'The wheels are spinning and the adventure is unfolding'

I don't know how the rest of you organise your photos but as a blogger my desktop is filled with a ridiculous amount of folders all waiting to be turned in to blog posts and slowly but surely I get through them when i have time. I take an insane amount of photos every day because we are always having so much fun and I love to document everything in photos even if these moments don't make the final cut on to the blog. Ive been meaning to write a post for a week now but with the summer holidays starting and my two fun loving thrill seeking boys fully taking control of my time i just haven't had a spare minute until now. I had the post all planned out in my head but as I scrolled through the 400 pictures that had made it through to the final round of blog judging, the images actually brought a tear to my eye.

I am the luckiest guy on the planet!! i still can't believe how much my life has changed over the last 6 years. Everything was turned upside down the day I met Mrs M. All the stupid things that at that time had meant a lot to me meant nothing. The only thing that mattered at that point was her and the way she was making me feel. What followed that day was a series of events that molded me as a person and made me a much better human being. I was introduced to Seth and the Dad that was desperately waiting to come out was released and then Opeie! I cant believe that something so small could have such an impact on EVERYTHING but there he was and I cant get enough of being a dad.

And that's where this post was supposed to start. It wasn't the perfect circumstances for one of our adventures but as with every bit of time we have together I like to think we fully embrace the time we have together. Mrs M had loads of work on and Seth unfortunately wasn't with us so we planned a trip, 3 days in the big smoke, just the two of us. I spent a few days organising things for us to do and I had the big plan of 'NO TUBE'. I don't have anything against the tube (the boys love it), I just wanted to make it more of an adventure by travelling about using our Microscooters. There was a moment where I thought maybe i had bitten off more than i could chew (travelling around London as a tourist is hard enough with a 4 year old) but I was feeling confident that me and my miniature counterpart could manage it (and it was going to be fun).

We had only been out for an hour on the first morning when i realised just how different London is on two wheels, I can see why so many people cycle. That uncertain feeling i get when waiting for a tube was gone and was replaced with smiles and a very excited 4 year old whizzing around desperate for adventure. I make it so clear on here just how much i love the time i spend with the boys, i put so much effort in with them both and i am continuously rewarded by how awesome they are both turning out, sometimes I am so overwhelmed by our relationship and although early into the first day this trip was making me feel that way.

We were staying near Paddington on the edge of Hyde park which turned out to be the most amazing place to stay in London as we had to go through Hyde park on the scooters to get to everywhere we had planned to visit. We spent the morning investigating and scooted from where we were staying to Marble arch and then got on to Hyde park and spent the afternoon there. I love Hyde park, you could spend the whole day there just pottering about. We scooted along the river and made our way over to the Diana princess of wales memorial fountain where we splashed about for a good hour or so, it was such a lovely morning.

I'm starting to realise I'm going to have to write a post for each day we were in London as I've just finished uploading the photos for day one and there's quite a few. After eating our lunch at the fountain we scooted over to the Serpentine Pavillion as we had driven past the Selgascano exhibition when we had arrived in London the night before and we were both intrigued. It was really interesting inside, bright colours and shiny transparent plastic. I'd have loved to have gone on the evening when it was all lit up. This is one of the things I love most about London, there are interesting things to look at and attractions to visit all over the city.

We were soon back on the scooters and we freestyled it a little and ended up at the Albert memorial. We had been there before with our friends Sam and Jamie on the way to the Natural history museum  a year or so before and Opeie remembered so many details from that day as soon as he saw it. We scooted round the statue on the nice smooth tiles having a race before making our way to Kensington Gardens.

While researching the area before heading out that morning Opeie had spotted images of the Diana Memorial Playground in Kensington gardens and that was our next port of call (see what I did there?). We got to play pirates and ride on a sea monster it was so much fun. Opeie was loving watching people roller skating through the park, there was a man with ski's on wheels and someone on a unicycle. It was full on entertainment for my little partner in crime and I was having one of the best days I had had all year.

An afternoon of Scooting had taking its toll on my sidekick and luckily thanks to the GPS on my phone we realised the memorial playground was just round the corner from the apartment we were staying. Opeie crashed out within 20 minutes of getting back which worked out perfectly as we had big plans for a late night out. We headed out early evening on route to Leicester square as we had been invited to the Premiere of Ant-Man at the Odeon and we were both VERY excited about it. First though we had to find some new shoes for Mini me as his old ones were rubbing. So bye bye to his light blue converse and 'Hey!' to these lush purple/blue ones (great choice Opeie!).

