For my Mums birthday the family got together and went to Whetstone Golf Club House for dinner, i had a lovely burger and was stuffed afterwards.
This morning Ethan and I went over to my sisters and went for a ride with her, Thomas and Sam. It was a nice ride and we stopped off for a drink and to play tag. The weather was lovely and it was nice to be out on the bike.
Rachel and I have been married 8 years today. I got us a bride and groom Lego Brickheadz, which we will enjoy building together.
I booked the day off today to spend with Ethan. We started off by going to Boost Trampoline Park in Northampton, we had been to the one in Leicester quite a lot, but this one is a lot bigger and has a lot more things to bounce on. We had a great time and it wasnt too busy. After this we went to Costa for lunch, then we headed over to Market Harborough for a swim at the leisure centre, they had the floats out and we got to have lots of fun. On the way home we went to Kibworth and had our hairs cut. We had such a great day together.
Ethan has been learning about Hedgehogs at school and he really wanted to build a hedgehog house. We looked online for inspiration and then drew up a plan. We looked in our wood store and got lots of old bits of wood and also some spare slate tiles and started building. Ethan sanded it all with the orbital sander and it turned out great.
When we are in the loft we dont want the main lights on but it would be nice to have some form of lighting, so i decided to go for some Meross LED lights, i ordered 2 sets, 1 for each side of the room so they can be controlled independently. Once fitted they look amazing, the Lego side looking the best with having the desk glowing. For playing online games i got a new HD webcam and also a Razer Seiren X microphone in white which i mounted to the ceiling and with it being white it blends in quite well.
Our Christmas party got canceled and was then rebooked for today. We went to Caddyshackers. We started with Axe throwing, which is soo much fun, once we got the hang of it we played some games and our team won. We then played 18 holes of crazy golf, some of the holes had changed since the last time i went but it was great fun. We finished the evening with a Nandos.
Feb
14
Happy Valentines Day. Rachel and I didnt do anything to celebrate, but she did buy me some nice Lego to build, which i am looking forward to.
Thomas is 5 and to celebrate my Sister organised us all to go to Boost trampoline park. We had a great hour on the trampolines, in the foam pit and Dad and I even tried out the gladiator bar in which i won. After the trampolining we went back to my Sisters and had food, played Lego and had a nice chat.
Faith is 1 today and Claire and Luke had a little part for family at their house. It was great to see everyone and celebrate Faith being 1.
Raj and Nindi flew back from Texas to Leicester to celebrate Mikas 1st birthday. Their family had thrown a big party at the King Power Stadium. It was great to see them both after not seeing them for so long and we had a great catchup with Raj.
Happy New Year. We decided to do something different today and went to Hollywood Bowl for 2 games of bowling. Ethan started off using the ramp to bowl his ball, but in the 2nd game found it easier to bowl the ball himself. We had a great times and I won both games.
We followed tradition and went to Rachels Auntie and Uncles for boxing day. We had some great food, got to see the rest of the Pepper family and then went for a nice long walk around Burbage.
Happy Christmas. Ethan was up at 6 and we opened our stockings before heading downstairs for Ethan to open his presents. He got lots of lovely presents and enough Lego to keep him busy for the next few months. I got a Lego Landrover Defender and a new cooking wok. My parents came over for a bt in the afternoon and then we had Claire and Luke over for dinner which was lovely.
Dec
23
It is our last day and once we had packed up the car, Ethan and I went swimming at the Subtropical Swimming Paradise. We then went for lunch at Starbucks and then onto Design a Giant Christmas Stocking which Ethan really enjoyed. Ethan and I then went Roller Skating which we hadnt been to in ages but we had great fun and it was good to get back on the skates. Before heading home we went to Las Iguanas for dinner.
Dec
22
When we woke up it was very frosty out, so once we were all dressed we went outside and took some family photos, we then lit the fire and watched the new Home Alone film. We then went to Starbucks for lunch and then went to Festive Cupcakes for Little ones, Ethan made some great looking cupcakes. We then went on the Festive Treasure Trail which involved a lot of riding on the bikes but we had good fun. In the evening we went to Santa's Workshop which looked magical with all of the fake snow over the trees. In the evening we went for dinner at Amalfi.
We started the day with a nice bike ride and then for a 3 hour swim in the Subtropical Swimming Paradise, Ethan loved the lazy river so we spent a long time in there, he also started to enjoy the wave machine so when we heard it was going to be on we raced to the pool. We had lunch at Starbucks and then headed to the Off-Road Explorers, it was a difference course than last time and Ethan had fun driving through the water. In the afternoon we went to Festive Pottery Painting and painted a toadstool house which turned out great. In the evening we went to Hucks American Bar and Grill for dinner.
