Searching for bugs and wildlife at Attingham park.

I try and write about things as soon as they happen, sometimes though i half write posts and then get wrapped up in other things, my bad. Last week we all had a morning out at Attingham park, our friend Chris had stopped at ours the night before and we managed to kidnap him for the morning and took him along with us which the boys were very excited about. Mrs M had been before but even though its not far from ours I had not been. We managed to get out of the house at a reasonable time, even if Chris did have a lie in (lie ins are unheard of in our house).

We arrived at our destination and after flashing our new National trust memberships we headed on to our adventure. The grounds were beautiful and although there was a chill in the air and Mrs M needed my shirt to keep warm, the sun was shining and was desperately trying to warm the place up. The boys were in their usual excited mood, laughing and running about.

There was a 'searching for bugs and insects' activity on which the boys couldn't wait to join in with so armed with a magnifying glass, tray and sheets with pictures of wildlife to search for, off we went turning over rocks, rummaging through bushes and checking the skies.

It wasn't long before we made it to the orchard which I think was what kicked off the last two weeks of apple scrumping (which I will write about very soon). The walled garden around the fruit and veg being grown was like Mrs M's personal heaven and she walked round in awe of all the crops and was even more excited when she saw the beehives (one day we'll have that self sustaining life that she dreams of).

The flowers there were stunning too...

Seth was desperate to get to the play area and I was parched so we headed there next. Clearly the boys had even more energy to burn off and who were we to deny them that. The play area was great, lots of climbing things handcrafted from wood and long dark tunnels built into hills, great fun for any inquisitive child, although the tunnels were slightly to small for grown ups and me and Chris ended up with neck cramp.

And then it was time to head back for lunch and i suppose we needed to let our hostage go back to his wife. So we headed back to the car. It was a great way to spend a couple of hours before Lunch the adventure got me wondering where our next National Trust adventure will be, any ideas?

"Food for the body is not enough. There must be food for the soul."

The food we eat is so important in our house, not only for the change in lifestyle and weight loss for me and Mrs M but also for making sure the boys stay fit and healthy, we never eat take away and spend a lot of time preparing food daily, especially fruit and veg. I'm sure it can be quite annoying for the boys sometimes when we're in the kitchen, especially for Opeie as he can't really join in due to sharp knives and other dangerous objects. That was at least until the postman came last week with a special package for the boys.

We try our best to involve the boys in everything we do and  the boys are treated and spoken to like adults which we both feel is really important when communicating with your children. Anyway back to special package. We've really been enjoying our time writing for The Toadstool and we've been lucky enough to review some great items. The toys are timeless and classy and clearly a lot of thought has gone in to the items they have chosen to stock, Which as a blogger makes writing about the products very easy.

This time round was a great selection of Haba play food and as I expected, the arrival of the new playing items caused excitement throughout the house and the boys couldn't wait to get playing. The new play food has recieved plenty of attention, especially the Haba play food bread which has definitely become Opeie's favourite, he loves chopping it up and then sticking it back together.

The Haba food has been great for getting the boys to join in with our food preparation too. Chopping carrots together was lots of fun. It means that while the weather is great at the moment we can prepare our meals outside while the boys play and prepare their own food next to us giving us the chance to spend more quality family time together as a family (who wouldn't want that). The food itself is great, unlike wooden play food (that can be dangerous when thrown about if you have very young children) the Haba range is soft and safe and because of this the fruit and veg has a great texture. The Farfalle pasta, cheese and cooked meats selection are made of felt and are great when making a play sandwich or laying out a cheese or meat platter

The new play items had the boys straight on to thetoadstool.co.uk after play, looking at what other foods they stock and they were not disappointed by the extensive range that they offer, everything you need for setting up shop or your own michelin star restaurant. The role playing session has pushed us closer to the purchase of the ultimate play kitchen but as we are saving for other things at the moment we may have to hold off until Christmas. You may see another post cropping up soon where we have designed and made our own out of lingering boxes.

After dinner was prepared Seth tried his hand at a little food art and created a very handsome looking Stepdad using his new food. I especially love my meaty cheeks with piercings and the fish mustache (although I'm not sure it would smell nice under my nose).

Our healthy eating and food education continues and thanks to The Toadstool and Haba our family role playing just got a little more food orientated, yummy.

“Mr. Fox, sir, I won't do it. I can't say it. I won't chew it. Very well, sir. Step this way. We'll find another game to play.”

It's amazing how the smallest things that seem insignificant at the time can become part of your daily life with children. With Seth it was plastic forks, sounds crazy but when you're walking about there seem to be loads of those mini chip forks everywhere. Once Seth shouted "FORK" and then every time we spotted one after that we shouted "FORK". We still do it now occasionally.

With Opeie it all started when we read 'Fox in socks' by Dr. Seuss, as soon as i started reading it he was hooked. If we see foxes anywhere Opeie points them out and says "fox in Socks", So its now become something we look out for all the time.

Because of his new found obsession Ive been taking photos of foxes everywhere we go. They seem to be everywhere so this post is all about the foxes we've found during our journeys out and about.

Seth has been getting involved too which has been great. He found one of his favourite books 'fantastic Mr Fox' and also spotted some foxes biscuits which for some reason i had missed. I think its really nice to have these silly little things that we do as a family, it would seem crazy to other people but that's what makes things like this so special.

Our recent weekend away at Center Parcs was also very productive for our fox hunt, we spotted a pile of foxes in one of the gift shops and Opeie noticed one when he was colouring in a picture given to him by restaurant staff...

While driving about last week i even spotted this, turns out they all live on one road too...

I really hope that our Fox game continues, its certainly a fun addition to our journeys out and it keeps our own cunning little fox entertained wherever we go.

