"Not all those who wander are lost."

We were having our usual fun at the park today, it was cold and the sky was grey but we were wrapped up warm, scooting, chatting and as always enjoying each others company. It was a nice relaxing and lazy Sunday afternoon after a busy day yesterday. But then disaster! the smallest member of our family unit decided to run off and like a rocket he was gone... But where to?

The thing about our quick footed little three year old is he's pretty good at hiding and being that small he fits into spaces us fully grown humans just don't fit. After a brief scout around the area Seth decided it was time to bring in back up. 

The Spy Net RC Recon Video Bot is a serious bit of kit based on a military prototype and has even been featured in the tv show 24. It is perfect for any budding little super spy in the making but also comes in handy for us clumsy parents who misplace our loved ones.  I would have been so excited to have owned something like this when I was younger, I was a huge James Bond fan and inspector gadget was one of my heroes. The Goonies was my favourite movie and I was always trying to make cool gadgets like Data. I just wanted to be a secret agent where very item around me, no matter how insignificant could be used for something AWESOME!

The RC Recon Bot is a strong durable piece of tech and it's solid outer shell means that it can withstand a fair amount of banging about. The unit can be thrown over any wall of ahead of you around 30ft for obstacles blocking your vision and can be used as a robot roaming vehicle with built in camera and a video screen on the remote. You can manoeuvre the robot 360 degrees and the lens can be manually adjusted to suit your roaming needs. To start our afternoon child hunt we dropped our unit down a hole in the parks climbing frame and began our recon mission...

Seth was up first and went looking around the smaller climbing frame for his little brother. The RC Recon Video bot has been able to get over every terrain we have tried it on so far, the tooth like wheels even got over a raised door frame at nanny and grandads house which i thought was really impressive, so roaming around this smooth wooden structure was no problem. Mrs M looked a little concerned about the welfare of the unit when it approached the slide but because of the solid casing, bouncing down the slide wasn't an issue. Sadly still no sign of our missing boy though?

Mommy was up next taking the unit over a bench and off the other side to search underneath too. but the boy was nowhere to be found.I love it when Mrs M gets involved in our adventures. We set up an assault course at home to put the device through its paces and she got quite competitive.

My turn to continue our search and i had a feeling Opeie may have been across the wobbly balancing beam, i was sure our robotic rescue unit could also balance across the full length of the beam and i was right the controls can be crazy if you want it to spin around lots but on more delicate journeys it works well under the pressure and can be quite smooth to control.

Where was that child of ours hiding???

Almost running out of places to search we guided the RC Roamer towards the big climbing frame hoping to get some sort of lead as to where Opeie had got to.

Seth had to get the bot over a difficult bit of the park and we had a couple of issues with the wheels not being able to get over rope ladders (well you've got to try) but from a tactical view point the unit was tackling every task and obstacle with the greatest of ease.

Thinking we had combed the park area thoroughly we assumed the little secret agent had fooled us and we were ready to give up, when we spotted something in the distance and sent the RC unit to investigate our findings.

There he was that little angel of ours quietly reading a book. The spy Net RC Recon Video Bot completed its first full mission perfectly, finding the lost member of our party and returning him to the people that love him most. 

With the mission complete it was time to head home, all that was left to do was test the range on the remote, if you can see that little dot on the white line ahead then you can see it can go a fair distance with the video feed staying as clear throughout its journey.

Seth being the massive Bond fan that he is has gone Spy Net mad so this afternoon we headed up to our local toy store to spend Seths winnings that he had been saving from hustling Mrs M every week over who was going to be star baker on the bake off each episode, she'll never learn.

We came home with the Spy Net Laser Trip Wire ready for our next adventure and since the visit the big kid in me is pining after the Ultra Vision Goggles, I could have so much fun with those babies! Stay tuned for our next spy related caper.

The little boy who lost his name... Gifts from the pirates review

It seems really difficult to find tasteful personalised gifts for children, which is why when it comes to the boys we tend to create our own. It seems that most products on the market that i have seen are just generic items with a child's name stuck on there. For  the past year i have been working on two personal books for the boys but finding the time to complete them is annoyingly difficult. I love the boys having things that are personal to them, i have nothing from my childhood due to a difficult relationship with my family. So when i was asked a few weeks back if i would be interested in reviewing a book that would be made specifically for the boys i jumped at the chance. Who honestly is going to say no to that.

The little boy who lost his name (also the little girl who lost her name) has been created by a group of dads and is a book aimed at 2-6 year olds. It's a fully personalised adventure based soley around your child's name. Each book starts and ends the same but the adventure inside depends on the letters in your child's name. If the thought of a personal book for the boys wasn't enough the other thing that sold it for me was the illustrations. It's usually the reason i agree to review children's books.

We had only read a few pages when Opeie realised that the letters were spelling his name which was great for a three year old especially because he still doesn't understand which letter is which despite knowing his alphabet for quite some time.I love how the animals and characters you meet along the way find items that are the shape of your letters.

The books have become a firm favourite with the boys and have made their way to the list of books that are always asked for when we go to bed or have our reading session on the trampoline in the sunshine. the quality of the book is exceptional, in fact i don't think we own another book with such a nice finish. Its the sort of book that as children get older you want to pack away safely to bring out years down the line. Its a really nice item to keep and ours will be cherished for years to come.

The book itself is a little more expensive than most children's books but then you are paying for a custom book that is created for your own most loved creations so it is worth every penny. A 15% discount code has kindly been sent to us too, use AWESOMEDADS15 at the checkout.

