Last night, we took the boys to see Disney on Ice – Toy Story 3. We had an amazing time. This show gave me the opportunity to explore with my new camera. I took two short videos and one of them came out quite nice. I thought I would share some of the magic of the finale with you.
Of course, now I wish I had taken more video since the boys keep asking to watch this over and over. Next time (and there will be a next time), I will do just that. Thank you Disney on Ice (Feld Entertainment) for another fantastic show. More photos and information coming soon.
Thursday afternoon, JSL and I had a date. We were going to The Children’s Museum at Saratoga to explore before I was set to finish an interview with their Education Director for KidsFunPlaza. We had been to the museum before, but it was when JSL was so little that he did not recall anything. The two of us had a fabulous time checking out all of the different displays and learning areas within the two floors of exhibits.
While in the school house room, the little guy was fascinated with a magnetic ball maze that was on the table. What I captured next was fascinating to watch. Here is my three year old making a magnetic discovery.
This truly is what The Children’s Museum at Saratoga and countless others around the world are about. They are there to allow children and adults to bond over learning experiences that are developmentally appropriate for the child.
So my question to you this week:
What is your favorite museum to go to (with your family or alone) and why?
Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the linky there if you are participating.
Did you ever look at a toy and wonder how it would keep the attention of a child? That was my initial reaction of Hexbugs. They looked cute and seemed like fun, but how would they keep hold up to my kids and our neighbors? Let me cut to the chase here, my boys and the neighbors were outside playing with the Hexbugs for over four hours! Yes, you read that right. On a nice fall day, the Hexbugs kept them engaged for the entire time.
Thanks to Mom Select, we were selected to host a Hexbug Nano Party. They sent us enough Hexbug Nano for each child to have three to keep. In addition to this, we received the Nano Bridge BattleHabitat Set, Nano Habitat Set, and a myrid of extra Hex Cells, Straight/Curved Bridges, batteries and more. We seriously had everything to create the ultimate Hexbug Nano celebration.
So you may be asking yourself, what is a HEXBUG? Here is a quick explanation:
Basically, HEXBUGS are mini-robotic bugs without the ick factor. Yes, these are MY kind of bug. Ones that will not bite, damange items or cost me money to hire an exterminator. In addition to this, kids (and/or adults) can register their HEXBUG online to track their collection, play games, learn about real science. We have not had a chance to do this yet, but NHL (7) is anxious to see what it is all about.
As we were setting up the pieces for the party, we noticed something immediately. The Hex Cells and bridge pieces were easy to connect. Seriously, our 7 year old had no issue, and even the 3 year old was almost able to do it alone. The other part we liked was that the small moveable pieces on the hex cells were attached. In other words, no little pieces floating around if you were connecting parts.
Then we took the Battle Bridge, extra habitat, hex cells and bridge pieces outside. While we waited for the neighbors to arrive, NHL and JSL set their HEXBUGS up to battle. Here is a video.
Then the neighbors started to arrive. The kids had a blast making up stories about their HEXBUG habitat. The battle zone was above a mall, the Hidden Mickey within, was the house for the girl HEXBUG population. It was hilarious to watch them play for hours. Here are just a few of the photos that captured our outdoor HEXBUG party.
Since I mentioned it before, here is our own version of the Hidden Mickey in our HEXBUG Nano Habitat!
The kids really did have a great time. Just listen to the excitement as the bugs raced around their habitat:
Oh, if you think the HEXBUGS are just for boys. Think again. Check out the littel area of the HEXBUG Nano habitat that our neighbor made – pretty creative if you ask me.
I know the kids look forward to playing outside together again with all of their HEXBUG Nano critters one day soon. A huge thank you to Mom Select and HEXBUG for making this possible. We will definitely be purchasing more HEXBUG products this holiday season to give away to family and friends.
