Tuesday

Chaz was ona big night out so Mum and I went to feed her cat Chester. He was a fluffy little chap who enjoyed a bit of a game along with his evening meal.

Friday

Last day of term....yay.

We had a Football Tournament after school with three other schools.  We didn't do that well really, getting beaten twice and a draw in the last game (where we played much better).

Saturday

Early start and off to Ebbsfleet international station, not as much fuss and bother as an airport and a free table football game overlooking the railway platform, great way to start our holiday:

We took our seats on the Eurostar to Paris, we even got a table to sit around which was a right result:

We sped across the conutryside before everything suddenly went dark as we entered the tunnel itself.  It was a bit disappointng that it wasn't see through though.....

It didn't take long until we arrived in Central Paris on a lovely sunny morning.  We sucessfully negotiated our way across the metro system (which interestingly ran on proper rubber tyres like a car) and popped up nice and near to our accomodation.  We stumbled across a nice little park and decided to stop for picnic lunch:

Accomodation was easily located and we dropped our bags off and carried on towards this little known landmark:

Which had this cool carousel with weird wheeled horses on it:

And some pennyfarthings and unicycles next to it:

To help get our bearings,we took a river cruise up the Seine, sat on the top deck in the sunshine:

It was really good and we went all the way through Paris,picking up bits of the guided tour commentary as we went all the way past Notre Damn before turning round and maimg the return leg.

Once that was finished it was time to get into our accomodation for real.  It was really cool and in a good location, a couple of streets back from the main thoroughfare so nice and quiet but still close enough to all the action and a very tempting looking selection of bakeries.

We aquainted ourselves with the place (see video tour at the bottom) and took a bit of a rest.

We hadn't taken any games with us, which was a bit of an oversight really (not as bad as only taking one phine charger though) so we took advantage of the game of Paris Pairs that was in the place already:

It was really good, covering all the landmarks and arcgitecture.  Ned waltzed down from upstairs and gave us all a good whooping though.  

It had been a reasonably long day so bedtime beckoned...

Sunday

So today we thought we'd take in a few of the main Paris sights.....we headed towards the Arc du Triomphe, stumbling across this rather splendid vantage point of that tower again.

It was a good place to secure a great deal on five mini tower keyrings (in a choice of attractive colours) for the bargain price of 1 euro.

We carried on towards our first target, made our way under the underpass and popped in the middle of the worlds biggest roundabout.

It was pretty cool though, we sat with a picnic watching Paris go by at about 90 miles an hour accompanied by frequent blasts of car horns.  It was strangely calming though:

We wandered up the Champs-elysees, which was quite a jaunt actually.

There were a few high end shops along the way:

And an H and M to stock up on Halloween jewellery for me.

There was also a cool Adidas shop that had a basketball court and football pitch inside.

Next on our walk tour, the Place De La Concorde:

Before taking a rest in the Jardin des Tuileries, we enjoyed the sculptures even though some of them were a bit weird and we certainly appreciated the sunloungers arranged around a lake...how very civilised:

We made a brief refuelling stop.....Ned was declined his attempted order though:

Then we continued onward, over the bridge to the Ile De La Cite:

Where we eventually reached our end point for the day, Notre Dame Cathedral:

We went inside, and being a Sunday evening there was a service in full swing.  There was a mist of incense hanging in the air and the powerful strains of the organ music conjured up quite an atmosphere.  We made a contribution to 'roof fund' and I got to light a tea light which I loved (I love fire).  It was all very calming and pleasant.

That was enough for one day, so it was time to head back.....the nearest metro station didn't have a ticket machine and we couldn't get in.  Mum consulted the map and it appeared all the nearby ones were the same....so we walked.
All the way back.
Mum tried to lift our spirits by proclaiming 'at least it's not raining'
Of course within seconds it was belting it down.
We did get to enjoy the tower's illuminations on the hour though, very impressive too.
We got back to our apartment where I revived myself with a hot bath and a mug of hot chocolate.

Monday
So today was the big one, the Eiffel Tower.  We'd admired it from almost every angle over the last couple of days so we were keen to make our ascent.
We had pre-booked tickets so got to waltz past a fair bit of queuing.  Just being underneath it was cool, all the metalwork and it's repeating patterns was quite mesmerising actually.
Ned and I were keen to climb the stairs as far as we could go...Dad didn't take much convincing either.  Mum went along with it, because she's good like that!
The ticket inspectors at the bottom of the stairs were a little bemused by our intention as we had full on lift tickets from bottom to top but wished us good luck.
It wasn't too bad though, and it gave us a real appreciation for the amount of work involved in this structure.
We took in the view from the first floor, it was already impressively high.  There was also this rather cool glass floor section with direct views to the ground below:

After a bit of a breather we carried on to the second floor, a good chunk higher than the first.  We enjoyed the views and the information boards before finally giving in and heading for the very top by lift (you aren't allowed to use the stairs, the spoilsports)

The lifts were very efficient at getting us up top (after a bit of wait to get in one) and we were soon at the top, taking it all in:

It was brilliant, if a bit cold and blowy.  We stayed up for quite a while, surveying the city and picking out all the places we'd been over the last couple of days.

