"The more violent the storm, the quicker it passes."

Day 88:

Last nights awful lack of sleep meant that when I got up I just wanted to get out. At times like this I feel so claustrophobic and I just can't breathe. Opeie and I decided to pack a lunch, books, and sketchpads and head to Titterstones (our own peaceful getaway). The weather wasn't great but we drove up as high as we could get, opened the boot and listen to the thunder, it was pretty beautiful. 

I hope these storms pass soon (all of them).

"There's a bright spot in every dark cloud."

We used to be a really crafty family, always with the glue and the colourful card out making various things. Recently though the only time we seem to craft is when Opeie is creating awesome cards for his Pen pals. As the boys and I sat glue gunning for an hour this afternoon fixing one of our favourite creations, I realised that I had never actually written about it. 

Early last year one of my friends posted a video online of an amazing cloud lamp that lit up like a storm cloud. after seeing it in action I was hooked but the $3300 price tag wasn't at all appealing. It was one of those things though that I just couldn't get out of my head and I knew there must be a way of making a cheaper alternative that didn't break the bank. I did a little research and went shopping for supplies.

All I needed was some sphere paper lamp shades in various sizes, a bag of wadding, a glue gun, clear wire, a hook and LED strip lights, simple.

The light ended up being so simple to make and it was something that the boys could get involved in making too. Once the lamp shades were up we started hot gluing long pieces of the wadding to them, working around each one in a circular motion. once the three paper shades were covered we put the LED strip lights in each one. We then tied clear wire to each shade and hung them from a hook in the ceiling so it looked like the cloud was floating above the bed. It ended up being much more effective than i expected and only cost us around £15 (so a little cheaper than the one I spotted online😁).

To finish off the magic of the light we played the storm sound from the white noise app, turning the boys room in to a relaxing and magical place for reading.

Gifts from the Pirates in Orlando - Islands of Adventure / Super Hero Island

Marvel super hero island, located at Islands of adventure is straight out of a comic book, the streets are filled with comic print characters and places themed by the marvel world buildings, heroes and villains I have admired from an early age. I'm a comic book geek yes and what I love about super hero island is that it's aimed at all different ages and also levels of fandom. The rides are amazing and being a huge marvel fan I'm always a little overwhelmed by it all. My favourite thing about this area (as with seuss landing) is that everywhere you stand there is an amazing backdrop for family photos (the photos to me are one of the most important parts of our family holidays). 

Universal studios and Islands of adventure are joined together but are seperate parks, if you buy a flex ticket for the parks then you can go in either along with many other attractions that I will list at the end of the post. Thanks to Visit Orlando We had park to park tickets and on the morning we were heading there we were all really excited. As with everything in Orlando the parking is very clear so no need to panic about where you are going. There is a $15 charge though as with all the parks for the day. It's a bit of a walk from the car park to the park but when you are as excited as we were, that time flew by and we soon reached our destination.

As I said in the previous post when we arrived at Islands of adventure we went straight to Seuss landing but after we had had our fill of Seussian delights we moved on to my other big love, Marvel. The boys were desperate to meet Spider-man and the other characters and Mrs M  was really looking forward to going on the Spider-man ride with Seth as he had thrown a mini strop last year and she didn't get a chance to go on, she loved it though and i think it was worth the wait.

The streets were filled with super hero fans of all ages all with big smiles, it would be virtually impossible to be miserable here. While Mrs M and Seth were queuing me and Opeie went off to meet Captain America and then we did a parent swap which is a great thing that the parks do if you have a child that is to small for the rides. It means that you both get to ride without having to queue twice, very handy. The ride was amazing and straight after we got to meet Spider-Man. Seth being the mini detective he is, commented after that the tone of his voice sounded different from their last encounter and was convinced it was a different spider-man but we convinced him he may just be tired or have a cold keeping his faith in his beloved hero.

While we had been in the queue waiting to meet the Cap a lady had commented on Opeie being 'a little heartbreaker' and while me and Seth were on a ride Opeie did what he does best and continued to woo the ladies with his handsome face and gentlemanly charm, this time a couple of marvels finest heroines!

And then it was time for us to move over to Universal studios which as i said is located next to Islands of adventure. The heroes had important places to be so it was great timing really. Super hero island was amazing but if I'm honest we were all still over excited from Seuss Landing