Wednesday

It was our last indoor athletics Team Kennet session of the year, as such it was also the winter season presentation evening.  As usual I sat through a lot of awards being presented, clapping appreciatively.  This time was different though.  Cheryl stood up and told everyone that she had a special award this season, to a little lady who had very nervously asked if she could compete at the sportshall lwague matches despite being well under age for the youngest category.  She added that in the six years she had been overseeing the sportshall teams she hadn't had anyone more determined or tried as hard.  She was talking about me!

I won the 2016 Rising star award:

I was so pleased, I could barely contain myself and might have given into involuntary jumping up and down.  Even Ned was very congratulatory!

Thursday

Last day of term at school, standard stuff, watched half a film, did some colouring.....

It was my last climbing session in the evening, there was only two of us this week:

This meant we got to do loads of climbing.  It also meant that I got to hold loads of 'top rope falls' which is pretty cool in climbing terms.

I gained my NICASA level 1 foundation climber award:

Friday

It was good friday, so no work, no school, may as well go to Cornwall!

Trouble is it seemed a few people had the same idea.....the journey took a while....

Having said that, we made the best of it, with the radio one request weeken blaring, the windows down, spotting interesting rubbish on the central reservation and marvelling at a man at the wheel of his van drinking both a Costa coffee and a can of Red Bull at the same time!

We stopped off for lunch to break the trip up which was very decadent by our standards.

We finally arrived at a sun soaked Treyarnon Bay at about 4pm.  

We had booked a different caravan this time, down in the bottom field.  A new one, proper posh with three bedrooms and everything.  I loved it, I could have my own bedroom....Ned wasn't so keen on being alone though.

The view from the windows was amazing though, out to sea and right up the beach too.

We made the most of the evening and went for a walk with Andy who was down with his family and the lovely Connie:

It was a lovely sunset of course:

Saturday

We sent Dad off to collect our Tesco order and had a nice lie in.

The weather wasn't great so we watched my Paddington DVD.  We love that film, I think Andy enjoyed the end of it as he turned up for a visit .  In the afternoon we took a trip to Anne's cottage for a spend up.  Well, everyone else did, there was nothing for me though. Still, that makes a change!

It brightened up by the time we got back so it was out for a surf session.  Our first of the year, it was pretty chilly in the water it has to be said but it was lovely to be back in the waves after the winter.
Next up a nice evening stroll.  The wind was getting up a bit and there was loads of foam forming at the waters edge on the beach:

I always manage to do it, let the sea go over the top of my wellies:

Sunday

Apparently it was pretty stormy overnight?  Must have slept through that then.  
It was the most exciting day of Neds year, Easter Sunday.  He'd been up for hours by the time I surfaced apparently....... The hunt was on!

Caravans are great for this sort of thing, so many hiding places:

It was a plentiful haul it has to be said.

So that was breakfast sorted......

In a noteable first, Dad cooked a roast in the caravan:

And very nice it was too, even if he did cheat and sent us to Gary's shop for frozen yorkshire puddings.

We went out Walking with Connie again in the afternoon and spent sone time on the beach:

Monday

We took a voyage into the unknown today with a trip to Newquay.  We never go to Newquay even though Mum and Dad secretly love it there.

We spotted a fancy new Barnecutt Bakery on the way in and stopped to pick up some lunch provisions.  As we drove on into town Dad spotted a promising looking carpark at the back of a branch of Aldi of all places.  OIt had great views out to sea, by the harbour where the surfing waves really did look great:

Nice as this was, it soon became clear the real purpose of our trip was shopping again.

Once again everyone else got loads of stuff, and I couldn't find anything.....having said that we did have a good wander around and the rude stuff in the rock shop was really very funny!

We headed back to the caravan but had missed Andy leaving for home after his weekend break.

We had an evening board games session and watched some bloke ride a motorbike round and round on a wall for a bit on telly.

Tuesday

Basketball and skateboarding at St Merryn today:

I'm still struggling to get the basketball high enough to score, even with help:

Our trip was cut a little short by the onset of a rather fierce rain shower....we retreated back to base for lunch.

Once lunch was done and the rain stopped we ventured out down the beach, a surveying mission to find out the best places to set up camp in August when everyones down.  The beach had changed a lot and many of the pools we used to base ourselves around have gone, filled with smooth sand.  It's amazing how much it changes year on year but it keeps things frsh and interesting.
We mooched about in the caves:

We got wet wellies again, especially Ned who got a right soaking and fell into a rather agressive low rock formation whilst running from the surging tide.

By the end of the day it had brightened up beautifully and we were treated to yet another lovely cornish sunset:

We spent the last of the evening playing a rather spirited game of Dobble.....a flavour of which should be hinted at in the video down the page...

