A Open Letter To My Children

Daddy writes this letter to you with deep regret in my heart, why may you ask? 

Simply because Mummy and Daddy are no longer together and it must be so confusing for all three of you especially when you occasionally ask why don't we all live together? and why don't you love Mummy no more Daddy?

When I married your Mummy I was the happiest and luckiest man in the world because I was marrying the the most beautiful fiancee anyone could ask for, this day was only ever topped off by the birth of each of you three wonderful, beautiful children.

Unfortunately as is in life all good things seem to come to a end at some point and Daddy being married to Mummy is another to add to that list.

I won't lie to you kids, Mummy and Daddy hadn't been good for a while before Mummy decided to call time on our marriage. Due to various reasons we didn't see eye to eye on things here and there and instead of sitting down and talking to each other about our problems we let them fester and build up to the point where enough was enough and your Mummy decided the time was right to leave.

Maybe Daddy wasn't a good enough husband, friend, best friend, lover, soul mate etc but I know I'm going to be the best ever Daddy you'll ever have.

Over time various reasons might come out about me and your Mum separating, some truer than others but I want all three of you to know that I truly love you. In fact I've loved you deeply from the moment you were born.... No in fact I've loved you right from the moment your Mummy told me she was pregnant with each of you.

I will never stop loving and caring for you guys wherever you may be. Yes you might be little pains at times and no doubt you'll grow up to bigger pains in time but my love for you will never ever die, in fact it will grow stronger as each day passes by. No matter who entered or leaves my life you three will always be my number one well my number one's lol.

Love Daddy.

Daddy & Daughter Day Out

Today I decided that as the boys were at school all day I would take my daughter out for the day, so I picked her up before the school run and took her to Drayton Manor Park.

We arrived at the park before the rides were open so we took a steady walk round the zoo and went and said good morning to whatever animals and birds had come out to say hi, well that's what L-A was doing every time she walked past any of the enclosures lol.

Once we had finished our wonder round the zoo and by now the rides were all open we made our way round to Thomas Land to begin our day of theme park rides.

I won't go in to boring details of what we went on and when but I'll just say we went on many many rides, on the train twice, once pulled by Percy and the next time pulled by Thomas himself, we went on the tranquil boat ride round the lake and also watched Yogi Bear in 4D which was really good to be honest.

L-A was a little scared on some of the rides yet moaned when it was time to get off of them cause she was enjoying them but the biggest thing I was most proud of today was the fact she went on the Buffalo roller-coaster and really enjoyed it because she said she was "like mummy" because her mummy loves roller-coasters.

Well that was our day out at Drayton Manor Park which we both really enjoyed.

#WICKED WEDNESDAY'S

This needs no explanation just because we could we did lol

OKIDO - Magazine Review and TV Programme Trailer

This issue of OKIDO is all about having friends and making new friends.

(Here is Messy Monster and his friends Zoe and Felix.)

This issue to be honest has come in handy just at the right time as my boys are both going back to school where they will be going back to both old and new friends alike.

Back to the magazine before I get side tracked lol, this magazine as I said is about having and making friends. The first section if the magazine is about the lead character Messy Monster and his friends Felix and Zoe making friends with Grumpyko.

This is a good little story that my boys enjoyed because it taught them that even if people don't initially want to be your friend don't be nasty in return as like Grumpyko they may still need your help and then through that become your friends.

Also in this issue there is many other stories telling the children about how to make friends and cool activities they can do with their friends like secret handshakes and how to make picnic food that they can share with their friends.

Okido magazine, created in 2007, is an illustrated bi-monthly arts and science magazine printed on FSC paper using vegetable inks and contains no adverts. Okido magazine costs £4, retails through over 50 independent shops, galleries and museum stores, has over 2K subscribers and is distributed via Intermedia. Each issue of Okido contains scientific questions and theories, which are answered in the most creative and artistic manner, for children to explore at home with their families and with regular leads into the national curriculum. 

Starting on Monday at 4.20 on Cbeebies Messy Monster is brought to life in his very on show.

Messy goes to Okido is an animated TV series, directed by Bafta winner Liz Whitaker (Bob the Builder, Pingu and Timmy Time). Messy Monster is brought to life by lead voice talent Adam Buxton (The Adam & Joe Show, Bugged, Son of Rambow, Hot Fuzz). Each episode of Messy goes to Okido is based on themes drawn from the OKIDO magazines; gravity, snow, floating, rain, hunger, germs, magnets, atoms and colour. The show is aimed at pre-school children and is a mix of CGI and 2D animation combined with live action. The series is produced by Doodle Productions in London.

