"We are what we see. We are products of our surroundings."

When i started the blog i had hoped that somewhere down the line i would get to work with companies that would make a lasting impression on the boys growing up and brands i really respected. I had two in mind that had had a HUGE impact on my own childhood, had shaped the person i am today and helped with my development, not to mention getting me through some bleak home situations. I feel really lucky that I got to work with them both early on and continue to work with them on a regular basis. Despite these two companies having a huge impact on the boys lives too and that they give us countless hours of father son bonding time, an unexpected brand crept into the top spot and has opened up the way we play together (By giving us wheels).

Micro-scooters completely changed the father son dynamic and being able to take the boys on scooting adventures really added another level to the crazyiness we get up to on a daily basis, not to mention the confidence scooting gives the boys, especially Opeie. I'll never forget the day my black Micro scooter was delivered, i had thoughts of packing backpacks full of things we would need for Goonies style adventures. It was clear from that day that those two wheels were going to change everything.

There's something so addictive about scooting, especially as a parent because scooting with your children puts you right in the middle of the action. I love listening and watching the boys play and being able to be a part of it is so morish. The time spent whizzing around with them takes you right in to their world and Seth and Opeie love having me on their team. Its like being the head honcho of an MC only with vehicles powered by feet and the cutest bunch of misfits you can imagine.

The scooters have been everywhere with us and can pretty much always be found in the boot ready for action. In fact we've been out scooting every day for the past three weeks, we are always on the look out for flat land and smooth trails to investigate.

I ride into the school grounds to pick Seth up most days and its interesting that many of the moms want to have a go, who wouldn't, they are so much fun. Once you've had a try you don't want to get off. When we first got the scooters even nanny and grandad got into the spirit of things on one of our outings too.

I own a lovely black micro scooter which has taken me everywhere, I had become part of a scooting gang and my life was complete. That was until the day a courier came to the house with a large intriguing package. The contents of the package were going to change the way i scooted and being the big kid i am i was very excited! The Micro Suspension scooter is what i can only describe as the Bentley of scooters.With a sleek new shape and a classy bronze paint job I couldn't wait to get it out of the box and take it for a test ride. 

Hypothesis:

Seth informed me that i should include a Hypothesis because he had been learning about it at school. At first glance i thought it was going to be a lot heavier and i was concerned about the suspension under the deck as it seemed low. But i expected the twin suspension to make journeys a lot smoother.

I love the micro black but as with everything there were a few things i would have personally changed to make the ride smoother and more practicle. The double suspension on this new beauty instantly sorted my first issue. I don't live in a big city and there is a lot of uneven walkways, making some scooting quite bumpy and i think as the heaviest member of our scooting gang i probably notice the bumps a little more. I thought that having air filled tyres would be a great idea for solving that but the two part suspension makes an unbelievably huge difference to the smoothness of the ride, taking out a huge amount of the bumps.

The second issue was one that wouldn't effect most scooterers (is that a word? what do you call someone that scoots?) but there is something the new suspension scooter offers that makes my adventures with the boys a little easier. A while back we borrowed a Gopro from a friend of ours and of course we attached it to the scooters. Seth has a Micro Flex classic scooter which has a 360 degree turn on the front wheel which i was always a little jealous of as the front mud guard on the micro black stopped that from happening. The suspension scooter adds the 360 turn (why do i need it i hear you ask?). Well, we fell in love with the Gopro and Mrs M brought us one to continue our adventures. Using a secure and solid bracket, Sometimes we film ahead of us and sometimes we film ourselves talking directly to the camera, the 360 degree turn means we can just spin the handlebars to change the shot, genius!

I wanted to really put the scooter to the test to review it. Our micro scooters aren't something that come out occasionally and are hidden away most of the time. Ive had the suspension scooter about a month and i estimate that its done about 50 miles. That probably sounds crazy but a huge chunk of that was actually racked up a week ago when me and Opeie decided to go to London for a few days. The plan was to get to all the places we needed to be without using the tube. We scooted from Paddington (where we were staying) to the London eye (3.2miles) and back, also to Leicester square (2.4miles) and back and to the natural history museum (1.7miles) and back just to name a few. It was an awesome few days and being able to scoot long distance smoothly is great and so convenient. The thing that really blew me away though was that we saw London from a completely different angle and visited beautiful places that we would never have seen underground.

Some may say i am biased but i think if you're young at heart and want to get in on and be a part of all the fun and adventures your children are having then any of the adult scooters from the Micro-scooter range are a must. I didn't think for one second that they would have this much of an impact on the amazing time i have always had with the boys but scooting together really opened up our world to a huge list of possibilities and (especially with London) helped us see a beautiful more natural side to the big city.

"If your stomach disputes you, lie down and pacify it with cool thoughts."

Being a parent to two boys it's crazy how sometimes the little daily tasks that you do can become a big issue. Today I was reminded that I take these things for granted, take having a pooh for example. I don't mean to be so blunt but it paints a picture. Laura was working in London today and me and the boys went to Madam Tussauds and then spent some time adventuring on the tube. We popped back at lunch time to meet Mrs M and grab some suitable food for Mr Allergy as she was at a vegan show.

Mrs M queued for almost an hour for the food and when it arrived i wasn't sure what it was and Mrs M looked as confused as i was as she took her first bite. It was repulsive! (I'm kicking myself now for not taking a photo), Seth enjoyed what he had which was lucky but i was really hungry, it was healthy and so I just ate it anyway. Mrs M found it so horrible that she got our money back, go Mrs M. After lunch (if that's what you can call it) Mrs M went back to work and we hopped on a train to continue our adventuring. This was when some very odd noises began emanating from my stomach, uh oh.