No tubes again! it was lovely making our own way to the things we had planned, London is so interesting if you take out the underground. Ant-man was AMAZING and as we made our way home me and Opeie chatted about the movie and all the things we love about super heroes.  Opeie is so much fun to be around and being a dad is so much more that I thought it would be. He is such a character and I am so proud of the intelligent and sensitive boy he has become.

 

It took us a while to get back to the apartment and we didn't make it back till 11pm, which was a really late night for Opeie. As we made our way back I almost jumped out of my skin when i spotted a police officer holding a rifle standing in the dark shadow of a tree. We don't see guns where we live so it really took me by surprise. He apologised and we got chatting and it turned out that his sister lived just around the corner from us in Shropshire, small world. By the time we had got back we were both ready for bed. It had been a long day but as i said before, one of the best i had had in a long time. I could spend all of my time with Opeie he is the coolest 4 year old i know (yes i know i am biased).

Our first day was over but there was still 2 left, i wonder what we got up to next...

Stay tuned for part 2.

"Sorry I'm late, I was saving the world. You know how it is."

Whenever we are sent something to review myself and the boys sit down and discuss how we are going to tackle it as a team. Although the bulk of the writing on the blog is done by me, the blog is definitely a team effort and the boys love getting involved. Today we sat with the LEGO Ant-man kit in front of us and we were racking our brains for a creative way to approach the post when Opeie said 'if I was Ant-man I'd be able to hide when i had to tidy up' which was followed by Seth's 'If you were small like Ant-man you wouldn't be able to use the toilet'. That's how our blog brainstorming begins and what we were left with was...

The Pro's and Con's of being Ant-Man!

So we shrank Opeie down to Ant-man size to test our list of Hypothesis. 

1. Seth said 'If you were the Ant-man you would be great at games like Hide and seek because no one would be able to find you...

...But Opeie pointed out that he might be good at some games but at that size he wouldn't be winning any bike races!

2. You wouldn't have to eat much to fill your tummy, every meal would be an enormous feast...

...The downside is there might be situation where you end up on a giant spoon and be part of that feast without anyone realising!

3. As Seth pointed out, using a toilet at that size could be a HUGE problem...

... Opeie being Mr positive pointed out "Secret swimming pool?".

*Both toilet and LEGO were sterilised during the making of this review! Haha

4. Being the Ant-Man would be so cool, you could fly around on ants and mate friends with all the fun creepy crawlies...

...Unfortunately, in life there is always that one over affectionate type, that invades your personal space against your will.

5. Who wouldn't love playing with giant LEGO! that would be so much fun. You could build yourself a whole world to live in, AMAZING!

...Those prison cells we always seem to be building into our creations though can make things a little awkward if you find yourself trapped.

6. As pointed out by Opeie, If you were the size of Ant-man when it came to helping Seth tidy their room he could hide completely out of sight until all the chores were completed...

... If you build LEGO a lot though you'll know that those amazing little blocks don't have a great relationship with the hoover.

The outcome of our little experiment was that despite all the obstacles you would encounter as an ant sized person, being the Ant-man would still be extremely cool. I can think of many cool adventures I could go on at that size. If you haven't seen the movie (which came out last friday) yet, I strongly recommend it, me and Opeie were lucky enough to be invited to the premier and we were full hooked from the start.

Considering the LEGO that accompanies the release is on one of LEGO's smaller kits it's actually one of my favourite kits of the year so far. Antony (Ant-man's trusty carpenter ant) is a great build and we loved the wings. The price of the kit is great, especially as you get three brand new characters from the Marvel universe, Ant-man, Hank Pym and that Yellow Jacket. The Marvel LEGO characters are the only ones that I fully collect so a kit like this is very much appreciated.

One of the things that made the kit for us was the oversized LEGO bricks and Screws that you get to build from parts which really add to the role play when you are having your own mini super hero adventure. Everything you would expect from a product made by the company that helps fill so much of our family bonding time.

