August, 2009 | The Angel Forever

Monthly Archives August 2009

Prev Month( 7th ) Next Month( 9th )

Disney On Ice – Fall/Winter ’09-’10

Posted on August 31, 2009 4:04 pm by TheAngelForever

As a child, my family went to Walt Disney World almost every summer. During the winter, I also have fond memories of going to see Disney On Ice. My husband and I would love to go to Disney World each year, but it is not in the finances right now. We have been lucky and gone to see Disney on Ice at our local arena several times with our oldest son. Last year, my parents and I brought my oldest son. This was just around the time that we booked our first family trip to Walt Disney World for May.

We saw the 100 Years of Magic show and it was amazing. I loved watching my son’s face as he saw the stage on the ice for the first time, and then witnessed all of the familiar characters skate by. Nana and Papa even splurged and bought him some Mickey binoculars.

I was recently asked by Mom Central to participate in a Disney on Ice Blog Tour to share information about their latest tours on behalf of Feld Entertainment. As a parent, I can stand behind this show because it was well worth the money and the show is a class act. Everyone big and small will be mesmerized with the shows. Here is some information about the shows traveling this year along with a special offer.

Mom Central is excited to extend the following special family offers; look for the box marked "MC Promotion" when purchasing tickets:

*Offer #1: Get 4 tickets for just $44 by entering the code "MOM" at select ticketing channels. Offer good on all weekday performances, which includes all weekday evening and Friday matinee performances; minimum purchase of 4 tickets required; additional tickets above 4 can be purchased at $11 each.
*Offer #2: All weekend performance tickets will be $4 off the original price
Offer #3: Get the best Front Row and VIP seats available – We have reserved seats in the Front Row and VIP sections just for you! No discounts available on these seats. Use the code MOM.

*Not valid on Front Row or VIP seats or combined with other offers including opening night offers. Other fees may apply.

The above offers are good in the following cities:

St. Louis: September 3-6, 2009
Chicago: September 8-13, 2009
Sunrise: September 17-20, 2009
Dayton/Cincinnati: September 17-27, 2009
Miami: September 23-27, 2009
Auburn Hills: September 30 – October 4, 2009
Charlotte: October 8-11, 2009
Philadelphia: October 14-18, 2009
Atlanta: October 14-18, 2009
Oakland/San Jose: October 14-25, 2009
Fairfax: October 21-25, 2009
Sacramento: October 28 – November 1, 2009
Baltimore: October 28 – November 1, 2009
Uniondale: November 10-15, 2009
Houston: November 11-15, 2009
NYC: November 17-22, 2009
East Rutherford: November 24-29, 2009
Denver/Broomfield: December 3-13, 2009 *available for purchase on 9/12/09
St. Paul: December 9-13, 2009
Los Angeles: December 17-20, 2009
Toronto: December 18-27, 2009
Anaheim: December 22-27, 2009
Philadelphia: December 23 – January 3, 2010 *available for purchase on 10/12/09
Boston: December 26-29, 2009 *available for purchase on 9/3/09
Ontario: December 30 – January 3, 2010
Cleveland: January 8 -18, 2009 *available for presale on 10/2/09

Shows coming this fall & winter:

Disney On Ice presents Celebrations! It’s one colossal party on ice, with all your favorite Disney friends! Enjoy a winter wonderland with Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse, a Halloween haunt with the Disney Villains, a Very Merry Unbirthday Party, a Royal Ball with the Disney Princesses and more in a magical medley of holidays, celebrations and festivals from around the globe. Come join the party when this spectacular ice show visits your hometown!

Disney On Ice presents Worlds of Fantasy: Rev up for non-stop fun with four of your favorite Disney stories at Disney On Ice presents Worlds of Fantasy. Thrill to high-speed stunts as Lightning McQueen, Mater and the crew of Disney/Pixar’s CARS race across the ice. Dive into The Little Mermaid’s enchanting undersea kingdom and experience the ‘Circle of Life’ with The Lion King. Then enter the mystical world of Pixie Hollow with Tinker Bell and the Disney Fairies as they reveal the magic that lies within! From wheels to waves, Pride Lands to pixie dust, your family’s favorite Disney moments come to life at Disney On Ice presents Worlds of Fantasy with dazzling skating, special effects and beloved characters certain to create a lifetime of memories.

