"With confidence, you have won before you have started."

Sunshine!!!! What a great Easter holiday we are having so far. I love Seth being off school and having Mrs M off for a big chunk of it has been amazing. Seth has been all about his bike at the minute taking his stabilisers off and gaining that extra confidence has changed everything. I was really hoping that Opeie might follow suit so we could all go out cycling together. We didn't want to jump in and buy him a bike as he had never been interested in his balance bike and at his age he would grow out of a bike his size pretty quick, so wasted money if he wasn't interested.

During a play date last week with Opeie's friends I was talking to my friends about bikes and my friend Lucie offered to lend us her sons bike over Easter weekend to see if Opeie was interested. Which we did, sadly though it was short lived and he made it pretty clear he wasn't interested. What was great though as he watched his brother whizzing around was that he fell in love with his micro scooter that day which he has had for some time and not been as interested as me and Seth were with ours over last summer.

It may be that he thought 'I better start riding my scooter or daddy is going to make me go on that bike again' but whatever it was he is so much more confident now and I couldn't be happier as me and Seth had so much fun on our Micro Scooters last summer and continue to whenever the weather is nice. 

Every day since Opeie's new love of scooting started on Monday, he has asked if he can go out for a spin. We've had races and he's made up cute tricks, it's adorable. If you have read any of our other micro scooter posts you'll know how much I love mine, I've never really grown up and the scooters made our summer last year. I'm so excited to have a new scooting buddy this year and we've been talking today about making our own scooting tshirs which should be fun so watch this space.

It's been many months since we last wrote about our Micro Scooting adventures after our night scooting post last year but now the sun is out and the ground is dry and safe there will be many more two wheel adventures at Gifts from the Pirates.

Happy scooting x

"Education is an admirable thing, but nothing that is worth knowing can be taught."

Going down the home education path with Opeie has so many benefits but the one biggy for me is those rare occasions where Mrs M is working away or late, and there's no school pick up for Seth. On days like this we are off adventuring and have the flexability of going further out. I've always loved the idea of Opeie not being confined to a classroom, I didn't enjoy school myself, it never motivated me and I don't want that for Opeie. 

Having the freedom to do our own thing and learn through experience is so much more interesting. We decided one morning that we were going to go to the beach, we had nowhere to be in the afternoon so it was the perfect day for seaside adventuring. Our plan was to head to shell island as we love it there but on route we made a stop off in Welshpool. We've driven through there so many times and it's a lovely looking place and we had noticed there were lots of charity shops so we stopped for some book hunting for reading on the beach. It turned out to be a great idea and we managed a great book haul with lots of great books containing a certain bear that Opeie has fallen in love with.

After Welshpool we continued our journey but before we went to Shell island Opeie wanted to go book hunting in Barmouth first. We had packed a lunch but the smell of chips on the sea front drew us in so with wooden forks in hand we marched to the beach with the sweet smell of chips trailing behind us.

The sky started to go a little gloomy but we were not going to let some dark clouds spoil our day so we ran along the beach talking about the tide while collecting shells and pretty rocks. 

The weather was desperate to ruin our fun though and when the rain started thrashing down, as lovely as it was watching it on the beach, we headed back to the car. Luckily our four wheeled escape pod was full of snacks and plenty of new books to read, which we took full advantage of as the rain pelted off the windows.

At that point shell island didn't seem like a great idea, so as the rain showed no sign of dying down we decided to head home and play the look out for brown attraction signs that we love to play hoping to find somewhere new to investigate. On the journey back we spotted a sign for Lake Vyrnwy, it was only 10 miles out from our route home and even though the weather was still bleak we made a joint decision to go for it and I'm so glad we did.

As we pulled on to the lake we drove across a huge dam gushing out water and Opeie's little eyes lit up. The area is absolutely beautiful and despite the grotty weather we were having an awesome time. First we headed over to the information centre and met a lovely chap who's name i cant for the life of me remember (even though i thought i had written it in my phone). He filled us in on all the things we could see while there and gave us loads of information about the lake/dam along with a activity book for Opeie. It's days like this that make me realise even more that the home ed path was a great choice.

After our chat we braved the downpour and went investigating, heading first toward the sculpture park. Opeie loved the Giant mermaid and all the other pieces on display. It also gave us a great chance to be right at the bottom of the dam which was really interesting and spurred on A LOT of questions from Opeie.

