Tuesday

Well I was really pleased with myself today, I won our class competition for the best adventure report! You remember when we climbed the island in Cornwall? Well our endeavour was rewarded with a £10 book token and the glory and adulation of the school in assembly.

I also got awarded my bronze times table certificate in assembly, so, a good day for both of us.

It wasn't all good though, we had a few issues in our little friend group of me, Amy and Sasha.  I'm sure we'll get over it.

Things got even worse at home, mum threw me the tv remote and for some reason I didn't catch it and it smacked me on the head.  It made quite a loud crack sort of sound....ouch.

Rugby for me after school.

And gymnastics for me before our late tea....

Wednesday

Well I had a much better day to day, no falling out with my friends and no flying remotes.  Although I did notice that panda had a sticky patch on his fluffy bottom, no doubt down to a sweet of some description.
We got issued with the script for our year six leavers play, before auditions on Friday.  A Midsummer Nights Dream no less!  I made a protest to Miss Buxey that I had football after school, athletics club after tea and my belated birthday party tomorrow night.  She told me that if I wanted a part bad enough, i'd find the time to learn the lines......
We managed to cram a few read throughs in before Team Kennet but it didn't feel like it was going in at all.

I improved my high jump with a new personal best of 115cm this week.

When we got home we had a quick acting masterclass to back up my script learning.  Mum and Dad were very helpful, they gave me all sorts of ideas to bring a bit more to my audtion than just memorising the words.  I got into a bit of a state about it all, worried i'd never remember it all......Dad tried to convince me that it would have sunken in by the morning and Mum read me the childrens book of a Midsummer Nights Dream at bedtime....preparation was certainly thorough.

Thursday

I had an epic shot at football today, from pretty much the half way line, soaring around the wall and only just clipping the crossbar at the corner, denying a goal.

It was Ned's party pretty much straight after school so Ali and Liam came home with us. There were far too many boys in the front room with that lot so I made a point of wishing them 'good day' before retreating to my own private quarters.

We had an Ipad binge session, Instagram, Youtube, Boom Beach.  Al the usuals.  Then we got changed and headed for Pizza Hut.

Yeah, I sat next to Ella which was awesome and Ned even picked me to make our pizzas first with him,

I'm good to my sister.....

I topped mine with lots of ham, lots of cheese and one slice of pepperoni.

I went full bore with the pepperoni.

In between making the pizzas and waiting for them to be cooked we went big on the salad bar.

We had a jalapeno eating contest too, only Liam and Ellis chickened out.

The pizzas were lovely when they arrived:

Once they were dispensed with it as time for the ice cream factory.

We were surprisingly sensible with it as well really.

Even if we did end up making a few dubious drink concoctions to try for dares using various fizzy drinks and salad bar items.........

My birthday cake (a giant mars bar cake) was a bit of an inconvenience really, I had ice cream to eat!

We all had a great time and it went really well.  

We were home by six, which gave us another chance to go through my audition script again.  It was quite a reassuring exercise,I seemed to remember it all really well.

Friday

Well today was the day for the auditions, between break and lunch time.  I was pretty nervois it. Has to be said.  We had to try out in front of the whole of year six, which made a few people nervous.  I was one the only ones who had memorised the script which helped no end as I could concentrate on my improvised acting parts.  Miss Buxey stated that I was a good singer, so I decided to go along with it and not contest her.  It went really well, and a few subsequent auditionees even copied a few of my moves.  We didn't have to wait long to find out who'd got what....I was chosen to play Lysander, one of the main characters.  I do have to sing and be in love with the girls though!  When it was announced the whole class clapped me which was lovely.  It was pretty awkward though as a lot of the girls in our class hadn't got the roles they wanted and there were a few tears being stifled.

We had another disappointing sports afternoon at St Barts, culminating in a game of tag rugby, with no tags, sloppy refereeing and forward passes being allowed!

I came out of school at pick up time with a massive smile on my face, Mum and Dad knew somethng was going on.  I told them quietly about the audition success but dodn't want to milk it too much as some people were still pretty upset.  On the way out of the playground, Mrs Laurie, the other year six teacher congratulated me on my excellent audition!

We played with the wooden railway set when we got home, it's one of our favourite things to go back to and play with even at our age.

After tea I sloped off out with Ali and Hugo for a bit down the park.  I was back in time to go to Abi and Faye's though.

Yeah, I was staying for a sleep over so took my overnight bag.

Kimi and Marny also came along, as did Nate!

He's still got cool hair and he's still super cute.

We made the most of the pleasant weather by playing on their swing and having a game of football and tennis.

After that We watched Big Hero Six together before us girls headed up to our quarters for the night.

