"Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties."

Day 99:

The plan for today was to go for good stomp around snail beach, we made pizza and wrapped it up for lunch but when we arrived the weather just didn't want to play ball so we drove a little further up to Stiperstones and dropped the backseats so that we could sit in the back of the car and paint. Before we could start painting though Opeie asked whether we could do a drawing activity he had created where we design products for a supermarket based around themes. I love things like this as you end up drawing things that you would never usually think of drawing. 

"When one has not had a good father, one must create one."

Day 93:

Fathers day has always been one of my favourite days of the year and this one was lush, I got breakfast and coffee in bed, a lovely card and most importantly lots of cuddles. The weather wasn't great but we managed to find a spot by the river in Jackfield where we could park, open the boot and paint in the back of the car while it thrashed it down, perfection.

"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).

"It's impossible to make your eyes twinkle if you aren't feeling twinkly yourself."

The Weather is really throwing a spanner in the works for us at the moment. Opeie and I are desperate to go camping and after our failed attempt a few weeks back when it thrashed it down on arrival, every time we've looked to go since the weather has been awful along the coast. This week gave us another 2 days with nowhere to be so we looked at the weather again and yet again Disappointment! We decided instead to head to London and do a spot of adventuring.

On the way to London during our last visit, we decided to visit Wendover woods to hunt for the Gruffalo hiding at the forestry commission site. Being such a long drive from Shropshire to London, stopping off to break up the journey really makes a difference. The night before starting our journey I googled 'attractions off of the m40' and then looked for museums and the perfect place to visit popped up.

I didn't let Opeie know where we were going as I thought it would be a really nice surprise after a 2-hour drive. When we parked up in Great Missenden, Opeie was excited about stretching his legs and  finding out where we were going. When we arrived at the museum we passed the shop window first and he noticed some Roald Dahl books, so when we rounded the corner and passed through the archway Opeie really started to get excited.

I've wanted to visit the Roald Dahl museum for quite some time and with me and Opeie 3/4 of the way through Charlie and the chocolate factory it seemed like a very fitting time to make that visit happen. We've been reading the book every day for the past week and Opeie is really getting into it, so you can imagine his excited little face when we rounded the corner and found doors made of giant Wonka bars, what a great start to the visit.

We had been bought The Enormous Crocodile from our friends over at Another Last Story a while back which we both loved and despite knowing the story Opeie still fell for the Croc disguised as a bench. Thankfully he was safe, though.

My Roald Dahl trivia knowledge was rubbish, I just knew that he wrote great books! so it was really interesting to learn about his life and how he came to become a writer of children's books. Opeie was fascinated to learn that he was a pilot during the war and being able to dress up like a pilot too really got my passionate new reader excited.

What really stuck out for Opeie about the visit though (apart from the Wonka bar doors) was Roald Dahl's little hut where he went for four hours a day to write. His homemade felt covered table, sleeping bag to slide his legs into, and cannister of coffee was too cute. It made me think that maybe I should transform our shed for blogging!

With lots of props from the movies and books to sit and read while you are there it really is the perfect Museum for excited little fans of literature. We didn't think much of the newer Fantastic Mr. Fox movie but the film prop was amazing to see.

The Museum is really interactive with lots of things to keep you and your little ones entertained. With 'create your own movie' sets and activities like writing your own stories using word tiles, It is a museum we are sure to be visiting again.

The Roald Dahl museum was a perfect distraction for our 3-hour drive and with only an hour left to go, it was spent excitedly talking about Roald Dahl and all his magical stories.

"It's impossible to be unhappy in a poncho"

I spent yesterday complaining about the weather as it was chucking it down all day and like a big kid I wanted to go and play outside. Today the sun came out which was great but after the arrival of a fun package around lunch time we found ourselves hoping for rain, typical. Scooting is big business in our house, it takes up the bulk of our outdoor play time and I love it just as much as the boys (if not a little bit more, shhhh...).

Today before making the most of the glorious sunshine, Opeie excitedly opened our lunchtime delivery to find inside a Micro Waterproof Jungle Croc Poncho and he couldn't wait to get it on. It was clear from the get go that the large pocket upfront was only going to be used for one thing, comfortably ferrying Opeie's best friend Rose about. As expected the delivery was the catalyst for and afternoon of scooting (like we needed an excuse).

We were hoping for a light shower to put this stunning piece of Micro-Scooter genius to the test. But apart from a light dribble it was dry and sunny, not that we were complaining as dry floors mean safer scooting. Opeie loved wearing a top that wasn't restricting his movement and he said he felt like a colourful batman. The Croc print (also available in heart print) on the poncho is adorable and it matched Opeie's Scootersaurus safety helmet  perfectly. As Seth now has a matching helmet too Opeie asked me to wear one of them as he was worried about me hurting myself. It actually never crossed my mind that I wasn't setting a very good example by not wearing a helmet myself, so I think its about time I got one too, I'm thinking the new Bern Matte Black helmet , maybe with the Elk Coolcase over if it fits (well I've got to embrace my inner child).

Our matching helmets received quite a bit of attention from passing dog walkers which was great. One elderly couple even stopped us to compliment Opeie on the Poncho, it was definitely an afternoon of stylish scooting and he was loving whooshing around with his new "cape" on.

The most important feature about the Micro poncho's aside from the adorable kitsch print is how the entire thing can be folded in to the front pocket and zipped away for when its not needed. If that wasn't awesome enough there are three velcro fastening straps to attach the small bag to your scooter (Yes! Micro-scooters are amazing and they think of EVERYTHING).

