Tuesday

I went out with Auntie Trish, Auntie Christine and Darcey.  We went bowling and then into town for lunch and the £5 charity shop challenge which was great fun.

We were all done in time for me to go to gymnastics as well, badge week too. I passed my silver floor this week!

Wednesday

Day off with Dad today, it was belting it down so we couldn't do his usual bike related outing and had to utilise the back up plan.  Better Extreme trampoline park in Swindon seemed a good idea, Mum took us last time so it was all new for Dad:

We had a great time, bounced ourselves silly and got completely tired out.

We refuelled in McDonalds afterwards before going to Asda where I finally got one of those big water jars with a tap at the bottom i've been hankering for all summer in the bargain bin, and another pair of sunglasses that weren't.

Thursday

Easy morning then off ot KD for gymnastics club.  As well as the gymnastics there were all sorts of other more creative challenges on offer:

Friday

Another afternoon at Park House sports holiday club, the last session of the holidays and I got on really well.  I tackled one of the grown ups in football which caught everyone by surprise I think, I do like to stand my ground on these matters.  Corner ball was brilliant yet agian.

Once that was done and dusted we got our things packed for Cornwall, we were seriously excited about it this year......

We had a later departure than normal, after Ned had finished football.

This meant that the traffic was much lighter, but it became all but impossible to play the caravan based bingo game Dad and I had hastily cobbled together prior to departure.

Andy was already there when we arrived, he'd made our beds up and had picked up the Tesco  order....what luxury.  Thanks Andy.

Saturday

A lovely sunny Cornwall day, what could be better than getting aquainted with all of this years attendees down the beach?

Better have a roll call I reckon:

Myself

Ned

Mum

Dad

Andy

Alan

Hayley

Nate

Joel

Owen

Kirsty

Auntie Trish

Laura

Darcey

Chris

Kate

Millie

Finlay

Ben

Rach

Kimi

Marny

Auntie Christine and Uncle Ian were still to arrive as they are far too fancy to stay in a caravan like us lot.

So a decent turnout this year, maybe even a record?

Anyway, we had a fantastic day on the beach, exploring the rockpools:

Enjoying the surf and the real highlight....Andy's yoga ball thing, half buried in the sand used as a very springy indeed vaulting device. We'd been building up to this one for a few years and it was every bit as good as we had hoed it would be.  Video to follow.....eventually.
We had a wander down to Alan and Hayley's cottage in the evening, very nice too, despite Alan whingeing about everything being broken.  He was most puzzled as to how anyone could have removed some shoddily re-instated stair rods.  Dad gave him a perfect demonstration by falling down the stairs after a quick game of hide and seek with Nate and removing them again with ease.

Sunday

Another day of beach based activities? I think so.  Starting things off with some Constantine rockpool action:

A bit more wave action in the afternoon as well as the kayak making its return to Treyarnon Bay for extended sea trials, which seemed to go very well.  I didn't fancy it as I was far too busy with my girls Darcey, Millie and Darcey,as well as honorary member Nate.

It was barbecue night, so we all got together, Nate had marshmallow very rare as he didnt want to cook it:

Monday

The weather wasn't quite so good today, hey ho, it's wet in the sea anyway!

It was uncle Ian's birthday so we headed out to where they were staying, the Pickwick Inn, for a meal.

The view from their room was lovely, especially as it wasn't completely covered in mist as it has been every other time we've been over here:

Ned had a lovely time sat with his apprentice:

While I had all the others:

The weather improvement lasted long enough for us to walk off our meal round the headland:

Joel loved it:

I had a sleepover at Darcey's van, we were both super excited about it.  So excited we had our midnight feast at 10:30!

Thanks for having me over Laura, it was great fun......and nice to be away from stinky Ned for a night.

Tuesday

The sunshine was back with a bang.....get down the beach!

Bit of digging to make a lagoon from the outgong tide....good idea:

Mass game of kingball.....complete with ferocious sibling rivallary (not just Ned and I, Owen and Laura joined in too).

