Tuesday

We muddled on quite nicely without Ned really, easy mornings.

I had swimming again this week and we got stuck in a bit more which was good.

But the main excitement of the day was our first chance to try out the foam pit at gymnastics club.  It lived up to it's potential thats for sure and it was epic jumping into it.

The good times continued with a shepherds pie for tea, accompanied with some lovely mange tout.  Not having Ned to appease at meal times is very refreshing.

We also got an update Email from North Wales (Ned was in group C):

Dear Parents,
Beech class are having a great time here at Rhos-y-Gwaliau.
Monday
Group A (Miss Buxey's group) went to the beach at Borth y Gest for some rock scrambling fun. We overcame all sorts of challenges and learnt how to traverse along rocks, abseil, clamber through caves and use ropes and harnesses to climb up a cliff . It was lovely and sunny and everyone succeeded in all challenges.
Group B (Mr Heath's group) went mountain climbing up Moel-yr- Hydd. Everyone worked as a team and made it to the top . There was some great ice for sliding down and some good rock climbing challenges. the children supported each other and felt great about their achievements.
Group C ( Mr Gillham's group) also climbed a mountain - called Arenig and reached a height of 850m rising through the clouds to conquer the summit it was really tough at times ( even mr Gilham had to admit) but with good teamwork success was achieved and everyone felt proud.
Lots of love to all at home from Beech Class xxxxxxx 

And we also got this one:

Second update:

Hi all Tuesday night here at Rhos, and the children are having a lovely time in the local swimming pool at Bala.  Group A went canoeing on Bala lake this morning and had a fantastic time rowed all the way across and toasted  marshmallows on a campfire then clambered up the rocky gorge this afternoon - challenging but fulfilling.  Group B and Group C went rock scrambling on the beach and also had a great day.  Black Jack's cave was the days greatest challenge and everyone loved climbing up the matrix rock.  Much fun was had by all - even if everyone did arrive home with water in their wellies .  lots of love to everyone back home - 6 Beech Miss Buxey

Wednesday

I didn't have a great day at school today, infact Miss Stubbs came out after school and had a word with Dad.  I just hadn't been into it at all, couldn't settle into anything.  Oops.

Continuing with the no Ned dinners we had a whinge free spaghetti, lovely.  Team Kennet was a solo affair for me tonight but it was cool never the less.

We got another update regarding our boy in Wales:

Another great day had by all here.  It was Group A's turn to conquer the nmount Moel  Hydd and it was really hard work  but well worth it  Really cold at the top and lots of fun in the snow ! group B went exploring Rwybach mine where they spent the day inside a mountain, experienced true darkness and came out into the snow on the way back . group C went canoeing on Bala lake and then for a gorge walk where they really used good team work skills to make it through the chilly water.  Lots of Love to all from Beech class and Miss Buxey and Mr Gilham 

Thursday

I sorted my act out and had a great day at school.  Really focussed and on the case, it helped that I moved myself off to another table on my own.

After school I embraced yet more no Ned fuss activities, brownie making.  I had to step up the plate and take on all Ned's usual activities, most notably the mixing.  I already crack eggs better than Dad.

But best of all, I got to lick out the bowl all on my own...best thing ever.

I pestered Mum for some sums in the evening, I was in the mood for maths.

We got another update from my estranged brother:

Everyone is having a fantastic time and succeeding in every challenge!  It was rather hard to wake the children up this morning though.  Today Group A went on our mine exploration.  We climbed up a steep incline and through a mossy forest to enter the mine through a hidden gateway, inside it was really dark but we had helmets on and our head torches.  We saw lots of lold artefacts left behind from when the mine was working, rowed across an underground pool and walked up a waterfall to emerge on a mountain top.  Group B went canoeing in the sunshine on Bala Lake, rowed across the lake for lunch then lashed their canoes together to make rafts and had a race back.  Later they went up the gorge walking and most of them took the plunge on the way back, then hurried quickly back for hot showers.  Group C really put their newly gained map reading skills to use and found their own way back to the centre after being deserted in a field (LOL don't worry they were being watched from a safe distance) they made it back quickly without needing to use the emergency phone.  After lunch they had a go on the rope course and zip wire.  Love to All from Beech Class - Quiz Night tonight 

We also got a postcard from him today, as you might suspect it was pretty light on detail and the writing was minimal at best.  He justified it in a couple of sentences saying that he wanted to tell us all the cool stuff they'd been doing in person rather than write it all down and spoil it for us...yeah, right!