I played Alan's game King of Tokyo with the grown up's.  It was really good fun, Mum and I ended up duking it out to the death, with me taking the eventual win well after midnight.

Saturday

We had a nice Ellis free lie in, much needed after last nights late one. I put the word out about going down the park and soon had Dylan for company.  We hung out down the park or at home all day, until sone of the others appeared to join us later in the afternoon (Tilly, Josh, Hugo).

I came back just in time for lunch which was a result. I spent the afternoon helping Mum do some cleaning ang hanging about in the garden which was nice.

We had to have an early night though as we had an early start to look forward to on Sunday....

Tuesday 28th

Tag rugby after school was good fun, it's quite nice to play with no pressure.  I'm scoring plenty of tries too.

It was Gymnastics viewing week this week, they seem to come round really quickly.  Mum and Dad were impressed with our cartwheel practice regime.

Then when we got home it was a massive chili induced sulk.....

We hate chili!

Wednesday 29th

Team Kennet summer season continues.

Although it was a bit unnerving this week with the sound of the security siren going off at the the secure hospital next door......

Thursday 30th

Parents evening, we weren't exactly sure how it would go.

Turns out we had nothing to worry about, we both got really good comments.

Yeah, thats a relief.

Mum and Dad loved this picture I labelled in my book.  I think it was the attention to detail in regards to the accessories, the high heels and the belt:

Friday 1st

Last day of the week, the bank holiday weekend looming.

And a trip to Cornwall to look forward to.

I couldn't wait to go.

I could, I don't really enjoy the journey it has to be said.  Having said that, Dad had a eureka moment and rigged up the Ipad between the back seats at head rest height.

This meant that with the little adaptor to connect two sets of headphones we could watch I player in style.

The traffic was pretty rubbish it had to be said.

We enjoyed waving at Andy as he pssed us and then we passed him on the busy motorway.

We arrived pretty late, even by our standards.

Saturday 2nd

That was all forgotten Saturday morning though, as we woke to the sound of the distant roar of waves.

Yeah, brilliant, I love it.

We had to go out for a walk, what is it with going for a walk all the time?

Constantine was cool, and I found this cute little centipede chap on the way out of the dunes:

As we made our way around to Treyarnon the tide was coming in and the waves were looking good.

So we got kitted up and and hit the surf.

It hit me back, hard.  It was so cold, colder than i've ever known it.  Especially with me in a shorty wetsuit and evryone else being in a long one, with actual arms and legs.

Yeah, my new one definatley kept me warm, I couldn't get enough.

I could, I hightailed it back to the caravan pretty quickly to warm up.  I also issued a bit of a climb down and conceeded that a new, full length wetsuit might not in actual fact be a bad idea after all......

We warmed up with a hot chocolate and a good helping of Britains got talent.

Sunday 3rd

So first thing it was a trip to Annes Cottage for a new wetsuit.  They had the exact same make and colour as my current shorty, so I was well happy with that.  Twinned with the luxury of some wetsuit socks borrowed from Andy's mum (what a revelation, I shall be eternally gratefull for those) my new wetsuit was toasty warm and we stayed in the cold water for ages.

Yeah, the waves were brilliant again and we got loads.

Connie came over with John and Sarah in the afternoon, Sarah came down for a few waves too but John is just about to start his GCSE's so he took advantage of a little bit of downtime before it all kicked off for him.

We finally watched some of my Dynamo DVD in the afternoon, he is so cool.

Even if Mum does insist on trying to spoil it, trying to work out how he does it all.

Sarah was staying the night with at the Shepherds so she came down with us for the evening and played Camel Up and Labyrinth, the second time she played each game she won.....there's a lesson here I think.

Yeah, Sarah is a quick learner, only play her at something once!

Monday 4th

A lovely sunny morning so we took the cricket set over to Constantine for a knock about.

Sarah came too so that was good numbers with us four and Andy.

We found a nice spot in the middle of the beach and set up the stumps.

The real surprise package turned out to be Mum, who having said she had never even managed to connect the bat with the ball before proceeded to wack the ball for a six on just about every bowl.  
It was a pretty amazing exhibition it has to be said.

It was certainty better than Dad and Andy who seemed to have claimed a number of unsuspecting victims out for a stroll with their wayward efforts.

We took lunch at the youth hostel, we had to sit inside as it was a bit nippy.

And they had run out of chorizo, what a disaster.

My pizza was as lush as ever though.

There were still decent waves to be had, so we got back amongst them again.

Although I got out quite quickly to play ball with Connie instead.

Then, sadly it was packing up time before heading off home.

Until next time......

Tuesday 5th

So after the bank holiday, it was business as usual with us nearly being late for school.

It's a good job we live so close really isn't it?

And in another strange turn of events, while were at school, Mum went Legoland!

