"Seriously, Unicorn Haemorrhoids? The glitter gets EVERYWHERE!"

Last week Mrs M came home from work desperate to show us all a video on Youtube for a product called the 'Squatty Potty'. For those of you unfamiliar with the Squatty Potty and its crazy unicorn video viewed 17m times on Youtube, here its is...

The video has become a hit around the house and has spurred on many fun quotes over the last week or so. For the first time in a while too the boys have actually asked if we can review one through the blog (So if you are reading this Squatty Potty, We're up for trying it out).

Today while pottering around the house (because it was so cold outside), Opeie requesting possible his must bizarre LEGO building session and asked if we could make a quick Squatty Potty scene. I like to think I'm quite accommodating with the boys ideas so we set to work armed with a lot of bright colours and a unicorn, enjoy.

"The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page."

We had big plans this week to head towards Cambridge for what we had hoped to be an afternoon of real dinosaurs. Sadly the M6 and the M5 had other ideas and as we sat in what seemed like a never ending amount of traffic we decided to change our plans. A while back I had read about 'The town of books' a quaint little market town famous for its bookshops and love of literature. So after mentioning this to Mrs M she filled me in on the name of this idyllic sounding place and we changed course and headed towards Ross-on-wye.

Five minutes before we arrived Mrs M realised that we should have been heading towards Hay-on-Wye, Oops. So another 50 minutes was added to our journey but we finally made it to our destination and the weather was gorgeous. There was a queue of people coming out of a lovely looking ice cream parlour which sadly us none dairy eating folk couldn't eat at, but because of the heat we were craving ice cream so Mrs M did some investigating online and found a deli that stocked Booja booja ice cream, result.

Hay-on-Wye definitely earned its 'town of books' status. It was such a great little town filled with lovely little book shops for everyone, there was a children's book shop that Laura said reminded her of the shop in 'you've got mail' and a 'Murder and mystery' bookshop, all with a reading area where you could just pop your feet up and get engrossed.

Opeie, as always at the moment, had dinosaurs on the brain so that is what we went looking for bookwise and him and Mrs M found an interesting pop up book about Dinosaur babies and eggs, Cute! While me and Opeie hopped from book shop to book shop Mrs M spent some time talking to a lovely lady in a shop about her other big love, 'Stationary'! My lady loves a good pen! 

Aside for the scenery (it was a lovely looking little town) there were plenty of great boutique style shops to keep us entertained. Mrs M spotted some lovely things and had some great ideas for things to make our home even prettier.

Hay-on-wye will definitely be seeing us again, anywhere that has that many books will get a lot of attention from us, it is the sort of place where you could buy a book from a shop and spend the whole day reading it anywhere there as it seemed like the whole town hade been made for your reading pleasure.  After a good few hours pottering about we made our way home, which was considerably shorter than detour from Ross-on-wye.

“Look at me! Look at me! Look at me NOW! It is fun to have fun But you have to know how.”

Opeie loves celebrating his toys birthdays, Rose the cat has had three birthdays in the last 3 months and it always seems like someone is getting the star treatment for the day. Last week the birthday boy was the Cat in the Hat and after receiving a package from Bigjigs toys Opeie came up with an elaborate plan on how we were going to celebrate. The sun was out and we had an afternoon to do what we wanted so Opeie informed me of his plans and we set about trying to make them happen.

The Plan:

• Pack a bag each full of relevent items for our mission
• Scoot to Ironbridge and embark on an adventure collecting items for the ultimate toy birthday party
• Convince local business owners to let us do what we want in their establisments
• Document our adventure with pictures (Opeie loves us taking pics)
• Make sure the Cat in the Hat has a Birthday to remember
• On completion of our tasks make our way home and party for the remainder of the afternoon

 He certainly doesn't ask for much that boy of mine, but who am i to deny him his fun.

