Tuesday

The trampoline had dried out today, so as soon as I was home from school it was time for a good old bounce!

This continued on to gymnastics where we also did trampolining.  

Don't ask me ask Britain was on tonight, one of my current favourites.  I love voting on the app on my phone!

Wednesday

We had a school visit to a Sikh temple today, fir aome reason I really wasnt looking forward to it but it was brilliant.  It was so quiet and peaceful, not words usually used when im involved I know.  The catering was also top notch with lovely curry and bread.  It was actually the place where my friend Evie was baptised.

Things took a turn for the worse when I got home, it was chili on the menu and I still hate it with a passion.

Neds fidget spinner finally turned up in the post, thank god.  Dad tried to do him a favour and get him one from Ebay that he thought would be sent quickly.....sadly it took a while and we never heard the end of it.

Thursday

We had two teams going to the giris six-a-side Football tournament up at the Rugby club after school.  I was in B team, team manager Mr. Swan.  He was brilliant fun but also got us playing and kept us in line from the sidelines.  We won our first match 1-0, won our second match 1-0 and drew our third match 0-0, an exact replica of our A teams results too.  We lost our final group game, which was a shame, but we thought we'd done enough to make it to the quarter finals.  We had......but we had to play our A team.  They beat us 2-0 but it was actually a pretty close game and we gave a good account of ourselves.  The A team made it all the way to the final but just lost out.  It was a brilliant afternoon though and we were all buzzing:

Friday

Film night at school, been a while since we've had one of these.  The film was Moana, which i'm sure was really good but I couldn't really hear the dialogue above the general chitter chatter.....

Still, I looked the business in my dress and shoes combo, especially as plenty ofothers had turned up very casual or evening in onesies......can you imagine?

Saturday

I Awoke to exciting news of the arrival of my brand new cousin Joel.  How massively exciting.

I supervised Dad fitting the new dishwasher......finally!

We did a bit of shopping and then it was time for me to go to Lilly Yeomans bowling birthday party.  It was great fun and I bowled pretty well too. 

We went straight from picking me up at the bowling alley to the hospital in Reading to see Joel.  Officially kids weren't allowed in, but as usual Uncle Alan was prepared to bend the rules a little bit so we could get a cuddle with the little man:

Well, he was very cuddle-able:

Nate was on great form too, he seemed happy to have a little brother:

Sunday
A DIY morning again, this time I oversaw the resealing of the work tops against the tiles.

Ned went off to London with his friends to watch the Sidemen play football at Charlton Athletic stadium so we had a Ned free day.  Swimming the, the Oasis with my friend Lilly Newman along too.  We had a great time, even if the flums were closed.  We did a lot of jumping in and had loads of goes in the other slides.  Tge highligt though was the wave machine, washing us up and over the pool edge, then washing us around the wall of the baby pool....i'm surprised neither of us got hurt!
We were home in time to watch the second half of the sidemen match, it seemed quite fun.  We had been in text contact with him, but it all went quiet at the end when the pitch invasion took place.....

Monday

Dentist check up, she was very complimentary of my brushing!

Mum and I spent the evening planting some marigolds in our pots which was lovely and mucky!

Just need to make sure we water them now.....especially in this sunny spell we're having.

Well i'm in very real danger of getting up to date here!!  Hope you've all kept up?

10th May Wednesday

I've d cided to take a rest from athletics at Team Kennet, so we go up on a wednesday to watch Ned.  Well, we don't watch much of him as Mum and Dad make us go for a walk on Greenham Common.  It was pretty cool this week though as there were a lot of mummy cows with their calves dotted about, they were soooo cute and I loved trying to pair up mother and child based on their looks.  What I didn't like though, is having to pass too close to them, up close they are massive and quite scary!

11th Thursday

I helped Mum and Dad wash the cars after school.  It's usally a bit of a fraught affair as Dad often doesn't appreciate my cleaning methods or free and easy approach to hoespipe use. This week though it went much better, a bit of understanding on both sides goes a long way I reckon:

12th Friday

Ned started football training for a club outside of school this week, this wreaked havoc with our tea schedule especially as he had a Rugby tournament in the afternoon too.  I was quite happy about this though as I got to have a chicken and mushroom pot noodle and a toasted cheese wrap...perfect!

