Wednesday
Balls club after school, we did rounders and a good number of the younger ones had great difficulty in the concept of not running people out.....oh dear.  Poor old Mr Swan was struggling a bit and ultimatley gave up on explaining.

Friday
Well we recently had the photographer in to school, as well as the standard class photo, we had a whole year photo.....and one for each of the sports teams we've been involved in.  So I had a right envelope full, of course I wanted to order all of them.  Apparently this was going to total £60.........
Quad kids training continued after school, seemed to go okay if not brilliantly.
Friday club in the evening too, not a bad way to start the long weekend.

Saturday
A slow start to the day today, nice lay in to begin with.  Then a message from Lola to see if I wanted to go out with them to a Park in Basingstoke...of course I did.
We had a lovely time in the sunshine, had an ice cream, went on a pedalo:

We were home late afternoon, so i went out into the garden to practice my hand springs which are coming along quite nicely.
It was uncle Slims party in the evening, he has reached the grand old age of 60!  It was at his favourite pub, The Catherine Wheel which was a new one for us.  Mum and I obviously looked splendid:

We loved the old photos of the birthday boy dotted about and the chocolates on the tables:

There were so many familiar faces out it was brilliant to catch up with everyone and we even got a family picture taken:

We stayed out really rather late, enjoying and excellent buffet before I had a lovely hug with the birthday boy and we left them to it.

Sunday
I had a day with Mum as Dad went off bike racing which none of us were at all interested in.  We did a bit of gardening which was better than it sounds, so nice to be outside.
We did all reconvene mid afternoon and went to Abi and Fayes for a barbecue. It was fun playing in their garden and the cricket was good too, it did sort of morph into a stump battle but no one got seriously injured.
We also played Mario Kart on the Switch which was cool:

Monday
So it was pretty much the hottest day of the year and it's decided that we go on a Bike ride. What genius came up with that?  Still, we packed a picnic, loaded the car and drove to a village called Upton.  There was a nice park there with a lovely shady spot under the trees and best of all there was no one else there, despite it being a nice sunny bank holiday.  We set up the picnic blanket, put the radio on and munched our way through a decent picnic, interspersed with quick trips to the park apparatus and a few laps on the slightly tired pumptrack.

The mission was to ride to Didcot, about three miles away on a disused railway line:

It was a pleasant ride, despite Ned's best efforts to cut me up and be a nuisance the whole time of course.

Despite a bit of a wrong turn we made it easily and set about finding somewhere selling ice creams, ending up in Sainsbury's and having to buy two 3 packs of Solero's, meaning Dad and Ned got to double up.

We made our way back and collapsed in the shade while our butler loaded the bikes back onto the car:

No one felt much like cooking when we got home so it was a trip to the Spoons instead, no complaints from me on that front.

Wednesday

We had a quick 20 minute practice for our Rugby team at lunchtime, with our abundance of natural talent we surely don't need any more than that?
Balls club was back on this week, good job too, I missed it last week.
Rounding out a very sporty day I went down to City Playground with Mum and Dad for some Vortex throwing after tea.  Thought it would be a good idea to get the arm going again ahead of the Quad Kids trials coming up at school.  I did okay, okay enough to sack it off and play on the park instead.

Thursday

So it was our rugby 'tournament' after school today.  We took Elsa and Luca over with us which was fun and of course, a non stop 100mph conversation all the way there.  There were supposed to be 4 teams, but two of them didn't bother to show up which meant it was just us against Speenhamland.  After they took an early lead we fought back to win the game with a basketball type score after a good end to end sort of match. 

Friday

Quadkids trials started after school today.  We concentrated on vortex and I did okay but not my best......not enough practice on Wednesday night obviously.  It was seriously wet though and I came home soaked through.
I managed to prolong bedtime by sneaking on to the sofa in time for Gogglebox which really does make me laugh, despite some of the content being a bit on the dubious side.