Special Bonus! Come see a Disney princess and a dazzling display of gorgeous gowns at the Disney Princess Pre-Show starting one hour before show time! Complimentary to all ticket holders.

Disney On Ice celebrates 100 Years of Magic: Join the celebration as 65 of Disney’s unforgettable characters from 18 beloved stories come to life in Disney On Ice celebrates 100 Years of Magic! You’ll be captivated by the one and only Mickey Mouse, the irresistible Minnie Mouse, Goofy, Donald Duck, Jiminy Cricket, Pinocchio and all the Disney Princesses. Be thrilled by exciting moments from The Lion King; Mulan; and Disney/Pixar’s Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, and Toy Story films; in a skating spectacular filled with magical Disney moments you’ll remember forever as Disney On Ice celebrates 100 Years of Magic!

Disney On Ice presents Princess Classics: Dreams really do come true! Disney On Ice is proud to bring you a dazzling tale of hope, heart, heroism and hilarity as Disney On Ice presents Princess Classics. This stunning spectacle is an awe-inspiring and fun-filled journey to the magical lands of Disney’s classic fairy tales. Travel to a kingdom under the sea, an enchanted palace in France, an Arabian castle and more! Enter the fantasy worlds of your favorite Disney princesses – Cinderella, Jasmine, Ariel, Sleeping Beauty, Belle, Mulan and Snow White – as they bring magic to your city in this royal skating extravaganza.

To learn more about Disney On Ice shows touring the country this year and to find shows in your area, visit the Disney On Ice site. And don’t forget to use the special discount code when purchasing tickets online! I just used the website and now know that the Celebrations show is coming to our area in December.

I know that my family will be going, will yours?

Disclosure: I wrote this review while participating in a blog campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Feld Entertainment. Mom Central sent me a gift card to thank me for taking the time to participate.

Categories:
Blog Tour Disney fun looking back show

Chinese food at home with Wanchai Ferry frozen entrée – Giveaway

Posted on August 30, 2009 8:08 pm by TheAngelForever

Chinese food is one of my absolute favorite items to splurge with and eat out. Of course, these days we do this less frequently thanks to budgets and trying to save money.

Recently, I was asked by My Blog Spark to review a sample of the new Wanchai Ferry frozen entrée. I thought it sounded like a great concept and wanted to try it.

Each frozen entrée has all the ingredients needed to prepare a great-tasting, complete Chinese meal for 2 in only 14 minutes! They come in five delicious flavors including Orange Chicken, Shrimp Lo Mein, Spicy Garlic Chicken, Sweet & Sour Chicken and Sweet & Spicy Shrimp. Additionally, all of the entrees have no added MSG!

I was sent a package of the Orange Chicken variety along with a Wanchai Ferry "Stay-At-Hom" prize pack (one being offered to a lucky reader here on The Angel Forever – please see details below). Thursday, the boys and I went to spend the afternoon with my mother. I brought along my Orange Chicken package to make for the two of us for lunch.

When I opened up the package there was a sauce packet, microwave rice steam bag, vegetables and package with chicken.

First, I heated some oil in a pan and tossed the chicken in to brown up. This only took 4-5 minutes.

Once the chicken was out, the veggies, sauce and some water went in for a few additional minutes to warm up. At the same time, my mother tossed the rice bag into the microwave.

The rice was finished just in time to put the chicken back in with the vegetables and sauce.

The sauce thickened up nicely and everything was ready to be plated. Here is our lunch all ready to eat:

Our thoughts:

My mother and I were the ones that ate this meal. Both of us felt that it was a nice option to have at home for a quick and easy Chinese meal. The flavor of the sauce was very good. We thought that by making it another time the speed of preparation would have been better (I was not in my kitchen – so that hindered things some). Each of us felt that we would probably like something along with the meal, soup or salad if this was going to be our dinner. My suggestion was to add some additional frozen vegetables to the sauce to make it more filling and add still keep it on the healthy side. There was plenty of sauce and we felt it would work nicely. Since we keep kosher at our house, I could see making these when I visit my parents.

Where to buy:

You can purchase your own Wanchai Ferry meals in your grocer’s frozen food section and be sure to print out a $1.50 off coupon before you go. You can also find tips to enhance your Wanchai Ferry Frozen entrée on their website.