Wednesday

We got wetsuited up and hit the surf first thing, it was prety wild but great fun.
The sunshine continued so we hit the beach with the blanket and everything:

We dug, we played boules, we played frisbee and football.  Just like the summer but with less people around.

We did some downhill skateboarding back up on the campsite and emerged unscathed:

Then in the afternoon we took Mum to Polzeath.  Ther rock climbing was top notch:

The sea was miles out though:

We had a lovely ice cream to round off our trip and tried out new bodyboards for size at Annes Cottage.....well there's birthdays coming up and we've both grown!!

Thursday

We woke to another glorious sunny morning and headed off to Constantine Bay.  We wandered to the dunes, it's so cool round there, with the stream and the impossibly steep slope:

We hung about for ages digging and dam building:

Scrabbling in the sand:

We eventually wandered back and stopped to take in the view:

Dad had optimistically bought the barbecue and ordered some meat to cook on it too.  We thought a lunchtime session was the best idea as it was pretty cool in the evenings.  I helped him get it lit:

The others were only interested once there was food on the table:

It was lovely to sit out on the deck, views out to sea, sun on our faces.

The real highlight was of course the Smores.  We got through a big old bag of marsh mallows, well, Ned did....

We let that lot go down, basking in the sunshine before we suited up for a rockpooling session.

We caught absoloutley nothing but it was a lovely afternoon:

We loved playing in the sea:

Even if we might have looked like mobsters from the deep:

We went off to play cricket for a bit while Mum and Dad started packing up to go home.

We roped mum and dad into playing for a bit after tea:

Which turned out to be a bit of a mistake as dad fell over onto the gravel road chasing the ball.  He made a bit of a mess of his leg.....

Friday

So it was that time to pack up the car and go home.  Not happy about that at all, I love it so much in Cornwall.  We packed up the car, popped up to see Biddy and Dave and then left.  We paid a visit to the new waterpark that we want to go to in the summer to see the lay of the land:

We decided it looked great fun, even on a grey old cold morning.  We'll certainly be booking this up for next time with the gang.

We went back to St Merryn for a fish and Chip lunch.....but the chippy as shut until tea time.  So we had to make do with a Barnecutt binge.  Cheese and ham toasted pannini, what, a revelation!  It was delish!  We got home. Lot quicker than we got down there thats for sure.

Saturday

So back home and back in action for an Athletics competition for team Kennet. It was at Down Grange in Basingstoke, a very pleasant facilty.  We only put the entry in late so long jump was full but I did get a place for the vortex throw and the 150 metre run.  Despite still being 8, I am appatently in the under 11 category for this season meaning I'd right up against some tough competition.  

We signed in and then went for some throwing practice with my very competent coaching team of Ned (throwing expert), Mum (technical advisor) and Dad (Psychology).  The first event was the Vortex so I was straight into action on the beautifully prepared infield.  The officials were really helpfull and we had some practice goes to get a feel for it.

I hit my stride immediately recording a throw of 18:46, which woukd remain as my best effort.  Good enough for fifth place!  I was very pleased with that indeed.....  

Then we had a long wait before my running event, we had a kick about, ate picnic, basked in the sunshine a bit.

Running, not my strong point but I gave it a good go:

I finished in a not that distant last place in my heat which wasn't too bad I suppose.

But it was a great day out, Ned was pretty gutted he didn't enter I think....

Auntie Trish for babysitting in the evening, briliant, we love it when she comes round.

We had a lovely night watching the last in the series of Saturday Night Takeaway and a late visit from Auntie Christine to round things off.

Sunday
We were 't up particulary early but did manage toget to Legoland before lunch time.  We had to queue up to get our brandnew Merlin passes, yes we've gone up a notch for thisyear (thanks to Auntie Christines additional club card points).

It was business as usual at Legoland, we still love Atlantis:

And we went on the viking river rapids without Mum and Dad three times:

We got soaked obviously!

Monday

In to our second week of holidays and it was time for Dragon Club.

We loved it, we didn't want to be picked up when it was home time either....

Tuesday
We got to do trampoliming at gymnastics, it's a pretty rare occurence but we love it!

Wednesday
Dad on morning duty as Mum had gone off to Lndon for the day with work.  We gave a good account of ourselves and were ready in plenty of time.  We even had time to do some lego before we left.

I went to Eloise's house for tea after school.  Firstly she has a lovely dog, secondly she has a rabbit....that we took for a walk...on a lead!  How cool is that?  I was in my element and loved it.  e even had my favourite tea, chciken nuggets and mash!  We went straight to Team Kennet together afterwards and are talking each other into doing some of the summer events I think.

