Tuesday
End of term wind down in full swing today, as yet another 100 marbles reward we had a wheels day.  I made sure I was all over this one with my bike and my roller skates.  In fact, I rode my bike down the grass bank with my roller skates on.....brilliant! There was no netball club after school, so instead we went off swimming at the outdoor pool instead.  We too Ned and his friend Kieran and met up with Alan, Hayley and Nate as well as Andy.  It was lovely down there on such a hot day.  We even took a picnic and didn't leave until the pool closed for the night.  Ned and Kieran made sure they were the last ones left in the water.....

Wednesday
It was finally here, last day of term.  We didn't do much of course, I bought a whole massive bag full of my exercise books home as well as a selection of sweets and a copy of Midsummer Nights Dream from Mr Percy.  It's all change next term, Charlotte is going back to New Zealand to live and the classes get mixed up again for next year.  I had a mini sweet binge and a siesta when I got home:

When I came round I sat and went through some of the finer moments from my academic year with Mum:

We spent the evening playing Swingball and Frisbee in the garden.  I've got the pro tennis player grunt down perfectly now!

Thursday
First day of the holidays and I was up before Dad went to work.....ahem.  
We had a lovely day off with Mum and went to pick Dad up when he was finished.  We called into B&Q on the way home to buy some tarpaulins and some potted plants for my recently renovated section of back garden.  The tarpaulins?  They were for den building!
We sorted out the plants, re-potted one and gave them a nice drink, this old pot had some weeds growng through a hole in a stone which I thought was particularly cool:

Dad and I set about making our first den, we had a selection of canes, a large ball of garden twine and our new tarpaulins:

It didn't turn out too badly either.  A major design breakthrough came when Dad finally cottoned on to using washing line pegs....despite me suggesting this at the start of the build!
I tried to eat my tea out there, but once Ned decided to come and join me it didn't seem such a good idea....grrrrrrrr.

We went out for a nice walk around the field after tea:

And found a swing, result!!!

Friday
Another day off with Mum, she asked what we wanted to do...Gravity Force!  Despite it being yet another lovely warm and sunny day.  After a bit of googling Mum came up with a cheaper and nearer alternative in Swindon, brilliant, what's not to like?

 I preferred it to Gravity Force, Ned didn't, but hey, we never agree on anything!

There were loads of things to try out, even a tightrope over a foam pit, and Mum joinng us for a bounce was the icing on the cake.  It was very warm work though:

We had another afternoon in the garden, lovely.

We went to see Nate in the evening, I loved fussing him of course.

Saturday
Lay in was much needed, Ned went out, Mum went out to a meeting so Dad and I made a swing in one of the overhanging tree branches in the garden.  It was pretty good too, even if the stick we used for the seat was hellishly uncomfortable.

Once Mum was home we hastily arranged a trip to the outdoor pool with my friend Amy, brilliant!

We had a great time in the pool, and really enjoyed it when we met up with a couple of year 6 boys from school down there(Bailey and Charlie).

A bit of saturday night telly rounded the day out nicely.

Sunday
Another decent lie in today, we've slipped into summer holiday mode very easily this year!

When we had managed to get ourselves together we took a trip Kingston upon Thames.  First stop Waitrose for some picnic provisions to enjoy as we watched the Thames flowing by with all it's various boats, ducks and sadly rubbish too.....

The boys bought trainers and I got a new school backpack to house the latest addition to my TY collection:

Monday
Another day off with Mum, its like she barely even goes to work at all these days!

We went to the Cobbs Farm to pick some strawberries and raspberries!

What better way to spend a summer holiday morning?

We had a decent haul at the end of it of course and couldn't wait to have our Eton mess for tea.  Ned accused us of being Aldi due to our slack quality control, whereas he claimed to be Waitrose as he only picked a few prime specimens.

In the afternoon we paid a visit to the electrical shop as Ned suddenly wants to buy himself a big telly for his Xbox.  It was pretty good though, I loved playing on the laptops and listening to Neds songs from his phone on the bluetooth speakers.  We had a quick trip over to Tsco and I got a very reasonably priced summer hat to replace the one I left in the airport during our Venice trip.