A bit more yoga ball bouncing and a lot of larking about in inflatible boats:

John came over and joined us on the beach, he drove himself over and everything, how cool.  He did well to put up with my endless list of epincreasingly ridiculous questions.

Wednesday

We hit Treyarnon at low tide to plunder the pools.....there wasn't much sucess despite the boys concocting a very complicated set up of bait and nets and goodness knows what else:

We also took a trip over to Polzeath in the afternoon, so epic ice creams, even if it was at the cost of my go on the bungee trampolines...by the time we'd demolished the ice creams the man had shut up shop for the day and gone home.  I was gutted, it's the first time Mumand Dad had ever agreed to me having a go!

Thursday

Another morning beach session before lunch and then off on a walk to Mother Ivey's Bay with the Hardy clan:

It was a lovely trek across the headland, even if it was a bit blowy:

It was worth the effort though, the beaches over there were fantastic:

They were also sheltered from the wind and the waves, meaning a lovely game of ball in the sea with ni wetsuit and a bit of jumping off a decent sized rock into very deep water (the beach shelves very steeply over there).

We got back just in time to say our goodbyes to Darcey, Laura and Auntie Trish as they headed off for home.....

Friday

We had a surf lesson booked for 9:30 in the morning.....thats in the morning.....on our now 1 week in Cornwall timetable.....

We met up at Constantine Surf Shop, signed inand headed off to Harlyn.  We went through the sand based activities before hitting the water....what can I say, I found it ll pretty easy in all honesty:

As did Ned, well it was his second time:

I really got the hang of it, the instructor told Mum and Dad I was doing really well:

Which put Ned's nose put of joint a bit:

So I enjoyed it, I could do it....but i'm not sure I get the point of it really, it wasn't as much fun as my bodyboard it has to be said.

We had something of a farewell lunch at the Youth Hostel with the Friday leavers, Nate was his usual contrary self:

It's a bit of a sad time when everybody leaves, even though we still had two days left ourselves.
We headed over to Harlyn in the evening as Ned wanted to try Andy's stand up surfboard that has been stashed away unused for years.  Andy and I sat in the car reading while Dad tried to kill himself once again taking the board off the roof rack in a high wind.  He ended up on the floor cuddling the board to keep it safe.  Ned apparently did very well on the board and popped up first time.  He was ridiculously excited about it all.  I haven't seen him this enthused since we got fibre broadband.

Saturday
Another lovely sunny day, low tide, a trip to sample the Trevone low tide swimming pool:

It was a bit chilly in there it has to  be said, but then that's the price you pay if you don't wear a wetsuit I suppose.  I found a nice little spot to dry off and warm up:

The boys stayed in a bit longer, jumping off the rocks and what have you.  The adults had a go with the snorkels but declared the waters devoid of marine life.
We had a cuddle up on the grass and had an ice cream while Andy caught a few waves::

It wasn't just us watching, a nosey seal turned up and spent quite a while watching the silly humans in the water.

Saturday night back at the van, our last night!  We watched that pretty rubbish Len Goodman rhyming gameshow.  Dad came up with a few classics from the kitchen while he was cooking tea (and finishing his beer supplies).  His best effort rhymed with Jackson Pollack......enough said.

Sunday

Our last day, the weather was pretty bad.  Obviously time to go home.

It was bright enough to give us hope that the trampoline man might have set up for the day in Polzeath...he had.  I was thrilled to finally get a go and I bounced and flipped myself silly:

Ned didn't fancy a go, so instead had a three scoop ice cream from the ice cream shop...so that obviously cost a fortune, it made his day though and he had a massive smug grin.
Ned took the big board in again with Andy and Dad and got on very well by all accounts while Mum and I sat in the car having girls time.
It was back to the caravan for packing, tidying and cleaning before we set off for home.
Mum was left in charge of the music and she really went for it.  Starting off with Louis Berry (good) then Neil Diamond (Bad) followed by someone called Dolly Parton (which I loved)
Quite a soundtrack for the drive home that was, Ned pretty much cringed the whole way home......
Our round of thank you's then....THANKS EVERYONE!!!  Looking forward to next year already......
cornwall 2017 edit from Part Time on Vimeo.

