Holly's Gymnastics

This last week Holly's "Little Abs" club was cancelled so a load of the Mum's decided to take the kids down to the Sporting Village for the toddler gymnastics session. Holly absolutely loves a bit of gymnastics and given the chance will hang from any bars and rings that she stumbles across. She is pretty fearless and seemed to have an absolute blast as you can see from the pictures.

 

Holly about to launch herself in to the foam pit.

In she goes, must have been fun trying to watch her try and climb out of the pit.

By beautiful little girl ditting up on a spring board.

Some soft play for Holly.

What a cheeky, lovely smile.

Holly patiently waiting in line for her turn.

Climbing over the bridge.

King of the castle.

Anyone seen Holly? Don't you love it when kids hide and think you can't see them because they can't see you?

Peek-a-boo!!!!!

  

Back in the sponge pit.

After all that gymnastics Holly is knackered and needs a good rest.

West Ham Fan Holly No.2

The 2015/16 football season drew to an end this weekend and despite West Ham having a blinding season (by their standards), they dropped to 7th place. Such a shame when at Xmas time it was looking like a Champions League spot might be on the cards. Anyway next season they can move forward even stronger with their new stadium at the Olympic Park, but more importantly their newest fan wearing the 2015/16 home kit. We say this today and as the season is now over the kits have dropped in price by 50%, so Holly has her first proper football kit.

 

Holly with her new No.2 West Ham kit. Starting her young ready for the West Ham ladies team.

Despite being size 2-3 years it looks like she will get some wear out of the kit. As you can see she is very happy with her football strip.

Canoeing at Papermill

With temperatures this past weekend soaring to over 25 degrees I had two options. Option 1 : carry on with the decking extnesion in the garden, or Option 2 : go to Papermill Lock for our first canoeing trip of 2016. It was a no brainer for me and of course I opted for the later.

 

Before heading over to the Lock the boys wanted to do the Park Run again and we met up with two of their football buddies, Ellis and Max. Ellis is a year older than Brandon but pretty much similar in stature. The two of them had a blinding race and pushed each other all the way to the very end. Ellis is a great little runner and he paced Brandon to a massive PB of 9:02, knocking 40 seconds off of his previous best and smashing Joshua's PB of 9:39.

 

After the Park Run we headed off and set-up our canoe by the usual bridge near the triathlon lake which is about a mile away from Papermill Lock. Me and the kiddies then row up to the Lock whilst Tina takes the car and finds a parking space. For the first time, Holly came with us on the row up to the Lock. She has been on the canoe before, but only messing around by the Lock, never the long row there. She was such a good little girl and sat still really nicely just enjoying getting the odd cooling splash and watching all the dogs and birds etc.

 

Once at the Lock we had a nice picnic followed by a special cake from the Tea Rooms. Then we just messed around in the canoe around the Lock area. The two boys were also enjoying having a good swim in the cool Chelmer water and even Holly was having a little splash in the water to cool her feet and legs. Holly was also learning how to use an oar and she was also enjoying leaning over the edge of the boat to get her hands wet and then wipe her face with the cold water to cool herself down.

 

Brandon, me and Holly enjoying some time out on the canoe at Papermill Lock.

 

Holly seemed to get the hang of what you need to do with the oars.

 

Holly helping her Daddy row the boat and also enjoying doing some rock-rock-rock the boat from side to side.

 

Lovely picture of me and H.

 

Joshua being flash and standing in the canoe, about 2 seconds before falling overboard!

 

Holly looking very dashing in a summer dress, life jacket and her Minnie Mouse sun glasses.

 

A very wet Brandon after jumping in and our of the river Chelmer to keep himself cool.

 

Holly and Tina chilling at the side of the Lock.

 

Joshua and Brandon jumping in the river.

 

Its not the clearest of water, but it is relative safe, minimal currents and nice and cool on a hot day.

 

Joshua enjoying the water.

 

Double trouble. Surprised Brandon was jumping fully in the water as normally its too cold for him and usually leaves it to Joshua.

Sticking with Auntie Nicky

Special thank you to Auntie Nicky for babysitting Holly on Saturday whilst I was out coaching the boys at football and Tina was off on a Star Wars cup cake course. I think Nicky really enjoyed herself as Holly is far more interactive these days and doesn't just cry and sleep. It looks like the two of them had an absolute fab timing playing with sticking all morning.

