Ben's Blog

The week after the Netball tournament, Ben had a school trip to Paignton Zoo. Kelly also helped with the trip so went with the children and the teachers on the coach to the Zoo. Ben had a really fun, but educational, day and saw a lot of the animals there. The weather was OK as well (it didn’t rain) but it was apparently quite cold! They learnt some new stuff about the animals and conservation in general and Kelly enjoyed the day as well, though she said there was a lot of walking and herding the children!! hahahaha!

The second week back from the Christmas holidays, Ben was picked in the school Netball team (as he goes to Netball club on a Wednesday after school).  They had so many people want to play that they have an A team and a B team. Ben was in the B team with most of the other Year 5’s, with the A team being made up of Year 6 children. 

They had a qualifying day on the Wednesday, and they were unbeaten! They won all of their games apart from 1 which they drew, so they ended up 2nd in the group and thus made it through to the finals day on the Thursday. The only team that was higher than them was the A team.  The tournament was being held for all of the schools in Plymouth at Marjons, so just up the road from work. This was ideal, as I was able to pop up for an hour on the Thursday to watch him play. Kelly helped take some of the children on the Thursday, so she was there already, so I met her at reception and got a hot choc. 😉

Ben’s first match started a little later than expected but I was able to see him play in 3 matches. Unfortunately, as the teams were the best ones in Plymouth, the skill level went up quite a notch it seems, as Bickleigh B lost every match apart from 1 which they drew 0-0. They just couldn’t get the ball and the other teams were really good and some of the children were a lot bigger – probably Year 6 children. The Bickleigh teachers were getting worked up as well and Miss Ingram had to leave the hall at one point as she was sweating and red just from sitting down and shouting instructions to the children! haha I couldn’t do it either as it was getting me worked up as well just watching and Ben was getting annoyed at some of his team mates as they were rushing their passes and giving the ball straight to the other team. He is very competitive, but you have to play to win! haha I had to leave before the last couple of matches but Kelly stayed and was giving me a text commentary over the phone.

When they had finished all of their matches, we found that they had ended 5th overall out of 32 schools, which is really good seeing as Ben and a lot of the others had only started playing last September.  Annoyingly, they just missed out on the Devon tournament as only the top 4 teams went through to that. The Bickleigh A team ended up 4th so they just qualified. Ben did enjoy it though and if he carries on, he will no doubt be in the team again next year. He got a nice certificate for each day as well. 😉

The Friday before Christmas, we went to Paultons Theme Park for the day. We travelled up on the Thursday evening after school and didn’t tell the boys where we were going, so it was a big surprise until Aaron noticed that there were bags in the car at school pickup! They were then all very excited! We stayed in a hotel about 2 mins away from the park and got there nice and early, so we could have a relaxing evening, before the big day on the Friday.

We got up nice and early on the Friday and had some food, which we had brought with us, before heading over to Paultons for opening time at 10am. Although there were a few cars there already, the park itself was nice and quiet so we headed over to Peppa Pig World and went on several of the rides nice and quickly.  There was a new area in Peppa Pig World since we had visited a few years ago, so we made sure we went on those rides! The weather was perfect as well. Nice and sunny and not that cold. We had been worrying for weeks that it would be rainy, but were lucky it was so nice! After we had gone on several of the rides we went to the 4D Cinema to watch the show. It was a bit strange and Coby couldn’t really get on with the 3D glasses and typically, just as he took them off, a squirt of water (part of the experience) shot out of the chair in front and went straight into his eyes! haha He was OK though and managed to watch the rest of the show as best he could. Ben and Aaron enjoyed it as well although I think it made them feel a little sick – it certainly did to me! By the time this was over, we wandered back through the street area and to the restaurant, where we had some dinner. Kelly and I had Roast Turkey, which was very nice, and the boys had other childrens meals. We then walked over to the other side of the park where the more grown up rides were and had a go on a few of those. Not all of the rides were open, due to it being out of season, but all of the rides that we would have gone on were open, so it was perfect for us. So we spent the majority of the afternoon working our way back towards Peppa Pig World from the other side of the park, going on the rides that we wanted to. We were very lucky that it was quiet enough to basically walk on to any ride whenever we wanted to without really queuing. We did have to book the tickets beforehand and there was a limit to how many were sold, but it was ideal. On the way back over, we stopped at the show stage and watched the Christmas show that the park put on, which was a bit of fun. As part of our tickets, Kelly and I could have a free Mulled Wine and chocolate brownie slice, so we had that during the show. We then carried on over to Peppa Pig World and managed to get on a few rides before it was time for the snow in Show Street. The snow wasn’t brilliant but was a bit of fun as well and Coby seemed to love it! Aaron was also playing around in it and having fun, but Ben was in a mood at this point! Tut! We then had to go and see Father Christmas in his grotto, which was awesome. The grotto was amazing as we had to walk through snowy and magical scenes to get to see him and when we saw him, it looked like it was the real Father Christmas! He asked the boys if they had been behaving and what they wanted for Christmas and said they were all on the good list. He then asked my name and said I was on the good list as well, but when he asked Kelly, he said she was on the naughty list before he eventually found her name at the very bottom of the good list! He had a good chat with the boys and they were very polite and looked very nervous but excited as well. He then said that they could all have a present, which we could get from the elves just outside the grotto, but he did give them each a nice Christmas 2018 at Paultons badge. So we said ‘goodbye’ to him and went across and the boys got a present each. Ben got a Magic Set, Aaron got an Egg Splat game and Coby got a cuddly penguin called Pom Pom, which he absolutely loves and takes to bed with him every night! Unfortunately, the magic set was a bit childish for Ben, and he always gets a magic set from Father Christmas when we go to see him.  By this time, it was dark outside so all the Christmas lights were turned on around the park, which made it look very magical! We quickly walked back over to Peppa Pig World but we were too late to go on anymore of the rides as they had all closed for the day but we did stay a little there to take in the lights and magical atmosphere before heading back to the exit via the shop. Unfortunately, the boys were all very naughty in the shop as they wanted to buy things but we kept saying ‘no’ as it was Christmas in a few days time. So that was a bad ending for the day which was a big shame. Eventually they got some pencils and rubbers, etc and we went back to the car and set off for our journey home.

