# 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!

 

# 12 – Learn to juggle

Well I began this challenge last summer with a juggling lesson from Katy Kartwheel (www.circuspassion.co.uk). She showed me the basic technique and the plan was I went home to practise. I also took the opportunity to try the trapeze – not recommended at 5.5 months pregnant as it involves going upside down, but it was GREAT fun!

So during the summer I began my juggling practise but ‘the bump’ made picking the balls back up of the ground (which was a regular occurrence!) very tiring! The most ‘juggles’ I managed in a go was a mere five! I would love to say that over the following months I improved…but sadly not! I have ‘learnt’ to juggle – I just happen to be useless at it!

 

# 25 – Eat an insect

I went for a favoured delicacy of South American Indians – chocolate covered giant ants! Some could argue these should be the choice of all new mums as they contain energy giving enzymes; I’ve yet to be convinced! The species of ant I went for were Atta Laevigata from Colombia.

‘Atta laevigata is one of about a dozen species of leafcutter ants in the genus Atta, found from Colombia south to Paraguay. This species is one of the largest leafcutter species, and can be recognized by the smooth and shining head of the largest workers in a colony. Atta laevigata is known in northern South America as hormiga culona (roughly translated as "large-bottomed ant") or as bachaco.’ (Taken from Wikipedia)

At £5 for five (before delivery) they are certainly not an everyday snack and their slightly earthy flavour was not to my liking. They also have a habit of getting stuck in your teeth – you think you’re done but oh no there’s a stray crunchy leg!

# 10 – Kiss a pig on its snout.

Set ‘kindly’ by Gwyn and Glyn I had hoped to complete this in early 2012. On a school residential trip to Ufton Court in January 2012, I was told they were getting piglets and that I would be able to return to kiss one. However, once I found out I was pregnant with ‘31’ I was told current medical opinion is to avoid contact with swine during pregnancy. As you can imagine the piglets have grown somewhat since then, although they are thankfully still quite small! 
Please meet Bubble and Squeak...

Today I got the pleasure of kissing this beautifully muddy snout!

It was pretty hard to take a picture, as funnily enough I didn’t want to hold the pose for long, so hopefully this video is enough! The muddy lips post kiss should be proof enough!

Thanks to Emma, Matt and Tim for cheering me on and of course thanks again to Ufton Court for their support. Do check out their website, especially if you are a teacher as their Tudor experiences are AMAZING! I have taken two schools over the last few years and the kids learn loads and love it.

www.uftoncourt.co.uk

# 2 – Play in a gig with a band

I was wondering when I would achieve this one but thanks to Kelly it has been ticked off the list! I imagine very few brides would be willing to release part of their day for someone else to ‘take centre stage’ although as you will see from the photo below no one could possibly distract from Kelly being the focus of the day – she looked stunning and it truly was a fantastic wedding!

As you will hear in the video I was playing ‘the stick!’ I did ask the drummer for two but he felt I was trying to fly before I could run. So one stick it was, along with a little singing and some cymbal bashing! I may have looked like an absolute geek and spent the song wishing I’d remembered my ruler (see experience # 17) but  I’m very grateful it is ticked off. Thanks again Kelly!

 

Really recommend the band. See http://juniorguevarra.com/ for details and http://www.eightraymusic.com/junior-guevarra-2 for booking details.