Friday

Months in the planning stages and timed to coincide with Ned being away, it was finally time for Amie to come round for a sleepover.  Dad picked us up from school and helped us carry our bagfulls of stuff.

Once we were home we got dressed up in sone fancy dresses, did our make up a bit, did some singng and dancing and played Just Dance on Ned's xbox.  I'm sure he wouldn't mind.

We'd worked up a bit of an appetite so it was pizza and dough balls for tea followed by the brownie we'd made for pud.

We had to have a bit of a tidy up in my room so we could get the airbed in.  Once it was comissioned and looking cozy we watched the first DVD of the evening, the Pudsey movie which was brilliant fun.

Next up was a few sweets and the Lego Movie.

By this point, Amie was fast asleep, and as she had already warned us, she was a little bit snorey.  I crept downstairs and had a cuddle with Mum for a bit which was lovely.

There was no update from Rhos today, but we deduced that it must have been group C's trip to the mine we reasoned.

Saturday

We didn't wake up too early, but then we'd had a bit of a late night.  As I got to choose what we'd do, I obviously picked swimmimg.  We went to the Coral Reef, we hadn't been there for ages and I think it was a new one on Amie.  We loved it, we disappeared off to our own changing room and hit the water.  We had a great time, Amie had quite an appetite for the flume slides even though it was pretty cold queing up for them.

We dropped her off at home afterwards then went home for some lunch.  So I reckon my first sleepover had gone really rather well.  Mum and Dad were pleased with us too which was a bonus.

And while all this was going on, I was on my way back from Rhos.  Rather unbelievably, even though I live closest to school I was almost the last one to be collected by their parents as they somehow managed to miss the massive coach driving down the road?  Unbelievable.  Ellis couldn't even be bothered to come and stayed at home watching telly!

All this was forogtten about as soon as I saw them though, I ran at them for a massive cuddle.  It turns out I did miss them a little bit at least.  I might even have become a little overwhelmed and had a few quiet tears.  This was rather a shock to Miss Buxey who said i'd had an amazing week.  She was right, I had, but it was still good to be back.

He soon burst through the door and gave me a massive 'pinned to the floor cuddle'

Yeah, I forgave her for not bothering to come and pick me up.

We had a brilliant week, it was amazing.  The weather was great, in fact, Mum reckoned I looked like i'd caught the sun.  The only day we had rain was friday, when we went down the mine anyway (it was seriously dark in there).

Being in Mr. Gilham's group was ace, our instructor from the centre, Rob was awesome, as was Jamie.  I picked up a few new names while we were away, 'The Guinea Pig' as I was always first to try something, 'The Machine' for my endless energy while mountain climbing and the like and also 'The Heavy Artillery' for me and Chokoon when it was time for pudding in the evenings.  The food was brilliant and I learned I liked several things I would ordinarliy have dismissed (rice pudding for one and tinned peaches with ice cream for another.  They were amazing, who knew??)  We could have extra helpings if we wanted too, I got up to fifths on the pud one night.

The only negative thing was the first night when certain individuals in the dorm decided to stay up rather late mucking about.  I think 1:30 am is pretty late the night before a mountain climbing trip?

Anyway, Mum and Dad were particularly looking forward to seeing the state of my gear in the suitcase.  We cracked it open rather nervously.......to reveal a pretty well packed bag, with only a few grubby items.  The real highlight was this one sock:

I'd been very 'efficient' with my stuff while away and maintained a very disciplined drying routine for my stuff.  They were impressed, even if I had bought home someone else's towel and a couplke of pairs of pants.

It was good to have him back even I had to agree.  And because he is an epic brother he even wanted to go rollerskating, even after he'd only just got home from a weeks high energy activities and sleep deprivation.
Yeah, i'm good like that.
Mum came along to see our improvement since we first went, and Laura also showed up to have a sneaky go on her own with a view to bringing Darcey sometime (which would be the coolest thing ever). 
Auntie Christine tagged along to watch as well, I got to tell her all about Rhos in between zooming around.
On the way home we got a Burger king for tea, this pleased me greatly, firstly because I love Burger King and secondly because we had money off coupons!

