Day 49 & 50: 31/7/17 & 01/08/17 Pausing in Chalons

Not too much to say about the last couple of days. We're enjoying the forced slow down due to canal closures further down our route, spending time catching up on some jobs. Yesterday the kids enjoyed making friends with kids on the German boat behind us. Lego seems a common language! Then later all 4 kids went off to the park, 2-way radio in hand. It felt a bit strange having a break from them. 24/7 with the kids is one of the things I was both looking forward to, and concerned about. With no babysitters on hand it is a rare moment when they aren't within 10 metres of us and when they are away from the boat it is a very strange calm.

We've eased off the boatschool a little. We are still trying to do Maths, Reading and Writing with Esmé in a reasonably formal way, however with AJ we are backing right off and trying to reduce the pressure. I don't think he has a very good relationship with learning right now (he was struggling at school) and this is something I want to improve. I would rather take our time and try to get him enthusiastic about learning than battle with him each day, although he does need some structure so we have come up with a plan. In order to earn his iPad time each day he needs to do 2 hours work, but he can choose if this is school work or helping dad. Yesterday he spent the morning working with Patrick to measure and mark up our new anchor chain. He had to devise a code to mark each 5m interval with different coloured cable ties, and today he produced a reminder card on the computer that we can refer to when we forget the code!

He's also been reading a LOT which is fantastic, and I've made a deal with him that I will get him the new book he wants on kindle when he's written a book review in the reading diary I bought him. We also spent a lot of time taking advantage of the free wifi and 230V electrics by downloading and printing activities for the kids to do over the next few days.

The kids are getting lots more confident about approaching French kids and headed down to the park to play today without needing me to support them making friends. This is a big achievement as far as I'm concerned. We meet all sorts of people on this journey, most with a considerably larger budget than us but we all have boats in common. Nobody comes alongside here without a couple of people jumping off boats to catch their lines, even if it is pouring with rain.....

.... speaking of which we had a massive rain, thunder, hail storm last night which lasted for hours. For the first time in ages we had leaks! Not impressed as one was above my bunk coming from our new hatch. Hopefully todays tweaks will have cured it!

Anyway, more learning and jobs tomorrow, hopefully followed by a late night walk to see some special lights in town. Not sure what it's all about but hopefully will find out tomorrow!