Newest Family Member - Alexa

This is a bit of an unusual blog update as it is not directly related to any of the three kids, but instead it’s about Alexa who almost feels like the newest member to our family. I am sure in years to come Alexa will be a thing of the past and old technology which will be superseded, so I figured I would add it to the blog.

So what/who is Alexa? Well Alexa is a small white circular electronic device with a few buttons and an LED light that now resides in the corner of our kitchen diner by the dinner table. The Alexa Echo Dot is basically a hands free, voice controlled device that can play music, control smart home devices, provide information, read the news, set alarms and much, much more.

Alexa has now been in our family for about 4 weeks and gets used daily for all kinds of things. At dinner time it is quite educational as we always ask Alexa for the word of the days and to do the quiz of the day. Likewise Alexa is fantastic for helping the kids with their homework if they need to do some research or get stuck on a particular question. Alexa is great for getting daily weather updates and I also have it set-up for my daily news briefing on subjects I am interested in.

Me and Holly have set-up our own music playlists and can connect Alexa to a Bluetooth speaker which kind of makes all the CD players and radio’s in the house obsolete. We have yet to ask Alexa to play a song which it has not known and that includes all Holly’s nursery rhymes and Disney songs.

We have also discovered lots of fun games to play on Alexa such as the animal game, higher lower, deal or no deal to name but a few. We have also found that it can be quite amusing to ask Alexa for a joke or to simply start up a conversation with it to see what responses you get back. Alexa even has the ability to tell the kids bedtime stories and will add your name in to the story for that personal touch.

So despite me being very sceptical about these smart voice controlled devices, I have to say I am very impressed with its capability and as I said at the start – Alexa almost feels like the newest member of our family.

Meet Alexa the newest member of the family at Wick Towers.

Bye Bye Brandon's Racing Car Bed

After many years of sleeping in a red racing car bed Brandon has decided he is too grown up for this. He clearly hasn't seen the Episode of Friends where Joey and Chandler have the racing car bed as he would realise just how fortunate he is and hang on to it for as long as possible.

 

Anyway thanks to Auntie Nicky he now has a more grown up bed and we can try and sell off his car bed. When I got the new bed home you would think that Joshua and/or Brandon would help me strip the old bed and set-up the new one. But noooo, they were too busy playing Fortnite and instead Holly was my helping hands.

 

Bye bye to Brandon's trusty old racing car bed.

My helping hands to set-up the new bed was little Holly. Seen here checking how tight some allen head screws are.

 

Brandon all tucked up and enjoying his new more grown up bed (personally I would have kept the racing car as long as I could!).



Mothers Day 2017



Another Mothers Day has passed and as with previous years it started with a football match as Brandon was playing against Ecko White Cap Lions with a 10am kick-off. The boys played really well today and came away with a 1-1 draw against a team that they have never beaten. After football I had to dash off and retest the 18.3 Open WOD qualifier at the Crossfit box and smashed my score improving from 229 reps to 439 reps - should make a big difference on the leader board for me! So unfortunately with all the sporting events we didn't really have much time to take Tina out anywhere for Mothers Day.

 

Before rushing out to football the kiddies did get to give Tina their Mothers Day presents which included, a personalised gem stone necklace, a "Now That's What I Call Mum" CD, some tulips (her favourite flowers), some chocolates and some lovely mugs and place mats which they made at school.

 

Happy Mothers Day 2017 from Joshua, Brandon and Holly.

Tina's new personalised gem stone necklace.

Flowers and chocolates.

These are the mugs and coasters which the kids made at school.

And a bit of Mothers Day music to finish off the gifts.



Mothers Day Meal at Abacus

Today Tina got to have an early Mothers Day meal at Abacus school with the two boys. I think this is such a good idea and have posted many Mothers Day and Fathers school meal pictures on the blog. However one thing that has become apparent is that the boys have little interest in sitting and eating dinner with their Mum and Dad. The eat their dinner at break neck speed with a keenness to get out and enjoy their lunch playtime leaving you sitting on a little kiddie size table eating on your own!!

 

Anyway thanks to Auntie Nicky for looking after Holly whilst Tina got to enjoy her Mothers Day meal. Holly was spoilt to a girly lunch out and seemed to have a great time. From what I can gather she at very, very well and finished her lunch off with the biggest bowl of ice cream ever!

 

Tina enjoying a Mothers Day meal with the boys.

 

Not one plate for lunch but three. A plate of apples, a plate of cucumber and a plate of nuggets and chips!

Happy Holly with a monster bowl of ice cream!

Beast from the East

Amazingly we are in March already and spring is upon us, yet last week we was hit with the Beast from the East resulting in temperatures dropping to around -6 degrees C and the worst snow storms we have seen in many, many years. The country pretty much ground to a halt, the roads were treacherous, schools closed and I was left working from home for part of the week.

