If you follow me on social media then you may well have noticed just how much we love our LEGO Scooby Doo Mystery Machine, despite the fact that we lost part of it off Yarmouth Pier!

You may even have spotted that our latest LEGO acquisition was the Scooby Doo Mystery Mansion (review will follow). We even blogged about our Mystery Machine On Tour when we went to the Just So Festival, and I will at some point post about the Isle Of Wight #MysteryMachineOnTour


It seems we aren't the only ones who love LEGO Scooby though, WB Kids have taken it a step further and are creating stop-motion animation from the Scooby Doo LEGO sets. They're only about a minute long, each one tells a little story, and they're very well done!

When I was given the chance to review a shiny new HD dashcam from Cobra, how could I refuse? The HD picture is incredibly clear, even in low light, and it has night vision! It removes easily from your vehicle, is neat and small, and it looks good.


This is Manchester. To get just about anywhere you go on the M60, and heaven help you if you need to travel across the country, because then your option is the 'ever-slow-due-to-an-accident' M62. There's a fair bit of traffic, a lot of impatience, and you see a lot more accidents than you'd like.

I read Miffy books with my children, and I well remember Miffy from when I was a child. In fact Miffy has been with us since 1955 and is celebrating her 60th birthday this year. One of the oldest lasting children's favourites, the Dick Bruna classic Miffy is returning to our TV screens in Miffy’s Adventures: Big and Small

Launching on Tiny Pop on 2 October 2015, at 7pm, this is the first time Miffy will be seen in CGI and is ideal for bedtime. The episodes in the series are a comfortable 7 minutes long, perfect for your pre-school viewers.

We're big fans of Super Heroes here, so the new Marvel sets are something our young lads will get a lot of play value from. The SHIELD Helicarrier might be a bit beyond us, but at £11.99 the Carnage's SHIELD Sky Attack is within most budgets.


A few of the bigger Marvel Superheroes sets have a recommended age 7 or 8, but the smaller sets are age 6 and this is a nice easy one which my 5 year old can build alone quite quickly. With 97 pieces it's actually quite a complex and sturdy model, and great little play set. Inside the box we have 2 bags of bricks, instruction booklet and a small sheet of stickers.

Monday 21st September is International Peace Day, declared by the General Assembly as "a day devoted to strengthening the ideals of peace, both within and among all nations and peoples".

In light of the current refugee crisis throughout Europe and beyond we are all painfully aware that the world is not at peace, and far too many people have their lives affected and ruined by conflict and war. There is not peace among all nations and peoples.

It's impossible for me to look at those people and not think of their personal peace. Their children or parents lost, the life they used to know has gone. And on top of that they are having to run, and give up everything else they have. I can't understand where they find the strength to carry on. There is not peace within these people. 

In the last couple of years focus of inner wellbeing in the UK has begun to swing, and meditation and mindfulness are being taken as seriously as tablets and potions.

I'm no spring chicken any more, I'm a post 40 blogger. As I have got older my skin has become drier and more patchy, with rosy red areas. I'm not a big wearer of make up, but that doesn't mean I've given up on my appearance and I am always happy to try something that says it will 'help fight visible signs of fatigue' and 'intensely hydrate skin'. Sounds good to me.


Liz Earle Superskin Face Serum is for use after you wash/tone and before you moisturise. Ideal for morning use to iron out those overnight wrinkles, it is probably more useful to women over 30.

Pictopia Disney Edition from Wonderforge is a picture trivia game recommended for age 7+. A board game that works very differently from most we have played, this isn't one for younger children as it has more complicated rules, but it's easy once you start to play and the variation in questions really adds to the gameplay.


A Disney game would not be something I'd have thought to buy before, but we love this. My partner and I have even played it when the kids aren't there. It turns out there really is plenty of Disney to suit everyone.

The LEGO Awesome Ideas Book by Daniel Lipkowitz was released by Dorling Kindersley at the beginning of this month, and it's my favourite LEGO ideas book yet. Like other books released by LEGO it doesn't just give instructions about how to build exact models, it is full of techniques, hints and tips and should really spark your LEGO creativity.


With a 3D cover packed with some of the amazing things you can create using plans found in the book. it impresses before you even open it (although it does make it hard to photograph!). Inside the book is split into 5 distinct sections - Outer Space, Modern Metropolis, The Wild West, Fantasy Land and The Real World.

The most important thing to say about the LEGO Ninjago Temple Of Airjitzu is that it's stunningly beautiful. Truly a gorgeous model that I've spent the last few days really enjoying. It was a lovely build and uses some amazing build techniques as well as ingenious use of existing LEGO elements. It's not a simple build and the 14+ suggested age guide is right.

In most parts of the world suicide is still a crime. It's not important to me on what grounds unaffected people around the world decide suicide is a crime, but I do think personally it counts as theft. It takes so much more than your friend, relation or acquaintance. So much more than they could ever see. It takes your stability, your comfort, your confidence, your time, your sanity. It takes your innocence. It takes away your trust and belief in everything. Things that don't happen do happen, nothing is unexpected. We live in a world where children really die. We live in a world where there is no clarity and everything is confusing and stressful. You wonder if anything will ever be normal again. You look at other people having fun and you remember when you were like them. You smile and you think back to when you were allowed a little naivety.

It's been 13 months since we lost our oldest girl and I had intended to stop my monthly updates and just post about the smiles, but this last month has been one which really does show how fragile we still are individually and as a family unit.