We headed down and back to our apartment for a nice relaxing lunch before heading out to the Louvre for the afternoon.

The big attraction being the Mona Lisa, which is the most famous painting in the world apparently...although no one really seems to know why?

Anyway, we found her, she was bigger than we thought she would be and actually it was pretty cool.

We wandered around some more, took in some more culture (Venus Di Milo is apparently a thing too?) although the highlight for us was the basement section where you could see the moat and footings of the original castle on the site:

We made a quick visit to the Egyptian section, where I had to correct Mum and Dad's identification of an ancient incense burner (that was in actual fact a paint pallet) and then made our way back.....for more Paris pairs game action.

Tuesday
We took a trip out of the city today, to the palace of Versailles.  On a double decker train no less, obviously we sat up top and enjoyed watching Paris roll by the windows getting slowly more rural as we went.

It wasn't a very long journey and we disembarked and followed the hordes towards the palace.

There was a bit of queue going on, what with the coaches unloading thousands and thousands of Japanese tour groups.  We dcided to take onthe gardens first, they were pretty nice as it goes.  We walked, we talked, we consumed our illicit picnic.

There were a few highlights, this fountainshow set to music being one of them:

This sculpture being another, which we thought was beautiful shiny marble, until closer inspection revealed it was actually made of ice!

So yeah, pretty nice after the hustle and bustle of the city.

We made it inside the palace itself.  It was just like an old stately home in all honesty, not especially fancy really, although the hall of mirrors was pretty good:

They certainly had skimped on the gold paint!

We headed back to the city to clear up our supplies and pack our things up......

Wednesday

As today we were on the move, not going home, but to Disneylad.

A quick trip on the metro followed by a proper train:

We arrived at the park at lunchtime pretty much, we made our way to our hotel and checked in, our room was already made up so we took our bags straight there, watched the worlds most annoying woman on the disney channel and ate our picnic.

Refuelled and rested up we hit the Studios Park, we went onthe new Ratatouille ride which was brilliant and really clever.   We also went on the Dizzy Dog, the Cars ride thingy, the Tower of Terror (which I bailed out of in the queue last time) and Rock and Rollercoaster before taking in the stunt show which we loved.

A dip in the hotel pool was a good idea and a lot of fun on the slide with Ned.

Evening buffet meal in the hotel, very agreeable, Ned tried to get his moneysworth on the pudding front alone:

Then it was back into the Disnelyland park for the fireworks and lightshow.  It was pretty good but I got a bit peeved off that I couldn't see everything, partly because i'm too short, but mostly because so many people were holding flipping phones up in the air!

Mickey waved us goodnight at the end of another pretty epic day:

Thursday

We didn't get up particulalry early and once we had taken an extensive breakfast in the hotel we made our way into the main park.  First on the list......Autopia:

Massively noisy fun and a lot of bumping.....despite the no bumping rule!

The rest of the day was a bit of a blur to be honest, but I enjoyed the swiss family robinson treehouse:

None of us rated the Indiana Jones rollercoater, despite it's loop.

The pirates of the caribbean ride was a firm favourite among us all:

And it seemed to be something of a time machine, taking us back a few years allowing us to really enjoy the maze:

Before we got all grown up again taking on space mountain, which Mum and Dad were very dismissive of, saying it wasn't much cop.

Well that was wrong, it was brilliant:

Brilliant launch system, loops, corkscrews and all in the dark too, punctuated with star wars lasers and all the rest of it.

It was of course right next to Autopia....so another go was called for:

Another time-machine moment when the daily parade went past....it was fantastic and very inventive:

Back to the hotel for another assault on the buffet...lovely.

Then back to the park for a ride on big thunder mountain in the dark:

Another contender for favourite ride at the park.  It was so cool to dip down under the lake before popping back up at the peak in the middle for a really long ride in the dark.
We took advantage of the less busy park to get a good few rides in (it's Small World being particularly worthy of a mention), managing yet one more trip on Autopia.....which we finished just as the fireworks ended, making for a very busy trip back to the hotel......

Friday
Our last day, so yet again, we weren't particularly quick in getting up and we certainly were not going to rush breakfast.
We had one major score to settle....Crush's Coaster.
Having traumatised both Ned and I on our previous visits we were all keen to enjoy it as a family.  The only problem was the lengthy queue time....it actually went quite quickly though.
We savoured every moment of it though, it was really rather good and nothing like as scary as we remembered it!

