By the way they are not paying me to say this - it is just my opinion! Although obviously if someone from Surf happens upon this post and feels like sending me, say, a year’s supply of Surf, I would be delighted!

Well, I’m sure like most people, I’ve been watching alot of the Olympics - I’m loving these ones! I’ve enjoyed watching all kinds of sports, and of course it helps that Team GB are doing really well - 16 gold medals so far! Wow! I’ve particularly enjoyed watching gymnastics, athletics, swimming, diving, rowing, skulling, sailing, cycling and even a spot of equestrian. Some of the people in the olympics strike me as a bit arrogant … but then again if I was that good at something, I’d probably get a bit arrogant myself. But some of the best moments are when people win and they are so shocked, and so modest, and you feel quite emotional along with them. It must be a wonderful feeling to get a medal after all the hard work they put in. I’m getting quite excited about London 2012 now, and wondering if we could manage a trip to London to see some of the events … trying to imagine 4 years from now - Ben will be 13 1/2 and Abi just 10 - hard to imagine that!

I do get the thought in the back of my mind about all the money being spent on sport … that could be being spent on people who have nothing … it seems so extravagant. I am torn. But then when I’m on the edge of my seat watching a race and cheering, I forget. I don’t know what to think about that.

If you want it, you can get it here, but it might take a few attempts as there is rather a lot of demand at the moment.

Later:
I did it! It was a very nice new course, but with a few more ups and downs than the old course. I didn’t manage to beat last year’s time and did it in 45 minutes. I am very tired, but happy. I managed to avoid blisters this year! It was a great experience being part of a crowd of 1500 women all with the same aim in mind. Fab! Abi wants to do it with me next year - she’ll be nearly 7 by then so I think she’ll be up to it

It was a beautiful sunny day on Saturday and we really enjoyed walking round the Zoo. Our favourite animals were the Orangutans and Chimps and it was great seeing all kinds of other animals too. We were lucky enough to happen to be coming to the chimp enclosure just as they were being fed, so we saw them all come out for their lunch

The new “Realm of the Red Ape” exhibit was really interesting and gave you good views of the Orangs in quite natural looking habitat. Me and the children are particularly fond of the Orangs, so we were really pleased to get a good look at some of them as they swung by

After a night at a hotel we got up early in the morning and headed for Black Knights Parachute Centre. Richard did the paperwork and the children and I waited around until it was time for him to do his jump. We watched several other people do jumps and it was very exciting to see them coming down to earth!

Then it was Daddy’s turn! We were very exciting watching him heading off to the plane in all his gear, with his expert sky diver with him ready to go tandem. We watched his plane head off into the sky and disappear through the clouds, then it was a matter of waiting and looking up into the sky to see when he would reappear through the cloud and the parachute would be deployed. We were getting stiff necks looking up into the sky, and then there he was with a rainbow coloured parachute! His friend Andy got some great pictures for us from the dropzone (the children and I had to stay in the spectator area). He landed back on the ground with an enormous grin on his face! A very successful 40th birthday present!

As it was still quite early in the day we decided to stop off at Llangollen on the way back home, and followed a sign for the Llangollen Aqueduct. We all found it really interesting and exciting watching the boats and following the tow path. We found a boat that did Aqueduct Trips and went on one which was very exciting - on one side of the boat is the tow path across the viaduct with railings, but on the other side there is nothing to stop you falling out if you were to lean over!! Eek! Nobody fell out thankfully!

The view from the aqueduct was beautiful and we really enjoyed going on the narrow boat. It got us thinking again about going on a narrow boat holiday and we are all enthusiastic about this - Ben is keen to help with locks and moorings, Daddy would be the driver, and me and Abi would be generally helpful I’m sure! I guess I would be spending time in the galley as well! Anyway - we picked up some information from Anglo Welsh Waterway Holidays who had a base there, and will have to start saving up!

All in all we had a really fun weekend and have come back tired out but happy

There are lots more photos that Richard and I took, as well as a few that Andy Starr (Thank you!) took of Richard skydiving, on our gallery: Chester Zoo, Skydiving, Llangollen

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