Archive for the ‘Family’ Category

Visiting the Cornish Cousins

Wednesday, October 28th, 2015

Canoe, Loe BeachSea Otter ChristineIt’s half term this week and things got off to a flying start with a trip to see the Cornish cousins. Our arrival was timed perfectly weather-wise. Having stopped in Exeter on Friday night we arrived around lunchtime on Saturday, just as the skies began to clear and the afternoon was spent paddling around on the river in the sunshine. We could just about squeeze the eight of us in to Ian and Sarah’s open canoe and a friend’s kayak. We didn’t get very far but everyone enjoyed themselves. The kids particularly liked picking rubbish out of the water! Christine also made the most of having squeezed herself in to a wetsuit and went for a dip in the water afterwards. She struggled a bit with keeping her feet underwater though!

Sunday was packed with more activities. We started out with a scoot round the boating lake at Helston, taking in the playground and skate park. We then relocated just down the road to the National Trust’s Penrose Estate where it was apple day. There wasn’t a huge amount laid on but the children thoroughly enjoyed mashing up the apples and then pressing the juice out of them.

BeforeDuringAfter

Emma bodyboardingDuncan sat in the surfNext stop we the beach at Hayle. Having stopped at the surf shop on the way Emma and Duncan were suitably kitted out in wetsuits and had a whale of a time bodyboarding and just generally messing about in the surf. My back was starting to play up again at this point so I settled for just enjoying the autumnal sunshine.

Lost Gardens of HeliganMonday was our last day and sadly the weather was set to take a turn for the worse. We managed to spend most of the morning at the Lost Gardens of Heligan, taking in their Halloween trail, craft activities and story telling, before the rain really set in and we were glad to de-camp to the cafe for lunch. Then it was all too soon time to wave goodbye to the cousins and wend our way back home to Hampshire.

Duncan hits six

Monday, October 5th, 2015

Duncan at SixIt was Duncan’s sixth birthday at the weekend which proved to be a remarkably relaxed affair. One of the coaches from Duncan’s weekly football training would come and give a fun session for Duncan and a group of his friends. There was a bit of injury time but thankfully no red cards (although the birthday boy indulged in a bit of cheating). Conveniently, having booked the sports hall at work, you can’t bring your own food, so the party tea was catered for admirably by the clubhouse. That just left the cake which some bright spark had decided should be in the shape of a football. Christine baked the two halves and then, whilst she enjoyed an evening with her book group mums, muggins was left to convert them in to something resembling a football! The end result seemed to pass muster though.

10K Time

Sunday, September 20th, 2015

Hursley 10KIt’s been a busy weekend with Duncan off at a party yesterday and then setting out our stall at the school car boot sale (a profitable couple of hours but we still came back with far more stuff than I’d hope to have!). Today it was the Hursley 10K and it was my turn to run this year. As an added incentive, this year I was running with #8 which, I was told, was based on the estimated time that I had submitted. What I also knew was that #1 had beaten me by some 4 minutes two years ago so I wasn’t trying to keep up from the start!

Things went well for the first half when I was in a pack of five behind the leading two runners. Unfortunately I started to fade after that (blood doning last Wednesday?) and also started to wretch around the 7km marker (something that’s affected me before in 10k races so there’s probably something wrong with my pre-race prep). I was therefore glad to hit the open at the end with no-one on my tail and could coast to finish in 7th place. Depending on how you look at things, either I was either 4 seconds slower that two years ago (gun time of 38:49) or one second faster (chip time of 38:45).

Duncan - Hursley Fun RunEmma - Hursley Fun RunBoth Emma and Duncan were entered in the children’s races. Duncan was off first in the KS1 race and declared that he wanted to run on his own. This was probably a mistake as he got his first stitch on the way round which was obviously paining him as he came in to the finish. Emma had a longer loop in the KS2 race and, although she claimed not to have enjoyed herself very much, put on a respectable show. She seems to have become very materialistic of late and was very put out at ‘just’ getting a buff, bag, banana and water bottle!