Saturday

Had a nice lie in while Ned got soaked at football training.  Next up a shopping trip to Southampton which we managed to time to perfection as all the football supporters were leaving the various pubs rather noisily with a police escort.  A little unnerving if I'm honest.  The whole purpose of the trip was to get Ned some new school shoes, some shorts and some jeans.  Boring.  I did manage to get involved at the end though an buy three pairs of shorts and some leggings though which sweetened the deal a bit.

We went round Finlay and Millies in the evening, sadly Leo was on a sleepover which was a shame as I really wanted to catch up with him but we had a good night all the same.  We had an Indian takeaway and played some silly games, like wriggling on a chair and picking up an ever shrinking cereal box with your teeth without touching the floor....I've never seen so many grown ups crumple themselves into the floor!
It was a late night obviously....

Sunday

Sleeping today mostly.....but I did go to Liliy's for a bit.
Crystal Maze in the evening, rubbish contestants, again.

Monday

More Quadkids practice after school.  Long jump this week, and a bit of running....still not loving the running.

Then I got Mum to help me practice my lines for the year 6 leavers play auditions being held tomorrow......

Tuesday
It was badge week at gymnastics.......I wasn't expecting to pass as usual, it's getting harder as I get older and move through the grading system.  So it was a massive surprise to finally get my Silver Floor award.  Not so great was being late out of the gym and having to queue up for my certificate and badge with a very hungry Dad (and Mum) who wanted to get home and get dinner sorted.

Wednesday
I went to Sasha's for tea after school, via the park actually.  With the lovely sunny weather its been great to get everyone out together after school.  Sasha's Mum very kindly bought a whole box load of Calippo's for us to enjoy as well.

Thursday
Another after school trip to the park today with the sun still shining...lovely.

Friday
Yet another sunny day, it's almost like summer, so much so that Friday Club had declared it water fight night.  I was certainly not going to miss this one, despite the fact that I would have be separated from my phone for a little while.  It was great fun and a great evening, I got home a little soggy to say the least.

Saturday
Our Merlin passes have almost expired and with our more diverse areas of interest as a family these days we've decided not to renew them.  Thorpe Park seemed like a good idea to get one last use out of them.  It wasn't the best day out we'd ever had, there were a lot of technical difficulties on the rides (Nemesis, Stealth, Samurai especially) which meant bigger queues for everything else.  Swarm was still brilliant though, as was Rush and Vortex as well as the rapids always being fun.  Lunch was also a bit of a strange one, we had pizza buffet instead of our more usual picnic and once the initial queues had died down it was very agreeable.  We didn't stay late as Mum and Dad were off out that night and Ned was desperate to get back on the Xbox to play Fortnite.
I spent the evening in the company of Nate and Joel which as ever, was a lot of fun

Sunday

I had a bit of lay in and then supervised Dad rolling his first attempt at making some Sushi in preparation for a picnic with Nate and Joel.

We rode down which was pretty fun as Ned decided not to continually cut me up.

The daffodils were out and it was a lovely warm day to set out your blanket.  I didn't sit on it long though, I got Dad to accompany me to the top of the hill to bomb down it on our bikes before taking a load of 'Environment' themed photos on the phone.  

The boys soon arrived with Alan and Hayley and we started the picnic.  Joel was pretty messy but very funny and cute so he can get away with it.

We stayed for ages, played on the park, played football, threw the Frisbee and then made for home, with Ned cutting me up like no ones business on the way home, no doubt to make up for not doing it earlier and it drove me mad.

Monday
More park time today after school and im getting much better at being home in time for tea too.

Homework is continuing at a relentless pace pre-sats.  Well, when I say relentless what I really mean is 'saving it all up until nearly the last minute'

Wednesday

Ned cooked a two course meal today as his food tech homework....

Pizza and chocolate brownie, so not exactly pushing his culinary envelope but very agreeable all the same.