Tuesday
Park house sports club for a brief spell this afternoon.  It was okay, but I didn't know anyone there and they were all pallied up by the time I got there in the afternoon.  Still, the sport was good so I enjoyed that.  It was quite a warm day so when Dad picked me up I convinced him we ought to go to the outdoor pool.  We hastily packed a picnic and headed off down there, arranging for Mum to meet us when she had finished work.  We enjoyed it as long as the sun lasted but once the wind got up a bit and the clouds came over it got a bit chilly.......we toughed it out until pretty much closing time all the same of course.

Wednesday
Day off with Mum and a trip to the Bowling alley.  I ran Ned close on this one for sure, but he biggest news was that we both beat Mum:

It was t all good news though, the candy floss machine has gone!

I had to console myself with the cuddly toy grabber......I had my eye on one of the teddies....but won a doggie instead.  I was happy enough with that.

We had a game of air hockey, Ned found one of the grabber machine teddies under the machine and gave me that....what a result.  Sometimes, occasionally he's actually okay.

He was pretty good at pool too, pulled off a hell of a trick shot with his arms behind his back to pot the ball.

Thursday
Went put with Auntie Vhristine and Darcey today, we had a geeat time at Newbury Museum of all places.  There was loads of historical dressing up stuff that we loved.  Pizza Hut for lunch too......

Ned and Dad went out biking, so I got a bit creative at home, drawing, making, using up sellotape, all the usual stuff before I hit on this idea:

Its a swear box for Dad, an injury whinge box for me and a shower dodging box for Ned.  We couldn't come up with a crime for Mum though......

Friday
Park House sports club for the second time today.  Much better it was too. I made a friend, we played dodge ball, bench ball and corner ball. I loved it all.  Sadly I couldn't convince Dad to take me to the pool this time, it was pretty grey, cold and wet though.

Saturday
I suggested we revisit Basingstoke for crazy golf after we got rained off last time.  It was sunny and nice first thing.....but as soon as we got there it was hammering it down again.  So we waited for it to pass over....which took a while.....then got playing.  It was a goodcourse, fairly basic but deceptively tricky in places.  I had an up and down sort of game and Mum made up for her poor show at bowling earlier in the week by taking the win.

With the sun still out we hastily arranged a quick afternoon drink at the Craven Arms with Kimi, Marny, Finlay and Milly which was lovely.  Almost as lovely as the tiny kittens playing in the field next to the car park....cute overload.

I stayed up late to watch Usain Bolt's last race, bit of a disappointment especially with Gatlin winning.

Sunday
Family bike ride day today, another one of Dad's internet sourced routes.  This time Calne to Chippenham along a disused railway line.

Very pleasant it was too, except for the occasional patch of mud to contend with.

My riding has improved drasticallyin recent months: 

And i'm really enjoying it:

We made it to Chippenham for an ice cream and a play in the park before heading back.

My poor littke legs were rather tired by the time we got back:

It wasrasily the longest distance i'd ever managed at 13.9 miles no less!

Monday
Off with Mum today, trip to the library as im really into readingst the moment.  I fnished my last book 'Theres a werewolf in my tent' in a couple of days.
Once Dad was home we went to Cars 3 at the cinema.....Dad was a lot more exciteable than he probably shouldhave been.  We all really enjoyed it though!

Kebab van for tea.....top parenting.