Emma and PonyWe then had to race off as Emma was meant to be singing with the Brownies at the local fun day (she’d already missed singing with the school). We arrived just in time for her to enter the arena having no idea what she was meant to be singing! She needn’t have worried though as it was virtually impossible to hear them over the band playing at the other end of the rec. Thankfully there were long queues at most of the attractions to disuade Emma but she eventually decided that she would like to have a go on the pony rides. By this time I needed to get home to have a cup of tea and a sit down!

 

Hincheslea O

Sunday, September 13th, 2015

Wilverley PlainOur Autumn orienteering season kicked off yesterday with a SOC event at Hincheslea on the western side of the forest. It was raining as we left home but the showers soon passed over leaving some lovely sunshine. This meant we had a very pleasant task in manning the start. When I left for my run the children had settled in to their usual task of getting maps out the boxes for competitors.

I enjoyed my course as the area offers high speed running when you’re not fighting your way through the head high bracken and gorse! I messed up two controls. I ran round in circles at #5 as I wasn’t confident that I was at the right gully so didn’t go looking in the undergrowth. I also wasted time at #11 where I was way off to the right which threw me completely.

Duncan orienteeringWhen I got back, Christine went round the yellow with Emma. Once we’d packed up the start, Duncan and I set off as well. Despite saying he didn’t want to do it, Duncan set off at a fair lick and kept it up most of the way round what was quite a long course. His motivation was quite clear when he came back from download with a big grin having beaten his sister by a couple of minutes.

BBQ Washout

Friday, July 24th, 2015

SOC Bake-offSOC was meant to have a BBQ tonight and, to be fair, we did have a BBQ. Truth be told though only one person attempted to cook their food on the BBQ with everyone else seeking the warmth, shelter and food of the IBM clubhouse. Sadly the rain also meant there weren’t many takers for H’s Hidden in Plain Sight photo-O. Luckily my local knowledge meant that, with a bit of a cerebral workout, we could work out most of the controls with a beer in hand! Christine had also organised a bake-off, with Rob’s chocolate coated 3D-map taking first prize.

T20 Blast

Friday, July 24th, 2015

Hampshire battingAt the suggestion of some friends we joined them at the Hampshire vs Somerset T20 Blast match at the Ageas Bowl on Thursday night. The traffic was a nightmare getting there. It took over an hour and a half to cover the 10 or so miles from home and even then we abandoned the car and walked the last half a mile. As a consequence with missed about a third of Hampshire’s innings.

I’ll confess that it was my first time watching a professional cricket match and the Twenty20 format certainly helped keep my interest. I can’t say that the same was necessarily true of the children! It didn’t look to good for Hampshire when they had to settle for 143 for seven but the bowlers did an excellent job in the second half with Hampshire the winners by six runs.

Ageas Bowl

End of a Series

Saturday, July 18th, 2015

wpid-duncan-rvcp.jpgWe went to the last of the SOC summer series events today at Royal Victoria Country Park. I went round the yellow with the children with the expression instruction of just making it fun as orienteering is still out of favour with Emma. Duncan therefore spent most of the course waving a large stick around and we took a detour on the way from 3 to 4 to take in the boardwalk!

I went round the Light Green after Christine got back which meant that I had the distincct advantage of knowing which controls were misplaced before I started! We haven’t made it to as many events in the series this year due to other commitments but it’s still been fun and I hope the club continues with regular local events next summer.

School Orchestra

Sunday, July 5th, 2015

Christine playing oboeThe reason Duncan and I had the morning to ourselves was because Emma and Christine were at an one-day orchestra session at the junior school. Christine had dusted off her oboe and Emma had her recorder. The practice beforehand hadn’t gone too well as one of the two pieces they had been given was out of range of both instruments! Duncan and I got to come and watch the performance at the end of the day. I couldn’t tell you what Emma was up to as she was well hidden by her music stand but Christine was certainly giving it a lot of puff! There were sufficient adults there carrying the tune that all of the pieces were recognisable and Christine, at least, was sufficiently enthused to look up a local wind band when she got home.