# 9 - Try wakeboarding

I think this photo sums up my experience…

Firstly I must apologise for not posting since I actually turned 30 at the end of March! Yep I failed. I still have one completed challenge which I did whilst I was pregnant and never upload which will follow soon plus a few I have not yet had the chance to do!

I decided to save this challenge until close to my birthday, so I booked and paid for it (Thanks Amanda for finding me a cheap voucher) and then went and slammed the car door on my leg so that I could not go!

 

Fast forward five months and I finally went wakeboarding! I was a little hesitant as I had previously tried water-skiing, 12 years ago in Finland, and my brother kindly reminded me a few days before my wakeboarding attempt that I was useless! I didn’t even get up!

Thankfully things went a lot more smoothly this time. I was part of a group lesson at Liquid Leisure in Datchet. I was learning on the cable and despite struggling on my first go, things improved quickly. I have no style…do not end any runs gracefully but I did stand – LOTS.

 

A fun challenge – thanks Chloe!

# 20 – Look after someone’s children for the day

This was set before I had a child. I think to prepare me for potentially being a parent one day. That day came sooner than some expected, so you could argue I look after someone’s (mine & my husband’s) child every day!  I also wondered whether I could argue earlier in the year I regularly looked after 27 children a day, who definitely belong to people! However, so I could tick it off the list, I looked after my nephew today. I know that is only one child, but to be fair I also had my own 4 month old! I was only with him from 10am until his nap time at 3pm ish, as I needed to drive the hour home to get my little man fed, entertained, bathed and put to bed so I hope I will be forgiven for it not strictly being the ‘whole’ day.

As always I had a lovely time with the nephew. I especially enjoyed the Easter egg hunt I set for him in the garden. They were actually little Easter bunnies as the little eggs were an obvious choking hazard for a 2 year old!

Found one!

# 6 – Try Zorbing

There are several types of zorbing, but they all have one thing in common – a human being placed inside what can only be described as a giant hamster ball! When Ruth set this experience, I think she actually meant zorbing down a hill, but instead we ‘zorbed’ on water. Thanks to Tim, Chris, Nick, Cathy, Emily, Emma, Matt, Kelly and Gary, a cold but fun Saturday morning was spent at Longridge (www.longridge-uk.org). I was useless, as you’ll see in the video, Gary was definitely the most advanced ‘zorber’, and everyone else had a good try! A fun challenge – thank you Ruth.

 

Ready to go...

almost in!

struggling!

...and I am down!

Trying to beat Tim in a race!

I ended up winning!

# 14 – Swim in the sea in February

One word...RERESHING!

CHALLENGE SET BY: Jen

LOCATION: Swanage

DATE: 23^rd February 2013

TIME: 11am ish

OUTSIDE AIR TEMPERATURE: 1 °C

OUTFIT: Tankini, boardies, wetsuit boots & gloves and a bright turquoise woolly hat (no it is not a swimming cap!)

CONDITIONS: See video below

 

 

 

It was actually not too bad and I then got to enjoy an all-day breakfast in a nice warm café whilst I watched the snow beginning to fall!

 

# 15 – To learn a magic trick

Excuse the poor quality and embarrassing video! I learnt this trick last summer and kept forgetting to film and post it up – sorry!

# 7 – Visit every street on the Monopoly board in one day

So we (Tim, Nate and I) caught the train into London at 8.40am and after grabbing a much needed coffee met the lovely Sophie on Oxford Street at 10am. We used the route found on http://www.jrsaville.co.uk/monopoly_route.htm The morning was fun, lots of walking but really nice to see London from above as I am usually so lazy I tend to grab the tube everywhere. After a lovely belated birthday lunch for Sophie at Pizza Express we headed off on foot again. It was here it all went a little downhill. One very tired baby, a lost travel-card, continuous rain and aching feet made the afternoon a little tougher. Tim and Nate huddled in a coffee shop for the afternoon whilst Soph and I carried on and we all then met up again at Liverpool Street station. I won’t lie those last two hours were hard going (it’s just over 15 miles in total and you walk 80% of it). We finally caught a train home at just after 7pm. Poor Nate had experienced a very long day (I felt like a bad Mummy!) but he did have his first trip to Hamleys, mainly because it was one of the few places we could find with baby changing facilities! I do really recommend doing this, but perhaps in the summer and without a 3 month old! Thanks so much Sophie for keeping me company and Tim for looking after Nate in between feeds!

#18 - Get a perm

Well what an experience! I was advised (strongly) by many people to ditch this challenge but I decided it was only right to go for it! Few salons will do perms these days so I had to travel to Bristol, to a little salon out of town. I was the only client there (thankfully) and had great fun with Lizzy the stylist and chief photographer! As I am still breastfeeding I was told there was no guarantee what would happen - it may take, it may go mad. A bit of a lucky dip hair appointment I guess!

It ‘took’ and is thankfully more wavy than curly but very full! If I’m honest I’m hoping it falls out quite quickly! No one warned me how bad a perm smells! My kind mum paid for the challenge, which possibly due to it being an outdated style is a bargain. It’s rare you can spend nearly 2 hours in a hair salon and spend less than £30! For my bravery the lovely hair stylist even gave me a free bottle of Moroccan Oil as a birthday treat – quid’s in!