Tuesday

Should have mentioned this last week but in the last week of term we'd made mum a rather large thank you card for her efforts hot seating this year:

She was really pleased with it, well, except for the hair colour...ahem.  Anyway, she's been brilliant with us all this year and I'm certain she's made a real difference....her particular style of encouragement, tips and tricks has lead to a number of my classmates progressing further with their times tables than they otherwise would have I'm certain.  Far from being a total cringe, it's been really nice to have her in school.
Anyway, it's well and truly the holidays now so there's no talk of times tables required thank you very much.
I spent the day with Auntie Christine today.  We made honeycomb....it was like magic, science and cookery all in one go...my kind of fun!
Then we had a lovely lunch by the canal too:

Wednesday

Mum off today, weather a bit bleak.....board games day.  Game of life being our particular favourite.  In the afternoon it was a hastily scheduled sleepover at Sasha's house....cool.  Neither of us bothered attempting to ruin our hair this time much to everyone's relief!

Thursday

I came home from Sasha's after breakfast and then........KD Gymnastics day club.  More bar work as well as some fun and games too.

Friday

Dad off today, I'd been pestering him to go to Knightwood for months.....so that was today sorted:

Ned was on fine form, he had a couple of unbelievably brilliant escapes from what would have ended in disaster for lesser beings and was riding really well:

Lunch in Asda, Panini not to my liking this year (although Ned said they were better):

I made up for it with two delicious chocolate eclairs from the bakery though.  We also bought Mum this bunch of lovely, natural looking flowers:

Saturday

We had an early morning(ish) trip to the cinema to watch A Dogs Purpose.  Even Ned came along.  The film was brilliant, it was sad, it was happy, it was horrible it was lovely.  I think we all really enjoyed it, some of us even 'got something in our eyes'.....

The weather was seriously wet so we didn't do much other than go to Sainsbury's for a slush puppy, my pink tongue was no match for Mum's blue one (sadly we don't have a picture of that):

Sunday

We had spotted the briefest respite in the gloomy rain and headed off to the coast at Southbourne with a picnic and Andy.

It was a bit blowy, but the sun did peep out now and again:

We didn't much fancy going in the sea, although Dad and Andy seemed to enjoy the big waves that were dumping onto the shore.

We made use of a half buried football for vaulting:

And a game of boules that we had to handicap mum for as she just kept on winning.  Her playing left handed seemed to even things up a bit.

We walked up from Boscombe to Bournemouth for an ice cream, well, skateboarded mostly and then came home.

Monday

Mum off again today, so catering standards are very high, breakfast anyone?

We had a trip out to pick some blackberries with Darcey and Auntie Christine...even Ned came along!

We got a right old tubful of them.  Not sure what we'll do with them all.....

Tuesday
Gymnastics is still going really well.  Lilly N and myself are doing really well on the bars which have been my long term favourite apparatus.

Wednesday
First night of our year 5 & 6 leavers play tonight.  I was pretty excited about it all even though Mum and Dad weren't coming until tomorrow.  It went very well, can't wait to do it all again tomorrow.

Thursday
Second night of play, Mum, Dad and even Ned (reluctantly) were coming tonight.  Again it went really well, we were a well rehearsed unit this year.....can't wait to we're the stars this time next year!

Friday
School shuffle day today, when we get to spend a day with our new teacher in our new classroom.  Our new classroom is the other current year 5 classroom which we have spent a fair bit of time in already.  Our new teacher?  Not in school today....ha ha, so that was a bit of a let down.
Once we had dropped Ned off at football training we finally got to go and spend my Sports Direct voucher on my fancy new football I've wanted for ages.  We took it straight up the field and had a kick about which included a healthy dose of goalkeeper practice (still loving my gloves).

Saturday
I've been experimenting with having my hair tightly bundled up overnight, when I take it out on the morning I get some lovely curls:

In a hasty last minute arrangement we had Sasha and Lola around for the afternoon, we had a great time together, make up, gymnastics, arts and crafts, music and one unfortunate incident involving 6 Bunchems and Sasha's long hair.....oh dear.  Mum dealt with it very calmly, as did Sasha in all honesty, good work girls!
We carried straight on to Rollerskating which was great fun as I hadn't been for ages.  I haven't lost it.....but I think Dad may have a little bit.

