Tuesday

So Ned is well and truly a secondary school kid now, his bag is so full and heavy each day I don't know how he manages to lug it around.  His backpack was so full that I asked Mum if there was even room For an ant....apparently not!

While we're on the subject of school bags I had a bit of a nightmare when I packed my muddy trainers from PE inwith all my clothes and books...oops, bit messy!

Swimming again this week, and even though Archie wasn't actually at school today, someone managed to find his swimming trunks!  We thought this was hilarious.

Homework, still rubbish.  Still takes ages.  Although I am still keen on doimg my volcano project on PowerPoint......

Once I was done with gymnastics, at least I finally had sausage and mash to look forward to at long last!  We hadn't had it for AGES!

Wednesday

Well Ned decided to not bother coming home after school.  Nothing too worrying.  But when he didn't bother even coming home for tea and had very heklpfully left his phone at home we were a little concerned.  We finally gave in and thought we should go looking forward to him when it was time to go to Team Kennet.  Having checked both of his local haunts at the parks we eventually found him doing wheelies down Dylans roadwith Maxim.  He looked very sheepish indeed and quickly got into the car apologising non stop.  He got into his athletics kit on the way without a squeak of complaint.

Athletics was cool this week, I even managed a well paced 600m without any stops.

Ned had a dried up old meal for tea that had been keeping warm in the top oven.....he didn't dare complain so fair play to him.

Thursday

Andy came round for tea, we had to bribe him to fix our lethal light switch by the freezer in the garage that frightened us half to death with a big flash before plunging us into darkness as it tripped out. 

Friday

We played Bench ball at school, and in an a most out of character event, Sasha made an epic throw to me to tkae the catch that won the whole game....we were buzzing about that!

I went out with Charlie and Luca after tea, we did cool boys stuff obviously, bikes and scooters that sort of thing.  It was all going so well too, until I fell of a scooter while racing...I was going pretty rapidly too.  I skidded a long  way up the road in my summer dres.....not the best attire unless you want toad rash on your elbow and hip....ouch.  Luca and Charlie proved what good friends they were by getting me home for some medical attention from Mum.  Thanks boys. 

With the nigts drawing in I decided it was high time that Ned's Ghost Hunt game came back out.  Great fun on a dark autumn evening.

Saturday

We were up early in the morning as Ned had his first rugby match for Park House.  It was an away game so we drped Ned off at schol to go in the mini bus, all dressed up in his uniform and evrything....yeah, blazer and tie the works...on a Saturday!  We went home for breakfast and gave it half an hour or so before we headed to the LVS school in Ascot....yep, it was posh okay!

Weirdly though, we arrived ages before the rugby team did.  We had a game of throw the panda and tucked into the catering they had laid on...cookies!

The match itself was surprisingly good to watch with plenty of action on the pitch. Well, I say action it was more like a giant bundle, occasionally involving the ball!  Ned was surprisingly good as well andvery brave, getting well and truly stuck in dragging loads of the opposition to the floor or tackling as I believe it was called.

We had a quick pitstop in Waitrose on the way back for some cheesecake...haven't had any of that for ages...deeeelish.

A quiet afternoon then before roller skating, again something we hadn't done for a while.  It was great funand we hadn't lost the knack at all.  We were zooming about straight away and I was well up for races this week.  As we lined up for the start the young lad next to me told me that he would 'show me speed'  Yeah, thats right, but sadly not enough speed to beat me.  I left him in my wake and opened up quite a significant lead before backing off and coasting the last half of the lap so as not to humiliate hom too much.  Ned won his race too so that was a nice double victory.

Sunday

We used our free pass to Chessington, I was well up for the Vampire roller coaster this time....sadly, so was everyone else so it was quite a wait.  It was worth it though and I loved it, I would have gone round again and again given the chance.

Sadly it asn't a great day out.  Ned was really annoying and we did a fair bit of squabbling....which always helps the general mood of course.  Add to that a load of bickering about what rides we should or shouldn't go on and it added up to a bit of an ordeal really.  Having said that, we did go and see the animal stuff this time which we really liked.  The sealions were seriously cute:

As were the Tigers, even though we knew were fierce they looked like they'd like a snuggle up really.

There was also an animal show, the highlight had to be the Racoon, cuteness overload.

The Sea Life centre was also really good, I do love an aquarium full of exotic fish.

The arguing was bubbling under all day though and Mum finally flipped and made us go home early.  It wasn't even four o'clock, that was surely a record early departure for us at this sort of place.....

