Holly's End of Year 2 Picnic

Holly officially finished Year 2 yesterday and only had to go back for a few hours in the afternoon to have a farewell picnic. Sods law that I am now out of work and can easily attend such events, however due to Covid-19 they were only allowing one parent to go!!!! Just my luck. Its not quite the normal end of term that the kids would experience, but it is better than nothing and the teachers gave Holly some leaving presents including a bag to colour, some crayons, a super hero mask and a balloon.

Holly also got her end of year school report yesterday and it was a bit weird really. Obviously Holly is the youngest of 3 and we have always felt she is very advanced for her age and has hit all the key milestones that you look at way ahead of the boys. Having a houseful of older people always seems to have advanced her development. However Holly's school report shows that she is below age expectation in all areas which was initially disappointing to see. After giving it some thought though I have come to the conclusion that in these unprecedented times and due to the Covid-19 lockdown the reality is that Holly has missed half a year of schooling in her Year 2, so maybe this should have been expected and is the same for the majority of the children in her year.

Tina and Holly at Holly's end of Year 2 picnic.

Holly goes up to receive her gifts from the head teacher.

Happy Holly with her gifts from the school.

Holly with her teachers from L-R Mrs Cooper, Mrs Blakely, Mrs Borely.

My two ladies.

First Meal Out Since LockDown

Finally as lockdown measures are slowly relaxed we managed to have our first meal out since February on Sunday just gone. After much debate we all agreed to go to the Brazilian restaurant called Preto in Chelmsford town center (although Holly wanted KFC or McDonalds!).

It was so nice to get out for dinner as during lockdown we had missed Mothers Day, my birthday, Tina's birthday and Fathers day - all of which we would have normally gone out for something to eat. The food in Preto was amazing as always with some of the best cooked steak I have had. It was a little weird not being able to go up to the salad bar yourself and being serviced by a masked waiter!  The restaurant was dead quiet (no pun intended) and so we pretty much had a very personal dining experience with all the staff waiting on us.

We all made an effort to dress up a little and Holly and Tina almost wore the same outfits! Fingers crossed we can start getting out to more places over the summer holidays.

Like mother like daughter, all dressed up for our first meal out in 6 months.

Table service only at Preto's at the moment.

Soooo much meat. Meat overload.

Holly wanted her picture taken with the Brazilian dancer which is part of the decor.

Nearly the End of Juniors for Brandon

So it is nearly the summer holidays and all I can say is thank god for that. Home schooling since March has been really challenging, how on earth teachers do it for 30 kids is beyond me. I think we all need a break from schooling this year, not just the kids.

Joshua's home schooling work is really winding down now and I doubt he will do much next week. Holly finished last week and only has to go back this week for one day for a picnic. Brandon still needs to go in until next Wednesday when he has his leavers picnic and then his juniors is all over. Its such a shame as he will hardly get any kind of send off compared with what Joshua had last year. We have got him a leavers signing book and a class of 2020 t-shirt to wear - but really that's about it.

On Friday Brandon brought home all of his school books for Year 6 and  have to say some of his work is amazing. His presentation and hand writing is exceptional, there's a really good shaded drawing of an apple and some rather embarrassing bits on his recent school sex education talks! Below I found an interesting BK football that he designed and also a Star that he created at the start of this year with 2 targets - one to raise his hand more in class and secondly to learn his 7x table.

Also last week Brandon had to take his bike to school and successfully passed his level 3 bikeability course (but to be honest this is no surprise and he would have been in big trouble with me had he of failed!).

Brandon's very artistic football design I found amongst his Year 6 school work.

Some Year 6 objectives of Brandon which he made in to a star at the start of the year.

Well done B for passing his level 3 bikeability course.

No real Year 6 leavers picture for Brandon. Instead this is his Covid-19 bubble. From L-R Fraser, Jake, George, Max, Zak, Brandon and Miss Mitchell.

I also found this amongst Brandon's school work and thought it was an interesting piece of work. This year he really has taken a keen interest in learning about space and the solar system.

