Tom's on a roll

So, recently Tom's swimming has got much better, his football has got much better, AND he is doing really well at school.

At school they are doing something called 'Olympic Maths' where you have to answer so many questions within 3 minutes.  He has been on 'Gold' level for a while where he has to answer 36 questions on the 6, 7, 8, 9, 11 and12 times tables.  He has been so close for a while, getting 35, 34 etc, but this week he managed 36 three times in a row, which means he moves up a level.

His new level is 60 questions on all times tables in 3 minutes.  His first attempt he got (he thinks) 54!!!!  We think that is brilliant - I couldn't do it (mainly because I don't know my times tables!  He is now officially better than me at mental maths, won't be long before he overtakes me in other things as well I'm sure!).  

He certainly seems to have matured a lot in the last month or so, he's happy, thinking for himself and excelling in some aspects.  Another thing I have to mention is that at Film Night last week, one of his friends in a class 2 years below him didn't have enough money for a drink so Tom gave him some of his pocket money so he could get himself something.  I was at school - manning the tuck shop, but he didn't tell me, we only found out when his Mum said thank you to us.  I'm so glad he did this, shows he has a kind side and initiative, which is more important than anything academic.

Quiet Weekends

Wallop!

We haven't really done much recently at the weekend, mainly due to football taking up Saturdays and rubbish weather on Sundays and of course neither me nor Matt have been all that well, meaning we haven't had much get up and go between us.

First weekend of March saw Tom at Grannie and Grandpa's on Friday night, he played a football match at Settle on Saturday morning and came home in the afternoon.  Matt and I spent Saturday morning recovering from our ailments.  Normally we would take advantage of a 'night off' but neither of us were willing.  We went to the Old Post Office on Friday evening, but after two drinks, I began to hit a wall and wanted to go home!  How rubbish is that?!

Saturday evening saw us at the Ingleton Panto.  Matt was a little worried he wouldn't make it through the performance, but as usual it was very good, a great atmosphere, and we won the raffle (a dinner for two at the Marton Arms) so we allowed ourselves to be carried away and stayed for the whole night. Sunday saw us back in Settle for a birthday party at the pool and that was pretty much it.  

Team talk with coach Keith

Last weekend saw Tom in Caton on Saturday for a friendly football match.  Tom scored a belter in the top of the net which was great.  After he scored his goal, he played really well, which was ace.  As we were in Caton, we decided to head over to Archer's Cafe for lunch - always very good food there and of course big bunnies, chickens, lambs etc to look at.

Man of the match!

2pm saw us in Burton as Tom had been invited to Luca's house for a play.  Luca is in Tom's afternoon class (he's in the year above Tom and comes to Tom's class in the afternoon - he and Tom have always got on, believe it or not Luca is more sensitive than Tom, he's also pretty much an only child - he does have half sisters but they are in their 20s and have left home).  Tom was only going for a couple of hours in the afternoon, but somehow, didn't make it back home till after 7pm, not a problem, they were having fun: "It was the best day EVER!".  Matt and I didn't really take advantage of it, although we did find ourselves in a pub for a drink at some stage. 

Meet up with Malcolm

Sunday saw us in Masham, meeting up with one of Matt's old university friends, Malcolm, and his family.  They have lived outside of the UK for a good number of years but have now come back to settle down.  They have a boy, James, 11 and a girl, Amy, 8.  Malcolm's wife, Kae is Thai, so they are a funny couple as Malcolm is 6 foot X?  Anyway, we had a good time, considering last time we met up was about 15 years ago (way before children anyway).  The kids got on well together as well. We ended up having a 3 course meal at the Brewery which was lovely (but filling) and then having a walk around the village and the kids a play in the park.  We made vague plans for the summer to climb mountains and taste cheese.  Should be good if they work out.

How cute were they?!

This weekend we were pretty much over our aliments hurray!  Saturday saw Tom and Matt heading over to Skipton for a football match against Embsay.  Tom did really well, so much so that he scored another goal AND he won Man of the Match because for the first time this season he tried really hard throughout the match!  Hurray - it has only taken pretty much the whole of the season, but he finally got it!  Typical I missed it!  When he came back, he said he only played really well because I wasn't there.  If I was there he would be busy looking at me and not concentrating!!!!!!!!!!

Lemon Meringue Pie

Anyway, they stopped off at Grannie and Grandpa's on the way home as there was a model railway exhibition at Settle - organised by the Scouts, so Tom put on his cubs jumper and got in free.  He even managed to have a go at operating the biggest layout there which was good.

Sunday was a horrible, horrible day - horizontal rain.  Luckily we weren't going anywhere, as finally I had managed to arrange dinner for Pat, Bob, Kathy and Paul at our house.  We spent the morning prepping ready for their arrival at 12.30.  Tom peeled all the spuds and made the Yorkshire puddings.  Kathy and Paul came armed with old photos of Jude, Matt and Pat which was great - for me anyway.  Anyway, everyone got on so it was an easy afternoon.  Once everyone had gone (we forgot to take photos!) and we had tidied up we collapsed on the sofa for match of the day and sumo highlights before a small tea and bed. 

Parent's Evening

Wednesday was parent's evening, and the first time both Matt and I were feeling vaguely human.  Phew!  We headed to the school for our 10 minutes with Mrs Clements.  It was a very pleasant 10 minutes.  Don't think she had a bad word to say about him.  His Maths, she said, is really good, as we knew, but she was at pains to point out that he isn't good at just one aspect but all aspects, meaning he has really good understanding.  Very good to hear.

