Updates
Our progress towards raising our 1m target
Today we used the last of our family passes and went to a waterslide park that's part of the same group as all the things we went to yesterday. I have to admit this isn't normally my thing, spending a day walking around in nothing but a swimsuit and going on rides that make your stomach churn with gallons of water constantly coming at you, but all of us had a brilliant day so buying the family pass for all these attractions was 100% a result I'd say!
We enjoyed everything from simply sitting in the wave pool watching Alex and George larking around through to the boys thinking it was hilarious to watch me step out of my comfort zone going in rubber rings down slides and even into black hole they somehow managed to convince me to! (Thank goodness they were out of earshot for my swearing and cursing as I went down it!)
George qualified to go on many of the rides just squeaking over the 1.20m minimum height limit. He was certainly much braver than me but thankfully his favourite ride was the gun cannon / water pistol boats which weren't going to put his back at any sort of risk. We also splashed out and paid to have a VIP covered area that meant we had beds and plenty of shade all day. We'd forgotten sensible things like towels and you had to pay for beds anywhere in the park anyway so chucking it on the credit card felt like a good idea.
You wouldn't believe it but we also bumped into another Reigate family! They'd come fully prepared and had even brought their own sandwiches! We helped them polish the last few off before enjoying an ice cream or two to finish our day off. Now it's time for bed with a much quieter day around the pool planned for tomorrow!!
Between us we've got this.
#thebigpush
#aimhighstaypositive
#giantpledge
Donate or join the Giant Pledge team with your own fundraising event in 2019 at giantpledge.com/team
Buy one of our 'Tackle Childhood Cancer' tees or pick up your superhero cape in honour of the doctors, nurses and super brave cancer kids at giantpledge.com/shop
Sing along & share our charity 'Do a Big Poo' song, youtu.be/U3iOmhIIc_s or buy it here, giantpledge.com/buy
Follow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/georgeandthegiantpledge
On Twitter: twitter.com/giantpledge
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Or for help with any event you may be thinking of email Lydia.Clark2@rmh.nhs.uk and cc us at GeorgeandtheGiantPledge@gmail.com
We had a break in the weather today with a patch or two of spotting / light rain. This gave us the perfect opportunity to check out some of the things to do nearby to the Thalazur Antibes hotel where we're staying. Marineland and Adventure Golf are just two of those with a water slide park and fairground park also being just opposite those.
Funnily enough you can hear the Marineland seals and people on the fairground ride's squeals from where we're staying. Today we opted to see the animals and play some crazy golf all topped off with a meal at Bistro & Co. which we were lucky to stumble across on our way home.
The boys both enjoyed it but George was clearly tired. Yes he had a slightly later than planned night last night but this morning's long lie in should have massively countered that. Looking back to this day during his cancer treatment we were at the World Para Athletics Championships in London where he was pretty much fully dependent on his wheelchair. His spinal surgery along with everything else means there's no surprises his body still struggles with all the long-term / lingering leftovers.
With sit downs during so many demonstrations and shows, together with Woody doing lots of carrying him, he still did relatively well. Good job I'd snuck in first thing to grab a picture of the boys in front of some pretty flowers I'd spotted else I think he'd have had a sense of humour failure if I'd tried to do this any later with the two of them!!!
We're still so inspired by the likes of Ben Rowlings and Kare Adenegan who, on this day in 2017, took him under their wing when we briefly met them. Who knows, as he grows up and when he's back to full strength, para athletics / paralympics could also be the thing for him!!!
Between us we've got this.
#thebigpush
#aimhighstaypositive
#giantpledge
Donate or join the Giant Pledge team with your own fundraising event in 2019 at giantpledge.com/team
Buy one of our 'Tackle Childhood Cancer' tees or pick up your superhero cape in honour of the doctors, nurses and super brave cancer kids at giantpledge.com/shop
Sing along & share our charity 'Do a Big Poo' song, youtu.be/U3iOmhIIc_s or buy it here, giantpledge.com/buy
Follow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/georgeandthegiantpledge
On Twitter: twitter.com/giantpledge
And on Instagram: instagram.com/giantpledge
Or for help with any event you may be thinking of email Lydia.Clark2@rmh.nhs.uk and cc us at GeorgeandtheGiantPledge@gmail.com
Today we spent more time just chilling around the pool. Another day of lovely weather, things really couldn't possibly be any better! The only thing I think any of us would change is the fact that the pool is filled with salt water which really isn't the end of the world / it can only mean one thing... a good pair of goggles are in order! 🤓 #FirstWorldProblems
Between all the larking about and laying around we managed to squeeze a family selfie in (and I promise you, yes we were all wearing clothes, no we weren't naked!!) We even took on one of those exercise classes they do for people in the pool today as you can see here with Alex and George trying to keep up, funnily enough there aren't any Woody or I shots! 😂
Even the simplest things are making us happy, like the fact we're in a ground floor room so wandering the full 10 minute loop to get back doesn't exist. For us it's just a quick hop over the balcony leading directly from our room to the pool!
Tonight we ventured into a nearby town, we went for dinner and to enjoy the French Bastille Day celebrations. Cue a fireworks display to remember! What are the chances that whilst we were eating we should bump into a family from Reigate??! One of Alex's best friend's cousins no less! #SmallWorld and all that!
