The big rock

We had a bit of a tricky morning with the boys. My C had a GP appointment so I agreed to their request to play Monopoly. All was well when they were winning but suddenly Thomas had over-stretched himself and James continued to get sent to jail while we both landed on his properties which had hotels. He kept letting Thomas off from paying but it was the last straw when I asked for £18 when he landed on mine with no buildings on it. He went off in a strop so James and I tidied it up.

I wouldn’t let them have a devise but after a bit of sulking from Thomas James got him into building a den with chairs, quilts etc. I made up a picnic and when Mr C came back we tried to get them out to go to Cragside. Now James went into a strop and refused to come. Eventually doing counting down from 20 he got going.

Of course they had a great time once they got there. We had our picnic and I got them an ice cream then we walked to the trim trail (they are too big for the play park now). They did a little of monkey bars, then had fun finding different routes up this big rock. For some reason James wanted to do this pose when they got to the top. A girl of James’s age appeared and wanted to try. He gave her a lot of encouragement and suggestions about the best holds but her legs just weren’t long enough.

Further on they did a little assault course comprising of tyres, balancing planks, monkey bars, netting to climb up and over and more. They wanted to do time trials which I hoped wouldn’t end badly. James did it all in just over 50 seconds and Thomas kept having a few more goes till he beat James’s time. I had chocolate in my bag to hand out before any further ructions occurred.

We stopped at the Co-op to let them choose a pizza and buy popcorn. We’ll have a film night. I hope they can agree on one!