Sunday

I had what turned out to be the last meeting of the winter sports hall season on sunday.  It wasn't supposed to be according to the plan but the fourth round got cancelled for some reason or another.    Anyway, we were sitting in second place so we were in contention for a podium finish.  My events were the sitting throw, the standing long jump, speed bounce and a grand prix relay.  This involved hurdles and tunnels and I really, really went for it, our team manager Cheryl was rather impressed with my effort levels.  The scores were quickly collated and the sums were done....we came second in the league out of 12 teams from all over Berkshire.  I was so pleased, especially when we got presented with our medals:

So that was the season over and done with, I loved it!

Rather than spend the day bored witless in the sports hall in Eton, I got to spend thr day with Auntie Christine.  We did shopping, baking and just hanging out.  How nice.

Monday

Should have been all back to normal, but both Dad and myself woke up with the lurgy so it was a day off poorly for both of us.

Good job Mum and I kept things running isn't it?

Tuesday

Our first week of swimming with the school, how exciting.  Except we didn't do thst much actual swimming as we were getting put into groups.  For the record i'm in the group halfway up the big pool.  I also got into trouble because I wore my tankini.  The not we got home only said no bikini's so I reckon I ought to be okay anyway.  Anyway, I struggle with one piece costumes, they never fit right.  If they fit round the bum, they are too short in the body.  If they are long enough in the body they're loose round the bum.

Netball club was back on, even though we have still lost a corner of the court due to the builders compound.

And then it was my first week back at gymnastics in our new gym.  It still isn't quite finished but it's really cool.  I was the first of the several people in my class who go to KD to have a session there so that made it extra cool.

Wednesday

I enjoyed my Viola lesson a lot more today, we're learning a new song.

We found out that Mr Gilham will be at Rhos with us, and better still i'm going to be in his group.  

Team Kennet again, hammering it down with rain again, dodging the puddles in the darkness on the way to the gym again........

Thursday

I've got back into Age of Empires, but it didn't end well after tea.  I spent ages building up an extensive army but then bottled it and didn't want to take them to war.  I tried to get Mum or Dad to do it for me but they didn't want to know as they said i'd blame them if they lost the battle.  In the end I just switched the PC off and went to bed.

Friday

Just on the quiet, between you and me, I was starting to get very slight jitters about the Rhos trip.....nothing I can't overcome of course.

Andy came round for tea, we talked him into oblivion.

I think they booked a holiday at some point in a villa.

But the main thing was a game of 7 Wonders, Mum won again!!!  But I think Anday is a convert.

Saturday

Up early and off to the cinema.

But not early enough on my part of course.....i'm not great at getting going in the mornings as we all know.

It nearly cost us a stop at the shop to buy or sweets for goodness sake!

We watched a Film called Alexander and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

It was pretty funny, but I think the grown ups liked it more than us kids really.

I spent the afternoon playing Minecraft.

And I had a nice slump.

We did have another game of 7 Wonders, which quite unbelievably Dad won!

I sat at the table with them doing my art project homework.

Then it was roller skating time, I was under strict instructions to take it easy so I didn't injure myself before the Rhos trip.

So it was a good job it was me who fell over and hurt their knee wasn't it!  I did recover enough to skate the Ellie and Bella from school.

I did have a little tumble, but played it down so I didn't get into trouble.  I also did very well in the race this week, i'm finding some speed!

Sunday

Well the big day was finally here, our trip to Rhos-Y-Gwaliau, the highlight of my primary school years as far as I can see. I was up pretty early and crammed in as much Minecraft as I could.  My bag had miraculously packed itself, all I needed to sort out were a last few essentials (horsey top trumps, Nerf top trumps and a Rubiks snake).

We took him up to school, his whole class were hanging about, bags and children everywhere.

I signed myself in, got told off for having too many sweets for the end of week party to hand in and then made my way to the coach, where Dylan was waiting for me:

I gave Ellis, Dad and Mum a massive cuddle each  and then got on the coach.  We got sat down about halfway back, behind Ella and Rebecca and next to Tilly and Maisy, poor girls, they were in for a tiring trip sat near us.

The coach sat there for ages.

We gave the assembled grown ups plenty of waves while we waited for the off.  Mum made a lame attempt at making a heart sign with her hands which was super embarrassing.

Finally they were off.

