The Angel Forever

Making Sand Art Cards

Posted on July 14, 2012 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

Dear NHL and JSL,

The two of you adore making crafts. With a smaller house, it is sometimes hard to get into more elaborate items in our space. Last summer, we spent a lot of time at Michaels for their passport art program. One of our favorites was the sand art (Tibetan sand paintings) for China. This year, the library had a sign up for a Sand Card Art activity run by the Scotia-Glenville Traveling Children’s Museum.

When we walked into the room, everything was set up. This is what you both found on the table that we sat at:

Each of the tables around the room were set up the same way. There were items to trace, pencils, scissors, cardboard for glue, glue, q-tips to use with the glue, and cards to design. Then, in the front of the room, there was a table that had a table cloth strategically set up on it.

One of the librarians introduced the nice woman from the museum who explained the steps in making the sand art. She also showed everyone some card examples. Once she was done, it was time to get to creating. Both of you wanted to make a dinosaur, so you began with that.

After the dinosaur, you both created some other items and it was fun to watch. NHL, you wanted to make the scar that is on Harry Potter along with his name. JSL you did more modern art and mixed sand color technique.

One other thing that I noticed was the table where the sand had been sitting at the start. The sand colors on the table cloth were just fascinating to look at themselves.

Although it was hard to keep up with both of you at the same time, it really was a lot of fun. I can not wait to head to more events over the rest of the summer with you. Oh and perhaps we will get some supplies to try sand art for the holidays.

Love,

P.S. A huge thank you to the libraries in the area for hosting such amazing programs for the kids over the summer. Your patience and smiles are greatly appreciated.

Categories:
arts and crafts Dear Kid Saturday fun jsl local event messy nhl photos summer

Keeping Cool During the Summer

Posted on July 13, 2012 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

The weather around the country and beyond has been strange over the last year. Crazy storms, flooding rains last spring/summer, warmer than usual winter, and now unbelievable heat and fires in many regions. It has been very warm here, but for the most part it has not been too humid (YET). With fans and AC units, we can keep the house where we are much more comfortable than being outside.

When the temperatures are so warm, I wish we had a pool. We have a little kiddie pool I can toss it in the backyard for the kids to cool off for a bit.

The reality is that the kids are getting too big for this and the adults in the family can not really use it for more than dipping feet in. I miss my Nana and Papa’s pool where the entire family could splash, play, and laugh together more. It was also a place where we could learn to swim and practice.

Since we have no family pools to go to now, we have to look for alternatives. Thank goodness parks in the area have put a lot of spray grounds in. We have tried a few of them and definitely have a favorite now. Just the other day, TechyDad came home from work and went to cool off for about an hour before dinner with the boys. Here they are in “water jail” while enjoying the time there.

So my question to you this week is inspired by the photo above:

Do your kids like going to a spray ground or do they prefer pools? If you have any other suggestions on staying cool with the kids outside, I would love to hear them.

___________________________________________________________________________

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.

Aloha #211

Categories:
Aloha Friday fun photos summer weather

Disney’s PhotoPass Magic

Posted on July 12, 2012 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

Family vacation time means that you have your camera out and are always taking photos along the journey. Of course, most of the time one of the adults is missing because they are the one capturing the memories. Thanks to Disney, those days are now over. The Disney PhotoPass allows the entire family to gather together for amazing memories as a group. Like this one with TechyDad, the boys, and my parents at Hollywood Studios. I added the birthday border since we were celebrating JSL’s turning five while there.

When we went on our first family trip to Walt Disney World in May 2009, we heard about PhotoPass. We bought the CD before we went and made sure to read up on what they were about. Basically, there are photographers throughout the Disney parks and resorts. Not only will they take pictures of the entire family in front of Cinderella’s Castle, but you can go to designated areas to see Disney Princesses, Mickey, Minnie, Winnie the Pooh, and countless others.

Each PhotoPass photographer has a camera that will scan your card to save your photos. When you see your first photographer, you simply ask for one of these PhotoPass cards:

The photographer scans the card and they are saved together. When you get home, you are able to access all of your photos, add fun Disney borders, purchase additional items, and more on the PhotoPass website. You are able to buy individual pictures, or get the rights to the photos via CD or now zipped files sent to you. Here is a photo we took with Duffy the Disney Bear soon after we arrived. When we got home, I added the fun Flower & Garden Festival border since we were visiting during this time. You truly could spend hours adding numerous borders to photos on your CD in case you want them one day.

Tip: The PhotoPass Card is small and similar to a credit card, so it can get lost easily. Take a photo of the card with your cell phone. Even if lost, you will be able to use the number on the back to access any of your magical memories.