Monday

I got issued with my sports council jumper today:

It's lovely and snuggly and warm and I get to wear it whenever I like even during lessons.

Dance was good as well this week, I teamed up with Maddie and we worked out our own routine based on the principle that we were sisters that didn't get on.  We pulled some really good moves.

Tuesday

We're doing swimming this term at school, so thats a cool trip to Northcroft once a week on the coach.  We had to have our first session test of course, but this time I got put in the top group!

It wasn't all good news though, I got told off by Mr Gilham in PE for milkiing an injury.  I got no sympathy from Mum and Dad either as they always accuse me of that too......

There were some pretty remarkable scenes at home after school, we have finally bought a printer for our computer....I know, amazing or what? I was so excited about it and couldn't wait to help Mum unpack it and set it up.  It was dead easy actually, and I was soon taking it to Dad to plug it into the computer.  It worked first time, so exciting, our homework will never be the same again.

It was also gymnastics night, I got told to go and get changed and ready and came down in several apparently innapropriate outfits before I was allowed to go.  This made us a bit late of course and we had to park miles away from the gym.  I compounded this by leaving my trampoline socks in the car despite several reminders to take thm with me...

When I got home Ned seemed very pleased to see me.  This seems to a bit of a geberal trend now we're at different schools.  Thats not to say we don't still love a good old row, but tonight we dcided we'd dance together instead:

Wednesday

I decided to put myself forward for sports councillor for our class this year.  I put together my manifesto  and printed it out on our exciting new printer and took it into school.  I delivered my presentation well so all I could do was wait for the results to come in. 

Team Kennet was rained off this week, so we got to have a lazy evening instead which was actually pretty nice.

Thursday

I had Amie round for tea after school, she hasn't been for ages so it was proper exciting.  We gave some dollies a bath out in the garden then got the pop up tent out and made a lovely camp in it, full of cushions and cuddly toys.

Ned was nice to us as well when he got home from school which was a most welcome surprise.  He even let us watch his Ipad in the tent.

We had a lovely pizza and dough ball tea followed by melting middle chocolate puddings.  A big thanks to Mum for walking up to Sainsbury's for the dough balls!

Friday

The results for Sports councillor elections were in, I won! I was super pleased especially as I had to go up during assembly to get my certificate. 

So a good start to my epic weekend, then after school home with Amie for a sleepover.  We had a great time and a bit of a late night.....well it was 11:30 when High School Musical II finished anyway, and then we had to spend a while arranging the teddies......

Saturday

We got up early for a McDonalds breakfast, why have I never tried their flat sausages before? It was delish with some pancakes.  Well worth the early start.

I got home by mid-morning when Sacha came to get me with her Mum to go swimming, I said I was having a brilliant weekend.  We had lunch and a play at her house before going to Kennet for adip, so that was goodasit's somewhere we don't ever go.  The slidewas pretty good but the floating mats were even better.

I got picked up mid afternoon and had a snuggle up with Dad on the sofa, I hadn't seen him for over a day after all.

We were going to Gail's 60th party in the evening.  I wasn't having that and didn't believe she was old enough for one of those.  Mum and I had a lovely time picking our dresses and accessories and doing my hair.  It was nice to catch up with the family at the party and the food was lovely, especially the sweeties!

Sunday

Owen had given me my belated birthday money at the party, it obviously was burning a hole in my pocket so I hatched a plan to go down to town and buy some TY's.  We all rode down inthe end in the morning sunshine, it was really rather nice actually.  I got a good deal on a rather large owl in Camp Hopsons, especially as we got a discount for slight bit of underwing damage that we were sure we could fix easily with a bit of needle and thread.  He looked brilliant sat in mum's bike basket on the way home and even better cuddled up with me at home:

To round off my weekend of epicness it was Molly's birthday party.  It was great fun, she invited loads of boys which was really good and made a change for a girls party.  There was an entertainer who was really funny which was also a nice change.  We had a great time and they even sent me home with a piece of cake for Ned which was really kind.

Then it was our now usual Sunday night homework session with a total media blackout, so no radio or tv and both the Ipads being used by us kids....Dad loves it!

Monday

Back to school then after my mega weekend, I was glad of the rest t o be honest.

