Tuesday

Harrison and I were passing each other love notes at school. We thought it was hilarious, the teachers didn't and they got put in the bin.  I made him another one as soon as I got home before we left for gymnastics.

We really enjoyed netball this week, we played proper games.  It was pretty hard but great fun, especially Maxim's home goal attempt.

Wednesday

Nothing too exciting to report, except the fire drill during breakfast club.

Fire drills, always a worthwhile diversion.

Thursday

I was a right old sleepy head, didn't wake up for ages. In fact I only had five minutes to get up and get ready for school.  Plenty of time for me though so it wasn't a problem.

After school dance club was a bit special this week, we performed in our pyjamas.  This was great until it was time to go home during the biggest hail storm i'd ever seen.

It was really cool, but quite hard to ride my bike home in!

Friday

The weather was really wet and cold and horrible.

I had to make a start on my homework project.

To top the misery and woe off, the car was declared broken too.

This meant that we didn't make it to swimming lessons.  It didn't really matter as it was fun week being the end of term and ll that.  

On the upside, my project turned out rather well even if I do say so myself.

We even both did our reading books, just a well we were so organised as we were off on holiday the next day.

Shame we didn't really manage an early night as we'd planned.

Saturday

It was another early one as well, but we both got up and got ready really nicely. With the car out of action we had to go to the airport in a taxi, so it was a good job we were being all posh this time round and going from terminal 5 at Heathrow.

All our previous taxi rides have been much like a wild runaway roller coaster ride, but this one was much more sedate (well, it was 4:15 am).

We arrived in plenty of time for our 7:00 am flight to Rome.

I was so excited, i'd wanted to go here for years since we learned about the Romans at school.

I haven't done that at school yet, but I had been promised a swimming pool and some sunshine so I was equally enthusiastic.

As we made our way through the airport, amongst the sea of people we spotted some familiar faces, our friends Edward and Eva.  They were off to Kos!

The flights were all very civilsed on British Airways, we had window seats and everything, lovely.

The flight was only two hours and we were soon landing in Italy.  I told Dad how I couldn't wait to step off the plane and feel the heat and the sunshine.

Things are different in Italy, there was a lovely kids playground right next to the baggage carousel for a start.

We were in no hurry to get our luggage back thats for sure.

Sadly, another seemingly common trait of the Italian way was the particularly long wait for our hire car.....

Again we were very well behaved and had a good old Ipod session while we waited.

It turned out the wait was well worth it though when we got our key for an Alfa Romo Juilietta.  I've been Alfa spotting on the roads at home for months so this was a genuinely exciting thing for me.

Yeah, but it was really hard to get our set belts to click in.

Never mind that, we were soon on the road and heading for our campsite.

It didn't take long to get there, even with our small sat nav induced detour.

We were still too early to check in though, so we headed to the poolside bar for a bite to eat while we waited, Pizza of course!

Once this was dealt with we were still too early to check in so we sent Dad back to the car to extract our swimming costumes and a towel, it would have been rude not to try the pool after all.

The pool was awesome, pretty shallow and lined with a grippy, soft rubber surface.

With a good selection of slides and what have you.

We got changed and went for a walk around the site for a bit, there were some seriously cute cats strutting about.

Finally it was time to get our keys and get unpacked.

And have a little sofa time before the inevitable supermarket trip.

The supermarket was very close by though, and it also had some really cool stuff to look at in the way of food.  

We headed back to site where I did a superb job of unpacking the shopping and putting it away.

We had a bite to eat:

Then we tuned in for the night, it had been a very long day.

With our Horrible Histories Romans book by way of a bedtime story.

But of course, as we were sharing a bedroom there was plenty of sniggering and nonsense before we gave in for the night.

Sunday

After such a long day on Saturday we had a bit of a lie in before taking breakfast out on the deck.

Before deciding to head off to a place called Ostia Antica for the day.

We made it there safe and sound despite some really spirited Italian style driving, involving a gridlocked  junction and a lot of blaring horns.  We thought it was hugely entertaining.

It helped Dad get a real feel for the roads though, rule number one, don't sit still for more than 20 seconds or you'll get a good old horn blasting to wake you up.

Anyway, Ostia Antica used to be the main port for Rome until a big flood changed the course of the river, leading to the town that had grown up around the port to be abandoned.

