"Just living is not enough... one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower."

The sun is out, the sky is blue (well at least it was on when I took the photos) and for us that means that the Micro Scooters are going to be hitting the streets. The scooters have always been a great distraction from any work we are doing at home and it's always fun to take our learning to the great outdoors, investigating an area or doing some sort of scavenger hunt. Today's hunt was to spot as many different flowers as we could, as we had downloaded a really interesting app called PlantNet where you can photograph plants and the app will tell you what you are looking at (Shazam for horticulture fans).

Considering we were only out scooting for an hour or so we managed to spot so many different varieties of flowers and it made for a really interesting Micro adventure.

"Life is either a daring adventure or nothing"

Recently, while going through a huge folder of photos I realised that there was an ongoing theme throughout the photos from the last 3 years. LEGO was obviously a big one but it occurred to me, just how much of an impact Micro Scooters have had on us as a family. It's amazing to think that these awesome wheels have become such a big part of our day to day outdoor fun. As I scrolled through the pictures it was lovely to see Opeie on his old Mini Micro and although Seth isn't on as many of our Scooting adventures it was great to see some older pictures of him on his scooter with a big smile on his face. 

The sun is out again now and hopefully that is pretty much the end of all of the wet weather we have had here in Shropshire. The scooters have definitely been out a lot more over the last week or so and with the easter holidays here I thought I'd put some of my favourite Micro Adventure images together for a little scooting inspiration to get you all out and about over the holiday. 

Happy scooting ya'll.

"My dreams were at once more fantastic and agreeable than my writings."

I've started so many of our blog posts off with "Home schooling is amazing" or words to that effect. When we first made the decision to educate Opeie from home I knew it was going to be the right decision and I had my romantic ideas about what it was going to be like, but nothing really prepared me for the fun and excitement that was going to happen from that first term. Having control over how your child learns is really empowering and although I still have my 'Should I be doing more?' moments occasionally, Opeie's interest in everything and his happy, confident personality says it all, we definitely made the right decision.

Last week was one of those awesome opportunities and Opeie and I jumped at the chance to spend a few days in Bournemouth. I'd never been before and I love going anywhere new. Opeie, like myself, really enjoys our 'adventuring in a new city' routine, spending a day or two before researching the area to find out where we can visit. It doesn't always turn out how he plan and we definitely aim to cram a lot more into our days than we can physically achieve but it is always good to have a list of places to hand that are of interest to us.

It was our first time staying in an Airbnb and to be honest I was a little nervous. I'm definitely a fan of having my own space and I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about being in someone else's home. It turns out though that Uli and her daughter Eva that we were staying with were awesome and really made us feel at home, we had only been there about an hour and we were Micro scooting along the promenade with Eva, which was great.

Our plan (as always) was to make full use of those amazing wheels of ours and have a Micro scooting break. We had planned out rough routes between all of the places we wanted to visit and after chatting to Uli added in a few more that didn't pop up on '20 things to do in Bournemouth'. It's always handy to chat to the locals. I wanted to take full advantage of being on the coast with the scooters so on the first evening there I decided to venture out alone to see what was going on. Turns out nothing was, Boscombe was so quiet. I scooted along the promenade for 5 miles and then up a hill and 5 miles back along the street, it was so peaceful.

The following morning we kicked off our itinerary with a visit to Oceanarium which was great as it was on the seafront and was surrounded by lots of space to scoot. Opeie is a huge fan of penguins and could have happily sat there for the afternoon watching them. There was something about visiting an aquarium right next to the sea that made it that little more magical for him.

Opeie had never been on a pier before so being able to scoot along it, out over the sea was really exciting. The weather was a little overcast but nothing was getting in the way of our fun.

One of the great things about Bournemouth and the surrounding area is there are so many places to take fun pictures. Everywhere you look there is something that can be used as an interesting backdrop.

While chatting to Uli on our first night there, she told us that Mary Shelley was buried at St. Peters church in the centre of Bournemouth. I was surprised that that hadn't popped up on our Search when researching the area. That night as Opeie fell asleep pretty early I lay in bed and read up on Mary Shelley and her interesting life. As we were scooting through the town I filled Opeie in on some macabre stories and we visited the tomb. I'm not sure it was the highlight of Opeies scooting adventure but he was definitely interested in the story of her husbands heart.

We had made the mistake of driving into the main area of Bournemouth in the morning after, getting stung by the parking charges. What we didn't realise until we got back to Boscombe that afternoon was that we could scoot from Boscombe pier to Bournemouth pier (roughly 1.5 miles). So that's exactly what we did that afternoon, stopping off at the beach to build sand castles and splash in the sea. That evening we went out to dinner with friends which was great. Opeie was shattered by the time we got back and went straight to sleep, surprisingly I followed soon after.

The following morning, after a recommendation from our friend Duncan we drove over to Hengistbury head. Opeie had packed his Binocs (as he likes to call them) for a spot of nature watching and while heading there we drove past a juggling shop, so we popped in and picked up a frisbee (I used to love playing frisbee when I was younger). Hengistbury head was very windy but it was beautiful. I'm not sure Opeie was impressed by the 3.3 mile walk and in hindsight, we should have grabbed the scooters to take the edge off, this was made worse when we saw our only other Micro scooter of the trip whizz past us (I think we need them permanently attached to us).

By the time we got back to the car Opeie had only one thing on his mind, eating chips on the beach (which has become a tradition with every beach trip). We sat on the beach for ages just chatting about all sorts, Opeie as always had a barrage of questions and I did my best to answer them (Google may have backed me up though). With only a few hours left before we headed home, I asked my little sidekick what he wanted to do? "Can we get some nuts please dad?" The day before we had watched a lady in the pleasure gardens feeding the squirrels, who were very tame and climbing all over her, Opeie wanted some of that action so we bought a big bag of monkey nuts and headed to a squirrel heavy grassy area. 

