Gifts From The Pirates in Orlando - Driving on the wrong side of the road and rental concerns.

The thought of driving in the US was terrifying me. I didn't let on to Mrs M just how bad my anxiety was because I really didn't want her stressing out. I don't generally tend to be a worrier but the thought of making a wrong turn and driving the wrong way up the highway was filling me with dread. On our last visit to Orlando we stopped on international drive, probably the most popular area for tourists due to there being bus services to all parks and the I Ride Trolley which pretty much takes you wherever you want to in regards to the parks along its epic route. Although the idrive is great if you want to be doing a lot of shopping etc hiring a car is a must as we spent a small fortune last time on taxi's.

This time round though we wanted to try staying somewhere out of the way so we booked a condo in Davenport, because of this a car was really important. i need to get used to the roads anyway as we will be coming here many more times. We've been lucky enough to work with Hertz while on our tour of Orlando and on arrival of the pick up point, despite feeling like a nervous wreck and firing a barrage of questions at our taxi driver about all the possible things I could do wrong on the roads the two chaps at Hertz made me feel right at home and their friendly laid back attitude definitely calmed me down. 

There's a great selection of cars to choose from depending on your preference. For a little run around your looking at around £200 for a fortnight. You can pay for a full tank of gas up front which works out cheaper and for convenience is just what you want to be on your way and enjoying your holiday. There are lots of add ons, which come at a cost. A satnav is a must if you're not familiar with the area it's made our journeys so far effortless. If you have younger children and need car seats there is the option to add them to your hire package but at $70ish each to hire them for 2 weeks we chose another option. For opeie we looked on eBay for a cheap maxi cosy car seat that we could take in our case which we intend to leave here when were done. For Seth we were lucky enough to be sent a BoostApak by Trunki which has turned out to be an amazing and much needed bit of kit, a backpack that transforms in to a car seat, Seth loves it and feels like its some sort of James Bond gadget. Although the carseat is solid and takes up the full shape of the back pack there is still space to pack items to carry about making the backpack usable out of the car too, great work Trunki. (I will write a full review including spec when we're home).

Anyway back to the driving, the guys from Hertz were amazing and fully showed me round the car explaining every part in detail by the time I got behind the wheel though I felt like I was going to be sick, ridiculous when I think about it now as by the time I'd got 10 minutes down the road I felt fine. Because of the 55 speed limit on most of the larger roads driving seems so much more relaxing, plus we're on holiday, there's no racing to do the school run. It's important to know that at a red light you can still turn right as long as you come to a stop and checked oncoming traffic (apparently if you don't stop it's called a 'California roll'). Also if parking on the side of a road always park facing the way the traffic is going or you will be given a ticket.

Here's a few more of our top tips for hiring a car in Orlando with Hertz. 

• There are lots of destinations where you can pick your vehicle up, use the Zip Code tool to work out where is closest to where you're staying, that way the taxi to the pick up centre won't be too much and you'll save time.
   
• Ideally pay before you hire, this saves you money but also makes it easier when hiring due to the way all hire companies put the payment into a pending transaction , which you have to then pay at the end of the contract hire... slightly confusing when you first sign up, as they add $200 onto your rental agreement in case anything gets damaged, as a deposit, again in a holding form payment, which then gets returned to your bank if all is well with the vehicle.
• Hire a GPS as I've said, worth every penny! Saves you time, stress and makes it easier to drive on the opposite side since they prompt everything.
• Book in advance if possible... a lot cheaper than last minute!
• Make sure you keep the keys safe, there's a excess of $200 to pay if they're lost with any rental company.
• Think about taking out the optional $6 a day road side assistance, breakdown cover. Totally worth it when you think how much it would cost to get towed.

•  Make sure you choose a model which is big enough for your luggage , if collecting from the airport, you don't want to struggle making two trips!

Well its been three days on the US roads and I've not hit anyone, got seriously lost and most importantly I have driven along every road in the correct direction, which was my main fear. The first hour or so is a little daunting while you adapt but once you are comfortable driving in Orlando is really relaxing. There are a few drivers in a rush weaving in and out of traffic, you get that everywhere but a large percentage of the drivers on the road happily drive well under the limit (these may of course be other tourists panicking and being over cautious). In regards to both Hertz rental company and the SUV Style vehicle we chose i cannot recommend them enough, The motoring side of the holiday has been a joy.