Sunday
Chessington today, Mum really wanted to go, Ned and I wanted to go to Thorpe Park.  Having said that, the new Gruffalo ride had opened since our last visit on the site of our favourite the Bubbleworks so we were keen to give it a go.  It was actually brilliant too, maintaining all the bits about Bubbleworks we loved (the arcing water you could deflect at people) with a brilliant makeover of a story we secretly still love.

The Vampire was still as good as ever, with a queue as long as ever.  Rameses Revenge and the Chair-o-planes were in full soak mode, Mum was in full scream mode on Dragons Fury.

Monday
So here we are, the last week of term at long last.
It was a lovely sunny day so once school was done we saddled up and headed for the pool.  It turned into a bit of a get together with Auntie Christine and Darcey, Finlay, Millie, Chris, Kate and Andy too.

It was brilliant, my unicorn caused quite a stir once again of course.

Tuesday

We had a Visit to St Barts today.  It wasn't the best day out if I'm honest.

Wednesday
We had an end of term Football tournament after school.  The idea was a good one, year 5 and 6 girls against year 3 and 4 boys....our year 5 team got beat by both the boys teams but we did manage to hold the year 6 girls to a nil-nil draw.  We did enjoy it though, it'll be up to us as year 6's next year to keep it going though.

Thursday
Mum was going out for tea so we had a loose plan to hit Knightwood BMX track and then Asda café for tea....but the club were running gate practice and neither myself nor Ned fancied that.  Skateboarding down the park instead it is then!

Friday
Last day of term, it was the joint school picnic and the weather just about held out long enough for us.  I was very grateful to Auntie Christine for liberating me from my class until Mum could get here after work.
We played Newmarket in the evening, for money, my actual own money too. I think I broke about even at the end of the game which was mildly disappointing as I'd hoped to make a substantial gain on my investment.

Saturday
What a washout of a weekend.  We wrre supposed to be going to crazy golf over in Basingstoke but the weather certainly had other ideas.  We gave the gold a miss and when shopping instead.  We bumped into the queen of Amazingstoke herself, Auntie Trish while we were slumming it, eating a take away Greggs...oh the shame.  She gave us the low down on where to go and where to not go as we are such infrequent visitors to these parts.

We had a really good day:

But it was all a bit much for poor old Ned:

There was a bit of bad news, my earrings have had to come out on advice from a nice lady in the jewellers shop due to an infection.  In all hinesty 

I was only partly upset about it, it'll be quite nice to let them get back to 'normal' again.....

We sat and watched Moana all together in the evening, so that was quite rare and really rather nice.

Sunday
Wet weekend day two, we boldly decided to go to Bowood house house with Nate and Joel.

We did wobble a bit on the way when it just didnt seem to stop lashing it down but for some reason we ploughed on regardless.  When we got there it was actually eased up for long enough for us to decide it was worth paying to get in and have a play on the adventure playground: 

It was really good fun, even Ned loved it. 

The walkways went really high, Nate took Alan alll the way along and then did the drop slide...twice!!! We were very impressed with his bravery.

We had a picnic in a really cool shed, complete with tables and a ball pool, where we taught Nate a few tricks.

We battled on, trying our best to dodge the downpours before heading to the petting zoo for some rabbit fussing, chick bothering (including super cute just freshly hatched one) and a load of playful piglets with their harassed mum.

Alan rather rashly invited us round for a roast for tea.....delicious it was too!

Report on Joel for the day? Easy going but very cute!

Monday
Home with mum today, so a nice lie in and boardgames. Perfect!

We had a long walk around Greenham while Ned did team kennet, if he ran as fast as I talked he did alright!!!

Thursday 29th June
With sports day coming up tomorrow we decided on a family trip to the park at Wash Common for a bit of a warm up.  We took the vortex, a football, my new goalie gloves, a basketball and the skateboards.  We had plenty of equipment.  We had a lovely time too, even Ned wasn't quite his annoying teenage self and was actually surprisingly good fun and very encouraging of my efforts.