Giveaway:

One lucky winner will receive their own Wanchai Ferry "Stay-At-Home" prize pack which includes two coupons for a Wanchai Ferry Frozen entrée of your choice and an Asian inspired meal set (pictured below):

Rules for Giveaway:

MAIN RULE – Answer one of the following questions: What is the best fortune from a fortune cookie that you ever received? OR What is your favorite Chinese Food dish?
1 Bonus Entry – Subscribe to my RSS feed (or let me know if you already are) in a separate comment.
1 Bonus Entry – Follow me on Twitter @TheAngelForever
1 Bonus Entry per day – Tweet about the giveaway. Be sure to include @TheAngelForever and Wanchai Ferry frozen entrée in the Tweet. Please leave a direct link to your Tweet in a separate comment for each daily entry.
1 Bonus Entry – Add TheAngelForever to your blog roll and leave a separate comment.
1 Bonus Entry – Add me to your favorites on Technorati. Be sure to leave your user name for me to check in.
1 Bonus Entry – Look around my blog and leave me a comment on another post. Please let me know which post you went to here so you get the bonus entry.
1 Bonus Entry – Head over to my hubby’s blog TechyDad and leave him some comment love. Be sure to let me know which post on the comments here for your bonus entry.
3 Bonus Entries – Write a post on your blog linking to my blog about the Wanchai Ferry giveaway. Be sure to leave 3 comments about this to get credit for all of your extra entries

To enter, please follow the rules above within the comment section. Contest starts today August 30th and ends at 10:59 EST on September 9, 2009. You do not have to be a blogger to enter, but must leave a valid e-mail address for me to contact you for mailing address once the giveaway is over. I will select the winner using random.org and contact you via e-mail. You will have 48 hours to claim the prize. If there is no response, another winner will be selected. Open to U.S. residents only.

Disclosure: This review and giveaway was made possible by My Blog Spark. They provided me with the package of Wanchai Ferry frozen entrée and the prize pack. The opinions of this review were mine and I received no other compensation.

Categories:
food glorious food giveaway Product review yummy

Family fun day at Six Flags

Posted on August 29, 2009 10:36 pm by TheAngelForever

Dear NHL & JSL,

This weekend we were supposed to go to see Bubbe and Grandpa. Since the weather was going to be bad all weekend, we decided to stay home. Friday Daddy had the day off so we decided to go to Six Flags for the day. It was an unusually chilly day. We actually wore jeans and had sweatshirts in August.

JSL, you started to chant that you wanted to go on the Big Red Cars the minute you heard we were going. Of course, one of our first stops was Wiggles World. You loved driving the Big Red Cars and especially enjoyed spending time at the Wiggles gift store. You were quite upset later in the day when your Diego (Go-Go) sun glasses broke. Thankfully a special gift made you smile and you held onto it while taking a nap.

NHL you were upset that your favorite ride was closed down for the day. Thank goodness you enjoyed all of the other things you were able to go on. You seemed to like the wind in your hair when we went on the Big Red Planes. The cool weather certainly changed what we did at the park, but you enjoyed it.

Just before our silly lunch (funnel cake sundaes), we stopped to watch the Looney Tunes show. At the end you could head up to the stage for photos with some of the characters. Both of you seemed to actually enjoy this when you went up with Daddy.

I hope that we get a few more trips to Six Flags in before the end of the season. Watching both of you laugh, be silly and smile while there is truly priceless.

Love,

Mommy

__________________________________________________________

If you want to participate in Dear Kid Saturday, head on over to Cutest Kid Ever by clicking on the button below.

Categories:
Dear Kid Saturday fun jl jsl nhl photos Six Flags summer

Night of the Tooth Fairy

Posted on August 28, 2009 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

Can you hear the party music going over here? We are having a party here because NHL finally lost his first tooth. This little booger has been wiggling since NHL bit into corn on the cob back on July 3. We sat back for quite some time and encouraged him to wiggle it and work on it. Then on August 12th we noticed that his new tooth was coming in behind the baby one. Hubby and I were quite nervous, especially as it moved up quickly.

A week ago, we really started working with NHL to loosen the tooth (he even got a note from the Tooth Fairy for encouragement). Monday, I called the dentist and explained how I was worried about things and we made an appointment for Thursday. Tuesday night, JL sat on the couch with gauze and really worked that tooth. They felt a pop and the tooth was barely holding on. Unfortunately, NHL was upset over the blood and his gums bothering him.