At this point the weather really started giving it its all and I think Opeie was getting a little fed up of being wet so we headed back to the car. It was such a great place to find and we can't wait to go back and drive the full 10.5 miles of the lake as there are lots of things to do and see along the way including a waterfall.

It turned out to be the perfect day of adventuring and the sort of education that you don't get everyday being confined to a desk. I wonder where our next adventure will be?

"It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the windblows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade."

I'm so behind with my posts at the moment, living without broadband is a nightmare! fingers crossed we'll be out of our little cave soon. A couple of Friday's ago we did our usual school run with the intention of going straight home to lounge around and play. One my friends at the school, Dawn, asked me if I was going to watch the eclipse and proceeded to pull out a fancy piece of glass. "Look through this she said", so we did and it was really interesting.

As we walked back towards the car she let us know that she was heading over to our friend Tabiithas for a morning of cups of tea and 'pass the fancy glass' so they could watch the eclipse together. Well I certainly don't need an excuse to hang out with them guys as they are awesome so Dawn jumped in the car too and we headed over together.

When we got there Tabiitha was all pumped and ready to watch the sun and moon pass each other. I did have a little chuckle to myself as we sat on the garden chairs outside in the cold, drinking our tea and eagerly waiting for the sky to turn black. It was like a granny meet up waiting to watch the coronation or something like that.

That piece of glass was passed back and forth more times than I can remember. It was a fun hour hanging out with some of the people I love the most even if I was a little disappointed by the lack of black skies and feel of a coming apocalypse, clearly I was expecting to much. The morning gave me a great chance to talk to Opeie about something that comes up once maybe twice in a lifetime.

"It is better to create than to learn! Creating is the essence of life."

You cant beat a good LEGO competition, we have them all the time at home, it usually starts with one of seth's cunning plans, 'i need lots of vehicles for something I'm doing so...' "Hey everyone! lets have a LEGO competition... who can build the best vehicle!". This time though a team building exercise, limited to three bags of the series 4 Mixels and the aim was to build an ultimate mixel. If you combine 2 or more Mixels it becomes a Murp!!

After emptying all the bags out over the table we discussed our ideas and came up with something a little different. When series 1 of the Mixels was released i tried desperately to get the boys interested, the parts were the big appeal to me and the fact that they were such a good price for what you got in each pack. By series two though they could see what i could and they were hooked.  The fun part about creating your own Mixel for me is the eyes and teeth because it doesn't matter what you create you can just attach eyes and teeth and instantly it becomes a character, genius.

Our Mixels creations were well thought out though. Opeie's main specifications where that he had fire coming out of his hands and bottom. He also informed me that he was a snowboarding Mixel and set about building a Snowboard to ride on. We also thought it would be fun if we could turn the Mixel around and see a completely different character on the back. That's what i love most about LEGO, the versatility. You can come up with an idea and if you have the patience to sit and work out the dynamics of it, literally anything is possible. Because our Mixel has two different heads Opeie decided that the most obvious name would be headbanger.

 Unfortunately Headbanger didn't stay erected for very long and Seth pulled him apart and made a Mixel of his own. No need for a name here though as Seth informed me that he is in fact a mysterious Mixel and no one knows his name.

Get to the shops and pick up some LEGO Mixels, these little monsters are seriously addictive.

"If you worried about falling off the bike, you'd never get on."

There are so many great milestones growing up as a child and as a parent, being able to experience each one is priceless. your child's first steps, words, tooth are moments that you will never forget and being able to watch them develop, while maturing as an adult yourself is (for me) beautiful. These amazing moments don't seem to end and if you are an active parent who gives your child the love and attention they deserve you can be right there with them as they make discoveries of the things they are capable of. 

as these amazing children get older and start to realise more just how awesome they are and whats going on, when there make these findings the pride that they feel themselves is really infectious and if you've been there to help them get to that point the excitement and pride in yourself as a parent can be euphoric.

I was lucky enough last week to experience this from both of the boys and it left me feeling like a pretty awesome dad (but then having two amazing children makes me feel like that most days). Opeie had completely thrown me earlier in the week when he tackled a rock climbing wall, despite me thinking there was no chance he would even give it a chance (i feel pretty guilty for that now). 

Later in the week though it was Seth's turn and again i didn't expect the ask to work out so easily. He came home from school the week before excited about a cycling class at school that was coming up and how he had signed himself up. He told us all about it and said it sounds like lots of fun, the only issue was that he hadn't asked to go on his bike for quite sometime due to finding it difficult to ride with stabilisers on. Seth had made it clear the last time he had his bike out that he was frustrated that he was struggling and because of his muscle condition we didn't want to push him.

