"The moment i wake up, Before i put on my make up..."

A couple of years ago while Mrs M was working as a make up artist she had a youtube channel reviewing products. Her make up collection was huge and even her personal stash of beauty products now is pretty big. Although she no longer makes video's for the channel and very rarely reviews beauty products , Ive still noticed a rise in people doing this online. It seems that online beauty product testing and reviewing is huge. While i was having a beard grooming session this morning (Ive got to look after it its all the hair Ive got) i thought about how funny it would be to write my own beauty product haul, what else am i going to do with my spare time?

My plan was to write the post a bit tongue in cheek but without realising it turns out i use many products throughout the week to keep me looking the picture of youthfulness you all love to see when visiting the blog. So here it is, the contents of a hairy mans toiletries bag...

First up the bag itself:

Yes i know, not at all macho! but then Ive never claimed to be. We were sent two sets of the Gruffalo Chums wash bags from Trunki back in November as part of our products to review while we were away last year. I assume they were meant for the boys but me and Mrs M quickly claimed ownership haha. These are perfect wash bags and hold a surprisingly large amount of products. Opeie loves the Gruffalo books and I'm a big kid so i was hooked as soon as i saw them.

Having a smooth head takes work and i have to shave it every couple of days to keep it close or i end up looking a bit of a scruff. Choosing the right Razor is really important and for me there's nothing finer than the Merkur HD 34c Safety Razor.  Merkur safety Razors are a more traditional way of shaving. There's something quite empowering about shaving with a stylish all chrome heavy duty razor. The Razor is perfectly weighted and its simple yet elegant design makes shaving a joy rather than a chore. The best part about shaving like this (especially in my case shaving my head) is no hair build up either side of the blade. Being able to take the Razor apart to fully clean the blade is one of the most appealing things about this classic German Razor.

With specialist websites about, dedicated to shaving like The Traditioal Shaving Company, its great to know there is somewhere out there to buy all the things you need for your classic razor. Being able to use a variety of blades for this razor is also a great addition to the large list of positives to traditional shaving.

Ive been through so many different shaving creams over the years but have only recently found one that works for me thanks to a surprise gift from Santa last year. Dr. Bronners Lemongrass Lime Organic Shaving Gel ticks all the boxes for me, scented (but not over powering), not sticky, foams up nicely and lubricates the blades great causing less shaving accidents. An all natural shaving cream means that you don't have to worry about what your skin is is letting in.

Mrs M is always looking after us and has quite a lot of product knowledge when it comes to ingredients in beauty products as well as in food. She has been telling me for years that i should change the deodorant i use and switch to something more natural. Dr. Organic pomegranate deodorant is Aluminium, SLS, Paraben and Alcohol free and it smells amazing. It's by far the best natural deodorant I've found.

The beard has been known to be a sign of wisdom and prestige since days of old. Sadly without the use of product I would end up looking like a recently thawed out caveman or Shropshires answer to Mr Twit. To keep my facial foliage under control I use two pretty amazing products. The first being one of two products that my unruly tash couldn't live with out. For years Captain Fawcett moustache wax has been shaping my upper lip and giving it the love and support it has needed (especially in this rather dreary and windy weather). The Expedition strength sandalwood scented wax is great for high winds and rain holding my moustache exactly where it needs to be. For days when the weather is a little calmer, a more gentle wax that is great for shaping and leaves the sweet smell of lavender right under my snout.

For the general treatment of my bushy face i use Dr Organics Moroccan Argan Oil hair treatment Serum. Its a daily hug for the furry mask Ive come to respect over the years. Looking after your beard is so important. Nobody wants to be kissing a musty smelling mess and i never want to end up like my old science teacher (we'll call him Mr P.) who would turn up to lessons with the mornings cornflakes still present below his chin.

For Christmas our very own ginger Santa showered us with gifts. Chris over at Gingerjamphoto.com presented me with a lovely moustache shaped comb proving that my best buddy has as much respect for the tash as i do (Thanks Chris x).

When your a stay at home dad smitten by that beautiful child that you've created, much of your day is taken up smooching up a storm (Nanny Roo knows what I'm talking about she often leaves a trail of lipstick marks when we visit). All the smooching is great but can leave your lips chapped, dry and cracked. I like to counteract the effects of physical affection with either Burt's Bees Beeswax lip balm of my new favourite, Hurraw raw and Organic earl grey lip balm. The Gruffalo chums little mouse is great as a lip balm case.