There wasn't really anything else to go on so we thought we may as well make our way back to the Hotel for a swim.  We hadn't really read the tickets though, our pool access ended when we checked out of the hotel at 11:30 according to the rules....Dad did a good blag with the reception desk (unaware of the restrictions) and they let us in for 40 minutes only.  Well, within 10 minutes there was a shift change so we figured the new lifeguards would have no idea who we were so we stayed in for ages.
And then enjoyed the sauna and steam rooms for a good stint too.

A McDonalds before boarding the (delayed) train to Lille, again with a nice four seats around a table seat allocation before a hasty transfer to our connecting train back to Ebbsfleet.  Nicely punctuated with a bit of excitement where Ned left our case in the security area whilst gathering up his stuff post scan.  He and Dad managed to just reclaim it in time before the rather unsettled looking security chaps radio'd it in for a controlled explosion.
We were rather late home to bed......

Saturday

......which was fine for a lie in as it was only Dads birthday.

He'd already had his new bike as a present so it was cool to give him my home made card, and a massive box of wine gums as well as few more boring and far less edible treats.

We reasoned that we ought to make him a Cake really, but in all honesty we couldn't really be bothered.  He virtually demanded Ned and I get in the kitchen by late afternoon.  After a rocky start we got on very well and produced a top quality chocolate cake.

Auntie Trish came to look after us in the evening so Mum and Dad could go out for a bit of a birthday curry outing.  Still being in holiday mode and the fact that the clocks were changing that night meant that a late night was certainly a good idea.

Sunday

My school friend Max had a big old Halloween party today, I got my outfit sorted:

Monday

Back to school today.....as always it's nice to be off, but it's nice to have a catch up too!

Tuesday

Athletics club is still running after school, Mum had a good old chat with coach Cheryl, hopefully she put in a good word for me regarding the upcoming sportshall competition.

Wednesday

I pestered dad to set me up a Youtube account.  I like playing about with camera's and have beeninspired  by Leo's channel.  So i've been doing a bit of filming here and there, tinkering with the tripod and the laptop.  I've not uploade anything yet, i'm still working on it.  I shall be sure to post a link on here once i've uploadd something.

Thursday

Class assembly today, about or Maya topic.  I had a panic last night that I hadn't learned my lines.....but I had and delivered them perfectly.

There was a meeting afterwards for the grown ups about the SATS that rapidly approaching.

Friday

We got our Sats revision books,which we are all actually very excited about for some reason.

Football after school was a lot of fun this week, which was really good as i've been a bit put off lately.  I scored another brilliant goal as well.

School fireworks night, my last one as well, the family are not happy about that at all as we really love it.  It's brilliant every year and this one was no exception of course.  We got there nice and early and enjoyed the warmth of the fire before clearing off to the adventure playground with my friends.  Luca was in top form, hitting the floor everytime there was a firework bang.

Saturday

Bit of a slow start today.

We did have evening activities lined up though with a trip to the racecourse fireworks with Dad's side of the family.

We met up at Auntie Christines, poor old Darcey wasn't very well so she stayed home with Laura.  We walked down with the Aunties, Uncle Den and Jo,  but when we got there the queue for tickets was immense.   Luckily Mum had got ours in advance.......so we could go straight in.  The others decided it was too long a queue to wait so went back home...oh no.

We madethe best of it, I managed to convince Dad to come on the fun house with me, he loved it almost as much as I did!

The fireworks themselves were pretty good but general consensus seemed to be that we preferred the school display last night....

Once we got back to Auntie Christines Darcey had recovered and the food was ready.  They all seemed to be over the disappointment of missing out on the display and we had a right old laugh.

Sunday

In a very uncharacteristic turn of events I did all my homework inthe morning.....

We went swimming today, took Andy with us to Hampton Open Air Pool....the pool was lovely and warm with steam rising off it and evrything.  Your head got a bit cold if you kept it up out of the water for too long and getting out to dive in was a very brave move indeed.

Monday

Sats revision carried on after tea, i'm still pretty keen.

I changed my school bag over, from my not very cool yet practical Smiggle bag to my much cooler but much less practical Hype bag.  One good thing to come from this, I found my house vice captain badge that I lost within days of winning it.

Paris 2017 from Part Time on Vimeo.

Right, been a bit slack on the update front again, sorry.

It's been largely business as usual though, with the exception of our weekends being a lot less interesting than usual due to Ned's football commitments.  Anyway, lets get stuck in to the higligts of the last couoke of weeks shall we?

October 6th friday

Film night at school.....boss baby this time, as ever, it doesn't matter what the film is does it?