She knows he doesn't like to write and said it's not through lack of ability but because he doesn't want to do it and because he doesn't want to do it he gets distracted.  I personally think she was being very generous about this as when we looked through his literacy book were we found lots of comments: "Tom, where is the rest of the work"? "Tom is this all you have done in the time you were given?", "Tom where is the rest of your writing for this task?" etc etc. Hummm, I would have given him less than a 4 for effort!!!!

She said his reading is going really well too.  She has no worries about him at all and thinks he'll go far.  How lovely.  We asked about his social skills (we are always worried about his social skills with him being an only child) but she told us we really need not to worry, he is fine.  He is confident, answers questions in class etc etc, mixes with everyone very easily.  He doesn't have a special friend, but doesn't need one because there aren't any cliques in the class, meaning everyone mixes with everyone very easily.

Anyway, it was very pleasant, we came home feeling very happy.

More Illness

I had a rough night on Saturday and woke up feeling terrible.  So terrible, that I was pretty much delirious and worried Matt and Tom by talking nonsense.  Matt ran me a bath to try to get me to come to.  It worked, and after some discussion, it suddenly occurred to me that maybe I had tonsillitis. I had a look down my throat and yes, my tonsils and throat were covered in lots of white spots - that will explain the delirium - that has happened to me before with tonsillitis.

First game of Scrabble

Now, of course, we were worried that Tom might get it - I can't begin to even contemplate what Tom would be like with tonsillitis so I spent the day keeping away from him.  It wasn't that difficult, Matt and Tom went to Bernies in the morning for brunch (I couldn't face food) and then in the afternoon they went to see Pat and Bob, so I thankfully lay on my bed feeling quite rubbish (yet again!!!!!)  Luckily we have a lot of frozen stews etc in the freezer so we have been living off them all week.

Poor Matt is also still ill, he has been coughing a lot and is still going hot and cold, so basically our house is a no go zone at the moment.  How Tom hasn't picked anything up is beyond us, although he did have a flu jab, so maybe that spared him?

Homeward bound

So, Saturday morning dawned lovely and clear blue - typical, that was the first day that happened.   I felt quite ropey on Friday evening, took some of Matt's drugs and woke up quite perky on Saturday morning.  Matt was still looking quite rough, so I ran him a bath and then pulled out the suitcases and filled them with our laundry (the worst thing about hotel holidays - the laundry on your return!).  I also had to include an almost full bottle of whisky.  Now you know Matt's been ill if he has bought a bottle of whisky and then doesn't drink it, especially whilst on holiday.

Mt. Teide from the air

We headed down to breakfast and so had our last slices of the lovely lovely loaf they had there every morning.  We also found Sandra and said our goodbyes.  I got quite emotional and had no idea why?!

Anyway, we went back upstairs, finished our packing and then went for a last stroll around Puerto de la Cruz in the blazing sun (typical) before checking out.  We then got our transfer to the airport.  We were enjoying our first clear views of the coast when I looked behind us and lo and behold, there was Mt Teide - the huge volcano which dominates the island.  I didn't realise quite how close to Puerto de la Cruz it was - it was stunning and absolutely huge.  Luckily Matt managed one photo of it before it disappeared round a bend.  Such a shame we didn't get to see it during the week - it was quite a sight.

Sleeping with a sloth

We had an uneventful trip back to the airport, and then a lovely swift and easy check-in and security check in to Tenerife airport, lunch in an English restaurant (there were only English shops / eateries on offer!!!!!) before boarding our plane to Glasgow.  We were delayed half an hour on the tarmac leaving Tenerife but still got to Glasgow early so can't really complain.  Oh and we got more great views of Mt Teide.

So, I fell asleep on the flight back home.  This is almost unheard of, I have trouble sleeping on 16 hour flights, so how come I do so on a 4 hour flight.  Truth was I was beginning to feel terrible.  Matt on the other hand was beginning to look much better.  I spent most of the flight dozing and then had trouble finding an appetite on arrival at Glasgow (we decided to have tea at the airport so we could drive straight back)  It hurt to eat and drink - sore throat - oh hummmm.  Oh get this our suitcases were number 1 and 2 off the plane - that has never happened to me before, but was fantastic.



I was really glad that Matt was feeling better as he offered to drive and did so the whole journey.  There was no traffic on the roads at all and we were home in 2.15 hours!  We arrived, tossed Tom into bed and then crashed into bed ourselves.  I was asleep in seconds.

Sunset over Ireland

So feelings on Tenerife: it was a nice place.  We all quite liked Puerto de la Cruz.  It was very much the German resort on the island, but we quite liked that as it made us different and it meant there were a lot of good cafes around for sausages and cakes.  Tom was pretty much the only child in the hotel even though it was half term - not sure how / why?  As we didn't get to do much due to illness, I would like to go back to explore.  Mainly to go to the top of Mt Teide, but there were also some other interesting places to explore.  We didn't even get to Santa Cruz (the capital).  The southern resorts on the island, I think, were mainly inhabited by British tourists - when Tom and I went to Aqualand the most overheard language was English.  Oh and despite Brexit and the bad exchange rate with the Euro, everything seemed very very cheap.

Next time we go, I would suggest getting an AirBnB property with a communal pool (if at all possible) in a resort so we can eat out and rent a car so we can enjoy the sights at our own leisure and maybe go a bit later in the year so we are more likely to get proper sunshine.