I tend to get really dry hands especially when I'm driving and I've been through all sorts of moisturisers. They all seem fine for a brief time but then I need to reapply over and over again. One afternoon while shopping in Wholefoods and after a chat about my dry hands I had the nicest hand massage from a lovely lady. I'm not usually the sort of person that would stand in a shop being touched up but as she rubbed my hands I was unbelievabley relaxed. I thanked her and continued my shopping but I couldn't stop looking at my gleaming hands, they felt amazing. Before leaving I went back and brought some Melvita Crème Mains hand cream that she used for the massage and I've never looked back. It's organic, smells lovely (again not overpowering) and it makes my well moistured hands glisten.

Its really important to look after your body especially when you are approaching your mid 30's at full speed, sometimes I feel like I'm not doing a great job but as I pulled all these products together I realised that I'm doing alright. Im not feeling old which is a great start and my skin is in pretty good condition but i believe thats partly to do with my oily skin (keeps you looking younger don't you know). Well that's it, my complete beauty regime. What are you essentials?

"You know you're a cute little heartbreaker"

I'm quite sure that from that introduction you know what time it is, part four of the Giftsfromthepirates fox hunt. I'm laughing at myself as i type this because of how its become such a big thing for us, filling our outings wherever we go and all because of Opeie's love of 'Fox in Socks' by Dr. Seuss.The fox sightings seem to be slowing down recently although a month or so back one walked out in front of the car as i was driving home but i couldn't take a picture while i was driving. 

Opeie has been making great use of his fox SnooziHedz from Trunki, its been great to have in the car while the weather has been colder for when he drops off.

 
Tk Maxx has been great for our foxy entertainment...

We're still spotting the odd Fox related item of clothing but I'm thinking they are on their way out of the world of high street fashion now as they are not popping up as much as they were.

While pottering around Bridgnorth i walked straight past this window display but Opeie doesn't miss a thing, especially if it is Fox related and shouted "FOX". I really wish i had brought these fox cushions now that Ive seen the picture again. They would have looked great on our sofa.

Even Ikea's children's section has jumped on the foxy bandwagon...

Our best days fox hunting for post four was when we visited a garden centre just before Christmas with our friend Chris. The place seemed to have been taken over by a small army of our sly friends.

For Christmas our friend Chris brought us a Fox tea towel that you can cut out and make in to a toy which was interesting. He also got Mrs M some fox hand warmers, she really feels the cold so they were very much appreciated.

 While hunting for Dr. Seuss books in our local charity shop Opeie again spotted another fox, Swiper the fox was looking back at us so we took him home and gave him a warm and comfortable place to live.

And last but not least, the Foxes we have spotted in new books over the last few weeks including 'The bear song', 'It's Walter under the bridge' and 'The Gruffalo's child'.

Time to get hunting for post 5 i think, i love how this little bit of fun really keeps the boys entertained while we are out and about. 

Gifts from the Pirates in Orlando - Splashing about at Wet n Wild

Because of Seth's months and months of holiday research on the build up to going away he knew exactly where he wanted to go. The water parks were pretty high on his list and he knew the names of most of the big slides and had watched many YouTube videos in preparation (he's so much like Mrs M). Seth was really excited about going to Aquatica but while me and Mrs M were doing research for the parks we heard about a film called Blackfish and decided to watch it while we were away one evening. The film is a documentary about Seaworld and their Orca whales. I won't go in to the documentary to much as this post is about a water park visit but after watching the documentary we decided to boycott Seaworld and it's two other parks despite having press passes to them all. The documentary is definitely worth a watch and I will write about it at some other time. We explained to Seth why we couldn't go to Aquatica and he understood, I'm very proud of how grown up he is in regards to these sort of situations. Although free passes sound nice It's more important that we teach the boys values.

Anyway Aquatica aside and sadly the disappointment of Legoland's water park being closed for the season we still had wet n wild to visit thanks to Visit Orlando and Seth was really excited. Time to pack for our water fun. Thanks to Trunki they had sent the boys a Paddlepak each for such an adventure. Opeie had picked a 'Nemo fish' and Seth a Shark. These bags are great for heading to the pool. Great design, plenty of space and completely waterproof. My favourite part of the bags is the roll and clip fastening, making it look Like an open fish mouth, very clever (Trunki must have a great design team because all their products are really well thought out), I will write a full review soon.

