"And I can take you for a ride on my big green tractor. We can go slow or make it go faster. Down through the woods and out to the pasture. 'Long as I'm with you it really don't matter."

When it comes to LEGO from what I have seen from friends and family, it is the large kits that really spark the kids interest. Before Christmas, I spoke to a lot of parents who had said that their kids either wanted the Deathstar, The Ewok village or one of the large Technics kits like the Porsche or the Bucket Wheel Excavator. In the past when the boys have wanted larger kits we have always sat down and built own custom versions but when it comes to Technics we just don't have the parts.  When Seth was younger, like lots of kids at that age he LOVED tractors and the one Tractor make that always stuck out for him was the Claas tractors. He would get so excited if we were out for a walk and he spotted one while in his pushchair. So when LEGO released the Technic Claas Xerion 5000 Trac VC it was a no brainer. 

A friend of mine had bought the kit for his own son and although I had not seen it built it looked really impressive on the box. All my friend simply said was "It is Huge"! and "It took my son 4 days to build". So the prospect of the boys building it was pretty daunting. When we first Opened the box and sorted the bags we were really confused by the amount of bag 1's and bag 2's and as we started to build the kit it was clear why the kit had taken my friends son 4 days to build. 

With the age range being slightly older on the Technic kits, you can see why. A kit like this takes a completely different kind of building, there is a lot more strategy involved to make the build run smoothly. So we spent a fair bit of time separating all the parts into their own piles, which helped a lot! Seth really wanted to get into building the kit but because of his muscle condition he finds it really difficult to connect the parts, so it was all down to me. That was of course after I stopped being distracted by those awesome giant wheels (I'm going to have so custom fun with those).

The build really did take some time but what I loved about it was that with each step you could see the ins and outs of how each of the power functions was going to work and it was really quite fascinating. I'm not sure what the estimated building time on this kit was but I spent 4 hours on it the one evening, I confidently started it at 10pm, thinking that a master builder like myself would have it done before bed (how wrong was I), when in fact I slipped into a LEGO building meditative state and was completely engrossed until I had finally finished the main tractor part at 2am (oops). 

The following morning I couldn't wait to complete the crane while the boys wheeled the Tractor around the house. The crane took me just over an hour to put together and although 5 hours seems a long time to be building a LEGO kit, it was worth every single minute, This kit is a sheer masterpiece. The was that sinking feeling in my stomach when I put the batteries in a and the power functions didn't work but after going back through the impressively huge manual I realised that it was on something minor and was easily fixed.

All that was left to do was to take the Technic Claas Xerion 5000 Trac VC out where its supposed to be played with, out into the garden to roll over the rockery and plough through the grass. The boys had fun extending the outriggers and controlling the crane and being able to rotate the main cab was a great extra.  This is definitely going to be a fun summer garden toy and the boys love it, it was just a shame that they couldn't join in with the build. I guess I got all the fun this time.

If I haven't made it completely clear in this post yet, this kit is a dream for any Technic lover, it has now got me looking at the Bucket Wheel Excavator even more.

"Remember that the most valuable antiques are dear old friends."

I felt exhausted yesterday after Opeie woke up at 3am and was suffering with some sort of ear pain. We went in to the lounge and Opeie wore Mrs M's ear muffs for a while which was making him feel better. It was no surprise at that time of the morning I really didn't have much of an idea what was going on, I'm a really deep sleeper so when I'm up at that time my limbs may be working but the rest of me resembles someone in a coma. So it was no surprise that before I knew it it was 7am and I was waking up to Mrs M hovering above me with a camera.

Opeie was shattered and i wasn't feeling great but we had made plans to meet up with our friends Lucie and Mrs Magee from over at Magee and Magoo and i was really looking forward to a good catch up. We had planned to meet at Weston park, despite it being basically on our doorstep we had never actually been but had heard lots of great things. Yesterday was their 50th birthday and to celebrate the entrance fee was 50p to get in which was great.

Lucie was also meeting with her friends Cathy and Jessica who were lovely and it was great to have a little group to chat with while having a wander around. I made the classic school boy error and forgot to pick up a map, Luckily Lucie had been a little more organised and was ready to guide us around the park.

The park was beautiful with lots of colourful flowers, sheep and a relaxing feel to the place

Last week i was having a chat with one of the moms from the nursery about Weston park and Opeie managed to catch the words 'Zip wire' so those two words were his driving force yesterday morning for getting to the play area. After walking around a little chatting we had made it to the play area and Opeie wasn't disappointed. It reminded me of a children's play version of the Ewok village in Star Wars with big wooden climbing areas and layered cabins built up around tree trunks.

It was great to see Opeie playing with the other children and chatting to the other moms. I do worry sometimes that he's not socialising enough even then we do take him to different things throughout the week. There's nothing to worry about though, he's confident, friendly and polite and has no problem talking to others.

The playground dominated the rest of our time there and the kids were fully entertained which was great. Opeie made me chuckle when he told me "daddy, Jessica has got really pretty shoes!" A possible fashion lover in the making.

It was soon lunch time and as with most places we go out to, the cafe didn't look to be offering anything suitable for Opeie to eat so we headed home for a bite to eat, a cuddle and some books, followed by a nap for the little climber.

After Opeies nap we headed over to see nanny and grandand for a while before picking Mrs M up. Opeie took a big box of toys and educated nanny on what all the superheroes were called. I love taking a step back when I'm there as it's really lovely to see Opeie playing with them, he really loves his nan and grandad and rightly so they are extremely lovable people.

So a pretty great day yesterday, fun with friends and family and a very happy little chap.

"droids don't pull people's arms out of their sockets when they lose. Wookiees are known to do that."

Today is William's brother Matthews birthday bowling party and Seth is very excited. I love going to the parties and seeing how happy the kids are. When your older you tend to forget how simple and care free life used to be. I went to one a few weeks ago and the kids looked so happy dancing to the Hokey Cokey and the Superman song.

I asked Matthew's mom what to get him but i obviously knew it was going to be Star Wars related, i just didn't know what. It seems that William likes the more aggressive characters with the blasters and lightsabers etc but clearly Matthew has a more sensitive side as he favours the Droids and Wookies.

So me and Seth looked about and decided to buy him a large 13" Chewbacca figure, hopefully when him and William are having a battle, over sized Chewbacca will give him more of an advantage over the smaller lightsaber wielding characters.

Seth thought it would be a good idea to cut up one of his Star Wars comics to use as wrapping paper and he was right it looks fab, and what star wars birthday would be complete without a message from Yoda himself?

Any way Happy Birthday Matthew, were really looking forward to your birthday celebrations.




*Note to self: Don't let your 1 year old play with the box of someone else's present! packaging looks like its been kicked around a car park!!!