Here's a trailer for your little ones to enjoy.

Bristol International Balloon Fiesta (Giveaway within)

Don't know what to do this holiday?

Don't know what to do this weekend?

Then why not head down to the International Balloon Fiesta 2015 which is being held in Bristol.

This weekend sees the return of the 37th annual Bristol International Balloon Fiesta, which is a spectacular, free four day event running from Thursday 6th - Sunday 9th August.

This year the Balloon Fiesta will not only feature one but TWO Mighty Morphin Power Ranger hot air balloons, they have been designed to replicate the the iconic Pink and Red Power Rangers Helmets. 

As well as Power Rangers hot air balloons, on the ground all five Mighty Morphin Power Rangers will be there for a meet and greet with the fans and they will be giving away some exciting merchandise too, so whether your a Mighty Morphin Power Rangers fan, a hot air balloon enthusiast or your just looking for something awesome to do this weekend why not head on down to the Bristol International Balloon Fiesta and have a awesome weekend.

In the mean time why not take part in my competition I've got a fabulous Mighty Morphin Power Rangers bundle up for grabs including Power Rangers Megazord and Costumes.

Power Rangers Giveaway

Model Making Friday

Father's Day weekend started for me on Friday at my sons nursery school as they held a Daddy and child model making session.

As Mummy was attending BritMums Live I put L-A in her pushchair and we both headed off to TP's nursery school to see what fun activities awaited us.

Once we arrived at his nursery and finally found him TP took us over to an empty space in his playground and disappeared, then all of a sudden he reappeared with boxes, glue, scissors and sticky tape saying "Daddy, Daddy I wanna build a T-Rex, I wanna make a T-Rex Daddy" at this point I thought " God help me, how am I going to do that?".

So I grabbed the boxes and thought very hard about how to make a T-Rex or even something that might even resemble a T-Rex or even something that would look like a dinosaur to be honest whilst I was looking round and seeing other Daddies constructing wonderful looking model dinosaurs.

I began sticking boxes together and attaching toilet roll tubes to the boxes whilst TP disappeared off with his friends, playing and looking at what their Daddy's were making. "A T-Rex is what he wanted" I could hear myself thinking, "it looks more like a bloody robotic spider" I could hear myself saying aloud.

TP finally reappeared with an apple in one hand and a carton of milk in his other, he looked at his model, looked at me smiled and said "Daddy that's awesome thanks" music to my ears.

As well as model making the children had dinosaur related stories read to them, they played games based around dinosaur themes and everyone had a fabulous time right up till it was time to go.

Now was the time I have to openly admit that I enjoyed and enjoyed I did just that lol. I've not gone mad but picture the scene if you can, all morning the Daddy's had been making fabulous models for their little treasurers, obviously although they won't admit it they were competing against each other as Daddy's do to make the best and the biggest models going. Mine was about the size of a standard computer keyboard and easy to carry this is were it go fun.

The teacher pipped up with "the session is now over, thanks for coming, hope you all had fun and please can you all take your models home with you", boom that was like most of the Dads had been smacked in the face by the teacher herself as you could see the Dads thinking "great I made this bloody model big how am I supposed to get it home?" Whilst I just walked past them all with TP happily carrying his model easily home for everyone to see what we'd made at our model making session lol.

 

This BritMums Weekend Was Different To The Rest

Since June 2013 Tammy has been attending BritMums Live without fail. In 2013 she was that nervous about going and meeting up with fellow bloggers she took our little princess L-A with her for company. I took the boys down to meet up with her after nursery had finished so she wasn't alone and scared, so she had some company and so she had her loving family around her in the big scary city.

Obviously whilst mummy attended BritMums Live I did take the boys sight seeing round London which was awesome, we did so much and saw so much in those two days, you can read about our fun and interesting experience's here.

Last year she went to BritMums alone, well I say alone she actually roomed with the ever awesome Cathie Boyle, which was great for her because she had company for the entire weekend and wasn't going to be alone and scared staying in the hotel by herself. It also gave me piece of mind that she wasn't going to be alone, that she'd have a fab friend she was rooming with and she was going to be safe.

Well that leads us to BritMums Live 2015, the one I had been dreading for weeks in all honesty, why? I hear you ask, because this BritMums changed everything, Tammy wouldn't be alone anymore instead she'd she had the company of her new boyfriend. Yes I imagined she'd still be scared and nervous but that's how she is but she'd have him to put his loving arms around her, to look after her, to comfort her to protect her in her time of need.

This was the BritMums that Tammy wasn't coming home as my wife but instead returning as my ex wife and more so just the mother of our children.