Here I am with my new owl mate Ollie and my Sports councillor certificate:

Tuesday

We have a volcano project to do for homework.  Excellent as I have loads of good photo's and stories from our trip to Timanfaya Parc last year in Lanzarote.  I decided a powerpoint presentation was the best vehicle to showcase these materials.  I got stuck in to making my presentation and obviously have channelled all my efforts into transition effects and endless smilies rather than concentrating on the actual content.
Then it was gymnastics and after tea a game of Dixit, which we hadn't played for ages, what a shame, I love it!

Wednesday
The school field had a haircut today.  This facilitated the most epic grass cuttings fight EVER!

I had an extra special escort home from school as Darcey came down once she had finished at infants.  She'd had a lovely day by all accounts and we held hands all the way home which was cool.

It was meet the teacher night at school, so we went to see Mr Percy and Miss Newman the other year 4 teacher.  They put on tea and biscuits as well as a presentation about all the cool stuff we are going to do over the year.  Ned even turned up halfway through, fresh from the park, he can't stay away obviously.

Thursday
We've hit the ground running this year for sure, only just one week into term and we were off the the Natural History museum in London for a special exhibition they had on about Volcanoes.  Mum came along as a helper, which was pretty cool, even though, as usual she wasn't allowed to take round my group.  I also think they might have broken the strict no eating on the coach rule and had some mints between the helpers and the teachers.  The museum was okay I suppose but as most school trips tend to be, it was pretty boring.....

Friday
Mum worked late today, so we were all a bit behind schedule, not much happened after school although ned decided he was going to make a cake.  It was delicious too, much better than Dad's!

Saturday
We decided to do Two tunnels greenway bike ride again (the one in Bath, through the massive long tunnels).  We took Andy along too to show him what it was like.  I didn't get off to a great start as I was in a bit of a grump.  I also had a fall and ended up on my bum inthe first tunnel which did nothing to lift my mood.  Neither did arguing over nothing much in particular with Ned.....

The pub for lunch did though.....and this time Dad managed it with the saddle still attached to his bike and without shredding his leg in the brambles.  It had just rained pretty hard though and we were soaked through.I had a lovely salad, garlic bread and bowl of ice cream.  Dad couldn't let it pass without incident though, by the time we got back to the bikes his back tyre had gone totally flat...a puncture!

He fixed it pretty promptly so we carried on, into the unknown.  We only got as far as the pub last time so this was a voyage into the unknown.  The countryside was lovely as we rolled along in the sunshine, drying out as we went.  We carried all the way on until we arrived at the Wellow horse trekkng centre.  There were loads of horses of all shapes and sizes to make a fuss over, it was brilliant:

You know what Ned's like with horses!

It was the long ride back to the car, punctuated with a visit to the park en route.  It was quite a long day in the end and we didn't get home until quite late.

Sunday

The boys went out biking again so Mum and I had a leisurely morning.  I had a nice shower and then blow dried and crimped my hair.  It looked well cool.

We didn't do much until the afternoon, when I went off to Fifth Road shop with Mum.  We bumped into Luca and Charlie on the way home, they were playing kingball so I stopped off with them and let Mum go home on her own.  Luca even came round to our house for a bit afterwards which was fun.

Monday

After school Dance was much better this week.  Three reasons for that I think, firstly, I had packed a proper dancing outfit rather than wearing my boring PE kit.  Secondly Maddy was there, it's better to have a classmate there too.  Thirdly the routine was great fun this week with plenty of oppurtunity to throw down some gymnastic moves.  After tea I set to work on my speech for the forthcoming elections for sports councillor......

Tuesday

So a bit of a weird week, I was off with Mum but Ned was at summer school (a team building exercise for Park House where they did all sorts of cool activities).

We took a visit to Northcroft for a swim, it was lovely, I still really love a swim.

When Dad was home from work and Ned was home from summer school we had a game of Monopoly.  Sadly, it descended into a right old argument, which was lovely.

It was also the first week back at gymnastics for a while.  I loved it, it was good to be back.

Wednesday

Another day off with Mum, this time we went to the library, i'm still right into books!

I was also really into the rain, the really heavy, seemingly endless rain we'd been having:

Proper good puddles to slosh about in.

Thursday

A lazy morning until the boys got home, then it was off To Kingston for a spot of shopping.

Bentalls had a weird animal exhibit thing in the toy department.  The animals moved or made noises as you walked past and triggered motion sensors.  Some of them were really good but the tiger was downright unnerving in it's utter weirdness.

