Swansea Race for Life 2010
The ever popular Cancer Research 'Race for Life' came to Swansea once again today and it marked the very first "organised" 5k run that my Mrs had ever taken part in.
Several months ago - well May to be precise - Mrs DDWT had mentioned how much she'd like to get into running - especially seeing as I'd caught the 'running' bug. So we sat down and thought of a way forward...
That's where the 'Race for Life' came in and what better way to start running than to support a charity for something which was close to our hearts.
Cancer had claimed the life of my Dad and no doubt countless members of other families across the length and breadth of the UK and indeed the world.
So the goal was set - to run the Swansea Race for Life. This meant that not only would Mrs. DDWT get fit but as we had personal reasons for supporting a charity, it would also give her all the more drive and determination to achieve her goal.
Given her lack of running, she'd also set herself - what I'd call an extremely modest - target of £75 in sponsorship money. And here's a shameless plug for anyone who'd like to donate online - even if it's only a £1!
As you can imagine, our two little 'uns and I were immensely proud to see Mrs DDWT on the starting line today. The stunningly pink site of thousands of women doing their bit for such a wonderful charity was fantastic and spurred everyone on I've no doubt (aided by some tub thumping music!).
Here's a short video clip I took when the "race" started (see if you can spot yourself ladies) ....
Some 37 minutes or so after the start we were cheering Mrs DDWT over the finishing line in a time well under her target of 40 minutes!
At the end of the day though, as she rightly said, it wasn't about her time - it was about the taking part and feeling part of such a great and touching occasion.
The personal messages that adourned the back of every participant was testament to how much cancer has touched so many lives and for this reason alone it was wonderful to see so many women of all ages, shapes and sizes taking part.
So well done Mrs DDWT and ALL of the other women who took part, you should be extremely proud of yourselves.
We did Sport Relief 2010
I'm glad to report that Team Thomas successfully completed the Swansea Sport Relief Mile 2010.
Thankfully the torrential rain of Saturday was long gone and was replaced by glorious spring sunshine by the time we ventured into Singleton Park - the venue for the Swansea Sport Relief Mile - in readiness for our family challenge.
With me opting to do the 6 miles at 11am and the rest of the Thomas clan doing the mile at noon, time was going to be tight, especially as I wanted to join them for their event.
I was hoping for a sub-50 minute time for the 6 miles, but the rather hilly setting put paid to any chances I had of doing that and I ended up coming home in 51 minutes 41 seconds.
The course was somewhat confusing as the 3 and 6 mile events consisted of doing 3.5 and 5 laps respectively - and shared with the 1 mile participants it all got a little confusing (in terms of keeping tabs on others and pacing yourself!).
In fairness the stewards did a grand job encouraging everyone and making sure that people went the right way - but the layout did nowt for my time keeping! Well I'm not going to blame my fitness levels am I 
Still we had lots of fun and even the kids got in on the act with DDWT Junior running off and on for his mile (with Mrs DDWT) and Baby DDWT being quite content to walk along splashing in all the muddy puddles with me (although lagging behind somewhat!).
In fact it was fantastic to see so many families (including pets!) taking part in the events and having so much fun whilst doing so. Most of the kids seemed intrigued by the 'fire' juggler and were well chuffed to see Cyril the Swan present as well (well done Cyril for running the 1 mile event). Lee Trundle was also present to start off the proceedings at the 11am event.
The kids were well chuffed with their Sport Relief goodie bags - especially the medals, which my no doubt bring back a memory or two in years to come for both of them. I'm not sure what they made of the mini box of cereal or singular prune sachets, but they were welcome running food for me 
I'd also like to say a BIG THANK YOU to everyone who has sponsored us so far. Thus far we've raised £66 - our target was £100 - but with more sponsorship pledged I'm still hopeful that we'll beat our original target.
If you'd like to donate then please feel free to do so via the Team Thomas Sport Relief page.
World Book Day 2010
Did you know that today marked World Book Day 2010? Well nor did I until about a month ago when DDWT Junior came home from school branding a £1 book token and explanatory note!
So what is world book day? Well quite simply it is the biggest annual celebration of books and reading in the UK and Ireland.
I must confess to not being a bookworm by any stretch of the imagination but Mrs T and DDWT Junior are and I think it's great that such a 'day' exists - if only to generate interest in books for children and adults alike.
Our local school also got in on the act by asking all of the kids to dress up as their favourite character from one of the many books written by Roald Dahl - such as The BFG, George's Marvellous Medicine, The Twits, James & The Giant Peach, Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Enormous Crocodile and many more.
Here's a picture of DDWT Junior sporting his Enormous Crocodile outfit!
Incidentally if you haven't read 'The Enormous Crocodile' - like I hadn't up until a couple of weeks back - I'd recommend it, it's quite funny for little kids and big ones!
Support the Team Thomas Sport Relief Challenge
Yes it's official, Team Thomas have decided to take part in Sport Relief 2010!
On Sunday 21st March 2010, Team Thomas - all four of us - will be heading down to Singleton Park to take part in the Swansea Sport Relief Mile in order to raise money for poor and vulnerable people.
The Swansea Sport Relief event offers a choice of distances to enter - 1, 3 or 6 miles and to make things a little more fun we've decided to do something a wee bit different.
I will kick things off at 11 am by doing the 6 mile event before joining Mrs DDWT and the little 'uns for the 1 mile event at noon. That is assuming that I run the 6 miles in under an hour of course LOL! We haven't decided if fancy dress is in order or not yet (any suggestions for costumes?).
