The Godzilla Household

Half-term has been a noisy affair in our household.  Dave and Lucas went to see the new Godzilla film and since then, all I can hear is Godzilla-esque "Skreeonk!" noises and epic kaiju (monster) battles.

Lucas's fascination with Godzilla started a few years ago after watching an episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars with the capture of the Zillo Beast.  Dave mentioned off-handedly that it was based on Godzilla, Lucas wanted to know what that was, and ever since I've found myself immersed in Godzilla and kaiju.

Now, he's not just got a passing interest in it....he's a proper fan.  He can tell you when a movie was filmed and why they used certain monsters and not others, and all sorts of arcane bits of information.  Friends in America feed his habit by sending across occasional issues of the G-Fan magazine which he treasures.  (I love how obsessed kids can get with things.  My brother was the same when he was a kid--obsessed with tartans (of all things) and could tell you all about any sort of tartan you could think of, along with the history of the clan it belonged to.)

On our last holiday in America, we had to drive to four different Toys R Us stores to find him a Godzilla and then a Mecha-Godzilla toy!  Godzilla needed someone to battle, after all!  He spent all of his holiday money on Godzilla toys and has loved them ever since.

All this Godzilla love has culminated in Lucas and Dave's first Godzilla film! Complete with CGI (cardboard-generated imagery).  Feast your eyes on 8 seconds of awesome!



(Dave used iMotion HD to film on his iPhone. Lucas made the flames and atomic breath with some cardboard and colouring pens. Toy extras courtesy of Lucas's extensive [sigh] collection.)

The boys are already planning their next film and Lucas is busy writing and drawing his own Godzilla comic.  I'm wondering if I'm looking at a future Hollywood wunderkind...hopefully he'll remember his dear old Mum when he's walking the red carpet at his first film premier!!

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20/52

We went for a walk in the woods first thing this morning.  It's rapidly becoming one of my favourite things to do, even though I am basically a walking buffet for every small biting fly in the area.

It's worth a few bites though for pictures like this and a gorgeous hour spent with my little family.  Lucas scampered up and down slopes and picked me a huge bag of wild garlic as we walked.  He's a good lad, that one.  We found loads of gorgeous, creative benches; I managed to catch this just as Lucas was having a sit-down on one and Dave said something hilarious to him.  If only I could remember what...

Joining in with Jodie's 52 Project.

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Severn Beach: rugged charm (#BEDM 7)

The Second Severn Crossing

Severn Beach is one of the least beachy beaches I know.  Still, despite the lack of golden sands, it does have a rugged, windswept (and muddy) charm of its own.  I'd never been there before, but I immediately recognised it's muddy shores from an episode of Bonekickers--did anyone else watch that show?  I loved it!

We ventured out that way a few weeks ago, taking advantage of some rare sunshine to get some fresh air and a nice walk.

One of my favourite things to do is watch Lucas explore and play.  (He probably has no idea, based on the amount of times I've told him to play more quietly!)  It was fun to watch him explore such a different landscape, a world away from golden sands and paddling, and to see where his imagination took him.

Lucas struck out across the lichen-covered rocks, exploring an alien planet like The Doctor, but as soon as he found a stick he turned into Gandalf.  "You shall not pass!" he yelled at a seagull.  The seagull looked quite taken back.

Shades of grey

We discovered loads of puffy bladderwrack on the high tide line, thrown up by the winter storms.  Lucas was fascinated by the texture, but wasn't quite brave enough to take off his gloves in case the seaweed was 'slimy'.

Lucas thought twice about walking on the mud. Lucas is very wise.

It was a lovely walk and Lucas really let his imagination run wild.  The fresh air really blew away my mental cobwebs and got me firmly in the mood for spring.

And apropos of nothing...here are my boys having a staring contest.  As you do...

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16/52 to 18/52 (#BEDM day 5)

16/52 Lucas loves Easter egg hunts.  This was him, practically vibrating with excitement, before we let him loose in Nanny and Granddad's garden with his cousins to hunt down delicious chocolate eggs!

17/52 My gorgeous, geeky, little boy.  Sometimes I look at him and wonder how I got so lucky...

18/52 Lucas can't resist an iPad. It turns out that this is the trick to catching a candid picture of him...get him utterly engrossed in a game!  Here he's playing a Hero Factory game at LEGOland before we dragged him out into the sunshine to have good old-fashioned fun!

Joining in with Jodie's 52 Portrait project.  I can't believe we're 18 weeks into the year already.  Is this the Year of the Greyhound?!