Disclosure: This review and party HEXBUG was made possible by MomSelect and HEXBUG. They provided me with all of the items shown above to throw the ultimate HEXBUG Nano Party. The opinions of this review were mine and I received no other compensation.
This has to be the funniest kids’ shorts that we have seen in a while. Love it so much that I had to share.
JSL is addicted to it and wants to see it over and over and over again. Now, I want to get the book that it is based on a book by Mr. Warburton to see what it is all about (FYI – this short was on Nick Jr).
So what do you think? Will my kids now learn how to say NO in multiple languages?
If you have been inside a store that sells toys in the last year, chances are you have seen Zhu Zhu pets. Each of our boys has a Zhu Zhu that they received as a gift from us for Passover. They really enjoyed playing with them, especially on the wide open kitchen floor at Nana and Papa’s house. Soon after this, I was contacted by Mom Select apply to throw a party for the latest in the Zhu-niverse.
The Kung Zhu line was recently released and have taken on a storm. Geared more for boys, the Kung Zhu line has several commercials that we have seen on television and they are in all of the stores (Target, Toys R Us, CVS and more). To help us to throw the ultimate Kung Zhu party we received pretty much everything you could imagine – LITERALLY. This is the box that arrived and everything out on the floor at Nana and Papa’s house (note how large it is compared to JSL standing next to it):
The trick has been getting kids together for a party. Kind of a nightmare when school is not in session. Since NHL really wants a Kung Zhu party, we will have it on August 22 for family and friends (many more kids in attendance). That is the day that we will break out all of the Kung Zhu games and make some Kung Zhu edible critters. For now, we decided to have our own party this weekend. This would allow us to set everything in the Kung Zhu-niverse up, test run items and celebrate JSL’s potty training success. Let me take you on a tour of the items we have.
First, meet the Kung Zhu’s themselves. There are eight Kung Zhu hamsters. The Kung Zhu Ninjas are Drayko, Yama, Azer and Thorn. The members of the Special Forces are Stonewall, Rock’O, Seargent Serge and Rivet. NHL selected Stonewall (blue) and JSL wanted Sgt,.Serge (green).
When these ordinary looking members of the Zhu-niverse put on their special armor, they turn into fighting warriors ready to do battle. Here are the battle armors that are made for each of the eight Kung Zhu’s. Scorpion Tank and Rhino Tank. Beware: the moving parts on the tanks really catch the eye of little people. . . they will not want to stop playing with these.
Once the Kung Zhu members of the Ninjas and Special Forces are all dressed, they can head into the Battle Arena. Meanwhile, the other Kung Zhu’s can man the battle area in their Spider Tank, Buzzsaw Tank,
Of course, you must also have your Special Forces HQ and Dojo for the Ninjas. These, along with the Combat Bridge, really help to get things ready for the Kung Zhu hamsters.
No Kung Zhu Ninja or Special Forces member can be ready for battle if they are out of shape. To help with this, they have multiple options for training.
Individually, TechyDad found that the pieces were not too difficult to assemble. The hardest part of the assembly was making sure that the items worked together for maximum fun for the entire Zhu-niverse. Here are some photos of our mini Kung Zhu Party.
NHL especially liked putting Stonewall through his training session. Check out the video of this member of the Special Forces team. As you will see, he is a persistent little hamster that is not intimidated by some bricks. (Please note the laughter from the kids – this will no doubt be a lot louder for the big party coming soon).
Of course, JSL had to put Sgt Serge through the process as well. Here is his little guy – note how he comes to attack me at the end of the video.
So, there you have it for now. This is just the start of our Kung Zhu party fun. In a few weeks, we will share more of our adventures with you as other children join our Kung Zhu-niverse for NHL’s 7th birthday party.
Disclosure: This review and party (part 1 – and 2 coming soon) was made possible by MomSelect and King Zhu. They provided me with all of the items shown above to throw the ultimate Kung Zhu party.The opinions of this review were mine and I received no other compensation.