Within 20 minutes I was in agony and would have been doubled up had it not been for the fact that Opeie was sitting on my knee while I also held the pushchair against the Side of my chair with my foot. The train was packed and honestly I feared the worse (a complete loss of my bodily functions). Thankfully we made it off the train accident free. 

Have you ever tried to squeeze into a public toilet cubicle with two children with a really upset stomach? No? me neither and today wasn't going to be my first attempt. I'm sure there are many parents out there that have done it but I like privacy during this very private time and I didn't need two spectators that would have been practically on top of me taking it all in. That sort of image could stay with them forever. It was touch and go for the next hour, jumping from train to tube to train, carrying a pushchair up and down the stairs and making sure the boys were okay but we made it through. In the end we found a slanted ramp like wall and we sat there chatting until the pain had passed. It's amazing the things you sacrifice sometimes as a parent (not that the boys would ever know) and it made me realise how much I take Mrs M being there for granted sometimes.

Sacrifices were made and it was a lucky escape but maybe I won't be so fortunate next time.

"London calls me a stranger, A traveller..."

Sometimes I have posts that take me forever to write. This is usually because we've done something or been somewhere and have taken a ridiculous amount of photos. I've been putting off writing this post for weeks now because of that reason. A few weekends back we had an amazing weekend in London, visiting friends and taking in the sites. Seth had been going on about London for quite sometime so he was so excited especially at the thought of seeing Big Ben.

The drive down was shattering as I had been up quite early and it was hot. We picked Seth up from school and headed straight there. We were staying with our good friends Sam and Jamie, I love hanging out with them both they are such great people and having some experienced London tour guides always makes visits there that little less stressful. By the time we arrived it was a little late and everyone was hungry so we had some tea and then Jamie offered to take us out for a drive to see the city under the moonlight. As soon as we walked out of their front door there was a fox standing in the street waiting for us but I couldn't get a shot quick enough for our next fox post. It was lovely to be in the passenger seat for once and the boys were really excited about seeing the palace and the London eye etc all lit up.

The following morning after a great well deserved sleep (for me anyway) we got ready to go out, Opeie hadn't slept brilliantly so we popped out to buy a pushchair as it was obvious he would want to sleep within the first few hours of being out. He never uses a pushchair so I didn't pack it (it turned out to be quite the lifesaver). Mrs M was working so me and the boys ventured over to the museum of natural history with Sam and Jamie as Seth had missed out when we visited a few months back.

After a couple of hours pottering about there we went next door to the science museum. One of the things I love most about London is that in many areas there is so much going on and all so close together, you can spend a whole afternoon not far from where you have started but manage to see a few attractions. The boys had a great time and were really excited about all the buttons they could press and levers they could pull.

After the science museum we made our way back to pick Mrs M up, she looked shattered so we made our way to Sam and Jamie's for food and a relaxing night in. Jamie gave us a crash course in juggling and we showed him the wonders of the 3ds. It was so nice being somewhere where there was no clutter, it's amazing how much your house fills up when you have children, Sam and Jamie's place was so relaxing.

On the Sunday morning we had arranged an open top bus tour with Golden tours as it was something Seth had wanted to do for quite some time. Seth was so excited about being on a double decker bus, which to me seemed odd as being brought up in Birmingham most of the buses are double decker, here in our part of Shropshire though you don't generally see them. We hopped on a train to get to the bus stop which conveniently are dotted all around London and it was so nice not having to drive as I get a little frustrated driving in traffic around London. The bus was already there waiting which was great and we sat upstairs at the back of the bus, the sun was out and it was really relaxing driving about. Everyone had big smiles and looked really at ease it was a great way to spend a Sunday morning.

While taking in the sites I remembered that LEGO had put up and Bus stop outside Hamleys and I really wanted to get some pictures of it, not before we visited Wholefoods though (Mrs M's mother ship). The great thing about the London tour buses is having the flexibility to hop on and off all over London for the day. The bus stop was amazing, really cleverly done, everything you would expect from LEGO, I'd love something like that in the house it would be a great talking piece.

As we were outside Hamleys we thought it would be rude not to go and have a look around. The guy blowing bubbles outside (what a great job) told us there were some special LEGO characters on the top floor. Mrs M's eyes lit up when she saw who it was.

And then it was time for us to get back on the tour bus and take in the rest of London's sites. while waiting for the bus something quite frightening happened, our bus arrived and Mrs M, Seth and Sam stepped on when out the corner of my eye i saw a motorcyclist lose control of his bike cross lanes and head towards me and Opeie, luckily i managed to get us out of the way before the rider ploughed in to a shop window, if the bus hadn't have arrived and we were all standing there we may not have been so lucky.

Frightening as it was we didn't let it ruin our day and we took full advantage of the Golden Tours route.

The tour guide was great and the trip was really educational. The story we heard about Selfridges kick started a new obsession for Mrs M with the TV show Mr Selfridge.

 After a couple of hours riding about taking in lots of things that London has to offer the boys started to get a little tired so we headed towards Seth's favourite part of London, the tube...

We made our way back to Sam and Jamie's for a bite to eat before starting the journey back home to Shropshire. It was the perfect weekend away with close friends and being in London has got Seth so excited about our next visit. Mrs M also came away with big smiles after spending the weekend with her best friend and who can blame her both her and Jamie are so much fun to be around.