Opeie was in his element and would have happily sat there for hours feeding them one at a time. I tried my best to coax them on to the scooter for a shot but they were having none of it. They were so gentle the way they put their paws on our hands to take the nuts. This was the perfect way to end our three days in Bournemouth.

As always our adventure was amazing and our fun time was magnified by the magic of Micro scooters. I often wonder how we ever got by without those awesome wheels of ours. Well, it's definitely getting warmer which means one thing for Opeie and I... Camping scooter trips. I can't wait to start pitching that tent of ours, so stay tuned for more scooting fun over the coming weeks.

"Oh, you see this? It's the Time Stone. If you take another step, I'll send you all the way back to the Big Bang."

There are some amazing big LEGO kits out at the moment and honestly, I would happily have every single kit released if I could. Sadly we just don't have the disposable income for that level of Lego obsessiveness so I have to put self-control into action and reign it in.  It seems that everyone I know's children adore those addictive bricks in some way and each one pining after the same huge kits. One thing that always used to frustrate me was the variety of super hero figures that were only available if you purchased the larger kits. I imagine in many households these bigger kits are completely out of reach financially but last year LEGO did something to change that which I thought was really awesome.

I've been saying for a long time that I would love LEGO to make a Marvel minifigure series, filled with all of the obscure characters. At £3 per pack these are accessible to pretty much everyone (and who doesn't love LEGO at pocket money prices). With the release of The Lego Batman movie, there was a step In the right direction with the minifigure series to accompany the movie (and those figures are pretty amazing). Although I can't ever see the same thing happening with Marvel comics characters (unless of course there was a LEGO Spider-man movie), LEGO did something else last year to offer Marvel super hero characters at an affordable price to all of their super-hero brick lovers.

Mighty micros revved their engines and exploded onto the toy store shelves in a blaze of glory and I was instantly hooked. Not only were 6 new figures available, with interestingly fun facial expressions and mini legs but they also had matching vehicles for speeding around the floor. To top it off though, and what really had me excited, was the price. I've spent an obscene amount of money on LEGO over the years but the price of the Mighty micros as I said before has meant that Spider-man, Batman and their friends are available to everyone.

Last year the three Marvel sets were snapped up straight away and it was clear that the vehicles were here to stay (I'm kicking myself now that I didn't pick all of the DC ones up from last year, The Lego Batman movie has turned Opeie into a HUGE DC fan).  You can always tell in our house how much the boys love the kits they have built as sometimes after being built and played with they are taken apart and the parts are used for new custom builds. Other times though the kits stay built and are lovingly displayed in our LEGO room (yes we have entire room devoted to those super bricks), or they get their own box to be stored in until their next outing. The mighty micros got their own box, so when wave 2 was released they were ready for action.

I can't wait to see if there is going to be a third wave of Mighty Micros and there is a list as long as my arm for characters I would love to see included. These awesome little kits are one of my favourite newer releases from LEGO and I'd love to see the range opened up to possible other themes, like Adventure time, teen titans or powerpuff girls from the new LEGO Dimensions kits.

"It is better to travel well than to arrive."

Booking a holiday, as exciting as it is, can also be very stressful! With so much to organise before you actually board the plane, the build up can be quite a daunting time. As a parent, I am thankful for anything that makes the trip that little bit easier on everyone and this year before heading off to Florida my favourite company came to our aid, helping with something that worries us every time we go away. There is a lot of walking involved at the airport, which I guess I don't really notice that much because I am so focused on getting from A to B with all the bags etc. For Seth though, all this walking can be very stressful due to the effect his muscle condition has on his legs. 

If we have to walk long distance while at home, there is a lot of stopping and starting so that Seth can relax his legs before starting the next leg of the journey (haha). A few years ago we started an ongoing adventure with a company that has changed our lives in so many ways and helping Seth get to his destination quicker and with a little less strain on his legs was one of them. Being able to push and roll gave Seth much more confidence getting about and really changed our outdoor play. So much so that before heading out to the states, Seth, along with all of us in fact, were talking about how much we wished we could have taken all of the Micro Scooters away with us.

As much as we would have loved to take the four scooters away, it was Seth that could have done with one the most and Micro (being the AMAZING company that they are), had a very special scooter, suitable for our needs, taking the strain off of Seth and giving him the confidence to be on his feet a little longer than he probably would have liked, while turning heads and giving him a huge amount of street cred! 

The ladies were swooning as Seth scooted by...

The Steve Aoki Micro Luggage Scooter is an awesome bit of kit, with its colourful quirky design it had everyone taking at the airport as Seth whizzed by. Being able to maneuver from baggage, through to security then to the shops before making our way to the departure lounge on wheels made all the difference to Seth's legs, and the smile on his face as he did so was contagious. With certain points of the airport being too busy to scoot, due to the number of people about, being able to turn the luggage scooter into a trolley to pull along made our journey even more productive.

With a 26 litre capacity, the Micro luggage scooter is perfect for hand luggage, which means your wheels can stay with you throughout the entire journey. This was great as I don't think Seth wanted to let it out of his sight. If the look, feel and fact that it revolutionalises your travel isn't enough, the SoundtoGo sound system included (yes is has a speaker built in!), easily connects to your phone via Bluetooth making it possible to listen to your favourite music as you scoot along. 

While reading the box when the scooter arrived, Opeie informed me of who Steve Aoki is and his favourite Aoki remix (yes our 5-year-old is that cool!).