Aaron's Blog

On Monday evening, Aaron had a watersports evening with the Beavers on the River Tamar (just below and to the side of the bridge) at the proper Scout watersports building. He was a little apprehensive to begin with (and tired as it was after school and a weekend away camping) but once he get into it, he said he enjoyed it, even though he couldn’t tell me what his best and worst bits were!

We got there early, at about 5pm, and ate some food that Kelly had brought with us, before meeting the rest of the Beavers at 17:30. We had never been to the area before but it was lovely, with a nice pub right next to the watersports building that also had a seating area next to the water. Aaron had to go in, with the other beavers, and get his life jacket etc on and then help push a large speed boat out onto the water. The Beavers then took in turns going in the speed boat for a trip around the Tamar and kayaking. We were worried about the kayaking but each boat was attached to a rope that an instructor had hold of, so that was a relief! We had visions of Aaron floating off down the Tamar!! hahaha 

Before they were allowed out on the kayaks, they were all taught how to paddle and sit correctly in the boat. They were all a bit awkward doing this, as they are only 6 and 7 years old, but got the general hang of it. They were then allowed to go in a kayak and paddle out several metres on their own before being pulled back in and paddling out again. As mentioned, they all took turns doing this and riding in the speed boat. Aaron seemed to enjoy it all and did very well with his paddling, though I think his favourite bit was in the speed boat, as he does like his vehicles!

The event lasted 2 1/4 hours, so we didn’t leave until nearly 20:15. We were sat on a table outside the pub and managed to have some drinks and some crisps from the pub. The food there looked lovely as well! Coby was being a bit naughty though and needed to go for a wee in the pub several times, but it was a long time sat around though.

It was a great event for the Beavers and we think Aaron would jump at the change of doing it again. We didn’t even have to pay any extra money for this, which is amazing really. Being part of the Beavers is well worth it!

Aaron is now doing swimming on a Saturday morning at 9am, after Ben finishes his lesson. He (and we) aren’t really keen on his current instructor so we decided to change his lesson and managed to get him in after Ben, with Jess, who is also Ben’s instructor and used to teach Aaron in a lower stage. Aaron likes her anyway, which should help him. Monday afternoons after school were getting awkward as Aaron is always so tired after school that he doesn’t put the full amount of effort in, so hopefully he will be much better on a Saturday morning! 😉

Aaron received his Gold merit certificate a couple of weeks ago but we didn’t go as we didn’t know he was getting it! Apparently he forgot to tell us or didn’t know himself, but after the last assembly we went to when he was grumpy, we are not convinced. We were quite unhappy and upset that we had missed it as we had been waiting for a very long time for him to get his next merit award as his teacher, Mrs Wall, hardly ever gives out merits. She uses her own system called ‘DOJOs’ for some reason. Since then though, he is over half way to his next Headteachers Merit Award, but I think it will come next school year as there are only 2 1/2 weeks left now!

This year was Aaron’s last KS1 Sports Day, which is only for an afternoon but he takes part in all of the activities. There were 6 events as usual and Aaron tried his hardest in all of them, but his house (Lyhner) ended up last in the final results, which was possibly the first time since Ben and Aaron had started at the school.  This year he only had to do each event once as they had enough people in their team, whereas last year he had to do everything twice due to his team having only 3 people. He was pleased with that as it meant less effort! He did very well in the football dribbling, egg and spoon race and the relay in particular, in what was a lovely but very hot afternoon! Bumblebees also brought the children, inc Coby, over onto the field to watch a couple of events, so Coby was able to see Aaron and us, before they took them back due to the searing heat. He gave us all a hug and was very pleased to see us! 😉 As Aaron’s Sports Day was on a Monday, he had to go to swimming afterwards as well, which wasn’t great as he was too tired out from all the running he had done in the afternoon. Roll on KS2 Sports Day next year!

During Beavers 2 weeks ago, they did a bike ride from Clearbrook down to Bickleigh Viaduct and back. Initially, they were only going to ride to the tunnel and back but they made it so quick there that we were allowed to carry on to Bickleigh Viaduct, which was another 10 minutes along the trail. I was one of the helpers and had a Beaver group that consisted of Aaron and Archie, and Ben, who was allowed to tag along as well, as long as he behaved himself.  Aaron really enjoyed the bike ride (and so did I!) and did very well cycling, until he got to the final uphill stretch where he ended up pushing his bike along as he said his legs were too tired.  It didn’t help that Ben’s pedal fell off at about the same point as well!  We were group 1, so we led the way, until the final stretch! We were so far ahead at one point, we were waiting at the break point for about 5 minutes before group 2 arrived.  The best part for Aaron (and me) was going through the tunnel as it is quite dark in there. All the Beavers loved that and were making noises as they were cycling through it. It was great fun!

When we got back to Clearbrook, we had a Beavers picnic that was organised by Kelly and Faye, with the help of Coby and Charlie. There was a good spread of picnic food so all the Beavers scoffed a lot although Aaron was a little full up apparently and wanted to climb trees instead with his friends!

The weather was perfect as well, so we couldn’t have asked for a better 1st bike ride with the Beavers. Hopefully they will organise another one as the Beavers all said they wanted to do it again at the end! 😉