We couldn't believe it, how rude is that.

She was claiming to be helping Laura and Auntie Trish take Darcey there for her birthday treat.

So I reckon we'll let her off.....

I went home with Sasha after school for tea and then onto gymnastics with her, epic!!!

At least I got to see Darcey when the Legolanders returned home, so I got to give her her birthday present!

Wednesday 6th

So with the looming General Election making the headlines, we had a school election to mimic the real thing.  Sadly, I was made Nigel Farage for the day as I don't think anyone else wanted to.  I'm always up for standing on the stage in assembly though, even if it is to deliver the Ukip manifesto.

Team Kennet was cancelled due to horrible weather, wet windy and raining like hell.

So instead of that, we went to the actual supermarket to do the food shopping.  In person.

It was sort of cool and maybe even a tiny bit interesting, although we're inno hurry to repeat the experience any time soon.

This weeks food revelation, quiche! It's so lush.

It so isn't.  Revolting.

Thursday 7th

So the real election today and our results were announced at school.  I managed the grand total of four votes!  The Tories won by a mile.

We walked down to the real Polling Station after tea so Mum and Dad could vote.

There was the loveliest old doggie ever waiting outside, his name was Fergus and he loved a fuss.

The polling station was well busy, mostly with people we knew from school.

Tilly's mum was even working in there!

Friday 8th

Robert came round for tea after school.  Xbox, Ipad, Top Gear Cards and pizza!

Saturday 9th

We had a trip out to a place called Alice Holt, as recommended by auntie Christine.

First impressions were good, there was a good playground with a little hut that had a small bench table inside it.  I decided it would be a great place to have our picnic.

Yeah, and it was, especially if you like having random small children sticking there heads in every minute or so to gawp at you.

There was a trail around the woods with a load of cool play structures dotted along the route:

Yeah, it broke up the walking for sure:

And on the other side was this rather well carved Gruffalo:

We also found some cool tree trunks that had fallen down over some pretty good sized dips:

But the best thing was the pond near the cafe, there were hundreds and hundreds of tadpoles bombing around the water.

Roller skating in the evening, we hadn't been for ages.

It was super busy though and they had run out of most sizes of rental skates, except mine which was lucky.

I spent pretty much the whole night zooming round holding dads hand, except for my race, which I won rather handsomely.

I had to duck out early this week as it was Frankies birthday, on the Wobsticle!  It was great fun, but did lack the drama of my party as the lifegaurds remained dry throughout.  Having said that they were great fun and wobbled it like mad to try and get us to fall off.

It was quite fun watching them upstairs with Evie once roller skating had finished.

Sunday 10th

An early start for a bike ride around Swinley forest with Dad.  We hadn't been for a while so we were both looking forward to it.  We set off at a good pace, which we managed to pretty much maintain for the whole trip (red trail and blue trail, 23km's in all).  We even managed to find the jump gulley this time, in fact, I can't believe we ever managed to miss it before!  I loved it, and Dad wad borderline impressive until someone much better turned up.  My real genius moment of the day though was stretching Haribo rings over my gloved fingers, so I could nibble one off on the move without having to stop.

So while they were enjoying themselves/tiring themselves out in the woods mum and I had been delegated the sunday lunch.  I love peeling and chopping, we also made a chocolate brownie for pud as well as the Yorkshire pudding batter.  Everything was a resounding success and was pretty much ready when the boys returned home.

Yeah that was impressive, which is more than can be said for the yorkshires:

Okay they were a bit flat maybe, but check that one out with the spikes either side, like some sort of 1950's Soviet satellite.

The aftenoon activity as chose by me was a trip to the river in Hungerford.  I've carping on about going here for weeks, since the first of the spring sunshine crept out from the winter murk.

Another ruddy walk then?

But it's so cool down there, even if the water was pretty cold for a paddle:

We lounged around on the blanket, listening to the radio.

And I climbed really high in the tree opposite, right out over the river.

We walked back along the canal and met a lovely old doggie.  He walked up to us quite confidently and then somehow seemed to instruct us using wise old dog mind tricks to make a fuss of him.

Yeah, it was really cute, it was like you are kids, you need to fuss me right now!

Monday 11th

Well we were all a bit surpised when Dad got up rather ill in the morning.

Yeah, not like him at all.  He had a fever and a bad leg...off to the doctors for him!

Not the best of starts for me in SATS week, I am a bit of a worryguts at these sort of times.

Especially with the first one being reading comprehension, safe to say, not my favourite subject.

After school dance was the can can and I loved it!  

By the time we got home Dad had been diagnosed with a leg infection and had taken to the sofa, with his leg up on a table.

With a course of what can only be described as horse tablets.

