A is for Adventure. F is for Family.

Christmas this year was AMAZING! We got to spend a huge amount of time with Mrs M which made our festive celebrations. To add to the excitement Mrs M had set up one of her treasure hunts around the house, with a very exciting booty to be found. More from that later in the year though, exciting times!!!

"Treasure your relationships, not your possessions."

There has been an envelope sitting on our tall boy at home amongst the tin robots since last Thursday, addressed to me and the boys with the strict instructions not to open until 4pm today. As you can imagine me and the boys were very eager for that time to arrive as we had no ideas about the contents of said envelope. Mrs M had left us this as she is working away and we've all been missing her very much.

Excitement was in the air when Seth finished school today and we raced back to see what Mrs M had planned for us. Inside, a clue and the start of what turned out to be a very exciting treasure hunt. I loved how personal the treasure hunt was, some of the the clues were things that only we would know and were aimed at us individually. Considering Mrs M is always so busy with work I don't know how she found the time to organise it.

Not only were we running about the house searching for well hidden items, we also had to take our hunt online and get clues from Mrs M's Twitter page. As excited as the boys were getting, I was starting to get a bit of a headache by this point as because the excitement was too much. I loved the effort that had gone in knowing that she would be away for a few days and it really meant a lot to us that she had gone all out with this surprise hunt.

With clues zipped inside sofa cushions, within the pages of books, inside pen lids and hidden in the barbecue in the garden it was just what the boys needed to perk them up because of mommy working away. I was getting so much out of the smiles on the boys faces, it was lovely to watch. there was one point where there was a clue in a box of Amsterdam shortbread and Seth thought that was the end but the search continued.

The final clue was a memory stick with instructions to play a video and when the boys saw Mrs M wearing a pirate hat and explaining where the surprise was  they were on the edge of their seats. She told the boys that even though she had told them where the surprise was they had to watch the video till the end. She told Seth not to run off and that she knew he was giggling (which he was, he thought that was amazing).

As the video ended they both darted for our bedroom to the lever arch folder in the bookcase that was hiding their surprise. Mrs M notched up some serious super mom points today, not for the surprise itself although we've all been so excited about getting this game and it really will keep us entertained while she is away but for the effort and love that went into organising this without us knowing, so that she can continue to put smiles on our faces even though shes not with us.

I feel so lucky to have Mrs M as a best friend and i know the boys feel exactly the same way. Now to go and play LEGO haha.

Thanks Mrs M there really is no one quite like you x

"Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself."

Sometimes i write posts and forget to publish them, this is one of them...

Rain, rain and more bloody rain. We woke up and our 'what are we going to do today' discussion was under way. What could we possibly do that was fun and indoors? Mrs M had booked some time off work to hang out and see how us boys make use of our time together. Who'd have thought it would be Mrs M dragging us out into some muddy and wet adventure.

I'm feeling a little ashamed of myself now that while the rain thrashed against the window me and the boys (who claim to be adventurers) had already thrown in the towel and was planning a day of Lego, super heroes, computer games and craft, shame on us. Mrs M had other ideas and suggested Geocaching. We had planned to start last summer but for some reason or other we'd managed to avoid it. Thankfully at that shear mention our sense of adventure rebooted and we were ready for action (adding even more proof to the fact, we'd be lost without mommy!).

I knew what Geocaching was but as always no researching had occurred before hand so I didn't know what to expect, I prefer to just find out on the day. We downloaded an app, jumped in the car and headed towards an area rich in Geocache locations. We walked for a while following the compass and satnav on the phone which took us to an area where our first item was hidden. I disappointingly turned my nose up when I thought we had walked all that way to find a wooden post in the ground, until Mrs M told us we were looking for a camouflage covered box, instantly the hunt had earned my full attention again. Me and Seth investigated the wooded area until I heard Seth excitedly shout 'I've found it'. As he turned over a very well hidden pile of rocks there was the treasure we had been looking for.