A bit of a later night than we'd planned but hey we're on holiday, so that just means we'll sleep in tomorrow morning!!!! Feeling forever grateful 😁
Between us we've got this.
#thebigpush
#aimhighstaypositive
#giantpledge
Donate or join the Giant Pledge team with your own fundraising event in 2019 at giantpledge.com/team
Buy one of our 'Tackle Childhood Cancer' tees or pick up your superhero cape in honour of the doctors, nurses and super brave cancer kids at giantpledge.com/shop
Sing along & share our charity 'Do a Big Poo' song, youtu.be/U3iOmhIIc_s or buy it here, giantpledge.com/buy
Follow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/georgeandthegiantpledge
On Twitter: twitter.com/giantpledge
And on Instagram: instagram.com/giantpledge
Or for help with any event you may be thinking of email Lydia.Clark2@rmh.nhs.uk and cc us at GeorgeandtheGiantPledge@gmail.com
After a good night's sleep and a cheeky nap later this afternoon I've had the most sleep I've had in such a long time ...clearly we should be on holiday more often!!! Joking aside, even last week my sleep varied from just 1.5 hours on one night to 5 / 6 hours max at a push. Today's cumulative total was 11 hours!!!! I can't tell you how good it feels for once to not be tired!
Clearly we're more relaxed than we have been in a while. All we did was lie around the pool all day so I guess that shouldn't be a surprise. That said, quiet time or stopping and being still is often when my biggest heebs and jeebs creep in. But not today so hooooray!
As for the boys they've been in seventh heaven as we brought along a game a friend recently gave us. I have to admit I may have regretted it as they insisted on playing 'plop trumps' at breakfast this morning 😲💩😲 I can't say rating 'frequency', 'smell' and 'yuck factors' went down all that well with eating our breakfast (!)
Then again I've always said poo could well be my mastermind subject. After everything George's chemo did to his stomach he'd give some of the animal's business these cards picture a good run for their money! And let's not forget we've got our own Giant Pledge charity single about it 😂https://youtu.be/U3iOmhIIc_s (Sorry to those of you that may end up reading this over your breakfast! 😬) Either way lots of fun, sun, relaxation and daft giggles today! Just what the doctor ordered! Here's to being on holiday!!!
Between us we've got this.
#thebigpush
#aimhighstaypositive
#giantpledge
Donate or join the Giant Pledge team with your own fundraising event in 2019 at giantpledge.com/team
Buy one of our 'Tackle Childhood Cancer' tees or pick up your superhero cape in honour of the doctors, nurses and super brave cancer kids at giantpledge.com/shop
Sing along & share our charity 'Do a Big Poo' song, youtu.be/U3iOmhIIc_s or buy it here, giantpledge.com/buy
Follow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/georgeandthegiantpledge
On Twitter: twitter.com/giantpledge
And on Instagram: instagram.com/giantpledge
Or for help with any event you may be thinking of email Lydia.Clark2@rmh.nhs.uk and cc us at GeorgeandtheGiantPledge@gmail.com
Tonight I'm writing the blog from France. Earlier today we flew into Nice and now we're settled into a new hotel for the week. Call us mad but we literally only flew home to go to 10 Downing Street yesterday. The perks of having easyJet staff travel make crazy random trips that much cheaper and more manageable! For everything we learnt, the people we met and all the connections we made, yesterday's Sarcoma UK event really was 100% worthwhile ❤️
Today we flew on a pre packaged holiday we found on lastminute.com with BA, booked quite literally only a matter of a few hours before we flew earlier today(!) We're normally pretty risk averse so it felt very alien booking something quite so last minute but we want to make the most of Woody's holiday he has booked off. Plus now we finally have travel insurance for George, things feel a little more flexible and we can start venturing out a bit further afield!
This is all such a far cry to our little man tethered to his chemo poll on this equivalent day during his cancer treatment. His 7th of 14 rounds of chemo...the only saving grace being that the next 7 were ever so slightly less hardcore / less toxic than the first. (By this point George was on his consolidation chemo having finished his 6 unbelievably strong rounds of induction chemo)
Before we left we bought this week's local paper today. Turn the front page and who should we see, none other than the boy's Headmaster Mr Culverwell! The Surrey Mirror has kindly covered our story about our Headteachers hair shave and his #HeadtoHeadChallenge to others 😍 Let's see if this coverage helps encourage any others to do something similar or equally as big and bold to help beat childhood cancer! (Read more or start your #HeadtoHead fundraising page at www.justgiving.com/campaign/headtohead)
Between us we've got this.
#thebigpush
#aimhighstaypositive
#giantpledge
Donate or join the Giant Pledge team with your own fundraising event in 2019 at giantpledge.com/team
Buy one of our 'Tackle Childhood Cancer' tees or pick up your superhero cape in honour of the doctors, nurses and super brave cancer kids at giantpledge.com/shop
Sing along & share our charity 'Do a Big Poo' song, youtu.be/U3iOmhIIc_s or buy it here, giantpledge.com/buy
Follow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/georgeandthegiantpledge
On Twitter: twitter.com/giantpledge
And on Instagram: instagram.com/giantpledge
Or for help with any event you may be thinking of email Lydia.Clark2@rmh.nhs.uk and cc us at GeorgeandtheGiantPledge@gmail.com