Not Everything Appears As It First Seems

I would like to go on record and put the world to right about the situation myself and Tammy find ourselves in now.

As many of you would of found out this weekend either via Twitter on Sunday or at Britmums on Friday and Saturday, Tammy and I are no longer together as husband and wife and Tammy is now in a new relationship with another man who some of you may or may not know.

Some of you may find the whole situation shocking and through what's been said to myself some of you found it a little awkward at Britmums seeing them two together whilst I was alone at home looking after our three wonderful children.

I would like to at this point thank each and everyone of you who took time out of your busy days to check in on me and see how I was doing and offer me your support and kinds words, so for that I'm extremely greatful.

The real truth of the matter is 

It's Not All How It First Appears, yes Tammy is now with her new boyfriend and I truly wish them all the happiness that their time together will bring them for many years to come.

At this point I hear you gasp and ask how are you being so nice about the whole situation especially as your wife left you for another man? To answer that question I can only say that for the last two years our marriage has been rocky to the point that even the simplest of things like

"I love you"

Wasn't said enough, instead we argued and bickered about various stuff, dragging ourselves through each day more so for the kids than anything else, leading to the point where my six year old son turned to me and said

"Daddy why do you and mummy argue? Why can't you two be happy together?"

Then at a family wedding my four year old turns to his mummy saying

"mummy you and daddy are never happy like those (point to the bride and groom) were you ever happy mummy?"

Then you realise it is as bad as you thought and you hadn't done a very good job of covering it up for the children.

As for Tammy's new boyfriend his been a solid rock to her helping her deal with TP's autism, something that I couldn't do as I didn't understand it myself in all honesty let alone how to deal with it all.

So yes over the month's they have grown closure together as we have moved further apart to the point we became more like friends living under the same roof rather than husband and wife.

I noticed the signs that he was making her happy before she did in all honesty, the little smile on her face when he messaged her, the twinkle in her eye whenever she mentioned him and strangly deep down in my heart I knew before either of them that they'd end up being together as a couple.

Then came the night we went to bed at 11 and chatted all night long till I got up at 5.30, we chatted about our past, our present and our future, I told her that although it was extremely hard to accept I knew this was the right thing to do for all concerned to call a day on our marriage.

I told her I wished her and him all the best for the future, to not make the silly mistakes we'd made over the years, to tell each other how much u love each other on a daily basis and to be happy for many years to come. 

Then it was like a massive weight had been lifted, we both felt alot happier than we had for quite a while in all honesty.

I think that although it's extremely hard to let go of the amazing lady I fell in love with almost 17 years ago and the only lady I've ever loved, I can stand here today and let everyone know that I'm happy for them both and I have no hard feelings nor bitterness towards them and neither should anyone else, they've done nothing wrong apart from fall in love and as they say

"You Can't Help Who You Fall In Love With"

Swimming Adventure

Today whilst JR was at school Tammy and I decided to take TP and L-A swimming.

Well when I say we took them swimming what I mean is I took them all to the leisure centre and took some photos whilst mummy took them in the pool as I don't like going swimming.

Today was a special occasion for the children as it was the first time they'd got to try out their new Swimfin, which they loved having with them.

The pool was a bit busy as there was a school swimming lesson going on at the same time which slightly scared my two at first but they eventually began to enjoy themselves and even more so when mummy let them have the Swimfin on, then it was time to go and fetch JR before we even knew it lol.

Peppa Pig: My Daddy Book Review + Giveaway

I like many other Daddies out there love reading stories to their children, whether it be old story books you have read time after time or new stories that none of you have read before.

So when I was approached to see if I would be interested in reviewing a Peppa Pig book from Ladybird for the children I naturally jumped at the chance.

My children love watching Peppa Pig and have a few Peppa Pig books already of their own so when Daddy told them I had a new book to read they couldn't wait to go to bed and have it read to them as much as I couldn't wait to read it to them.

This Peppa Pig book is about Peppa and George's Daddy and all the things they love about him and all the things he does with them they love doing. 

When you read this book with your children you can read the pages and relate to the story and if your like me you can even adapt the things on the page to what you do with your little ones to add a extra bit of extra fun the bed time reading.

 

This book is price marked at £4.99 which I think is a reasonable price for a hardback book which can be used over and over again across the bedtime years. I did however find this book on a few Internet sights priced at £2.99 which makes it a even better bargain for such a fun bedtime book.

You can follow Lady Bird Books on:-

Twitter 

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Now is your chance to win your very own copy of this fabulous book my entering my competition below. 

PEPPA PIG: MY DADDY BOOK GIVEAWAY

This book was sent to me free of charge and all the opinions and wording is solely mine.