 

Holly just loves sitting there with some paper and stickers and as you can see she made lots of lovely pictures with Auntie Nicky.

It looks like once the paper had run out Holly started decorating Auntie Nicky's arm.

A work of human art.

 

And when there is no more room on Auntie Nicky, its time to start decorating herself.

 

And when there is no more room on Nicky or Holly, it is time to start decorating the furniture!!!

 

Star of the Week + School Cricket and Football Tournament

The two boys have had an amazing week at school and received some fantastic praise and recognition. Joshua was once again picked for the school football team and they recently placed 3rd in a tournament at Wickford Town. Then Brandon was picked for a school cricket team and from what I can gather they beat 3 or 4 other schools and Brandon was a star player. So much so that he got a certificate for the 3T's cricket competition and was awarded the "Star of the Week" at school this week. So proud of both of the boys.

 

Brandon gets Star of the Week for being a great team player at the 3T's cricket.

 

Outstanding performance certificate for Brandon. He certainly does get the cricket skills from me!!!!

 

3rd place certificate for Joshua in the football tournament playing for the A team.

 

Brandon proudly shows this weeks certificates and the medal that he got from the 3T's cricket tournament.

 

Holly's Snuggle Penguin Pod

With our first camping trip of 2016 under a month away we have been giving some thought as to sleeping arrangements for Holly. Initially we were thinking that we would simply take the travel cot and set it up in our room in the tent to keep an eye on her. But the travel got is quite bulky and I am not sure we will have space to take it. Anyway today we saw this awesome snuggle pod which solves all our problems and just had to buy it for Holly. It is an inflatable bed for toddlers 18 months plus with a built in penguin sleeping bag. The penguin wings acts as side barriers to stop the child from rolling out and this will fit perfectly in the tent or for sleep overs. Holly really enjoyed playing in it when we set it up at home, although she was running up and jumping on it more than she was sleeping in it!!

 

Holly testing out her new penguin snuggle pod ready for camping.

I think Auntie Nicky will be a bit jealous of Holly's new bed.

Brandon's 1st Wickford Oak Beavers Fun Day

On Saturday Joshua had his Cubs fun day and whilst I received a few pictures from his leaders, it was hard to get out of him exactly what he had been up to all day long. Today Brandon had his Beavers fun day and as a parent leader I had the pleasure of following the kids around and helping them out with all the activities. So I managed to get to see exactly what activities they all got up to, get involved with them and have some fun and take loads of pictures.

 

The rain just about held off in the morning despite trying its hardest to threaten the days activities. By the afternoon the sun was shining and the kids were all stripping off their jumpers and starting to get a bit red faced with sun burn (myself included). Anyway here are some pictures from the day and as you can see Brandon was very, very busy and will sleep really well tonight (as will I).

 

Brandon and Zac arrive at the 1st Wickford Oak meeting point for the fun day.

Not a great turn out from 1st Wickford Oak with only 11 of the 24+ kids we have in the group.

Brandon started on the boulder wall which was a climbing wall in a large box shape which they had to climb around without touching the floor.

Next it was time to get harnessed up and ready for abseiling.

Climbing up the ladder to get ready for his abseil down.

For the little Beavers the wall was set at 45 degrees making the abseiling really easy and fun for them.

Next up was shooting with some BB pistols.

 

Brandon taking aim, on his first round he missed all 10 shots. On his second go he ht the target 3 or 4 times.

Learning to walk the tightrope with the help of Zac to keep his balance.



Next up was some fencing using body armour, head protection and soft swords.

The white knights square off against their foes in black.

Battle commences and Brandon moves in for the kill.

Brandon using his karate footwork and stances to lunge in for an attack.

Negotiating the obstacle course.

Ninja warrior in the making as Brandon scrambles through the spider web without touching the floor.

There was a circus skills area with stilts, juggling, unicycles and this cool mini cycle. Brandon had more success than me riding this bike.



The boys all got to do some sucker bow artery and Brandon was a bit of an expert as he has his own bow at home to practise with.

One of the trickier activities was Nelsons ladder which wobbles from side to side as the boys try to climb it and ring the bell at the top.

Brandon learning that belly flat down gives a lower centre of gravity and more stable.

He makes it and stretches up to reach the bell.

The final activity of the day was a blinded woodland walk using a rope to feel your way through the obstacles.

Brandon successfully finishes the blinded woodland walk.