"Wingediet: When you eat nothing but Giraffe wings!"

It's my favourite time of year again and despite the attempted wake up call at 5am yesterday, i loved being woken up by two excited boys eager to dish out the fruits of their artistic labour. The boys have been secretly working on cards and i love the excitement in the air on the build up to fathers day. I used to like all the secrecy myself when i was growing up. It does make me feel a little sad now though that my own dad has failed to step up and make the effort over the years. 

Anyway, yesterday was awesome, a relaxing day playing with the boys and taking time to spend quality time with them is what fathers day is all about. They make me feel like the luckiest dad on the planet and Seth especially has been the cutest. Being a step dad can be difficult at times but hardships aside my relationship with Seth has blossomed over the years.

What i love about Seth and Opeie is how they fully appreciate what me and Mrs M do for them. They are thoughtful and caring boys and everyone comments on how lovely they both are.

(Opeie shamelessly revealed my true age on this card, I'm still looking good for it though)

Fathers day ended with a family game of scrabble which left us all in hysterics when Seth attempted to play 'iet' off of 'winged'. The word was crazy enough but it was followed by a very sleepy Mrs M explaining that a 'wingediet' is when you eat nothing but Giraffe wings, she's a crazy woman! A great end to a fun day with my special boys.

I hope you all had an amazing fathers day.



 

"Pussycat, Pussycat I love you, Yes, I do! You and your pussycat nose!"

The term crazy cat lady came up quite a bit before Polly became a part of our family. Mrs M would regularly harp on about getting a cat and send me random cat videos when she was online. I was never that interested in being a cat owner but that all changed when Polly arrived. Thankfully Mrs M hasn't gone down the crazy cat lady path but it was touch and go for a while. We do however know another crazy cat lady who has become a great friend and when you combine having her in your life, Polly curled up at the end of your bed and this piece of stretchy rubber from Micro scooters, what comes out the other end is a crazy cat boy (on wheels)...

The Micro scooter Attach-its are a great little accessory which give my little scooter enthusiast the chance to attach pretty much anything of child size. A drinks bottle, favourite cuddly toy maybe? Or in Opeie's case a crazy collection of cats. We've had some looks scooting around Telford with our small army of cats and I've loved Opeie's happy little face taking care of his furry friends.

We've reached our limit on the amount of cats the Attach-it can hold but they come in packs of two (one large one small) so we'll soon be finding space for Opeie's other feline companions. If that fails and the cats keep coming we may have to move on to a Micro Scooter bottle holder (I think we can get at least three in one of those). Meow!

"Open the door, get on the floor. Everybody walk the dinosaur"

 After attending the Jurassic World game event a few weeks back i couldn't wait to start getting my hands on the kits. Kit 75918 T. rex Tracker was the the one that caught Seth's eye and it came up in conversation many times over the course of the weekend. I love the sun being out as it means we get to build outdoors, very fitting for this dino build. I think the dinosaurs themselves are great and I'm really looking forward to eventually getting my hands on all of them.

The T. rex tracker is one of the larger sets from the range and the sheer size of the truck alone makes it well worth the money, so the big T. rex and three minifigures included are a real bonus. With 520 parts in the kit it did take the boys sometime to build but the look of satisfaction on their faces when they had finished was priceless.

Cue, Dino faces!!

"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...