All in all, it was a fantastic day at Paultons.  The park looked magical with all the Christmas lights and trees and the fact it was quiet enough that we didn’t have to queue to get on to any rides was awesome. It was much better than in the Summer when you usually have to queue for ages to get on each ride. We would definitely come again out of season if it was this quiet. The weather was perfect as well – we all had a great time.

Christmas Day this year was lovely and we all enjoyed it thoroughly. It was also the first year ever where the boys had to come and wake me and Kelly up! They managed to stay in bed until 7:05 as well, which was a miracle but typical really as they are usually up much earlier than that and we wouldn’t have been mad if they got up earlier on this one day a year!! haha

They were all excited when they saw their stockings and dragged them into our bedroom and up onto the bed. Coby could barely move his as it was packed to the rim and was almost the same height as him!! Before we dived into the stockings, Kelly had to go down and turn the oven on for the Turkey as we had a massive one this year which would take all morning to cook. The boys could hardly contain themselves during the waiting but just about managed to hold on until Kelly came back upstairs. Everyone then started opening their stocking presents from Father Christmas. The boys all had some lovely stuff including the usual chocolates and sweets, books, clothes, little things to make and other goodies. They were all very happy with what they had!

Once we had all opened our stocking presents, we ventured downstairs to find that Father Christmas had left lots of presents for everyone. Again, the boys could hardly contain themselves, especially Coby who was extremely excited! But we usually have shortbread for breakfast before we open our main presents, so we had that and a drink and then set about opening our presents, one at a time.  As usual, Coby wanted to play with each present that he opened but we had to keep telling him to hold on until they had all been opened, otherwise bits would get lost.  All of them had some great presents from Father Christmas, us and family. Coby’s main presents were a new scooter, an Everton training jacket, a dinosaur robot, a new electric toothbrush, a remote controlled truck, some new indoor football boots and a box of Lego. Aaron had a brand new Fire HD tablet with case and bluetooth keyboard, a Racing Track Set (like Scalextrix), an Everton training jacket, a Lego Camper Van (which he had been after for months!) and an electric toothbrush. Ben had his very first mobile phone and Harry Potter case, an Everton training jacket, Guitar Hero Live for the Wii U, Nerf Laser Ops game, some new bluetooth headphones and a Harry Potter Trivial Pursuit game.  They all loved having all of their presents and were very pleased when they opened each of them! 😉

We just about managed to open all the presents before dinner time, which we were all looking forward to! We had a lovely Roast Turkey dinner with starters and everyone scoffed loads! Dinner was actually slightly later than usual this year so we didn’t actually get time to watch Christmas Day Top Of The Pops during the day as the boys wanted to get on and play with their toys once we had finished eating. As usual, we then spoke to Grandma, Darren and Marina and Nan Nan and Pops on the laptop and we all told them (and showed them) what we had got. The boys were manic and trying to show them everything!! They then wanted some tea so they had some food and had another short play until it was bedtime.  They were all tired out but didn’t want to go to bed obviously, but Kelly and I wanted them to so we could have some peace! They eventually went up to bed at about 8pm, which was later than planned, and went to sleep, so Kelly and I sat down and relaxed for a couple of hours, though we were both tired out as well and I think we went to bed before 10pm!

We had all had a wonderful Christmas Day and our presents were all awesome from everybody.

Last week, Coby said he saw some of the Christmas Elves running about under the tree and was quite adamant about it. The Elf door is by the tree so they may have come out during the day to check on the behaviour of all three of them, as it hasn’t been very good. The other night, they even left a note to say that Ben, Aaron and Coby are currently on the naughty list and had better start behaving better if they are going to be visited by Father Christmas this year. Aaron was especially devastated by it and looked like he was going to cry when he showed me the letter from them when I went downstairs to get ready in the morning. The letter did the trick that morning though, as they were properly behaved, although it has slipped again quite a bit since, so the Elves may leave another letter before Christmas!