The first stop on the Birthday mission was the Coalbrookdale Museum of Iron where we pulled up our Micro scooters for a spot of tea and scones. We explained to the lady running the Cafe that it was the Cat in the Hat's birthday and that we needed to pick up supplies for a party (yes we did go through this story with everyone we came in to contact with that day). We spotted the perfect box of twelve biscuits skillfully baked by Bigjigs toys, delicious!

Like Opeie and myself, the cat in the Hat is quite partial to a peanut butter and jam sandwich and Opeie wanted to make sure that his friend had all his favourite food at the birthday shindig. As we were leaving the cafe we walked through the shop connected and noticed exactly what we were looking for, so with the help of a very excited Opeie we explained to the staff about the celebration and what we needed and they happily obliged. With our Bigjigs toys Peanut butter and Jam acquired we jumped back on the Micro Scooters and continued our adventure.

While scooting along the high street Opeie shouted "Cake!". You cant have a birthday celebration without Birthday cake and Opeie's sighting of Queenie's cupcakes made it quite clear where the next stop on our destination was going to be. The lovely lady on the counter asked all about the Cat in the Hat and his birthday and Opeie was loving telling her all about it. It was so great how everywhere we went staff were embracing Opeie's plans and being really friendly. We left Queenie's with our Bigjigs Birthday cake a perky cat and a very happy little events organiser.

There was only one thing left on Opeie's list and i think it was bright, hot sunshine that was keeping it at the forefront of his mind. We knew as soon as we spotted the sign for Vanilla ice it was time to pick up the Bigjigs Ice lollies and again the chap in the shop was very friendly, he even said we can go wandering behind the till for pictures. There must be something in the water in the river Severn that makes everyone so friendly. Well that was our shopping for previsions done and what a great spread we were going to be putting on.

The weather was far to nice to go straight home so we made the most of Ironbridge's beautiful park before heading home. Scooting around for an hour before parking up and having a run about. It was the perfect way to spend the cats special day.

The excitement of Opeie's garden party was getting too much so he asked if we could go home and start getting things ready. With all the great Bigjigs food we had collected on our shopping/scooting adventure the party preperation was going to be a huge job, but the sun was shining and everyone was having a great time. Opeie organised everything pretty much by himself and then it was party time.

 After a couple of hours serving our guests, playing pass the parcel and dancing it was time to relax with a good book. An eventful afternoon was had by all. Great food, Great company and some fast wheels to run our errands on, Perfection!

Until our next Birthday adventure... Have fun! x

"Hey, I just met you, And this is crazy, But here's my number, So call me, maybe!"

Opeie tends to have many imaginary phone conversations during the week. Usually it is Nanny Roo that gets all of the weekly gossip unbeknown to her, but yesterday it was our friend Katie who was deep in conversation while she was supposed to be at work. The conversation was hilarious and ended with a one sided in depth discussion about the time she inserted an ice-cream into our good friends bottom following a Minifigure we made of her the weekend and some photos they sent us.

Personally I think it is ridiculous to give a child a mobile phone too young but at the ripe old age of 3 I thought he was ready for the commitment. So we sat down together and discussed what it was he wanted from his new handset (it was like an immature sales pitch from a car phone warehouse representative).

What do you want it to look like?... LEGO! , colour?... Pink! (No problem). Everything is awesome!!! Okay??? Spinney things! Well I can never say he doesn't know what he wants. So I got to work while Opeie created me the handset I've been pining after for years, guess I won't be needing that upgrade now and we can keep in contact wherever we go (as long as it's in the house).

"I hear a hoot in the trees ahead."

A mouse took a stroll...

Through the deep dark wood.

A fox saw the mouse and the mouse looked good.

"Where are you going to, little brown mouse? Come and lunch in my underground house."

"It's terribly kind of you, Fox, but no - I'm going to have lunch with a Gruffalo."

"A Gruffalo? What's a Gruffalo?"

"A Gruffalo! Why, didn't you know?"

"He has terrible tusks, and terrible claws, And terrible teeth in his terrible jaws."

"Where are you meeting him?"

