Not too late for Bay Area Disney on Ice Tickets

Disney on Ice opened at HP Pavilion tonight, but it's not too late to get tickets for tomorrow or this weekend!

(Not in the Bay Area? Get the full Disney on Ice show details and tour listings here.

 Disney On Ice presents Mickey and Minnie's Magical Journey
HP Pavilion at San Jose-October 20-24

Special Offer!

WEEKDAY SHOWS-Purchase a 4-pack of tickets for only $44 (not valid for FR/ VIP seating); redemption code: MOM
WEEKEND SHOWS-$5 off tickets to all performances (not valid for FR/ VIP seating);

Use code: MAGIC at http://www.ticketmaster.com/promo/ajyhf0 to get the discount.

There are two shows tomorrow (Matinee and evening) and three shows each day this weekend.

So grab those princess dresses and come on! We've been to two Disney on Ice shows and I've been beyond impressed by how much fun they really are. Even my daughter who swears she'll never go to Disney Land because she's scared of Mickey, adores going to these presentations. Frankly, I always have fun too! Plus, there's truly something special about seeing a sea of little girls in their princess finery!

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Pop on Pals Review

When the package came in the mail I was intrigued and then, I'll admit it, a bit disappointed. When I'd learned about Pop on Pals I'd had great hopes for the product. 

The concept - characters with interchangeable body parts seemed like it might foster great imaginative play and jump start some fun story telling.

When I took the toy out of the box I was dismayed to see that the construction wasn't as sturdy as I would have hoped for a toddler toy and I was a bit sad to see that the Amusement Park kit only contained one little person. I was prepared to watch the girls give it a once over and walk away.

Turns out I was wrong. Over the last few days this toy has been the focus of their play time. They send the roller coaster car speeding down the ramp, take the little girl for a ride in the ferris wheel, and since there is only the one little girl, they add toys from other lines to make the play more fun.

I had thought that changing the little girl's arms around would have been what they found most fun, but the arms have been set aside and they've been mostly focused on imaginative play with the girl. Not a bad thing at all! I can't help but wonder if having another set of people with removable parts might change their focus though.

Pop on Pals Pros:
- Cute, engaging toy.
- Music is tolerable. (We have a lot of toys that play really annoying music. This one I can handle.)
- Affordable - the big amusement park kit runs around $40.
- More fun than I imagined!
- Very cute website poponpals.com where little kids can do a little coloring and everyone can discover the full Pop on Pals line.

Pop on Pals Cons:

- The construction doesn't seem sturdy enough to withstand tough toddler play.
- Need a second set of people to make it really fun.
- Not quite readily available yet, though it's coming soon!

All in all, a fun toy to consider for your bigger and not too rough toddler or preschooler.

Please note, I did receive a Pop on Pals for review, but I was not otherwise compensated for this post. The opinions are mine and mine alone.

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Parent's Night Out deal for Bay Area Peeps

Some nights you just can't get a sitter and you still really need to get out. This weekend the brand new and awesome Juice in the City (Your daily kick in the pants (to go have fun!))  has paired up with Cubes&Crayons to allow you to do just that. 

Drop your pajama clad kids off in the snazzy Mountain View Cubes&Crayons for a few hours of fun and entertainment while you and whoever you chose to be with scamper off to go have some fun on the nearby Castro Street. 

Hurry, the deal ends at the end of the weekend and you're not going to want to miss this 1/2 off offer.

This not the deal for you? Subscribe to the Juice in the City newsletter so you can see all the other deals that will be offered! Not a local? Check it out anyway. New cities coming very soon!

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Vtech Mobigo Review

I have always been skeptical of gaming consoles for kids. They're either too complicated (which leads to crying) or too simplistic (which leads to boredom). I have seen kids (and adults) addicted to the Nintendo DS and Sony's PSP as well as other gaming systems which are great fun, but really fail when it comes to education. Frankly, I thought no one could get the right mix of playability and education into one box. And then we tried the MobiGo by Vtech.

Let me begin by voicing loudly my biggest complaint. We were only provided one MobiGo to review and now my kids (5 and almost 3) fight constantly to play with it. In the last three days the MobiGo has had to go in time out a good five times while they figure out how to take turns.

