"Where are you meeting him?" "Here, by these rocks, And his favourite food is roasted fox".

It's been a fairly quiet few days on the blog as there has been so much other stuff going on at Gifts from the Pirates HQ, not to mention a huge new box on mixed LEGO that i acquired from eBay (oops) keeping me quite occupied. As my nights have been taken up by other things I thought this would be the perfect chance to bombard you with fox pictures. Yes, it's about that time for the next installment of the GFTP Fox hunt. A little game that Opeie started about a year and a half ago after reading Fox in Socks by Dr. Seuss. 

Opeie has really upped his game over the last few months and his fox sightings have been crazy. Because he is at a lower level than me he picks up on so much that i miss. So here they are for your enjoyment.

 A couple of weeks back we had a surprise package from a PR company that we work with and it was exciting to see that they had joined in too and sent us Fennekin the Pokemon fox, Opeie has been taking it everywhere with him, very cute.

During our last trip to the Library Opeie went in to full on Fox mode and spotted lots of different variations of our sly woodland friend...

I know what you're thinking is this post over yet? I've had my fill of foxes! Sorry Opeie has been on a Foxy rampage so there's still more...

And there you have it, apart from one other image which is amazing and I'm really jealous of. A few weeks back our good friend Chris who is a photographer and blogs over at Gingerjamphoto hired a fox for a shoot and the pictures were beautiful. After all our posts about our foxy finds it would be great to have an actual photo of us with a real fox... one day!

Anyway until next time fox lovers, i can't see this game coming to a halt any time soon. If there's a fox to be found, us Gifts from the Pirates lot will track them down!!!

"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

"Raphael is cool but crude (Gimme a break!) Michelangelo is a party dude (Party!)"

After our last LEGO Teenage Mutant Ninja turtles review we received some really great emails about the comic style review that we created. So when we came to review this new TMNT movie kit i planned on making a sequel, but as i went rooting through our LEGO looking for props i may need i had a great idea for something a little different that may or may not have worked, either way though i knew it would be fun. So the night before building i set our morning LEGO fun up. We had some spare boxes in the house and i wrapped them all in white paper and created a little blank canvas area for building. When Opeie woke up he found an intriguing blank space, the new LEGO Turtle Van Takedown kit (79115) and a selection of pens, pencils and crayons. Opeie looked very excited and quickly grabbed his Michelangelo mask and Nunchucks ready for action.

We've really got in to the TMNT kits since reviewing the Turtle Sub Undersea Chase kit and my inner geek was really excited about seeing the new kits, mainly because i had seen the Turtles new look for the coming movie and i wanted to see what LEGO had done with that. I expected them to look a little more aggressive but LEGO have done what they do best and the minifigures look amazing, Personally I'm a little unsure about the positioning of the shells but i can see they have done that to fit in with the movie style.

Opeie wasn't sure about the Minifigures at first and asked for the older characters out too but soon decided that he loved them. There was a little disagreement over who was the real Michelangelo but that arguement was soon sorted...

Usual household building rules apply, we never go by the numbered bags, we just empty them all out so that the boys can build the minifigures first because apparently they are the most important part.

This kit is the smaller of the three released for the new movie but at 368 pieces it's a great size kit especially for the younger builders who may lose interest after a while. With four minifigures (Raphael, Michelangelo, Vern and a Foot soldier) , a vehicle, barricade to blow up and a bed with mechanical arms for taking a hostage, there is everything you need for your very own Turtle adventure.

When we had finished building the kit it was time for us to start the second part of the mornings LEGO activity, Creating a play area for our Turtles. Opeie got stuck in and drew some great circular patterns so I politely ask if I could add to it and transformed his lovely drawing in to the very fitting Technodrome.

After decorating the walls with a sewer scene and a pizza shop it was time to play. The turtle van looked great with rockets to shoot and a retractable hook for pulling down buildings. We even drew a lake for our previous kit the Turtle sub to go in too.

We included all our Ninja turtles kits but realised we were missing a few key characters so we now have our eyes on the other two kits from the movie sets, Big Rig Snow Getaway (79116 so that we can get April O'Neil) and the awesome looking Turtle Lair Invasion (79117 because we need to get hold of a splinter). I did manage to build us a custom Shredder from the parts we had though (not a bad job if i do say so myself).

