always gets it. He was so proud when he moved up to Stage 11 with his reading and to pull away from Brandon who is rapidly catching him. Joshua's glory was short lived though as Brandon also moved to Stage 11 this week. By pure coincidence they even bought home exactly the same reading books this week!

Joshua and Brandon are now both stage 11 with their reading.

Sand Art

Another weekend packed with football but today we did manage to have a look around a garden centre and started pricing up some new tents. Then when we got home the kids all got their homework done and then cracked on with some arts and crafts.

 

Holly is obsessed with stickers right now and will happily sit at the table with a sheet of paper and a pack of stickers for hours. We even gave her a flower pot to decorate today and she did a great job. The two boys both did some sand art when they made for sand ornaments and a sand filled bracelet each.

 

The 3 kids at one of the Easter displays at Summerhill Garden Centre.

 

Joshua starts on one of his sand art ornaments. Trust me the table didn't stay this clean and organised for long.

Concentrating hard as he tips his sand into the funnel.

Brandon starting his sand ornament. Don't ask about the Converse hat as it hasn't left his head all day long. He has even got to be wearing it tonight.

Such a great idea to keep the kids entertained when it is cold outside and the sand making kit only cost a fiver.



Their finished sand art ornaments.

Holly very happy with a pad and a pack of stickers to keep her occupied.

Little H decorating a flower pot with some stickers.

 

Holly's Easter Crafts

Our little Princess Holly has once again been to her Little Abs club and has been thoroughly enjoying doing some Easter Craft activities with lots of painting and sticking. She loves drawing (or doing "draw draw" as she calls it) when the boys are doing their homework and she will quite happily sit there for hours with a blank sheet of paper and a pack of stickers!

Our little Princess, she gets more beautiful every day.

Holly showing some of her Easter crafts from Little Abs.

Concentrating hard as she decorates her egg design.

Do we have another Auntie Lisa in the making with Holly's keenness for arts and crafts?

Holly starts painting her Easter bunny.

Look at that face of concentration.

She is so adorable (when she isn't throwing a tantrum)!

And finally her finished work of art all ready for the Easter celebrations.

Holly's Big Bear

Holly has a rather large teddy bear that Auntie Nicky bought her from IKEA some time ago. She has aptly named her teddy "Big Bear" . Big bear get lots of cuddles from Holly and Holly insists on Big Bear sleeping in her cot every night. When she wakes up the first thing she does is grab big bear to bring him out of the cot and into our room. What is really funny is she also has a cute little teddy bear onesie which she loves to wear. at bedtime and when she wears this she then calls herself "big bear". Even funnier than that is that I have a Star Wars Chewbacca onesie and when she sees me wearing this she says "Daddy Big Bear".

Holly wearing her big bear onesie and cuddling her big bear teddy ready for nighttime.

There is actually a 3rd teddy in the picture with her cloth/teddy which hangs out of her mouth at bedtime.

3 Big Bears ready for bedtime.  Where's the porridge?

Weekend of Sporting Achievements

Another weekend of sporting activities for the King family with karate, football, park runs and cross fit. It all started Friday night with Joshua taking his latest karate grading and earning his 5th red tag. Then in today's Park Run Joshua was 1 second away from his PB time of 9:39 whilst Brandon finished his 12th Park Run meaning he picked up a wrist band for his half marathon distance. At the end of the sporting weekend I let the side down as I only scored 10 points in the 16.3 Crossfit Open Games event. This workout combined barbell snatches with bar muscle ups. Unfortunately for me I have never managed to do a bar muscle up and have been concentrating hard on working my ring muscle ups. So what should have been a 7 min AMRAP turned out to be a much shorter workout with just 10 snatches. Needless to say I will probably be dropping down the rankings now.

 

Joshua gets his 5th red tag in his karate grading.

 

Joshua proudly shows his certificate and tag.

 

 

Holly getting warmed up at todays park run.

 

Brandon storming around his 12th park run meaning he has done over a half marathon in distance.

 

Joshua sprints home but is 1 second off of his PB.

Brandon follows up closely behind Josh to complete his 12th 2k park run.

Brandon proudly shows off his 11th run wrist band which represents a half marathon.

 

Mothers Day 2016

Mothers Day 2016 has been just as busy as any other weekend. Both boys were scheduled to have football matches, however Joshua's was cancelled as the opposition only had 3 players! So our morning was a little easier and then mid afternoon I had to head over to Rayleigh Crossfit for Round 2 of the Crossfit Open Games. The 16.2 WOD was real tough but I managed to get a respectable 166 score which has moved me up to 11th in the England Masters age group.

 

After the gym we got the boys homework done and then prepared to take Tina out for a nice Mothers Day meal at the Toby Carvery. We had a really enjoyable roast dinner followed by ice cream and with none of the cooking and cleaning to go with it! All 3 kids ate really well and were very well behaved in the restaurant which made it a relaxing evening out.

 

For Mothers Day the kids got Tina a walk in green house for the garden, some chocolates, a knitting book, a Mum music CD, a best Mum certificate and a basket of flowers. Joshua also wanted the Justin Beiber CD so come up with a cunning plan to buy it for his Mum for Mothers Day knowing that she wouldn't want it and then he could have it!!! The boys also did Tina a nice painting each and made her a herb flower pot at school. So a good haul of presents for this year.

 

 

Me and Joshua built up Tina's new green house for the garden.

Brandon sets to work on his painting for Tina's Mothers Day present.

Handsome Brandon proudly shows his finished work of art. Very nice.

Lovely detail with the acrylic paints.

 

Tina and the kids at the Toby Carvery for a nice Mothers Day meal.

Holly enjoying her dinner and eating very nicely.

 

The boys had an interesting pudding where they got to make their own ice cream sundae.

Brandon with his ice cream sundae that he made.

 

 

Of course Mothers Day is always a day of very mixed emotions for me and whilst I do my best to make it special for Tina, my thoughts are still with my own Mum who was so cruelly taken from us a few years back at the hands of cancer. It still kills me that Holly will never get to know my Mum and her Nanny in person and I'd give anything just to have another hour with her.

 

A rose for my Mum and the kids Nanny on Mothers Day.

 

Gone but never forgotten. The best Mum in the world.

Terrible Twos Temper Tantrums

So it would appear Holly's terrible twos did not pass us by. Yesterday in town she threw herself to the floor on multiple occasions, kicking and screaming whilst having a temper tantrum. The first time was simply because she was asked to stop touching things in a shop and the second was because she was asked to put her coat on. Not unreasonable requests!!!! She will be so proud of this behaviour and these photos when she looks back on this in years to come.

Holly laying on the Asda shop floor having a temper tantrum.

Show me one kid that hasn't at one stage thrown themselves on the floor in a public place having a temper tantrum.

Star of the Day and Stage 11 Reading

Another outstanding week at school for Joshua as he got "Star of the Day" today for good Maths work, he was upgraded to Stage 11 reading and has also been picked by the school for their next athletics team (again). Really proud of him.

 

Joshua with his "Star of the Day" badge and his first Stage 11 reading book.

Mothers Day School Dinner

Earlier this week Tina got to enjoy a school dinner at lunchtime with Joshua and Brandon for an early "Mothers Day" meal. I think this is such a great idea and don't ever recall my Mum or Dad being invited in to the school to have lunch with me. Mind you given what school dinners were like when I was a lad - they probably wouldn't have wanted too!!! Anyway Tina enjoyed a nice Lasagna meal with the two boys whilst I worked from home for the day in order to look after Holly.

 

Tina and Josh at the 2016 Mothers Day meal.

Tina and Brandon at the meal.

Lovely picture of Tina with the boys.