At first glance the MobiGo seems like all other portable electronic gaming systems. It's got a 4-directional button on the left, a screen in the middle, and a big button on the right. It's got a cartridge on the top. Seen it. Done it. Yawn.

Ok, fine. So I plug in the "Touch & Learn" cartridge and turn on the thing. It wants you to put in your name.  Seen that before too, right? Oh wait the whole screen flips up to reveal a full QWERTY keyboard! (Those who play with a Sidekick or other flip phones know what I'm talking about). OK that's pretty cool, but come on my kids are 5 and 2. Seemed a little excessive for me at first. But I'll get back to that later.

So then I get to select different games to play from the Touch & Learn cartridge. I can immediately tell there are letter games, number games, and other games to try out (actually 6 games in all). I tried to select one with the directional button but it didn't work. I have an iPod Touch, so my instinct was to touch the screen. It worked! The entire screen is touch sensitive! It turns out that (duh) the Touch & Learn cartridge relies heavily on the touch screen.

So the technology is there, but I was still skeptical about playability and educational value. I tried out what I call the "Squirrel game" first. In this game you simply use the touch screen to help a squirrel get nuts. The game directs you to basically connect the dots to move the squirrel. Pretty simple, but very intuitive especially for a 2 or 3 year old. The graphics are fantastic and the squirrel makes a cute noise every time he reaches a nut.

I moved on to the letter game. The goal of this game is to shoot rubber ducks with a water gun. Each duck has a letter on it and you shoot by finding the letter on the QWERTY keyboard. This is great! After about 10 minutes my 5 year old had a pretty good grasp of the location of many of the letters on the QWERTY keyboard. This game was actually both fun and educational. My 5 year old was reviewing her letters and was learning about the QWERTY keyboard all while being sucked into the fun graphics.

I like music so I had to try the music game. I was shocked to realize that this was Rock Band/Guitar Hero for little kids (except instead of Megadeath, you play Oh, Susanna). The guitar (or more aptly ukulele) has only four strings and a little note falls down each string for you to "pluck" it at the right moment. Brilliant! As I played more, the sophistication of the system revealed itself and you can also play piano and drums.

OK the technology is great, the games are fun and educational, but my last concern was would it hold the kids' attention for more than a day. Each game has an "easy" or "difficult" mode. The "Easy" level was easy for my 5 year old on some games (the squirrel game) and adequate on others (like the letter and number games).  If you do well on the easy level, then you're invited to play the difficult level. Frankly, the games are so much fun that both kids are still having a great time and my 5 year old is really learning her keyboard. She's even making distinct progress with her numbers, something we only recently realized she needed to work on.

The system is marked as being good for kids to 3-8-year-olds. The "Touch & Learn" cartridge supplied with the console won't keep the attention of the older kids for long, but VTech is releasing a large array of affordable games ($20 or so)  to go with the console.We only played with the original cartridge which didn't use any of the directional buttons on the console, but we're beyond impressed with the technology and functionality of the system and we can't wait to test out some of the other games.

So, in short, great game console with amazing potential. I love the fact that some of the mini-games are harder than others so that the kids have something easy to fall back on when they get frustrated with the more challenging tasks. The fact that they've still gone back to try the more challenging tasks after speaks volumes. The fact that they haven't stopped playing for the last three days and have made noticeable progress with numbers, letters, and problem solving speaks even higher to the quality of the educational content of this game system.

Pre-purchase the MobiGo at Amazon for $59.99. (Release date is supposed to be June 7th, though the date there says July 1st.)

Or Purchase the MobiGo at ToysRUs now for $59.99 and games for around $20.

Please note, I did receive a MobiGo console from VTech for review (and we get to keep it thank goodness or there would be a mutiny) however the opinions contained in this post are mine and mine alone, except for the parts written by my husband who was so taken with the device that he felt the need to write this review. His opinions are his and his alone too.

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Dance your way to Paris! Just Dance Contest (Deadline looming!)

I miss my home town more than you could imagine, and if I could dance at all I'd be first to participate in this contest. But since I can't dance to save my life, you'll have to go eat some crepes and say hi to my friends for me. 

What am I talking about? Why the Just Dance Talent Search! That's what! 

Oh fine, just read on. 

