Ben's Blog

This morning, Ben got his latest batch of Netball awards – a certificate for reaching the Plymouth Finals and his bronze medal.  He also, surprisingly, got a School Values award for ‘always encouraging his peers and showing love’.  We didn’t know he was going to get this one so we were glad that we both went to assembly! We think this was because he was always encouraging his team mates at Netball due to him being the Captain, and making sure they were OK as there were a few tears last week during the tournament when they didn’t win it all.  Well done, Ben!

This week, Ben has been to Marjons with the school Netball team to play in two tournaments and they did extremely well in them both!

On Monday, the tournament was for about 12 school teams in Plymouth who had done best in the previous couple of tournaments that had been held before Christmas and Bickleigh was up there amongst the best.  So, they played 6 games on Monday, with Ben being the Captain, and won all of them apart from the last one, which they drew 3-3, even though it looked like the opposing team’s goal actually didn’t go through the net but bounced back out from the pole behind. The penultimate game they won 10-0 which was great as I arrived in time to watch that one!  There was a lot of controversy though and Mr Martin and Miss Ingram were not impressed.  The students who were refereeing were not very good and didn’t know the rules at certain times which was making things worse as the players didn’t know what was happening on occasions which was getting them frustrated!  Ben scored a few goals in the early stages of the games.  When I made it up to Marjons to watch the last couple of games, he was mostly in defence, so I didn’t see him score any unfortunately.  Kelly wasn’t able to go and watch him this time as she was doing some training for her new job, which was a shame.  Anyway, they ended up winning the tournament that day and got some nice gold medals and certificates.  Ben, and the other team members, received them during assembly on Wednesday morning.  Winning the tournament qualified them for the Plymouth Finals on Thursday!

So on Thursday, there were 6 teams that played, as there were 2 tournaments on Monday.  The top 3 from each tournament went through to the finals.  Again, I was able to walk up to watch and Kelly was able to come with me this time, but they had got the times wrong! So by the time we had got there, they had finished and the presentations were taking place.  We were very annoyed to say the least!! Apparently Marjons had told the schools the wrong finish time and it was actually an hour earlier, which meant we missed it all. Anyway, we watched the presentations through the window and were glad to see that Bickleigh came 3rd overall, which now qualifies them for the Devon finals in Torbay in March, which means we can both go and watch him that day! Yippee!! Eventually, we were able to go into the court and find out how they had done. They had won their first 3 matches easily but then got hammered 6-0 by Plymstock, who are their main rivals and are a very good team.  They then lost the final game by the odd goal, which was a shame. But, again, there was controversy, as the organisers apparently didn’t but the scores in properly!! So the top 2 teams at the time didn’t know who had won, even though a trophy had been given out to Hooe school. But then, later on after school, Ben said that they all actually had the same points so all 3 schools were joint first!! The officiating for these events is terrible and I hope it is much better for the Devon event!  Oh well! Ben said that he scored some goals again but a couple of the teams were quite rough and Ben ended up shoving one lad out of the way as he was winding him up by elbowing him and everything! They were all disappointed in the end for not winning but Miss Ingram and Mr Martin were proud as they got through anyway and they all played well.  Fingers crossed they have a good run at the Devon Finals in March at Paignton!

UPDATE – today in assembly Miss Ingram confirmed that they actually did come joint 1st but ended up 3rd on goal difference, so they were so close to winning it!!