Tuesday

The time had finally come, it was butterfly release day.  After much discussion we went down to the road that goes up to the bottom of the school field.  The first one left in quite a hurry and was off flying above the trees and away:

The next one needed a bit more encouragement but seemed quite happy once it had found this flower to sit on:

The third one really wasn't so keen at all.  We should have taken him home on reflection.  Especially as he was swooped upon by a bird as soon as he found his wings.....very upsetting thst was.  

Wednesday

We launched the one remaining and previously least active butterfly, we'd decided against the same release spot as yesterday in favour of our own front garden instead.  He flew off up to the bigold tree rather impressively.

Team Kennet, full on summer super long daylight mode!

Friday

Massives news from School, the netball coaches are retiring!  We're devastated as a household, just as I was about to get the benefits of their expertise too!  

Ned made the Park House Twitter feed for this rather fetching eyes closed shot from their race for life day:

Once we were all home and changed we headed off for a weekend camping in Croyde.  We collected Andy on the way and hoped to get there in good time.....as usual when we head west on a friday night though, the traffic isn't great.  Still, it wasn't too bad and we arrived with plenty of day light left to get ourselves set up.  It was easier than usual as we had left all the rooms and ground sheets attached when we took the poles out and folded it up last time we used it.  It went up like a dream and Mum and I were soon making the beds, we were excited to get ourselves snuggled down for a cosy kip after a couple of games of sevens of course.

Saturday

We had a lovely sleep and managed something of a lie in as well.  It was a rather grey scene it must be said, so we went off for a swim in the pool.  It's a great pool, with all the slides and jacuzzi's and the not very lazy river.  We hoped the murk would have lifted by the time we came out.....but it hadn't.  We weren't bothered though and still had lunch sat outside.
Ned and Andy got suited up and headed for the sea, while the rest of us went for a wander along the waters edge.  There were millions of jellyfish bodies washed up:

Weird boingy things that they are.  I also went off to explore the dunes which was great fun and also helped me pick up a few prime sticks.

Barbecue for tea, preceeded by some alfresco dancing/gymnastics and followed by Smores of course:

Then finally an outing for the egg game:

Which was brilliant but ended a bit more prematurely than we might have liked due to a few 'disagreements'

Sunday
Another lay in, broken by the serious noise assault of the local bird population. 
We had a rushed breakfast so everyone else could get in the sea as it was looking pretty favourable.  Once again I gave it a miss and wandered the dunes instead.
We had a 'brunch' (sausages/burgers/bacon) before having an arcade session:

I actually very nearly got a higher score than Ned at this, but we'll keep that to ourselves.

Then it was time to get packed up and head for home.  I love camping!

Monday
Well the weather had turned hot hot hot, so I got the cold drinks sorted, in fancy glasses with a straw:

It made them all the more cooling of course.  We had to go to Sainsburys for some fruit supplies and then I managed to get Dad to come down the park for a kick about while Ned was out catching Pokemon!

Tuesday
We had to transfer my butterflies from their tub to their net enclosure thingy:

It was quite a delicate operation as we also had to remove the sticky silk they had produced as well as get the lid attachex to it's stand.

Once that was dealt with we took a spontaneous trip to the outdoor pool.  It wasnt a scorching hot day or anything but it was certainly nice to go for a splash about.

Thursday

We had to make a vey quick trip to the retail park to buy birthday presents for my two upcoming parties....the clock was ticking as Dad and Ned wanted to go to the bikepark.

Mum and I got the presents wrapped after a lovely civilised tea.

Friday
Ned was back at my school for what must be his final John Rankin commitment, the year 7's against the current year 7's netball match.  There was only him and Tilly in Park House uniforms.

It was quite funny to watch, him, Tom and Joe hadn't played for a year so they were a little rusty to begin with but he was soon back in the swing of things:

They had a lot of fun by the looks of it and he certainly seemed to enjoy his reunion with the coaching ladies and some of the old team that had gone to St Barts.

Straight on to Gymnastics afterwards, im loving Fridays at gymnastics.

