Nuclear Rookie Rush 2020

In the last 24 hours we have had a months worth of rain making everywhere a little damp and muddy to say the least. So perfect conditions for the two boys to compete in the Nuclear Rookie Rush today!!! This was planned for March 2020 but was rescheduled due to the first Covid-19 lockdown. The event was rescheduled to October with lots of additional safety measures in place to enable it to go ahead.

The boys really enjoyed themselves, but the event wasn't as good as previous years. The Rookies were only let off in groups of about 5-10 and had to socially distance all of the way around the course. They had to continuously disinfect their hands which slows you up a lot and limited nr of people per obstacle The two boys also had to stay together as they had to be accompanied by an adult (me) around the course and only one adult was allowed, so they couldn't just head of and race. 

The event just didn't have the same atmosphere of previous events. Even in the main reception area there was no food outlets or stalls etc due to Covid restrictions. Having said all of that I guess we shouldn't complain as they went to a lot of effort to go ahead with the event and to make it safe for everyone. 

Waiting on the start line with Covid masks on.

And they are off, not the usual chare of 100's of kids.

First obstacle was a balance beam / see saw which B nailed and Josh failed.

He gave it a good go, but fell off.

Up in to the woodland.

It didn't take long before they were completely soaked and covered in mud.

Extra careful on the slippery obstacles.

Quicker to jump down than to climb.

More water and mud.

Not even Covid-19 could survive in that water!

Not long after this Brandon decided to abandon the mask to breath easier.

Synchronised climbing.

Crawling through some mud.

Walking across the swing bridge.

Part of the course where you had to pull a weighted chain and ball around.

The marshal kept telling Brandon to lean forward!!!

Josh had better technique on this one.

Neither of them made it across the rope swing and ended up in the dip.

Love mud.

Oooh, that looks deep.

Both boys nearly lost their trainers in the muddy water.

The cargo net was higher than it looked.

Attempted to jump the water and failed!

Sandbag carry.

Joshua smashed this with the heavier bag.

Looks more like Total Wipeout meets Ninja Warrior.

Both boys cheated and grabbed the top rather than the yellow hand grips.

Through the tunnels and in to some lovely green water.

Josh pulling himself up the cargo net.

Then Brandon's turn.

The last but one obstacle before starting lap 2 - the water slide.

Ker splash!

Down comes B.

Then over the tyre wall and sprint to the finish line (well the start of the second lap!).

Lap 2 and Brandon nails the balance beam again.

By the second lap there wasn't a single part of the boys that wasn't wet and muddy.

Another action shot jumping from an obstacle.

Josh struggled here as the mud bank was super slippery on the second lap.

Taking it cautious instead of just leaping in.

Anyway for a lay down in the mud.

Amazingly still some yellow on Joshua's t-shirt.

Dragging a heavy metal log!

Climbing up on to the rope balance.

Joshua nails it again.

But then fails on the rope swing (again).

Brandon soon follows.

Bath time.

Brandon gives up on the water and takes to the mud bank.

Still smiling half way through lap 2.

Still going strong.

Second time around on the cargo net.

Muscles......

Digging in deep but smashing the heavy sand bag.

Cheat - hold the yellow hand rails!!!!!

Brandon finishing the obstacle.

Back in to the green water pit.

Keep your mouth shut in that one Josh.

It was really good to see both boys going around the course together.

Last time on the water slide.

Brandon exits the water first.

Two very tired boys after the Rookie Rush.

Proudly showing their medals.

Holly gets her Rainbows Silver Award

Super proud of Holly this week for gaining her silver award in Rainbows. Her Rainbows shirt is rapidly running out of space for all of her badges. The big question is can she achieve her gold award before she leaves for Brownies in January 2021.

Due to Covid-19 her Rainbows has had to move locations and is now based over by the Fire Station in Wickford, but at least her clubs are slowly starting to open up again. She now does her Kelly Care, Rainbows and Swimming - still no sign of dancing starting up again.

Holly receiving her Silver award at Rainbows.

Another certificate for Holly's box and another badge for Tina to sew on to her shirt.

Proud Holly with her new badge and certificate - next stop GOLD!.

Brandon is an F1 Addict

Brandon has recently become a complete F1 addict and really enjoys watching the Saturday qualifying and the Sunday races. He downloaded a demo version of the 2019 F1 game and was absolutely hooked on the game even though he was limited to one track. So this month I let him use his pocket money to buy the 2020 F1 game and he absolutely loves it. Prior to even having the game he had planned out his team name, colours, power unit, first upgrades and so on...

As much as I enjoy the F1, if I am completely honest I am just another Hamilton fan boy and quickly lose interest when he is out of a race. Brandon however is fascinated with different power levels in power units, different tyre strategies and so on. I hate to admit it but he knows far more than me about the F1 cars and Teams and often asks questions during a race that I cannot answer!!!

Now he wants to upgrade his gaming chair to a steering wheel and pedal chair set-up!

Fingers crossed now that B is hooked on F1 he will stop wasting his pocket money on V-Bucks every month.

Brandon has a long road ahead and many seasons of racing to build up his team profile and performance.

Octobers pocket money blown on the 2020 F1 game. Lets see how long this game keeps his interest.

Brandon's Year 7 School Photo

This week we received the link for Brandon's first Beauchamps school photo for Year 7. Its one of those pictures that I feel obliged to buy as it is his first secondary school picture, but on the flip side I am a bit loathed to part hard earnt money on it when he couldn't even be bothered to smile and his hair was a mess!!! Hardly a picture that he will be using for his Facebook profile! Its so frustrating these days trying to get Josh and Branon to put on a simple smile for a photo!!!