It was really cool with so much to explore, a whole Roman town, complete with mosaics, fresco's the works.

We had lunch sat at the top of the amphitheatre and watched a couple of young German wannabe gladiators having an epic sword fight with their toy swords and shields.

For me the best thing about the place were the lovely wild flowers that were gently blowing in the breeze between the buildings though.  Oh, and the cats skulking about the place.

The statues with winkles were obviously hilarious:

We got back to the campsite in time for a late afternoon swim to cool off after a lovely sunny day outside.

Then it was back to the decking where I attempted to eat my own weight in pizza and a few games of cards,

Monday

While we were eating our breakfast (outside on the deck of course) there was a top quality cat fight in the tree opposite, it ended with a loud cat squawk as one of them fell out of the tree and ran off.  We thought this was hilarious.

It was looking like a lovely day so we decided a day on the site was in order.  Luckily as we were up pretty early we managed to secure ourselves a go-kart each from the camp site shop.  As it turned out this was no mean feat, as it was quite an ordeal to secure one before they were all gone for the day.

As the site itself was so big and pretty much flat they were brilliant fun.  We used them to go to the park, the shop, the pool and best of all the ice cream parlour.

Ooh, the ice cream parlour.

So many flavours to choose from!

We had a delicious slow cooked bolognese sauce for tea, it was a lot more slow cooked than Dad had intended I think....he left it bubbling away all morning while we were at the pool.  It was lucky he didn't burn the caravan down!

We also made friends for the week with Dan and Grace from Cambridge.  They were great fun, loved the cats as much as we did and enjoyed riding on the back of our go karts.

Tuesday
Well the good times couldn't last for ever I suppose, we had to go into Rome itself.
I was well excited about it of course, we made our way out of the campsite to the nearby bus stop.  No one had told it was on the other side of the road, the main road into Rome, which was like a motorway!  Crossing the first half to the central reservation was okay, but huddling with a load of Germans in the middle as the traffic sped past at 100mph was quite an experience.
We made it safely across though and were soon on the bus.  It was only a short trip until we reached the underground station and got on the train.
The train was awesome, much wider than our underground and pretty much empty, but best of all the carriages didn't have doors between them meaning you could see right up and down the whole length of the train.
Of course, being in Europe there were buskers on the train, in this case a man playing an accordian, we thought he was pretty good although the locals looked a bit more troubled by him.  I did have a little dance it has to be said.
After a few stops we arrived at 'Colosseo'  but even with a name like that we weren't prepared for the sight that greeted us as we climbed the stairs from the station.  There was the Colosseum right before us, just like it looks on the telly.  It was pretty amazing it has to be said.
Even I was quite taken with it.
The blokes dressed up as Roman Soldiers just added to the spectacle and we made our way inside.
Inside was pretty cool it has to be said.

Best of all was the wildlife, we saw plenty of little lizards basking in the sun shine, even better than that was a lovely black cat, lying out in the sunshine, oblivious to the hundreds of people wandering about the place.

We had a great explore, up and down the steps taking in the views and imagining the events that would have taken place here.

There was of course a lovely gift shop....roman coins and Colosseum models aplenty!

We made our way back outside and took our picnic on the the grassy slope overlooking the Colosseum.  
Which was lovely, except people kept trying to sell us stuff...silly toys, silk scarves, god knows what else.  We found that rather weird it has to be said.

After that we headed off for a wander about to see what we could find.  We loved the Trevi fountain and made sure we tossed plenty of coins into it to ensure we would return in the future:

We stumbled across a building called the Pantheon and had a look inside.

It was really cool to see what Roman buildings would have been like inside as it was so well preserved and not a crumbling ruin like the other stuff.
Then we had a date with La Bocca della Verità (The Mouth of Truth).

You put your hand in it's mouth and then you get asked a question, if you fail to tell the truth it apparently bites off your hand!
Dad almost got me going saying that no one had lost a hand in the last ten years....
Anyway, we both got asked if we were 'The Little Rabbit' 

I decided to admit to it just in case, I didn't much fancy losing a hand.

Accompanying this was a church with a well creepy crypt, and a much more welcome tut shop. 

Even Dad got it on the tut action and bought himself a very tasteful Lambretta fridge magnet emblazoned with a picture of the Colosseum and the word Roma.  He's classy.

