Author: Family Friendly Daddy Blog

1 Comment Posted on Nostalgia, parenting, reviews, Storytelling

Family Friendly Road Trip: Wizard World Atlanta Comic Con

June 5, 2014 at 8:51 pm , by

3 years, 6 months.

Dear Jack,

I have learned that there are certain things that are just so much better once a child is introduced to the equation.

Swimming would be a great example. The only times I’ve bothered stepping into a swimming pool in the past 3 and a half years has been because of you.

Having a child has also introduced me to new experiences that I might not have otherwise been exposed to.

When I was invited to attend the Wizard World Atlanta Comic Con, to my surprise, Mommy said she wanted to go too, and of course, we brought you along as well.

Turns out, it was a really good idea to take a 3 and a half year-old little boy who loves Spiderman and Captain America to a place where there would be a lot of people, many of them who were dressed up as Spiderman and Captain America.

So we loaded up the Prius and took the fun drive from Nashville to Atlanta. When you’re in the presence of so many adults dressed in impressive costumes of comic book characters, it’s only natural to want to get your picture made with them.

In fact, I got the feeling that’s part of the culture at Wizard World Comic Atlanta Con: It’s as if there is an unspoken contest going on the whole time in which those who show up in costume are seeing who can get the most “uncostumed” people to ask to get their picture made with him.

And of course, we helped many costumed attendees gain points from us.

In addition to the array of Captain Americas and Spidermen, we also saw many scary looking villains and zombies. The funny thing is, they were some of the friendliest to speak with.

You just went along with it, no matter how scary or creepy; Mommy and I explained to you beforehand that the Wizard World Atlanta Comic Con was kind of like Halloween.

Our road trip proved thatAtlanta is a very friendly and fun place to visit, and this was easy evidence of that.

In fact, Mommy suggested that we go to the Wizard World Comic Con when it comes here to Nashville in September.

Only, we wouldn’t be going as spectators… we’d be going as a family dressed up as comic book characters.

I think Halloween might come early this year for us…

 

Love,

Daddy

3 Comments Posted on food reviews, Health, parenting, reviews, vegan

Vegan Friendly Review Of Atlanta, Georgia

June 3, 2014 at 10:03 pm , by

3 years, 6 months.

Dear Jack,

As I just mentioned in the letter before this, we spent last weekend in Atlanta for the Wizard World Atlanta Comic Con. While there, we had a little adventure riding the SkyView Ferris wheel, on a whim.

I’ve noticed that my letters to you are taking more of a turn these days, as I find myself focusing more on reviewing road trip destinations, toys, movies, and vegan food… from a family friendly perspective.

So it only makes sense that I would like to point out something really cool that I learned last weekend:

Atlanta is undeniably vegan friendly!

I would have never assumed that.

Having grown up in Fort Payne, AL, just a 2 hour drive from Atlanta, I was familiar with a culture in which fried chicken and sweet tea were simply part of one’s identity.

To have even thought of not eating meat, dairy, or eggs was somehow… unChristian, unpatriotic, and basically, just overall blasphemy for a Southerner.

With that being said, Atlanta continues to show up in nearly every Internet search for “Vegan Friendly Cities in America.”

And it didn’t take long for our family to see that.

As we approached the Georgia World Congress Center where the Wizard World Atlanta Comic Con was being held, we encountered “Vegan Man” with his homemade costume, accompanied by his other friends from a group called Mercy For Animals.

Once I looked down at the pamphlet they were handing out to passersby, I responded with, “Yeah. I’m a vegan.” I instantly received a hug and great cheer.

When you’re a vegan family, it’s a given that you have to do your meal planning in advance.

So we found a perfect 100% vegan Asian fusion restaurant calledThe Loving Hut. It was inexpensive and delicious!

While we were waiting for the food, you enjoyed “putting the ants in their bed.” (That consisted of you sprinkling salt and pepper in their tray.)

Conveniently enough, the restaurant was right across the street from the Sandy Springs Whole Foods, which was just right around the corner from the Le Meridien where we stayed.

So between The Loving Hut and Whole Foods, we never had to worry about where our plant-based meals would come from.

I loved being able to start each morning withBuchi on tap. (That’s basically the vegan version of soda; it’s a brand of Kombucha tea, based out of Asheville, NC.)

As for you, as a treat, you got to enjoy some “natural bears” and “squishy fish,” which were basically gummy bears and Swedish fish that were made without dyes from bugs or petroleum.

So with all that being said, we are now officially confident to visit the wonderfully entertaining city of Atlanta again, as a plant-based family.