When we went to Disney in April, we were debating whether or not to get a PhotoPass CD. We figured we would risk it and wait to see how we liked the photos before making a purchase. TechyDad and I were not sure if my parents would utilize it enough with the boys when they were with them. If you purchase the CD before hand you can often get deals. Lucky for us, the team from the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration gave us an amazing present at the first event when we arrived. It was the new PhotoPass+ CD for our families.

This new option for PhotoPass has some really great additional features for a larger price tag. It is $169.95 when preordered as of 7/2012 (normally $199.95). You receive the PhotoPass+ Card on a lanyard, Voucher to order the PhotoCD, and receive the Disney’s Photo Gallery CD with 400+ high resolution digital photos from around Walt Disney World. You can use your card and others on your CD purchase, but the PhotoPass+ cards are special for some additional magical memories. Traditionally, at some of the Disney restaurants, you would buy photo packages with your meals. If you have the PhotoPass+, these will be included for you. Participating restaurants include: 1900 Park Fare, ‘Ohana, Spirit of Aloha Dinner Show, Chef Mickey’s, Cinderella’s Royal Table, Tusker House Restaurant, Hoop Dee Doo Musical Revue, and Princess Storybook Dining at Akershus Royal Banquet Hall.

While we did not take advantage of the dining option during our last visit, we did use another option. You may have photos from select rides in the parks added to your card instead of buying those individually at the end of the ride. These can not be put onto the regular PhotoPass card. Rides that participate include: Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, Buzz Lightyear Ranger Spin, The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, Rock’n Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith, Expedition Everest, and Dinosaur. We used this a lot and I will write more about this later. Here is JSL’s first time on Splash Mountain.

One other fun item that you can do with either of the PhotoPass purchases are magic shots. Basically, you ask the photographer if there is a special add on in that location. If there is, they will guide you on how to stand or prepare for the item that will magically appear when you arrive home. Here are a few examples:

And here is one with Photo Magic and a border added:

So many magical memories and much more to share another time. If you have any questions about Disney’s PhotoPass CD or PhotoPass+ please do not hesitate to ask.

Disclosure: All of the photos within this post were taken during our 2012 Disney Social Media Moms Celebration stay and was part of the PhotoPass+ CD that we received. Although we paid for our own trip to Disney World to attend the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration, we were given an incredible deal from Disney. Also note that Disney never asked us to blog about this event. As a long time Disney fan (who has purchased the PhotoPass multiple times), it is my pleasure to share my experiences from the event.

Categories:
Disney DisneySMMoms family looking back photos travel vacation

Transportation Disney Style

Posted on July 11, 2012 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

The theme for the Disney Wordless Wednesday Blog Hop is Transportation. As you can see I had fun looking back at memories with different styles of transport for people, characters, and things within Walt Disney World.

Categories:
Blog Hop Disney looking back travel vacation Wordless Wednesday

Tuesday Tales – Listening to Audiobooks

Posted on July 10, 2012 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

There are so many amazing books out there, but not nearly enough time to read everything. Our Kindle and the Kindle App on my Droid Bionic have opened up a lot of additional reading opportunities. It is a lot easier to carry a book on your phone than a 300 plus page hard cover book.

During the summer months, I like to get some gift knitting accomplished. This would be a great time to read, but, well, you can not follow a pattern and “read” at the same time. Check that, you can thanks to audiobooks. Our local library system and the NYPL have audiobooks to check out that are in WMA format. While they can be used on OverDrive Media, it is not compatible with my android based phone. There are supposed to be apps that I can get to work around this, but I just did not have the patience. I pulled out my iPod Shuffle, loaded my book onto it, and set it to play without shuffling.

At first, it seemed to work. I sat knitting and listening to my book the first night. The next day I was listening to the book outside while the boy were playing with chalk. I thought I recognized part of the book. Later on, I realized I was listening to the same chapter for the second or possibly third time. Oy!

Rather than figure something out with my phone, I took out my old iPod Touch and transferred the books onto it via OverDrive Media Player on my computer. It worked beautifully. The best part, the book made a lot more sense when it was in order and not shuffling the chapters. Now, I will focus on knitting and reading Peter and the Starcatchers at the same time. Then, I can try to plan a trip to NYC to see the play.

If you have an Android phone and know of an app to play WMA audiobooks, please let me know what has worked for you. Ideally I would love MP3 format, but that is not always an option.

As always, Tuesday Tales are all about spreading the love for books. What have you read recently? Please be sure to link up to your book posts in the comments below. Include something you read on your own, with a child, or someone else.