It was also Amy's party....out for food and then a sleepover.  I got dropped off at the cricket club, met up with Jess and waited for tilly and Amy to finish their cricket before heading into town for a meal at Bella Italia.  Very nice it was too, Amy and I shared a big pizza that was very much like a proper Italian one.  We decided to skip pudding in favour of the chocolate fountain back at Amy's house. Nwe loved dipping marsh mallows in it.  Although it was billed as a sleepover it was in actual fact anything but.  We watched five films, made up various dance routines and didn't get to sleep until 5:30 am......

Meanwhile Ned got to have some quality time with Nate:

Well it's not my fault he likes me the most is it?

Saturday
We werent up particularly late.....8:30 I think? We had a nice breakfast and hung out some more doing each others make up until we all got picked up at 11.

We picked up some provisions from Waitrose before heading home.  Ned went straight out to the Falkland School summer fete, we joked that he was going to covet their trophy cabinet!

We had a bit of a quite five minutes before Mum got restless and we went to town for a quick shopping trip.  

Next up, another party for me, this time Evie's wobsticle! I had a new cossie to wear as well that!um had ordered me, excellent!

We rounded the day off with Catchphrase on telly.

Sunday
One of my butterflies had hatched!  I was so excited I was charging round the house like it was Christmas!

We all had a rather lazy morning, before we finally ventured out with the bikes loaded in the car.  We headed for the Gorge cafe in Caversham for a fry up brunch.  It was such a cool place, funny little tables and a low bumpy shaped cieling painted pink!

We ate our own weight in pork products and grease, it was lovely!

We saddled up and rode along the River Thames, it was really rather pleasant too on the whole, bar the few grumpy old walking types.  One of which Dad decided to have a 'discussion' with, which was out of character enough, nevermind the fact that he pulled the old codger up on his use of foul language in front of Ned....ha ha, he reckons its down to Mum's positive influence on him.

It was tiring work even if we did only get as far as Sonning:

But there was so e exploring to do:

And it was all really rather pleasant as it goes:

After that massive onslaught of indulgence for brunch, this was a most welcome drink with tea:

We made sure my new butterfly friend had suitable provisions:

Monday 

I scored a Wondergoal on the field after school, i went for a kick about with Thomas and Harrison and a year 3 who was already in goal.  Harrison took a shot, the goalie knocked it back out and I waded in, chipped it over the keeper with the ball just dipping under the crossbar! Unlike the boys who seem to really overdo the goal celebrations I cadually sauntered iff the pitch and went home with Mum and Dad, leaving them all slack jawed.

I've been really into sewing lately, my latest project.....a skirt:

Mum and I went out for a walk after tea to find sone wild flowers for my butterflies, not that all of them have bow hatched!  We need to keep them for a few days before they are released into the wild.....exciting!

Tuesday
I'd been picked for the girls football team again, this time for a 5 a side tournament at Trinity.  In a brand new concept to our school though, we decided to actually have a team training session in advance.  I know, radical thnking eh?  Perhaps this is something the England team might like to adopt......With this going on after school though I had to miss netball for a week.  The practice session seemd to go well, we've even settled on a regular goalkeeper now and she's actually happy to do it.

Wednesday
So today was our Football tournament.  We got changed before we left school for the day and gave Lilly a lift with us.  We had a right laugh in the car waving at random people on the way.  

The tournament itself was really good, we played a lot better than our last outing too so the training session must have paid off.  We won one, lost one and drew two and came third overall.  It was quite an eye opener too, one of the girls was a right nightmare, barging, shoving and even swearing!  How uncouth.  

We went out for a meal pretty much straight afterwards, with Nate, Alan, Hayley, Anne and Mike:

I loved having Nate around, and it was a nice catch up too.

Friday
Our 100 good behaviour marbles at school reward finally came to fruition, with a trip down the park (there had been a few false starts because of wet weather) 

We had a great time, I did my best not to acknowledge Mum at any point until we wanted a push on the big roundabout thing:

When we got back to school we got issued with our letters telling us what class we'll be in for year 5.  As an added bit of excitement we are also having a bit of a mix up between the two classes.  For once I wasnt on the rough end of the deal either and got to stay with pretty much all my favourite friends!  Not everyone seemed to be so lucky though and there were plenty of others leaving in tears.

