"Maybe this is exactly where I am supposed to be right now. Maybe this, right now, is making me a better person."

Well i finally took myself out of my comfort zone and attended a blog event on my own (which until now has been unheard of). No Mrs M bigging me up to people and no adorable boys breaking the ice with their awesomeness. Last week i was invited by Netflix to the launch party for Orange is the new Black season 3 in London and after battling with my insecurities i decided to just bite the bullet and go. I know that probably sounds a little crazy but I've not really been away from Opeie since he came along and that on its own was almost enough to keep me home but i know i need to do these things and of course, i love the show.

The 4 hour drive there was fine and after 45 minutes driving around Waterloo i managed to find somewhere to park, It was time to party. I was so nervous about walking in but luckily i was greeted at the door when my name was heard, having an obscure name always works out well for me because people never seem to forget it.

The venue was kitted out like Litchfield penitentiary with some of Litchfields finest inmates in orange jump suits handing out drinks and canapes. Before i could get in though i needed a mugshot. I was probably the hairiest inmate in there.

Thankfully as expected my phone did all the hard work of breaking the ice for me and within minutes of being in the place people were snapping away, phew! I know hiding behind a chunk of LEGO seems insane but without this in your face accessory i find initiating conversation difficult.

That said though this event really helped me to come out of myself a little and when all the photos had stopped and people had moved on i found myself standing on my own. 'Cue phone call from Mrs M' Who always knows what to say to me to give me that little bit of extra confidence. She believes in and promotes what i do so much more than i do. After the phone call i just walked up to the two friendliest people i could find and said hi (and clearly i am a great judge of character). AK (My Buggy Junction) and Lauren (Mummy is a Gadget Geek) turned out to be the best of company and really made my long journey down to London.

After chatting and finding out about each others blogs we got to watch the first two episodes of OITNB season 3 before tbeing aired the following night. I was late to the Orange is the new black party and was introduced to the show by my friend Chris when series two came out. I was hooked by the first episode and me and Mrs M ploughed through both seasons so it was really exciting to now be a part of the UK launch party.

Being at the event and watching the episodes seemed to fly by and before i knew it it was time for me to make the lengthy drive back to Shropshire. Being out of my comfort zone really paid off, i had a great time and i felt privileged to be a part of it. Most importantly it made me realise that there are other great bloggers out there to chat too and maybe being the blogging hermit that i am a lot of the time isn't always the best way to be so thanks girls.

Orange is the New Black series 3 is showing on Netflix now and although i am only 4 episodes in i know this is going to be another great series. Put your feet up and go and watch some great TV.

P.S I couldnt wait to get back to this little cutie!

"Technology is a way of organizing the universe so that man doesn't have to experience it."

In a world controlled by technology I spend a lot of time worrying about the amount of 'screen time' Opeie has and the effects it may be having on him. I try and limit my own usage during the day as i don't want it to seem the norm to him and i would rather him be playing outdoors or doing creative things. As i stood in the kitchen a few days back and listened to him talking to my phone though I realised as far as technology is concerned, he can take it or leave it...

"Watch him wiggle! See him squirm! Hip, hip, hooray for SUPERWORM!"

The weather has been awful today and because of it its pretty much been a day in the house playing. To cheer myself up this evening though I've decided to catch up with a post about a sunnier part of this week. Opeie had been asking me for days if we could go on an adventure and visit the sleeping Gruffalo. If you are a regular reader of the blog you may remember that last year we went Gruffalo hunting thanks to the amazing sculptures dotted around the country at the forestry commission sites. They were due to be removed last year but we were emailed a while back to let us know that the Gruffalo was staying for now (i wouldn't want to try and move him either).

We packed up the car with important things like snacks, scooters, a mini Gruffalo and of course Rose the cat (Opeie's trusted companion). When we arrived Opeie's little face was all smiles when he noticed that the Gruffalo trail had been replaced by a Super worm trail, what an awesome surprise.

The great thing about the trails in Wyre forest is how easy it is for children to get around and find all the clues to get to the final destination. Opeie loves that he is in control too and was excited guiding me around.

So off we went...