So that was good news, even if Mum having to step into the role of house chef probably wasn't......

Tuesday 12th

Dad still led up, struggling to get about.

Me having to do SATS Spag test, spelling, punctuation and grammar.

And Mum still cooking.

I think it's safe to say we all had a rubbish day.

Wednesday 13th

Things were on the up, I had mental Maths SATS today, much more my bag.

Dad was feeling marginally better.

Mum's cooking still hadn't poisoned anyone.

And team Kennet took place in beautiful evening sunshine, even though Dad opted to stay at home.

I did high jump again of course.

And I managed a third place in our long distance run, including the boys!

Thursday 14th

Last SATS, more maths, that will do for me.  Glad it's finally over.  I haven't reallly enjoyed it in all honesty.  Having said that, I think I've done okay on the whole.  The proof will be when the results come out I suppose.

Friday 15th

The great thing about Mum being at home at the moment is that she can come to all my class assemblies.  Todays focussed on the subject of the workings of the ear.  As usual I delivered my lines loudly and clearly audible.  I got to take Mum back to the classroom sfaterwards and got to show her my Jesus picture:

We were only supposed to be doing the crown, but it sort of took on a life of it's own and grew into the full face.

As a reward for our efforts with the SATS all week we watched a film (Planes, epic) and then had a class trip to the park for a play and a picnic.

Once we were home we got outvoted by the adults and had to watch a film that Ned had got for christmas called Gaurdians of the Galaxy.

I wasn't sure I wanted to see it really, but Mum and Dad did.

It was actually pretty cool.

Yeah, it was quite good.

But Mum and Dad totally loved it.

Saturday 16th

I spent day knocking about with Dylan.  We went to the park, we played Ipad, Xbox, Nerf and even a game of Jenga (pretty old school or what?) later on we went to Dylan's, he has a new kitten, it was soo cool.

I was off to a joint party at Northcroft, Lilly and Elouise, a joint affair on the bouncy stuff in the sports hall.

Fever pitched levels of excitement Saturday night for the visit of Nate!

And Alan, and Andy, with his new car (which we got to go around the block in when he arrived).

Yeah, we couldn't wait to see him again.

Alan was really cool, he let us get him out of his car seat,

Give him a cuddle, 

And even give him his milk!

He even sat at the table with us for a bit of a game of King of Tokyo:

Sunday 17th

Things were certainly looking up, Dad had re-taken control in the kitchen.

Sadly he was cooking a roast and not a pizza but hey ho,it was good he was on the mend.

In the afternoon it was Darcey's party at KD gymnastics.

We were the oldest kids there by miles, at the request of the birthday girl herself.

We loved it, and I don't think we made any of the little ones cry, unlike Owen.

We had a lovely time, we hope Darcey did too:

We couldn't believe she was four already.

Monday 18th

Well it was back to school, at least the SATS were over, only to be replaced by some sort of poetry drive, deep joy.

And I wasn't vaguley interested in after school dance club after the year sixes were put in charge of choreography, totally ignoring any of my suggestions.

We also had a visit from Anne,she had bought my birthday present and apologised for how late it was....it was certainly worth the wait.  How does a half hour driving lesson sound? Yeah, brilliant, i'm so excited and I can't wait to get behind the wheel!

Tuesday

Well sadly it was back to school time.

Yeah, it seemed like we'd been off for ages.

I handed my 'Adventure' project in, no one else seemed to though....

After the kerfuffle regarding badge week at gymnastics over the holidays I was glad to find out we were having a badge session for those that missed it last week due to being away.  I was very pleased with my 'Bronze Fitness' award, until Mum pointed out that i had already got a gold one for the same discipline last month.....

Wednesday

Not quite so warm and sunny at Team kennet tonight.

Nope, and I struggled with a stitch during running.

I seemed to have my high jump mojo from last time as well.

I'm sure we'll be back on form next time.

Friday

Went to Roberts after school for tea, well, ot turned out to be Pizza Hut, epic!  It was lovely, Robert had chips which he said he was going to share with me, before proceeding to douse them in vinegar.  What is wrong with him, revolting stuff.

So I got Mum and Dad to myself.  Hot dogs for tea (my new favourite) and then a trip to the park.  Here I am modelling my new 'show girl/eco warrior' look:

We did more Nerf practice and I laughed at mum and dad using the exercise equipment...they are so lame.

Saturday

A morning stroll up to Budgens.

Yeah, someone had apparently driven through the window of the newsagents next door, the windows were all boarded up but you could still see tyre marks on the floor inside.

We got back just in time for Andy to pick me up, we were going to watch Fulham play Middlesborough.  I was pretty excited to see a proper football match and between us we had a decent selection of sweets for the day.

