Tuesday
Lilly and I went to Mr Moo Juice by bike after school, a nice Oreo milkshake to share then ride home again via the park.  We're so outdoorsy at the moment as the weather is still so nice.
I got involved in a bit of a headstand competition at gymnastics, I lasted ages but got pipped to the win but only just.  My head was bright purple and my shoulders were killing me!

Wednesday
The parts in the leavers play were given out today.  I was a little bit disappointed not to get a bigger part, but I've got quite a few lines (17 I think) with some good comic potential.  I'm a one eyed pirate too, so eye patches will be required, arrrrrr!
We also had a visit from Miss Chandler from Park House school about us moving on after the summer.  I was surprised to see just how many of us there were going once we were all together in the room.  She went through a few bits and bobs and asked us if we wanted to be in the same house as our siblings (Yes please) and what friends we might like to be placed in tutor groups with.......

Thursday
I bought my copy of the script for the play home, highlighted all my bits and started some read throughs.  It was raining like mad the whole evening so I spent a very rare night indoors, not at all what I've been used to.  It turned into a whole family sofa/TV session with Ned serving a 'device ban' for the night.  It was quite nice actually.

Friday
Mufti day at school, so I was up early and raring to go.

Saturday
Holiday day today, we were going with Nate, Joel, Alan and Hayley too.  Bit of an unusual arrangement for us, going on a Saturday, at a civilised time on the afternoon from Southampton Airport.
We had all morning to get our packing finished before having a proper lunch and setting off which was all very nice.  Alan was obviously late over to our house before we could leave but it didn't matter as we arrived in plenty of time to get parked up (leaving a banana on the roof of the car), checked in and go through security.  The airport was really nice, much less frantic than the bigger ones we usually frequent. 

We boarded the plane a little late and got nice seats together which I was relieved about as Mum and Dad were to stingy to pay the premium for reserved seating.  It was one of those small planes, two seats either side of the aisle and propellers rather than jets so we all got good views out of the windows as we took off until we entered the clouds.
Nate and Joel were only a row or so in front so we could keep an eye on them too.
It was a shortish flight down to Biarritz so we were soon on the ground at an equally small airport as the one we had taken off from.  Getting our bags back was quick and easy and sorting out the hire car (well, bus) didn't take long either from a really rather jolly and helpful chap. He did rather downplay an area of 'slight' damage that a previous driver had caused but which was really rather funny.

We got loaded up, shoving the bags into the Mercedes Vito before hitting the highway, Alan helpfully reminding us all that we should drive on the right at every opportunity.
It was only an hour or so up the road so it wasn't long before we arrived at the campsite, reception was closed so we checked in with an initially very stern looking security guard.  We all decided it would be best not to muck him about.  His demeanour mellowed very rapidly though once he realised we were not a threat....ha.
Our accommodation was very easy to find, not too far from the pool or the shop either.
It was a double unit, separated by a nice deck area, complete with hot tub and full length retractable canopy.  Very nice indeed. The grown ups started on the complimentary wine:

While we concentrated on getting in the hot tub, which Alan declared too hot at 40 degress.  Other than that he was very complimentary of France itself, as this was actually his first visit!

Sunday
We had a quick dash to the onsite Supermarket for breakfast things and our chance to marvel at unusual foreign groceries (jarred duck or frozen chocolate pizza anyone?)

We got that wolfed down and then we had to take delivery of our hire bikes that Dad had arranged to have dropped off.  Joel got a cuddle from the man and I got to choose between two bikes he had bought for me for the most appropriate size.  

As you can see, the brakes worked very well:

We rode them to the beach, with Nate and Joel loving their trailer.

The beach was pretty epic, you couldn't see either end of it as it must have gone on forever.

Joel got to have a good old twizzle round with Hayley:

It had been a while since i'd had a go:

I think it took it's toll on Dad so I continued my acrobatics solo:

It all sounds a bit weird that we'd come here without Andy doesn't it? He had been to watch Fulham get promoted to the premier league yesterday so we went to pick him up from a town called Dax, he'd finally made it.

Monday
Well it had been a bit wet overnight, so a bit of water had collected in the canopy (and in Andy's shoes that he had left outside).

We decided it needed displacing, hence this team effort:

It ended in hilarity when Andy dropped the bin he was collecting the water in and soaked himself!