"Here, by these rocks.

And his favourite food is roasted fox."

Roasted fox! I'm off! Fox said.

"Goodbye, little mouse," and away he sped.

"Silly old Fox! Doesn't he know, There's no such thing as a Gruffalo?"

On went the mouse through the deep dark wood. 

An owl saw the mouse and the mouse looked good.

"Where are you going to, little brown mouse?
Come and have tea in my treetop house."

"It's terribly kind of you, Owl, but no –
I'm going to have tea with a gruffalo."

"A gruffalo? What's a gruffalo?"
"A gruffalo! Why, didn't you know?

He has knobbly knees, and turned-out toes,
And a poisonous wart at the end of his nose."

"Where are you meeting him?"
"Here, by this stream,
And his favourite food is owl ice cream."

"Owl ice cream! Toowhit toowhoo!"
"Goodbye, little mouse," and away Owl flew.

"Silly old Owl! Doesn't he know,
There's no such thing as a gruffalo?"

On went the mouse through the deep dark wood.

A snake saw the mouse, and the mouse looked good.

"Where are you going to, little brown mouse?
Come for a feast in my logpile house."

"It's terribly kind of you, Snake, but no –
I'm having a feast with a gruffalo."

"A gruffalo? What's a gruffalo?"
"A gruffalo! Why, didn't you know?

His eyes are orange, his tongue is black,
He has purple prickles all over his back."

"Where are you meeting him?"
"Here, by this lake,
And his favourite food is scrambled snake."

"Scrambled snake! It's time I hid!"
"Goodbye, little mouse," and away Snake slid.

"Silly old Owl! Doesn't he know,
There's no such thing as a gruffal...?"

...OH!"

But who is this creature with terrible claws
And terrible teeth in his terrible jaws?
He has knobbly knees, and turned-out toes,
And a poisonous wart at the end of his nose.
His eyes are orange, his tongue is black,
He has purple prickles all over his back.

"Oh help! Oh no!
It's a gruffalo!"

"My favourite food!" the Gruffalo said.
"You'll taste good on a slice of bread!"

"Good?" said the mouse. "Don't call me good!
I'm the scariest creature in this wood.
Just walk behind me and soon you'll see,
Everyone is afraid of me."

"All right," said the Gruffalo, bursting with laughter.
"You go ahead and I'll follow after."

They walked and walked till the Gruffalo said,
"I hear a hiss in the leaves ahead."

"It's Snake," said the mouse. "Why, Snake, hello!"
Snake took one look at the Gruffalo.
"Oh crumbs!" he said, "Goodbye, little mouse!"
And off he slid to his logpile house.

"You see?" said the mouse. "I told you so."
"Amazing!" said the Gruffalo.

They walked some more till the Gruffalo said,
"I hear a hoot in the trees ahead."

"It's Owl," said the mouse. "Why, Owl, hello!"
Owl took one look at the Gruffalo.
"Oh dear!" he said, "Goodbye, little mouse!"
And off he flew to his treetop house.

"You see?" said the mouse. "I told you so."
"Astounding!" said the Gruffalo.

They walked some more till the Gruffalo said,
"I can hear feet on the path ahead."

"It's Fox," said the mouse. "Why, Fox, hello!"
Fox took one look at the Gruffalo.
"Oh help!" he said, "Goodbye, little mouse!"
And off he ran to his underground house.

"Well, Gruffalo," said the mouse. "You see?
Everyone is afraid of me!
But now my tummy's beginning to rumble.
My favourite food is – gruffalo crumble!"

"Gruffalo crumble!" the Gruffalo said,
And quick as the wind he turned and fled.

All was quiet in the deep dark wood.
The mouse found a nut and the nut was good.

The walk from home to the supermarket is an hour round trip, its amazing what you can spot if your having a really good look about. This post came about because Opeie picked up his mouse before leaving the house and told me "we need to find a snake, a fox and an owl". There really is adventure round every corner... if your willing to make the effort.