We have been looking forward to this for ages and today we went to Center Parcs at Woburn Forest. We drove over about 11 to get there for 12. We had to take 2 cars so we could fit both bikes in as well as all the luggage. We started off with a Starbucks for lunch before Ethan and I headed off to the Subtropical Swimming Paradise for 3 hours of swimming. Once we had finished we went to the car and picked up our bikes and rode to the lodge. We were one of the furthest lodges away but the lodge was nice. In the evening we went to Amalfi for dinner.
We bought Ethan a make your own Christmas Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate cottage. It contained full bars of chocolate that you joined together with melted chocolate and then added flakes for the wood roof. It was great to build, smelt amazing and is going to be amazing to eat.
Dad and I didnt get to go skiing this year, so we decided that as we both have the day off we would go to Milton Keynes Snozone. We booked for 3 hours, we spent the first 1.5 hours skiing which was great and then spent 1 hour snowboarding, which considering we have not been on a snowboard for 8 years we did really well and didnt fall over once. After we went to Nandos for a nice chicken wrap.
We put up our Christmas Trees up today, we put the snow covered tree in the garage and the pine covered tree in the lounge, but then used the decorations for the other trees. It turned out really nice and has made the house feel very festive.
The Vehicle Vision Assist product was nominated for an award at the Motor Trader 2021 Awards, so this evening we went to London to the Grosvenor House London on Park Lane. It is such a lovely venue. The dress code was Black Tie and it was nice to get dressed up again. We didnt win the award, but we had some great food and a great evening.
Nov
28
We started early this morning with breakfast at Costa, before catching the River Bus to Greenwich. I had never been on the river boat and it was amazing, when it speeds up it really knocks you back. We then went on the Emirates Air Line cable car over the River Thames, which gave us great views. We then got the tube back to the hotel to pick up our cases, had lunch at Starbucks and then headed to the Lego store in Leicester Square. We had to queue to get in, but once in there its great. We then headed to Euston and caught the train back home. When arriving back into Ruby there was snow everywhere, not what we were expecting.
Nov
27
Ethan wanted to go to London for his birthday, so we caught an early train from Rugby to Euston. We caught the tube to the Tower Suites by Blue Orchid, which was where we were staying. We dropped our cases off and then went Costa for breakfast. We then caught the tube again to Hamleys as Ethan wanted to have a look round, it was really busy but he enjoyed looking round. We then had a slot booked at the Science Museum so we headed over there. We had a great look round, Ethan enjoyed looking at the cars, planes and space section. We then had some lunch before heading into the Wonderlab, we got to try experiments in friction, sound, light and pullys. Before we left we went to a live session where things got exploded, Ethan loved it. We then headed back to the hotel to check in, as it was Ethans birthday they upgraded his room to one with a view of The Shard, Tower of London and Tower Bridge, it was an amazing room. To finish off the evening we went for a meal at Strada, they gave us a great evening and the food was lovely.
Nov
26
It is Ethans 6th birthday today. It was an early start so that he could open his presents. He had wanted the Lego Lamborghini Sian (42115) for over a year, so we decided we would get him that which he was so excited about. He had a good day at school and then when he had finished he said he would like some crusty cobs for dinner.
After adding the ambilights into the loft i had wanted them in my office, so i ordered a 4m version. I had to take the monitors off the wall, so that i could mount the controller and hide all of the wires. Once i got the software installed the lights worked and they look amazing. I have been playing with different backgrounds to give my office some nice mood lighting.
Nov
22
I have been working on the final bag for a while. I have been working on the digger for 11 months and really wanted to get it finished by Christmas, so i had a big push to get it all complete. Once i had finished it all, i put some batteries in it and tested it out. It is great fun to play with, Ethan really enjoyed it to making it climb up things and scooping up the Lego bits.
Once we had finished with our pumpkins we decided that we would take ours to Burbage Woods so that the animals could eat them. Once we had found a nice place to leave them we had a nice walk around.
Tonight we had bonfire night in our garden. We had a hotdog dinner with chocolate puddings for dessert. We then headed in the garden to enjoy the mini fire, have some sparklers and then set off some fireworks. They looked really good and we all had a great evening.
Now we are going to start going into the office, so I wanted to get my desk setup. I got 2 1080p Dell monitors, webcam, etc. I went into the office early and got it all setup, i tried to make the cabling as neat as i could to keep the clean desk look.