 I love how all our LEGO kits fit together and there really is no limitation to your play adventures if you have a great imagination. We ended up playing in our purpose built TMNT play area for most of the morning, Opeie comes up with some great stories to act out.

 

Of course as always me and Mrs M found ourselves in the usual hostage situation with no way of knowing if we would make it through the terrible ordeal...

...but we can always rely on those brave boys of ours (with the help of the Turtles of course) to come to our rescue and save the day.

I'd be shocked if i ever had a negative word to say about LEGO and again the Turtle Van Takedown doesn't disappoint. Its a great kit with excellent minifigures and a cult status that will entertain children and parents alike. The Ninja turtles were huge when i was at school and thanks to LEGO they will live on for even longer in the toy stores.

"A library is the delivery room for the birth of ideas, a place where history comes to life."

Yesterday we had planned to go out for some scooting fun with our friend Lucie (from MageeandMagoo) and the kids. We were really looking forward to it as we had not been out on them for a week or so. Surprise Surprise the weather had other ideas though and about an hour before we were supposed to meet, the heavens opened and it thrashed it down so that ruined our plans to get the Microscooters out. At least the snails were having a great time...

Lucie Suggested that we meet at the library which i thought was a great idea as shamefully i had never taken Opeie before. Until now we had picked up most of our books from charity shops, Amazon or eBay and the boys go through a lot. We arranged which one to meet at and i didn't even know it was there despite Opeie going to his dance class a while back in the same building (Mrs M says i walk around with my head in the clouds). Opeie was pretty chuffed when we arrived and he got his own special card for taking out books.

I don't know why i hadn't taken Opeie before, there were so many great books to choose from and the fact that you can take out 16 at a time is great. A large pile of books quickly formed and Opeie was pretty excited about being there which was great, hes a bit of a bookworm and we plough through piles every week so our new use of the library is going to work out perfectly.

 Lucie and the children soon joined us and Opeie got even more excited. It was a great place for us to chat and catch up while the children picked the books they wanted to read and we managed to find some great new books that i probably wouldn't have found elsewhere. It was great to see some Miffy and Dr Seuss books too but no need to take them home as we have them all haha.

Opeie made it his mission to hunt for every Fox related book in the childrens section and managed to fing a fair few which i thought was great. He's got even more in to the whole fox thing recently which is so cute and we definitely have enough pictures now for our next foxy installment so stay tuned.

 We took full advantage of the 16 books limit that we could take out and now have plenty to keep us occupied until.. well probably tomorrow knowing Opeie. With books so easy to buy these days i think the Library probably gets a bit of a rough deal. The supermarkets these days have a great selection so id not had any reason to go but yesterdays trip made me realise again that there is so much available and at no cost. I used to love going to the library myself when i was younger and hopefully it will be something Opeie will see as exciting over the coming weeks.

"You've got a playdate with destiny!"

Last weekend was a special occasion for Opeie as it was the first time that he has fully experienced the magic of the Pirates and understood what is going on. Even if you are a regular reader or you've stumbled upon us by accident you may be thinking 'why Gifts from the Pirates?'. The Pirates were invented as a kind of reward system for Seth, they are a magical happy crew and their ship is in the sky, they are always watching over the boys through the light fittings in the house and keep a close eye on their behaviour.

Clearly excellent behaviour and things that the boys do that we are proud of should be rewarded and in the past every now and again Seth would hear the sound of waves and a creaky wooden ship and then frantically dash around the house looking as he knew from that sound that something special had been left for him. They can turn up anywhere and have been known to show up in the park and while Seth was in hospital, they are very clever Pirates.

Last weekend after some serious great behaviour it was Opeies turn for a special surprise. When he woke up on Saturday morning there was a Lots-o'-Huggin' bear sitting at the end of the bed facing him and he was very excited to see him. In a whispering but excited voice we heard, "Mommy! Daddy! There's a Lotso at the end of the bed, can I open him please?" It was probably a bad move as it was quite early and surprisingly there was no going back to sleep after that (for me anyway), dam Pirates. 

Opeie had a huge smile on his face though and couldn't wait to get his new buddy ready for our weekend adventure to the beach. So we strapped him in the car seat and off we went in search of fun...

And when it was time to come home Opeie even made him his own bed so he felt like part of the family. Opeies a well behaved little chap (most of the time) so I think we'll have many other visits from those magical Pirates.