"The road to success is always under construction."

We had a lovely surprise yesterday when there was a knock at the door and there stood the postie holding a package with Bigjigs Toys written all over it. Our second mission had arrived and we couldn't wait to get stuck in. We opened the package and was really excited about what we had been sent. Opeie was really eager to start playing but we decided to wait until Seth came out of school to get it out because I had a plan. The weather was lush and were always taking pictures of our reviews at home or in the garden so i thought a change of scenery would be nice. A Picnic tea was packed for the Bigjiggers and off we went to Lilleshall abbey to play in the sun. Taking the lovely wooden toys back outside where they came from.

Bigjigs Toys had sent us the Figure of Eight Roadway Set and it was probably one of the best products they could have sent us to review. We have a huge amount of the wooden train track but only 3 pieces of road (and i have no idea where that has come from??). Seth has been saying for a while now that he would like some road so his eyes lit up when he saw what we had to play with.

The set comes with everything you need to make a great track, straight pieces, curves, bridges, trees, buildings, people and most importantly three cars for racing around the track. Bigjigs toys rail and road sets are great for both Seth and Opeie's ages which is great because I love watching them play together. The parts easily connect and being made of wood each piece is obviously sturdy. The track is smooth with a nice finish and the accessories are well painted and obviously safe for children. We will always love wooden toys from Bigjigs Toys as they are so Eco friendly and are the sort of toys that will be played with for many generations.

Bigjigs toys road sets complement many of the other vehicle ranges they have for sale. When mixed with the rail sets you can build life like set ups with rail tracks running alongside motorways and trains travelling under roads. The set has also been great for teaching the boys about the Highway Code using the characters to simulate how dangerous it is to play by roads and to always have an adult with you when crossing the road. We would definitely recommend buying these sorts of sets to anyone as they are so versatile, The tracks can be changed round to suit your mood making it the perfect toy for keeping children interested, also with the option of being able to buy extra track and accessories separately you can add and build a huge set over time without breaking the bank.

To buy this set and many others to compliment it head over to http://www.bigjigstoys.co.uk/

Our application to become bloggers for Center Parcs 2014

After having such an amazing weekend away (which we will write about tomorrow) we were eager to get home and make our application video to become bloggers for Center Parcs. Whats our favourite thing to do as a family??? well find out here...

"It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light."

When we placed our order with Cable and Cotton last week for a set of their beautiful lights I couldn't decide on where I wanted to put them for photos. I wanted somewhere that would really highlight how great the looked from the pictures on their website. Myself and Mrs M had spent quite some time playing with the create your own option on the website which is great but after lots of tinkering we decided to have their pre-selected Mocha Amour set, a relaxing mixture of browns, pinks and purples. we ordered the 35 light set and were really excited about them coming. We didn't have to wait long though because they were delivered within two days.

The weather has been so nice the last two weeks so I wanted to photograph the lights outside when they arrived, I had the idea of setting our tent up in the garden Friday or Saturday night for mine and Mrs M's date night, I thought a nice meal outside with pretty mood lighting would be lovely but as with many of our attempts at date night our little cuddle loving 2 year old took president and our plans were changed.

Last night though I decided to get the tent out anyway for a play in the garden so it gave me the chance to finally get the lights out and put them together. They really are beautiful and unique lights, each ball is hand crafted giving each one it's own character. They are easy to put together although a little to fragile for my liking being the heavy handed buffoon I am. It was quite clear from opening the box that once up they need to be out of reach of young children or they wouldn't last five minutes. It didn't take long to attach all the balls and after grabbing the extension cable I headed up the garden lights in hand. We pinned them to the tent doorway using hair pins (got to use what you can find!) and as the sun was setting we went inside and grabbed a pile of duvets, pillows, blankets and most importantly books. We all got tucked up and then I switched the lights on. 