Yeah, at last! I quickly made the heart sign for Mum as we pulled away our epic journey.  I wasn't really looking forward to this bit.  Apparently it's a five hour drive with plenty of toilet stops.......no doubt i'll fill you in on all the details on my return.....

So, that was it.  Ned was gone and as soon as we went home things seemed unusually quiet without him around.  I decided that Ian would be the best Ned substitute for the week.  So we took him to Pets at Home in the car:

It was ace there, I so want a pet but as usual the answer was no.

Then we took him home for a game of Minecraft:

And a game of 7 Wonders:

But it's really not the same as having Ned about.  Mealtimes are over in a flash and i've got no one to argue or fight with.  I was missing him already so decided i'd write him a little letter and print the Ian pictures off for him too.

We did get a text from the school to say they had arrived sagely and were getting settled in which was nice.

Monday

Well it was a strangely quiet morning with just me to get ready with Mum.  I was pretty timely for once though so that was a pleasant side affect.

We had to go on a walk around Newbury today, I wasn't over excited about it as it was really cold.  We went to see some noteable Newbury landmarks like the church and the Corn Exchange.  My sentence on the Corn Exchange was very insightful, it read:

The Corn Exchange used to be a Corn Exchange.

I think that pretty much summed up my enthusiasm for the whole thing.

After school dance club was a whole different matter though, All about that bass was much better than last weeks uptown funk and I was well into it.

We had a curry for tea that was a bit on the spicy side so it was a good job we had some Ben and Jerry's to cool things down.  I couldn't believe we were eating such things without Ned around, he'd be gutted to miss out.

He wouldn't have been gutted to miss out on an early evening walk thats for sure, it was cold but a lovely clear night for star gazing with some really good twinkly ones.  I bet it looked even better from North Wales.....

Tuesday
Well it had to come eventually, it was back to school day.
We didn't really mind too uch, we'd missed our mates if truth be told.
We started the new term off well by earning our 100th marble, entitling us to a reward.  We've decided on a pyjama party for next friday.

Wednesday
 A bit more grumbling today.
I'm not particularly enjoying viola lessons anymore.  I love to play it, I just don't enjoy the lesson oart of it.  I like to freestyle it on my own.
And I didn't get picked to be a guide to show around the current year 2 parents.  Although I was apparently first reserve, yeah, whatever.
Team Kennet resumed tonight and we were well excited to try out our new trainers.
I was so glad to be back and doing some sport again as most after school clubs aren't kicking off until next week.

Thursday
After yesterdays whingeing, it turned out that I could be a Year 2 Prospective parent guide after all.  I really enjoyed it and tried to give them as much information as I could.  They didn't have any questions to ask at the end of our tour so I reckon I must have done a good job?


Friday
It's been a few entries since I have mentioned our trip to Rhos hasn't it?  Thats not to say it hasn't been the single most exciting thing to ever happen, i've been so excited about it.  We spent today with a map, following a 6 mile route around the west of Newbury to hone our map reading skills in preparation of our trip.  I loved it, no doubt helped by the fact I kind of knew the route anyway form our various bike excursions.  I got into a bit of a debate with my teacher as to which way we ought to go, I turned out to be right!

Saturday
Having said we ought to go to Bath for a visit for a good while now, we consulted our diaries and decided this weekend was a good option.
So we headed West for Bath.
We love all things Roman so were well up for this one.
We got parked up, I did some more map reading practice and we headed into the centre of town.
It was pretty quiet which was nice.  We spent ages in Smiggle looking at all their cool stuff.
And we also went in a few outdoorsy sort of shops looking for a winter coat for me.  We didn't find one we liked but we did try a lot of daft fluffy hats and things on.
It was way past our usual weekend lunchtime when we finally hit Greggs (12:15).
I love Greggs.
Then we went to the Baths.
We picked up our quest cards and pencils and we were off.
The main bath itself looked pretty uninviting it has ot be said, pretty green and murky looking water.
Although the steam coming off it on a cold day looked pretty enticing....
The museuem side of things was pretty good, we certainly enjoyed looking for the answers to our questions.
The coolest thing about it all though is the fact that the hot spring is still active and runs beneath the visitor centre:

And the sacred pool where it actully surfaces bubbles and steams quite actively.

We loved imagining what it all looked like in it's heyday and pointing out where the floors and walls would have been.

