Aaron's Blog

Posts Tagged ‘swimming’

2 weeks after Aaron got his 20 metres certificate, he completed stage 3! He had been on 90%+ for several weeks but just couldn’t get over the finishing line but his teacher, Jess, passed him and he has now moved up a level. Typically, there are no spaces at the same time on a Monday (16:30) so he has had to change to 16:00 on a Monday, which isn’t too bad, but a rush from School to get there again. As Ben has moved to a Saturday morning now, it still means two separate trips to Meadowlands each week. Well done Aaron for completing this stage and it is amazing to see how well he can swim (and especially swim underwater for so long) now, compared with a year ago. 😉

A couple of weeks ago, Aaron got his 20 metres swimming certificate. He was very proud to achieve this and wasn’t actually very far away from a full length, which is 25 metres, but got too tired as he reached the 20 metre point. We are very proud of him for reaching this level! X

During the first weekend of half term, we went and stayed in a caravan at Tencreek in Looe. We were originally going to camp there but a huge storm was meant to hit us over the first part of the weekend (and it did!) so we decided to upgrade to a caravan, which was a very wise move!

The caravan was very basic as we only wanted the cheapest one but it was fine for us.  The only problem was that it was a little small really, as Kelly and I had to sleep on our airbed in the main lounge area and it got really cold there overnight! We did take out little camping heater, but it was too small for the caravan so it didn’t make much of a difference. Aaron and Coby had a single bed each in a little room and Ben had a double bed to himself and another room, so they were fine!

We couldn’t hardly sleep during the first night as Storm Brian hit, so the caravan was shaking and the wind was gusting around outside making loud noises. I think Kelly and I had about 2 hours sleep in the end but Ben and Aaron slept fine (though Aaron did fall out of his bed at one point) and Coby ended up coming into our airbed half way through the night. This meant that I ended up on the sofa trying to sleep which was actually more comfy than the airbed! It was even colder for me there though, as there was an awful drought coming through the window right behind me, so I had my trousers and hoody on as well, trying to keep warm! There was a gas fire in the lounge but our bed was too close to it and would have caught alight. We survived the night anyway and all slept much better on the second night.

Each evening there, we went to the clubhouse and met Kelly’s friend Bridgette and her family there, as they were staying for the weekend as well. We ate there on the Friday and Sunday for tea and the food was actually quite nice and not too expensive. There was then a children’s disco at 7pm, followed by Bingo and then either Karaoke, or a band playing or something else depending on the day. There was also an arcade there, so the boys spent some time in there whilst we were around and enjoyed it.  We took part in Bingo on the Saturday and Sunday night’s but didn’t win, which was a shame as the jackpot was £130 on both nights! We stayed to listen to the Karaoke as well and to a Welsh band playing cover songs on a couple of the nights, which was interesting!

There was also a swimming pool on site, so we took the boys swimming a couple of times, and they all did very well. Ben showed off what he could do now and he is very confident in the pool. Aaron was less confident but we managed to get him to swim from one side of the pool to the other, which was the furthest he had ever swam in one go. Coby was jumping in as well into the inflatable ring and had his other inflatables on as well, and he wasn’t too scared really, which bodes well for swimming lessons in the future. The pool was only a basic thing, but it was good enough for us, though it would have been nice to have had a couple of slides in there.

On the Sunday afternoon, we ventured into Looe to have a walk.  It was surprisingly busy there with lots of people walking around.  We stopped in the arcade and the boys went on the 2p machines and won a few prizes, before we walked out to the beach and into the RNLI centre, which had an open day.  We managed to go into the locker room of the coastguards and the guy there showed us all of their uniform and Ben even tried on one of their helmets. It was very good really. We stopped in a few shops and had a look, but there wasn’t really anything to buy, apart from our usual fudge! It was a nice bit of fresh air though.

We had booked the caravan until the Monday morning, when we had to be out by 10am, but due to the lack of sleep that we had had, we decided to pack up and go home on the Sunday evening.  It was a very late decision as we only decided this at 22:15! So we packed up and were home again by midnight.  The boys were sleeping in the car, so it didn’t make too much of a difference to them.  We asked Bridgette to hand out key in on the Monday morning, which she did, so all was OK.

Overall, we had had a fun time in the caravan. It was just a shame the weather was so bad as we were all looking forward to camping really, as it would have made things a lot cheaper. We would definitely go there again though as the facilities were pretty good, as were the prices for everything.

During June, Aaron had his yearly class assembly where he had to stand up and say some lines. He did very well and said his lines clearly although a little quietly. Miss Bowyer seemed very pleased with them all. Afterwards, we were able to go over to him and he showed us some of the work he had done that they showed off in the assembly. It was all very good!

Before the assembly itself, he was presented with his latest Swimming Award for completing Stage 2 and his next merit award, which was another Silver award, by the Headmaster Mr Hancock. Well done, Aaron, keep it up! X

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The weekend before last, we went camping at Monkey Tree which is at Goonhavern, just outside of Perranporth. We happened to choose the hottest weekend of the year as the temperature was around 30 degrees the entire time and our tent was not shaded at all, so we were in the sun continuously which was just way too hot.  Luckily, there was a swimming pool onsite that was included in our stay, so we lounged around in that 3 times over the weekend. Coby had been asking loads since we went Glamping to go camping again, as he just loves it! Ben and Aaron also love it as well so were very excited!

We went with Alex, Josh and Caleb again and also Nan Nan and Pops turned up in their caravan and Mike came as well and stayed on the Saturday night. It was Witney’s birthday on the Friday, so they all came over for a BBQ on the Saturday evening for tea. Ben, Aaron and Coby had a great time playing with their cousins on the scooters and playing hide and seek. We also went down to the onsite park and they all had fun on the swings, climbing frames and trampolines.

We couldn’t have asked for better weather, although it could have been a bit cooler, and Monkey Tree was a lovely place.  There was an arcade on site (although with mostly outdated and well used machines) which we all had a play in, crazy golf, a couple of restaurants and a shop. They also had evening entertainment on which was for all the family.  We couldn’t really fault it really, and the price was very very good as we got a deal on Groupon. The food that we had was very nice. We had a takeaway from the onsite chippy on the Friday night and the cod and chips that I had (and curry sauce!) was delicious. As mentioned, the weather was terrific and it actually stayed fairly light in the evenings until almost midnight! Then the stars came out and it finally cooled off a bit!

We all had a wonderful time over the weekend although it was very very hot trying to put the tent down on the Sunday afternoon. It was scorching!  Coby was also tired out by now and actually fell asleep in the car with the AC on! The boys all enjoyed the park and the swimming pool, where Coby was jumping in practically on his own. It happened that one of Aaron’s friends from school was also staying there that weekend, so Aaron was very pleased to be able to play with him in the pool.

We would definitely go back again and would recommend the place to anyone, especially if you can get the discount!

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