The Angel Forever

Taking Your Toddler to an Amusement Park

Posted on August 28, 2011 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

Growing up, my family went to amusement parks a lot. We traveled to Disney World, Sesame Place, Hershey Park, Six Flags, Busch Gardens, and countless other locations up and down the east coast. I have heard stories and seen countless photos of myself with Mickey Mouse as a toddler and even younger. Most of my personal memories of trips are from the time I was in kindergarten and beyond.

With the summer winding down and families planning trips for next year, many parents find themselves wondering if their child is too young to go to an amusement park. The answer in my mind is not to wait. You will make memories for your child to look back at in scrap books, and more important ones that you will hold close to your heart

When my husband and I were married, we said that one day we wanted to take our children to Disney World in Orlando. Our oldest son was born in 2003, so we said we would wait until he was ready to appreciate the experience. In December 2008, we made a decision to go on our first big family vacation to Walt Disney World the following spring. We knew that five year old NHL would adore it, but what about JSL who would turn two while there?

I spent countless hours researching restaurants, stroller rentals, diaper changing areas and other toddler must haves in an amusement park. I made a list of rides that would be suitable for my toddler, others that my older son could go on and we learned all that we could about child swap option (many other parks have similar policies). The child swap allowed us to get a pass for the other parent to ride on without a long wait while we swapped out staying with our little guy. This was fantastic and helped to cut down on more wait time with a toddler. Finding resources online from other parents, reading books and knowing my child were the most helpful items.

The truth is, toddlers will have fun in any location that you take them. If they see you laughing and smiling, chances are they will too. My son adored his time at Disney World. Will he remember that trip years from now? We may never know, but my husband and I will. We often look back at the trip photos with our now three year old and he points to the objects and cheers. If the opportunity to go comes along, take it and enjoy the special time with your family

Have you ever brought your toddler or younger child to an amusement park? Let me know how it went and please leave tips for others in the comments below.

If you plan on going to Walt Disney World, let me know. I have a slew of resources that are amazing in addition to my posts here on The Angel Forever.

Disclosure: This post was previously published on a project I worked on. The text is the same, but I placed additional photos and the question at the end for my blog.

Categories:
decisions Disney family fun jsl looking back photos Six Flags travel vacation

Birthday at Buca di Beppo

Posted on August 27, 2011 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

Dear NHL,

Your birthday was a few weeks ago. One of our traditions for birthday celebrations is to head out to dinner where you like on your special day. Daddy and I were pretty sure we knew where you would pick, but you do have a few places that you really seem to like. Sure enough when it came time to go, you wanted dinner at Buca di Beppo.

When we arrived Buca’s you immediately announced to the people that it was your birthday. Then without skipping a beat, you asked if we could sit in the kitchen for our meal. That is when I recalled that I had not called the restaurant to reserve the special table. I told them not to worry because I had messed up. The man and woman told us to wait a minute. They looked and there were no reservations, so the table was ours!

Although we have eaten at Buca di Beppo many times, we had never eaten in the kitchen before. You were SO excited to see the chefs and other members of the Buca staff making the meals before your eyes. It is a really big and busy kitchen.

While you looked at everything around you, JSL colored/played with Wikki Stix, and of course Daddy sent out a picture to Twitter and his blog.

There were a lot of cool items to look at on the walls around us. Daddy thought it was funny to see Gene Simmons, Sylvester Stalone, Carrot Top, Danny DeVito, and Charlie Sheen eating together with other celebrities.

When our food arrived it was fantastic as usual. JSL had Macaroni and Cheese, you had Linguini Alfredo, and Daddy and I shared Eggplant Parm.

Our server asked if we would be having a dessert to celebrate. We told him that we were heading to Nana and Papa’s to see them and have the cheesecake that you had requested. Even without the dessert a bunch of the staff came to sing to you and there was a fun surprise with candles too!

It was a fun meal out with good food and a new experience sitting in the kitchen. I hope you have many memories of this day for years to come.

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:
birthday Dear Kid Saturday decisions family food glorious food fun jsl Local Business looking back nhl photos yummy

That Thing Called Klout

Posted on August 26, 2011 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

Klout stormed onto the social media radar not too long ago. Since that time, it has been watched, analyzed, and picked apart by countless people. I am not here to do that. Instead, I want to admit that I am intrigued by Klout and often wonder how and why it works. I have a Klout plugin on my Seesmic Desktop so I can be nosey.

At first Klout was just a number. According to Klout:

Klout measures influence based on the ability to drive action, not potentially misleading metrics like follower or friend count. Klout has analyzed over 85 million people on major social networks, and is used by over 3000 brands and applications.