We finished up at the Baths and then set about the gift shop.

Oh we do love a gift shop.

Especially if they stock pencil sharpener working trebuchet's!

We also got a certificate for completing our challenge worksheet and then had to face the hardest decision of the day, whether we were part of the Roman Empire or still Barbarians.

We eventually plumped for.....Barbarians!

We wandered back through town to see what we could find, a branch of Lush.

It stank to high heaven, Dad refused to even come in and stood outside.

We quite enjoyed it, the stuff was colourful and really smelly.

Some of it even bubbled up in a bowl:

We also went to Waterstones where I had some vouchers to spend.  After evaluating the board games and the jigsaws I settled on some cool milk shake rubbers and some other bits and bobs.

We eventually made our way back to the car and set about finding our hotel.

With all the one way streets it seemed to be miles away.....

The hotel was pretty cool, even if there wasn't a pool.

There was a revolving door though, and if you really went for it you could get it spinning at a hell of a speed.

We were soon in our room, it was pretty cool, if a little bit small.

That was no problem, we had a bit of a bundle with Mum.

She fights dirty though and starts tickling which isn't on.

We had a slump for a while, watched some TV and then discussed our options for tea.

We had two choices really, go to pizza hut, or get a pizza hut takeaway.

I didn't fancy walking back in to town.

And I didn't fancy being diddled out of the full Pizza Hut experience.

We ended up walking into town, although to be fair, on foot it only took about 15 minutes and was much closer than the car journey had suggested.

We got a cool table by the window after a short wait and got to see the early evening comings and goings of Bath city centre.

We wandered back to the Hotel and after another brief tussle slumped down on the bed to watch Take Me Out with a bag of minty matchmakers.

Hadn't had them before, they were lush!

Sunday

Hotel breakfast time!

Yep, self service too. 

There was chocolate muffins, the perfect breakfast food.

I preferred cereal, toast from the cool toast machine and a croissant.

All washed down with a mug of hot chocolate.

Yeah, surprisingly pleasant it was too seeing as it came out of a machine.

We went back to our room, had a few chapters of our books read by Dad and then a few games of farmyard donkey and Happy Families.

Then we packed up and checked out, heading towards Alexandra Park.

It was at the top of a massive hill.

Yeah, and there was a rather good little park to play on.  The best bit though was the massive amount of leaves blown up against the fence.

Yeah, we ran though them, rolled in them, buried ourselves in them and best of all threw them at each other:

We had a walk around, the views out over Bath were great:

We like to see where we've been.

We then made our way home, in time for a nice afternoon of homework.

Monday

I was up nice and early and managed to complete the Skylanders game I had for christmas.

At school I had a falling out with Amie which put in me in a fragile mood.  I didn't enjoy after school dance, especially with the song this week being Uptown Funk.  I hate that song with a passion.

I had my first cross country session of the season after school and the weather was filthy. Wind, rain the works.  We were totally soaked and covered in muck by the end of it.  For some reason Dad ordered me into the shower as soon as I got home.  Once I was cleaned up I continued with my epic homework project, a diary recount of our map reading exercise last week.  I've gone a bit overboard and by the end of the evening i'd managed two sides of paper and still wasn't finished....

Tuesday 23rd

Christmas was well and truly under way, what with no school and Mum at home with us for a couple of days before the main event.

I helped get things ready by helping cleaning and tidying up.

I wasn't quite so helpful it has to be said.

Once Dad was home we headed for the shop to get some contraband for a cinema visit.

Yeah, we went into our new(ish) local CoOp as well by way of a change.

We were going to see Paddington.  The trailers looked brilliant and we were almost as excited to see it as Mum and Dad were, apparently it was on telly when they were kids all those years ago?

We had our usual seats, last row, aisle in front even though Dad initially booked the tickets for the wrong day!

The film was great fun.

And Paddington was seriously cute, if you haven't seen it you really should!

Wednesday 24th

Christmas eve and Mum was off again.

So we got to help her make our christmas day pudding, Delia's flourless chocolate Roulade.

The recipe was quite straight forward and i'm quite sure it clearly stated to try and cover the entire kitchen in cocoa powder.

So it was just as well Dad's work finished unusually early for a christmas eve so he could get the full benefit of our efforts.

And to disapprove of the sheer volume of utensils and bowls we'd got through.