Friday 30th June
School sports day.  Lovely sunny day so at least it wasn't in danger of being cancelled this year.
The Juniors had their events in the morning, Mum came along to watch which was really good.  I won a number of my running races and obviously my throwing was on point.  I did really well actually.  I seem to be finding my feet a bit more with sport at the moment.

In the evening there was one of those street theatre performance things in town.  We took a wander down to see what was going on.  It started with a load of weird looking drumming blokes and a small light up puppet.  He danced his way up the street for a bit, before morphing into a much larger light up puppet.  I found it all a little bit unnerving to be honest.....but I warmed to him with his playful inquisitive nature as he made his way up the street.  He high fived people hanging out of flat windows above the shops, waggled shop signs and even sat on the bridge, dangling his legs over the canal.  He made his way to the market where he admired his reflection in a shop window:

Before moving into the square for a bit of a dance off with the drumming blokes on full tilt.  It was actually pretty good, if a bit weird and I even got to sit on Dad's shoulders for a better view despite him saying I was too big for that sort of thing nowadays.

Saturday 1st July
We had a bit of a lay in and then headed to Kingston for a spot of shopping.  Ned has lost his school shoes and he wanted some new trainers too.  I had a lot of birthday money still too.....
We had a picnic by the Thames, it wasn't quite as pleasant as we'd hoped, with the litter slightly marring the setting...it was certainly no Venice.  
The shopping didn't go according to plan, Ned got nothing.  I bought myself a lovely pair of Adidas Superstar Shell-toes in black and a collection of three small fluffy, cuddly rabbits.

Sunday 2nd July
Dad did another bike race today, I made it quite clear I had no interest in going to watch whatsoever.  Mum and I rode to the outdoor pool with a lovely picnic instead....much better.  Ned went with Andy to watch to bike racing so at least someone went to see him.

Monday 3rd July
So our garden seems to be quite the nature reserve this summer when we spotted this little cutie in the evening:

Even professional teenage bedroom dweller Ned came down for a few ohhh's and ahhh's.

Tuesday 4th July
I'd been hassling dad for another Skateboarding session and it wasn't looking good for this week.....but as luck would have it the Bike Park closed early meaning he and Ned came home early enough for another outing on four wheels down the park.

Wednesday 5th July
Another evening outdoor pool session.  We rode, took a picnic and stayed until we got thrown out.  It's much better going by bike, no parking stress and you don't have to worry about how long the parking ticket will last.

Friday 7th July
Top excitement today, time for a Camping trip.  Despite me really wanting to go to the place with the river we went to a couple of years ago, I was comprehensively out voted and Croyde it was. I didn't really mind though.
We left as soon as Ned was home from school and found ourselves sat in sticky traffic on the M5 once again.  It wasn't too bad though we passed the time chatting, my best remark being that Ned was lucky, as he'd had three years without me before I was born.  When I came home from hospital, he was already here!  We were soon at the campsite, passing through a rather bleak patch of drizzle on the way.  Fortunately it was dry and pleasant when we arrived which no doubt aided our camp deployment which we completed in record time.  45 minutes for the whole set up, including airbeds pumped up and made, tables, chairs, supplies installed, mood lighting and cuddly toys arranged.  This was greatly helped by our decision to pack the tent away with tall the rooms and ground sheet still attached last time we put it away.  Andy arrived just in time to wire up the plug for the kettle to go on for coffee and hot chocolates.
We spent the evening playing cards, listening to the light rain pattering on the tent.  I stayed up playing until midnight.

Saturday 8th July
Despite almost landing face first in the scramble to get out of the tent for a very early in the morning toilet visit we had a good night sleep.  Not surprising since I had a double airbed to myself, topped with my sheet, luxury furry blanket and sleeping bag.
Sausages for breakfast with a lovely sea view...check!

We had a visit from this cheeky little chap on the arm of the chair, looking for breakfast:

Down the beach with the spade to get creative in the sand....check!
The others all went surfing and sounded like they had a great time, I didn't fancy it though.  I made a lovely boat in the sand, complete with mast and rudder.