13th Saturday

Today was a big day, Ned's birthday outing to Thorpe Park.

He was bringing three friends, Kieran, Charlie and Harry.  We were going to get them into the park and then let them go free for the daywhile Mum, Dad and I would have our own day out.  Great idea, all I had to do was survive the journey with those super annoying boys......

In all honesty, they weren't too bad, maybe they had grown up a bit in the last year?

We arrived with perfect timing just before the park opened at 9:30 which was a surprise as we thought we were majorly early for 10:00 opening.  We got in, wished the boys a good day and after a brief discussion headed for Nemesis.  Being so early there was no queue to speak of and we walked straight on.  It was brilliant, so brilliant we walked straight back round for another go.  As we left the station the boys appeared in the queue so we gave them a wave as we moved off.

Next up the Flying Fish, a bit tame maybe but great fun, thenon to Swarm.  Certainly not tame but totally brilliant, my new favourite I think.  The ride layout was brilliant, like a disater zone, all crashed vehicles, planes and helicopters, wrecked buildings and all the rest of it. The start is amazing as it turns you upside down before the first drop!

We continued zig zagging around the park, taking in Rush (massive scary swing), Zodiac (enterprise wheel), the Vortex, Detonator (drop tower, made Dad squeal audibly), Dodgems (too many on the track but fast), the tea cups (we had the fastest spin of course), X, an indoor rollercoaster that promised much and didn't really deliver, storm surge (like riding in a paddling pool, half full of water, tricky to keep your feet dry) and then the biggest challenge of the day for both Mum and myself, Stealth.

Stealth involves sitting in the car, putting your head back against the headrest and then being launched at ridiculous speed (80mph in 2 seconds apparently) along the track and then up this:

It was amazing, so fast.  Mum reckoned all she saw was sky, then ground!  Ha ha, we knew Ned would be very proud of us.

We rounded the day out with a go on Samurai, which was quite frankly like being in a washing machine, attached to a merry go round or p something, brilliant fun!

We tried to get on Saw too, but the queue closed just before we got there...next time!

We met up with the boys back at the car, they were soaked but buzzing.  I think they had a fun day. We had a bit of a car picnic before heading for home.

Now the real fun started, we were geading cross country through Aldermaston towards Kngsclere to drop a couple of the boys off when we came accross a dog, all on his own, in the road.  Dad slowed down, put the hazards on and Mum got out to see if she could find his owner or see if there was a number we could call on his collar.  There wasn't, she came back to the car and opened the door to talk to Dad and the dog jumped up into the passenger seat, sat himself down quite comfortably and looked out of the windscreento see where we were off to.  This obviously caused mass hysteria to rest of the car passengers,which didn't phase our new friend one bit.  He was a lovely dog, a bit greyhoundy, quite big with lovely soft pale brown fur.  Mum tried ot encourgae him into the footwell but he wasnt having any of that and wouldn't budge so she had no choice but to share the seat with him, cuddled up all cosy.  This caused the rest of us to up the levels of hilarity another couple of notches and we were in fits of laughter by now as we drove along, all 7 seats taken in the car and a dog in the front with Mum.  We planned on dropping the Kingsclere boys off and then getting our new friend, who had been christened Alfie Weed by this point (no idea why) into the freed up boot space so we could comfortably take gim to the dogs trust place near home.  Once we arrived at Charlies house though he was quite keen to see what we could do to get the situation dealt with and called his Mum (who was out with her friends for dinner), she suggested ringing the Police non emergency number which was a good call.  Unfortunately he rang NHS direct instead, who weren't much use dealing with a lost dog.  The police then managed to hang up on him which was also great.  Through perseverance he eventually got a message through to council approved dog warden.   He wasn't going to be able to pick Alfie up for at least 4 hours though!  At this point, Charlies Dad said that he may as well stay with them until he was collected and got a spate dog bed for him and some food and drink.  He was a little bit thin looking but wasn't intertested in the food.  Reluctantly we left him there, despite both Ned and I desperatley pleading our case to keep him and made our way home to drop off Kieran.