We all had a wonderful Christmas Day this year and for the first time ever, I didn’t have to go in and wake the boys up to tell them they could get up!  The night before, Aaron, who got up at about 3am last year and snuck downstairs, managed to get us to say a time that they were allowed to get up on Christmas morning. He wanted it to be 6am but we said 630am would be fine, as Kelly has to go down and put the Turkey in to cook by 7am anyway.  Kelly and I were awake by 630am anyway, but at about 6am we could hear them whispering to each other in their room so I had to tell them to be quiet, which they did, but they then got up just before 630am with Aaron and Coby rushing in to our room saying ‘Merry Christmas!’.  They were full of it and were dragging their stockings behind them in to our room as well.  Ben was lagging behind a bit as he was acting cool, but he was very excited as well to see what he had got.  Before we even had chance to get out of bed, Coby was starting to open his presents so we had to tell him to stop and wait as Kelly had to put the Turkey on.  So they all sat on our bed and waited for Kelly to return before we all opened our stocking presents.  Coby and Aaron must have gone through their stockings at opened their presents in record time as they were finished before Kelly and I had barely started!!  They were all very happy with what the received from Father Christmas which includes books, clothes, chocolates, small toys and a Fart Ninja each, which they all thought was hilarious!  They cracked in to some of their chocolates and sweets there and then, which was allowed, only because it was Christmas!!

We then went on downstairs to see if Father Christmas had left any presents for everyone under the tree – and he had!!  There was a big pile of presents under the tree from relatives and also a small pile of presents for each and everyone from Father Christmas in front.  Coby, again, was about to dive in and start opening them but, as tradition in our house states, we had to wait until we had some shortbread for breakfast! haha So we had biscuits and a drink and by this time, Aaron and Coby were ready to burst as they were desperate to start opening the main presents!!  We then commenced the opening of the presents, one by one, person by person, until they were all opened.  We had to stop for various phone calls and for Kelly to sort some bits out for dinner, but we were all done by late morning, which was quite early for us as we have, in the past, had to continue to open presents after our Christmas Dinner.  We all had some great presents and the boys were extremely pleased with what they had.  Ben received Harry Potter Cluedo and a Harry Potter Knight Bus 3D Puzzle from Father Christmas, a FitBit, a Harry Potter 1000 piece puzzle, Harry Potter PJ’s, a new boot bag, a large stationery set and a few other things.  Aaron got a Tube Racer set and a Garbage Truck from Father Christmas.  He was especially happy with the Garbage Truck as he had asked Father Christmas for it for the past 2 or 3 years! He also got a Bugacular game, some new earphones, Hot Wheels Creator, the new Everton kit, a robot to build and control via his tablet and some other bits and pieces.  Coby had a Glow Pad and a Crayola Art Set from Father Christmas and an Everton kit, a Lego police car, a Teksta Robot Puppy, Where’s Wally game, some Everton PJ’s, a Hot Wheels Dino track, a Pop Forky and a Spiderman Art Table.  Of course, they all wanted to open each of their presents as they received them so we had to keep telling them to hang on until all were opened as bits would get lost.  Coby didn’t listen though and opened several of his and then we had to hunt around for the bits for some of them!

Our Christmas Dinner was lovely again and we all scoffed loads and were fat and full afterwards!  I even fell asleep briefly in the afternoon which I have never done before on Christmas Day – must be getting old!!  We spent the afternoon looking at the presents and helping the boys open and put together theirs, before we had a video call with Grandma, Darren and Marina to wish them a Merry Christmas and so the boys could show them what they had got.

Ben, Aaron and Coby then had something to eat for tea, as they were hungry by this time, even though they had been eating sweets and chocolate all afternoon!  They then went to bed by 8pm as they were all shattered so Kelly and I were able to get some food and finally relax a little and look at what we got, though we were tired out as well.

We had all had a lovely and exciting day filled with good food and fun! It just went way too quickly again! Roll on next Christmas when I will be 40!!

During the weekend before Christmas, Kelly and I surprised the boys by taking them straight from school to Drayton Manor Park for their Magical Christmas Experience.  Obviously, we went to a hotel first for the night!! But the following day, we got up nice and early and made sure we arrived at the park for opening time, which was 930am.  The hotel we stayed at was only 15 minutes away, which was great, and we had a nice big room and they even had some activities for the boys to do when we got there.  Once of them was to write a letter to Father Christmas and to then post it in a special box in reception before bed to see if he would write back to them.  They all did this and when they woke up in the morning, there were 3 letters by the hotel room door.  They were all pleased with this, especially Aaron and Coby, as Father Christmas had written back to them all!! The Premier Inn must have had a special agreement with Father Christmas over that weekend, especially as it was so close to Christmas!

