First Canoe Trip of 2018

Hard to believe that it is a mid May and we have not had our canoe's out once yet this year. Anyway today we had no football and the weather was reasonable so Brandon and Josh both suggested we went canoeing. We kind of figured why not given that we are going to be away for the next 3 weekends which would mean no canoeing until June!!! So with the car loaded we headed off to our usual Boreham bridge and then rowed the 0.75 miles up to Papermill Lock.

 

To be honest we would have preferred going the town end of the Chelmer rather than Papermill Lock as we desperately needed to go in to the town to pick up some bits for on holiday in a few weeks time. But Brandon always has an ulterior motive when going to Papermill Lock - its called their "chocolate cake". Anyway we had a beautiful, peaceful and relaxing row where we leisurely meandered down the river spotting loads of wildlife. We saw lots of bird life and a few fishes and even found and abandoned duck or swan nest which had 4 eggs in it.

 

Once we got to Papermill Lock we had a picnic followed by a nice coffee whilst the kiddies tucked in to their chocolate cake. Then it was time to pack up the boats and head in to town for a bit of holiday shopping.

 

First trip out for 2018 - looks like the boys have grown and the life jackets are looking a bit small.

 

Touch wood no punctures this year and all 3 canoe's have survived being packed away all winter.

All 3 canoe's rafting up.



Holly still teams up with me and she is way too young for her own boat - although she was asking today!

Thumbs up from Brandon.

Joshua sitting back and chilling as we had a real leisurely row.

Hardly any current today and lovely calm water.

Great shot of Joshua with some river plants in front of him.

Then Brandon's turn.

Finally time for me and Holly to get amongst the plants and lily pads.

Quality time with my little ones out in the great outdoors and with no PS4's or IPADS in view.

The abandoned nest that Joshua spotted with 4 duck or swan eggs inside.

Maybe this swan was heading back to the nest.

And after all that activity the reward at the end is the Papermill Lock chocolate cake.

Wick Splash Park

So in April we had the hottest day for many years and so far the weather through early May has also been promising. So in a desperate attempt to get the kids outdoors and off of the PlayStation's and IPADS I set up the paddling pool and the water slide to have our own little garden splash park. All 3 kiddies loved running around and sniping each other with the water pistols (it was almost like real life Fortnite as opposed to PS4 Fortnite). Holly got equally stuck in and was squirting her brothers as much as they were getting her. For me - it was just nice to get some very aching and tired leg muscles in to the freezing cold paddling pool water!

 

Out comes the paddling pool for Wick Splash Park.

Holly trying to shoot Joshua whilst he bounces on the trampoline.

Aiming high and letting the water rain down on Joshua.

Brandon and Holly having a reload.

Brandon using an inflatable surf board as a shield against Holly's shooting.

Joshua getting nailed by Brandon.

And revenge as Joshua and Holly team up to get Brandon.

Another action shot of Brandon getting a long range shot on Josh.

Holly is about to cop a load from Brandon.

Canvey Island FC Summer Tournament

Yesterday the Forest Glade U9 Tigers had their first summer tournament of the 2017/18 season. They finished the league 2 weeks ago on a real high with a 4 win streak. The final game was a very good 7-2 win with Brandon getting 2 assists, 2 goals and MOTM. So we had momentum on our side going in to this tournament.

 

We were in a group of 6 teams of which 4 were Lions, we were the only Tigers and there was a Puma's team (so not an easy group). The Tigers started a bit ropey and got sucked in to some poor play with lesser teams that we should have comfortably won against. We were quite lucky to pick up 2 draws in the first 2 games and only concede 1 goal. But then from the 3rd game onwards the boys started to remember how to play football and went on a rampage scoring the biggest goal tally of 5-0 in all our group games and then wiping out the groups top team 1-0 in our final game. Se we ended the group stage with 3 wins, 2 draws and only conceded 1 goal.

 

We were so close to winning the group stage and only lost out on goal difference to Leigh Rockets who we drew with in our first game. So placing 2nd in our group meant playing the Group B winner which was the Leigh Ramblers Lions who are about 2 divisions above us. The difference in class showed and we ended up bowing out in the quarter finals with a 4-0 loss. That aside the coaches and parents were so proud of the team as this is the first time we have ever qualified out of the group stages and thus it was a big step for the team, a good experience and showed that we are making improvements.

 

Super proud of the Tigers making their first ever quarter final in a tournament.

Action shot of Brandon who mostly covered defending duties in the tournament.

Another shot of Brandon going in for the ball.

And finally coach Jason barking orders from the side line.

European Masters Throwdown

 



 

This past weekend I competed in my first ever International Crossfit competition called the European Masters Throwdown in Budapest. I have qualified for this event for the last 2 years however I did not attend the finals last year for 2 reasons really, firstly I didn’t think I qualified high enough to justify the trip, and secondly, In my head I just couldn’t justify £500+ quid for me to go away for a weekend competition when that could potentially be a week camping with the family (or something similar).

