Bike Ride

We have been waiting for a couple of weeks now for the weather to be good enough to do a car boot sale. Having looked at the forecast for yesterday on Saturday, we decided again not to do the car boot sale as we were expecting showers and really did not want to have to pack up early having hardly sold a thing and having paid money for the pitch. However, the weather yesterday actually turned out to be fine. Not sunny and warm, but not raining either, so we decided to take our bikes out to Bolderwood in the New Forest. It was fantastic. I never thought I was fit enough to go on a cycle ride and so took myself by surprise when I was still cycling after 2 hours (we got a bit lost!). Big J had his tag-along bike attached to Larry's bike because although he can ride a bike by himself, he would almost certainly have got tired after a long cycle ride and so it makes sure he keeps up with us. As for Little Z, she was amazing. Considering a few weeks ago, she was scared of going too fast and kept stopping every few yards, I was astonished to see her cycling past us all at a good speed and cycling for a good distance before stopping. She has really increased in confidence and thoroughly enjoyed the bike ride.

By the time we got back to the van we were all exhausted. Having got a bit lost, we had cycled quite a bit further than we had planned to and although we had enjoyed ourselves, we were glad to see the car park.

I am really looking forward to going out for another family bike ride. Next time though I will take some padding for my seat as I am not sitting very comfortably today to say the least!

Big J learnt to ride his bike today.

He had a bit of a strop a couple of days ago when we took the stabilizers off his bike and insisted that we put them back on. Today when I suggested taking little Z & Big J out on their bikes he said he wanted his stabilizers back on or else he would not go on his bike. He was quite adamant that he would not go on his bike if it did not have stabilizers on and only wanted his scooter. I didn't pay any attention. I took their bikes and cycle helmets and we all went to the sports centre. Within about 20 minutes Big J was riding around by himself. He was still struggling to start himself off and needed a bit of a push to get himself going, but with a bit of perseverence he learnt to start himself off. I asked if he would like his stabilizers back on now. "No Thank you!" he replied.

Of course the other advantage of Big J learning to ride by himself is that Little Z was all the more motivated. She can already ride her bike but is out of practice and struggles to get herself balanced to start off. She was determined to be better than Big J and by the end of the afternoon she was much more confident.

I'm really proud of them both.

Very Surrey

We really wanted to get away for a week in the campervan this summer, preferably to Devon or the Wye Valley, but money is short and although we could probably scrape enough together to pay for the petrol to get us there and back and to pay for the pitch, we would not have enough money to do very much and would not enjoy constantly having to worry about how much things cost. So, we decided to stay at home this year and do some jobs around the house (mostly tidying) and have a couple of trips out to visit people.

Yesterday, we took a trip to Hersham in Surrey to see my Aunty Di. It is only an hour or so from here and we have been saying for a long time that we should visit her, but she was very ill last year with breast cancer and was not particularly keen to have visits from family so we didn't go. She is in her 70s so it is pretty impressive that after lots of treatment with some fairly unpleasant side effects, she has made a good recovery and is now looking very well indeed.

We arrived about 11am and had a short walk around the retirement village where she lives. We then went out of the village and walked about a mile and a half down the road to a garden centre for lunch in their restaurant. It was a lovely walk and the children enjoyed it, although Big J is not too good at walking very far as he has always been taken everywhere in the car and has never had to walk far. Unfortunately, when we got there the restaurant was closed due to no water supply and so we had to turn around again and walk back to the village. We were all worn out after the walk back, which was slightly uphill (why is it always uphill on the way back?!) and so were relieved to get to the club house back in the village where Aunty Di ordered lunch for us all. Little Z and Big J had immaculate table manners as usual (for an ogre). After lunch we had a look around the church and then took a walk to the lake where Big J warned a man to be careful of the dinosaurs. Then it was time to drive home.

We will definitely visit again and hopefully next time we will take my mum with us as she would love the village.