Thursday
I'm still loving my climbing sessions.Tonights   highlight was free climbing, yeah, no ropes!  Certainly added an extra element to it all.  We did have a large crash mat under us though so it wasn't totally reckless.  We were allowed right up to the overhang on wall 5 which was quite high enough. 

In amongst all this, there was also the small matter of my parents evening.  Its all gone a bit weird with this sort of thing recently as the grading system has been abolished.  So it seems im doing okay on the whole, although i'm still occasionally hard work to get motivated.

Friday

Mum saw one of my teaching assistants today, she gave her a glowing report of my progress lately at school.  Apparently i'm writing more, reading more and generally going for it more.  She was very pleased to hear that I think.

Saturday
Ned's football, as if it wasn't shocking enough that he's got himself involved he keeps getting picked to play for the school team.  Which is great and all that, but Saturday morning's?  He goes on the coach, in his uniform with all the rest of the team, normally to a posh school.  We followed along a bit later today to see how he got on.  I took my camp chair, a pad and a pencil and sat it out for the first half but then made my way back to the car alone and missed the second half which is when he apparently played his best. Oh well, never mind.
We had noticed a nice parade of shops o the way in and as soon as the match had finished we left him to indulge in the catering laid on for the match and did some shopping.  Dad told me in no uncertain terms that I wasn't allowed anything today.  Which was fine, as neither was he!  Even though he found some bargain trainers that he really loved....lol
Ned than called and said they were half an hour from home....we were still at least 45 minutes from home and trawling round a bike shop...oops.  We decided we ought to leave pretty promptly.
Turns out he'd been a bit forward with his timings and we over took the coach miles before Cieveley.

Nate came round in the evening, how brilliant.  He was on great form and I loved cuddling him.  He had taken a dislike ot poor old Ned though for some reason and everytime he tried to have him he burst into tears. 

Sunday
We got up late and had a lovely brunch (hash browns are my latest favourite).  Then we packed up the stuff and headed to the pool in Guidford....diving boards!
We arrived at pretty much lunchtime so the pool was pretty quiet and the boards were open without any real queu at all.  We couldn't wait to show off to Mum who missed out last time we came here.  I took a while before I jumped from the 3 metre springboard but got there in the end and then had loads of goes.
Ned on the other hand dived from the 3 metre board and bombed from the 5 metre board (which didn't look that good an idea judging by his red leg) It certainly impressed the other young lads that were also enjoying the facilities.
Inspired by his diving I worked on mine, weirdly I was a fluent diver three years ago but had somehow lost the knack?  I got it back pretty much now though.
We got a McDonalds for tea on the way home so managed to dodge the roast.  

Monday
I finally passed my six times tables at school, it's been a long time coming thats for sure (although not as long as the eights took)

And today was my Last after school dance session.  I've decided to have a term or two off as what with gymnastics, climbing and Team Kennet i'm pretty tired.  There's also athletics club at school on the horizon and I keep flirting with the idea of some football too.

Most of my friends have seemngly given it up as well so the time seems right, even though i've been doing since way back in the infants.

Tuesday

Back to gymnastics, no Sasha this week as she has a sore wrist from her supermanesque leap the other week.  

Wednesday

Eloise and I took a new girl at Team Kennet under our wing this week and showed her the ropes.

Friday

Spring seemd to have sprung this week, although it was a bit on the cold side you could feel the warmth in the sunshine.  Everybody seemed to be of the same opinion and the park was rammed after school.  A load of my friends were down there which was lovely.  The highligt of the afternoon was the discovery of this Homebase trolley:

It provided plenty of fun, pushing people round in it, filling it with twigs, the list of uses for a trolley down the park is truly endless....

Ned had Kieran round for tea when I got home, they convinced me to get involved in a full scale Nerf war....

Saturday

It was Ptolomey's football party, I had been really looking forward to it.  Even though there was only two girls going, myself and Eloise.  We had a great time and for the times when the football all got a bit boring there was also a bouncy castle!

As if that wasn't enough excitement for one day we had another, very special party to go to....Nate's first birthday.  We can't believe he's been here for a whole year.  Watching him grow and develop has been so lovely. He's such a character.

Hayley's family were all there too, there were plenty of cakes that Hayley had mad  and loads of presents for the little man:

We got him a cool little ride on walker thingy:

He seemed to like it until he fell off it.

My brilliant day was finished off nicely by a trip to roller skating.  We met up with Abi and Faye and later on Kimi arrived too.  Abi did amazingly for her first time and even claimed second place in her race.  In addition to that Lola, Chelsea and Sasha from school were there...amazing.