We were glad to see him so soon though, it was a great surprise.

We had lunch and then went off to the pub to meet up with the gang.
Or what was left of them what with everybody feeling poorly with various colds and what have you.

Yeah, even I was on the ropey side.

There was still a reasonable turnout though and it was good fun.
Yeah, we had a kick about and wound Alan up.
We had a plan to go for Pizza Express but quite honestly I didn't feel up to it.
So we settled on getting a takeaway pizza from the Hut while Mum and Dad had a chinese.  It was quite a novelty getting a takeaway pizza.
We had a visit from Den and Gail which was lovely.
Then we set about the Christmas Eve tasks, Santa's buffet:

And the sign out on the lawn.
We went to bed reasonably early and were soon asleep.
Yeah, no late night excitement driven anxiety for us this year.
Well, not much anyway, in fact, that was down to me feeling poorly rather than anything else.

Thursday 25th

So the big day was finally here.
It was, and for once it was me who was up first and keen to get things underway, well, it was nearly 8:30!
But she had to wait for me to haul myself out of bed, which is most unlike me.
I did unwrap a few things from my stocking before Ned eventually caught up.

Then we went full bore on the stockings on Mum and Dads bed.
The stockings were excellent this year it has to be said.
A quick downsatairs check was carried out to make sure it was worth our while venturing down.
Of course it was:

We got stuck in, well Ellis did.
Yeah, I was sorting everyting out.
After hoping for years and years I finally got my Lego castle:

Likewise my Orbeez footspa:

The latest installment of Skylanders (Trap Team):

A lovely new robust and waterproof grown ups camera:

And a touch of glamour with my feather boa:

It was a pretty chaotic scene:

I continued in my helpful way, dealing with the sprouts for lunch:

And I supervised the decoration of our yule log:

And here it is, in all it's glory:

Of course it couldn't all be fun.  We had to have a christmas dinner.

Just a glorified roast really, but with rubbish turkey instrad of a decent meat.

There were pigs in blankets though I suppose:

In all honesty I still felt pretty rough so didn't even eat my pudding.

And I didn't eat any sprouts at all, despite my efforts peeling them.So once that was over and done with it was wave two of present unwrapping and then time to sit and digest what we'd got.

And lose a Skylanders figure.  Thus triggering off a search of two rubbish sacks full of wrapping paper which was okay, and one full of far more unpleasant kitchen type waste. The Skylander was not found....but at least we knew we hadn't thrown him out.
Next up, time to visit Auntie Christines.  We were dead excited about this, we'd get to see Darcey!
And Owen, Kirsty, Laura, Ian, Trish, Slim and Tracey...epic!

But aside from all the presents which were of course brilliant, the best bit was getting to see everyone.

And Auntie Christines crazy present swapping game which she absoloutley did make up the rules for as she went along.  It was brilliant, I was so pleased that I ended up with a fold flat packing crate.  

Dad wasn't quite so happy with his very tasteful necklace.

Friday 26th

Boxing day was a nice quiet affair, a decent lay in and then time to further investigate our gifts.
I loved doing a bit of scratch art:

And I finished off my Lego Castle.  I was well pleased with it.
We watched The Boy in the Dress in the evening on telly.
We had already had the book and loved that.

Then we tried to play some board games, Hotel Tycoon ended up in a bit an argument though....woops.

Saturday 27th

Mum was back to work today which was rubbish.
But usual for this time of year.
We did ride into town for lunch to meet up with her though.
It was nice to get some fresh air and get the old legs going again.
Once she was home and we'd had tea it was time to tackle the I'm a celebrity get me out of here Iceland board game that Mum had bought and put in the freezer a while ago.
We'd been going on about doing it for ages.
There were the treats, Chocolate Brownies and Marsh Mallows.
And there were the not so treats....wriggly worms, witchety grubs and vomit balls (crab stick types things, cold garlic flavoured pasta and sour profiteroles) along with various grim dips.
I had an early run of bad luck and had to eat plenty of the grim stuff, which Dad found hilarious.  Especially when I ran off to the kitchen bin, wretching and heaving to spit it out.
I did really well, quite honestly i'd had enuogh of the brownies and the marsh mallows.

He didn't find it quite so funny whne it was his turn to cop for some either....
Mum didn't exactly enjoy it much either.......
We tried another game of Hotel Tycoon, which ended in another strop.