Go see the film... and then get straight up to your nearest toy story so you can continue your  micro sized adventures.

The End!

"This is not some cute tech like the Iron Man suit! "

Ive had some pretty awesome emails over the years from people interested in the blog but a recent email got me more excited than most. It was a chance to attend one of the new Marvel Ant-man premiers in Leicester square and being a HUGE Marvel fan I was very excited to be asked to go along. Firstly though after the initial excitement, daddy mode kicked in and i had to check the age rating and possible content. I knew it was only going to be me and Opeie and although he has seen most of the super hero movies I have always watched them first to make sure there isn't anything too bad.

This time though I didn't have that option and I had to just take my chances and hope for the best, I must admit I did feel a little nervous as he is still very innocent and I want him to stay that way as long as he can.

Opeie's little face lit up when he saw the huge Ant-man screen outside the Odeon on Leicester square. It was a completely different experience going to a big cinema in central London and there were people everywhere. When you go to the cinema here in Shropshire you think its busy if there are more than 10 other people watching the same movie. Busyness aside though there is something so addictive about arriving at an event, walking past everyone queueing and saying "I'm on the list".

I think my own little Ant-man was getting a little anxious of the crowd so opted to sit away from the busy area, which didn't stay quiet for long, the place was heaving. We had a while to wait so we talked about superheroes and what we were going to be doing for the rest of our trip. Before the show there was a brief intro from the director and Paul Rudd was also there, I think Mrs M would have been in here element if she had seen him.

And then it was movie time...

I am huge marvel nerd and the movies that have been coming out over the last few years have been amazing. Its great to see the comic book heroes i grew up following in the comics, up on the big screen and although the size of this hero was small in comparison to the hulk the move left a HUGE impression. Opeie was mesmerised from start to finish and although there were a couple of 'S Bombs' and the demise of a rather adorable sheep I didn't think that the film was bad at all for Opeie so as a concerned parent that was a real relief.

I won't give too much away about the film, I don't want to ruin anyone's fun but for us the show was stolen by Thomas the tank engine and it was the most talked about thing by Opeie for the long walk home from the movie. If you are looking for a superhero movie that is true to its comic roots then you may not get what you want from this movie but on entertainment alone this was one of my favourite Marvel Super hero movies. None stop action with just the right amount of humour

Be sure to stay for the secret scene mid credits, although I did think it was quite obvious what it was going to be. I cant wait to see more of Ant-man in the up and coming Marvel releases and I'll definitely be going to see this again over the coming weeks.

"The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain."

Its another grim day of bleak british weather, im quite sure summer is supposed to be starting any day soon. The worst thing about the grotty weather is not being able to go out and do much, its really frustrating. At least i managed to get some house work done. While tidying Seth's room earlier i started to think about what i used to do when i was younger and stuck in doors. On many occasion i would be found practising my Bulldog on my teddies swanning about my room doing my best impersonation of Davey boy smith.

On the rare occasion that i was allowed a friend over on these dreary days i would sometimes partake in a little one on one of the Top Trumps variety. Top Trumps always seemed like a good idea but chances are 10 minutes into a game you were pretty fed up of passing the cards back and forth.

Above are the cards i used to play with, and i wish i still owned them now as they go for a fair bit on eBay. Despite knowing that the games can take forever and they lose their appeal after 10 minutes i still think the cards are great so when we went to Florida earlier in the year i decided to get Seth into them with the hope that they might kill an hour or 2 on the long flight there.

They've come in quite handy for introducing new characters to him and will do with Opeie when he gets a little older and starts to understand why there is so much Super hero merchendise around the house. Seth actually really loves playing these but doesnt really have much of a poker face while playing. If its his turn and he calls out height and starts giggling you know he's got Galactus and if he call's out speed (with the same snigger) you can guarantee he's holding Quicksilver in his hand, its adorable.

 Playing Top Trumps is certainly a good way to keep Seth occupied and also to keep his mind off things especially if he is feeling ill etc. Three of the set's can me mixed too giving you the option of an Ultimate game (this has the disadvantage of making your game go on for hours usually ending in just giving up or having to finish because its bed time). This can be used in a clever way though to make children sleepy at bed time especially if you take your time reading your cards (not that I'm the sort of dad that uses tricks to get the kids to sleep though Hmmm....).