Holly's Ring Muscle Ups & Ring Dips

Just how cool is this, obviously Holly has been watching me and the boys at Crossfit and has been learning what to do on the gymnastics rings. We got back from football on Saturday and I opened the garage gym to put the football stuff away. I turned away for a few seconds and when I got back to the garage Holly was in there hanging around on the rings and swinging herself off of my weights bench!!! She even managed to hook her arms through the rings as if she is trying to do a dip or muscle up. Looks like we have another Crossfit Champion in the making!!! It just goes to show you are never too young or too old to start doing Crossfit.

 

Holly hanging and swinging on my gymnastic rings.

Holly hooking her arms through the rings as if doing a ring dip or muscle up.

Easter Moby Foot Golf & Crazy Golf

For my last day off of work during the Easter half term we decided to the take the kiddies over to the Moby foot golf and crazy golf. The weather wasn't great and was a bit windy and cold at times, but at least the rain held off. It didn't help that me and the boys decided to wear shorts for our day out!!!

 

We started with the foot golf with me using a size 5 ball, the boys using a size 3 and Holly took along a little Barcelona ball that Joshua got in Spain a few years back. As a football coach I hold my head in shame as I was beaten by both boys (although I think I was the only one not cheating and trying to let my ball come to a complete stop before kicking again). Holly absolutely loved running around and kicking her ball. She would tee off on each hole and then pick her ball up and carry it to within about a foot of the hole and then tap it in (smart girl). She then enjoyed climbing in the over sized holes to get all the balls out.

 

The holes may not be long with the longest being about 92 yards, but it is seriously difficult to get on the greens and if you do get on the putting green the ball runs so fast it is hard to keep it on there. Great footy practise for the boys though as they are working on the striking of the ball and their control and pace of the ball.

 

Hole 1 and Holly's holding the Barcelona ball ready for her first foot golf experience.

Holly sets herself up for a nice little tap in.

Joshua showing nice technique as he tee's off on a hole.

Holly dives into the over sized hole to recover the balls (luckily this one wasn't full of rain water like some were!).

Holly running up on my ball to try and stop me from getting it in the hole.

Brandon taking a tee shot with Holly watching on.

Another nice pose by Joshua has he shows great positioning and foot placement as he gets right behind the ball.



Not quite as good a technique as Joshua but good enough to teach Holly what to do.

Brandon lobs his ball up the fairway with Joshua and Holly watching on.

Brandon doing more of a side foot pass as opposed to toes down and laces strike of the ball.

With the 18 holes over we celebrate with a quick family piccy.

All of us doing our footballers pose for the magazine cover shot, love Holly's attempt at a footballers pose.

 

 

So after the foot golf we went into the cafe to warm up with a nice round of lattes and hot chocolates. Once warmed up we headed around the corner for the Moby Crazy Golf and for the first time we played as a family of 5. Despite Holly being only two, she completely understood the idea of hitting the ball with a club and getting it in the hole. They had some little toddler clubs and she thoroughly enjoyed her round of Crazy golf even beating her Mum!!!! I managed to redeem myself from last place in the foot golf to win the crazy golf. Brandon came 3rd and Joshua came in 2nd.

 

The first hole and Brandon takes his tee shot.

Me helping Holly out on the first hole and showing her how to grip the club.

Tina and the kiddies in front of the Moby pirate ship.

All aboard the ship ready for the next hole.

Holly and Joshua exploring the pirate ship.

Love this picture of Holly watching on, waiting to take her shot with Moby in the background.

All 5 of us getting eaten up by Moby.

Joshua had a great hole on the Moby getting a hole in one.

Brandon used too much power and finished the Moby hole in two.

Joshua, Brandon and Holly sitting in Moby's mouth.

Crossing the bridge in front of the Moby waterfall.

Playing through the cave where Joshua ended up in the water!

18 holes done and we are all looking a bit tired and hungry. Time to head home for some lunch.

Adventure Island & Batman Vs Superman

So yesterday I took another day off of work to spend some quality family time with the kids during the Easter half term. The weather was absolutely beautiful and we decided to take a day out at Adventure Island in Southend-On-Sea. A couple of major milestones were achieved today as Brandon is now over 1.2m and could subsequently be upgraded to blue band for the first time ever. This not only meant he could go on all the ride unaccompanied but also that he could go on all the bigger rides now. It made the day so much easier knowing both the boys could go on the same rides which then left me and Tina to alternate between taking Holly on the smaller toddle rides.

The other major milestone achieved was that Brandon had his first experience on the awesome Rage. He was a bit nervous the first time and asked me to go on with him (honestly the things I do as a Dad to keep my kids happy!). Anyway he absolutely loved the thrill of the drop, the loop, the twist and the camel back and ended up going on Rage about 3 or 4 times over the course of the day. So Brandon has passed his scary ride initiation with flying colours and is a little Rage machine.

Holly was a little trooper and stayed awake all day long. She walked everywhere around the park and went on many, many rides. Probably her favourites where the snake slide (which she went on about 3-times with me) and the Whip which she went on with Tina and giggled away every time the carriage whipped around the U-bend track.

We all had a great day and was absolutely knackered by the time we got home. To chill out in the evening myself and Joshua were booked in to Basildon Empire to watch “Batman Vs Superman”. We decided not to take Brandon as we had heard it was a bit of a dark film with a few scary/jumpy moments and given that he suffers with bad dreams we decided it was best that me and Josh check it out first and then decide whether we think he should watch it. This turned out to be a really wise decision as even Joshua was turning away in places. So instead of Superman, Tina is going to take Brandon to see Zootopia tonight instead.

 

Holly's first ride of the day was on the big wheel overlooking the sea.

A great view of the park from up the top of the wheel, shouting down at Josh and Brandon on the Zumba wheel thing.

Holly walked around Adventure Island all day long and did very well.

Lovely picture of my two ladies.

Joshua and Brandon having their first ride on Scorpion.

Holly takes to the seas in a viking ship.

So nice to see the boys enjoying the rides together. Here they are on Vortex.

Holly and Tina on a dinosaur train ride.

Joshua and Brandon racing down the water slides.

Not quite enough body weight for Brandon to carry him to the end.

Me sitting with Holly on the Kiddie Coaster.

Great piccy of our 3 little babies having a lovely family day out.

As Brandon is over 1.2m he got to ride the giant turtle swings for the first time.

Holly and Tina in the little jungle train.

Holly playing in the ballpit of the softplay area.

Its magic has Holly makes some balls levitate.



Joshua and Holly on a little toddler slide.

Holly chuckling away on her favourite ride the whip.

Family picture of all 5 Kings at Adventure Island.

Joshua and Holly ride the Dumbo pink elephant ride.

Brandon with a rather large bucket of candy floss and sporting a little candy floss goaty beard.

Brandon the fragon slayer.

Joshua and Brandon riding the surfer dude.

 

Brandon all strapped in a ready to lose his Rage virginity.

What goes up must come down as Brandon enjoys the drop off on Rage.

 

Then up and over in to a 360 degree loop.

My boys on the dragon coaster.

 

To end our great day out me and Joshua head off to watch Batman Vs Superman.