"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.

"The family you come from isn't as important as the family you're going to have."

Since our day out to the beach last weekend I had been counting down the days until yesterday. We had made arrangements with Mrs M's parents last week to go to the seaside again (weather permitting). Although we get to see them a fair bit it's always round at either of our houses so going out and spending the day together was a really nice change. We woke up early to prepare a picnic and sort out what we needed, things are so different when you don't have children you can pack a small bag and your sorted, we ended up with four bags heaving with 'stuff', Opeie woke up soon after, sat up, rubbed his eyes and said "see nanny and grandad" which i thought was lovely, nanny and grandad came around 7:30ish and we all piled in the car and headed off on our journey to Llandudno. I'd never been before so didn't know what to expect but I was excited about going out for the day.

The weather was glorious as we'd come to expect from the last few days, I was so greatful for the air con in the car the five of us would have been baking without it. We arrived at Llandudno around 10 and after driving around looking for somewhere to park for a bit we parked up and headed down to the main strip. I was having a great time being out and walking about (a bit like a dog), but Mrs M and her folks seemed a little disappointed, it was quite run down and very tacky but the sun was out and it was much better than another day lounging in the back garden. Opeie managed to spot the hello kitty ride as soon as we got to the pier and Nanny Roo couldn't help but get in on the action too.

 After a brief walk along the pier we headed over to the beach, but it was a little dirty and covered in hundreds of dead jelly fish (gross), Mrs M didn't look amused so we left the beach for a walk along the sea front and then found a bench so that Opeie could have some strawberries and cuddle and kiss his new inflatable spider-man that nanny and grandad brought him.

We had a potter around the shops but it was really hot and Opeie was getting quite sleepy up on my shoulders so we headed back to the car for a spot of lunch. It was obvious we had all had enough of Llandudno but none of us were ready to go home as it was still mid afternoon so Grandad mentioned a place we could go that was kind of on the way home called Betws y coed so we all piled in again and went about our adventure, Mrs M dropped off not long after setting off closely followed by grandad so me and Nanny had a nice chat on the way down with Opeie joining in where he could.

Betws y Coed was beautiful, clean and quite picturesque with a few shops, ice cream parlour and surprisingly a vegan / gluten free restaurant (Mrs M's eyes lit up). There was greenery everywhere and everyone seemed happy to be there. Mrs M got to feel 5 years old again when a worried Nanny and Grandad started to apply suncream to her (this parenting job clearly never ends). I think having nanny and grandad in the car had got Opeie quite excited so he missed his afternoon nap, but as soon as we sat down in the park and he had a feed he was out like a light so we sat in the shade under a tree while he slept chatting and watching the world go by.

 It was only a short nap, after about half and hour he woke up and was concerned that Nanny and Grandad were not with us so straight back on my shoulders he got and off we went to track down those elusive grandparents. We soon spotted Nanny Roo so Opeie was happy, Mrs M was desperate to have a look in the Vegan restaurant and Opeie was pulling me through the restaurant and out the back door because he could see trains. My cute talking satnav guided me over the railway bridge and to the gift shop where we brought tickets to go on the miniature steam train. Opeie wasn't sure about it at first but once we got going he had a great time chugging along and waving at Mrs M, Nanny and Grandad every time we went past. Opeie got just as much excitement from the train tickets we were given and was talking about them all the way back to the restaurant.

Time for a much needed sit down and drink, the weather seemed to be getting hotter and hotter (not that I'm complaining) so we sat and had a drink and some snacks. Opeie kept saying 'Bottomly Potts covered in spots', being a little hot and bothered it took me a minute to realise that our very excited boy had spotted a dalmatian sitting by us and it had triggered off Opeie's love for Hairy Maclary and his spotty friend (such a clever boy).

The drive home was relaxing and Opeie's contagious laugh kept us entertained on the journey back as he waved his feet around and we took it in turns to say 'ewwww stinky'. We had managed to go the day without an awkward toilet break being needed by Opeie while travelling, well that was until half the way home when Opeie announced 'Chocolate Pooh' and i had to sit on the side of a lay by with him on his potty (I'm so proud of Opeie's potty training he's been amazing).

We had such an amazing day and it made me realise even more how lucky we are to have Gary and Ruth in our lives. I really don't know why we don't have days out together more often but i guess its so easy to get wrapped up with all the other things that are going on. With the weather the way it is though hopefully there will be chance for us to have another fun day out very soon.

Thanks Nanny and grandad we love you very much xxx