We've never done a family fundraising event all together in the past, so we thought it was an ideal opportunity to try something different and help people both at home and overseas who aren't as fortunate as ourselves.
So why not sign up and enter the event, it's only £5 per adult and £2 for children under 16 or for just £12 you can register 2 adults and 2 children.
If you don't fancy taking part then why not sponsor Team Thomas instead? Remember every penny helps so even a £1 would be extremely welcome.
So go on you know you want too...
Welcome to 2010
Felt rough as heck this morning but that was nothing to do with alcohol, it was because Mrs T and I were playing Lego Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues on the Wii until gone 2am this morning!
Sleep deprivation coupled with 2 early risers (aged 18 months and 5 years old) are a recipe for non-existent patience syndrome - no matter what day of the week/year it is!
So with our fridge in desperate need of some semi-skimmed milk I decided it was time to take the kids for a walk into the village to stock up at the local co-op, regardless of how cold and frosty it was.
We were suitably frozen by the time we got back some hour and a half later! Little wonder then perhaps that as I type - albeit late evening - that the snow has started to fall quite heavily (and not before bloody time too!).
Let's just hope it lasts until the morning so that we can have a family snowball fight!
Oh I almost forgot - Happy New Year everyone and all the very best in health and happiness for 2010
Tree O’Clock
Today was the day that DDWT Junior tried a make a little bit of history for himself by taking part in the BBC's Breathing Places Tree O'Clock event.
As part of National Tree Week, Breathing Places and its partners were encouraging people to plant trees in the Tree O'Clock hour - between 11am and 12 noon on Saturday 5 December 2009 - in an attempt to to create a Guinness World Record!
And here's the evidence of him taking part.... before....
and after....
A big thank you must go to Mr. Scannel from Focus DIY in Swansea whom kindly supplied 60 trees to the school to enable the children to take part in the record breaking attempt.
So here's hoping that enough trees have been planted to set a new Guinness World Record
But no matter if there aren't, the long lasting benefits to nature and the environment will be enough of an achievement.
One year on
It's hard to imagine that a whole year has gone by since my Dad passed away as it really doesn't feel as if its been that long.
Over the last few weeks, I've been dreading this day for lots of reasons - how my Mam would be feeling a year on, would my sister still be taking it badly and would I finally succumb to the grieving which rears its head every so often.
Now that the day is here and we've been through the whole first anniversary of everything (birthday, wedding anniversary, etc, etc) everything seems to be that little bit easier.
My Mam has spent the day with us and we've treated it as any other day to be honest, which I think is (and always would be) the best thing to do. The strength and courage my Mam has shown over the past 12 months is admirable and I take so much positive energy from that - as after all she has suffered the biggest loss.
I've little doubt that as each day passes us by it will be another step forward to life getting back on track - as it must - and things will get easier.
We'll never ever forget my Dad regardless of the amount of time that passes by, but life must go on and with a young family that is what I intend to do - as I know my Dad would have wanted.
Chicken Pox
All of the excitement I felt with Mrs DDWT and the kids impending arrival home - after their mini-break in Ceredigion with Nanny - was quickly dampened with a 07:30 am telephone call.
It was Mrs DDWT ringing to tell me the kids had the classic symptoms and signs of chicken pox!
I couldn't believe it and just to compound matters I've booked a week's leave next week to do lots of family things - so we had lots planned. A train trip to Cardiff, a day in Folly Farm or Dan-yr-Ogof and a couple of 5th birthday parties (which DDWT Junior had been invited too).
The thought of Baby DDWT (@ just 10 months old) having chicken pox fills me with trepidation as well. Bless her.
The missus and I had it when we were kids so we'll be ok and I suppose in a weird kind of way it's good that the kids have it whilst they are very young as well - as opposed to their teens or even adulthood.
Oh well time to head off to the pharmacy for some calamine lotion I think and some antihistamines for children!
Boy is it going to be a fun week off in the house of DDWT *raised eyebrows*
Pool party
We all had a wicked time today at DDWT Junior's pool party in celebration of his 5th birthday, which is on Tuesday.
Some 14 or so of his classmates turned up and they - and their parents - had a whale (pun intended) of a time at Pontardawe swimming pool, splashing, diving and swimming about the massed array of kids floatables!
The little fella was so excited bless him and at the end of the hour you could see that all of the kids were quite literally out on their feet having had so much fun. It was certainly £60 well spent to hire the pool for the hour.
It was the perfect way to celebrate his birthday with all of his friends, leaving the traditional family party to his actual birthday on Tuesday.
Somewhat reluctantly I decided to weigh myself this morning - fearing the worst - having munched my way through a KFC and a box of maltesers yesterday *blush*
Thankfully it was good news though as I was still 15st 12lbs. Although this was after having a re-weigh as I wasn't starkers the first time around! Who'd have thought that a pair of PJ's would weigh 2lb eh?
Coed Gwilym Park
With the cold but sunny weather continuing during the opening few days of 2009 we decided to make the most of it with a visit to Coed Gwilym Park, Clydach in the Swansea valley.
With plenty of wide open spaces, two playgrounds, a small wood and the nearby canal there was plenty to keep DDWT Junior amused. The tennis courts also gave him ample opportunity to have a 'dabble' with his Christmas presents (from this and yesteryear!) - remote control cars!
Here's a brief picture guide - but you won't beat making a visit there yourself.