Thursday

A little Pumptrack trip in the afternoon, I had a bit of an off and cut my finger, having insisted to Dad that I did not want to wear my gloves...oh dear.  I did a bit of camera work while the boys rode around before heading off into the woods to explore:

This fallen tree was really cool so I summoned Dad down to take a look.  The route involved a few fallen branches over a very boggy patch which I negotiated with ease.  Must be my gymnastics training, Dad fell in it once on the way to the tree and twice on the way back:

The soggy fool.

Friday

We were busy packing and getting stuff ready for holiday tomorrow so Abi and Faye coming round to deliver Mum's birthday card was a very welcome distraction.  Abi and I had a very fun wrestling match in the front room.

Saturday

Two reasons to be happy today, Mums birthday and off on our holidays to Cornwall.

We kicked off proceedings with a trip to McDonald for breakfast then hit the road West.

There were no traffic issues to contend with so we arrived in St Merryn in time for a Barnecutts bakery lunch.  All to schedule very nicely so far.  Next up Annes Cottage for some wetsuit shopping, Ned got a nice one but I seemed to be inbetween sizes and had to settle for Neds Cast offs (not too bad though, its nice and fits well).

Back to campsite to collect the keys and get unpacked before Mum could have her birthday presents:

Ned also got one of his early:

A fleecy blanket shaped and printed like a pizza slice.  He loved it but we weren't allowed to take any pictures.  We thought if he had it early he could use it after going in the sea.

Next up a dip in the sea and waves at Harlyn which was vet enjoyable.  We could have done without the whole debacle with the car key that Dad had stashed safely.....so safely he couldnt actually retrieve it.  After a lot of effort, a bit of bad language and some assistance from another helpful chap in the car park we were good to go, stopping by the chip shop in St Merryn for supper to be eaten in front of Dec and Dec's saturday night takeaway finale.  Epic day. 

Sunday

Another lovely sunny day, we made the most of chilling out, the boys went in the sea again, I decided to stay dry and get comfy outside:

With it being such a nice day it would have been rude not to have a barbecue.  We had another novelty desert idea, popcornin its own little barbecue friendly pan:

It made a noise like a machine gun when it started popping.

We went to Bedruthan in the afternoon:

It was lovel as always once we had safely negotiated the stairs:

We climbed, we paddled and we made our way through a cave to another bit of beach cut off by the water:

It rushed in at quite a rate at one point!

Monday

A walk to Mother Ivey's bay, and here a photo of cake by the ocean:

We played ball for ages before Dad and I took an exploratory paddle:

Followed by getting our wetsuits on and going for a dip.  Although there were no waves as such the sea was ramping up and dumping with great force onto the shore.  It was enough to take you off your feet completely and it did, more than once.  It was great fun. 

Skateboarding in the late afternoon sunshine was very pleasant:

We rounded the day out with a little bit of Cricket on an otherwise deserted beach:

Tuesday

Polzeath today, shopping and ice cream:

Lowtide Constantine Rock pools in the evening, a rich hunting ground for seasoned crabbers like us:

The Eel eluded us though, but we loved watching him fleetingly pop out and slither about a bit.

Wednesday

Youth hostel for lunch while it was still sunny and nice:

Then a little Jigsaw action (one of mums birthday presents)

And then an early evening trip into Newquay, via Aldi for knock off nutella and cheapi chocolate (mum and Ned love it).

Then a quick gander at this cool house on an island complete with its own suspension bridge:

Thursday

We had a low tide explore of Treyarnon.  The gap looked sandy, the rock pools looked pooly and the quicksand was quick enough to catch Dad out....water over the welly top:

We stopped laughing eventually, then we kept starting again every time he squelched as he walked.

The clambered up to the swimming pool for a nosey about:

It was another lovely afternoon so we got the blanket and the windbreak out and set up camp.

Hand held sandcastle anyone? Not my best idea if i'm honest:

Bit of digging obviously:

Then a massive surf session with all of us until we turned blue and had to get out and warm up.