The day at Drayton Manor Park didn’t start off too well as Ben pushed Coby out of the car which meant the car door smacked against the car next to us, with them in it.  The guy came out and wasn’t very pleased and made sure we knew that, but it was an accident.  He didn’t want to take any money from us so we left it at that – great start!

Anyway, we walked on in and went straight to Thomas Land.  Most of the rides didn’t start until 10:30 am, but some had obviously been through their daily checks and were already going, so we went on a few.  We then went to the 4D cinema which was showing Ice Age before heading back to Thomas Land for a show with the Fat Controller.  We then went on more rides, mostly in Thomas Land, but some in other areas of the park.  Thomas Land had been decorated for Christmas nicely and there were trees dotted around and they had put snow on the roofs of the little houses there as well.  The trains were also decorated with Christmas lights and tinsel, so it was all very nice. We all went on various other rides before walking up to the other area of the park to see what other rides were open.  We had a go at a train shooting gallery ride, which was completely different to anything we had been on before, which we all thought was great, and another pirate ship ride.  By this time it was time for food so we managed to get a table in the burger bar and had some burgers and chips for dinner.  We then walked up around the zoo to have a quick look and listened to a Reindeer talk and got close to a Tiger which was right next to the fence.  It was getting quite cold at this point so we wandered back down towards the main area of the park and got some nice warm donuts, which were delicious! We then went on a few more rides before it was time to queue up to meet Father Christmas.  We got to the queue before our time but we ended up having to wait a good 40 minutes to eventually see him, which was a bit rubbish really! The boys were playing up at this point as well as they were bored just standing around, which was a shame. When we eventually got to see him, he had a chat with each of the boys individually and asked if they had been good and were enjoying the day, and also asked what they mainly wanted for Christmas.  Coby looked in awe of him, Aaron looked worried when he was being talked to and Ben just took it all in his stride but didn’t get too close! haha. The boys then had a photo with him and he gave them each a gift, which turned out to be a nice star shaped Magical Christmas at Drayton money box, a cool looking Elf and a voucher for entry into the park with a paying adult in 2020.  At least Ben didn’t get a magic set this year!!  Once we had seen Father Christmas, we rushed back to the main area of the park for a Christmas parade that had already started. Typically the parade time was the same time that we were in visiting Father Christmas, which we only found out about a week earlier via an email! Anyway, we saw that and it wasn’t too special anyway but at the end of it came the Fireworks display over the lake. This was really good and we got good positions to watch it.  It lasted quite a long time really but there weren’t any really big bangs due to the animals on the park but it was still very good.  And that was that….it was time to go again.  We did nip in to the sweet shop to get some sweets for the boys on the way out and had a final walk around the areas that we could get to before heading out and back to the car.

Overall, we had a lovely day but it definitely wasn’t as good as Paultons last year.  It seemed more organised there and more magical, with less people so we could just walk straight on to the rides in most cases, instead of having to queue a bit here, and they also did a Roast Turkey in their restaurant.  Meeting Father Christmas was also better there as they had a long Christmassy walk to go and see him, with animatronics and other magical stuff, and we didn’t have to queue up for 40 minutes!  Saying that, it was nice at Drayton and the boys actually said they preferred it here – possibly due to Thomas Land!  We had a nice, magical day out and had some fun before our long journey home in the car.

Last night was Ben’s last Christmas Carol Concert at Bickleigh Down Primary School. ;-( It was quite sad for us watching him as it brought back memories of him being the donkey in the foundation nativity, all of 6 years ago.  He has certainly grown up since then!  Ben was near the front so we had a very good view of him and he also did a prayer reading towards the end of the concert. He seemed to enjoy the event although he did look tired out!