 

This year however I qualified slightly higher which made me think that the trip would be worthwhile if we could afford it. Furthermore my logic was that as I get older it may become more and more difficult to qualify for such events and so I should make the most of these opportunities whilst I still can. I was also thinking that from an inspirational perspective that it would be great for the kids to see their Dad competing in an International competition and hopefully motivate them in whatever sporting activities they chose to pursue in their life’s.

 

Anyway you are probably wondering why I am writing about my competition on a blog that should be dedicated to our three children. Well the answer there is to do with family support and helping out your siblings whenever you can. You see with all the justification outlined in the second paragraph, the fact of the matter is that there is no way I could have afforded to selfishly take myself away for a weekend for one competition without the backing of the family. Or if I did it would be at the expense of our family holiday.

 

So for my birthday this year I asked everyone to not get me a present and instead give me some money which I would put towards some of the costs associated with this trip (flights, hotel, food, taxi’s….. and so on). I was extremely grateful for the birthday money but even that only covered a small portion of the costs of the trip. So that’s where my little Sister steps in and sets up various fund raising initiatives successfully managing to raise a significant amount of money to help cover the costs of the trip.

 

Without a shadow of a doubt there is no way I could of, or would of gone to Budapest without the birthday money and the money which Lisa helped raise. I hate asking for money and would never even contemplate asking unless things were really desperate, so for Lisa to help out as much as she did pulling this together and for everyone who contributed to her fund raising ideas, it  is just incredible.

 

The weekend in Budapest was one of the most amazing weekends I have had with some great friends. I exceeded my goal of finishing higher than I qualified and also achieved my stretched objective to make the semi-finals. I achieved some PB’s across a few events, won a heat beating a Games level athlete and also managed my first ever bar muscle up having been trying them for 3 years +. But none of that is what I want Joshua, Brandon and Holly to take from this whole experience. What I want them to learn and appreciate is how valuable your siblings are, to remain close and to support each other throughout life in whatever way you can. I would be more prouder seeing my kids helping each other out as my sisters and brother have helped me, than any amount of muscle ups they might be able to do one day.

 

Weekend away with Crossfit buddies Nik and Brian was amazing.

 

Getting my first bar muscle up at the European Champs was just an incredible moment.

 

But having a supportive family is better than both of the above!



Frozen Peas

Holly is a bit of a Law unto herself when it comes to eating. She is at an age where she obviously feeds herself very well, but is reluctant to try new foods. However our biggest frustration is that she tends to eat when she is hungry and not at set meal times. If you sit down at the dinner table and she is not hungry, then she will not really eat. But then an hour later she will decide she is hungry and eat like a horse. So she sits kind of in between Joshua and Brandon, where Joshua doesn’t stop eating and Brandon just find the whole eating experience a complete inconvenience and poor use of his time.

 

 

One of Holly’s rather unusual eating habits (and in my opinion quite disgusting) is that she likes eating frozen peas. Whenever we are doing peas for dinner and you get the bag out of the freezer, she will quite happily chow down on a bowl of them. In fact sometimes we have even put frozen peas on her dinner plate as she will eat them more than cooked peas!

 

Holly's unusual eating habits - frozen peas.

 

Brandon the Sleep Walker

It looks like Brandon takes after his old man with sleep walking habits!!! Just lately we have had 2 or 3 very weird incidents of sleep walking with little Bee, one of which could have ended badly with me clumping him up!

 

The first two incidents occurred at around 11pm whilst we were downstairs and the kids were all in bed. On the first occasion Brandon walked in to the living room, eyes wide open and started accusing Joshua of soaking his school bag. The second time was another weird one where he was sleep walking and looking for Mum worried that she had been left behind on a water slide. On both occasions we have quickly realised he was sleep walking and safely ushered him back up to his bedroom.

 

The most recent incident really got my heart racing though. We always double lock the doors downstairs when we go to bed and also put the house alarm on to alert us if any intruders were to ever break in. Well it was 1:15 in the morning and everyone was sound asleep. All of a sudden the house alarm goes off waking everyone up in a panic. I quickly jumped out of bed (completely naked) and ran to the top of the stairs in the pitch black where I suddenly heard footsteps coming up the stairs. A chill went down my spine and my heart rate shot through the roof as I thought someone had broken in and was heading upstairs. So I loaded up in a fighting stance ready to throw everything at the oncoming intruder just thinking that I had to protect the family and that I would have an advantage being on higher ground. Then who comes walking (sleep walking that is) around the stairs - yes Brandon!!!! He had sleep walked downstairs setting off the alarm and was heading back to his room still asleep. If only he knew how close he had come to being "Lamped" by his old man.

 

The next morning we had a laugh about it and Brandon had no idea what had gone on or that he had even got out of his bed, let alone his bedroom.