 

Brandon had a Chelsea Foundation Development match on Monday and his team was winning something like 6-4 when the match was cancelled due to a heavy snow storm. Within the matter of about 10 mins the nice green astro turf had turned into a white blanket of snow.

 

The boys school was still open on Wednesday but then closed on Thursday and Friday. On the Wednesday I dug out the sledges from the back of the garage which made the school run a bit more interesting. Holly absolutely loved playing in the snow this year and wanted to build snowmen and houses etc. She was also getting right stuck in to snow ball fights and discovered a highly dangerous sport of bouncing on a snow covered trampoline.

 

It's so rare we get this kind of weather and we tried to make the most of it. Unfortunately we must have been having too much fun as I completely failed to take many pictures.



 

Brandon's Chelsea Foundation Development match was cancelled as the pitch very quickly turned in to a white blanket of snow.

A sledge train as I had a nice workout pulling both boys to school.

Holly discovering the dangers of jumping on a snow covered trampoline.

Whilst the boys were at school me and Holly built a little snowman in the front garden.

Holly and her snowman.

Fortnite Battle Royal

Its not often you will hear me writing about a bloody PlayStation game on the kids blog - however the latest PS4 craze with all the kids is a game called FortNite Battle Royale. It has become so huge and such an important part of the boys life that I felt the need to add it to the blog as something they can look back on in years to come. A bit like me reminiscing about playing Topper or Rambo etc on the old Commodore 64. Even when I took Joshua swimming on Monday night, every kid in the changing room was talking about FortNite. I think they are driving school teachers and parents mad by constantly talking about it.

So basically Fortnite is an online game only (like most games are today) where approx 100 players who are tooled up with an axe are thrown out of a futuristic hot air balloon on to an island. Their objective is to then use the axe to procure raw materials like wood and steel which they can use to build shelters and protection whilst also hunting around for weapons, traps, bandages, health packs etc. which are scattered around. Ultimately the aim of the game is to kill everyone else on the island until you are the last man standing.

The boys seem to spend hours playing this game with their heads sets on talking to all their mates. They often team up as a little squadron rather than playing solo. As a team they seem to be able to last longer in the game and can also help each other out with medikit/bandages etc when they are low on health. I think the best the boys have managed to date is to finish about 3rd or 4th which is pretty good out of nearly 100 players each time.

The latest craze with the school kids is a game called FortNite. Forget all the other PS4 games - the boys live on this game.

You start the game being thrown out of a bus style hot air balloon with a futuristic style glider.

Once you land on the island it is a simple game of kill or be killed.

Meccano and Airfix Kits

Last Sunday Brandon had a football match in the morning and that was really all we had planned for the day. However with the beast from the East moving in and the howling winds making it feel extremely cold outside no one wanted to go out anywhere. So we pretty much stayed indoors and just played games, got a few jobs done and Josh and Bee spent some quality time with their PlayStation's.

In a desperate attempt to get them off the PlayStation's for a brief period of time I made them sit down with me and do some sort of craft activity. For Joshua he had to continue building a Meccano Ducati which he got as a Xmas present and we started a few weeks back. For Brandon he had to continue with his Red Arrows Airfix kit which was again a present which he got for Xmas.

Honestly with Joshua you would have thought he was doing some form of capital punishment and it was extremely painful getting him to concentrate for an hour or so. Brandon wasn’t quite as bad, but his Airfix kit was far too small and intricate for him to do, so I ended up doing most of the work with him spectating. Anyway I persevered with them both and got both bits finished in the end, I have to say I think they both look really good. If only kids of today shared by enthusiasm for Airfix kits and Meccano over a PlayStation game. Maybe I am a bad Dad for forcing parts of my childhood on the boys!!!

 

Joshua getting frustrated with some little components of his Meccano set.

But the end result looks pretty good if you ask me.

 

Dragged away from the PS4 and IPAD and completed something creative.

 

Brandon with his Airfix kit red arrow. Somehow he has lost the glass pieces!!! Now he needs to get it painted.

 

Lakeside Karting

As a little treat during the half term we decided to book the two boys in for some go-karting at Lakeside. They have only ever been once before which was some time ago now and due to their age they could only go on the little tots electric karts. However as they are now both over 8 and above the height limit they can drive the full on petrol karts that are capable of 45 mph. Given that they are both petrol heads we thought they would really enjoy this experience and we wasn't wrong!

On the journey up to Lakeside we were getting a million and one questions about how fast they go, how easy they are to control, how dangerous they are, what all the different coloured flags mean etc.etc. It was a mixture of nerves and excitement. Once we arrived at the Karting circuit we got the boys signed in and then race suits, gloves and balaclava's fitted. Next it was up to the briefing room to get some safety instructions and basic driving tips for about 10-15 minutes before heading down to the circuit.

