Live from the very muddy National Ploughing Championships!

Tents, tents and more tents!

Hi everyone, this week’s blog is coming to you live form the National Ploughing Championships in New Ross, Co Wexford.  

As the biggest outdoor agricultural event in Europe it will attract 200,000 visitors over the 3 days, so with all those people around I just had to come.  Here I am sniffling and spluttering my way through the week with a stinker of a head cold battling mud, wet, cold and rain trying to tell everyone about Adam and his books.

Besides feeling a bit groggy it really is quite an experience. When I first arrived on Monday night to set up I felt I had entered a scene from an apocalyptic movie where aliens invaded the earth, and prepared a makeshift tented campus with flood lights & announcements over the PA system, ready to round up and contain all the humans. Really weird.

The kids would have lots of fun in this!

The buzz of excitement on day one, (yesterday), was quickly dampened by shocking weather of driving rain and freezing temperatures. The gloomy faces, most with their hair soaked and stuck to their faces, walked around with wet muddy boots, jeans and jackets. The mood however was temporally interrupted with giggles as a number of people slipped on the muddy floors, arms and legs all over the place, right in front of my stand despite repeated warnings of the dangers. Thankfully no one was injured.

I do wonder though if the lad I saw walking around in nothing more than a tee shirt is still alive or at best in bed with the flu today.

Another day, here we go again!

As the day came to a close everyone was happy to put the day behind them and get ready for day 2, but that was put on hold with a 2 hour traffic jam. We all waited patiently and tried to inch our way out of a field where thousands of cars were trying to squeeze through a single farm gate to an already blocked country lane.

So here we are on day 2 with less rain, a bit warmer and fewer sniffles so hopefully all goes well today.

With snifflly smiles going out to everyone this is Benji signing off till next week’s big surprise!

Go Ga-Ga for a Giggle!

Robbie found it all so funny!

Hi again and thanks for checking out this week’s ‘Benji’s Blog’.

In advance of a lovely surprise for you next week I have a small experiment for you this week to help answer a question that occurred to me while I was at my niece’s amazing wedding last weekend.

While sitting around the table the night before the wedding I was hit with a fit of giggles brought on by good old fashioned banter between friends and family. It was then that a simple thought occurred to me. Do I/we laugh enough? And does laughing make you happier? A fairly straight forward question with a fairly straight forward answer you might think?

While pondering this ancient question that has baffled philosophers and psychologists for years I think I have discovered the answer by way of a small experiment. To know whether you laugh enough you need to measure 2 important things, quality and frequency.

Even walking in the rain makes Molly giggle!

FREQUENCY 

Giggles happen because someone does something funny, silly or by accident, they don’t just arrive on their own. So you have to be silly more often to get at least one quality giggle a day. There are a million ways to make a giggle happen with the kids, including mad dancing in the kitchen, pretending to trip or fall or, my favourite, interrupting a staring competition with the kids by blowing in their face.

QUALITY 

Now for the Stubble Rubble Tickle Experiment to measure giggle quality. We all know what it is like to cry like a baby or sleep like a baby, so now we have to measure if we laugh like a baby to know if we laugh enough.

All you need is 2 small pudgy baby hands and a bit of facial stubble. Sorry Mums, unless you have a beard this one is only for the Dads but be sure to make them have a go. Simply grab the baby’s hands so that their palm is on your face. Then slide their palms across your face for the best stubble tickle ever.  The kids love it and giggle their nappies off and should send you off on a giggle as well. For extra fun try it with the soles of their feet.

Harry having a great giggle while holding Adam.

When you know how a baby laughs and giggles it is only then that you know whether your laughs meet the quality criteria for a good quality giggle. Giggles need to be made and giggles need to be big so we can all laugh enough and be happy in our nappies every day.

Please send in your ideas for getting a giggle in your house to benjisblog@adamscloud.com, so that we can share them and maybe you could win a prize.

Till next week, lots of love, hugs and kisses,

Benji. 

There’s Magic on The Streets For Everyone To Share

Before I get into this week’s blog I just wanted to thank everyone who posted a review and downloaded the 'Before you Sleep' iBook on the Apple iStore. THANKS A BUNCH!  J

Now! On with the show! This week I would like to share a magical moment I had with the kids last weekend and offer a suggestion on how you might capture the same magic with your family.

