Aping Around!

Tuesday brought a day at the forest park where the kids rode their bikes after having a go on the high ropes and zip wire. Boy Wonder loved the high ropes and ran round them as if they were on the floor. Cat Girl got half way across the first obstacle, panicked and cried and came back down. At least she tried! These two children are like chalk and cheese. It is nice though to have a child that shows emotion even if it is ten feet above your head! We went to buy a sneaky ice cream when she came off to cheer her up and then sat and watched the boys. 

Afterwards we stopped for a picnic and then got the kids bikes and they rode around the trails to the various parks. It was at this point that tempers frayed and Boy Wonder and Boy Genius seemed to bounce off of each other but not in a good way. Whatever one said or did, the other took the wrong way. It wasn't until two elderly ladies told them both off for climbing a tree that they joined forces to argue their corner. We left them to it as it really was a ridiculous thing to say. 

However things took a dive when Boy Wonder rode off on his bike and was out of sight for about fifteen minutes. He had followed the signs back to the visitor centre but hadn't stopped to wait or turn round and come back to us like he usually would. I went on ahead to look for him and found him sat in a bench at the visitor centre. He was crying and clung to me when I got there. I told him how worried we were and asked why he hadn't come back to us? He said that he didn't know where we were as he went to the ice cream shop and we weren't there. I explained that we were behind him so he only had to stop and wait or turn round and come back down the trail. He didn't seem to understand and was clearly very upset. This was now the second time during the holiday that he had just gone off without thinking. We regrouped and went for an ice cream before heading off to the last park. 

Boy Wonder remained tetchy and unstable in mood. His tolerance levels were low and because of this we decided to call in at a quiet pub to grab something to eat rather than drag the day out too much. This was a very bad idea as when we got there, Boy Wonder ended up in a stream of running water within minutes, up to his knee in mud with one leg. I pulled him out and explained that we would have to nip him back to the caravan to change. He got very upset and bolted over the fence. Superman went after him and caught him at the other side if the grass. We decided to call it a day and went back to the caravan. Boy Wonder was not in a good place. 

Once back at the caravan, Superman and Cat Girl went out to get some food whilst Boy Wonder and I thrashed out the difficulties using visuals and social scripts. The initial surface stuff came out first but this was quickly followed by him saying that he was worried about being in a strange place, not having a routine ( well  not a rigid one) and not wanting to go back to school.  We had a good chat and I gave  him lots of reassurance. We then agreed to watch Home Alone 3 with the takeaway that Superman and Cat Girl returned with .  After a chilled couple of hours we all went to bed. Boy Wonder settled very late again but had a nice lie in. 

Today we opted for a lazy day which started off by going to the pool. Boy Wonder has taken a liking to the sauna and steam rooms which is great as they are very warm ( obviously) and I don't like cold swimming pools!

After swimming Boy Wonder did his ice bucket challenge. We had lunch and then went for a walk to the beach. We stayed at the beach all afternoon and the children played lovely together. They built a huge castle with a moat and protective pebble walls. Afterwards we went to the beach cafe for tea and walked back to the caravan with more ice cream. 

We finished the evening off with a few games in the arcade and then went back to the caravan to watch the England match. A rather uneventful ( in a good way!) and chilled day!