The main point of the shopping was to get Ned some school shoes, I didn't need any as my ones from last year still had plenty of room in them.  I was understandably unhappy about that.  I wasn't even allowed to buy anything in Smiggle....rubbish.  I did however supplement our Macdonals supper with some edamame beans that were on special offer in Boots....lovely! We didn't get back to the car until pretty late, the views paccross London from the top of the multi storey were really rather nice.

Friday

A rare sunny afternoon, so a trip to the river in Hungerford seemed a good idea.  We took a lovely picnic, the blanket and Ned's Ipad for some tunes.  The water was freezing but the rope swing was back.

Satuday
We let Mum and Dad have a day off today.  Shame Dad had booked tickets to Reading Festival to see some old fashioned band called Metallica or something.  Not that we cared, we had Auntie Trish and Auntie Christine on duty.  We didn't do a whole lot really, but we didn't need to it was nice just to hang out with them for the day.  We did go into town though, we were allowed something from the Entertainer, how cool, obviously I went foy TY toys!

In the middle of all this I had Liam's wobsticle party to go to.  The Aunties and even Ned loved watching us wobble along it and fall into the water.

We ended the day off back at our house with some saturday night telly.  Perfect.

Sunday
So there were lay in's all round after our Saturday activities.  We got the lowdown from Mum and Dad about their day out and then Auntie Trish reappeared for lunch.  Any chance of an afternoon walk was soon quashed with yet more rain....

Monday
Bank holiday, and the weather had got as close to drying up as it had done for ages.  Mum had been Googling and come up with Fort Nelson in Fareham as worth a visit.  It's a former ammunition store and fort that's been turned into a museum.  There was load sof cool stuff and most pleasing of all for Mum and Ned it was FREE to get in!!!
I loved the uniforms you could try on:

Although the soldiers day sounded like hard going, I certainyl wouldn't have fancied it!

We love a silly photo oppurtunity:

We wewren't so keen on being used for target practice:

Especially after the gun firing demonstration.  They started with a ballista which couldn't have been wound back far enough, I could thrown a vortex further!!!!
Next up was an old fashioned field gun, this was a lot more impressive.  It generated a hell of a bang which certainly woke everyone up.  The last one was the most modern version and we were certainly glad we had put on the ear defenders that were being handed out.  The boom was incredible and shook your chest!!! Epic.
We got to handle some real life WW1 equipment:

I decided not to try on the gas mask like Ned, it looked grim.
This was probably our favourite gun on display, how cool is this:

The views out over to the sea were certainly nice once all the grey, wet, murk had lifted:

Tuesday
My last day of the holidays, and as per tradition Dad was off with us.  In light of the biblical rain we've been having we decided against any bike related activities in favour of the trampoline park Gravity Force which was absoloutley fine with me.  We bounced ourselves pink in the face, there were so many to bounce on, long lines, over raised sections and some at an angle to the wall too, brilliant.  The basketball lanes were also brilliant and my score rate was very high.
We came home in time to pick Mum up from work and then in the afternoon we went to Wash Common Park. There were teenagers playing football accross the whole court so basketball was out which was a shame.  It's a good job we had bought Ned's radio controlled cars and my snazzy new skateboard along.  We also met up with one of Ned's new Park House friends who just so happened to have a younger sister for me to play with!
To round off a full on day it was gymnastics, good job i'm so full of energy...once i'm off the sofa anyway.

Wednesday
Back to school day for me, although Ned got another day off which can't be fair surely?  I've even heard a rumour that he got to hange out with Laura for the day and went to Pizza Hut for lunch?
Anyway, my new teacher for the year is Mr Percy, yeah, Mr!!!!  Thats a first.  We were scared of him when he joined the school last year as we thought he was really shouty....turns out he just has a very loud voice.  It was also my first day without Ned being there too, lurking around somewhere or another.  I'm quite looking forward to being Ellis, rather than Ned's sister from now on actually.
So in spite of the super tiring first day back to school it was Team Kennet night.  I'd signed up for the Quad Kids league match on the coming Sunday so I wanted ot get my practice in before my debut.  The problem is that i'm getting alot of pain in my heel during our longer runs.  I've tried changing my usual trainers and everything but it hasn't improved.  The 600 metres is a real killer.  After much discussion on the way home about what to do about it, Mum decided the answer was somewhere in google.  Anyway, it seems quite a common thing in girls my age that are active and appears to be nothing more than growing pains.  Won't stop me carping on about it though.....