Paddlepaks packed, we loaded the car and headed out. Wet N Wild was like a ghost town which I was a little surprised at but then we were out of season and it was a week day afternoon, I wasn't complaining though, the quietness meant that we had free reign of the park with no queuing at all, it was bliss. Seth spent a brief moment studying the map and then we got changed...

Opeie decided as soon as we got there that it was his nap time so while Mrs M found a sun lounger to kick back and relax, me and Seth excitedly acted like Napoleon in Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure (if you remember the movie). Seth was a little apprehensive at first when it came to the bigger slides but once he'd been down one and got the taste for it there was no stopping him.

The great thing about a lot of the slides is that you go down in either a dingy (2xpeople +) or a donut in two's, bad news if your a bit of a Billy no mates. Luckily I had my best mate Seth with me and we took full advantage of a quiet water park. It was a great bit of bonding for me and Seth as we don't get much time just the two of us.

Obviously we couldn't take the camera down the slides so the pictures of us enjoying ourselves are limited. We had a blast though and although Seth couldn't go on the black hole and the Disco H20 because he wasn't tall enough he made up for it by going on Flyer and The Blast plenty of times. We also went on Bubba Tub which was really high, Seth had a little freak out when we got to the top but was fine once he was sat in the ring with me. I was pleasantly surprised at how brave he has been with all the rides and slides he has been on.

 Seth loved the blast away beach section of the park and although he wasn't tall enough to go on black hole there was a younger childs equivalent there which Seth really enjoyed. It was a great couple of hours at wet n wild and when Opeie finally woke up it was clear that he had no intention of joining us so we got changed so that we could make our way to somewhere nice to eat (which i wrote about yesterday).

 Paddlepak's repacked and smiles on our faces we headed out. Wet N Wild was a lot of fun and we would definitely go there again in the future. It being so quiet was a plus for us, more rides on the slides, no queuing and i didn't have to feel like a heffer walking about with my top off! bonus!

Gifts From The Pirates in Orlando - How to entertain your children on a long haul flight...

For the past few weeks Mrs M had been really stressing out about the holiday (yes I said 'stressing out'). The main stress has been Opeie's behaviour on the plane. He's not a naughty child at all but over the past few weeks he has become a real moaner, possibly just out of frustration from not being able to fully explain his emotions. Clearly entertaining the boys was going to be something we really needed to organise pre-flight. It wasn't just the entertaining though, we wanted to make sure they were both as comfortable as possible. So what do you pack for a 9 hour flight?

Well the important thing is to avoid bulkyness and weight, you don't want to go overboard with the hand luggage which is a mistake we made last time we went away. So firstly we needed to find luggage for them suitable for taking on the plane (size weight etc). When it comes to children's baggage there really is no competition, Trunki make cases that measure perfectly for hand luggage and the designs and colour are enough to ignite any child's imagination. This was made even more clear to us when we stepped in to the V-Room at the airport and saw these cuties looking back at us

We let Opeie pick a case at home and surprise surprise with his "nobbly knees and turned out toes" he chose the Gruffalo (a great choice I thought). The Gruffalo Trunki is fantastic, I wish all our baggage looked the same (a business Idea I could maybe take up with Trunki as I'd love a Lorax inspired one haha). As a case the Trunki design is really spacious, with strapping inside to hold your items in place. There is a clasp either side of the case that can be locked with the special Trunki key, Making the boys feel quite important. I remember when I was younger feeling chuffed when I had something I could lock, I was obviously a very private child (or a secret agent in the making). Because of the solid frame of the case it can also be used as a seat, perfect for the inevitable long wait around the airport or a comfy spot to eat your roasted fox. My favourite part of this product (and Opeie's) is the wheels, the case comes with a strap that can be attached to the front so that the case can be pulled turning this sought after travel accessory Into something your child can actually travel on, genius! So it came as no surprise to see many children wizzing around on these at the airport. This was such a help getting Opeie about after check in and Opeie had the time of his life riding around on his beloved Gruffalo, Thanks Trunki!!