Saturday
It was (finally) Ned's birthday outing, a trip to paintball with Kieran, Charlie and Alastair.  Obviously I didnt fancy this at all so made alternative arrangements......a day with Nate!  I can't get enough of the little fella.  We hung out, we went to Waitrose and best of all we went swimming.  I was the onoy one in the outdoor pool too, Dad was very proud of that one.

Sunday
Continuing our weekend seperation I had a day out with Auntie Trish and Auntie Christine.  It was a belated birthday outing so we were shopping for my presents!  We managed a mighty haul too, fluffy toys, shoes, athletic leggings, stationary, books, an adult colouring book and sticky beads. We met up with Laura and Darcey for lunch:

Ned, Mum and Dad went off to Thorpe Park for the day, on some proper. Ig and fast roller coasters, it sounded terrifying!

Monday
It was new class trial at school, well, it was for a little while anyway so that was a bit disappointing.

I did some of my new colouring book after id tackled my fractions homework:

We went down the park for a bit after tea, to work on my football skills.  There was a bit of progress made I think.....then Lola and Teagan came down and we played on the park instead.

Well, whats happened here then? Haven't had an update in weeks have we?  What a disgrace, lets try and catch up a bit shall we?  I dont think my memory is quite good enough to recall everything in specific detail so we'll just have to go with the highlights.  

I started on my birthday crystal growing set with Mum.  We were like a pair of mad scientists mixing up the chemicals.  I was expecting a couple of little flakes or something so was pleasantly surprised by this monster:

A momentus day,Thursday 9th of June marked the re-opening of the trampoline after a lengthy period buried under twigs and bird poo.  Mum did a great job cleaning it all up, making it look as good as new while Dad and I completed the renovation of the previously weed infested flower bed in the lower garden.  We raked, levelled, dug out the worst of the roots before laying a weedproof carpet thing and sprinkling a load of heavy bags of slate pieces all over it.  We had to wash them first and got into a lovely mess with all the sludge, I loved helping. Anyway, the trampoline was brilliant fun:

Friday 10th of June marked our school celebration of the Queens 90th birthday with a big old picnic on the field.  We looked for Laura, Darcey and Auntie Christine without mch sucess so Mum gave them a call.....they turned out to be sat down right next to us:

Saturday 11th and Dad had to finally concede that Ned's trainers were too small and he needed a new pair (he has only had them for 18 months).  We took a trip to the Nike shop but they didnt have any that quite fitted the bill.  So we ended up in a nearby Sport Direct instead.  Once we had sorted that out we cam home, had a quick change and headed to Mum's work party, also in aid of the Queens birthday.  Anyway this one was a bit special, there was a bbq, there was a dune buggy to do laps of the field in:

There was a bouncy castle:

There was a football match, a mechanical digger that you could knock over skittles with, a manic dog that I loved playing with.

There was also clay pigeon shooting, Dad had a go and missed.  Mum was talked into giving it a go, hit her first clay and gave the gun back.  100% success rate there then Mum.

Ned had a few goes and hit one too:

I wasn't sure about it at all, maybe next time....

We managed to fit in a bit to eat before a bit of a cricket match broke out.....which was interrupted by the highlight of the day, the water bomb fight!

All of a sudden several hundred waterbombs appeared and it went off.  Everyone got involved and we all got soaked!! It was such great fun and quite a party it has to be said.
In the evening Mum and Dad went out to Tracey's 50th party (in a pub) so we got Alan and Nate for the night, what a brilliant day.
 

Monday

Still on the monday night gymnastics trial, still don't like the lack of structure.

Tuesday

Netball after school, we're starting to make some progress too I think, still enjoying it.

Wednesday

Team Kennet night and Dad got roped in to help, doing the raking in the long jump pit.  It looked well weird him being out in the infield.