I got a really cool book, it has pictures of how the old roman buildings are today and overlays of how they would have looked when they were built.  I'm sure I could be persuaded to show anyone who expresses any sort of interest whatsoever.

After a long day and a lot of walking we decided to head back to camp, sadly we were just a little bit too late for a swim as the pool had closed for the day.

It wasn't all bad news though, our friends Dan and Grace were around and even better they had go karts.  They were only too pleased to return the favour and share them with us for the night as we zoomed round the site, tempting the cats out from their hidey holes.

Funnily there was no sign of our tired legs we were complaining about when we were trudging round Rome.

Indeed we had quite a second wind and rounded the day out with a session of the shopping game, which Dad is still totally rubbish at it.

Wednesday

After our full on Rome day we took it easy today.

We started the morning off with a round of mini golf.

Which was good fun, even if I did get a bit too competitive according to Mum.

Then we hit the pool to make up for yesterday, with the added bonus of a trip to the ice cream parlour....delish!

We had a bit of a slouchy snoozey session before Dan and Grace turned up with some cat food for the site cats.  Armed with that we managed to attract 11 cats!

And we gave them all names too.

We went to the site restaurant for tea, where my pizza binge continued with gusto.

We then made our way to the children's entertainment, we had a bit of a dance.

But I was pretty sleepy and wanted to head back to bed.

I hung around for the games afterwards but they were pretty wafty it has to be said, I decided to turn in for the night too.

Thursday

Another trip out, this time a bit further afield to Lake Bracciano.

It gave us a good oppurtunity to spend some quality time in the Alfa and see what else was on the roads.

It was also a nice chance for a catch up kip.

We took the long way round, passing by the beach at Ostia, it was all a bit weird though, you had to pay to go on it? It was certainly nothing like Cornwall that's for sure.

We arrived at the lake, managed to find the beach section and get parked up.  We were the only ones there and it was a really beautiful place, I loved it.

We had a picnic, sat on the coarse sandy beach, there were some lovely bits of gravel to add to my collection.

Once lunch was finished I decided it was well and truly time for a swim.  I waded out to my waist and then with a little squeak I was off and swimming, it was lovely.

Once Ned took the initiative we all followed suit, the water was warmer than in the swimming pool I reckon.

We sat on the beach soaking up the warm sunshine to dry off.

Dad wondered what the faint burning smell was, I quipped that it was Mum's legs (they were a fairly bright shade of pink it has to be said). I think he was hoping it was some sort of rustic wood burning pizza oven I think.

We headed back to the camp site without the diversion and got back a lot quicker.  Just as well too, the pool was waiting for us and so were our friends.

We had a great afternoon.

We spent the evening playing with Dan and Grace and rounded the day our with a trip to the ice cream parlour with them.

Friday

It was a bit of a sad start to the day, our friends were off!

Yeah, they were driving to Venice, so we bid a fond farewell to them.

It had been great fun having such nice friends for the week.

We spent the day at the pool, at the park and looking out for the campsite cats.

We also had an extended board game session, dad proved he was still rubbish at the shopping game.

We had another pizza binge from the takeaway (except Ned, who preferred the frozen ones we had bought at the supermarket the weirdo).

We had one last trip to the ice cream parlour and soaked up the views out over the countryside towards Rome in the distance.....

Saturday
Time to go home.  But we had plenty of time for a morning snuggle up:

Of course, last day of the the holiday always means ice creams for breakfast (to empty the freezer).
We loaded up our stuff and headed back to the reception to drop off our keys and have a game of giant connect 4 outside (or connect 6 in my case).  I also managed a quick final paddle in the pool before we hit the road back to the airport.
Just as we stopped to top up the car fuel it absolutely chucked it down with rain.  Luckily they had pump attendants so Dad didn't have to get wet.
Dropping off the car at the airport was a heck of a lot quicker than picking it up which was quite a relief.
Indeed it was, and despite a bit of confusion dropping off our car seats at the outside baggage desk (leading to an Italian man in the queue with us apologising on behalf of his entire country for their inefficiency) we were even able to tuck into a McDonalds for lunch before we boarded the flight for home.
The bloke from the queue earlier would have no doubt been un-impressed that we were half an hour late taking off.....we didn't mind though.
So a few bits and bobs that didn't really fit in, but need to be mentioned I think.
First of all, as a blonde haired girl in a dark haired country I was universally loved.
I couldn't believe how much interest she generated actually?
Secondly, the food, I ate so much of everything this week, Mum reckons i'll have a growth spurt.  Here I am munching on a large chunk of Parmesan, Dad and I went mad for the stuff:

Myself and Mum were rather none-plussed with the cheese, what we really liked were these biscuits (and their associated ice-cream spin-off):

But one thing everyone agreed on was the washing up liquid...Bum Bum anyone?