Brandon Can Now Ride No Handed

Ahead of starting seniors in September Brandon seems to have grown up so much this year and with that growth he is getting overly confident on his bike. He skids everywhere and a few weeks back burned the rubber down so low it blew the tire out and I had to buy a new one for him. I couldn't really tell him off as I remember doing exactly the same when I was around his age.

Anyway in addition to the skids he has also taught himself to ride his bike no handed like Joshua can. I went out with him yesterday and I would say he was managing maybe 50m lengths riding no handed. Good to see he is at least still wearing a helmet though!

Brandon now getting pretty handy at riding his bike no handed.

GeoSafari

Earlier this week Holly was a little bored and so I decided to dig out the old GeoSafari learning computer which Nicky passed on to the boys once Zoe and Amy had out grown it. Holly absolutely loved the GeoSafari and sat there quietly and worked through about 8 of the different cards on her own.

It is great that this is still in the family and still getting good use. I think once Holly is done with it we should keep it in the family and pass it on to little Rory next.

Holly engrossed on the GeoSafari learning computer.

Holly's Rainbow's Marigold Update

Sometime ago Holly got some marigold seeds from her Rainbows club which she had to plant and grow. Well her marigold's have certainly grown very, very well and look absolutely beautiful outside our new front door. In fact they are getting so big we might have to move the pot soon as we won't be able to get in the door!

Holly's marigold flowers which she grew from Rainbows.

My New Little Workout Buddy

Since lock down began back in late Feb / early March I have been training at home in my garage gym. Despite sometime lacking motivation I have forced myself to use it 6 times per week and absolutely love it. Having had my birthday during lock down helped as I managed to add to some new equipment with a wall ball and slam ball, plus I built a 24" box jump and a wall for doing hand stand push ups against.

To try and keep to some sort of routine I set my alarm for 6:15 everyday and usually hit the gym around 6:30 for an hour or so. Holly usually wakes up shortly after me and will more often than not head out to the garage (knowing I am there training) and then join me for a workout. She watches what I do and just makes up her own little workout along with a bit of cycling and running thrown in to the mix. 

So who would have thought that despite having two sons, my new home workout buddy has become my 6 year old daughter. Sometimes it can be a bit dangerous in there when I am heavy lifting, but I don't want to discourage her from training. Although she can be a real pain at time as the girl can talk for Britain and just doesn't shut up at times, I can be in the middle of a hard WOD blowing out of my you know what, and she will want to start asking me questions!!!!

Holly working on them guns.

She copied this exercise purely from watching me, I didn't show her or tell her what to do.

A bit of bench press. Talk about competitive, she has to do more reps than me.

And even some overhead lifting. Love my little training buddy.

Lock Down Sports Day

School sports day for 2020 was very different from previous years due to the Covid-19 lock down. It was pretty much cloak and dagger type of event held behind closed doors. The kids lost out on the usual pre-sports day PE training sessions, the parade lap with their class banner, competing in front of the proud parents and ultimately aiming for those podium spots. 

2020 marks the first sports day I have not been able to go and see and the kids didn't really know what events they were doing until the day. They were simply told to wear their PE kit to school as they would be doing the Sports Day during their PE lesson. So both Brandon and Holly did this, I have no idea what events they did or where the finished - but they both came home with certificates for participating (no medals this year).

1st Paddle Boarding of 2020

As the lock down restrictions slowly get relaxed we finally managed to get out on the paddle boards and canoes for the first time in 2020. Normally we manage to start around April time, so its pretty shocking that it has taken to June to get out for the first time. Mind you what a day we picked, 31 degrees outside so absolutely scorching and needless to say the kids spent more time in the water to keep cool than what they did on the paddle boards and inside the canoes.

Today we took a slightly different route by going from our usual bridge in Boreham but then instead of going up river to Papermill Lock, we went down river heading towards the city center until we got to the next lock. It was an absolutely beautiful day afternoon out on the water, but I have never seen it so busy before. There was so many canoes and paddle boards out on the river along with groups of people just chilling on the riverside with BBQ's and beers!