These lights are truly amazing, very subtle and mood setting. I love how different they look on to how they are off and i think that mini ones would look amazing on a Christmas tree. The lights turned Opeie's already adventurous reading in the garden at night, in to something magical. As the light dropped and the night got darker the lights became warmer and more beautiful. They really made our reading session. Although I didn't get to use them on date night having them light us up while having a cuddle and reading to Opeie seemed so much more perfect.

To view more of their great products and colour schemes visit..

http://cableandcotton.co.uk/

"The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet."

Seth loves getting involved when it comes to food preperation which used to be great because he would stand on a chair next to me hacking at a piece of broccoli with a plastic knife. As you can imagine that would take some time so it kept him occupied giving me the chance to get on with what needed to be done. We've not really been able to do that much when Mrs M is out because Opeie needs supervising as you can imagine being two.

Today our first package came from Bigjigs, inside our first two Play Patrol Missions. The boys were over the moon and what was inside gave me a great chance to get Opeie involved in food preperation. Plus i needed to get the veg ready for tea so after the boys changed in to their secret agent attire we headed outside to view our mission instructions. We had been sent the Cutting Vegetables Set and Opeie couldn't wait to get chopping.

 Suprisingly Opeie didn't go for his 'Hulk Smash' approach to everything. Instead he watched lovingly at what Seth was doing and copied him. The fruit and veg are wooden and each piece is connected by velcro so easily cut by children. The boys really enjoyed role playing with these and thankfully there were no Gordon Ramsey style choice words as they played. The only disappointing part of the kit was that the chef's hat didn't fit either of the boys so either they are quite small or the genetics in our house produce children with freakishly large heads???

During play Seth managed to find a clever way around the consumption of his 'five a day', take a slice of each fruit and veg, join them together and create one uber fruit...

The quality of the product is everything you would expect from Bigjigs, sturdy and high quality materials. The colours are great for teaching Opeie and we had fun getting Opeie to count the parts of the carrot, changing it each time while i cut our carrots in to the same amount of pieces. It was great to see that he really felt included in the food preperation.

"A Pirates life for me"

Why would anyone not like role play?, It's fun to not be yourself every now and again and when the boys are in the mood for dressing up and acting out whatever crazy scenario's they can come up with i like to think i fully embrace it. Ive opened the door to the postman in all manner of outfits. Opeie is really starting to get into it more and wants to be involed in what ever his big brother is doing. Seth's been going through his 'i want to be a Goonie' phase at the moment and it came to my attention that you cant have Goonies without pirates, we were definitely short of any Pirate attire so after finding out about The Toadstool a few weeks back we put in an order for their Haba Captain Charlie Pirate Hat and Beard and Captain Charlie Pirate Sword.

The postman knocked today and Opeie jumped up and ran to the door and when i saw the stickers on the package i knew it was his new dress up items. When we opened the package Opeie shouted 'Pirate' and 'arrrggghhhh'. This was going to be a fun afternoon.

The beard is really soft, detailed and beautifully made, you can tell just by looking at it that it is a well made and safe product which i loved as it meant it was comfortable for Opeie to wear and there was no itching. The beard could be unattached from the hat and moved around by velcro which is great for getting the positioning of your face right. The sword is also soft and flexible too which is great for those overly energetic role players that get carried away in battle (there will be no tears on our ship). What i love most about Haba toys is the fact that they are eco friendly and have a great ethos which is really important to us as a family as we like to do our part when it comes to being green. Opeie was one happy little pirate and after running about wielding his sword for a while we decided to get down to some pirate themed craft, still wearing his hat of course.

It then came to my attention that when Seth came home from school he was going to want to be a pirate too so after reading a facebook status update from The Toadstool earlier in the day about their 'Earth day competition' and keeping in with the Haba ethos we used the packaging that the items came with to make another pirate hat and Sword. Genius if i do say so myself. two hats and swords for the price of one and two very smiley boys.

Well it turns out that Captain Seth was having big problems with his crew. Everytime his back was turned they were all after his bottle of rum. Boldhead blackbeard (that would be me) especially likes a tipple (helps with the scurvy) and he was doing the best he could to remove it from his possession with the help of his helper Jollypinkboots (Opeie)...

