"Sugar, Spice and everything nice..."

I love those quite moments in the house when Opeie is doing his own little secretive things and today there was silence everywhere. I eventually ask him what he was doing and he simply answers "I'm turning you into a Powerpuff girl character dad!". I love that little guy so much.

"Would you do it for a Scooby Snack?"

Like a true old timer, I have just been standing outside the house talking to my neighbour about how we never did anything for Halloween as children. I don't EVER remember going trick or treating or decorating the house and as we stood there draping spooky lights over our hanging baskets and getting things ready for the kids to carve pumpkins and make Halloween spiders, I thought how much this time of year has changed since way back then. I do love decorating the inside of the house every year, the boys get excited and it is one of the many things that I look forward to doing as a family each year.

The shops are getting better each year making it easier to pick up decorations etc but the one thing I don't like (and it may make me sound like a grumpy old man), is the costumes aimed at young children. Do children of the boys age really need to look like half of their face is missing or that one of their limbs has clumsily dropped off.  last year I asked the little girl that lives next door what she was dressing up as and she said "zombie red riding hood with blood dripping from my eyes!" Ewww!

Thankfully the boys aren't really into the 'Frightening' side of Halloween and Opeie went for a full on cute approach to the All Hallows' Eve celebrations after a fun package arrived through the post last week. Scooby Doo was one of my favourite shows as a kid (until that scrappy appeared anyway) and I can't believe he's still going strong, but even more crazy is that he has now been immortalised in my favourite brick and has even starred in his own LEGO movie too! Clearly the lovable pooch is here to stay. Opeie has been keeping his awesomeness alive this week by virtually living in a Rubies Scooby Doo costume that he got for Halloween. 

Mini Scooby Doo has been everywhere with me and surprisingly has been great entertainment for the older folk in the supermarkets. He's been making people smile everywhere we've been, especially because of the mini Scooby Doo he's been carrying under his arm too. There's no surprise at all that because of this new Scooby skin that he has acquired, it has been a pretty Scooby Doo heavy kind of a week, Episodes, Books, LEGO and Magazines. It's been touch and go a few times whether we were actually going to get him out of the suit for bed.

Part of me is a little jealous that I can't just dress up as a character I love and pop to the supermarket to get bread, I guess I'll just have to continue being his less interesting side kick. Whatever you've  dressed up as this year, I hope you've had an amazing Halloween.

"Green is the prime color of the world, and that from which its loveliness arises."

I had so much fun with the last series of LEGO Mixels that I decided to do the same with series 3. I was really excited about the release of this series because of the colours. My purple bricks are running low because of a few custom pieces I've made for people and adding some extra bright green to play with will always be a bonus. But before a bulk of the parts disappear into our ever expanding collection i suppose we should build this adorable little characters.

When we first saw Mixels in the shops way back, the boys weren't the slightest bit interested. I spent ages trying to motivate them, but nothing. It wasn't just because of the parts I was interested though. These small intricate characters teach the boys a different side to LEGO building as the placing of the large number of small parts from each kit is really cleverly thought out. There has been so many times building these that I've thought 'I'd never thought to put those pieces together'.

What i love about the Mixels range is that because of the new eyes and teeth pieces it really opens up the doors for character building and its really simple for younger builders to create custom Mixels themselves. Opeie and Seth came up with this little cutie in minutes with the pieces on the table while we were building one of the characters. You can literally throw together any shape and add teeth and eyes and voila! a little Mixel.

My favourite character from the Glorp Corp was Torts, mainly because i like the use of the facial pieces, beak etc. The Mixels range really get me thinking about my own custom pieces and i love that about them. Its great to see the boys trying out new ideas too. Although some of LEGO'S larger builds are truly amazing i personally find the Mixel range quite inspiring.

It wasn't long before me and my mini helper had built all of this tribe and they looked great, i cant say they'll stay built for long though as we have big plans for the third post. Remember when i transformed Opeie into a Mixel? (at his request of course)....

...We'll be building something interesting for the last post so stay tuned. If you are thinking about introducing your children to LEGO (and i strongly recommend it for so many great reasons) then the Mixels range is great to kick that off without splashing out big money for starters, I guarantee you be hooked though.

"The final forming of a person's character lies in their own hands."

 

Unboxing and switching on a new Nintendo console is a very exciting thing, even more so when it's a console for the boys. They love their technology in the house and I think it's really important that they familiarise themselves with current technology and software, it's the way the world is going at the moment and although we love getting out into nature, going on adventures and building bases I don't want them to get left behind.

Opeie's new 2DS being delivered last week reminded me again of one of the things we love doing the most, creating our Mii characters. Long gone are the days where your console was oscolete if you didn't own a game. With the 3ds/2ds you could happily entertain yourself for weeks with the software installed, not to mention Streetpass where you can connect with other gamers in the street. But before you can take advantage of this great software you need to create your avatar...

Everything about the console is self explanatory and really simple to use, Opeie is 3 and can navigate his way around it with no problem at all. once you click on the Mii Maker app you are taken through all the steps you need to make a cute avatar of yourself or a crazy little character to use while playing.

One of the things i love most about having a Mii character on your console is that it makes the console a little more personal. If you're a bald headed, bearded glasses wearer like me then making a life like Mii is pretty easy but if you don't have real stand out features then there is a great amount of characteristics to chose from including hairstyles, makeup and a variety of facial contouring. Some times me and the boys like to just sit and make random people.

You can get pretty creative with your characters too as you are able to change the size of the features and move them around the face. When you are done you can create a personal message for your Mii for connecting with other gamers. I find the lack of characters in the greeting frustrating but i am also thankful of it as its extra security as a parent knowing that you couldn't really use it for having conversations with gamers you don't know.

 If you don't want to start from scratch with your character then there is the option of starting your Mii off from a photo of yourself. you take the photo and the console maps your face and gives you a  starting block for your character customisation. Its fun to see what the console takes from your picture...

And then you just add your own features, simple.

 yes i realise i look like a convict!

And there you have it, once your Mii is complete its time to take full advantage of the software provided, get out there and collect some Mii's to use for the streetpass games, battle ghosts, search haunted mansions and collect picture tiles to unlock gifts for your Mii character like Mario, Kirby and Pikmin hats. Its so addictive once you get in to it and you will be surprised home many Mii's you pick up just wandering around a town centre. If there's more than one console in the house then you can connect with each other once a day which is great for an extra bit of family bonding.

Time for me to go, Opeie has got himself trapped in that dam cage again and needs saving...

Gifts from the Pirates in Orlando - Meeting Wreck it Ralph

Opeie is a little to young to understand the concept of a holiday, that didn't stop him getting extremely excited though. On the build up to going he sat with Seth and watched many videos on YouTube about the attractions. Other than the Seuss live show which I have mentioned in my Seuss Landing post the big thing that was fuelling Opeie's excitement (whether he understood it or not) was nine words that we heard every day without fail "were going to meet Wreck it Ralph on holiday!". Opeie loves Wreck it Ralph and when he saw a Youtube video of someone meeting him he was hooked.

So thanks to Visit Orlando on the morning of visiting Disney Hollywood Studios (which I will write about soon) we knew exactly where we were heading first. I didn't expect there to be much of a queue, how naive was I (everywhere in the Disney parks you queue). After 40 minutes of queuing we made it and Opeie was a happy little chap. Being able to meet the characters at the park is so magical for the kids. Although Seth is a pretty serious child it was good to see him as excited, making us realise he's still and will always be our little boy.