A nice liitle Evening walk down to the point finished off Neds last day of being thirteen:

Friday

Neds birthday! Happy 14th to you.  At his lrdships request it was sugar and lemon pancakes for breakfast, nice choice.

Hs activity of the day was the flow rider at Retallack, we got there in time to see it fired up, which quite honestly was a bit scary...it seemed to shift a lot of water at quite a high speed.

We got kitted up in (soggy) wetsuits before meeting up with our instructor and getting stuck in.  Heres the birthday boy dropping in:

And here' Mum and I playing nicely together:

Dad was a total menace, he pretty much drowned Mum with his spray and then took Ned and himself out on the final go of the session.  Apart from that we all got onvery well with it and I loved it.

Where else could we take him for lunch other than Pizza Hut?  Buffet too, we'd certainly worked up an appetite on the flow rider so certainly got our moneys worth.

The boys thrn headed off surfing at Harlyn leaving mum and I in peace and quiet for a while before they came back for tea and of course Ned's birthday cake.... Well I say cake, it was actually a salted chocolate tart on special request from the birthday boy himself:

And with a lovely sunset to round out the day, a happy birthday to you Ned:

Saturday

Time to come home......rubbsh.  Well, mostly rubbish but at least the wifi and indeed phone signal was something to look forward to. We had a great week and couldnt believe that only a few weeks ago we were wading through snow while we were bobbing about in sunny seas.  As mum rightly pointed out though, the sea felt as cold as melted snow.  We purchasd a few supplies and bid Gary and Wendy farewell:

We were back mid afternoon and had a quiet day, punctuated by the excitement of a new series of Britains Got Talent in the evening.

Sunday

Nothing much today, just a day long you tube binge punctuated with a roast dinner and the worst ever performance on the Crystal Maze (zero crystals).

We did have a visit from Slim as well to drop off Neds birthday card, that meant a Slim cuddle! He's the best cuddler in the world.

Monday

A day of mostly nothing much......and then blind panic to try to catch up with the homework weve been putting off for the ladt two weeks.......

Wednesday

Our only after school rugby match so far this year got cancelled, hardly surprising really as it has rained almost non stop for ages.  Still very disappointed though.

Thursday

Last day of term today at last.  We had our talent show, which didn't go as planned when my 'comedy troupe' fell apart due to creative differences.

I did a bit with Max which was okay but the real star was Sam, his singing and dancing was actually brilliant.

We watched How to train a dragon in the afternoon before we were released for two weeks of Easter Freedom.

Rios butgers for tea, a first for us.  We loved the burgers, like really loved the burgers, not so much the chips though, despite the cheesy topping I had being top notch.

Friday

Swimming today, Basingstoke Aquadrome in a last minute trip.  All three slids were open and we had a really god time.  We got up to all sorts of water based gymnastics, slide ridng and various underwater swimming challenges.

We played Mums new game (well she got for Christmas) called Codenames.  I loved it, its a word game so it was a bit of a tough sell to Ned.

Saturday

We played more codenames in the morning before I left for Betsy's birthday sleepover.  This featured a trip to the new trampoline park called Flipout in Basingstoke.  It was excellent too, there was a load of extra  sort of stuff like ninja tag and drop slides.  

We had Domino's deliverd for tea so that set us up nicely for a late night stint....

Sunday

Mcdonalds breakfast was very nice inded......

After a nice lie in of course.

I came home in time for the Easter Egg hunt:

Even Ned got involved, at his age!

So it was a nice little chocolate binge before I finished off the Sushi Dad had made yesterday with Alan on their sushi school:

I loved it, we'll be making some more for sure.

Anne and Mike came round for lunch and we got to see their New York pictures.....it looked snowy and cold but really good.

Ned and I were unusually helpful sorting out drinks and tidying the lunch things away.

Monday

Had an impromptu trip to see Peter rabbit with Betsy today.  It was pretty good actually.

In a rather shocking development Ned let me play Fortnite and Fifa on his Xbox against his friends!

I really rather enjoyed it too......