Today (typing this on Thursday), we went to the dentist. I was fully expecting the worst. Much to my surprise, the dentist told both of us that his gums are probably really sensitive and we should numb them up to really get a good wiggle. She put some on his gums and barely touched it and the pesky tooth popped out of his mouth! Clearly, the Wiggle Tooth Olympics of the last two nights that brought much crying and screaming had worked that tooth to the point of surrender. We also learned that we will be purchasing some gum numbing gel for the next tooth which we can also see is about to cut.

Can you tell NHL is excited about the Tooth Fairy coming? Oh, and this is the pesky tooth that wanted to hold on for dear life.

Here is my big kid all ready for the Tooth Fairy tonight:

So my question for this week is inspired by the recent events:

Do you remember how you lost your first tooth? I would love to hear the stories and I’m sure NHL would too!

_____________________________________________________________________________

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 MckLinky there if you are participating.

Aloha #63

Categories:
Aloha Friday doctor milestone nhl photos teething

Physical, allergy testing and dentist…oh my!

Posted on August 27, 2009 9:37 am by TheAngelForever

This week has been pretty busy. Originally, I thought NHL was going to the allergist on Tuesday. Monday they called and told me the visit was Wednesday. I was not happy since I know I put it on my calendar immediately. My main concern was we already had NHL’s 6 year old physical exam at our family doctor Wednesday afternoon. I knew we could swing both of them, but it would be "interesting" to say the least.

Monday I also called the pediatric dentist. I told them that this tooth was not budging and the new one was really coming in behind it. In adddition to this I reminded them that hubby only lost one tooth on his own. Every other tooth was pulled by the dentist, so perhaps NHL was going to have some troubles. They offered me a Tuesday appointment, which I did not take since I thought we were going to the allergist. The only other option was Thursday. I took it with the hopes that we could get his tooth out by that point.

Tuesday night JL and NHL sat down on the couch and really worked on the tooth. Here they are getting ready and going for some wiggles with gauze to assist the grip:

After this, I thought we were really close. Check it out. In this photo you can see the new tooth in back and that tiny speck in front is the front edge of the baby tooth that will not let go.

Shortly after this photo was taken I opted to do a video of this hopeful milestone. While filming, JL felt a pop and suddenly the tooth was bleeding. This really freaked NHL out. No matter what we tried, NHL refused to let us back into his mouth. We called it a night and got both of the boys into bed. JSL was getting quite concerned about his big brother. Check out the serious face.

Wednesday NHL went to the doctor for his physical. When we arrived we found out that they were already giving flu shots. This sent NHL over the edge, but he and I both had them. Everything else went well during his appointment. The doctor’s only concern was that one of his eyes is not moving along with the other. Since NHL has low muscle tone it may be related to this. When we got into the car after everything I called and made an appointment with the specialist for the end of September. Hopefully it is nothing, but we will have to wait and see (no pun intended).

Less than an hour after this we went to the allergists office. JL met us there because I was afraid NHL would put up a huge fight. We talked with the doctor for a while about how things have been great this summer – no medications needed. We talked over a plan of action for back to school and onto the rest of the year. Then it was time for allergy testing. While we waited for JL to show up at the right doctor’s office NHL colored. Then it was time to check things out. He was a pretty good sport and was glad it was done on his back so he could continue to color.

Much to our surprise nothing came up positive on the test. The doctor can not explain why it did a few years ago and nothing now. So we left with our game plan that was used last year. Our goal is to control the items that bother him and prevent an asthmatic reaction that usually comes during the school year.

Last night JL tried to work on NHL’s tooth again. After much crying and wiggling the tooth just did not want to move in the one spot. JL said that it was just the way his teeth used to hold on. NHL was very upset about not getting it out on his own and going to the dentist. We explained that it was not his fault and we are lucky to have the dentist that may be able to help.

On a last ditch effort we had corn on the cob to try to see what it could do. NHL refused to eat it. No worries though, JSL devoured his piece and then here is a video of him with NHL’s cob.

So today we head to the dentist to have her check NHL’s tooth. We shall see how it goes. I will mention to her that the position of the tooth is really altering his speech and that concerns me (our family doctor even noted it until I explained the tooth troubles).