It was still a bit on the gloomy side so we went to Hossegor.  This is apparently one of Europes most famous surf spot, but the sea was flat! As it was last time Mum, Dad and Andy visited years ago.  We hit the shops, of which there were many and they were really cool too, a mixture of fancy surf shops with a sprinkling of decent tut shops too.

We had a grand cycle tour of the camp site in the evening, Mum took the empties to the bin in her very usefull basket:

Her bike wasn't quite as at home in the skatepark though:

Tuesday
So we took a ride into the local village Vieux Boucau by bike.  It was a lovely easy ride along a car free cycle path through the pine forest.  So here I am with a pine cone still attached to a branch that I found and thought was pretty cool:

People in France seem to enjoy cycling a lot more than us Brits as we exchanged many cheerful exchanges along the way.

We cycled through the village itself towards a lake formed by the sea:

It looked lovely, we rode about half way round and found a nice beach, it would have been rude not to go in for a dip, so thats what Dad, Andy and I did:

The bottom was covered in thick seaweed which took a bit of getting used to.  Having said thst it was last vely and soft to walk on once you'd got your head around it.  We swam about for a bit before a seaweed fight broke out.

Mum and Ned sat on a nice shady bank, eating sweets and enjoying the computer any of a rather greedy puppy that had managed to break free and was proceeding to hoover up all the picnic debris he could find, which by all accounts included a piece of sandy cheese amongst other things.  He was seriously cute.

We completed our circuit of the lake and made our way back to the campsite for more watery fun in the pool.   The pool was great, Nate and Joel seemed to enjoy it too.  

We had a barbecue for tea and then took off for another bike ride to the playground:

Then it was back for a bit of hot tub before bedtime.

Wednesday
Today we took a trip south to the La Rhune mountain railway.  The drive there was okay but got really good as we got into the foothills of the Pyrenees.

We bought our tickets and were warned there wouldn't be a view at the top because it was so cloudy. 

We boarded the train and straight away started climbing the hill.

It climbed quite steeply and the village was soon far down the hill.

The boys certainly seemed to like it:

The views were pretty good so far, but as we got higher we hit the clouds:

Then we passed the halfway point and crossed by the upward train:

It was brilliant watching the animals going about their day, clinging to the hill sides although thesheep  were way higher than the cows seemed prepared to venture.

The views from the top were as described by the ticket lady, on a good day you can apparently see to the coast and into nearby spain, not today though:

We loitered about a bit, I stole a bit of Alan and Hayley's Basque country cake which was quite nice and then we jostled with a school group to get back down again to have our picnic and a spot of parkour:

We loaded ourselves back into the van and headed to the beach at Hendaye, hoping the sun would come out.

And it did!

We got there just as the tide was coming in, so we had to get in with the boards quick before it was up on the rocks.  It was great fun and I loved it, I got hundreds of waves and managed to stay off the rocks until we d cided it was time to get out and go and see what Nate and Joel were up to on the main beach a bit further down.

Due to our rushed nature, no one took a camera so this part of our day was undocumented.  Which is a shame as the sun was out and the sea was beautiful.  And the sand, the sand was beautifully soft and so nice to dig in.  Dad couldnt help himself of course and dug a nice big hole just wherethe sea   was lapping up to on it's incoming tide.  I promptly put myself in said hole and then buried myself up to the waist as the water then surged in and lapped around me which was great fun.

The surf schools all got out so I got in.  Ned was already out the back taking loads of nice clean waves on his bodyboard but I decided to give bodysurfing a try.  For the first time ever I actually got the knack of it and it was a brilliant feeling being swept along with the water.

Nate certainly enjoyed the waves with Alan too, not sure how Alan's ears fared though.

So all we have to document the afternoon is this rather blurry shot I got out of the van window on the way back:

 We stopped off for a meal on the way back at the lake we'd visited yesterday at a place mum foundon the  internet.  It was lovely too, a really nice pizza with a lovely view and a vey cheerful and helpfull waiter.

Thursday
We rode into Vieux Boucau again, Nate and Joel tucked up nicely in their trailer and Andy getting mugged off by Ned into a bike swap.  Ned claimed to love the cruiser but we all knew he preferred wheelying the mountainbike.  To be fair though, Andy did love the comfort of the big sprung cruiser saddle:

We made it ther in no time at all and got kitted up at the golf course.  The lady was vey nice and made sure we all had an appropriate sized club to use.  Nate loved it to begin with but ended up more interested in the goldfish pond leaving us older ones to concentrate on the game, and hang out with the ever smiling Joel:

It was a good course, nicely laid out and very tidily kept:

Hole 11 was a particular highlight as you had to really whack it across grass to get back on to the green, good job there was a substantial catch net behind.