Of course with the abundance of wild flowers it seemed only right and proper that I decorated our table with some:

So that just about rounds it up I think.
Except for a big thank you to Andy who came to collect us from the airport.  Therefore taking the full brunt of our 'holiday download talking'
Then it was Britain's Got Talent on telly.  I even downloaded the app this week for my Ipod so I could join in.

Sunday
So, we were well and truly home, at least the weather was nice.
Dad and I had a trip by bike to the M&S at the retail park for a few bits for our barbecue lunch.
We spent the day out in the garden, it wasn't too bad to be home after all I suppose?

Monday:

Back to school, still buzzing about my party. 

After school dance club eas a real highlight this week, Troublemaker by Olly Murs, one of my real favourites.  Dad reckons it was my standout performance of the term.  

I had my first quad kids session after school.  This is the event with a sprint, 400m, long jump and javelin (nerf bomb).  I was a real sensation with the javelin it has to be said, only being out thrown by one year 6 athlete.  

After all this after school we had to go into town.....

So I could spend my massive haul of Entertainer vouchers on the Lego fire station.....lucky boy or what?

Yeah, until you were walking back to the car and walked straight into a wall!

Grrrrr, I didn't see it until my face smashed into it.  Ouch.

Tuesday:

Netball was cancelled after school due to the rain....rain! So maybe summer is over already?

I had two landmark achievments today.  Firstly I tied a bow in in the drawstring that holds my jogging bottoms up.  Thats not even an east peasy shoe lace....Mum says I can have some cool new shoes with laces now.  Secondly, at gymnastics I managed a forward roll on the beam, completely unassisted .  I've also been put up a group to be with the year 2 age kids, so I must be doing okay I suppose.

We were a bit on the tired and irritable side so got packed off to bed as soon as we'd finished tea.

I didn't mind.

I flipping did, I kicked up a bit, but soon fell asleep, kind of proving the boring old grown ups right I suppose.....

Wednesday:

Our early night did us good, i was up bright and early and got my fire station finished, i was well pleased.  It was school trip day as well, this time the Ashmolean museum in Oxford to tie in with our current theme of the ancient Greeks.  It was really good, except we weren't allowed in the war section as our adult claimed she was a pacifist!  I thought this was a bit odd and a real shame.  It was a cool day out though, we even went on a bendy bus. Team Kennet went well again this week, at least it didn't rain!
Thursday:
I recieved a number of reports of my apparent good behaviour during the museum trip, that was nice.
It's not just Ned either, I got another shell for good work at school as well (literacy this time).  I've not quite reached my landmark 20 yet, they seem to be getting a little harder to come by these days you know.  I finally gave out my birthday party invitiations as well....how exciting.
Once I was home from dancing I spent the remainder of my afternoon drawing Greek soldiers.  The museum trip has rather enthused me.  I also really enjoyed the bouncing bomb anniversary programmes on telly.
Friday:
Last day of the week, the weekend beckoning, brilliant.
I had swimming, no Eva this week.  We got our results as well and it looks like i'll have to do this term again.  I wasn't too bothered, firstky i'll get to be with Eva again next term and secondly, I don't have to pay for the lessons either.
Once swimming was done and dusted (and the new park at Northcroft was checked out) we made our way to Andy's to get our stuff together for a weekend in Cornwall.  I was so excited, my new board was loaded onto the roof and we hit the road.
I stated catgeorically that I didn't want to go to the beach, didn't want to get in the water, didn't want to dig in the sand or anything.
Saturday:
We woke up to a gloriously sunny morning without a cloud in the sky.
And after a quick spot of breakfast we were soon westuited up and heading to the beach, I couldn't get there fast enough!  My defiance didn't last long.....
My new board was a bit of a handful for me to carry, good job I have a supporting cast of beach goods sherpa's.
It was lovley on the beach, hardly anyone there at all, we had it to ourselves really.

