With all of the festivities from the Christmas and New Year break done and dusted my boy has had a wonderful time with the presents he loved to the dinners and the must do visit to the grandparents for a few days. Running around with his cousins when they came over to visits with us and the in-laws giving more presents to boot.
My son loves football (soccer) and playing outside so spent quite a lot of time playing kickabout in the garden as well as at the local park when we ventured out of the house to take him out flying his new drone and on his new bike for a family bike ride together. It's also cool for him when his friends and the neighbour's kids come around (and vice versa) to play and show off their presents too. Not to mention the new Xbox games keeping them busy for hours over the break but like the new toys they all wear off after a while.
Christmas buildup
The build-up to the break went well really with all of the preparations that needed to be done, buying the families presents being the big shopping trip as well the big food shopping trips needed. All of the running around tends to both wear you and the rest of the family out so by the time you get to the relaxing you thoroughly need the rest! I know I did! The more you put into it the better you appreciate it when you get to the resting as well as the break from work itself which is also welcome in the bargain.
As Christmas eve got closer the tension built in the house and the excitement grew as we were excited to see him open up his presents knowing he was going to be well chuffed with what we bought him and we were right! The big day arrived and the usual family day was amazing with all of us playing our parts throughout the day it was wonderful.
Holiday blues
As the break wore on he played with all of the presents we bought him time and time again as well as really enjoying the attention and time with his dad as for the most part I am working which is often till late. A lot of the time he's asleep in bed when I finally get home.
As the time came toward the end of the holiday he became a bit deflated (he never really gets 'bored') so we took him out to a few places to cheer him up so here is a list of places we went to as I thought he would enjoy the time and trips together. Additionally, it might give you dads some ideas for your own boys. Time with the lad is an extremely important character building and bonding activity instilling the confidence he needs growing up and they are not young forever, are they? The whole family loved the out time together as you can imagine.
Here are 5 great January activities that we have been doing and that I highly recommend for some family fun in general! I am from the South of England but these are all activities I am sure you can all do in your respective countries.
Harry Potter Shows. Hogwarts in the Snow Part Two at the Palace Theatre in London's West End which he thought was utterly amazing being his favourite film in the series followed up by a trip around London seeing the sites. We all loved every minute of it!
Check out some Sea Life and Winter Animals. We went on another trip to the Sea Life Centre in Brighton where there is a tunnel and you walk thru it looking at all of the different fish swimming next to you underwater and he was brave enough to touch some of the fish in the shallow tanks and touch a baby shark Lol. Also, we went to see the winter animals at London zoo for a while before heading home that thoroughly tied him out.
Off-road Bike Ride! As we all like bike rides we went to the woodland get fit. South downs near us at the Seven Sisters woodland where we all had a really good day out riding thru the forest finishing up with getting out the barbecue kit from the back of the car and sitting down to an outdoor feast. Brilliant.
January Sports Matches. My lad loves cricket rugby and football (soccer), no homegrown cricket in the winter here! They are all in India playing in the IPL! But lots of rugby and football to take him to including the local Brighton v Crystal Palace rivalry FA Cup match which we won. And a win for me with Bonus Code! Great stuff!
Hit the ICE! We also went on an ice skating trip to the local rink which he loves now and again so that kept him both occupied and tired out at the end of the day. How much fun can a boy get for his post Xmas month!
so all in all an action packed Jan and looking really forward to seeing what Feb will bring. I have a great deal of Eco and Nature based plans in my head that I will share with you in my next post!
Happy Healthy and Prosperous 2018!
Peace
Jay
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