There were individual flashes of top play, like Mums hole in one on hole 9 which Dad claimed to have accidentally marked down a as a 2 initially, hence his 12 instead of a 2 in retribution.  Anyway, Dad played the most consistant game and was the clear winner.  We reckon Andy threw the game though in case his proper golf friends found out.

We headed back to camp and decided to cool off in the pool, we stayed in until it closed and we got kicked out and quickly trotted back to the caravan to carry on the water based fun in the hot tub.
We took a trip out to the beach after tea to watch the sun go down:

It really was very nice to have a paddle and do some gymnastics.

Friday
Horse riding today, there was a stable on the campsite with loads of lovely looking horses and I was quite keen to have a go.  I was too big for a pony lap like Nate had enjoyed so my only option was to go on a proper big horse on an hours trip.  All I needed to do was convince Ned to come with me...he was a bit resistant at first but he soon gave in, he loves a horse ride even if he tries to be too cool for all this sort of thing these days.  So we got booked in and sorted our helmets out before meeting our horses, Ned had one called Max and I got Oreo here:

I was a bit nervous when the lady asked me to lead her out, well, it's a big old creature so Dad gave me a hand.  Ned of course had no trouble with Max.  We got saddled up and that was it, off into the woods along lovely trails in the shade.

We went for miles, all along the sand dunes until we reached a military observation tower we had seen in the distance from the beach.  I got a lot more comfortable with the whole thing by the time we got back and I was really glad i had done it:

We met up with the others down the beach straight afterwards, they had made a brilliant camp out of a parasol, a bit of hole digging, and some blankets suspended between buggies.  

I went in the sea with Andy and Dad, it was unbelievably powerful thumping waves up the beach.

We had to leave the beach a bit earlier than we might have liked to get the bikes back to the bike hire man who was coming to pick them up.  He arrived at reception just as we got there, so that was good timing.  I think Dad wasrather sad to let them go.....

Still, the pool was open later than it usually was so we made the most of that until it closed.

We played Alans game Diamante in the evening, it's brilliant fun, highly recommrnded.

Saturday
We had a late flight home, so we were hoping for good weather meaning we could pack up and spend the day lounging around the pool.  We packed, we tidied and we made three hundred trips to the bin with empty beer and wine bottles.

The sun came out and we got the best selection of sun beds up in the deck of the pirate boat.

Lunch was a real revelation, the cafe at the pool was brilliant, may I present to you the worlds biggest and best chip baugette with mustard mayo (a goid portion of which I had already consumed by the time this picture was taken):

It was also the first time all week we managed to be at the pool when the slides were open (only two but both very good) and the wave machine was going (not a patch on Siam Park of course but good fun all the same).  It was so enticing even Ned got on board with it which was lovely.

We couldn't stay forever though so we loaded the van up and made our way to the airport:

Which was only just about an hour away and we were soon on the plane heading for home to begreeted by a manky week old banana on top of the car where Dad had left it:

Sunday
So while it may bave been a bit of a downer comng home from holiday, it was my 11th birthday!

I certainly had lots pf presents to open:

Before we were off for a McDonalds Breakfast, oh yes this was a great start to the day.
Dad disappeared off to do a bit of Cake baking which was a shame as we all know Ned is the best baker in the house.  He did his best though:

Obvioulsy as a thoroughly modern youngster I had to make sure I got a picture of my cake as it was presented to me:

We had a ride down to Mr Moo Juice for a spot of afternoon refreshment and sat by the canal in the sunshine to drink it.

Next up a trip to Snelsmore to test out one of my presents, a hammock:

It was reassuringly sturdy and really comfy.  It was so nice to lay back in it looking up at the leaves  above.

Sheek kebabs from the indian takeaway rounded out a good food day followed by the Britains Got Talent final on telly in the evening' perfect, what more could I want?

Monday
I wasnt too sad to be going back to school to catch up with all my friends?

Tuesday
Badge week at gymnastics.....no badge though. At least we could have tea on time without having to join the massive queue.