Within no time at all the boys had their race helmets on and were in their Karts ready for the off. Brandon was dressed all in black and racing Kart Nr. 53, Joshua was dressed in black and yellow and was racing kart Nr. 60. Considering this is the fastest thing the boys have ever driven they both did extremely well. In the 15 minutes racing they both achieved 13 laps and Joshua was getting the better of "B" until around 3 minutes remaining when Brandon put in a quicker laptime beating Joshua's fastest by 0.6 of a second (so very close indeed). Joshua span out on one corner being a little right foot heavy and he also took a nasty shunt up the rear on a hairpin (by someone who broke way too late) resulting in him being pushed into the tire wall and suffering a stiff neck. Overall they two boys came 7th and 8th place out of a total of 12 racers.

After the boys finished their racing we let Holly have a go on the little electric kart circuit. At first she was all over the place like a typical woman driver, but she soon got the hang of it and had the whole circuit to herself to drive around. She actually only lasted about 5 minutes or so as every time she crossed the start line she would glance over at the boys playing on the bouncy castle and was clearly more interested in that than the karting.

Josh and Brandon kitted in their race suits and ready for the briefing.

Balaclavas on to wear under the helmets.

Down in pit lane and waiting to be called in to their kart.

Joshua speeding down the straight (the one in the yellow helmet, kart Nr. 60).

Joshua taking a great line through that corner.

Brandon was a natural at karting and wants to go again next weekend!

This was the hairpin that Joshua was shunted into the tire wall.

Another action shot of Brandon driving his kart.

Joshua trying to stick a move on Brandon taking him on the outside line.

Another action shot of Joshua driving.

15 minutes racing over and Joshua pulls in to the pits.

Soon followed by little Brandon.

The final score board showing Brandon with the slightly quicker lap and the boys placing 7th and 8th.

Brandon celebrates his quicker lap on top spot of the podium.

Holly getting to grips with the smaller electric karts.

Holly was a little ropey at first but soon got to grips with the karting.

Nice close up picture of Holly driving.

But she was distracted by the boys playing on the nearby bouncy castle.

And Holly comes across to take the checkered flag.

To end a really great afternoon at Lakeside Karting I managed to snap a lovely picture of the 3 kiddies.

Holly's Imaginative Playtime in her Bedroom

Since Holly had her bedroom extension done, (thanks to Uncle Steve) she has really started to enjoy playing in her room. With her old box room I can probably count on one hand the number of times she actually played with toys in her bedroom. However nowadays she often disappears up to her room, closes the door and enters into a wonderful world of imagination with her toys. I have crept upstairs a few times to see what she is getting up to and she will have loads of dolls, Lego characters, Minnie Mouse characters spread all over the place and she will be playing so nicely and interacting with them. This sort of creative play is something we have lost with the two boys as they spend all their play time on the IPAD or PS4, so I’d kind of forgotten just how nice it is to see the little ones playing with toys and using their imagination.

Holly enjoying some imaginative playtime in her big bedroom. Toys everywhere. 

Kings Lynn Mart Fair

Yesterday I took a day off work to spend some time with the kiddies during the February half term. As we didn't get to see the Norfolk family over Xmas we decided to head to Downham Market for the day to see Auntie Chris, Uncle Steve and Layla. The weather this week has been absolutely atrocious but we couldn't have picked a better day today. Suddenly we had blue skies, temperatures of almost 9 degrees and almost feeling spring like. To further add to our good fortune - it was £1 day at the fair so all the rides were only £1 per go. With 3 kids that helps a lot!!!!

Going to the Mart brought back some very distant memories of my childhood. The funfair was jam packed due to half term, good weather and £1 day. That being said there weren't really any queues and the kids all got to go on every ride they wanted too. There were plenty of rides crammed in to the Mart and in the end we was over there for nearly 3 hours. Brandon started getting a little green and had to calm down towards the end, but both boys and Layla were going on the biggest thrill rides there. Holly had plenty she could ride on and she also had a go on the bumper cars with me.

After the Fun Fair the kids all decided that they wanted a KFC for dinner. So we headed out of Lynn to find a KFC and all sat inside with the largest party bucket they had. We had a really good day and Layla seemed to love seeing her cousins and having kids her age to go on the fairground rides with.

Josh, Layla and Brandon on the Twister.

Holly on a little driving ride.

Amazingly Joshua didn't want to go on the Waltzer so it was just Brandon and Layla.

Can you spot a little Holly in this Big "Little" Wheel?

There she is.

Joshua and Layla ride on the Olympic Bobsleigh ride, how appropriate given that the Winter Olympics are currently on.

Brandon is somewhere up in that play house. I ended up being dragged through this to take Holly on it!

Holly negotiating the Lily pads in the play house.

Me and Holly look down on the others from the top of the play house.

Holly on a little Mini Waltzer for the tots. Love the face!

She was joined by her older brothers.

Layla and Holly on the bumper boat things (minus any water).

Me and Holly on the bumper cars.

Joshua took a bit of a knock on the bumper cars getting sandwiched front and back jolting his head back.

Holly on a helicopter ride.

Holly on the helter skelter (i drew the short straw and had to run up with her carrying her mat).