"Passion surprises. One doesn't search it. It can happen to you tomorrow."

Day 101-102:

Yesterday seemed to fly by and I didn't take a single photo so I'm lazily adding these two days together. Last year we visited Attingham park a few times around this time of year in search of the Lesser stag for Opeies photo collection of found beetles. Each visit we came away with some photos of some interesting new beetles but sadly never the Lesser stag. As we walked home yesterday through the woodland near us, we turned over logs looking for beetles and there she was, sitting there waiting for a photo. I love how things like this can really make our day and we can now cross off Lesser stag from our list. Next up... we still haven't found Opeie's favourite, the elusive violet ground beetle.

"A mouse took a stroll through the deep dark wood..."

We had a lovely week last week with Mrs' M being off work and we've really made good use of the extra time that we have had with here. Sadly the writing had taken a bit of a hit because I was lazily enjoying being tucked up on the sofa with her every night, watching TV and cuddling. So now I am playing catch up a little. I would love to have time to write about every little thing we get up to as a family, but we pack so much into our weeks that if I did, I would be constantly writing.

Me and Opeie recently had another one of our London adventures and this time headed to some new places that our friends Sam and Jamie had told us about. We decided to drive to London this time, which isn't that great for Opeie being stuck in the car for three hours so we decided to detour when we were close to Buckinghamshire and visit Wendover woods as we knew from previous visits to Foresty Commission sites that there was a Gruffalo lurking somewhere in the woods. We had had so much fun visiting the ones at Wyre Forest and Cannock Chase that we were both eager to find another.

The sun was out and we were ready for adventure. It was great to find that there was a Stickman trail there too, Julia Donaldson is fully monopolising our UK forests. As expected the boards along route were the same as the other sites but it was lovely to take part in the activities in unexplored surroundings.

We built a tower of sticks....

...Rode on a bear and built a den (which to be fair I was really impressed with). We kept well and truly entertained as we searched for the star of the show...

...and then there he was! not lurking in the woods at all but standing in the sunshine looking out over sunny Buckinghamshire. There is something really magical about these large carvings out in plain site and Opeie has gotten so excited during every visit when we have found them. Our favourite though is still the sleeping Gruffalo in Wyre forest.

This was intended to be a post about the whole London trip but it has been dominated by our 'little' detour, so I will have to write a part 2. Wendover woods was a great diversion and really made a huge difference to the 3 hour drive. If you have a forestry commission site nearby, they are definitely worth a visit and if it is one of the homes of the elusive Gruffalo then it is even more special visiting that deep dark wood.

"You have to get through your fear to see the beauty on the other side."

There has been a huge build up to the release of The Good Dinosaur in our house. Our mini dinosaur enthusiast has been so excited about seeing the film ever since he saw the trailer a while back and this week we finally got a chance to go and see the film. The four of us headed out for a family night out but then seperated at the cinema. Mrs M and Seth went off to see Spectre and thinking at the time I may have drawn the short straw, me and my boy made our way to screen 9 to embrace our inner dinosaur.

Opeie had decided that he was going to watch the movie as Arlo himself and wore his Good Dinosaur mask all the way to the cinema. He did inform me that it would be cool if I was to dress as Spot too but I had no intention of heading out in the cold wearing nothing but leaves to cover up my modesty. I really wanted to get a lovely picture of Opeie in front a big cardboard cut out for the movie but sadly there wasn't one in the cinema.

The movie was amazing and I may have had a little tear in my eye at the end, Disney really know how to pull on your heart strings. When we exited the screening we had an hour to kill before the rest of the humans joined us. Luckily it was late night shopping so we gave Opeie's Arlo mask a tour of the shopping centre. My own little Good Dinosaur was getting thumbs ups and smiles from everyone.

After a good hour of stomping about, me and my dinosaur made our way back to the cinema to pick up the other humans and make our way home. We would definitely recommend the film, if you are heading out to see it, why not take a mini dinosaur too, they'll love it.

"The path of sound credence is through the thick forest of skepticism."

I love getting out and about adventuring with the boys and we've found some pretty great hidden things to do in Shropshire. Ive recently started running again and last week while i was running through a woodland area I spotted a huge piece of tarpaulin that looked high up in the trees well off the footpath. My sense of intrigue quickly kicked in and I found myself climbing over branches and walking through wet mud to find out what was going on. When I arrived I wasn't disappointed and I knew that I had to show Opeie what I had stumbled across, the find was going to be perfect for some Home ed fun.

What I had found was what looked like a landslide that had unearthed a huge tree and the tree had fallen across the other side of a mini valley with the off shoot of a stream below. Above, someone had built large decking supported by the tree with a tarpaulin roof, pretty amazing. Below, further down the tree was what looked like a cliff tent hanging from the tree like a cocoon, so we're not sure if someone is living there. There was no one about when we arrived so me and my little side kick made the most of the very cool structure.

We had a great conversation about how the decking was being supported and then we started an afternoon of painting, home education at is best. At the start of the summer holiday, after Opeie had been making mini dinosaur footprints in his Play-Doh me and the boys had drawn dinosaur feet, cut them out of cardboard and my good friend Steve had very kindly cut them out of wood for us. We are planning on making dinosaur feet to attach to our shoes for stomping in the mud but first we needed to paint them and the towering structure in the woods was the perfect spot for creating.

I love painting with Opeie but sitting in silent woodland was really relaxing and really added to the experience. We talked about all sorts while we were using our creative flair. Its this sort of thing that really pushed us towards home education, Opeie not being confined to a classroom and instead, sitting outdoors with fresh air taking in the beautiful surroundings.