Captain Seth was having none of it and things soon became heated...

Luckily i invoked the the right of parlay! According to the Code of the Brethren and the fighting was over and we all became friends and sat down to a glass off rum...

*Giftsfromthepirates in no way encourages underage pirate drinking!!!

Turns out Captain Seth can't handle the strong stuff so in no time at all we were brawling again...

Seth has informed us tonight that as soon as he is back from school tomorrow we are having a pirate battle again (can i make a cardboard pirate ship in that time?). Its got me thinking of other role playing items we need so i went mooching on thetoadstool.co.uk again and found some great items including the Haba Knights Helmet and all its medieval counterparts and a great looking Doctor's Suitcase.

Haba Captain Charlie Pirate Hat and beard for ages 3 - 33

Classic wooden childrens toys, Done properly, the Bigjigs way.

 

The sun did not shine.
It was too wet to play.
So we sat in the house
All that cold, cold, wet day.

I sat there with Opeie.
We sat there, we two.
And i said, "How i wish
We had something to do!"

Too snowy to go out

And too cold to play ball.

So we sat in the house

We did nothing at all.

So All we could do was to

Sit!

    Sit!

        Sit!

            Sit!

And we did not like it.

Not one little bit

And then on the front door

We heard many knocks.

So loud that we almost

Jumped out of our socks.

We jumped up quickly.

Ran to the door in a rush.

And there stood the postman

With a package for us.

And he said to us,

"Why the sad mouth on that mush."

"I know it is wet

And the sun is not sunny.

But i have a package from Bigjigs

Full of good fun that is funny!"

"Now I know that inside

Is a fun toy you'll find good.

With a strong and sturdy

Classic design made of wood..."

It's another grotty day outside, cold, wet and not very inviting. Also Opeie is still unwell, it's times like this that I'm glad there is so much to do in the house and it helps that we're a creative bunch. Although Opeie loves to paint and stick, for him its all about toys and he loves having something new to investigate. You cant go wrong with wooden toys, they are classic, durable and safe to play with, no need to worry about small parts and the designs are timeless.

This week Opeie's wooden farm house shape sorter from Bigjigs arrived through the post and he was instantly hooked. We've had standard shape sorters before and they helped with teaching Opeie the difference between a square and a circle but I think once a child has crossed that hurdle in their development finding the right hole is no longer challenging and they tend to lose interest. The farmyard sorter takes it to the next level helping Opeie to learn obscure shapes and learn about animals more. This shape sorter really makes him think more.

The colours and design are great and I like how the animals names are on the back of each piece, helping with reading too. Each animal is a different vibrant colour so teaching colours also comes in handy, it's a wooden play set that ticks all the boxes. The only thing I would add to the design is to give each animal a number just to add in counting to play. The animals are a perfect size for little hands and as you would expect from Bigjigs each wooden piece of the set is smooth and beautifully hand painted, no need to worry when leaving your children to play (we all need to nip out to make a cuppa).

Opeies favourite part seems to be the fact that it also doubles as a carry case with a removable roof to easily remove the famyard animals. Opeie spent most of the morning seeing what else would fit through the new exciting animal holes, although trying with all his might it seems that the Incredible Hulk does not fit through a Goose hole (who'd have thought it). The animals have also been seen grazing along side his wooden train tracks today too.

Even though Opeie was poorly he still took the animals to our bed to play...

Opeie's had lots of fun playing with them but lets not forget the other little toy lover in our house, although Opeie used it for what it was intended for, Seth found his own way of making the new toy fit his creative needs. Overall making it the versatile toy I hadn't noticed it was when opening it, Thanks Bigjigs.

We are really passionate about wooden toys, as safeplay is always at the forefront of our minds when choosing toys for the boys. The guys over at brickdave.com have written an interesting article about safe toys for inquisitive little hands and minds, you can check out the link HERE!

To find the Bigjigs farmyard shape sorter online or view lots of their other great toys then be sure to go to: http://shop.bigjigstoys.co.uk/

Our food adventure : Wholefoods Market Cheltenham

Hello, It's Mrs M here.

