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My Viking Family Experience – #DragonsLive

Posted on October 7, 2012 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

Right now my brain is whirling around and I feel like I am flying. Flying with dragons, of course, so it is a good thing. Thanks to just getting back from an amazing time at the DreamWorks How to Train Your Dragon Live Spectacular at the Times Union Center. TechyDad was contacted by PR from the show and he shared some of the specifics about it recently. After watching the movie with the boys the other day, I was excited to see what the VIP Hero’s Welcome would be all about. As JSL (5) says, it was stupendous!

A huge thank you to the amazing VIP tour gentleman who was stationed outside. He was fantastic chatting with us and answering questions from our boys. He told us about previous cities and more about the upcoming shows throughout North America. After this, we were whisked away into the arena before they opened for the show. We received our Hero’s Welcome badges, bags, and posters. Then, we were taken to an area to get dressed like Vikings for a family photo.

The crew helping to dress our Viking family was fantastic. We never told Papa about this part and he played along and had fun. Before long, the five of us were sporting chic Viking styles for our photo shoot.

We were not able to get a photo with our camera dressed up, but we took a quick picture of the one they gave us. Yes, I present you with my Viking family in their finest attire and all of their weapons and shields.

Although it took some time to get this done, it was a worthwhile experience. Seeing the smiles on the kids faces and knowing that memories were being made was priceless. After we returned our Viking items to the bins, it was time to wait for the official Hero’s Welcome. We went a small area with seats to wait and meet Hiccup and Astrid who are some of the stars from the show.

This was just the start of an amazing adventure with the Vikings and Dragons. More coming soon about the show and the Dragons 101 session after the performance. The session after was a geeks dream come true and the VIP team member from this part was also super (wish I could recall his name from the 11:00 am show). If you are in the Capital District and have a chance to see the show before it leaves town, I highly recommend it. It will also be touring to many other cities in the United States and Canada in the months ahead.

If you are interested in attending a show, you can find tour dates and tickets by going to http://www.dreamworksdragonslive.com/tickets.php. You can also save 25% off the cost of select seats by using the promo code "MOM". Oh and do not forget to think about the VIP packages that you can add on for your family. All of the items seen above were thanks to that.

Disclaimer: TechyDad received tickets and the VIP package to the How to Train Your Dragon Live Spectacular for our family. No other compensation was given and all of the enthusiastic Tweets, Instagrams, and posts that follow are 100% my own opinion of the show.

Categories:
family fun jsl laughs local event nhl photos show TechyDad

My Ghoulish Family

Posted on September 30, 2012 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

Dear PicMonkey, thank you for keeping me entertained while having my coffee on National Coffee Day. Seriously, the timing on your release of the Halloween effects could not have come on a better day. Early Saturday, I decided to make myself into a witch for my October profile picture. Note to the peanut galley: NO COMMENTS!

Many hours later, I was showing JSL what I had done to myself. He wanted to try to transform a photo as well. So I selected a photo of him with Baby No Name. He decided to go with the zombie look for both of them. This was our final product:

Then JSL and I wanted to have some fun creating something for NHL. He is a big fan of Hulk. The Demon option on PicMonkey did a great job with this. Thanks to the “gnarlifier” I was able to change up his nose a bit. In the end, this was what we came up with:

Of course, we could not leave TechyDad out of the mix. I guess I channeled my inner Twilight fan and had some fun. NHL thought the moon should be red in his photo and I agreed it made it look unique.

What can I say, it was fun and it let some creativity fly. So fess up. Have you made your own October creation with PicMonkey yet? If not, what are you waiting for?

Categories:
fun holidays jsl nhl photos TechyDad web fun weekend

Disney Letter “E”

Posted on September 26, 2012 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

If you arrived into my classroom when I was teaching, you would have been greeted with a giant Eeyore on my desk. It should be no surprise to you that my gloomy old pal was the first Disney “E” that came to mind. After that, I went a little outside of the box while looking at old magical moments from adventures to Walt Disney World.

Be sure to stop by Focused on the Magic by clicking on the button above to join in the Disney magic this week.

Categories:
Disney fun jsl looking back nhl photos TechyDad

Kermit the Frog Cupcake Time

Posted on September 24, 2012 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

Each year, I ask the boys to think about the kind of cake and theme that they want for their birthday. Every year, I hold my breath waiting and wondering what they will select. Last year, NHL wanted lions and it was a challenge, but we made it happen. This year, he is really into Harry Potter and the Muppets. I was not too sure where this would go. At first, I was going to attempt sorting hat cupcakes, but as time crunched for the family party on Labor Day, my patience dissolved. Thank goodness NHL agreed that he liked the Kermit the Frog cupcakes that I found online. The original that I saw was posted on Simply Being Mommy.

NHL agreed that he liked them. Before we settled on anythingm I wanted to purchase items to make the crucial Kermit eyeballs. They were the focal point of these cupcakes. To do this, I ordered black edible markers and we bought some Mentos. The black marker worked beautifully on the Mentos, but there was a catch. The kids did NOT like the strong mint flavor. I reached out to my Facebook and Twitter friends for ideas on other possibilities. In the end, I finally let go of my type A personality and settled for cute, functional, and something the kids would like.

Yes, I settled on white chocolate melting wafers. They were not perfect because the texture was not as smooth as the Mentos, but they worked. I had to go quickly because it was a warm day and the marker did not dry on the rough surface of the chocolate. Once they were done, they were placed inside the refrigerator to chill while I baked some cupcakes. The band-aids shown below were simply inspiration and were not used since baking went smoothly.

Cupcake baking went according to plan. Once they were all cooled, the cupcakes were placed into the amazing Cupcake Courier that I finally bought (will write more about that another day). Getting the frosting really green took patience. If I made these again, I may check out a gel based food coloring to get a stronger green color.

I found that it was easiest to frost and decorate the cupcakes while they were sitting on the shelves of the courier. Trying to place them back in after they were finished was not the easiest. Here is how they looked as I was working and finishing up.

The best part was that transporting the cupcakes was easy. I put the entire courier into the refrigerator for the night before, then pulled it out, and we were ready to head to the lake. The cupcakes made it all the way there and it was easy to pull out the trays to display for everyone to select the Kermit that they wanted.

Now, I brace myself to see what cupcake creation the boys ask for next, or what I may try now that I have my new courier, corer, and other goodies. If you have any suggestions, I would love to know.

It's Me

Categories:
baking birthday books food glorious food fun Movies nhl photos yummy

Ready to Learn Q-Bertese with Wreck-It Ralph

Posted on September 23, 2012 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

It isn’t every day that a movie can make you feel old, but bring back happy thoughts at the same time. I do believe that Wreck-It Ralph may just do this.

The boys, including TechyDad, and I can not wait to see this movie. Just watching the trailers has opened up old gaming dialog. Of course, as you can see from the picture above, old school video games meet new school gaming in this movie coming to theaters November 2. Here is the latest trailer that was released from Disney Animation to help you get excited. Try to see how many characters/games you recognize. Ready? Go!

Now, what I really want to do is learn how to speak Q-Bertese. I think it would be a great code language for parents to use when they can’t “talk” in front of their children. What do you think and are you excited about going to see Wreck-It Ralph?

It's Me

Disclosure: Disney PR notified me of the Wreck-It Ralph trailer. I was not compensated for this and simply wanted to share since I adore all things Disney. You know we will be going to see Wreck-It Ralph when it is released November 2, 2012.