In light of Ned's trip out, we had arranged Sasha to come and play for the afternoon.  We had a great time painting our nails, dressing up, and having a tea party in the pop up tent in the garden.

I arrived home full of excitement, despite everyone's warnings that Fulham would lose, they won, 4-3 in the end.  There was all sorts of drama, two penalties, a red card and lots of goals.  It was brilliant fun, I think Andy actually enjoyed it as well, which I understand is rare.

Andy stayed for tea, cool.

We had a game of Dixit and in a remarkable turn of fortune, I seemed to have picked up some form and won the game!

Once Ellis was in bed we had a game of Agricola, it went on for a while.  I narrowly lost out to Mum, Andy and Dad were miles behind.

Sunday

Urghhh, Sunday morning homework session, how drab.

Still, we decided to go swimming, haven't been for ages so 

I was dead excited.

I wasn't when we got to the Coral Reef and saw the massive queue.

So we decided to try Basingstoke instead.

This proved to be a great idea as it was very quiet, and the slides are brilliant.

And there's a 'proper pool' for more swimming orientated fun as well.  Shame I cut my foot on the floor....

We had a game of Dixit again after tea, once again I won but Mum seems to have taken over my mantle of being really awful at it.

Monday

After school Dance was back on again after a lengthy rest.  Our routine was cool, especially the freestyle section I worked on with Lilly.

And Quad kids had started again.  Mr Gilham had said I might not make the team this year, so I made sure I really went for it 100%.  There's certainly plenty of us at the session this time.

Mum and I fancied a walk after tea, so we wandered down to the City Playground.

I spent some quality time with the Ipad while Dad cut the grass.

We didn't know why, he's done ot once this year already....

Tuesday
Today was Mum's birthday. 
It was indeed and I was fit to burst with excitement.  I'd kept the presents a surprise and everything.  We had to write her cards early as we were so late back last night.
We had arranged a morning with Kimi and Marny.
It didn't go exactly to plan but turned out cool in the end.
And lunch in Sainsbury's was good, slush puppies! 
Once Dad got home it was time for Mum's presents.
She seemed very pleased with what we had got her.
And then it was time for Gymnastics, high excitement for badge week.  Except it wasn't badge week.  There were so many girls on holiday there was hardly anyone there so it was decided, against my protestation to move it to next week instead.....when i'm on holiday!
We decided on a pub dinner in the Hatchet in honour of Mum's birthday, she is proper classy after all.
So I had to get changed out of my gym gear in the car!
After an initial scare it turned out they did have hot dogs in stock so that was a result.
We hadn't sorted her a cake out what with the Cornwall trip and all that so it was a quick mercy dash to Sainsbury's for a pick your own pudding session.
I stuck a candle in her individual salted caramel chocolate cheesecake thing and we sang her happy birthday.

Wednesday
We had a morning visit from Auntie Christinewhich is always an event in itself.  She had a card for Mum that was very rude indeed, we thought it was hilarious of course.
The weather was still glorious so we decided to make ourselves a picnic and cycle down to the park at Northcroft:

It was lovely sitting among the daffodils.
Except for the amount of kids who seemed to think it was okay to rip their heads off, trample them over or whatever destructive method they seemed to think was appropriate.  Mum and I were getting more and more irrate and we told a good few of them off!
I played on the park, oblivious to their rising anger.
Dad met us there on his way home from work and was a bit disappointed that there wasn't much picnic to finish off.
Gail popped round in the afternoon, with some sun softened easter bunnies.
And my birthday present....which I was allowed to open, but not build (A lego La Ferarri, well cool).
We were pretty tired in the afternoon but we still went to Team Kennet, a little begrudgingly on my part if i'm honest.
I decided to try high jump this week, much to Mum and Dads relief as they'd been telling me to have a go for ages!  I loved it, and once I had worked out what foot to take off from I really threw myself into it.  Our coach Nick said I had a lot of natural spring and I managed to easily clear the bar set at 1.05m metres.
I did some shot put this week, I had pretty good technique and put in some good distances.  Then we did hurdles which wasn't so great really but I put in another strong 600 metres run, coming third behind two older boys.

Thursday
We made a trip to the museum, again by bike.
They had an Easter Egg decorating thing on, there wasn't many people there though, no doubt due to the lovely weather.  
Still, we loved it, we are very creative.

The lady said she certainly hadn't seen anyone else turn theirs into a smiley monsetr with headphones before.

The museum itself was pretty good too, especially the dressing up stuff:

Andy popped round in the afternoon to have a quick look at the hot water system,
He'd bought my birthday present with him, which I was allowed to open, a cricket set (which I think he's rather hoping to use) and the Lego beach hut I wanted, I was well pleased.
I helped mum pack and sort things out for holiday tomorrow....I know, we've only just got back from Cornwall!