This had made us rather late for our visit to Abi and Fayes to watch the Eurovision Song Contest!

14th Sunday

So latest update on Alfie the dog.....

He was picked up earlier than expected and was microchipped! He was apparently registered in Ireland so has one way or another come a long way.  Lets hope no one claims him and we can win Mum and Dad round......

Had a bit of a quiet day today, Nate came round in the afternoon which was lovely. Still no sign of his little brother though.....

15th Monday

Helped Mum cleanthe trampoline off for the summer season.....brilliant, I love a good bounce!

Sadly, by the time we'd given it a good old scrub it was too wet to bounce on.....

1st May Monday

Another bank holiday.  We went to the cinema, to see a full price film! Unbelieveable for us but Gaurdians of the Galaxy 2 was on so it was special circumstances.  I loved it, loved it, loved it loved it.  My favourite character is still Rocket, the trash panda, the triangle faced monkey.  Although baby Groot was great as well.

5th May Friday

Andy came to babysit so Mum and Dad could go out for Slim's birthday.  How is that fair? Only kidding Slim.  It was nice to look after poor old injured Andy for the night (im not really grumpy, just pulling a face):

Happy birthday Uncle Slim x

6th May

Darceys party today, a creepy crawlie do!

I was one of the older ones there but i'm cool with that, it was brilliant.

There were tarantula's, millipedes and snakes:

Auntie Trish hid in th kitchen during this:

Happy birthday Darcey, awesome party!

Another party? Yeah, great, why not??? It was for Eloise this time and it was a wobsticle party.  To add to the excitment there was a brand new wobsticle to enjoy.  We loved it.  Happy birthday Eloise!

7th May Sunday

Ned had one of his driving lessons today.  As is usual when he does this the weather was glorious.  So while we waited for his time slot we had a kickabout/football coaching session which went pretty well.

It was soon time for him to get behind the wheel:

He moved off very nicely and headed off out onto the road system around the showground and we lost track of him....until he came speeding past our viewing point, grinning out of the window at us, seemingly paying no attention to the road ahead, making all the other Mum's and Dad's laugh.  He assured us he had it covered.

We quickly made our way to Legoland to renew our Merlin passes for the year and managed to sneak in a good few rides before it closed:

We loved it, but I think we might be getting a bit big for it bow....much to Mum's disappointment as she loves it there!

25th April Tuesday

Back to school today after the Easter holidays, and in all honesty I was actually rather looking forward to it.

28th April Friday

Dad had got all exciteable about finally having a car with an aerial so he could buy an earial topper.  This one took a while to get here all the way from China (Via Ebay, £1 including postage)

It was certainly worth the wait though, how cool is this:

29th April Saturday

Not much today, a brief trip into town for a bit of clothes shopping and a trip to the Park at Northcroft, which was great fun as we hadnt been there in ages.

17th April Monday

So it was Easter Monday, a bank holiday!

Mum said she fancied going swimming in an outdoor pool, the weather wasn't particularly warm or anything so we had our work cut out to find a potential venue.

After a bit of Googling Dad found Hampton Open Air pool, open all year round with nicely. Heated water......sounded ideal.  Turned out to be brilliant too, proper big deep and warm outdoor pool that even allowed diving.  I made the most of that and really honed my splashless entry.

Once we had finished splashing about we headed to Bushey park, it was pretty busy but we found a sneaky parking space and went off for a walk...it wasn't long before we come across these proper cuties:

18th April Tuesday

Still schoolholidays......so a trip to the cinema with our awesome Aunties to see Boss Baby! 

19th April Wednesday

Another day with the Aunties, today it as a trip Milestones museum in Basingstoke.  We loved it there, and I think they did too. As if that wasn't enough we also went bowling at the very fancy Basingstoke bowling alley which is far nicer than the Thatcham one.

Thanks Aunties, great couple of days!

20th April Thursday

Todays entertainment while Mum and Dad were at work was holiday club at KD gymnastics. Hadn't done this one before but when I found out Lilly was going too I was quite keen.  We had a great time.

