"Courage is being scared to death but saddling up anyway."

Day 125:

I love it when Opeie shows me a picture he's found on the internet and says "Can we build this?". Mainly because it means an afternoon of sitting down with the LEGO and working something out together. Its rare that he ever wants to add Technic functions into builds but this kinetic cowboy build by Tankybrick had really got him excited. So we watched their video about 50 times to try and work out the functions. After building pretty much the entire thing no matter haw many times we watched the video we couldn't work out the final piece that got the horses moving as the video wasn't very clear. After a stressful 30 minutes or so of trying all sorts of different elements we finally cracked it. It definitely wasn't the same piece, and the horses the finitely don't run as smooth as theirs but overall it came out great and ended up being a fun afternoon building with my bestie.

"One way to get the most out of life is to look upon it as an adventure."

Seth is always letting us know of little things he wants to do, things he wants to create or places he'd like to go. We do our best to fully indulge him when he has these ideas and today's trip to Apley woods ticked another one of those things off his ever growing list. He's become a big fan of Bear Grylls and his need for exciting exploits is growing stronger by the day. So as we investigated the woods today the surrounding area kick started our sense of adventure.

Seth doesn't like walking on the path he prefers to be in the thick of the woods which I love. There was Huge branches everywhere and before we knew it we were building a shack in the woods to protect us from the elements

Seths motivation and excitement for this sort of thing is infectious and watching Opeie get involved copying everything his big brother does is adorable. It was great watching them dragging big branches around.

Our den in the woods started to take shape pretty quickly and Seth was clearly in his element. Seth guided us all the way  explaining that we needed branches with leaves on to go on top so that we were more protected from any rain that might be coming our way. Seth Grylls and little bear were both really proud of what they achieved and rightly so it was a great den.

We then headed off further into the woods when something strange happened. A lady stopped me me and said 'I know you, I read your blog' which I thought was amazing. I always wonder who's reading and to be stopped by someone was really nice so hi Jo and Nerys, if you're reading this it was really nice meeting you. 

Seth fancied having a go at climbing trees but he really struggled bless him so instead I lifted him up on to a tree so he could get a feel for being off the floor. We've got some work to do if the wants to be like his idol.

On the way back to the car Seth wanted to swing by the den to see if anyone was playing in it and also wanted to take a picture himself of his achievement. I think he was feeling pretty proud of what he had accomplished.

As he had the camera in his hand and Opeie as always was happy just standing next to his big brother and holding his hand I took the chance to balance up a fallen tree and gave Seth the chance to use his creative flair with my phone.

Apparently this was Seths action shot.

By the time we had got back to the car we had only been out two hours, yet we had crammed all that adventuring in. I think we'll head there again next week to see if our den had withstood the weather or to see if it is now home to a new group of fellow adventure seekers.

"A scientist in his laboratory is not a mere technician: he is also a child confronting natural phenomena that impress him as though they were fairy tales."

The past few weeks have been hectic, were usually so organised around Christmas time but because of the holiday late in the year by the time we got back we had loads to do, plus we've been re-tiling the kitchen and painting the house. If you are a regular reader you'll know that for the past 2 weeks we've dropped off the radar a little. Christmas has passed now, Mrs M is back at work and I've got some serious catching up to do.

A few weeks ago I wrote a post about Seth's Christmas list and how he hadn't asked for anything for himself but wanted Santa to give his presents to homeless children. It was so sweet of him and  the letter will be cherished. Well we made some donations and helped out at the local food bank which we will continue to do. Although Seth's jesture was truly amazing it did leave us in the position of not knowing what to get him. 

Myself and Mrs M had a chat one night and she came up with a great idea which we put into action straight away. Seth loves anything science, he could happily sit all day doing experiments and mixing chemicals (safe ones of course), so we thought it would be a really nice surprise on Christmas morning to wake up to his very own laboratory. 

We had so much fun organising things without him knowing and even managed to paint him a huge blackboard using chalkboard paint on his wall and kept it hidden a whole week before Christmas. It was touch and go a few times when we though he might rumble us but it all worked out and was kept hidden until the big day.

We found some great science things for gifts that we knew would go great in his lab and we were both really excited about setting things up while he was asleep waiting for Santa's arrival. Our Christmas Day was on Boxing Day due to Seth not being with us on Christmas morning so on Christmas morning while most people were opening their gifts we were putting the finishing touches on Seth's big surprise. A few nights back a light bulb went off in my head and I though 'I wonder if there is an 'Se' on the periodic table?' I was about 75% sure there was a 'Th' and thought it would be great to use them on the design. Luckily I was right and selenium was right up there with Thorium, it was obviously meant to be. 

On Christmas night we went to a party at Laura's folks and we took our good friend Chris with us which worked out great as he was there to give me a hand when we got home moving Seth's furniture out while he was sleeping. I had been stressing that we wouldn't get away with it as there was a huge unit to move out but we were surprisingly quiet moving it. We spent the next hour setting it up with beakers full of colourful liquids and various science equipment.

Bless Seth, when he woke up in the morning he wasn't sure what it was in the dark but after waking us up we followed him in and let some light into the room. He was a very excited boy and has been sitting at his desk ever since looking quite chuffed with himself. Theres no shortage of chemicals to mix and specimens to examine, its a mini scientists dream come true and Seth has been making the most of it.

In the past few days we have built a windmill (although we are yet to get it to work), had an Alchemy session (okay maybe that's a little OTT were no where near the discovery of the elixir of life just yet, we'll just call it chemical mixing) and Seth and Mrs M made their own bouncy balls (very clever). We've got plenty of experiments lined up for over the holiday and now we have the space and materials for Seth to let his scientific mind run wild.

The whole thing including the desk and fittings cost under £100 which was great and the look on Seths face was priceless. Its so important to get involved with the things that your children are interested in and although for Seth this is a great present its also a great way for us to spend even more quality time as a family.

Of course we couldn't leave little Opeie out, what could we have done for him to wake up to on his Christmas morning? Click here to find out.