"The road to success is always under construction."

We had a lovely surprise yesterday when there was a knock at the door and there stood the postie holding a package with Bigjigs Toys written all over it. Our second mission had arrived and we couldn't wait to get stuck in. We opened the package and was really excited about what we had been sent. Opeie was really eager to start playing but we decided to wait until Seth came out of school to get it out because I had a plan. The weather was lush and were always taking pictures of our reviews at home or in the garden so i thought a change of scenery would be nice. A Picnic tea was packed for the Bigjiggers and off we went to Lilleshall abbey to play in the sun. Taking the lovely wooden toys back outside where they came from.

Bigjigs Toys had sent us the Figure of Eight Roadway Set and it was probably one of the best products they could have sent us to review. We have a huge amount of the wooden train track but only 3 pieces of road (and i have no idea where that has come from??). Seth has been saying for a while now that he would like some road so his eyes lit up when he saw what we had to play with.

The set comes with everything you need to make a great track, straight pieces, curves, bridges, trees, buildings, people and most importantly three cars for racing around the track. Bigjigs toys rail and road sets are great for both Seth and Opeie's ages which is great because I love watching them play together. The parts easily connect and being made of wood each piece is obviously sturdy. The track is smooth with a nice finish and the accessories are well painted and obviously safe for children. We will always love wooden toys from Bigjigs Toys as they are so Eco friendly and are the sort of toys that will be played with for many generations.

Bigjigs toys road sets complement many of the other vehicle ranges they have for sale. When mixed with the rail sets you can build life like set ups with rail tracks running alongside motorways and trains travelling under roads. The set has also been great for teaching the boys about the Highway Code using the characters to simulate how dangerous it is to play by roads and to always have an adult with you when crossing the road. We would definitely recommend buying these sorts of sets to anyone as they are so versatile, The tracks can be changed round to suit your mood making it the perfect toy for keeping children interested, also with the option of being able to buy extra track and accessories separately you can add and build a huge set over time without breaking the bank.

To buy this set and many others to compliment it head over to http://www.bigjigstoys.co.uk/

"Play is the work of children. It's very serious stuff."

Opeie hasn't been himself since he had the sickness bug last week. He's been agitated and has been getting upset easily. Yesterday he had a little screaming fit for no apparent reason but rather than scream at me or Seth he just sat on his own and cried (very worrying). I eventually managed to calm him down but because I didn't know why it started it was really difficult.

Today I thought I'd do my best to keep him entertained all morning, no cleaning the house just me and Opeie time. One of the moms from Opeie's toddler group had mentioned a ball pit in Bridgnorth I'd not heard of so after dropping Seth at school we headed in that direction. It was still early though so first we pottered around the Bridgnorth charity shops looking for new reading material.

If you're a regular reader them you'll know that I'm always wary of going to new soft play areas because of cleanliness, most of them are filthy. I was assured that Millie meerkats was fine though and when we got there I was pleasantly surprised.

When you go to some soft play areas the soft colourful mats are more of a brown colour, ripped and shabby. I'm not being a snob I just don't want my boy crawling around on that. Millie meerkats was definitely the cleanest soft play we've been to and everything was the colour it was supposed to be.

Opeie Instantly made friends and was chatting away so I left him to do his own thing for a bit. It's not the sort of play area where little ones need supervising which is great although I'm the type of dad that always wants to join in. Opeie ran about for a while and came out looking concerned "daddy owl!" He took me by the hand and marched me into the  play area. I looked about on the walls at the meerkat illustrations expecting to come across the owl picture he had spotted. You can imagine my surprise when I passed a padded mirror and saw an actual owl staring at me...

Turns out they have a room out back with animals in that opens at different times of the day so while it was open we went in to investigate. There was lots of creepy crawlies...

...and I was quite suprised that opeie wasn't scared of the snake or bearded dragon (which he happily stroked both of) and the tarantula.

We had a good chat with Julie the lady that runs Millie meerkats and the owner of the two owls and found out about her new business venture Owls on the prowl, something I think me and the boys would definitely like to join in with sometime soon. 

The meerkats didn't want to pose for a shot but Opeie was more than happy watching them eat. Then it was back to the play area to burn off the last of his morning energy but not before riding a donkey he had been eying up since we had walked in.

We will definitely be going to Millie Meerkats again soon it's just a shame it's not nearer. The afternoon passed (meltdown free which was nice) and Opeie seems to be back to his old self again.

"Reading is a basic tool in the living of a good life."

Last week Seth came out of school very excited, he had moved up to stage 10 in his reading and it was definitely cause for celebration. His reading has come on so well since being at school and he is so much more confident and fluent with his words. We're so proud of the way he is developing. What's great is how much he enjoys reading, I was the same when I was younger, I loved the Enid Blyton books (and of course comics). Sometimes if Seth wakes up early he just grabs a book off his shelf and quietly reads (I like a bit of quiet reading time myself too). 

Our application to become bloggers for Center Parcs 2014

After having such an amazing weekend away (which we will write about tomorrow) we were eager to get home and make our application video to become bloggers for Center Parcs. Whats our favourite thing to do as a family??? well find out here...

Bigjigs Play Patrol Agents take on mission 4: A Photo caption

This months mission from Bigjigs Toys was to come up with a photo and caption. Opeie probably wondered why i had put his duffle coat on with daddies glasses to play trains but when he reads this when he is older he will understand why. Our little Nerd found Seth's recent comments amusing, enjoy. 

Full review of the Double engine repair shed to follow.

"...and then Seth tried to tell me had seen a CN Edson sub k5LLA last week hahaha... I pointed out that it was just the virgin Pendolino to Houston!!!"