Sunday

When Mum got up she may have caught me being a Cat, all wrapped up in my luxury blanket, meowing away to myself......

It was a nice day so we packed up a picnic, loaded the bikes and headed to Lydiard Park in Swindon.  We parked up and decided we might as well eat the picnic straight away, well, it was nearly lunchtime anyway.
We headed off on the bikes for an explore, it was nice to ride in the sunshine and away from any traffic.  We also found a cool area with jumps and dips:

Ned and Dad loved it, mum wasn't so keen.

We rode on, all around the lake and stopped for a Haribo pit-stop:

And then rode back to the car park,Ned and I took some of the more interesting 'off piste' routes back and we loved it.
Then we rounded things off with a play on the park:

Ned had another progress report from school and it looks like he's doing really well, in light of this we had a celebratory trip to Pizza Hut!  Lovely way to round off the weekend after working up an appetite in the fresh air all afternoon:

Monday

Not much to report except catching up with tosme weekend TV, Back in the Room was back on, I love that show so much.

Tuesday

I gave gymnastics a miss this week as I got to go to Sashas straight after school for tea.  I was basically being palmed off so Mum and Dad could go and watch Ned play in a Rugby 7's tournament at Pangbourne college.  A good result for both of us then, although he came home a lot muddier and more beaten about than I did

Wednesday

My bout of inactivity continued with us missing Team Kennet today.  Ned was still under the weather and didn't much fancy it and I agreed very willingly.

Thursday

It was world book day:

Here's my shop bought Baloo number which I loved.   I don't care that Ned always had elaborate, had crafted time consuming costumes..... 

I snapped out of my inacticivity today for climbing.  No problem on that front thats for sure.  I lovd it again and seem to be getting on okay.  Mum, Dad and Ned arrived a bit early to pick me up and got to watch for a bit.  They were impressed with my improvement in technique from last week.  My hands and forearms hurt a lot less than last week too, no doubt due to my improved technique. 

Mum as off to the quiz so tonight was our oppurtunty to get busy with the mothers day stuff. We dipped in to Sainsbury's to buy wrapping paper and then head home to make cards and wrap presents:

Very industrious.  Ned was playing some tunes from his phone so we had a bit of a disco as well, he soon got tired of Dad and I busting a few moves though...

Friday

School disco night!  There was an optional dancy dress theme for tonights event, you could go dressed as an explorer......no thanks, I had my cool leather jacket and sequinned top to wear:

We had a good night, Ned's mate Ali was djing.  He did a good job on the while even though the song from Frozen and an Adele number didn't meet with much approval.....never mind.  There were plenty of glow sticks on offer....

Saturday

We all had a bit of a lay in, then a trip to Waitrose for tea, i'd put in my order for a rack of ribs and corn on the cob.  We didn't have to worry about Ned as he was off to a party.

In the afternoon Dad and I made some Mary Berry recipe cheese straws that we saw on telly (wirh parma ham, dijon musrtard and gruyere cheese).  I loved rolling out the pastry, painting on the mustard, sprinkling the grated cheese, folding the whole thing in half and re-rolling before arranging the ham and slicing them into strips.  I twisted them very exeprtly after wayching Mary do it on telly and then they went in the oven......they smelt amazing.
And when they came out of the oven they looked amazing...I couldn't wait to try one but they were red hot.  Once they had cool down enough Dad and I sampled them.....they were amazing!
As were the ribs at tea time, much to Dads disappointment I polished off a whole rack!

Sunday
Early start for mothers day, I know she's supposed to get a lay in but I was so excited about it all I couldn't help myself.  We presented her with her cards and gifts and Ned and I made sure we stared arguing the toss to ensure Mum's dat was extra special.

We headed off to a sculture garden in Farnham.  It was actually really cool, there was about 800 sculptures dotted around a woodland walk and around the lake.  All of them were for sale too, we had a list of the title of each piece and it's purchase price.  Ned loved that, some of them were seriously expensive!

The windchime made a great noise:

Dad liked the mirror pillars dotted around in the trees:

This massive dragon was the real highlight though:

These fellas seemed to like a dance:

One of the exhibits was 

Mum certainly enjoyed herself.  Mission accomplished.

Monday

We had a school trip today to Chedworth Roman villa.  mum came along too as a helper which was nice even though I didn't get to be in her group of course.  It was a really good day, we got to dress up in Roman costumes, learnt a bit, explored the remains of the villa outside (was a lovely sunny day as well, bonus) and made smelly little pomander things just like the Romas did to cure themselves of colds and other ailments.  We put all sorts of herbs and spices in it, it smelt a bit like dinner!
Even Mum loved it, which was good after the last trip she came on didn't quite live up to epsoectations for her.....