Wednesday
My Rhos project is not exactly flowing.  Mum keeps trying to chivvy me up but it must be said I am rather reluctant.  Our vague deadline isnt exactly helping me focus either.

Thursday
Play rehgersals kicked off in earnest today, it's going oka so far.  Some of us are still reading from the script but Jess knows all her lines by heart already and she's got loads!

Friday
Den day at school today, which i am always equally excited about and then disappointed about in equal measure when it doesn't quite pan out as I had envisaged it.

Saturday
I spent a most enjoyable day with Sasha and then in the evening I got to try out my new rollerskates with Lola at Northcroft.  I really like them, even if all the lace holes are a real pain.

Sunday
Mum and Dad were feeling the need to go out for the day and neither Ned nor I were really that keen.  Ned stuck to his guns but I gave in once I started to feel sorry for the poor old codgers.  We went to Hollycoombe, and I was actually rather glad I went as I got to meet this friendly chap after our picnic:

So Hollycoombe again, it's great actually, the silly music playing from punched paper being fed through the organ is mesmerising onthe carousel:

Dad was obviously feeling bold as he was quite open to going on the big wheel, most unlike him.  He wasn't keen on me swinging the car while we were stopped at the top to let people on.

Since the Haunted House has been back from refurbishment it's become a firm favourite of mine and I went through it hundreds of times.

Having said that, it's always great fun onthe Razzle Dazzle watching poor unsuspecting fools struggle to stay on the seat and not crush their children to death.  It was a bit of a shame the Steam Yacht was out of comission, but with the state of Dads knees after a recent bike crash it was probably for the best.

The scenic train ride was lovely though:

I took several thousand pictures on Mum's phone on the journey for good measure.

So after all that im glad I went.

Tuesday

Second day of Sats tests, todays was on reading comprehension.  It was all about Panda's so I felt right at home and I reckon I did very well.

I couldn't really be bothered to go to gymnastics after i'd spent a good hour or so down the park straight from school but Dad made me go anyway.  Actually, don't tell him but I'm glad I went and really enjoyed it.

Wednesday

Sats day three and it was maths papers 1 and 2.

I was quite calm about the whole thing as was really pleased that I solved a shape puzzle that none of my froends seememd to get.  Dad didnt either when I tried it on him at home.

Thursday

Last day of Sats, the hardest maths paper.  I was pretty quiet when I got home after this one, so draw your own conclusions.

As a reqrd for my efforts over the week I got to choose tea.  I devastated Ned by not wanting Pizza Hut and instead plumping for........Fish and Chips!

Hmmmm it was delicious too,even if the portion was so massive I had no chance of finishing it.

In a very rare occurence Ned stayed downstairs long enough to play a board game with us...probably because he couldnt haul his bloated self upstairs after his deep fried battered mars bar he had from the chippy.

We played Flamme Rouge, and it was really good fun.  Until Dad won which wasn'ti ideal.

Friday

As a reward for out efforts doing Sats we had a full year group trip to Goldwell Park for the day.  The weather was glorious so it really couldnt have been better.  The boys spent the majority of the day playng football, yawn.  We did have a really fun game of rounders and also made a constant train of people going down the big tube slide and then running round the climbing frame to join the back of the queue again.

I had a quiet few hours once I was home before film night at school.  The Greatest Showman, singalong version, as a slumber party!  Yep thats right.  It was a good night but I could have dne without some of the annoying singing.

Saturday

Well there was a royal wedding on, so Dad sloped off out on his bike and I took to the garden so Mum could watch it in peace:

I've really been enjoying the weather weve been having for ages now, so much time outside makes me very happy.

Lily Yeomans party in the afternoon, a Nerf party at that, never been to one of those before.  It looked great when we got there, inflatable walls and cars dotted around the grounds and a big white van full of Nerf guns and bullets.  The man doing the party was really good fun and took great delight in writing our names on our water bottles incorrectly.  There were a load of organised games to play but the bullets were much harder than ours at home with a hard plastic tip, so they hurt a bit more.

There was a barbecue running, plenty of fun and laughter and some really nice chocoalte cake. We rounded proceedings off with a pinata in a tree, only two people took a swipe at it before it's head seperated from it's body and it fell to the ground to be ravaged for the sweets within.  I made off with the donkeys body which made a rather splendid hat:

No sooner had I finished there we were off to Joels first birthday party:

We can't believe he's one already.  As usual he was on great form, he's sucha happy little fella.