Friday 17th

It was 'Den building' day at school.  I had sourced some decent supplies this year, a bumper pack of garden canes, a huge ball of twine, a couple of old duvet covers and a long length of leftover weedproof matting.  It was brilliant despite the school making a bit of a mistake and scheduling it the same day as the infants sports day, meaning the prime building areas were out of bounds.

We got home, loaded up the car, collected Andy and headed to Cornwall!  Brilliant.

Saturday 18th

What a glorious day, low tide during the day meant a spot of net trawling in the rock pools although we didn't catch much.  A game of kingball followed then lunch and an afternoon slump:

Despite the sunshine, good waves and my new bodyboard I decided against joining the others for an afternoon surf and decided to do some digging on the beach.  I made friends with a little girl who's name was Connie (decided against telling her about John and Sarah's dog).  She also claimed her surname was Bay!  We had a lovely time while the others splashed about.
Barbecue for tea, Ned tried to fashion a shelter:

Mum and I preferred it without (eben though I pinched Dads jumper):

Sunday and the weather had turned, it was grey, wet and drizzly.  We had a game of Yeti after breakfast......but even after that things hadn't cheered up any.  So, we hatched a plan to walk to Boobies Bay (hahaha) in wetsuits with the boards. It was a bit of a jaunt, right across Constantine bay but as you can see, we enjoyed ourselves when we got in the sea and I loved my new board:

Cornwall mid June 2016 from Part Time on Vimeo.
We went for lunch at the Youth Hostel, but had to sit inside which was actually something of a novelty.  Once that was done we packed up and headed home....great weekend.
 
Monday 
I went to Lolas for tea straight from school and then we went to gymnastics together.  It was great fun so thats a benefit of Mondays gymnastics.
When I got home, my butterflies had arrived....well, my caterpillars had anyway.  I had a 'grow your own butterfly kit' for my birthday and i've been super excited about it all.  Anyway, the caterpillars came in their very own pot, complete with food and whatever else they need to get going.  So we placed them very carefully in an appropriate corner of the room (away from direct sunlight or extreme temperastures) and started waiting......

Friday
School sports day, Mum came for the whole morning which was brilliant.
We had all the usual stuff on offer, here I am on my way to scoring at netball:

Hula hooping with a smile:

I didn't do very well on the space hopper, but ran very well in the races I did this time around.  We won the tug of war though (thats me second from left, dug well in):

Then of course there was the Mums race, egg and spoon this time.  All my friends joined in cheering for her as they all know her from reading now.  She didn't disgrace herself, despite dropping the egg......

Sports day 2016 from Part Time on Vimeo.

Our house came third this time, which made a pleasant change from coming last!

 

Saturday

Our long awaited trip to get our nails done on Mum's voucher she had for her birthday.  It was fantastic, if a bit painful at times.  It took ages, I didn't mind at all and lapped it all up, we looked fantastic afterwards, mine in a nice vibrant pink and mum's a rich deep purple/brown metallic.  I dont theink the therapist thought my idea of going home and cleaning the car was a very good idea aftter her efforts.....

Sunday

Ned had a very brief athletics event he'd signed up for, the hurdles for team Kennet at a league match in Swindon.  It was pretty much the first event, so he was straight on it, bit of a warm up then race.  He hasn't done hurdles for ages so I thought he was pretty brave.  His start was amazing and he got over the first and second hurdle in the lead but it all started to unravel as his stride pattern went to pieces.

We visited the cake stall which was very well stocked:

As we were already in Swindon we thought we may as well do something else now he was finished, problem was we hadn't bought him a spare set of clothes!  SO a quick mercy dash to Next and one outfit later we made our way to the Butterfly Farm place:

We sat really still in the hope one would land on us....

But they didn't.  This cute guinea pig did though:

Monday
There was some sort of football match on today?  I wasn't very interested in that to be honest but we ere having a few round for a barbecue, which I was very interested in!  I helped get everything ready, swept the trampoline, helped get the tables and chairs and blankets and the gazebo up it was really exciting.  It was lovely having everyone round and I had a lovely time even if the football result wasn't very good:

Just throw in a quick Caterpillars update, they are growing well and a lot more active at the moment!