So we aggree'd that last Sunday was going to be our 'Teach Seth to learn to ride his bike afternoon', We got his bike out of the shed and i took the stabilisers off straight away, there was no point beating around the bush, he wanted to ride his bike properly and his determination was enough to know not to pussy foot about, he meant business. I think Seth had got it in to his head that the whole learning to ride a bike thing was going to take weeks but as i walked along the road with him holding his coat to steady him i could feel that he was shifting his weight to balance himself and i just let go. We'd been out roughly 3 minutes and he was peddling a bike without stabilisers.

 (I used to stick my tongue out when i was concentrating too, clearly it was helping him balance)

So cycling in a straight line was a doddle! the turn at the end of the road however was not and he quickly lost his footing and fell. Luckily i had been jogging along behind him and caught him before hitting the floor. There's no time for thinking about what went wrong, best to just get back on and try again. That turn caused problems for at least 8 or 9 attempts but eventually Seth nailed it. A quick pat on the back and hair ruffle and i send him on his way to turn in the opposite direction (he would never get anywhere if he could only turn right).

Seth clearly couldn't believe what was happening, his happy little face had a smile from ear to ear (even if his tongue was hanging out concentrating).Watching him ride about knowing it was me that got him there as well as his determination was a great feeling but the hug i got afterwards and the 'thank you so much for teaching me how to ride my bike and helping me, i love you' just makes all this parenting worth while. When your children really look up to you there is no better feeling.

I'm looking forward to the boys next big venture whatever it may be.

"You cannot push any one up a ladder unless he be willing to climb a little himself."

Opeie has never really been the physically adventurous type, he loves to run about and is one of the happiest children I know but he's never really shown interest in attacking the climbing frames at the park or shooting up trees. Obviously that's never going to be an issue but secretly (and it seems ridiculous to me now) I had always wished he was a little more that way. As I lay in bed writing this it has come to my attention that my reason for feeling like this is because of how I was when I was younger, what I am only realising now though is that this memory of myself like that is around the age of 7 and Opeie is still only 3 (for a couple more weeks anyhow).

We had tickets to go to the theatre for us all yesterday but Mrs M had to work and Seth wasn't with us so we asked our friends Emma, Wilberforce and Waldon if they wanted to join us. Emma mentioned that Wilberforce had his second rock climbing class and would Opeie be interested in joining in? My first thought was 'there's no chance he'll do that!' But I booked it anyway on the off chance.

I told him all about it and he'd seen the pictures of Wilbs on Facebook high up the wall the week before. He was really excited about going (I was sure he wouldn't make it two feet off the ground though). We arrived at the climbing place and Opeie entered with a loud 'Wow!'

Wilberforce and his troops followed us in and the fun began. Neil the instructor was a top bloke and really made Opeie feel at ease as he attached the harness. Opeie was chatting away which was great as usually he would seem a little anxious at going out of his comfort zone. I on the other hand was getting very anxious. It looked like so much fun as Wilberforce shot up the wall and I really hoped Opeie would give it a try.

Opeie's turn and as he climbed up the wall I was left at the bottom in complete awe, thanks to Neil's support and motivational words Opeie clearly felt at ease and made his way up without over thinking what he was doing. It was amazing to watch and his enthusiasm and strength blew my mind.

Opeie didn't quite make it to the top on his first attempt but for the second attempt Neil put a monkey at the top and explained to Opeie that he was stuck and Opeie was the only one that could save him. As Opeie climbed, Neil told him to say things like 'don't be scared monkey, I'm coming to save you' and before he knew it he was right at the top clutching the monkey, I was so proud of him.

It wasn't quite the save the monkey had hoped for when Opeie threw him down and then landed on him on his descent, it did make us all chuckle though.

The class was for 30 minutes which was more than enough time for a couple of hardcore rock climbing three year olds. 

Opeie had completely shocked me and I was left thinking 'what else can I throw him into' because as a doting parent I got as much out of the experience as he did. The best part of it for me though was the excitement afterwards and how much throughout the day I heard "daddy I've had such a fun day" and "I'm so proud of my rock climbing". 

Children are amazing! And Opeie had shown me a side of him I'd never seen before, I couldn't be more proud. We're all looking forward to class next week and it's another chance to hang out with his partner in climb (ba-dum tis) Wilberforce.