...and with every clue found a fun activity to go with it.

Super hero? Opeie of course went for Flying, fighting skills and invisibility.

"Daddy! that grumpy tree looks just like you!" thanks Opeie.

"Dad that tree looks like a worm monster bursting out of the ground"

I love just pottering about in a forest, there's so much to look at and Opeie's imagination can run wild. The afternoon was filled with questions, who lives in that hole? whats that noise? How many different kinds of leaves are there?

The trail is great for kids and anything that gets Opeie excited and running about in the fresh air is great as far as I'm concerned. It would have been nice to take the scooters through the forest but i don't think the wheels would have dealt with the uneven ground. Anyway back to the trail...

 Opeie was getting very eager to find the Gruffalo and was doing a great job of getting us there by himself.

Eventually we spotted the sleeping monster in the distance and Opeie crept up very slow to make sure he didn't wake him. He was feeling a little tired from the walk and asked if he could have a sleep on the Gruffalo's nice warm tummy.

Then we sat against our sleeping friend and read books and ate our lunch, it was the perfect way to break up our forest adventure before continuing our Superworm trail.

We got talking again about rhyming words as we do most days and i told Opeie that we couldn't leave until we had found two things that Rhyme with Rose (Opeie's best friend). After a short deliberation Opeie came up with Nose and Toes, so off we went on our adventures.

We got round the trail in a couple of hours and i thought Opeie might be tired but no, we had to jump straight in the car and find somewhere to scoot for a couple of hours. It was a perfect afternoon of adventuring, reading and learning with the best company i could ask for.

Opeie may have been full of beans but after an early morning wake up i was feeling the strain. Until next time readers...

It's a metaphor you potato with eyes"

It seems to be all about the events at the moment and I'm loving every minute of it. The blog has opened so many doors for us as a family and being able to work with companies I love has been a dream come true. It seems that before attending these soirée's I have made accessorising my phone with a relevant theme my thing and this weeks event is no different.

Since trading in our depressing TV license for a much more entertaining Netflix subscription many years ago my evenings have been filled with all manner of great shows, documentaries and countless movies. Having that sort of choice at my fingertips and not having to channel flick to find it means my evenings are so much more relaxing, whether I'm fully concentrating or just have it on in the background while I write.

The list of Netflix originals has been getting bigger and bigger over the years and we're hooked on quite a few of them. The new series of Orange is the new black starts this week though and after being glued to the first two seasons I've been really looking forward to it starting. As I said at the start of the post it's been a week of events and after being invited to the Orange is the new black launch party it was clearly time to to start creating my accessory. After my dinosaur case this weekend I was looking forward to building something colourful, clearly the colour scheme was obvious.

Most people that know me wouldn't believe this but I'm quite a shy person at these events. The phone cases serve as a bit of an ice breaker, although this is the first I've made for a none LEGO event. It'll be strange not having my other accessory with me this time though, Opeie (my wing man). I'm not used to this whole 'doing things without the boys' so it's going to be interesting.

Anyway Orange is the new black series 3 starts Friday and if you haven't watched it yet it comes highly recommended.

"Dinosaurs may be extinct from the face of the planet, but they are alive and well in our imaginations."

A weekend away in London is always sure to put a spring in my step. Spending quality family time with my three favourite people is priceless. Getting to see our friends Sam and Jamie on top of that really adds to the excitement. Throw in a LEGO event and I definitely needed to pack an extra pair of pants. This Friday sees the release of the much anticipated LEGO Jurassic world and we were privileged to get a chance to play the game before it hits the stores. In preparation for the event and in keeping with the Golden brickies I decided to accessorise and make a fitting dinosaur themed iPhone case to accompany us.

Opeie is such a cutie, when he saw the phone case he decided that he needed an accessory too and started work on a miniature matching dinosaur case (he really is a mini me).

We travelled up to London after picking Seth up straight from school, well I say 'straight from' but realising we had run out of cat food 5 minutes before leaving and an incident that ended in Mrs M chasing a DHL man down the street held us back slightly. Our 3:30 departure became a 5pm departure but then that seems to be us down to a Tee. 