HOW TO ENTER:

Do you love to Just Dance? Here's YOUR chance to win a trip to Paris to choreograph a dance and to star in the next version of Just Dance!

Grand Prize
·         A trip to PARIS! Just Dance will send you and a friend to Paris. (I could be your friend! hint... hint...)
·         Become a professional choreographer! Work with the developers of the next version of Just Dance at the Ubisoft studios for 2 days to integrate YOUR moves into the game!
·         Star in the game! You will be transformed into a Just Dance character and star as the guest choreographer in the next version of Just Dance!
 

Enter now and YOUR moves could inspire millions...

Here's how to enter
1.     Choose a Song from the list below:
a.     'Proud Mary' by Ike and Tina Turner
b.     'When I Grow Up' by Pussycat Dolls
 

2.     Film yourself dancing to at least 60 seconds of the song
a.     Choreograph an original dance! Dance should be for all skill levels and FUN FUN FUN!!
b.     You must dance solo, there is no group prize.
c.      Be sure to film your entire body, we want to see all your moves!

3.     Upload your video to YouTube and submit your YouTube link via the "Submit Your Video" button here.

4.     Fill in all your information on the registration form found here.

5.     Check back often and get your friends to vote for you! The winner will be announced on Monday, May 24th so make sure to submit your video and get your votes in before then!

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Frap-it-your-way! However-You-Want-It Frappuccinos at Starbucks starting today

Did you know that at Starbucks there are 87,000 ways to create your Latte? If that wasn't enough, starting tomorrow, Tuesday, May 4th, you'll also be able to have 87,000 ways to create your Frappuccino. 

Now, personally, I'm a simple coffee girl. I like drip coffee, hot old cold, maybe with a splash of cream, and a dash of sugar, but even I had a blast designing my own Frappuccino. (For the record I went with White Chocolate, whole milk, decaf, with a Cinnamon Dolce topping. It was yum. And I don't want to know how many calories were in it. Thankyouverymuch.)

The long and short of it is that now you'll essentially be able to have whatever you want blended into a delightful cold frothy drink - from the 100 cal tall Skinny Frap to the please-don't-tell-me cal anything you want in a cup.

Worried you won't find what you like? Not a fan of coffee coffee? No worries. They have you covered. 
Strawberries & Creme,  Vanilla Bean, Chai, Green Tea, Double Chocolaty Chip, Mocha, Toffee Nut, Peppermint, Raspberry, Caramel, Hazelnut, Cinnamon Dolce. And I haven't even covered the toppings! I'll let you discover those for yourself.

But my favorite part in all this? Brand new, state of the art blenders that blend faster, smoother, and way, way quieter.

Good thing the weather is finally warming up. There are quite a few Frappuccinos for you to go try out.


Note: I was not paid to tell you any of this. I did receive a free Frappuccino and a coolio cup to take it home in. I'm just a big fan of the old Starbucks. Especially since they let me sit around all morning and work on my book there. Thus the excitement about the new quiet blenders. See? It all ties in somehow.

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Pierre the Penguin and his Neoprene Suit - Book review

One day, a penguin who had been happy and healthy for years, suddenly started losing his feathers. Instead of regrowing the way African Penguin's feathers usually regrow when they molt, his didn't, leaving him looking like the ugly duckling of the flock. 

Other penguins picked on him as he shivered and found himself unable to swim. 

But don't worry, this story has a very happy ending!

See, Pamela Schaller, biologist at the California Academy of Sciences, Pierre's home, found a way to help poor little Pierre.

She designed a teeny tiny wet suit for the little penguin.

The wet suit allowed Pierre to start swimming again and kept him nice and warm both on land and in the water. The other penguins stopped picking on him and life went back to normal, so much so that his real feathers started to grow again.

Today Pierre is living happily with his mate Honey at the brand new California Academy of Sciences, surrounded by the rest of his friends and family. And thanks to Jean Marzollo and Laura Regan, who were inspired by his plight and wrote a delightful children's book, aptly named Pierre the Penguin, kids around the world will be able to learn all about him and his teeny tiny wetsuit.

We got the book yesterday and C and Little L have already read it multiple times. Today C is even bringing it to school to show her friends and teachers. Pierre's story is a really inspiring tale about being different, about helping those in need, and really about enduring love. I think it will be in a favorite in our library for a long, long time!

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