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Happy Easter!

Happy Easter, everyone!  Lucas would like to share a Creme Egg cupcake with you all.

We had an early Easter egg hunt on Good Friday at Nanny and Granddad's with Lucas's cousins.  The Easter Bunny visited and left lots of eggs hidden in their beautiful garden, so after a massive fry-up we let the kids loose and enjoyed watching the fun!

Leila was surprisingly good at spotting eggs.  I paused to take a beautifully framed shot of a blue egg nestled beneath the contorted hazel and before I knew it, she'd swooped in and grabbed it.  Yoink!

As for the cupcakes...if you have some spare mini Creme Eggs (or even some mini Caramel eggs) that you fancy trying something different with, then these are a delicious option.  I mean...cake, still-gooey Creme Eggs nestled in the middle, buttercream and a drizzle of dark chocolate?  That's way better than just a plain old creme egg, right?

I used this recipe for the mini Creme Egg cupcakes.  When I came up with the idea a few weeks ago, I thought, "What a brilliant and utterly unique idea!"  And of course, it turned out that many, many people had the same brilliant and unique idea.  I guess that makes it an epically awesome idea.

Happy Easter!

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Catching up (13, 14, 15/52)

15/52

Time sure does fly when you're having fun!  That's the only explanation I can come up with for being two weeks behind with my 52 Portraits of Lucas...

15/52: I finally got around to putting a fringe on the kid-sized version of the Fourth Doctor scarf that I knitted for Lucas.  Here he is, doing his very best Tom Baker, at the front door.  Would you like a jelly baby?

14/52

14/52: Since watching the Winter Soldier, Lucas has taken to carrying his Captain American shield everywhere.  He and Dave have turned trips to the supermarket into a series of clandestine missions.  My solo shopping trips will seem positively boring by comparison...

13/52

13/52: Lucas wearing the biscuit moustache that he piped while making my Mother's Day dinner.  I still have no idea why moustaches are suddenly in but Lucas looked pretty good with one!  It doubled up as an awesome dunker for the white chocolate mousse in the jar.

Joining in with Jodie's 52 Project!

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Life lately...

Found on Pinterest

Life is good right now.  Busy, but bloody good all the same!

I spent half of today at school doing PTA stuff, admiring the children's projects and watching the Easter bonnet parade.  Tomorrow I'm baking a birthday cake for a friend and in the evening there's this month's WI meeting.  Apologies if anyone sees me out and about in a weird lycra-based outfit...we're doing street dance this month and there's a prize for the best outfit!  I'm going to channel Beyonce and Rhianna.  Actually, just cover your eyes until Friday to be on the safe side!

Thanks to Lucas and Dave I had an amazing Mother's Day on Sunday.  They thoroughly spoiled me.  Not only did I get some Baileys fudge and a lens adaptor to let me use my old Canon nifty fifty on my new camera, they spent the whole day in the kitchen making me dinner!

They were so sweet about the whole thing.  For the last week they've both been bursting with excitement and loving keeping the menu a secret.  It was totally worthwhile!  They did seared scallops on local black pudding, with minted pea puree followed by Lamb Kleftiko which was amazingly delicious if perhaps not the most photogenic dish ever and finished off with white chocolate mousse and homemade langues de chat.  All utterly delicious.  They're justifiably very proud of themselves!!

Over the last week or so I've found myself in the midst of an epic craft spree.  First I played with hot glue (and made a tiny mess, but that's all cleared up now so we shall say no more) and made a spring wreath for the front door.  I'm rather thrilled with how it's turned out (and the postman said nice things about it to me this morning).  I also crocheted a bird and a few flowers to adorn Lucas's Easter hat for the Easter Bonnet parade at school.  He didn't win (boo hiss etc) but he loves the bird so much that I might make adapt the pattern to turn it into an Angry Bird.

And then there was the crochet lining for my yarn basket... No more snagged yarn!

I want to finish it off with some ribbon around the outside edge (to hide the stitches) and a crocheted rose.  This calls for more hot glue!

I have just booked my hotel room (well, cell really as it's a windowless room at the EasyHotel), bought my train ticket and printed out my ticket for Blogtacular!  It's getting closer and closer; I'm super-excited and a bundle of nerves at the same time which is fun.  Lucy from London Loafing and I have hatched a cunning plan to form a cluster of nervous people who don't know anyone else IRL and fret together as a bonding exercise.  Really looking forward to all the workshops, particularly the photo styling one!!

How's life with you?