Then, they started Klout Perks. This was a way for businesses to work with individuals via Klout to learn about new products from their brands. Some companies that have used Perks are Disney, Spotify, Subway, and P&G. Sometimes, Perks are sent to you via a Tweet from Klout Perks, other times they show up in your dashboard.

Thanks to Klout Perks, I have been able to try Spotify, test Secret Clinical Strength deodorant, and, most recently, help with PACE through a Klout Perk with Dick’s Sporting Goods. PACE helps to protest athletes through concussion education.

Klout also allows you to recognize people that influence you. By going to Klout, you can look at the topics that people are influential in and give them a +K. When you give someone a +K, you are able to Tweet it. There is some controversy about tossing this into the Twitter streams. Some people consider it Spam. I tend to agree, so I add a message to the tweet to personalize it. Here’s an example:

It’s like my view of Follow Friday. Rather than a long stream of Twitter people, I personalize it with something that makes them special to me. People have noticed this and several that I know have started this fun new touch to giving +K to people.

So this week’s Aloha Friday question is inspired by Klout:

Have you signed up for Klout yet? If you have, what do you like and/or dislike about it? I would love to know what topics it says you are influential about. Do you have any thoughts on the +K Tweets?

Disclosure: I was given Dick’s Sporting Goods gift cards because I’m a Klout influencer. I was under no obligation to receive the sample or talk about this company. I get no additional benefits for talking about the product or company. This perk simply worked into my post about Klout in general.

____________________________________________________________________________

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 #166

Categories:
Aloha Friday bloggy friends interesting me moments photos PSA twitter

Hot Wheels RC Nitro Speeders – Review/Giveaway

Posted on August 25, 2011 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

As the mother of two boys, we have a lot of cars in our house. I honestly think Hot Wheels could take over NHL and JSL’s room at times. I often laugh about what would happen if they came to life at night like the movie Toy Story. As NHL has grown up, he has wanted to try more tech savvy car items. At eight years old, NHL has received several remote control cars. Most of them have never worked well, or the remote antennae bend easily, and/or and it is dangerous around other children.

When Mom Select asked me to participate in a Hot Wheels RC Nitro Speeders opportunity, I was intrigued. Imagine a remote control car that stores within the case that fits in the palm of an adult hand. There is no antennae, the car charges within the case, and it can be ready to go easily.

When we took it out of the package, the first thing we did was take a photo to show how small the little Mustang is. Here it is compared to a quarter:

When I said that the remote could fit into an adult hand, I was not kidding. Everything packs up into this small and convenient size. It actually reminds me of the old style Nintendo controller from my childhood.

NHL had fun making an obstacle course for his Mustang. Here are the Mario Chess pieces being used in this unique way.

Although the package states that the Speeders are for ages 8 and up, JSL (4) had no problem using it. I would just keep him away from charging it on his own and make sure to help him take the car in and out of the case. As you will see, he loved it.

After quite a bit of use, the Speeder needed to be charged. Here it is getting some juice from the AA batteries that are within the case.

So, if you haven’t guessed it – we are big fans of the Hot Wheels RC Nitro Speeders. The boys like racing it around and are having fun learning how to control them better. With a little practice, I can see more complex courses being set up to tackle.

Giveaway:

Thanks to Hot Wheels, one lucky reader will win their very own RC Nitro Speeder ($27.99). This would make a great gift for a special child in your life or to be a kid at heart and play.

Rules for Giveaway:

MAIN RULE – What car would you love to see as a Hot Wheels? Tell me the model, color, and anything else that would make it extra special for you.

1 Bonus Entry – Follow Hot Wheels on Twitter
1 Bonus Entry – Follow TheAngelForever on Twitter
1 Bonus Entry – Tweet the following about the giveaway (May be done once a day): Win a Hot Wheels RC Nitro Speeder ($27.99) from @TheAngelForever and @Hot_Wheels http://bit.ly/nJzCaB #Giveaway #Win
2 Bonus Entries – Stop by The Angel Forever on Facebook to say hello and leave me a comment on a status message. Let me know you have done so here.
1 Bonus Entry – Subscribe to my RSS feed (or let me know if you already are) in a separate comment.
1 Bonus Entry – Leave a comment on any of my non-giveaway posts from the month of August/September. Leave a comment here to let me know which one. This Bonus entry may be done twice per day.
3 Bonus Entries – Add my blog button to your website and/or add me to your blogroll. Be sure to leave a link with the location.
1 Bonus Entry – Head over to TechyDad’s blog and enter any of his current giveaways.

To enter, please follow the rules above within the comment section. Contest starts today August 25, 2011 and ends at 10:59 EST on September 12, 2011. 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: I received a RC Nitro Speeders from Hot Wheels to facilitate this review for MomSelect. No other compensation was given and all opinions expressed in this review are my families feelings about the product.