Brandon King Year 7

Holly gets Her Rainbows Bronze Award

Since going back to school Holly is now getting back to some sort of normality. Her Rainbows club has restarted (albeit outdoors only) and her swimming club has started. The swimming is weird as they have a one way system through the pool, there is no showering allowed and parents have to sit 2m apart, pool side whilst your child swims.

In Rainbows this week Holly was awarded her bronze badge and certificate which is a great achievement and more sewing for Tina to do!!!!

Holly running around outdoors with her friends at Rainbows.

Receiving her bronze award badges and certificates from her Rainbows leader, Margaret.

That's another 4 badges for Tina to sew on Holly's short plus a new certificate for her box.

And Finally Holly is Back to School - Year 2

Due to Covid-19 and the lockdown we have had 1, if not all 3 kiddies home and home schooling since March this year. It has been a really tough 6 months and has made us realise just how difficult teaching is (and that's with only 3 kids and not a class of 30!).

But that all changed yesterday as Holly returned to school to start her Year 2 at Abacus which meant that me and Tina had the whole house to ourselves (me due to being made redundant and Tina due to being furloughed). As much as I love our kids to bits, it was so nice to have some time to ourselves as just a couple and we even treated ourselves and went out for lunch!

Holly was so excited to go back to school yesterday (unlike her two older brothers) and was exhausted by the time she got home yesterday. It sounds like they spent most of the day playing outside!!! Fingers crossed we don't get a second spike of Coronovirus and they can all stay in school for this academic year.

 

And after 6 long months all 3 kiddies are now back at school.

Holly was so excited to be finally back at school (more so than her two older brothers!).

Both Boys in Secondary School

So one day after Brandon started secondary school it was time for Joshua to return as a Year 8. So now we have both boys in secondary school and thankfully both going to the same school. So far they have both settled in very well despite the school environment / landscape now being very different to what they have previously experienced due to the Covid-19 restrictions. They have designated bubble areas, one way systems around the school stairs and corridors, hand sanitizer stations everywhere, PE in their school uniform and so on. The school are taking the new arrangement very seriously and and breach is immediately receiving a C4 punishment.

The boys don't travel to school together as Joshua still cycles with his mates and Brandon walks with his. However I didn't realise how much I missed the synergies of having the two of them in the same school since they split with one being in Juniors and one in Seniors last year. For examples at the dinner table they often talk about their classrooms, teachers, subjects etc and this common element of the same school was lost on them both last year. We tend not to get this with Holly as she is several years younger, but because the boys are only one school year apart it seems like there are much more synergies with their schooling lives.

Joshua and Brandon both now at Beauchamps Secondary School

Start of Senior School for Brandon

Hard to believe really but our second baby started Secondary school today. Last night he got to pen an envelope which was given to him from his Primary School with an instruction to be opened the night before starting secondary school. Within the envelope was a really nice poem about the feelings of transitioning from Primary to Secondary along with a little bag of Abacus coloured confetti to sprinkle under his bed to ensure he got a good nights sleep ahead of the big day.

Brandon woke up really well this morning and was very nervous but excited about starting school. He only ate one crepe for breakfast as he was feeling so nervous. He had arranged to meet up with 4 of his mates for the first day and they all set off together for their first day. I have to say Brandon was looking very smart and handsome in his new school uniform.

The night before secondary school and Brandon got to open his letter from Abacus.

Inside was the ready confetti poem.

New uniform and all dressed up for a new chapter in his life.

Brandon met up with a few of his friends for the 1st day walk to secondary school.

Hastag United U12's

The new season is nearly upon us and Brandon's Hashtag U12's team is completed and all signed up for the new season. As always we lost a few players but have also gained a few valuable players and the team is looking formidable for next season. Still not sure about the name change from Forest Glade to Hashtag United!!!

Brandon all ready for the 20/21 football season.

The team of 20/21. Back row L-R: Jake, Brandon, Daniel, Oliver, Ryan, Josh and Charlie. Front row L-R: Danny, Jayden, Jack, Zack and Aaron.

Norfolk Visit

So to bring the summer holidays to an end we took a day visit up to Norfolk yesterday to visit Auntie Chris, Uncle Steve and Layla. Holly was so excited to go and see Layla - so much so that we even got her to tidy her bedroom be threatening not to go! We were planning on camping overnight in their garden but given the recent wind and rain we aborted this and simply made a day visit.

Holly and Layla pretty much played together all day and disappeared up in to Layla's bedroom for long periods of time. When they reappeared Layla had dressed Holly up to look like a "Mini-Layla" and added make-up, hair glitter/curls, nail varnish and so on. They looked more like sisters than cousins and Holly looked like she had just jumped about 5 years in age!!!!

Is that Holly or Mini-Layla????

One about to become a teenager in a month or so, one that thinks she is a teenager already!

Nuclear Races Experience for Hashtag United

On Saturday Brandon had a bit of a team bonding event with his Hashtag football team for a 1.5 hour Nuclear Race experience over at the secret nuclear bunker in Brentwood. Unfortunately I was not allowed to follow them around to get any good pictures so I only have a few that were taken by the staff.

The boys all had a fab time and got absolutely caked in mud and soaked through to the skin. They got to ride the death slide, the zip wire and so much more. Kind of wish I had of gone along with them now. Luckily most of the mud is washed off in dirty pond water at the end of the event and they looked surprisingly clean compared with mid way through when they were caked head to toe in mud.

This is all good prep as Brandon and Josh have the actual Nuclear Race coming up in October which was postponed from March due to Covid-19.

Hashtag United U12's bonding at Nuclear Races.

Action shot of Brandon - he said this obstacle was quite hard.

Not sure what he is doing here. Traversing a cage wall or something.

This looks fun knocking each other off of floating platforms.

Brandon said he made it 4 pillows on the pillow run lake.

The aftermath, dripping wet and exhausted as they return to camp.