Friday
We had a morning stroll up the hill to deliver Emma's birthday card.

The Sainsbuy's garage was just a bit too far for poor old Ned to manage.
So we got sone surprisingly nice bread rolls from Budgen's.  That might cut down on the amount of Waitrose trips in the future.
We finished off the last of the packing while Mum sorted us out lunch.
She cooked my pizza to perfection, better than Dad ever does.  She reckons it's because she follows the instructions on the packet to the letter rather than being a know it all.
Then we waited for Dad to come home from work so we could hit the road.
To Norfolk.  None of us have ever been over the that side of the country so it was a bit of an adventure for all of us.
It was a pretty long drive but even me, queen of the peanut bladders didn't need to stop for the toilet.

We found the place nice and easily, even though it was out in the sticks a bit.
And it was lovely too, especially with this out in the garden:

It was late evening by the time we got here, so we didn't do much else except go the bed.
And muck about for a few hours before we finally went to sleep......

Saturday
So the view of the place in proper daylight was a pleasant surprise.

As well as the hot tub we had a massive garden that went all the way down to our own bit of river.

There were loads of bunnies about.

And a rather greedy little squirrel, hanging from a bird feeder stuffing his face with nuts.

Todays agenda included a trip to Pleasurewood Hills, a theme park near Lowestoft.

It looked really good, even though as soon as we got through the gates it chucked it down with rain and got really windy.

There was a well cool looking rollercoaster, three loops in all, we wanted to go straight on that.

Mum and I didn't.....

So, on we got and it started winching us backwards up the slope.....and then it stopped.  We didn't go forward though.  We were stuck.  Properly stuck. A load of people that worked there started putting on climbing harnesses and came up the stairs to tell thst the ride was broken and they'd get us down as soon as possible.  

So we sat there, with Mum and Ellis waving and laughing at us.

They did look funny stuck up there.  They told us to carry on around the park so we did.  We rode the horsey ride and took a lap on the train.

Meanwhile, we were given silver foil space blankets and hot chocolates to keep us warm.  I wasn't that cold anyway but thought the blanket was pretty cool.  The man told us that they had released the emergency brake and that we would slowly return to the station......it was very, very slow indeed.  After about half an hour we still weren't down so they tried something else, which released us a lot quicker and we shot down and stopped rather abruptly in the station.  I didn't spill a drop of my hot chocolate either.  We got a complimentary re-entry ticket for our troubles as well.

So we were re-united and decided it was time to take the chairlift.  I wasn't too keen on it it has to be said.
And neither was Dad the massive baby, he really didn't like me swinging it about.

At the other end we found a lake with some paddle boats with some rather comfy looking deck chairs for seats.

We did all the paddling while Mum and Dad took it easy in the back:

Next up was a rollercoaster called the Rattlesnake.  I have a patchy, on off relationships with rollercoasters it has to be said but this one was brilliant!

Then it was onto a ride called Fireball.
Which I was too short for:

It was amazing, it span round and went pretty much upside down, this is a great shot that Dad managed of Mum and Me right at the top:

Sadly we got a little bit stuck on this one too, when the restraints failed to release for a while:

Next up we found a rather pleasant boat ride

Which turned into a pretty dark and unnerving thing about smugglers.
There were some prety unique rides too, how about a carousel with horse upstairs as well as down? 
And this weird face down spinny thing:

One of my favourites had to be the Marble madness rollercoaster, it was one of those crazyones that   made you think you were going to fly off the track before turning really sharply.

There was another one called Enigma.  You could only see the top of it and it looked pretty lame until you went down into the dip where it looked much cooler.

I was a little bit scared of it but they convinced me to go on it, I was glad they did, it was really good.

Next up there were the dodgems, with no adults!

They were ace.

We all picked something to go on again as it wasn't that busy and then headed back to the cottage.For a lovely soak in the hot tub. We made it inside in time for the new series of Ninja Warrior on telly which looked like it might be our sort of show.

It was a bit rubbish though.

Unlike Britains Got Talent after it which we love.

So it wad a shame we got packed off to bed after the first lot of adverts......not happy!


Sunday

So this is what we really love about holidays, lazy mornings, snuggled up for a leisurley breakfast:

On todays agenda was a trip to an owl sanctuary.

Apparently you could hold and cuddle the owls, exciting or what!

It was a pretty long drive and when we arrived the barn itself looked pretty ropey and not at all promising.

However, inside it was really cool, there were all these owls of all shapes, sizes and colours.

We had a good look round, learned some cool owl facts, like the colour of their eyes can suggest whether they are nocturnal or not.
And that Snowy Owls can only sweat and cool themselves down by opening their mouths!

