"My life is an ongoing, ever changing adventure."

Mrs M was doing her usual yearly bit for charity this weekend and as much as I wanted to get involved this year it wasn't really fair on Opeie, so once the car had been unloaded and gazebos had been erected, me and my little padawan set about our adventures. It was another beautiful morning so we headed over to the Lickey hills, I used to go there a fair bit when I was younger so it was nice to know my way around. There's two main parts, being the forward thinking dad that i am i decided on the side with the visitor centre as I thought it would be a safer option for our newly qualified, big boy pants wearing toilet user.

I packed my backpack with snacks and books and lifted the little adventurer to his favourite spot on my shoulders. It was exactly how I remembered it which was nice, it was quite early so there wasn't many people about. First thing Opeie spotted was the playground, most of it was for bigger children but that didn't stop Opeie. I find when we're at playgrounds or soft play areas that a lot of children are so rude. Opeie tries to make conversation with any child that makes eye contact and some of them look at him like 'why are you talking to me', I always think its such a strange attitude for young children you would think they would all be really smiley and happy of the interaction.

After charging round the playground for a while Opeie's eyes lit up, he got really excited and was repeating 'Gastons cave', I looked over to see what he was talking about and it was a rock sculpture next to the park. Opeie explained to me that Gastons cave was really messy so we pretended to have brooms and sweep it out. 'Gastons house nice and clean' I think that means we did a good job.

We headed off for a walk through the hills but didn't get very far before Opeie rubbed his tummy and and said 'Opeie hungry'. We found a nice grass area to sit down and while Opeie had some snacks i read him a few of the books i had packed. It was so lovely sitting under a tree reading in the nice weather.

Snack time passed and we continued our journey through the woods. I love just walking about in this lovely weather, we could hear the birds tweeting and rustling through the leaves and Opeie was on butterfly watch and there were plenty to keep him occupied. As we were walking deeper in to the forest we saw a horse coming towards us and Opeie froze and we watched it pass by. Opeie then referred to me as 'Daddy horse' and i galloped after the horse doing my best vocal impressions.

We ended up in the middle of nowhere and we had been doing a lot of walking down hill so the walking back was starting to seem a little daunting in the heat with Mini Lester Piggott on my shoulders commanding me to 'go faster daddy'. We eventually found our way back to the car park but we walked straight past and to the gift shop as Opeie had spotted an owl mask when we first got there and was talking about it for a lot of the morning. I requested the owl mask but then Opeie said 'Daddy fox in socks' and 'Mommy......' (pointing up at a hedgehog), so they came with us too.

After lunch i assumed Opeie would want a nap, it was getting to that time of the day but he had other plans. As there was no chance of him going down we drove over to the other side of the Lickey hills, the side with the castle. As soon as we got out of the car and Opeie laid his eyes on said castle he was off like a whippet. Its not a proper castle it's only little and was built i assume just for the view, to Opeie i bet it still looked huge though.

Opeie soon started to feel a bit tired so we headed back to the car and went for a drive to get him off, it didn't take long. As soon as he was off i found a quite shaded place to park and reclined my seat, trying to get as comfortable as you can with a steering wheel on your knees. Mrs M text and said she would be late finishing so i did a bit of internet searching looking for somewhere close to go and keep Opeie entertained. We ended up going to the Botanical gardens, it was close to where Mrs M was and I'd been there before with Mrs M on a uni trip and knew Opeie would at least like the shop and the playground. He woke up not long after i pulled in to the car park so the adventure continued...

I don't think that Opeie was the slightest bit interested in the beautiful plants and flowers but he was loving the big fish. Opeie made a new friend called Eva on the playground which was really cute and i chatted to the girls mom as they played, its nice on these days out when its just the two of us to have a little adult conversation.

We only stayed for an hour or so as it was getting close to mommy pick up time and i had some work to do taking down gazebos and loading everything back in to the car. Me and Opeie had a fantastic adventure and I'm really looking forward to the next one, he really is one of my three best friends (I'm sure you can guess who the other two are).

Review: A night out at Ben & Hollys Little Kingdom Live Stage Tour

We've not had a great week this week with a lot of family stress and plenty of worry but we got to spend an evening at the theatre with the boys to take our minds off it all. We had tickets to go and see Ben & Holly Live and if I'm honest me and Mrs M were just as excited as the boys. It was a bit of a rush to make our 4.30 showing in Shrewsbury after picking Seth up from school and then Mrs M from work but we managed to get there with just enough time to pop to the loo.

I really didn't know what to expect of a theatre production of the show and if I'm completely honest, after taking Seth the year before last to see Batman Live (which really wasn't cheap) and being quite disappointed I wasn't expecting to much. I shouldn't have been so pessimistic though it was a great show for children and although I thought Seth may have felt he was a bit to much of a big boy for it both boys were hooked. Opeie, being a big fan of the show was in his element. What I loved about the show (unlike batman live) was there were no cringe worthy bits where they tried to do some special effects, it was a small stage and they used what they had in the way of props and stage set excellently making the most of every bit of space.

The first half seemed to go really quick but that was great as I needed the loo and Opeie had spotted a Gaston the ladybird toy and Seth a Ben elf horn which they were desperate to get from the gift stall. After buying our souvenirs we headed back in for the second half, Mrs M was exhausted from work bless her. I loved that there was lots of audience participation and because it was a small venue it had a really nice atmosphere filled with excited children and a few even more excited parents. I wasn't sure Opeie would sit through it without getting fidgety but there was no need to worry he was great and really enjoyed it all.

The show was on for approximately an hour which flew by so I was a little disappointed but after a long day of school for Seth, a busy work shift for Mrs M and a day in the sun playing for Opeie I think the timing worked out quite well (according to Mrs M all i do all day is spend my time high fiving Opeie, so i was fine). Seth asked me what my favourite part was and it had to be the Gaston they were using, whenever he needed to do something the cast pushed him along which I thought was cute (he kind of reminded me of a cuter K9 from Dr. Who). Seth loved the flying scene, Mrs M loved the way the fairy wings fluttered and Opeie, well I'd say he would find it difficult to chose one thing as he was completely in awe of the entire show.

On the way out we bumped in to Seth's teacher who was there with her Niece so that was a nice way to end the evening. We had a great time with has got us looking at other up and coming shows like the 'In the night garden' show and the new 'Peppa Pig tour'. We would definitely recommend this show to anyone who loves the show or for children that enjoy going to the theatre.