I think I'm definitely going to be buying these for peoples birthdays. A great idea, perfectly executed by a group of devoted dads, i love it.

Feeling like I'd lost a limb...

It's 10:45am and I am parked up in the car on a miserable day feeling pretty miserable myself. People always say when you have children time flies by and when you don't have children you think 'yeah yeah'. Peoples comments though, no matter how often you hear them don't prepare you for your life moving in to warp speed. Ive been dreading this day for around a year and the build up to it has got harder and harder.

Today was Opeies Nursery trial day and was the first time we have left Opeie with someone else and it's heartbreaking. He's always been right at my side apart from one afternoon where I left him with our friend Chris for 20 minutes while I had something to do (I thought I was going to be sick the whole 20 minutes and couldn't stop shaking). Yes I know it probably sounds mental but he's such a huge part of me and being away from him really isn't a nice feeling.

We were really careful when choosing Opeie's nursery, we knew exactly what we didn't want and were lucky enough to find what we did early in our search, it didn't make this day any easier though. When I woke up this morning I felt a wreck. We packed his bag and got him ready and Opeie was in a very happy mood, completely unaware of where he was going.

We arrived at the nursery and as I expected the staff put me at ease. We chatted while Opeie played and he looked relaxed but sadly it was a completely different story for me as I was desperately trying to fight back the tears. There was a chance that when we left Opeie would panic and be really upset and although that thought was quite upsetting the thing that was worrying me more was him not being like that. I know that comment sounds awful and of course I don't ever want him to be upset but selfishly I'm worried about becoming obsolete and also the thought that we will be paying someone else to have fun with my best friend just doesn't seem right. 

I planned on staying at the nursery as long as I could but as I watched Opeie happily playing with the other children I decided I needed to just get a grip. I told him I was going and he gave me a kiss and said 'Okay' no questions asked. He's becoming so independent and it scares me, he'll be at school before we know it and then what will I do with myself?

I planned on sitting in the car for the 3 hours he was there without us but we had a text from the nursery saying he had been fine and had even happily gone to the loo himself so we headed home. The drive back felt so weird without him being in the back and when we got home we practically sat in silence on the sofa, what were we meant to do now? before we knew it though it was soon time for us to head back and get him and we couldn't wait. Our happy eco system was finally restored and although Opeie looked shattered he was happy and excited, telling us what he had been up to. Today was just a trial day but he'll start soon and I have no idea how I'll feel, but as Ive realised today its not all about me, its about my best friend who I have been smitten by since day one.

"I have lost something. I'm not exactly sure what it is, but I know I didn't always feel this... sedated. But you know what? It's never too late to get it back. "

Have you ever walked down the street and spotted a child's toy lying on the side of the pavement, a lonely shoe or a single glove? whenever i see one i always feel a little sad at the thought of the poor child that's missing it, if they have even realised. That was us today, missing a toy and we didn't even know it yet. Today as i cleaned the kitchen i started to think 'i wonder how that toy would feel if it had feelings?'

Because I'm probably a little crazy and I'm always randomly coming up with strange ideas (usually when I'm washing up), i decided tonight i was going to indulge myself and let one of my ideas be the basis of the post. There's many great films out there that start off at the end of the film, the closing of the main story or an event that follows and then they back track to the beginning. Pulp fiction or Sin city for example. One of my favourites and my theme for the post is 'American beauty'.

So now I'm going to leave you in the capable hands of the star of the show, our lost toy...

"My name is Mr Fish. This is my neighborhood. 

This is my street. This... is my life. 

I'm about 5 hours old. In less than an hour, I'll be dead...

Of course, I don't know that yet.

But lets go back to where the story began.

It all started at around 10am, i was freed from my beautifully decorated bubble wrap cocoon.
I was from a place called The Toadstool,
A magical place where they find homes for new toys like me.

My new owner, a handsome looking boy,

blonde flowing locks and a smile that was contagious.

He barely put me down all morning, taking me everywhere he went.

It was bliss.

Look at me, Skeleton hanging out of my body.

This will be the high point of my day. 

It's all downhill from here.

At around three i was taken outside by my new owner.
He's only young, he doesn't understand, he dropped me in the street.
I was alone in the world and as i lay there in the pouring rain,
i was ignored by many passers by, left with no chance of survival.

I guess I could be pretty annoyed about what happened to me... 

but it's hard to stay mad, when there's so much beauty in the world. 

Sometimes I feel like I'm seeing it all at once, and it's too much, 

my heart fills up like a balloon that's about to burst...

...and then I remember to relax, and stop trying to hold on to it, 

and then it flows through me like rain 

and I can't feel anything but gratitude for every single moment of my stupid little life...

You have no idea what I'm talking about, 

I'm sure. But don't worry... 

You will someday."

Now i'm not going to leave the story on a bad ending that's not my style, plus you have already seen the picture of Mr Fish lying in the rain so you may have already guessed that he found his way back to us. On the way back to the car we saw him in the street. I had no idea that Opeie had even taken him out of the car, let alone dropped him. But there he was with his cold dead eyes looking up at us. He wasn't gone forever and with a little resuscitation from Opeie he was back to his old self.

So if you do ever see that lost toy, lonely shoe or single glove spare a thought for the owner, pick it up, leave it on a wall they may be back shortly to collect it. We were one of the lucky ones and Mr Fish will get extra love now off Opeie because of it. Thanks The Toadstool.