21st April Friday

I went to play with my friend Lilly in the afternoon, she's got loads of pets, so lucky! I dosed up on anti allergy tablets before I went and it worked a treat.

Auntie Trish, who I would have thought had already seen enough of us for the week very kindly came to babysit us so Mum and Dad could go out for a bit. We had a lovely night in of course.

22nd April Saturday

Although we had only just come back from Cornwall we were off down west again.

This time to Mum's work caravan in Exmouth.  We also took the poor old one legged wonder Andy along with us.  His leg is in plaster after he snapped his Achilles playing the rufty-tufty dangerous game of badminton! So he's on crutches and even borrowed......a mobility scooter!

We stopped off for lunch in Exmouth:

Before making our way to the caravan to see how it all was.....very nice as it goes.  Sea view, sunshine....yes thanks that'll do nicely.  We spent the late afternoon and evening mooching about to see what was what and taking turns on the mobility scooter.  It was sooooo much fun.

23rd April Sunday

One of the first things we noted while exploring the previous day was the beach hire place that rented out stand up paddle boards.  We fancied a go at that. So we got kitted up, got a brief lesson and got out in the sea.  Ned had his own and paddled pretty much straight out to sea while Dad and I decided we would share one.  This arrangement worked very well for me as I got up and paddled about but not so good for Dad who spent the best part of an hour, paddling around in waist deep water with an oar in his hand.  I did let him have a go at the end for 5 minutes or so but he wasn't as good as Ned and I were at it,  Sadly we didn't get any photos or video as the one time the Go Pro would have been brilliant to have, the battery was flat.

We went for a wander around Exmouth in the afternoon, Andy took his own own wheels:

Ned took his skateboard, which he tried to get a tow from Andy from with varying degrees of success.

We had a barbecue in the evening:

It was lovely to sit out on the balcony.

24th April Monday

Bank holiday again today, meaning we could stay for an extra day.

We went to the swimming pool for a good old splash about and then rinsed the last few minutes out of Andy's scooter:

We eventually headed home, stopping on the way for a cream tea.....it was a bit chilly outside, the weather had turned a bit!

6th April Thursday

Bit of last minute birthday item shopping for Mum's birthday tomorrow.  I found these candles hilarious:

7th April Friday

Mum's birthday and the last day of term, how exciting.

So another load of presents for Mum, despite mothers day being only half an hour ago.

Ned made her an awesome cake:

But we didn't go out or anything as we were off to Cornwall in the morning!

8th April Saturday

Cornwall bound for our first trip of the year.  We set off at a decent time, just after 9 and expected to arrive at the beach just in time for a late lunch......we were wrong.  The traffic had other ideas, with the M5 being closed at Exeter and a big football match going on at a stadium there, things ground to a halt.

We decided we'd grab some lunch and see if it eased any:

We eat in all the best places.

Sadly the traffic hadn't got any better, so we had a rather fraught rest of journey, Dad taking it particularly badly.  We got to the caravan just after 6pm......a long day.  We did have the distraction of the Grand National to listen to on the radio.  We had put some bets on while using KFC wifi.  Ned's fell at the first fence, Mum's put in a reasonable account of itself and mine was almost winning the entire race.....but couldn't quite finish the job off.

We were in time to sit down and watch the last in the series of Ant and Dec Saturday night Takeaway though.  The weather was fantastic though and we were treated to a typically fantastic Cornwall sunset.

9th April Sunday

It was pretty cloudy today so we decided we'd go to the Anne's Cottage outlet for a bit of shopping.

It's always Ned's annual splurge but I got in on the act too this time.

The weather improved by the evening.

Then what better way to round the day off then a barbecue (which I lit and loved tending to)

We sat up on our sea view balcony as the sun went down, albeit in coats:

10th April Monday

We a beach day, we played cricket, paddles, walked, explored, the surf was good and the sun was out:

11th April Tuesday

The tide times were conducive to some rock pool plundering over at Constantine Bay:

We amassed a mighty haul, these are only a few of the crabs we caught, we had to keep putting them back because Mum didn't like them attacking each other in overcrowded buckets:

So our top tip for a massive haul.....bacon, fresh bacon as well, not gone off left over bacon. Constantine Bay obviously has a crab community with very high standards. Ned's such a Bear Grylls he'll pick them up with his own bare hands:

We put them all back for someone else to come and catch again later.

