Are you scared of heights?? Rock Reef will sort it!!

Last week we were lucky enough to be given the chance of trying out Bournemouth`s newest indoor attraction Rock Reef, an indoor climbing centre with a difference.

Situated on the end of Bournemouth Pier, the location is unique, the concept is unique...in fact the whole of Rock Reef is unique!!

Rock Reef gives you 4 attractions in one place, bringing the great outdoors indoors.

The 4 elements of Rock Reef are -

• Clip`N`Climb challenges - the new climbing concept taking the world by storm. You wear a harness and are clipped onto a belay - an automatic safety device which keeps you safe at all times. You are then free to climb to hearts content in the knowledge you cant fall!!! There are 25 different designed walls to challenge even the most experienced climbers.

• HighLine - an indoor aerial obstacle course designed to test your nerves. Hanging above the ground with nothing beneath your feet but a few ropes and logs for you to make your way around the course.

• The Pier Cave - delve into The Pier Cave with its twists and turns, ball pits and grottos. Make your way through the cave with or without the expert help of the guides.

• The Pier Zip - opening mid August 2014. The worlds FIRST pier to shore zip line experience...launch yourself from the top of massive launch tower and zoom down to the beach. But dont forget to take in the amazing views of the Bournemouth coastline.

We arranged to go to Rock Reef with my fellow blogger theprmummy and her family. The kids were so excited they ran up the pier giddy with the idea that they were going to be climbing a wall!!!

On arrival we filled out the obligatory safety waiver and then we were ready for our Rock Reef experience.
Our guides for the evening were Georgia and DJ; I have to say they made the experience so much more enjoyable as they put us all at ease and had a way with the kids to keep them involved and alert during the safety talks.

We all got kitted out with some rather fetching safety harnesses and were off. Georgia and DJ showed us over and over again how to clip ourselves onto the belay so we could do it ourselves. Showed us how to climb the walls and then left us to do our own thing at our own pace, they were always with us in case we needed them but never felt watched.

Now I have no upper body strength so assumed I would struggle but actually found it fairly easy and OMG so much fun!!!!!

Look at me!!!

The kids completely astounded me as they were naturals; up the walls at lightning speed and had no fear in leaning back off the wall and letting go so the belay could bring them back down slowly.

The two youngest of the pack, Jacob and Myla had a few hairy moments when they were not sure if they could do it but soon overcame their fears.

Do I look sexy??

There are two additional activities you can do whilst at Rock Reef; the Leap of Faith and the Vertical Drop Slide. Of course hubby had to both!! He had to wear a boiler suit and helmet for the Vertical Drop, which we all thought was hilarious as he was melting in the suit and the heatwave conditions!! You hold onto a bar whilst you are pulled up as high/long as you can hold on for then let go and slide down.

The Leap of Faith is a vertical climb up to a platform which you then jump off of to try and catch a punch bag and hold on......there was no way I was going to try that!!!!



Check out the videos of what he did.

Next came the HighLine.....from below the course didn`t look too high up and quite an easy task to complete.....OMG how wrong was I???? I have never had a panic attack in my life but I have to say that I was on the verge of having one that day!!! Alfie went on in front of me and kept sating `come on mum its ok` so I couldn`t let him see my fears. I was literally dripping with sweat due to the nerves. Even though I knew I was harnessed in and couldn`t fall I just couldn`t stop shaking. It was mine and Emma`a hubby's turn to watch the babies so were giving us support from ground level, still that honestly didn`t help much!!



About 5 minutes in to the course Alfie did freeze with fear and would not budge so Stan the crazy man harnessed himself up and came to help him, he was amazing and helped Alfie get over his fear by telling him step by step what to do.

This has to be one of the scariest things I`ve ever done!

30 minutes later and 1 stone in weight loss later due to sweating I made it round, I have never been so glad to see a solid floor!!!

Emma too made it round in one piece and am so proud of her for overcoming her fear of heights.

How happy do we look to of finished the HighLine??

Sadly we didn`t have time to try out the Pier Cave experience but will definitely be back to give it a go and try to beat our times on the climbing walls!!

Visiting Rock Reef is a must, yes it is a bit pricey but it is definitely worth what you pay. Where else are you going to be able to say that you have climbed 25 different walls and taken the Leap of Faith???

Rock Reef gets 5*`s in our book and would say that you NEED to visit!!

A huge thanks to Juan, Georgia, DJ and Stan for making this an experience that we will never forget.

Our amazing team of instructors, Georgia, DJ and Stan.

School Holiday Learning..Yes or No??

When the kids are on holiday from school do you worry about them forgetting their `learning` skills??

Do you give them extra work for the holidays or give them a break from learning completely??

What do you think of the following quote??

`As many as one in three children can fall behind as a result of a seven-week break from the classroom`
Richard Garner, The Independent

As Richard Garner states above, long summer holidays can lead to a `learning loss`. Russell Hobby, General Secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, earlier last month stated a similar proposition when introducing the new education manifesto.

This `learning loss` results in pupils playing catch up in the first few weeks of the Autumn term, thus exacerbating the gap between the weakest and strongest pupils in class.

To try and prevent the `learning loss` during the school breaks EdPlace has developed a on-line learning programme that is tailored to your child`s developmental stage.