We spent a good couple of hours on the new woodland base and painted one side of our dinosaur feet. The plan is to visit again this week and paint the remaining side. Opeie had had his fill of painting and wanted to move on to something different...

... a game he simply called dinosaurs in the mud. We got to run around pretending to be different kinds of dinosaurs while Opeie told me lots of facts about his favourite topic at the moment. When we were both shattered and sweaty we lay on the leaf covered ground and played with his dinosaur toys and counted the flowers, awesome. 

All that was left to do after all our forest fun was head home to go and wash our hands. It pays to investigate, get out there! there may be all kinds of fun on your doorstep too.

"I swing between procrastination and being really thorough so either way things aren't getting done quickly."

It is the end of the first week of the school summer holiday and I can't believe how many times I've heard parents complaining about the up coming six weeks. In one case a woman at the school last week looked distraught at the concept of having her children at home, it's crazy!

Myself and Mrs M love the holidays, I can't see why anyone would feel differently about spending quality time with the people they brought in to the world.

We had a great first day and really made the most of the start of the holiday and the lush weather. Seth was desperate to put one of his plans into action but first we needed to assess an area before executing his idea. A little bit of investigative adventure was definitely on the cards to kick off our summer of fun so we packed bags full of necessary gear and headed out for a ramble through the forest.

We spent a good hour or so stomping through the woods, climbing hills and chatting about all the things we were going to do over the summer before sitting down for snacks. Seth asked me to set them a challenge so I sent the boys off looking for ten different kinds of leaves. Then we did a little woodland craft, the boys built a miniature cave for bugs and then we all set about building a big tree using sticks, rocks and moss.

After thorough investigation it was time to put Seth's plan into action, we needed some rope. We acquired the rope in no time at all and headed back to the forest to look for a tree to attach it too. When I was little I loved a good rope swing but in all those years, discovering these swings while out with my friends I never actually put one up myself and that is what Seth was desperate to do.

Good old Google helped me out with the best knot to use (I'd be lost without it) and then it was time to find an adequate tree to swing on. The boys loved watching me climb up into the tree's and as with all the little things I do with the boys I felt like I was reliving my youth a little. I made sure that I picked trees I could get up and down easily so that we could take the swing back down again and move our swing around the forest trying new trees.

Seth made it quite clear that although he was having a great time he wanted a little more than the 'Opeie suitable' swings I was putting up. Right next to where we parked there was a swing put up that Seth was desperate to have a go of but he didn't feel safe holding on (and I wouldn't have let him anyway). I didn't want him to miss out though so we found a thick branch, strong enough to take his weight and I tied our rope to it making him a seat. I honestly thought he would chicken out but I've definitely brought up a prop little adventurer.

What an awesome start to the summer holidays. This time of year is the best and I can't wait for many more adventures over these very special weeks, woohoo!!

"But you made a mistake, Robin. It's not easy you know. They've got the power, they've got the weapons. All we've got is a Raster, a Wally and a Bearded Avocado."

I love being able to arrange play dates with our friends throughout the week and we had a blast adventuring around some woodland we'd never been to before with our buddies Emma and Matthew. It was baking hot and we were desperate to get out and do some investigating so we arranged to meet around lunch time for a picnic in the woods and some good old fashioned rambling. I love living in Shropshire we are surrounded by beautiful greenery, some of it right on our doorstep.

The boys were full on entertainment from the get go and using what they could find on the forest floor they quickly formed a high intensity Rock band. First head banging with their stick guitars before grabbing a large piece of bark for a keyboard/mixing desk and smaller sticks for drumming. Opeie's favourite song is Thin Lizzy - Jailbreak and Matthews is Def Leppard - Pour some sugar on me. So as you can imagine being such hardcore rockers they were quite the super group. Matthew even played with one arm behind his back for an authentic Def Leppard feel.

The first thing I had spotted when we had arrived (apart from Emma and Matthew of course) was a rope swing and I was itching for a go. It was two steep a drop for the boys to go on so being the very grown up, safety conscious adult that I am I offered to go on so they could experience it through me haha. Couldn't get Emma on though, maybe next time.

The boys quickly changed from the Rock and roll lifestyle and became a pair of pirate hunters, naturally that meant I became a nasty pirate/human piñata ripe for a good stick beating. Emma was desperately trying to be a princess but was told 'no mommy YOU ARE NOT a princess!!' Harsh!!!

The story unravelled and after being made to walk the plank  and be repeatedly hit with twigs the boys explained that maid Marion had been captured and they had to find her and marry her. As lovely as that sounds it sparked a bit of a woodland dispute over who was actually going to take her hand, serious stuff!

Emma pointed out that i look like "Harry Potter gone rogue!"

The Ercall is steep and there were a few moments where I was sure someone was going down on their bum. I say 'someone' but I actually mean myself, I'm such a clumsy bugger and wearing a pair of grip less boat shoes probably wasn't the best move.

Emma had bought some books along for our adventure so we found a safe spot high up to sit down and listen to some lovely stories...

We've met some great people over the last few years and I feel so lucky to be surrounded by other parents that have similar views to the way me and Mrs M parent the boys. As the boys swung their sticks around and played, me and Emma talked about all those pressing parenting issues, household roles, co-sleeping and breastfeeding it was great to be chatting to another parent on the same page.

We eventually found maid Marian which started some bickering between the boys about over who was going to be taking her down the aisle until a very diplomatic Emma jumped in and explained that maid Marion actually had a sister 'maid Mary Anne'. Order had been restored (well after they had decide who was taking the blonde and who was taking the brunette anyway! kids!!).