"You can't win unless you learn how to lose."

Although I'm not really the sporty type, there have been some great sports games released by Nintendo the years. When I was at school Nintendo world cup was one of my favourites. For a sports game back then it was really basic, but there was something about those cute 8bit players being able to scissor kick the ball that had me hooked. When the boys and I are having a little one on one gaming session with the 3DS's, we still occasionally have a Mario slam basketball still tournament and we like to get a little competitive with Mario and Sonic at the Rio Olympic games. Nintendo does a great job of adding a less serious, more quirky approach to sports games.

With the release of Mario Sports Superstar, 5 more sports have been given the Nintendo twist. The Football for me didn't have the same nostalgic feel that I got when I recently played Nintendo world cup again at my friends, but... it is still a great game and I loved being able to play as Nintendo's finest. Baseball took us a while to get the hang of, Pitching was fine but when it came to batting we all had teething issues with actually hitting the ball. We had a really good chuckle though at just how bad we all were. 

The tennis and golf were like playing old favourites with a new twist. And the Horse racing was definitely one of my favourites as it was like playing a strange game of Mario kart. Whats great about Mario Sports Superstar is that the fun isn't just stuck at playing the actual sports, there is a lot of strategy that also goes into the game play to help your progress. 

There are a variety of tournaments to get through in single player mode and although I'm yet to fully try out the multiplayer mode , I am looking forward to competing against online players. I'm still holding out for ice hockey to be included in a Mario sports game somewhere down the line, maybe next time. 

"“Lucite… hardening… must… end life… in classic Lorne Greene pose… from… Battlestar… Galactica… Best… death… EVER!”"

We are a bit late to the LEGO party for once and we've only just got round to building the Simpsons house (Which is a pretty great build if you get a chance). I'm not a huge fan of the Simpsons but Seth loves it which means Opeie loves it too. Since completing the build Seth has informed me that he would like us to build Springfield in its entirety. Not something we can get built quickly but I'll definitely have a go, one building at a time. After a pretty hectic afternoon a few days back Seth gave me the remaining 45 minutes before they went to bed to quickly create Bart's tree house. It wasn't my finest work, but then i did only have 45 minutes. It was like the LEGO version of a bake off challenge.

The following day that rather demanding boy of mine again requested a LEGO build, this time though he wanted 'The Androids Dungeon & Baseball card shop'. For those of you not familiar with the Simpsons, its the comic book store run by one of the characters from the LEGO Simpsons series 2 range. So I did a little research and poured LEGO out all over the floor in preparation for the build with the boys. I had requested that Seth help me with this one but he was far to engrossed with building an army of convicts for something he was working on and who am I to get in the way of his artistic flair.

Thankfully it was one of those grotty days where you don't really want to do much apart from build LEGO and drink a continuous run of cups of tea (I love these days sometimes). It was much nicer having longer than 45 minutes to complete my creation and the boys were thrilled with the outcome. I cant stop myself feeling annoyed that the shop canopy is red instead of purple but I just didn't have the parts so I'll have to change that at a later date.

I will eventually take care of Seth's other request and print out a shop sign and robot sticker for the window (these children of mine are so demanding). It will be interesting to see which building Seth decides he would like next, I have informed him though that he will be chipping in with the next one.

"Friendship is a sheltering tree"

Not far from where we live there is a lovely place called Apley woods, Since meeting up with our friend Lucie there a while back on her recommendation it seems to be the place we go when we have no other place to go. With the weather picking up a little we've been making the most of the bike trailer and have been adventuring about, stopping off quite a few times at Apley.

Opeie loves riding through the woods especially since we realised the first time we went that its safer to have the netting down after i covered him with bark and soil, oops. As we whizz through the woods though he always asks me to stop at the same spot, so we park up and get out our bag full of tricks ready for some woodland fun.

I don't know what it is about this big old tree that draws Opeie in but once there he doesn't want to leave.  We always pack toys, reading books and a sketch book with pens. Everything else we need for our fun can be found around us. Hanging out with Opeie is so amazing, his imagination and curious nature is so addictive and i can't get enough of it. Conversation is ALWAYS interesting although a little jibberish at times but he really knows how to make me chuckle.

Sword fighting with sticks will usually take up a huge chunk of our visit, but my favourite thing to do wherever we are is to sit outdoors and read. Reading plays a huge part in everything we do and there's nothing quite like sitting against a tree with my favourite person while taking in some children's literature.

Opeie comes up with some fun games every time we visit, my favourite to date though is woodland baseball, find a stick, collect some pine cones and you have a game all you need to do then is to step up to the plate. I feel so lucky every day that this is my life now, Mrs M's drive to build on her career and do everything she can to take care of us is the most amazing thing anyone has ever done for me (after helping me bring this little cutie in to the world anyway).