We did, we set about some digging and climbing of course before it was time to try out my surfboard.  Dad came with me and tried to offer a few useless bits of advice which was nice of him.  I managed to find what worked for me on my own though and within 20 minutes of splashing about with it (in some seriously cold water) I had managed my first stand up wave ride!  I was so happy, it felt awesome.
I decided to cut my losses at this point and swap to my bodyboard for a bit, before moving on to the skim board to round out the full compliment.  What a seriously great morning.
I had a few waves on my bodyboard too, but even better than that was Mum dragging me up and down in the shallow water at warp speeds...until I went a little too fast for the turn I was making and slid off...oops.  It hurt a bit, I decided to take a rest:

We sat and had lunch on the beach, did some more digging (the best thing about my surfboard has to be it's size, it's brilliant for making a camp):

and then Dad and I had a bit of a snooze on the blanket.
I did loads more rock climbing and was a little disappointed not to be able to go looking for fish in the rock pools because it was high tide.

We eventually decided to head back up to the caravan for a game of 'Extreme boule' and watch a little TV for a recharge.

Before we headed back down to the youth hostel for garlic bread, pizza and chips with a lovely sea view, perfect.

Then it was back for a game of sevens (Andy won) and to bed.

For an hour or so of giggling and messing about while Mum and Dad took it in turns to be quiet and go to sleep.  Ha ha.

Andy disappeared off early on Sunday to go and watch football, it was the last match of the season or something.

Yeah, whatever, we thought he was mad.

We had another trip down the beach for a bit more surfing.

And a frantic last ditch attempt at catching a fish in a rockpool as the tide was coming in.  We didn't manage it so I had to make do with a bucketful of slimy green seaweed.

In a rare appearance of some parental common sense we packed up just before lunch and then after a pub lunch set off for home.

We were home for tea time and got to bed at a reasonable time in the hope that we wouldn't be quite so tired come Monday morning.

What a great weekend, thanks for having us Andy.

It pretty much worked too, we weren't too bad on Monday morning.  My after school dance class was cancelled which was a shame.  Just as well really as I had to help Dad with the washing machine.  I also did some cool gymnastics work on my swing.

I had quad kids, Dad and Ellis arrived just in time to see me throw the vortex Javelin.  They were impressed, so were a number of the assembled Mum's and Dad's.  Without wishing to sound like a big head, i'm really rather good at it.

 

Tuesday:
I had my academic day cut short on Tuesday by the Schools Cross Country competition.  This year it was held at the Newbury Showground, not quite as cool as the racecourse but pretty swish all the same.  We even got to go there on a coach which is always huge fun.  We set up a nice team area on the grass in the lovely sunshine:

Dad turned up just after we got there, but I didn't take too much notice of him really, I was with my mates after all.  The year 3 and 4 girls were off first and as usual we made sure we were the noisiest and most supportive school like last year.  It was also a good opportunity to see where the course actually went, it looked a pretty long way.....

My race was up next, year 3 & 4 boys.  We had a strong team, helped along by legions of bellowing John Rankin fans posted at various points of the circuit.  I didn't do as well as i'd hoped really, coming 94th (out of 330ish).  

We had a great result as a team though, coming second overall.  We spent the rest of the afternoon watching the other races and stealing each others sun hats.  Much better than literacy, topped off rather nicely with going up as second lace team during the presentation at the end of the afternoon for a little bit of glory.

Of course with all this going on we had to make alternative arrangements to pick me up from school.  Thanks very much then to Laura for taking the job on.  Even more impressively she took me to gymnastics as well, which I gather was quite an eye opener for her.  I loved it, we got to ride around in her monster truck and even got to give her cat a little cuddle, even if it did give me a little nip.
Wednesday:
We got to go to the park after school, yay!  How I love the park after school.  There were a few of my friends there too which made it even better.
There was none of mine though....boring.  Maybe that's how I ended up holding a Nerf bomb throwing lesson for Ellis' friends.  They lapped it up, hanging on my every word and really trying out what I was showing them.  There was a massive improvement in them by the time we had to leave and they were throwing it miles further than they had beforehand.  
It's all true, he organised them good and proper, no mean feat considering they were three of the rowdiest boys from my class!
I was struggling a bit after my efforts at the cross country the previous day and decided against Team Kennet that evening in favour of some quality sofa time with Mum.
Thursday:
It was book day at school, at last, i'd been counting down the days to this one like Christmas! My team had produced a pretty decent costume it has to be said.  Mums artwork was surprisingly good and Dads hour he spent foraging for twigs behind the trampoline made for an excellent witches broom.  I enjoyed flying off to school.