Remember in my last post, I touched upon my love for Wholefoods Market? The amazing supermarket which I became obsessed with whilst we were in Florida... well this week I have some exciting news.  ( even more exciting if your a lover of Wholefoods in the UK.)

Being a person who's always always loved dairy and eggs until three years ago, life and food became tricky when I had to stop eating the above, with soya in a matter of a day.  Last week I tried eating products with eggs and dairy in them, and boy was I ill, I could barely breathe, to the point I was contemplating ringing the hospital in the middle of the night... no more eggs or dairy for me!

Well, I'm starting to feel a bit happier about the thought of being a 'Vegan' for the rest of my days... ( I'm still not that happy with the term 'Vegan' - not sure why though ... I usually just say I can't have meat, fish, eggs, dairy or soya, but i suppose 'vegan minus soya' is a quicker explanation, right? )

Due to being slightly miserable about eating the same meals, we decided to go on a little adventure.

You're right! You guessed it, a Wholefoods Market in the UK! I was so worried about feeling let down when we were on our way over there, as i knew they didn't have the Daiya that I pine over, and I knew they didn't do other things like hoagie rolls, or the coconut ice cream, and yoghurts I love in America, because the night before I'd spoken to the team leader in charge of the produce, I'm not sure if it's ok to add his name, but let's call him , Mr Helpful. {Because that's what he was!}

Mr H at Wholefoods was amazing, and told me to ask for him when I got to the store. When I arrived he came over and greeted me, which was lovely. He is very knowledgeable and you can tell how much he really cares about his customers and the job he does. I was so grateful to him for listening to me go on about how much  I LOVE Florida, and Wholefoods Market on Turkey Lake Ave, and lots of other random things....  we had a lovely chat.

Mr H, introduced me to the team leader of Health & Beauty ( lets call him Mr Info)  who was also a Vegan, and interestingly had done a raw food diet for 6 months, ( I've been reading Alicia Silverstone's book The Kind Diet) so we had a lot to chat about, and he had so many interesting facts to tell me about foods, and how they will benefit me, ( and Opeie, I explained he still has Mama milk - which thankfully didn't phase him) and was totally inspiring in the way that he spoke about the food that we eat. He also knew the answer to everything I asked him, gave me a sample of Vegan Raw protein powder which I've tried and love, and it was so helpful and I felt so relieved that I wasn't the only person in the world with these dietry issues. So Mr I, and I found me some great things to eat!

 

One of the things I love about Wholefoods Market is that everything looks so damn tasty! They have so many different types of veggies, fruits, salads, herbs, spices and things, it's a beautiful thing. If I could afford to, i'd buy everything from there. But sadly my grocery budget doesn't stretch that far :( 

They also have a real good selection of all the things I love, stocking all Pukka products, Doves Farm, Nakd, and they do their own range which is called Fresh & Wild ( instead of the 365 range in the USA)

One thing I was hoping to find was coconut milk yoghurt, as the one in Florida was delicious, and I've not been able to find one in the UK, so when I saw this... 

Gorgeous So Yo Coconut milk yoghurt.

Amy's frozen Vegan meals.

....... I was in heaven! The Co Yo Coconut dairy, soya free yogurt was on offer too! ( And may I add, It is the most amazing yoghurt ever!)

It's not all overly, overly healthy foods, Cheltenham Wholefoods Market have a vast selection of wines, beers and desserts, chocolates, a amazing bakery which makes everything from gluten free cookies, cakes and breads, regular cookies biscuits, breads, rolls etc, and they seem to specialise  with the most amazing cupcakes ( which Opeie and Seth had the hard task of sampling) and so many other things. ( Including a resturant which i will visit next time and let you guys know about!)

 

Notice how the Sam Adams beers have gone down? haha!

So after about 2 hours of chatting and being shown around the store with Mr H and Mr I, I had a trolley full of veggies, vegan foods, US Beers, cupcakes, almond milk, coconut yoghurts and lots of other things. Opeie was very very happy, as the kind lady at the till even gave him some cute stickers. ( The staff are so helpful and lovely! ) Thanks to the staff at Wholefoods Cheltenham.  See you again! x