We were a little disappointed at the lack of rain (I can't believe I'm typing that), but there will be many, many scooting adventures to follow and I'm sure we'll put Opeie's new fashion accessory through its paces. Until next time fellow scooterers (still not sure about that word haha).

"Wherever you go, no matter what the weather, always bring your own sunshine."

It's not very often that we get to spend a day with Mrs M mid week so we were excited when she informed us she was going to book a day off for us to do something fun. The heat blasting through the car window driving home that day discussing our possible plans guided this exciting information towards us planning a day at the beach.

The weather had been glorious for days so the idea of lounging on the beach and walking in the sea as the waves crashed against our feet seemed idyllic. Sadly (and I wasn't at all surprised) the weather that morning had other ideas and as we drove towards our destination the weather seemed to get increasingly worse. By the time we had driven on to Shell island the rain was thrashing down, Mrs M didn't look very impressed at all!

We had arranged to meet our friends Emma, Wilberforce and Waldon and despite the grim weather i for one wasn't going to let it ruin our fun. While the girls and Walden went to the cafe for drinks i took the boys along the beach in the rain, climbing across the rocks and splashing our feet in the water. Who needs bright sun and high temperatures? they are just overrated.

In keeping with all of our dinosaur activities me and Opeie had been filling our week with (and i really need to catch up writing about), I buried some dinosaur bones in the sand while the boys were not looking and got them excitedly digging for possible dinosaur skeletons and fossils. Opeie was hoping to find a dinosaur skull and his little face lit up when all that play paleontologist training payed off and he could use his findings to continue his studies.

As much as i didn't want it to, the weather inevitably took its toll on Mrs M and after a few hours of sitting on a wet, windy beach she had had her fill and wanted to be back in a warm car and travelling home. Within 20 minutes of heading off the sun came out and was burning my right arm as i drove along the coast and through Barmouth. We probably could have stopped off at a different beach for some early evening seaside fun but i think some one had other ideas...

The summer holidays are almost upon us and i cant wait to get Seth involved in more of the random outings that we have. I do sometimes feel a little guilty that he's stuck at school while we are out having fun so its time to fully embrace the time he has with us.

"In philosophy if you aren't moving at a snail's pace you aren't moving at all."

Seriously, whats happened to the weather? a week a go i was desperately looking for a paddling pool somewhere and it was only up for two days and now this. We've got loads to do in the house today and Opeie doesn't fancy going out in the rain so this weeks LEGO picture (in fact pictures as i couldn't decide between the two) for our 52 week project is inspired by this glorious British weather and Opeie's new love of snail watching.

At least the army of snails that have taken over our garden are enjoying this heavy down pour...

Check out our previous posts...

Week 1: Meeting the Queen

Week 2: Raindrops keep falling on my head

Week 3: Fun at the beach

"Oh i do like to be beside the seaside..."

Health wise its been a pretty bleak Easter holiday for us at Gifts from the Pirates, Seth kick started the holiday off with Tonsilitis, Both Myself and Mrs M had Bronchitis and then Opeie joined the Lurgy club with a bout of Chickenpox (or Chicken spots as he liked to call it). We managed to get out and do some things but there was a fair bit of time at home relaxing and trying to get back to health.

Today was the last day of the Easter holiday and that's really quite a depressing thought. We love having Seth off and now that Opeie is at Nursery too the holidays are even more important. yesterday we had planned to go to Legoland but the Metoffice informed us that there was going to be heavy rain in Windsor so we decided against the 3 hour drive just in case it was right. The boys had been talking all week about going to the beach so we checked the weather for Barmouth and surprisingly it said sunny and dry so we packed the car and headed out for some sun,sea and sand. 

about an hour in to the journey the sky turned grey and everything started to look a little grim, had we made a bad decision? Mrs M checked the Metoffice again, 30% chance of rain, She then decided to check Windsor again, dry and sunshine! yep that about sums us up. we ventured forth though adamant that there was fun to be had at the beach.

We stopped off at the supermarket just before hitting the beach because we were ill equipped for a picnic, changing our plans when we woke up threw a spanner in the works so by the time we arrived we were all hungry, it was cold and windy outside so we had a very cramped car picnic, needless to say the car is now in dire need of cleaning out. The boys couldn't wait to get their coats on and grab their nets, buckets and spades. Despite the cold and gloomy weather fishing in the rockpools and hunting for shells was loads of fun. The boys were really excitable which was great and they ran around on the sand with big smiles.

Mrs M donned her shades and wooley hat and although she doesnt like the cold at all she was relishing her time with us. The sunshine desperately tried to stay out and when it did show its face it warmed up nicely but the whole time we were playing on the beach we could see the rain heading our way. After splashing in rock pools, digging a trench and looking for crabs we headed back to the car to venture to the other end of the island. Opeie decided that this was a perfect opportunity to have a sleep and as Mrs M was feeling shattered too so she stayed in the car for a bit while me and Seth went searching for adventure.

The weather was taking a turn for the worse and we knew we wouldnt have long before the rain came thrashing down. Seth decided he wanted to do the thing he loves doing most at the beach and that was dig a nice deep hole...

...and of course, climb inside it!

As expected though the sky turned grey and the light showers turned into a heavy downpour so we headed back to the car, with Seth though there is no such thing as heading straight for your destination so on the way back we had to climb up some pretty high sand dunes and then throw ourselves down them.

 It was a pretty amazing afternoon at the beach and although id have loved a visit to Legoland I'm glad we ended up where we did. Its so nice to have us all back to (almost) full health, its just a shame that it happened towards the end of the holiday.  Time to count down to half term now.