What's Been Happening

I was supposed to post this a while back so posting now if it doesn't make sense, tough .

I had a week off work a couple of weeks ago and have another week of next week.

I am using this time to spend with my gf and son so that we can go out and have some family fun instead of me taking my son to France where it is just me him and my mum, also so I am not the only one gallivanting and having fun with my Stag weekends and Reading weekend.

The week I had off work started slowly and picked up pace.

Monday was a lazy morning and letting the gf have a lie in, which meant me and my son having breakfast together and then him watching telly and playing in his room whilst I did some washing and cleaning in the kitchen. Once the gf was up we had lunch (she had showered and got dressed by this time) and we decided to take my son out on his bike. He has had his bike for about 1.5 yeas now and hasn't really been that mad about riding it but would enjoy it when he did. He hasn't had the stabilisers on his bike for a few months but we never got round to practice with him riding without. He has been riding his scooter to school for the past 3/4 months now so I was hoping that maybe this would help with his bike riding.

So we got him dressed up in his elbow pads and helmet, we were going to put knee pads on but would only find one of them, we headed out and it was a bit difficult for him and me as i was holding on to the bike by the saddle and he was trying to pedal and steer at the same time, but would over steer so I would have to then grab hold of him so he didn't fall. We made our way along the path which was a bit of a hazard as it was quite narrow and with tress and bins on either side I had to stand directly behind him which made his wobble worse but did get him to control the handle bars better. After getting to the main road and across the road we made it to the wider footpath where he had a bit more of a run and more room for manoeuvre, trouble with this though was that he started getting up more speed and with me hanging on to him and crouched down my back and legs were starting to hurt, luckily we made it round the corner to the cricket ground where the gf took over and she had it easy. She took the back of his bike and probably went 10 steps and let go and off he went, I know the gf had bribed him that if he just managed to stay upright while we were holding on the he could have a take away of his choice but riding off on his own was just amazing. He did have a problem steering when he was on his own as he was nervous and used the wall to stop himself a couple of times but luckily he had mastered the art of his brakes.

so it only really took him about 30 mins to be able to balance and steer his bike without many problems, my face just lit up when he was cycling on his own, as we were out we met up with the gf's mum so that she could also see him riding his bike without problems.

Tuesday

Started with another lazy morning and loooking out the window to see what the weather was doing, the wind had picked up a bit but not many clouds so we decided to take him to the coastal park, I have mentioned it before but this place was built for all kids big and little, they have separate areas for the age groups which means no accidental squashing or running in to the little ones. Whilst we were there a friend of my son turned up so they played together for about an hour and we left with them so that they would leave the park and not kick up a fuss, as we were heading to the car we could tell he didn't want to go home yet so we took the little man down the beach but as it was windy I had to go down to the sea with him. We stood watching the waves and getting closer and closer to them when suddenly this big wave came in we managed to run back but our feet did get soaked, I then pointed out to my son when a big wave was coming and he would get closer and try and run at the last minute, most of the time it worked but others he would get stuck and his legs would get covered.

Wednesday

This was the first day of our day out trips. For this we went and visited Leeds Castle, I have been once before but I think I was about 6/7 years old at the time and ok the castle hasn't changed much what they have added has.

We get there about 12 o'clock and go and get our tickets, it isn't cheap but the tickets are for a years worth of entry, so we could go every weekend which I think is great value for money. Once we have made it though the gates we take a wander round the grounds and it was much bigger than I remeber but then I think the car parks were closer when I was smaller. We had a good look round the castle and my son had a tick sheet where he had to find items in certain rooms that weren't in obvious spots (this was supplied by the castle and not me), he liked most of it but as kids do did get a little bored near the end of looking around, once out of the castle we took him to the gift shop so he could get himself to remember the trip, hew picked a magnifying glass which pops out of a holder and a pad and pen. The pad and pen is so that he can write little notes and draw pictures/doodles which he seems to love doing.

We took a walk around more of the grounds and found the maze which my boy was very excited about going to, so we let him lead us around the maze trying to find the centre, we did get lost a few times but as the day was nice we didn't mind being out in the open and he did a great job of getting us to the middle. Once in the middle we could see the whole maze and see where people were going wrong, there was a spotter in the middle so if people did get bored/tired/lost he could guide them in. when leaving the maze you go through a grotto, I took some pics and will try to put them up here, which was very well done and as you go through there were different statues and carvings on the walls.

We decided to get something to eat as even though i had brought a packed lunch for our son I had forgotten to do anything for the adults. We found somewhere to eat but the prices were out of this world, £4.50 for a hot dog or 2 for £8 plus chips and a drink it came to £17.20 which was almost half the cost of the tickets, when we go back I will be making sure we do take something to eat for everyone. Trouble of where we were eating though was we were outside and there were so many wasps around and they wouldn't leave us alone, we weren't the only ones though. So when my son was happily eating away a wasp or two would come and have a look and we told him to just be still but then they would try and land on his chips or drink, so we finally gave up and took out food with us, but there must have been a wasp that took a liking to my son as we had walked quite away when we stopped to have a look at the lake, moved a little bit and my sin just stopped still, we were a few steps ahead of him and told him to get a move but he just stood there, the gf went to check on him and saw that a wasp was hovering around his face and he was doing just as we told him, somehow we distracted the wasp and moved on a little bit but the bloody thing came back and this time when my son stood still landed on his hand, you should have seen him shake, I don't know if it was nerves or just being scared, but we could tell it was upsetting him, so I moved closer and waved my hand to get it away then the gf picked him up and carried him away and gave is hands a good wipe down just in case any sauce was left on his hands. I have never seen him so scared in his life but he won't run away and will still stand still if there is a wasp around.

After that we headed back to the car and brought him an ice cream for being brave and headed home, but had to stop at the services because his ice cream had melted so much and we needed to clean him up and throw it away.