Holly wanted to try a single seater canoe on her own for the first time and she gave it a good crack. She hasn't quite got full control and found it pretty hard after a while. So in the end I tied her canoe on to the back of mine and gave her a tow along the river.

Holly's first time trying to canoe solo.

A little nudge by Dad to get her back on track.

Me and H took the canoes and the boys took their paddle boards.

After a quick cooling dip in the water, Brandon pulls himself back on to his board.

I think they spent more time in the water to keep cool.

Me and my clan heading down river. Love this picture.

We went from Boreham to this lock down river which was packed with loads of people out enjoying the sun and the river.

Holly gracefully sliding in to the river.

After watching the boys jumping from the side of the lock, Holly was brave enough to give it a crack. Absolutely fearless.

And splash down.

Joshua walking on water!

Brandon leaping off of the lock walls.

Not sure what pose Brandon is pulling here?

Despite not having swimming classes for 5 months I was pleased to see Holly could still swim. 

Nice to have these bad boys out on the river again.

All rafted up for a family picture (minus Tina who walked along the river bank).

Love these three and being able to give them days out like today. Makes life worth living to see them having fun in the great outdoors.

Fathers Day Weekend

I have just had a fantastic Fathers Day weekend with my family. We have been out and about exploring more parts of Wickford on our bikes and even convinced Tina to rider her bike. So for the first time ever all 5 of us were out on our bikes at the same time. We discovered that a local park which is about a 1/3 of a mile from our house has been excavated to create loads of interlinking ponds. They have added a trail path around all the ponds and built some meadow mounds which can be cycled over. The kids absolutely love it here.

For Fathers day I got a new cushion for the sofa, some rum, a Toblerone and a really cool Range Rover Evoque wireless mouse. There a slight bit of irony in the mouse given that in 7 days time I will be made redundant from a job which I have been predominantly working on Jaguar / Land Rover products for the last 15 years or so. For Fathers Day dinner we treated ourselves to a KFC which was the first of 2020 due to the Covid lock down. It's not my top choice for a Fathers Day meal but given that we haven't had a McDonalds or KFC in probably 6 months, it was very nice indeed.

We also took our first trip in to Basildon Town Center since February as the shops have started to re-open and the kids were absolutely desperate for some new clothes. They have all outgrown their underwear and socks, and Joshua badly needed some t-shirts and shorts. It was kind of weird having to queue at every shop and having to social distance, but to be fair it was alright and we got everything we needed in good time and even treated ourselves to a rare Starbucks.

These are the new interlinking lakes/ponds which we discovered by a nearby park.

Nice new gravel path to travel between the lakes.

Beautiful meadow mounds for mountain biking over.

Brandon on the meadow dirt trail.

And anything her bog brothers can do, Holly can do.

This was a picture from earlier in the week when Holly thought it would be a good "challenge" for her to put pink and purple lipstick on me!!!!

Just a normal picture of the 4 of us in Basildon Town Center - the first time since lock down started in February. It was so nice to get out shopping and get some much needed clothes for the kids.

As Joshua is not at school until September he has been nagging us to let him dye his hair. We finally gave in as we figured he isn't at school, can't see nay of his friends, so lets let him get it out of his system. 

He opted to go for the purple Minion look.

My World. Fathers Day with my growing babies and Joshua's finished hair.

And odd choice for Fathers Day dinner, but after 6 months a KFC was very welcome indeed.

One of Holly's favourite foods is Melon and at school she made this absolutely fab Fathers Day card for me.

Inside had this beautiful poem which read:

Sometimes your beard is scratchy,

Sometimes your feet might smell,

You might even hog the bathroom,

And tell bad jokes as well.

But even with these reasons,

I'm really glad to say.....

To me, you are a Super Dad,

In every single way!

And with the irony of losing my jobs as a Program and Account Manager on JLR products, my lovely new Range Rover Evoque wireless mouse!