We decided which owls were going to get our attention, I went for the largest type of owl, the European Eagle Owl, all 7 pounds of her:

She was seriously cool,check out the ears and the eyes.  The ladies working at the place were very impressed with my strength.  She didn't half squeeze my hand though, i'm glad we got given a nice stout glove.
I went for the more manageable tawny owl, Bracken:

He was really cute and his feathers were so soft.  He liked being tickled on the back of the head.

We made our way along the coast road.

It has to be said the sea did not look at all appealing.  

It was all rather browny-grey.

But we parked up and had a picnic in the car like a bunch of old people.

We then headed further along the coast to Cromer, it didn't look much cop so we didn't stop until we got to a big grassy field on top of the cliffs where we got the kites out.

It was seriously windy, I launched my new kite and was lucky not to end up in the sea.  It pulled really hard but it was great to fly in such a strong wind.

I had a go too and decided that sitting down was the best way to go as I didn't get pulled about quite so much!

We headed back to the cottage and had a dip in the hot tub.
And then had a game of Dixit, a card game mum got for her birthday.  I really enjoyed it and thought it was great.
I didn't, I came badly last and decided it was rubbish!

Monday
So it was finally my birthday, i'd been looking forward to this for ages.  I had some epic presents this year, i'm very lucky it has to be said.  So there might have been an Ipad, a lego Porsche and a custom engraved headset cap for my bike with my name on it.
As well as his best present, Now 90 (my idea):

Sausage sandwich for breakfast as well.  Brilliant.
Then an early birthday cake so we could take it with us for our picnic lunch.
Yeah, M&M's guys sat in a hot tub, very appropriate!

We went to a place called Bewilderwood.  It was like a woodland theme park sort of place, with various treehouses, bridges, swings and what have you.
It was brilliant, I particularly liked what looked like brightly coloured fairy houses that you could spot up in the trees with aerial walkways between them and little doors into the tree trunks.
The sky maze was really good, a whole maze, but made on loads of different levels up in the trees, with balance beams and tunnels and all that sort of thing:

Some of the bridges were seriously high and Ned did insist on bouncing them up and down:

The big swing was good, unitl we got out of sync, mostly due to my most energetic swinging:

The slides were very impressive too:

Especially this one that was much steeper and higher in the flesh:

There were aerial runways too:

And rather smart treehouses:

So, pretty much right up our alley, a great day out.
We headed back to the cottage and just managed a flying visit to Redwings horse sanctuary.
It was closing in half an hour so we had to make a dash round.  We made sure there was time to make a fuss of these lovely little ponies:

They were sooooo soft and friendly:

We read some of the stories on the boards about how badly the rescued horses had been treated and what sort of condition they had arrived here in.
It made me really sad.
But they certainly seem to be living it up now, the place was lovely. Once we were back at the cottage we had a game of cricket out on the lawn:

I was a bit hit and miss (mostly miss) with batting but my fielding was pretty good.

I was mostly hit, a bit too hit really and a new rule of over the fence and out was introduced.

A hot tub session was well in order after our exertion.

But a row erupted over whether to have the jets on or off.

We have been changing our own preferences based on the opposite of what the other wants. This put rather a strain on things, culminating in my birthday trip to Pizza Hut being put in jeopardy.

We pulled it back from the brink though....

So this time last year it was the Cheesecake Factory in Beverley Hills.
And this time it was a Pizza Hut in a retail park on the outskirts of Norwich.

Still, it was lovely and after a full on day and a late return to the cottage we went to bed without much fuss:

Tuesday

We had another lay in and sofa slump morning in an effort to get over a few late nights.
So I got busy downloading a load of new games on my Ipad.

The lure of the hot tub was too strong to resist and we were soon back in it.  We then managed to convince Ned to have another game of Dixit.
Which I lost again.  It's rubbish.

It was yet another lovely sunny day so we took a walk down the lane outside the cottage.
Out accross the farms, there were fields and fields of crops and then that gave way to these bacon production units:

Under tree lined canopies:

And on until we got to a busy road with no path!
Dad took charge and ordered us to wait at the garden centre while he made his way back down the treachorous road to get the car and come and pick us up.
I treated as a real life daring rescue operation and he was hero for literally a few minutes.

More cricket:

My batting was really quite good today, a drastic improvement which resulted in me only having one batting life like everyone else.
Mum also made an excellent backstop, we dubbed her 'cricket robot' due to her relentless catching and ball return.

Dad set up the barbecue at the bottom of the garden on the riverbank:

And we had a lovely late lunch/early tea in the sunshine.
Followed by yet more cricket.
An Al Fresco game of Camel Up
And more hot tub.

