Ben's Blog

This year for Ben’s birthday party, he wanted to have it at Jump. Jump is a local indoor soft play area for children (and adults!) and they also run party packages. We have been there several times in the past and both Ben and Aaron love it there. So we booked the party up for ten children on the 28th September, with Ben handing out the invites a couple of weeks in advance.

The party turned out to be really good. We had our own designated host for the entire 2 hours, and she was great. She greeted us on arrival at 11am, and learnt all the names of the children straight away! For the first hour, the children were allowed to have free-reign over the soft play areas so off they all went to have fun. I went off to look after Aaron as he wasn’t yet big enough to go off on his own and play, and unfortunately, I managed to split my trousers, which was not good. The first thing Kelly did when she saw me was laugh her head off!  So I had to leave Aaron with her and go home quickly and change. It was pouring with rain at this point so I got soaked going home, but I decided to wear shorts in the end as it was boiling in Jump!

By the time I got back, the first hour was just about over and everyone was called over to go upstairs to the party room. Ben had chosen to have the food in the dinosaur room when we booked the party, which looked great, so everyone went up and settled down in their seats. Food was already out on the tables and smelling good! The food included salad bits, pizza, chips, sausage roll, chicken dippers, chocolate biscuits and other little treats.  There was also Ice Cream for everyone for afters. Ben sat in a King’s chair which was great! 😉

Once the food had been eaten, there was about 35 minutes left for party games and general mayhem. Our host started up a game of musical chairs, did a conga around the room and outside on the upper balcony area and then there was also dancing to the disco music that was being played. By the time this had started, Aaron was fast asleep on my lap but Ben was enjoying it all immensely. He was also very red in the face and sweating buckets! 🙂

At 1pm the party ended and everyone said goodbye and went to get their shoes and go off home. Ben had a wonderful time and got lots of presents! Jump was an excellent party venue and our host was excellent as well. We would definitely recommend it and probably go back again for another party in the future.

Here are some pictures of the day.

During the Summer, and especially during my two weeks off, we went and visited several places in the local area. These included train trips to Teignmouth, Paignton (where a seagull attacked Ben for his sandwich!) and Dawlish, visits to Lappa Valley Railway and Pennywell Farm, as well as our first proper family holiday away together at Butlins (which you can read about here).  So here are a few pictures that were taken during the holidays. 😉

During the Summer holidays this year, we went on our first proper family holiday (i.e. went somewhere that didn’t mean staying at a family members’ house!). We ended up going to Butlins in Minehead and we all loved it and didn’t want to leave. Kelly managed to get a discount on the price for a 3 night stay from a Friday to a Monday only about three weeks before, so we were all excited about going!

I was able to leave work at 3pm on the Friday, so I drove home and we loaded up and left. It took roughly two hours to get there and when we got the key card for our apartment, we found out that we had been upgraded to the next level of apartment for free, so that was a good start. It took us a while to find a parking space and our apartment, and then to unload the car, but we were very surprised at how nice our apartment was. It was spotless and the furniture looked brand new and of very good quality.

So once we had unpacked, we headed out to try and find something to eat. We ended up at one of the pubs on site and sat outside and ordered our food.  Unfortunately, we then had a nightmare as we had to move inside due to Seagulls attacking people with food and then it took over 1 hour and a half for our food to arrive. It was shocking to be honest. Needless to say, we were all starving, especially Ben and Aaron. Eventually we got our food and it wasn’t very nice at all, which was a real shame and a bit of a nightmare start to the holiday.  Once we had finished that up, we went for a walk around the place and ended up at the amusements where we spent a long time. It was getting very late by this time and we were all tired out, so we headed back to our apartment and tried to get some sleep. This was a nightmare also, as there were hundreds of Seagulls around and they were jumping on the roof of our apartment (we were on the top floor) all night, and squawking all the time. The boys slept OK, but Kelly and myself only got a few hours sleep!

The next morning we decided to go swimming in Waterworld and this was great.  They had waves and a river type section with a current to pull you along. The boys enjoyed it although Ben, as usual, didn’t go in very much as he doesn’t like water at all.  Aaron seemed to love it. We then spent the rest of the day at various shows and a lot of the time at Bob The Builders Yard which was an undercover area with several rides for children. Ben and Aaron absolutely loved it in there and we must have spent hours in there over the 3 days! Foodwise on the Saturday, we bought some pasties and rolls etc (which was a lot cheaper!).

On Sunday, we went swimming again first thing and then did the shows, amusements and, of course, Bob The Builders Yard. We had also booked in to the Circus for 7pm that day, and it was a great show, even though Aaron got a little bored and noisy half way through it! We had fish and chips for lunch, which was the best meal we had during our stay (even though it was a little pricey as usual). We then had baguettes for tea as we needed something quick and easy before the Circus show. Once again in the evening, we found ourselves in and around the amusements (mainly the 2p machines!) before trying to catch a show and going to bed quite late again.

On Monday, there were no shows on due to it being the changeover day but we had seen loads over the previous days including Wrestling (my favourite!), Bob The Builder, The Skyline Gang, Ultimate Steps, part of the Stephen Mulhern Show (which was ridiculously busy so we had no seat and had to lean against some railings until we couldn’t lean anymore!), Crazy Dunkers (twice – excellent!) and Mike The Knight. We spent the first part of the morning packing, as we had to be out of our apartment by 10am, and then loaded the car up and handed in our key card. We then had a few hours until we had to leave the premises so we went and had an Ice Cream Sundae from the Italian Ice Cream place, which was lovely, and then back to Bob The Builders Yard and then to the fairground. We also had one last walk around and a quick go in the amusements before heading back to the car and parking up by the seaside at Minehead which was just opposite the resort. We spent the rest of the day on the beach and walking through Minehead before having chips for tea and then driving home along the North Coast. We didn’t get home until very late so we were tired out, but we all had a wonderful time and would definitely go again!  We would recommend Minehead Butlins to anyway, it was brill! 😉

Here are some (of the many) photos from the holiday.

[Show as slideshow]

Today was Ben’s first day at primary school and he seemed to enjoy it although he said he preferred pre-school still as it was more fun! 😉

We took him in for 8:35 and waited outside for the gate to open.  When it did we went in and Ben had to find his hook with his name on it and put his bag and PE bag on it.  Ben had to then put his drink bottle in the blue box (as he is a Blue Bear) and then his book bag in the correct box with his name.

When we got into his classroom you could see he was a little bit worried as he didn’t see many other children he knew from pre-school, but he found someone he did know and went and sat down on his table with him and started playing with some educational toys that were on the table.  The class room was quite hot and there were actually two wasps in there which wasn’t ideal, but the teachers seemed nice and he seemed happy enough when we left him.  It was only until 12pm anyway, so quite a short day to get used to his new surroundings.

Kelly and Aaron went to pick him up and he said he enjoyed the morning, which was a relief!  Only another 13 years of schooling to go (at least!!). 😉

Here are some photos of his 1st day wearing his uniform.

[Show as slideshow]

Well, the time has come when our 1st born has reached the age where he is starting Primary School.  No idea where that time has gone!!  He is starting at Bickleigh Down CofE Primary School tomorrow and has to be there by 8:35am, but is only doing a half day for the first week so will be coming home again at 12pm.  Kelly and I are a little upset (but proud!) about this as it means our little boy is growing up very quickly, so I expect there to be a few tears tomorrow when he is dressed in his uniform and dropped off at school. So we will see, and I will post a photo of Ben in his uniform tomorrow. 😉