Watchfield Fete

The kids joined the school in a parade walk thru the little village of Watchfield near their school which ended at the Watchfield Fete.  The kids were to dress is red white and blue for the Queen's Jubillee.  Of course, when the kids were asked to go up and put on red white and blue clothes, Aaron comes down in a Captain America t-shirt.  We had a good laugh and told him that it's meant to represent Britain's colors and the Queen's Jubillee, so he changed into another shirt.  However, he did where his Captain America shirt to school on red white and blue day.  They had a contest at the fete for the best hat and best costume.  Elisabeth wore here beautiful white dress and a princess crown.  There were some really good outfits there.  The kids had a great time spending all of Daddy's money to ride the rides.  Elisabeth and I had to leave a bit early to go to Amelia's birthday party in Oxford.  The boys stayed back at the fete for a while longer.

Warwick Castle Field Trip

Aaron Michael's class had a field trip to Warwick Castle.  I volunteered to Chaperone with my friend Dawn, who's son Tommy is also in Aaron's class.  It was a long 2 hour bus ride there with a very grumpy bus driver.  We had already been to Warwick Castle so it wasn't anything new and exciting for myself and Aaron.  However the kids seem to have had a great time.  Of course anytime Dawn and I get a chance to sit and chat is fun as well.  Aaron was very excited to see a trained Bald Eagle and he kept yelling "That's my country's bird!".  We were able to watch them fly around...in fact, so close I was afraid our country's bird was going to land on us or worse poo on us.  We also were able to see a Vulcher, which is not a very attractive bird.  We climbed the towers again, but this time I had sensible shoes to wear.  Aaron also had fun telling his friends that "My mommy doesn't like to climb up all these stairs in the tower...She's terrified!...Are you okay Mommy?"  Okay, so last time we went there I was having a hard time with the steep and very high climb, but this time was fine.  Aaron's favorite part of this trip was going into the small dungeon. 

London Bridge

We finally took a family trip to London.  It was kind of a last minute decision.  We had planned on doing it if Aaron had finished enough of his DRP (his 10000 word essay) to be able to take a day off.  This DRP has been such a pain hanging over his/our heads for months.  When you go to school in the morning to do drop off, you hear all the wives talking about how they can't wait for the DRP to be over with.  Of course all the guys do is complain about having to do the DRP and can't wait until it's done as well.  And the kids complain as well, because they want Daddy to be able to do stuff with them.  So it was a nice break for all of us to go to London.  We took the train from Swindon to London.  First we went to Tower Bridge which is the London draw bridge.  The kids kept singing "London Bridge is Falling Down" while we were on the bridge.  We took a tour of the bridge which was really interesting.  The best part was when we finished the tour there was a big boat coming through, so we actually witnessed them raising and lowering the bridge.  We didn't have time to do much more than eating lunch and going to a few shops.  Aaron stopped to have a beer at a pub.

Tough Mudder

Aaron organized a team (Evil Monkeys) to do the first UK Tough Mudder with him.  After trying for months to get volunteers, the only people brave enough to join him were Benoit (from France), Scott and Nicholle (from Northern Ireland).  Yesterday (Saturday May 12th) was the day of the race.  Aaron, the kids, and I headed up to Kettering to spend the night on Friday.  Scott and Nicholle, and their son Frasier joined us on Friday at the hotel.  Benoit drove up Saturday to join the crazy crew.  The UK Tough Mudder took place at Boughton House property in Kettering.  Here's a link to the Tough Mudder UK website http://toughmudder.co.uk/.  The course was 12 miles long with various obstacles like (Artic Enema) jumping into a pool of ice cold water of which you had to go under water to get to the other side where you can exit the pool, (Mud Mile) climbing over mud mounds and crawling through a pipe full of mud, (Walk the Plank) jumping into water off a high plank, and (Electroshock Therapy) where you run wet through live electric wires.  There were 25 obstacles in all.  Spectators were able to go to various obstacles to watch.  I ran around the course with Elisabeth, Aaron, and Frasier trying to see as many obstacles as I could so that I could get some good photos and video.  Below are some of those photos. 

Scott, Nicholle, Aaron, and Benoit (The Evil Monkeys) before the race.

Some of the participants dressed up.  We saw a Superman Team, Men in Pink Tutu's, and some with hardly any clothing on at all. 

The start of Aaron's race time.  They broke the day's race down into large groups starting every 20 minutes.  Aaron's team, the Evil Monkeys, were at the back of this group. 

Men filling the Artic Enema obstacle just before Aaron's group arrived. 

Getting ready to enter the Artic Enema.

Nicholle, Scott, Aaron and Benoit next in line for Artic Enema.

Aaron and Nicholle climbing over the wall to enter the Artic Enema.

Scott, Aaron, and Nicholle just after getting out of Artic Enema.

Nicholle, Scott, Benoit and Aaron in their favorite part of the race, The Quagmire.

Covered in mud and still smiling.

In line to go through the muddy tubes (Boa Constrictor).

Nicholle entereing the muddy tube.

Aaron after exiting the Boa Constrictor.

Scott and Nicholle after exiting Boa Constrictor.

Scott, Nicholle, Aaron, and Benoit between Obstacles 15 and 16.

Muddy and Happy

This obstacle is the Twinkle Toes where they had to cross over a balancing beam over water. 

Scott, Nicholle, Benoit, and Aaron after completing Twinkle Toes.  They had a nice bath when they fell in the water off the beams. 

Almost finished, only 4 more obstacles. 

This is the backside of Obstacle 23, Walk the Plank.

Aaron helping Nicholle to top of Plank.

Nicholle's leg cramps started here.

Getting ready to run up the big wall, Everest.

Obstacle 24, Everest

All finished, just after running through Electroshock Therapy.

Evil Monkeys with their Tough Mudder headbands and well deserved beer.

All the muddy shoes the participants donated at the end of the race.