Wednesday

Another slow start to the day with yet more cricket and hot tub, can you see a pattern emerging here?
I happened to find a book on the local area under the coffee table and found that there was a castle nearby at Castle Acre (the clue was in the name).
It was really good, even if we did get fired at by a group of teenagers with a water propelled bottle rocket on some sort of school trip.  It must have been the highest plot of land we visited all week:

We were also treated to several fly pasts at rather low altitude by a squadron of Tornado jet's.
They looked well cool and made a great loud noise.
Later in the afternoon we made our way over to Great Yarmouth, the beach looked really rather good, even the water looked quite inviting:

We had a session in the arcades on the penny falls machines.
Which were a lot harder to win on than we've become used to at Croyde and Butlins.

Even I came out empty handed!
Which should have been noted as an omen for the dog racing we then went to:

Where I didn't win a penny all night!  Unimpresseed.
I did, in fact I had a couple of winners.  The dogs were cool, really fast and some of them looked really cute.
Even if they did seem to do a lot of dumps right in front of us.

Thursday

What UK holiday would be complete without a trip on a Steam Railway?
We went on the Bure Valley railway, Dad said we should buy the pudding for our picnic at their tea shop, he was right.
They had massive slices of home made shortbread the size of patio slabs!
So we took the train from Aylsham to Wroxham:

The journey was pretty cool, through farmland, all very flat of course.
In Wroxham we picked up a boat tour of the Norfolk Broads, the most famous thing in the area apparently.
And apart from some really rather lovely houses with boat sheds instead of garages it was pretty rubbish.
Yeah, just a murky looking river that turned into the occasional big lake and a load of rushes being grown as a crop for thatchers.  Although the Egyptian Goose chicks do deserve a mention for being seriously cute.
We spent the last evening watching the stars come out sat in the hot tub.
It was perfect. 

Friday

Our last day, so we had a to get packed up and tidied up a bit.
But Mum had it well under control and we even had time for a dip in the hot tub before we left.
We'd planned a trip to Sandringham and got over half way there before we realised we'd left my CD in the player back at the cottage so we double backed to pick it up.

So, we were a bit later than we had anticipated in arriving.
I managed to really hurt my leg in the playground, which i'm blaming the Queen for personally.
Me and Mum loved it, wandering round the gardens, the sights and the smells were lovely.
We had a visit inside the house to see where the Queen has her christmas dinner:

And then wandered round some more:

The museum was cool, it had loads of old royal cars in it, even the small ones the royal children had been given by the likes of Aston Martin.

We fell in love with the cuddly Corgi's in the gift shop and had to have one each. 
Even I parted with my own money for it.
So it was time to head home, we stopped off for a McDonalds on the way near Northampton.
And enjoyed the sight of hills again, actual hills. 

Saturday

Dad was rather keen to get out on his bike, and we hatched a plan to go to Tidworth bike park while the girls slept in.  It worked a treat.

The place was well cool, we started on a route of jumps and berms on quite a flat section of the hill before moving on up the hill to the botttom section of the easiesst track.  I loved it, so next time we went a bit higher to incorporate a load of bermed switchbacks on quite a steep part of the hill.  They looked massive and quite scary, but once you were riding them they felt brilliant.  Next stop was the top of the trail, the push up was hard work and there were some seriously rooty sections which were pretty difficult with my smaller wheels.  I had a small off but managed to get back up and make it down okay.

My lay in was lovely.
We were home by lunchtime and then spent the afternoon doing homework, urrgghh.
Then it was roller skating, proper summer season stuff, doors open in the hall and everything. 
It wasn't vey busy either which was nice.
In the evening we had Alan and Hayley and much to our delight Nate round!  He was much more lively than last time we saw him, a proper wriggler.

We did indeed, I had a lovely long cuddle with him before we started on the board games.
A game of Camel Up which I can join in with, ace!
Then packed off to bed, rather unhappily without a whif of playing Agricola that Alan and Hayley had got me for my birthday.

Sunday
A trip to Legoland.

A good day out, going on a lot of rides we haven't been on for ages, warp speed on the spiders:

And a good oppurtunity to spend some birthday money on the shop.
We got back in time for a visit from Auntie Trish which was nice.
Bearing birthday gifts and easter eggs, as usual we're managing to hang out easter and my birthday for ages!
And then a game of Agricola at last, which went on long into the night.......

Monday
So it was the last day of  the Easter holidays.
Yep, what a downer.
We went to 4 Kingdoms with Auntie Christine and Darcey:

It was cool showing Mum around.

We met up with my friend sasha at fifth road park, but there was high drama when her borther took a sizeable chunk out of his head.  there was a lot of blood and an ambulance!
Andy came round for tea and to fix the heating.
And then Sue popped in too, with easter eggs and birthday presents....how lovely to see everyone!