We're still enjoying Thursday school dinners, best of all we get to miss out on a proper cooked meal in the evening and can have sandwiches instead.  For some reason today though we had to have proper stuff, not happy!

Friday:
We were all well and truly ready for a long weekend and were so glad it was Friday.

Yup, we sure were, both of us were proper worn out.

All that stood in our way was a day at school.....

And my swimming lesson.  It all seems to be going pretty well on the swimming front, i'm certainly still super keen and love seeing Eva once a week!

Saturday:
After a well needed lie in,

And a long awaited pancake breakfast.

We milled about the house for a bit, played in the garden, had a bounce on the trampoline, lovely stuff!

Even better than that though, we had a full group get together at the Craven Arms in honour of Nick's birthday.

Great idea from a grown up we reckon.  The playground is excellent over there, so we were sure of a good time.

Once we'd managed to clear the park area of sulky teenagers, thanks for the help Nick.

It was lovely to get all us kids together, we pretty much took over the whole park.

We also had a brilliant game of football which also included a sprinkling of grown ups to pad the sides out.  It was a great laugh, apparently I played pretty well, my sliding tackles were awesome.  We did have to give the grown ups a rest at half time though. 

Of course we had a bit of a late one......
Sunday:
But we were recharged in time for Darcey's 2nd birthday party! 

How exciting.  We even got to walk down to her house, which Dad loved as he had to carry her present, a rather bulky slide!

It was a right old gathering with one of the most amazing selection of cakes i'e ever seen...brilliant!

We headed home and played a few games of sevens, we're still loving sevens.

Monday:

Ahhhh, bank holiday, brilliant!

We went and got some picnic stuff and went down to the park, with a football, the Nerf bomb and our trusty blanket.

It was lovely, playing and eating...

And then popping over to the shop for an ice lolly.

It was a quick dash home and then on to the Laws place for a barbecue.

All the gang were there again so it was another full on, great fun day.

We always have such a cool time over their place, thanks for having us!

That pretty much rounded out our long weekend, it was brilliant, we saw so any of our friends and family.

And also the weather was amazing, so sunny and warm.  I thought it always rains on bank holidays?

Make a note of this one, it wad a beauty.

Tuesday:

The good times couldn't last of course and it was back to school on Tuesday.

The good news was that I got to leave at lunchtime!

The bad news was that it was for a hospital appointment!

It was only a follow up thing, and i'm happy to report that everything is fine and dandy.  The appointment itself was a bit of an anti climax though, we went in early, depriving me of quality time in the most excellent waiting room.

With all this going on, Mum had arranged to come and pick me up from school, i was seriously excited about this, even if it did mean I might miss gymnastics.

As it turned our, Dad and I were back in time to pick up Mum from work and the get Ellis from school.

This also meant I was able to make it to gymnastics, with Mum for the first time.

And after we'd dropped her off I also got to go to Sainsbury's and swap one of my duplicate birthday  Skylanders for my much sought after Ninjini!

Wednesday:
The good weather finally came to an end, just in time for Team Kennet.  We got soaked up there on the track.  It didn't bother me in the least, I actually rather enjoyed it, even if some of the others didn't.

Thursday:

I'm still really enjoying Ned doing after school dancing on a Thursday, i get to watch exactly what I want on the telly, even if when he does get home I get forced to play Skylanders with him.

Oh come on Ells, you son't want me to have to play on my own do you?

Friday:

Yay, Friday again!

We were getting marked during swimming lessons, It could go either way this term I reckon.  We'm no doubt find out soon enough.  As we were leaving Mum sorted out my birthday party own there.  Cool or what? I'm dead excited about it all.

Yeah brilliant Ellis, just like the rubbishy walk we had to go on after tea.  These light evenings do have their draw backs......

Saturday:

Another slow weekend start, we're getting good at these.

Yeah, was a pretty slow day really, with just a trip to Victoria park in the morning.

And a trip to Waitrose for lunch stuff.