Happy birthday Joel!

Sunday

Well it's been sunny for ages but the outdoor pool in Northcroft still isn't open.  We fancied an open air swim to trekked off to Cheltenham instead.  It was reasonably busy but we found a nice spot for our blanket and fed our faces with picnic before getting changed and getting i the water.  It was a perfect temperature and you were allowed to dive in so thats a double thumbs up! There was also a rather mad 1950's pre health and safety era slide which was interesting too.

We rounded out the day with an ice cream and a lovely lay out in the sunshine:

Monday

We had a school trip to Bayer's new office in Reading to learn about DNA. We had to take samples of our cheeks and basically spit them into a test tube to perform some anyalysis.  Not sure what conclusions we drew but we did learn that all humans share 99.9% genetically identical.

Lily came round after school and there was an incident of spider induvced hysteria in my room.  Ned tried to help out by trapping it in a glass with a bit of paper underneath......but it broke free again so we summoned Dad to come and bail us out!  Thanks for trying though Ned.

Tuesday
The nice weather is continuing so it was Gymnastics with the big old doors open this week.  Means Mum and Dad can peer in and see what I'm up to in there though.

Wednesday
So Ned had a day at Palmer Park doing athletics, obviously I'm not usually interested in Ned, but he happened to mention that Marley from Millie Inbetween (it's on CBBC) was also competing.  He had a chat with him and everything, which even I have to admit is pretty cool.  He cam home red from the sun, well it could have been the sun or it might have just been his embarrassment at getting put in for the 1500 metres and struggling a bit....

Thursday
Lily came round for tea, and after we'd been to the park and you-tubed for a bit we gave the trampoline it's spring clean and got bouncing.  I had forgotten just how much I love the trampoline!

Friday
More trampolining today, working on getting my front flips nailed.

Sasha came for tea before we went to Friday club.

Saturday
Quadkids day today, we'd been looking forward to this one for a while and I was raring to go.  We found the team gazebo, and I tried to consume my entire days packed lunch in about 20 minutes while Mum got stuck in and 'helped' organise the team admin and delegated chair fetching duties. 

My first event was vortex, and for reasons best know to myself (I was scared of going over the line and getting a no throw) I decided to forgo my usual run up and just wang it from standing.  Which was okay, but didn't go anywhere near as far as my usual 'out of competition' throws.  Mum and Dad were seriously unimpressed.
Next up, the sprint, which I did good at, not sure what the times say but it felt fast to me.

We certainly enjoyed our day, just hanging out with each other, the occasional bit of sport thrown in here and there.
Standing long jump went pretty well out in the middle of the field away from the spectators prying eyes.
I put in a strong performance in the 600m, I'm not a distance runner at all, but kept towards the front of the main pack and had a strong sprint finish.
So that was it, all done for the day, all we had to do was wait for the results to be tallied up.
We gathered round to watch Falkland win everything again, but we had a most pleasant surprise when the year 5 & 6 John Rankin team were called out at third place in the overall!
This meant a proper presented medal and everything, I think it's fair to say we were overjoyed. 
We also got some feedback to say we were a lovely bunch of polite and nice kids from the helpers and officials.....
We've been coming to quad kids since Ned was in year 3 and one or both of us has been competing every year since, this was the last one.  What a great event to have been a part of.

Sunday
We had Nate and Joel and Andy around for lunch on Sunday.  We don't need an excuse really but seeing as we're all off on holiday together soon we had a few things to go through.
It was great fun on the trampoline with Alan and Nate, lunch was a n inconvenience really as we had a great day playing in the garden, making camps and draping blankets.
Ned and I even had a well mannered waterfight!
In the evening we had a quick burst of pre SATS revision before all agreeing that if it wasn't in my brain by now it was too late anyway so sacked it off in favour of the Crystal Maze.

Monday
So its SATS week, there's a breakfast club at school because of it.  It was brilliant, especially as i'm eating like a horse at the moment.  The test itself seemed to go okay (SPAG - spelling, punctuation and Grammer).
We got to parade our quadkids medals in assembly too which was brilliant.
Once I was home I got back on the trampoline and landed a number of good quality front flips one after the other.  This caused enough of a stir for Ned to descend from his bedroom for a go too......that's twice in two days we'd done something together without having a row.

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'