Sunday 28th

We went to Alans for lunch, another christmas dinner.
But poor old Alan and Hayley were struggling with winter colds and what have you and they looked pretty poorly.
At least we didn't get the blame for infecting them this time though.
We also had more presents!
We didn't stay too late and went home for a third try of Hotel Tycoon, which again ended in ill feeling.  I should point out that it's not the games fault, it's really good.
It was due to our fragile state of mind....and lack of sleep?

Monday 29th

Owen had aquired tickets to the races that he couldn't use and very kindly gave them to us.
We tried to round up a group and manged to get Andy, Ben, Rach, Kimi and Marny on board.
It was a lovely sunny day, made all the better by having our frineds there, winning lots of money......
....and best of all my new flask for Rhos that Dad had decided to test for me by filling with hot chocolate as well as bringing a packet of chocolate digestives.
They went down a treat.

Tuesday 30th

Hmmm, the less said about today the better I think.
Yeah, our endless squabbling finally took it's toll on Dad today. He wasn't happy.
We met Mum for lunch which offerd him some brief respite.

Wednesday 31st
The last day of the year!
We were Determined to go out on a good note after yesterdays disappointment.
We had a lazy start to the day and then in the afternoon went ice skating.
Yeah, Andy came out of his self imposed retirement.
And kimi and Marny came along too for their first go.  I'm pleased to announce that everyone walked out again afterwards under their own steam, with fully functioning limbs, so I think you can call it a sucess!
Yeah, we all did very well.  We even had a quick go round once the ice scaping machine had been out to give the rink a polish....it was sooooo smooth!

Being as it was the last day of the year we had a gathering to go to.

Round to Abi and Fayes with Kimi and Marny too.  
The grown ups had a lavish lunch and us kids charged about the house like a heard of rhino's or something.

We got to stay up until past midnight which is always cool

Thursday

Massive lay in today to really bring 2015 in.

Yeah, well needed too.

Alan came round in the afternoon and we tried out mums new game 7 wonders.  It was brilliant, i'm hooked and the post game analysis went on for quite some time.

Friday

We started today with a dose of real class.

Yeah, didn't we just....McDonalds breakfast drive thru.

With us two still in our dressing gowns wrapped up in the back of the car.

Next up was a trip to the oasis in Swindon, we hadn't been swimming for ages.

It was pretty quiet so we got to have loads of goes on the slides and stay in long enough for two lots of wave machine action.

Which we enjoyed on the other side of the rope in the deep end.

It was epic holding onto the wall so close to the wave machine itself.

We took lunch, a picnic of sorts, in Tesco's carpark continuing our well classy day.

Once mum was home from work we fired up Dads new Just Dance game he got for christmas on my Xbox.

You don't even need controllers, its clever enough to just recognise you.

And give you a sped up highlights video of everyones moves, this was hilarious.

Saturday

We had to go shopping.

Yeah, boring shopping...in Reading!!!

How lame, especially when we decided against going on the train due to it terminating at Reading west because of the work on Reading station.

So car it was, but we went crazy and firstly decided to park at the super expensive Oracle car park and then in a feat of unrivalled decadence we also got the car washed by the valeters there.

Well, it was utterly filthy and we got dirty hands every time we closed the doors or boot.

So we trudged round town for a bit, it wasn't too bad really, we took our rubik's snakes to keep us entertained and helped mum pick a new winter coat.
We were done and dusted and back home in time to go roller skating which was a real bonus.
Yeah, we hadn't been for what felt like ages.
We were home in time to watch the start of the new series of take me out, perfect.

Sunday

Had a heavy session on the Skylanders today, making good progress through the game.
Anne came for lunch which was nice.
We played one of my new games Scaramble the egg after lunch, it was really funny calling out things on the subject given on the cards.

Monday
Last day of the holidays.
And I felt poorly.....fortunatley Mum had the day off so it was cuddle o'clock.
And a right old XBox session for me. As well as skylanders i'd spent my Xbox voucher on a game called Trials Fusion which is hugley entertaining, if a bit frustrating at times.

So that finally gets the Christmas period covered.
It was a weird one this year, what with me feeling ropey and it only being us four for lunch.
But it was good fun on the whole and we got some truly epic presents from everyone.
Yeah, we certainyl did, thanks everyone!