On Saturday morning after a fantastic meal with our friends the night before, the boys slipped in to their Jurassic world T-shirts and we headed out on our search for LEGO dinosaurs. The weather was lush and everyone was in a great mood, just the way I love my weekends.

The boys love travelling around on the tube so for them the prospect of hopping from tube to tube with the added bonus of Lego activities at the other end was the perfect day.

We seemed to be wandering around Hyde park for quite sometime before spotting an entrance surrounded by dinosaur bones and a security guy that clearly wanted in on the blogging action.

Since going to the Golden brickies last year I can't get enough of these LEGO events. I love to see the huge LEGO creations and they are always filled with the nicest people. The guys from Warner Bros were a great bunch and made everyone feel like part of the event.

We were there for the game and me and Seth couldn't wait to get stuck in. We've played all of the LEGO games over the years. They will always be a little special to us as the first game we got into was LEGO Star Wars and we played most days on the hospital grounds between visiting hours while Mrs M was very unwell in hospital when we were waiting for Opeie to come along. It was an awful time for everyone but that LEGO game really took our mind off the seriousness of the situation.

 The event was lots of fun and we met some really interesting people. Its great to be in a place where everyone has the same interests and ill never get bored of talking about LEGO. It was so interesting to find out that when people asked what sort of things we build and we mentioned the Christmas Death star most people had seen it.

 The boys loved hearing the presentation from TT games, Seth is always asking questions about how games are made and being able to hear lots of information from one of the games designers was really interesting for him. The presentation was followed by a LEGO dinosaur egg hunt which had us running around the grounds searching for eggs hoping to win some Jurassic world prizes. Opeie found an Egg and Seth was so close to the big prize but sadly someone got there before him, it was all a lot of fun though.

 As i mentioned before networking really makes these events and we talked to some really great people. The day has also made us realise how much we need to add this game to our collection to continue the great bonding session i get with the boys while playing. Gaming is really important in our house as we use it for Seth's down time while he is having his physio.

Arriving in London late on Friday night and all the excitement of the event eventually started to catch up with the boys and Opeie got sleepy and quite tearful, bless him. So we said our goodbyes and headed back into central London.

Writing the blog has opened up so many opportunities over the years and these LEGO events are definitely something that appeals to mine and the boys geeky side.

LEGO Jurassic world is released this Friday and we can't recommend it enough if only for
paleontologists diving in piles of Dino droppings, Check it out.

"A portrait is a painting with something wrong with the mouth."

My mothers meet up turned in to an art session a few days back and while drinking cups of tea we took over the kids toys briefly. Uncanny i know, thanks Dawn!

"Friendship is a sheltering tree"

Not far from where we live there is a lovely place called Apley woods, Since meeting up with our friend Lucie there a while back on her recommendation it seems to be the place we go when we have no other place to go. With the weather picking up a little we've been making the most of the bike trailer and have been adventuring about, stopping off quite a few times at Apley.

Opeie loves riding through the woods especially since we realised the first time we went that its safer to have the netting down after i covered him with bark and soil, oops. As we whizz through the woods though he always asks me to stop at the same spot, so we park up and get out our bag full of tricks ready for some woodland fun.

I don't know what it is about this big old tree that draws Opeie in but once there he doesn't want to leave.  We always pack toys, reading books and a sketch book with pens. Everything else we need for our fun can be found around us. Hanging out with Opeie is so amazing, his imagination and curious nature is so addictive and i can't get enough of it. Conversation is ALWAYS interesting although a little jibberish at times but he really knows how to make me chuckle.

Sword fighting with sticks will usually take up a huge chunk of our visit, but my favourite thing to do wherever we are is to sit outdoors and read. Reading plays a huge part in everything we do and there's nothing quite like sitting against a tree with my favourite person while taking in some children's literature.

Opeie comes up with some fun games every time we visit, my favourite to date though is woodland baseball, find a stick, collect some pine cones and you have a game all you need to do then is to step up to the plate. I feel so lucky every day that this is my life now, Mrs M's drive to build on her career and do everything she can to take care of us is the most amazing thing anyone has ever done for me (after helping me bring this little cutie in to the world anyway).