Before an afternoon Monoploly session and then some Britain's Got Talent, which I cannot get enough of.  I think Davis Walliams is hilarious.

Sunday:

The big day had finally come, after what felt like years it was finally my birthday outing.  Mum had done a great job sorting my friends out and getting everything arranged in a pretty short timescale.  All my friends arrived on time...
So did Uncle Alan and Hayley, as they got roped in too.
We loaded our car up, with Mum, Dad and myself, as well as Alastair, Hugo, Teagan and Ella.  Dad had sorted us out a playlist on his Ipod, we pressed play and hit the road in our mobile party wagon.  It was awesome, singing, dancing and general merry making.
Meanwhile I got to chew Alan and Hayley's ears off all the way to the Moors Valley Country park.
We piled out of the car and straight off into the woods to check out the Go Ape course, it looked well cool.
Even though some of us thought it looked a little bit high in places.
We were about an hour early though so we headed for the playground and had a few snacks that the grown ups had been clever enough to pack:

The playground was a lot of fun, and a pretty good warm up it has to be said:

And then it was time to get kitted up and start monkeying around.
The harnesses were a bit of an effort to get into but we were soon kitted up, clipped on and climbing the stairs up to the platform, and then we were off.  Obviously us boys flew off at about 300 miles an hour.
While us girls and the grown ups took things a little more easily.  Well, it started off like that, but us girls soon dropped the grown ups too, they were pretty rubbish at it and made all sorts of excuses about being too tall for it and all that.
We ended up doing 3 laps of the first circuit and 2 laps of the second circuit, each lap ending with a descent of the zip line where invariably you ended up going in backwards in a shower of bark chippings.  The most important bit was how you left the platform though, with the really cool kids leaving by falling backwards without holding on......
It was great fun, but one lap of each was enough for me and the grown ups.  I was pretty glad, I don't think my ears could take much more of Mum and Hayley's squealing.
It was brilliant, I loved every minute of it.  Then we collected our certificates and several hundred badges before loading up and heading to Pizza Hut.  
Wow, what a day out. This time Mum managed to escape the party car and go with Alan, meaning I had to sit up front while the Ned gang went crazy in the back. I also got to be in charge of the music too...yes!!!!
We had a great time at Pizza Hut, even if some of us did get a little high-spirited at times....ahem.  One positive thing though was that we managed to sort out our own order to give to the waitress with a good dose of teamwork.  Dad was very impressed with that, he thinks we're a chaotic rabble I think.
Well, what can I say, my birthday has lasted pretty much a month now and it's been nothing short of brilliant.  I'd like to thank everyone once again for all the lovely presents and cards i've had.  I'd also like to thank Mum for organising the most amazing birthday party ever, that i'm sure everyone will be talking about for a long time to come.  I'd also like to thank Alan and Hayley for coming along with us, it is very much appreciated.

Jersey video, hot(ish) off the press/camera:

Right, here we go for part two then.....
Monday 15th April:
We still had an extra day of school holidays left, so it was round to Auntie Chrisitnes for extended birthday celebrations.  This involved more Skylanders figures and birthday cake at 10 am....brilliant.
We also had a bit of Easter business to attend to and painted some lovely Bunny figures too, great day!
Tuesday:
Back to school, neither of us were happy about that.
We both hate school.
Except we don't really, when it came down to it we both had a good first day back.
And I returned to gymnastics club after school, it was badge week too!  I passed my level 7 badge with ease.
While she was there Dad and I went to Sainsbury's, we perused....Skylanders figures and various curry sauces.
Shame you didn't spend a bit longer evaluating the curry sauce Ned, the one dad made for tea was red hot!
So hot infact that even I couldn't eat it.
We had to have a swiftly produced round of sandwiches instead, no great hardship.
Wednesday:
What with coming back off holiday, going back to school and gymnastics yesterday I was pretty much too tired for ballet....
Result, we got to slouch about watching telly and eat a proper meal before it was time for me to go to Team Kennet.  It was outside this week for the first time and even though it was seriously windy I loved it.  The proper track was lovely to run on, so much more space than the sports hall. I also loved throwing the proper Vortex bomb and the real, sandy long jump pit.
Thursday:
I have now managed to amass the grand total of 13 shells for instances of good behaviour at school!  The target was 10 for some sweeties as a reward. I was well chuffed with myself.
Mum had to work like proper late so we had to take the car to town for her to come home after we were in bed.
We took the bikes down with us, dropped off the car, gave her a kiss goodnight and rode home.
It was really windy so quite hard work at times.
But it was very enjoyable. We hadn't been on our bikes for ages.
Friday:
Back to swimming after a few weeks off that too, but it's not like I hadn't had plenty of practice on holiday.
Saturday:
The weather was lovely, warm and sunny so we made the best of it by doing a bit of gardening and then cleaning off the trampoline.
Yeah, we gave it a thorough cleaning for the summer season and have been bouncing on it pretty much every spare moment since.
Except for the times when we've been playing swingball.
Or having garden picnics.
It's been so good to be out in the garden again.
Kimi and marny came round in the evening, which is always cool.
And always a late night!
Sunday:
We had a nice lie in and then headed down to the Witterings.
A trip to the beach and a new wetsuit for me were the order of the day.  It's quite a relief to get a new wetsuit, the old one was so short in the body it was getting rather painful to wear.
Even though we'd just been on holiday it was lovely to get on the beach for a picnic:

Monday:
I get the hump now and again at school, being on the recieving end of name calling and getting excluded from games in the playground and what have you.  Today though I got three notes written by my class mates for helping out or being a good friend or whatever.  It's a new thing we've started doing recently, they get collected up over time and then given out.  It's made me feel much happier and Mum says I should keep them to look at next time i'm a bit down in the dumps.  I think I might do just that.
Aside from all that there's been more trampoling and more swingball.
Wednesday:
Team Kennet seemed super busy this weeken, the whole family came to drop me off.
We did indeed, we all wanted to check it out, very professional looking it all is too!
Thursday:
Ned's year came up to read with us in the afternoon at school.
I got to read to a little boy who couldn't really speak any English, I hope I managed to teach him a little.
And I got Ned's mate Ella, I love Ella, we had a great time and after school she told Dad I was a brilliant reader (better than Ned according Ella).
We went to Game when we picked Mum up from work so I could get another Skylander with a voucher I got for my birthday (thanks Sue).
Then it was a quick tea and a trip to the pumptrack for the boys while Mum and I stayed in and did our make up.  Mum loved it of course.....
The pump track was cool, we hadn't been for ages.  There were a few grown ups on mountain bikes over there when we arrived. They were encouraging me to improve my lap times that Dad was recording for me on his stopwatch.
Friday:
A trip to the tyre place for a new car tyre after school.
We love these sort of places, so much going on, so many questions to ask.
We also went to the carwash to give the car a bath afterwards.
If anything, we get even more excited in the carwash everytime we go.
We had to do most of our swimming in the big pool getting marked for our efforts.  I think I did okay?
I had film night at school, Madagascar 3.  I know i've seen it before but I was quite happy to see it again.
And while Ned was there, I took Mum and Dad on a walk to Wash Common park.  It was lovely except for when Dad tried to push me up the slide and just made me bash my nose really hard.  Oh, and it wasn't great when he pushed Mum so high on a swing she nearly fell off either.  He is daft sometimes.
Saturday:
We got rudely awoken Saturday morning so we could take dad for his birthday present MX day.
Yeah, it was quite a drive down to Sussex but we had a laugh on the way.
Dad got kitted up and then cleared off to do his riding and we got stuck into the picnic pretty much straight away.
Yeah, picnic, ball games, a sprinkling of homework, we had a pretty good day actually.
Except for me falling down a bank into a thick bunch of stinging nettles....ouch!
Dad was disappointingly slow as far as I could see.....
We dipped into Toys R Us on the way home, I spent a large chunk of birthday money on the Lego Police station i'd had my eye on for quite some time.
Then it was home in time for Britains Got Talent.
Sunday:
A day mostly at home, I built my police station:

And after a trip to town to pick up some vital bits (and a Costas lunch) it was back home to commence work on my dressing up character for book day later this week:

We also did some reading and a bit more homework, all very much standard for a Sunday I suppose.
Monday:
Our last cross country training session before tomorrows big race at the showground....how exciting!
And then after tea Max and Leo came around.  I love playing with Leo, he's well up for having fun and never sulks like my friends at school sometimes do.
Max and I went down the park for a bit, because we're cool.