We then got involved in a rather fun game with Ned's frisbee which involved standing stock still with both your arms out.  There were five points on offer for hoop-la-ing either hand and ten points on offer for landing it over the head.  This took a lot of nerve/trust/stupidity on the part of the target person.......Mum turned out to be pretty epic at this game, it was a lot of fun and we all emerged unscathed.  Nobody managed a ten pointer though.

We headed back up to camp for lunch and a siesta:

And then we headed into to town for a brief shopping trip (Ned hadn't packed any pants for himself the fool) where I almost parted with some more of my birthday money on a longboard skateboard...

We admired the fish and massive waterboatmen on the river for a bit then headed back to base again, the boys went surfing again while us girls had a nice shower and hair drying session.

Barbecue for our evening meal of course, before a trip up to the playground where Dad got involved in a very ill advised race against Ned on the obstacle course.  He nearly caused us both to fall from a rather high climbing wall before skinning his leg trying to clamber through a hanging tractor tyre.  Ned had him well beaten of course.

Sunday 9th July
The little Robin was back for breakfast!

Another morning on the beach, this time I fashioned a lovely hut using the windbreak, a blanket, a spade, a bodyboard and some string.  It was quite a construction!

Ned went to get fish and chips for lunch, dressed in his Sunday best clothes:

While Andy and I had another game of the frisbee game.....I got it clean over his head, a ten pointer!

Sadly we had to start packing up, but it didn't take long really.  It had been such a good weekend none of us really wanted to go home....

Monday 10th July
The year 5 & 6  end of term play has been taking up a lot of our time at school lately.  I've be n really serious about learning the songs and getting the dance moves down.  We did a performance for some of the younger kids and a sprinkling of parents today which went well.....

Another biking jaunt while Ned was at team kennet:

It was a lovely way to spend a summers evening!

Tuesday 21st June

Heatwave time, and only limited badgering to get Dad to bust out the paddling pool.  It was seriously cold straight out of the tap but very refreshing!

Wednesday 22nd

Despite the paddling pool being a much more agreeable temperature today, we packed up a picnic and went to the outdoor pool at Northcroft instead.  It was lovely, and I finally got to christen my inflatable unicorn I bought way back in cold January.  It drew a serious amount of admiring glances, despite it being initially difficult to mount.

Friday 23rd

A real highlight of my school year, Den day!  Despite a little bit of trauma at home where my items list wasn't agreed fully with Mum and Dad, it was a brilliant day:

This year we upped things by featuring an upstairs section too!

Saturday 24th

The day of the outing I arranged with Owen, Thorpe park!
I was so excited, especially as Kirsty, Laura and Andy came along.

We got there in plenty of time, some might say we were almost early.
We racked up the rides at an alarming rate, making poor old Andy zig zag across the park with his dodgy foot.  Laura also put in an amazing effort, going on everything despite claiming to not actually like rides all that much?
We didn't get many pictures, Dad tried here, but Mum looks like she's doing a false start at the Olympics 100 metres final or something:

Notable highlights included all of us getting totally soaked on tidal wave, a trip on Swarm with some bloke off the telly called Geoff Stelling, Samurai tipping just about everyone but me over the edge and about 53 consecutive rides on Swarm at the end of the day when Ned and I kept looping round for another go as they tried to close for the day.
The day finished in spectacular style with a barbecue and dip in Owen and Kirtsy's new hot tub, soundtracked by Glastonbury Festival on the telly outside.  Stormzy and the Foo Fighters for future reference:

Sunday 25th

We didn't get home until after midnight, so today was a day of sleeeep

Although we did discover a visitor when we tried to empty the paddling pool:

He seemed really rather cosy in there:

We had sufficiently recharged by the evening and Dad and I went out for a spot of Skateboarding:

Monday 26th

So while the weather has been so nice we've been wandering around Greenham Common while Ned is doing his sprint training.  Well, Mum and Dad have been wandering, I've been riding my bike, and talking, mostly talking....but my bike riding is really improving.  I don't think my talking needs any improvement?