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Welcome to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Our Hogwarts letters (aka tickets)

Last month we finally, finally made it to Hogwarts!  Despite none of us being quite the right age, we were ushered through the imposing carved wooden doors into the Great Hall to take our places at Hogwarts.  (Okay, so it was actually The Harry Potter Studio Tour, but I'm allowed to pretend, okay?)

The opening of the doors was a tremendous bit of theatre and like everyone else, we 'ooohed' and 'aaahed' as they were revealed to us.  I'd very carefully not read much about the tour before we went, so this particular surprise was unspoiled for me.

Hogwarts newest pupils!

Walking into the Great Hall was a very special experience indeed.  The tables were laid for breakfast and we were able to get surprisingly close to everything which allowed us to spot all the little details.  Like the House Points counter which is only glimpsed a couple of times in the films.

Gryffindor wins!

Hogwarts crest plus the house crests on the fireplace in the Great Hall

Once we left the Great Hall we entered a veritable Aladdin's Cave of amazing sets and props.  Unsurprisingly, my eye was drawn straight away to the Chocolate Feast.  I'm amazed that the chocolate phoenix has survived for so long!

Unlike most people on the tour, I spent my time at the Gryffindor dormitory photographing Ron Weasley's bed rather than jockeying for that perfect shot of Harry's bed.  Not for any nefarious purposes, I hasten to add!  I'm just quite taken with the blanket on his bed.  Lucas was, too, and has asked if I could knit him one.  The Harry Potter films are stuffed full of wonderful knitted and crocheted objects!

Lucas stopped off for a bit of wand practice before we ventured into the Potions classrooms.  I think this was what turned him from mildly interested into a bit of a fan.  He devoured the first book within a few days after we did the tour!  (Reading with a wand in hand is seriously cute!)

My favourite part of the tour was seeing The Burrow.  The Weasleys have such a happy family life and I adore their cosy and eclectic kitchen with room for the whole family to gather and chat while dinner is cooking or to argue over the last piece of crackling. 

I am in love with the Welsh dresser, which has only served to fuel my need to have one!  I really wish this was my kitchen.
I wish I could show you a photo of everything, but with a thousand photographs between Dave and I, that would be an insanely long post!!  There were so many little details everywhere I looked; I spotted a Gnome Racing Championships cup in a prop cage.  How fabulous is that??
Talking of details, my mind was blown by the work that the graphics department had put into all the newspapers, textbooks and letters.  I stood and read the front page of The Daily Prophet and wished that I could turn the pages.  My eye was caught by this rather pink notepaper:

Halfway through the tour was the back lot where all the large props were kept, like Number 4, Privet Drive and the Knight Bus.  There was also Butterbeer!

Epic Butterbeer moustache!

Lucas and I knocked on the door of Number 4, Privet Drive, but no one was home.  I'm not sure what I'd have said if one of the Dursleys had opened the door!

When we ventured into the next hangar, we found lots of model making and animatronic displays, but they were totally eclipsed by Diagon Alley!!

Welcome to Diagon Alley!

We stepped onto the cobbled street and walked past Cauldrons, marvelling at the sheer variety and the teetering tower of cauldrons outside which must surely have been held up by magic!  There was such a big crowd outside Gringotts that I was worried that there was a run on the bank, but it turned out to be Crookshanks who was chasing a clockwork mouse to amuse the Muggles.

The last stop on our magical tour was the Hogwarts model.  This was huge!  Not full-size, but still absolutely stunning.  The lighting changed continually between day and night, when tiny lights twinkled in the windows.  The level of detail was breathtaking with perfect lines of grout between all the bricks of the castle walls and plants poking out of Professor Sprout's greenhouses!

And of course, no tour would be complete without seeing where the adventures began for Harry: the cupboard under the stairs.

If you're a Harry Potter fan and haven't done the tour yet, then I would highly recommend that you go!  We spent over four hours there and all had a wonderful time; I would go back again in a heartbeat!
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12/52

As much as Lucas hates to admit it, he's a bit poorly this weekend.  He was running a little bit of a temperature on Friday morning but still perfectly fine so I packed him off to school with some Calpol and over the weekend he's gradually worsened.  You could fry an egg on his forehead at the moment, poor lad.

He fell asleep in Dave's comfy chair while his bath was being run which is most unlike him.  Tomorrow's an inset day and I figure it will mostly involve curling up on the sofa with a blanket and watching his favourite cartoons.

The 52 Project: a portrait a week of my child with Jodie.

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