Inside, items left by previous adventurers and a notepad with everyone who had been there before us well documented. The last adventurer had left us £1 so in return we left some snacks for the next hungry traveller. Seth was having the time of his life and honestly it was the most fun I'd had in ages (and we have a lot of fun). There's something so addictive about getting out and finding these hidden things that we quickly moved on to the next one. Which after walking around in circles we found well hidden under rocks wrapped in vines. Geocaching is like having your own 'national treasure' adventure virtually on your doorstep. It was exciting knowing I had been on walks and bike rides through this forest and had no idea that these had been hidden since 2009, I think we 're addicted.

Seth wanted an adventure and with mission three he definitely got that. The weather took a turn for the worse and the rain was really coming down we were trudging though wet sinking mud, because of Seth's limited mobility he was on my shoulders but we were not going to let that stop us. Mrs M was the only one not wearing walking boots so she was soaked through, she slipped over and landed in mud but wasn't bothered by it because her new found sense of adventure and adrenaline was keeping her smiling. Box three was a nightmare to find but we stuck together and didn't give up. We found the 'three pronged birch tree' and our days adventure was complete. All we needed to do now was remember where we had left the car.

We have been on many many more Geocaching adventures since and found some great hidden treasures...

Our best find to date was a disused fire extinguisher hiding in the forest with an official geocach tag inside, very exciting. Its been a really fun new hobby and something we will definitely continue wherever we go. Its been great for fill time when we have no plans and sometimes we use a quick hunt to break up things that we are doing the weekend. We've also started leaving our own so go hunting, If you spot a LEGO minifigure in one of your finds then there's a good chance it was left by the Gifts From The Pirates team.

"Goonies never say die!"

In many ways Seth reminds me of myself when i was younger, he craves adventure and seems happiest when he's investigating forests and just generally being out and about. He loves being on his bike and is desperate for me to get and bike and for his stabilisers to come off so we can hit the open roads (or wooded ares until he's a little older). He's been this way since i met him but there has been a sudden surge since the reintroduction of probably my favourite movie of all time...

I used to watch this film a lot when i was younger and on rainy days indoors the only thing that stopped me putting it on over and over was my sisters wanting to watch either Mary Poppins or Bedknobs and Broomsticks. Seth has seen the film many times but since getting his BMX this week i think he feels like he's one step closer to getting his hands on One eyed willies treasure. There is definitely a big adventure for us on the horizon and there will be many a blog post on the lead up as ive been brimming with ideas. Seth likes to pretend he's data (he was my favourite when i was younger too) and really wants to start making gadgets, so im probably going to have to keep a look out for washing up liquid on the floor from Seth making homemade 'slick shoes'.

Today while Mrs M was at work we jumped in the car and headed down to Ironbridge in search of rocks, not quite the adventure that Seth had invisioned I'm sure but we needed some for a craft session coming up as Mrs M (aka the 24 hour weather channel) has warned us that the weather isn't looking great for the weekend.

Yesterday Mrs M brought Seth a magnifying glass and he has been using it around the house investigating everything. As soon a he knew we were heading down the park it was the first thing he grabbed and stuffed in to his coat pocket. He was hoping to find some bugs to look at but once we were in the park his attentions turned to tree bark...

Opeie was happy just following his big brother round like a shadow, hes started copying Seth so much more recently it's obvious how much he looks up to him and It's great  how close they are.

The detective worked continued for quite some time when Seth stumbled upon some broken wood, we stopped and had a little chat about what it could be and he came to the decision that it was an old broken battering ram. I told him to use his spy glass to look for markings but he informed me "no there isnt any, just bird pooh". Then we found some buried wood and he said he thought it was a secret underground bunker. Kids are great!

Opeie was desperately trying to get in to the woods so we let him do the guiding for a while. we ventured deep in to the woods when we came across a message from one eyed willy...  Luckily i speak fluent graffiti... erm, i mean pirate. So i translated it for Seth and explained that his treasure was near by but we will need to come back with a shovel so i expect Seth will be asking me to search the shed for it tomorrow.

At this point our smallest adventurer started to get tired so we took ourselves and our big bag of rocks back to the car and Opeie fell asleep five minutes after we set off. Seth now has his heart set on the ultimate pirate adventure so i need to start making plans very soon.