The tide was really low so we clambered down onto the hidden beach and went for a lovely walk.  We were the only people down there and made the only footprints in the pristine sand.

We were able to walk all the way down to the water and around the reef and back up on to the main beach sand:

After lunch we went to Polzeath, time for an expensive ice cream:

We had a nice walk down to the sea, it was a pretty long way but once I got there I did a few soggy cartwheels:

12th April Wednesday

The day before Ned's birthday, Dad decided to be very brave and bake him a cake.  Brave on two counts, one, the unknown performance of a caravan oven (although Andy's mum certainly never struggles with her beautiful cakes) and secondly baking for Ned is a bit like taking Ronaldo on for a kick about.

It was a other lovely sunny day, it's nicer at Easter than it is in the so called summer holidays i'm sure of it.

Ned had been mulling over a longboard skateboard all week and he finally came to a decision today about buying one.  We'd seen hundreds over the week so at least he finally made his mind up.  Back to the Anne's Cottage outlet store it was then.....he picked the one he wanted that had a couple of small marks on the bottom of it.....and used this to get himself an extra discount from an already discounted skateboard.  He drives a hard bargain.

We ended the day with some more smores, we didn't even have to have the barbecue first this time:

13th April Thursday

Ned's thirteenth birthday!

A teenager, well he's been grumpy and annoying enough for ages anyway so we might as well make it official.

We started the day with pancakes, real ones, the thin, traditional variety with lemon and sugar at the request of the birthday boy himself.

He decided not to have his presents and cards straight away but keep it until after his chosen activity for the day, Karting!

We didn't go last year so we hadn't been for a while and excitement levels were high.

We were soon kitted up and out on the track, we loved it.  I had a good tussle with Ned and Dad out on track but none of us could catch Mum:

We went back to the caravan and Ned opened his cards and presents:

That hat he's wearing was actually my birthday card for him, it was well cool.

Before we headed off for lunch, pizza with a sea view, very nice too!

We sat in the dunes and had an ice cream for pudding:

Here he is, birthday boy with ice cream and longboard in hand:

We had a go with his new frisbee, which was great but the wind had got up a bit which made it a bit more difficult than it might have been.  

Next up was his birthday cake, decorated by my good self:

It wasn't a bad effort it must be said:

Although the filling was difficult to please everyone.  I didn't want jam, Ned didn't want butter cream!

It was a lovely sunny evening and approaching high tide, what better than to dig myself a personal tub for one fed by seawater:

Ned went out surfing, he's proper keen:

I think he should remember he's only 13??

Happy Birthday Ned, you annoying git.

14th April Friday

After a week of full on surf, the sea was finally flat enough to have a cack at Dads kayak.  Well Dad and I did anyway:

In all honesty it was a bit choppy but we had a good go at it and got on very well! We're looking forward to some summer flat spells with it.

We had a low tide wander about:

We undertook some pretty extensive sand excavation duties and managed to create a dam almost half way across the beach and diverted a torrent of water. 

15th April Saturday

It was our last day so we packed up and headed out to Padstow.  We were going to play crazy golf, but its been flattened and is now a building site for a cafe.  We took a walk instead along to the beach:

We had never been along his way before, it was really nice and there were loads of cute dogs out for a walk.

The beach itself was lovely and the further we walked the more we got it to ourselves.  

We made our way back to town for some lunch and then headed off home. At least the drive home didn't take as long as the trip down.

Just as well, Ned got to unwrap his main birthday present when we got in...a new mountainbike!

16th April Sunday

Easter Sunday, time to search the house for hden chocolates! 

It was nice to be at home for it for once:

We rode to Alan and Hayley's and Nate's for lunch which was all very nice.  It was nice to get out on the bikes and it was nice to see them.  Still no sign of Nate's little brother though...