 
Thursday
So it was Neds first day today, his rucksack was stuffed to capacity and he was wearing his blazer and new, proper shoes:

He looked pretty smart actually.  We waved him off on his bike as he made his climb up the hill to meet up with his friends.  So we're separated again, last time that happened was when I was still at nursery and Ned had gone off to infants!


Friday

It was a nice sunny evening so after tea we hit the park with the Vortex  and the trusty tape measure for some practice.  I was more keen on the park though, so it was a bit of a waste of time.  I also got into a right old grumpy mood because of Mum and Dad and Ned and stomped off home to bed......


Saturday
Woke up equally grumpy as i'd gone to bed.  Ned though, to his credit managed to talk me round and we set off for Chessington World of Adventures in high spirits!
We got there just before it opened and got handed a letter saying that because three of the rides had broken down, we could come back again another day for free!  Top result, especially as the three rides weren't ones we were bothered about anyway.  We headed straight for the vampire ride, a rolle rcoaster that hangs underneath the track rather than sitting on top.  I'm not big on rollercoasters it has to be said so I needed a fair bot of encouragement.  I enjoyed it, well the first bit anyway.  It was the second climb and descent section that I wasn't so keen on.  Having said that it was rather brilliant, swooping through the trees and accross the rooftops.......
We moved on to some more sedate attractions (driving trucks, carousel) before arriving in the eastern themed area:

Where the biggest chair-o-planes we'd ever seen awaited, I was well up for these.  Add to that the fact that there were water jets firing up from the ground at randowm intervals and I was beside myself with excitment!  Ned got soaked, looked like he'd wet himself!
We had a brief stop for lunch (late for us, 11:45!) and then pressed on.  There was plenty to do, mum and I watched the Penguins of Madagascar show and the flying jumbo's while the boys went on Rameses Revenge.  I really wanted to go on that but I was 5cm too short.....grrrrrrrr!  I did not want to go on Dragons Fury thats for sure, it looked terrifying!  The others seemed to love it and watching them was certainyl entertaining. I loved the runaway mine train and the pirate boat, which must be the biggest one we have ever been on?
Zufari was really good too, a safari truck ride through some animal enclosures:

There was a ride on the Dragon Falls log flume next, which was good fun and surprisingly dry as well.  We saved the best for last though, Bubbleworks!  The  most epic and best ride ever.  The last bit with the arcing waterjets was just fantastic, in fact, we all loved it!  I also decided that next time we come, I want to go on the Vampire again.......
We got home in time for a visit from Nate, brilliant way to end the day!

Sunday
The day of my athletics competition, and weirdly Ned was along just to watch!  Thats a turn up for the books.  It was at Banbury Athletics track, which looked proper professional but I wasn't stressed, all my friends were there from the club and we were just going to have a nice day in the lovely sunshine.
First job, get my number pinned on my vest:

It was a bit of a wait unitl my first event, so we just hung out, played in the trees, stuff like that.  We also did a little vortex throwing in another field and of course, had some early picnic!

My first event was long jump:

I did okay, comfortably breaking the 2 metre mark, but as you can see from the picture, I need to work on my take off, i'm well behind the line!

Next up was 75m sprint, i'm not a brilliant runner by any means, but I did okay (15 seconds).

After that it was the Vortex throw:

I did a pretty good throw (14.20), good enough to come top of our team, but not as far as my 20 metre plus efforts down the park with Mum. 

The final event then, the dreaded 600 metres.  Mum, Dad and Ned positioned themsleves around the track to provide 'encouragement' for me and I did my best.  My shoe came undone on the first corner and then my heel was killing me:

I did however finsish and didn't resort to walking!  I burst into tears after i'd finished so it was a good job Dad and more importantly Panda were waiting form me after the finish line for a cuddle.
On reflection I was pretty pleased with my efforts on the whole and it wasn't bad for a first go.
Here's the team picture:

It was a bit of long jpurney home, there was a horrible traffic jam on the A34 that was so bad the engine got switched off and other people got out of their cars for a walk around!
As an top level athlete, there was only one thing to have for tea, a Burger King!
And then after a tiring weekend, we got packed off to bed disappointingly early.  Well, I was disappointed, Ned was totally worn out and was glad I think?


Monday

First proper week back, we had a Judo session in PE, it was brilliant.  I learned how to take someone down and couldn't wait to try it on Ned when he got home...it worked too!
I didn't like dance at after school club, all my friends were no shows and my heel hurt.....