Joshua's Star of the Week for Concerntration

At Joshua's last parents evening the biggest criticism from his teacher was that he is easily distracted and does not concentrate and apply himself as much as he should. After the parents evening we was a little disappointed with these comments and told him that we want to see a change before Year 5 ends and want to hear from his teacher that there has been significant improvement.

Needless to say I am super proud that today he came home with the Star of the Week Award and when you read what he got it for you will notice it says "For having a great start to the new term and showing focus and concentration". So it looks like he took on-board our comments and has turned things around, lets see if he can now maintain this until the end of this school year.

Joshua gets Star of the Week for focus and concerntration - who would have thought?

District Cross Country Finals

So today was Brandon's big day as he competed in the district cross country finals over at Hadleigh Cycle park and he best part was that I had arranged time off with work so that I could be there to cheer him on.

I felt sorry for the kids as cross country should be cold, wet and muddy and instead they had one of the hottest days recorded in April in something like 40 years! to make things even worse Brandon's race was scheduled to start at 12 lunchtime - so peak sun.

I told Brandon that he has done amazing to even make it to the District Championships regardless of the outcome. There was 130 kids in his race so the start line-up was a bit manic as they all dashed off up the hill. Brandon got shut out a bit at the start and also had a little stumble which left him trailing somewhere near the rear 20 places, but he dug in deep and clawed back some ground to finally finish in 45th place. Brandon was disappointed as he wanted a top 20 finish but I told him that to place in the top 1/3rd was an amazing achievement anyway.

In fact out of the four Abacus kids that went to the Districts, Brandon placed highest as the others were 46th, 48th and 90th. So overall I couldn't have been more prouder of Brandon. He ran his little heart out and gave it everything. The only downside was that my arms and face got sun burnt standing around watching him.

Brandon all dressed up in the school track gear ready for the Districts. The track suit didn't stay on long given the heat outside.

A manic start line with some 130 kids ready to sprint off up the hill.

And they are off, Brandon is in that pack somewhere wearing black shorts and a purple shirt.

Coming down the hill and Brandon opens out his stride like I told him and overtakes a few people.

Brandon doesn't like sprint finishes but you can see here that he was giving it everything towards the final straight. (Auntie Lisa - wasn't you saying you always wanted a shot of you running with both feet off the ground? I nailed it with Bee). 

45th place out of 130. Well done Bee.

To cool off in the mid day sun Brandon tipped my drinking water over his head.

Me and my little man after his race. Super proud of him.

Holly's School Placement Confirmed

Some great news for Holly this week as on Monday she had her official letter confirming her acceptance in to Abacus Primary School starting this September. I think I have mentioned before that she is so ready to start school now and is really, excited about joining her two brothers come September. Unfortunately she will only get one year in Primary School with both Josh and Brandon as Joshua will start Year 6 and then he'll be off to Secondary School.

Our next challenge is to try and get her to stop farting and picking her nose and to act more like a lady before she starts school!

Happy Holly with her school place acceptance letter.

District Cross Country Training at Hadleigh

Today Brandon had to meet one of his teachers and 3 other kids from his school over at Hadleigh Olympic Cycle Park for a training session in preparation for the district cross country championships which take place next week. Whilst Brandon was training I used the opportunity to take Joshua and Holly around some of the various cycle which was a little muddy to say the least.

 

After Brandon finished his training we had a nice picnic and then all 3 of them enjoyed another couple of hours over the park doing more cycling and playing in the play areas. Holly is still on stabilisers and so I was pushing her around which makes for a good workout. She also loves going through muddy puddles which means I ended up with very wet and muddy feet.

 

At one point Holly cycled into a huge puddle and got stuck there with her back wheel spinning like a water wheel. Everyone was laughing and wondering how she was going to get out of the puddle and she just jumped off with a huge splash and pushed the bike out herself.

 

At the end of our cycling the kids all wanted an ice cream to finish off and Holly woofed down a lemonade ice lolly. Joshua and Brandon got a pot of black current ice cream of which Brandon didn't like so I ended up eating it and buying him a replacement Magnum instead.

 

Joshua and Holly doing some mountain biking whilst Brandon was training for the district cross country.

Holly is starting to pedal on her own now so fingers crossed I can try and get her off of stabilisers later this year.

Joshua on the stunt track.

Another action shot of Joshua.

Meanwhile Brandon was out running the hills and getting some hard training done.

This was the rather large puddle that Holly got stuck in.

Nice shot of our 3 babies playing nicely in the play area.

Holly is now big enough to do the rope ladder on her own.

Holly on the stepping logs. Again no help needed now.

Brandon found an innovative way to swing his brother and sister, he jumped on the back as it swung towards him so his whole body was hanging in the air with his weight pulling them down.

Brandon cycling after he had finished his running.

Just a little bit of mud. How am I going to get all this back in the car without needing a full valet afterwards?

More action shots of Joshua.

Brandon getting muddy and riding through all the puddles.

And just look at the end result of Brandon's cycling. There is no way in blue hell he is getting in my car like that!