What was far more exciting though was our house guest that the others had found wandering the streets of Highclere on the way home from Ned's football training:

How cute is he? No collar so we didn't know who he belonged to, all the vets were closed for the night and Mum had a long running phone debate between Berkshire and Hampshire councils as to whose responsibility he was (as we found him just over the border in Hampshire).  The upshot of all this was simple, he'd have to stay the night!  We set about sorting out a bed for him while Dad was sent to Tesco for some dog food and a collar so we could take him outside to do his business.

He was such a good boy, loved a cuddle and a fuss and was quite happy to snuggle up on the blanket we got for him.  He wolfed his supper down when dad got home with his grub and then had a lovley game of catch with me in the lounge.....he only destroyed two tennis balls.

I went to bed as excited as I would be on christmas eve,excited to get up and make more of a fuss over our guest.

October 7th saturday

I got up nice and early to see how Kevin (as mum had taken to calling him) was......thrilled to see me was the answer.

It was still stupid early so we thought we'd take him out for a walk before taking him to the vets when it opened to see if he was chipped.

He loved it, 

We found a ball down the park, he loved chasing it and bringing it back, he was such a good lad we thought he'd be fine off the lead to give him a proper run.....he loved it.  Once he was puffed out and started slowing down a bit we bought him home, with Ned throwing the ball it wasn't a surprise he flagged eventually:

We took him up to Falkland vets and the lady on the counter said straight away that he'd been reported missing.....hus real name was Baxter!  And he had a sister called Peaches that had already been found and bought in.  I got to go out to the back room where she was to watch them get re-united.....they were so pleased to see each other it was lovely wo watch.

Just as we were leaving Baxters owner arrived, she looked like she'd had a sleepless night and said she'd been wandering around the woods until 11pm looking for him.  Apparently he likes to take off and chase deer.....

She gave Mum and cuddle and thanked her and me for looking after him....she was so happy andwe all felt good that we'd made sure he got home to his family safety.

It feels silly to say it, but I really missed him once he'd gone.....

We went round Alan and Hayley's in the evening for pizza, board games, cuddles with Joel and a lot of larking about with Nate.

October 8th Sunday

Football for Ned again....yawn.

The park is still quite good fun for his home games then.

Anne and Mike saved the day though with an invite to go over for a barbecue.  They had set up a gazebo and a lovely table and chairs set in the garden so we couod enjoy the autumn sunshine.  We had a lovely meal and a goid old catch up and Dad was ecstatic that he'd got another barbecue in before the onset of winter.

October 10thTuesday 

School photo day today, cue much preening before school!

October 13th Friday

We an open afternnon to show off what we'd done for our maths themed week.

I was especially proud of our plans for the proposed installation of a food tech kitchen for school.

We had a price list of all the kit we might like to use, measurements of the room and the items to go in it to help us devise our plans.  I took the lead within our team and really went to town, putting together a mood board with a plan view, patterns for the floor and wall tiles and a cost breakdown.

October 14th Saturday

Up early for Alton Towers, in convoy woth Andy, Nick and Abi.

It was Scarefest weekend like last year, only a bit busier so we didn't get on quite as many rides as last time, especially after we waited an hour for Rita which promptly broke down.

Having said that though, we had a great time:

We picked the pace up and got on plenty of rides before heading back to the accmodation we had booked in the enchanted village for a bit of pitstop.  

We had our evening meal in the splash landings hotel, pizza and pasta buffet...lovely, especially with thre self service mr whippy ice cream machine for pudding.

Suitably refreshed we hit the park again in the dark until 9 o'clock.

We can certainly add Galactica to our list of rides that are brilliant in the dark!

Sunday 15th October

Up early for breakfast in the Crooked Spoon, highlight being the conveyor toasting machine...loved it.

Then back to our room to freshen up:

Pack up and check out, along with a bit of a play out the front:

Before heasing back to the park for round two!

Straight to Rita.....closed again! Give that up as a bad lot and went for thirteen instead.  Despite knowing about the 'surprise' it was still vrilliant fun.

Time to get wet in the pirate galeons next:

Such fun, even if we nearly capsized wirh Dad and Andy on board providing some extra firepower.

Thought we may as well get on the rapids while we were still soggy:

But the sun soon came out and dried us off nicely:

The park as much quieter today so we got on loads of rides.....but it was soon time to go and head home.....it had been brilliant fun with the others, thanks Abi, Nick and Andy for all the laughs.

Monday 16th October

First match of the year for school football team today, away at the Willows.  

I had a bit of pep talk from mum and dad before kick off, not sure of it was that or not but I was on form today and really got stuck in.  This paid off with me scoring the first goal of the game!  An absolute howler from the half way line (smallish pitch) swerving the defenders and  finding the top corner of the goal.

My goal celebration? Total surprise actually.

We went on to win 4 - 0!