Yes, Atlanta is very vegan friendly.

 

Love,

Daddy

 

P.S. Our next “family friendly road trip” where we will test the “vegan friendliness” of a city will be Lake Tahoe, Nevada… in just a few weeks!

Leave a comment Posted on parenting, Storytelling

Family Friendly Road Trip: SkyView In Atlanta, GA

June 3, 2014 at 6:39 pm , by

Leave a comment Posted on Nostalgia, parenting

Hungry Hungry Hippos Is A Toy, Not A Game

June 1, 2014 at 11:17 pm , by

3 years, 6 months.

Dear Jack,

Last weekend your Nonna gave you a $20 bill to spend on anything you wanted at any point in the future.

To my surprise, that money actually lasted an entire week!

This past weekend while we visited Atlanta for the Wizard World Comic Con, we discovered there was a Target that basically shared the parking of the Le Meridien where we were staying.

You had been asking me for months now about the classic game, Hungry Hungry Hippos. It just happened to be on sale for $13, compared to its normal price of 20 bucks.

I was amazed that Mommy and I were able to convince you to keep it in the box during the 5 minute journey back up to our 8th floor hotel room.

Going into this, I knew from past experience not to expect you to play by the rules.

Yeah, that would be an understatement this time around.

The blue hippo was your favorite. You manually opened up his month and directly placed the plastic marbles in.

Even still, after the 2nd time of playing Hungry Hungry Hippos mostly the way it was intended, you proclaimed, “I don’t like losing.”

It’s not that you suddenly lost interest in it once you learned how to play. It’s that you decided that Hungry Hungry Hippos is much more fun as a toy.

By the first night in the hotel, Hungry Hungry Hippos became your “bulldozer airplane.” Apparently, when turned upside down, the platform can fly and hover through the air.

Despite that, it seems that the collection of hippos are becoming categorized like stuffed animals:

“Mommy, can I bring Hungry Hungry Hippos to bed with me tonight?”

Even the plastic marbles have another function besides actual game use. You’ve been using them as freight for your Take-n-Play Thomas the Train sets.

It seems like Hungry Hungry Hippos is everything you had hoped it would be…

To a 3 year-old boy, it’s not a game. It’s a toy.

 

Love,

Daddy

 

Leave a comment Posted on Health, parenting, vegan

Ask A Vegan Anything: “Where Do You Get Your Vitamin B12?”

May 28, 2014 at 8:51 pm , by

3 years, 6 months.

Dear Jack,

Today, as part of my “Ask A Vegan Anything” series, I want to address the topic of Vitamin B12.

After I became a vegan, I was warned that I would not be getting any of my Vitamin B12, which I was told exclusively comes from consuming animal products.

I was told I could suffer permanent nerve damage if I was Vitamin B12 deficient.

Honestly, I’m not fully convinced this will happen to me, based on a lack of proof that other vegans across the world are actually suffering from a Vitamin B12 deficiency.

For me, I need to see the “missing link” to fully believe that vegans (who eat plenty of  fruits, vegetables, beans, grains, nuts, and seeds, not vegan junk food like Oreos, Ramen noodles, and soda) are actually unhealthy because of a lack of Vitamin 12.

However, I still consume at least 500% of my Vitamin B12 on most days. Yes, that’s right: 500%.

We keep something in our pantry called “nutritional yeast.” (At Whole Foods, it sells in bulk for $6.99 per pound.)

It’s pretty cheap and doesn’t really have flavor, so it’s very practical to just sprinkle it into our food; it’s really no big deal.

That’s it. That’s how we can ensure we get our Vitamin B12.

But other than that, our almond milk also contains B12 as well; 50% of the suggested daily amount, to be exact. It’s added into a lot of foods, actually.

Right now, you and Mommy are mostly vegan, but you both do consume a small amount of dairy; though nowhere near as much as compared to a year ago before I nixed the stuff altogether.

Perhaps the day may come when either or both you decide to join me in my 100% plant-based life, as opposed to 96%.

If that day comes, we’ll simply buy more nutritional yeast if we have to.

(Mommy has already switched from using dairy milk in your mac-and-cheese to almond milk, as she has done for the milk in the coffee she makes for herself in morning.)

Throwing in some nutritional yeast flakes is really is no hassle. With just a few spoonsful in a meal, it provides 5 times the amount of Vitamin B12 that we supposedly need.

So that’s why as a vegan, I’m not worried about becoming deficient of Vitamin B12. That is, if vegans actually do suffer from that to begin with…

Either way, I’m covered.

 

Love,

Daddy