My Magical Moment This Week

Fun & games on Dun Laoghaire Pier

You may have noticed me “Facebooking” and tweeting like a madman over the weekend? Well that was because there was such a wonderful atmosphere in Dun Laoghaire as the MOD70 European boat race came to town.  

As impressive as the huge Trimarans were, racing around Dublin Bay, it was the wonderful street performers that stole the show for me & the kids. Jugglers, magicians and street acrobats all swooped down to the pier loaded up with giggles galore as they cast their magical spell on all the kids and their Mums & Dads.

What made this experience particularly magical and memorable was hearing the excited screams and laughs bursting out of Molly and Robbie as they watched in amazement, and interacted with these truly talented performers. It really was one of those days where your heart can’t help but dance as a warm feeling of happiness envelopes everyone with the sound of children laughing in the sun in a wonderful setting. 

Here is a small clip of the fun with Robbie, still wearing his helmet, and Molly bursting with excitement. Great fun.

Discover The Magic for Yourself

So this week I share with you the magic of the streets. You don’t have to wait till the next festival to come your way to catch these guys, they are always out and about on the streets doing their thing and entertaining the masses with their unusual talents.

So, for a magical family day out I strongly recommend taking the kids into town on the bus, train, bike or by foot and make your way to the nearest tourist hotspot or pedestrianized area, where you will be guaranteed to find a wonderful act waiting to cast their magical spell on you and the kids. Don’t forget to fill their hats to thank them for entertaining you all, and afterwards why not splash out on a little treat for the kids to make it an extra special day to remember.

It's amazing what these guys can do!

As always, let me know if and where you find them so I can spread the word. Dublin’s Grafton Street or Temple Bar on Sunday is always great, and of course if you happen to get the chance to visit London’s Covent Garden it is amazing. You could check out “Street Theatre Ireland” on Facebook, they are doing a gig in Cabinteely Park at 1 o’clock on 23^rd of September or let me know of any other places you think would be useful at benjisblog@adamscloud.com.

Don’t forget we need your help so please share the Magical Moments blogs with your friends and help make a hug!

Lots of love, hugs and kisses,

Benji. 

Great News! Can you help me share it?

Well, I can only assume you are all rejoicing at the fact that the kids are gone back to school, Thank God! I know it seemed like only 5 minutes before they all arrived back dumping the bags at the front door, searching the cupboards for food and trashing the clean kitchen in the process, but I hope you all took a moment to yourselves before they got back. Next stop, Halloween and Christmas Day which, by the way, is only 142 days away. Yippee!

We interrupt this Magical Moments blog with a

Very Important Service Announcement….

Before You sleep is now available in the iStore!

'Before you Sleep' is now an amazing iBook that you can download directly from the Apple iStore. Whoa! That’s so cool, I hope this gets your approval, referrals and reviews.

And here's some even better news, to celebrate this launch we've set the price at €1.99 for the rest of the week, (it's normally €3.99), so hurry, hurry! Here's the link to the Apple iStore again.

It was a rather difficult decision to turn “Before you Sleep” into an iBook given the debate that rages around kids and electronics these days. I guess if it means lots more extra hugs and kisses for more kids it is probably worth taking the chance, so I hope you agree and give me your ‘likes’.

Just look for 'Before You Sleep' on iTunes, we're there!

What’s most exciting is that 'Before you Sleep' magically comes to life with wonderful sound effects to accompany my specially recorded reading of the book, which of course you can turn off if you want. The 4-6 year old kids in the focus group have given it the thumbs up, so it’s fully approved by the critics!

Maybe you could help me and Adam touch more families by doing us a huge favour and post a review or rating on the Apple iStore to help it get up the rankings. Hopefully this will allow more families receive Adam’s little message of love, laughter and fun in the home.

This ends our Important Service Announcement. 

Normal Magical Moments service resumes next week...

… so that’s it for this week I hope you enjoyed our magical moment. Thanks again for all your support and stay tuned for a big surprise from me and Adam in the coming weeks.  Oh and please share this with your friends, thanks!

Lots of love, hugs and kisses,

Benji.