Developed by Head teachers and teachers, English, Maths and Science are covered in the form of worksheets to meet the National Curriculum in Key Stages 1-4.

EdPlace have kindly allowed Alfie and Jacob a trial of the programme with full access to the on-line programme to see how they progress over the summer holidays.

The layout of the website is clearly set out and easy to navigate between the different areas. There is a parent area where you can auto-assign or manually choose which worksheets you would like your child to do in which subject.

When you register the programme recommends which worksheets should be done for your child`s learning level. Alfie was given all the year 2 or KS 1 worksheets to complete but I decided that as Alfie is about to go into year 3 and KS 2 that I wanted to challenge him. The first few worksheets he found a little hard as he hasn`t covered the work yet but soon got the hang of it.

I love the fact that you can set goals for your child, once each worksheet is completed their score is converted into points, once an amount of points that is chosen by you is reached they can receive a reward of your choice. It doesn`t have to be a massive and expensive reward, we have said that once the boys reach their targets we will go to our local cinema for the kids club showing of their film of choice....bargain at £1.50 each!!!

To keep the kids engaged there is a function that rewards them with badges, so for example when they reach 100 points or complete a subject level.

Th questions are clear and easy to read. The programme also helps to improve their keyboard skills as a few questions require a sentence to be repeated.

Alfie is loving using this programme, he is eager to learn and is actually asking to do more than the one worksheet a night that we have initially allowed him to do.

Now Jacob is a little trickier, as he is about to start reception in September he is a little too young for the lowest level of year 1 but is doesn`t hurt to challenge them right??? He too is getting the hang of the layout and is actually getting quite good at answering the questions, he can`t read the questions yet so I am reading them out to him and he seems to be enjoying it.


Another great feature is that you can track their progress against EdPlace`s average.

If you are worried that your kids are forgetting how learn over the holidays or just want to give a little head start on the new term then this programme is definitely one to try.

The monthly fee per child for unlimited access to all 3 subjects is £12 per month or £96 per year, or one subject is £8/month or £64/year. Much much cheaper than a home tutor!!!

EdPlace have an trial offer on at the moment for 14 days of unlimited access for only £1!!!! Click HERE for details. Go on £1 for 14 days trial.....AMAZING!!!!

Silent Sunday 27.07.2014

A Day of Tears, Happiness and Dreams For The Future

Today was Jacob`s graduation ceremony from pre-school.

Yet another milestone reached on his journey through childhood.

I am exhausted from hardly any sleep due to Ben and Alfie being ill so knew I`d be emotional, I just didn't realise how much!!

The staff at The Lantern Pre-School are some of the most caring, friendly and enthusiastic people that I know. Because of this Jacob has developed into such a lovely and clever little boy with a thirst for knowledge.

The graduation service was so lovely and heartfelt. Prayers were said, speeches made and a little presentation of certificates of graduation were handed out to each of the 6 children leaving. The certificates had a few lines on it saying what they would miss about each child. Jacobs said that they would miss his cheeky smile and lively and energetic personality.

When each child was called up to be given their certificate all the mums including me started to cry, now this is an unusual thing for me as I never cry but since having Ben I seem to cry at everything!!

My beautiful blue eyed, not so little boy x

Jacob and wife/best friend in the world Myla.

Whilst I was sat wiping my tears away I started to wonder what each child would choose to do once they left school....become a Doctor, Painter, Bricklayer, Lawyer, Nurse, Shop Keeper, Vet or being their own boss. Whatever they choose I wish all the best for them in the future.

So here is a HUGE thank you to Jackie, Louise, Lorraine, Lynette, Caroline, Lynne and all the other helpers at The Lantern Preschool for all the love, understanding and effort that you have put into Jacob`s last 2 years with you. He will miss you all so much, but not sure if you will miss his antics and the fire drills caused by him!!! And sorry guys you wont be free of the Wood presence for too long as Benjamin will be starting with you next May....be prepared!!!

If anyone in the Poole/Bournemouth/Wimborne area is looking a 1st class preschool then The Lantern is the only choice in my eyes.

Reconnecting with childhood friends

Today saw me reconnect with my childhood best friend Elaine who I hadn't seen for over 16 years; my family moved away from where we had grown up together and lost touch.

We have been friends on Facebook for a few years, liking the odd photo or two of each others families etc, but never actually spoke to each other.

That was until a few weeks ago when Elaine got in touch to say that she had been following my exploits on my blog and had decided to start her own blog up!! I was so pleased that I had helped someone decide to start their own blog. Cue lots of messages back and forth about setting up her blog and me passing on my limited knowledge of social media.

We decided it would be easier for us to meet up rather than keep exchanging messages so this morning Benjamin and I set off the Elaine and her little boy Elliot. I was worried how we would connect again after so long and if we would have anything to talk about but I need not of worried as our little men broke the ice straight away by starting to chase each other around the room whilst giggling hysterically!!!

I hope that I have helped Elaine in starting up her new adventure with her blog entertainingelliot and can`t wait to see how it develops for her. We will have to make sure that we dont wait another 16 years to meet up.

The power of blogging is amazing and has brought us back together!!!!