Baggage sorted, now how to fill it? Well you can't go wrong with a sketch book and pens it's how we did it when I was younger, but there are some great products on the market perfect for travel. One of our favourites is the Nintendo DS which over the years has served as a great way to keep Seth motivated to do his physio daily. The recent release of the Nintendo 2DS was something that Seth was really excited about so when Nintendo offered to send us one we were overjoyed. For younger children the design of this handheld console is perfect, it's much more robust and I wish these had been about when Seth had his first DS as he dropped it and broke the hinge. For Seth the appeal was being able to play the 3d games in 2d, I wasn't sure that I would like the unit being in on piece but I actually enjoyed playing it more than my DSi XL. The 2DS is compatible with all 3DS games and most of the DS games (I'm yet to find one that doesn't work). So far this has also been great for keeping Seth occupied during long car journeys around Orlando. So big thanks to Nintendo, a sure favourite with the boys.

We're big apple fans (then so are most people these days) and aside from our iPhones our iPad tends to go everywhere with us especially on long journeys so an obvious choice for in flight entertainment. They don't take up to much space and the variety of uses, games and apps is endless. Opeie was so excited about a new ipad mini and i had filled it with apps, videos and plenty of books, thanks Apple. There are some great products on the market compatible with apple devices. The leapfrog 'Learn to write with Mr Pencil' is a great source of entertainment and education for toddlers.  

Opeie is getting to that stage where his scribbles are starting to have a bit more shape and structure and I think that products like this that make writing a game are amazing for Opeie's development. As part of the blogging holiday we've had a new camera and Seth has also had one for his birthday last week (tkeep a look out for a new feature on GFTP coming very soon), thanks to another great Leap Frog product there's no need for the youngest member of our party to feel left out. The Leapfrog Creativity Camera protective case is a very clever way of turning your iPhone into a child friendly camera. Most importantly the home screen button is blocked so that it can only be used as a camera during play. I can't wait to see the pictures the boys take during our holiday.

Thanks to Trunki again, flight comfort was covered with Trunki Snoozihedz a great travel accessory that now weve used once will come with us on all long journeys. The blanket folds up nicely into the pillow case for great space saving and the pillow is infatable which was great for taking up minimal space inside the Gruffalo Trunki.

In flight snacks are a big issue with us especially with all the allergies and Intolerances that Opeie and Mrs M have. When we go on holiday we have to take a suitcase of food just incase we have issues finding certain products abroad. Rather than write about this you can find out more about what we pack over at Mrs M's blog Natural Vegan Eco Mom.

In the end the flight went smoothly, the boys were fully entertained during the entire ten and a half hours that we were on the plane and were comfortable and well fed so our careful preparation and the great products supplied by the fantastic companies all worked in unison to get us to our destination stress free.

If you are interested in finding out more about any of the products, all products mentioned will have a full review once we have returned.

Stay tuned for our next post which at this point is looking like 'Driving on the wrong side of the road and car hire'.

Gifts From The Pirates in Orlando - Our adventure begins...

This morning is one of the nicest mornings I've had this year. We've been working on something for quite sometime and yesterday our year long planning had finally arrived and we began our finely tuned and well thought out plan. I was a bit cheeky when I wrote my post a week or so back about wanting to go on holiday, truth is the reason we were making airport themed Lego was because today after all our planning we have all woken up in Orlando and there are no shortage of smiles here.

We're going to be working closely with Visit Orlando and will be visiting many attractions to review and hopefully give you some idea of the things that are available to do here with as much information we can give you hopefully making your own booking experiences a little easier if you're debating an Orlando holiday. Ever wanted to visit the home of Mickey Mouse? There's no shortage of famous characters here and it really is a magical place that can be enjoyed by people of all ages. We came here last year and fell in love. The people, the attractions and of course the weather are moorish, there really is nowhere else like it.

While here we will be reviewing many attractions, restaurants and pretty much everything we will be doing. If food is your thing then Mrs M will be reviewing vegan dining and specialist supermarkets that we go to for suitable food for Opeie due to his allergies over at natural vegan eco mom. Seth has picked some of the attractions so you will also be able to hear the honest thoughts of a 7 year old, which may help your family if choosing to book a holiday to Orlando.

We're really looking forward to this time away. We spent time organising the perfect itinerary hopefully making the most of the time we have here so it should be an amazing holiday. As well as reviewing attractions, restaurants and shops we will also be reviewing products that have helped on the planning and organising of this trip and the companies that made it possible so be sure to stay tuned for our next post on children's hand luggage and how to keep your children entertained on a long haul flight.

Time to get up and organised now so that we can start the fun. First things first we have to collect the car so that we can get about. Stay tuned for our next post 'How to entertain your children on a long haul flight', I hope you enjoying reading about our Orlando adventure.