parenting

1 Comment Posted on May 5, 2015May 5, 2015 car reviews, movie reviews, parenting, Uncategorized

Sesame Street: Elmo The Musical Vol. 2 Learn and Imagine- Family Friendly Review

My family has just returned from a 4 day mini-vacation to Pensacola, while we reviewed and tested out the new 2015 Toyota Sienna; which happened to be equipped with an awesome DVD player.

We packed several DVDs for our trip, but there was one that received much more airplay, at the request of my 4 and a half year-old son… Sesame Street: Elmo The Musical Vol. 2 Learn and Imagine (on DVD and digital on May 5, 2015 for $14.98 SR).

Something my wife noticed about this DVD that made it so attractive to our son is that he got to decide which Elmo musical he wanted to watch. There are 7 choices:

“Guacamole the Musical”
“Mountain Climber the Musical”
“Repair Monster the Musical”
“Bird the Musical”
“Cowboy the Musical”
“Detective the Musical”

While “Play All” would run them all together as one solid movie, my son appreciated the free will of deciding which episode he wanted to see, when he wanted to see it.

The concept reminds me of the way the 1980s Mega Man video games were designed; you got to choose which levels to play in the order you wanted; in other words, it’s not chronological but it is all connected.

My son’s favorite was apparently “Bird the Plane,” where Elmo flies Ms. Penguin to her wedding. He also kept asking for “Repair Monster the Musical” as well; where Elmo gets to use tools to help fix things for people.

I can confirm that Sesame Street: Elmo The Musical Vol. 2 Learn and Imagine is very good for road trips. Ours was 7 hours one way; so all together, with all the places we visited once we got there; we were easily in the car for close to 20 hours!

As expected, the DVD implicates learning into the music, fun, and silliness. I imagine our trip would have been a lot loss serene if we wouldn’t have had the 2015 Toyota Sienna with a DVD player, along with a copy of Sesame Street: Elmo The Musical Vol. 2 Learn and Imagine.

Infographic below courtesy of Brittany Dietz/Cheapflights:

1 Comment Posted on April 23, 2015 Nostalgia, parenting, People, Storytelling, Uncategorized

Dear Jack: To Hide Away From The World

4 years, 5 months.

Dear Jack,

I saw it coming; that once we had finally settled into our new house, that the rest of the world would seem to begin to fade away. Or maybe instead, that the I would feel myself unplugging from the rest of the world- which I am, at least compared to recent years in the world of social media.

And I don’t see that as a bad thing.

That’s exactly where I feel I’m at right now; in that place. Gone are the days when I was required to share my soul 6 times a week during those 3 years I was writing for Parents.com; where I would I felt that pressure to check my Facebook home page throughout the day.

After all, I haven’t checked my Facebook page even once since we moved in this house nearly 3 months ago. I assume I must be out of the loop with what’s going on in the world.

But I’m fine. I’m happy. I appreciate our life as a family like it is right now.

The result from me sort of laying low is that I have more time to spend and just hang out, without as many distractions, with you and Mommy.

Life is supposed to be this simple. Well, actually it’s supposed to be much more simple than this, I believe.

I would love to be able to just work from home and live a slower paced life. I’m working on making that happen; as this week I’ve invested a portion of my birthday money into teaching myself to edit videos for my YouTube channel.

It just seems there’s this cliche that you watch your kids grow up way too fast; then you regret that you were too busy worrying about temporary things in the process.

I don’t want to feel that way in 10 or 20 years.

This is me taking time to truly appreciate you drawing funny pictures of monsters that look like snowmen. And letting you squeeze glue into cups of water, just to see what will happen.

These are the quiet and grateful days in the lives of our family; just appreciating what we have.

At least until our upcoming road trip to Pensacola when we go digging for dinosaur bones and treasure chests in the sand.

Let’s just say I’ve got something up my sleeve to make that happen…

Love,

Daddy

Leave a comment Posted on April 20, 2015April 20, 2015 parenting, People

Dear Jack: To You On My 34th Birthday

4 years, 4 months.

Dear Jack,

Turning 34 years-old means I’m now officially in my “mid-thirties.” It only makes sense that Mommy and I finalized getting set up with a life insurance policy for ourselves this week. Because that’s what you do when you’re 34; you buy a new house and you set up a life insurance policy. Sounds fun, right?

Well, in all serious, we definitely had plenty of fun this weekend as a family for my birthday. Nonna and Papa drove up from Alabama to see your soccer game Saturday morning; then they took care of you while Mommy and I got to go out on an awesome date to the movies, the Nashville Symphony, and out for dinner in downtown at Bakersfield.

It couldn’t have been any better!

Then on Sunday, you helped make my vegan chocolate birthday cake. Mommy used 3 squiggly candles for the “3” and 4 regular candles for the “4”, to make the “34”. (My actual birthday is on April 20th.)

Of course, you blew out my candles for me. Plus, you took it upon yourself to open my presents for me as well; all while accidentally wearing your t-shirt backwards.

You and Mommy had slipped by Old Navy at some point and bought me some new clothes, including some “thunder socks” you specifically picked out for me. I shall wear them with pride!

After removing all the decorative paper in my gift bag, you decided you wanted to make “paper pants.” So you tried them on for everyone.

Then you tried on my size 31 shorts Mommy bought me for our upcoming Pensacola road trip. They fit you about as well as the paper pants.

My 34th birthday weekend was perfect. It definitely felt like a real birthday. And I’m excited to buy Magix Movie Edit Pro 2015 with some of my birthday money, as I begin the process of teaching myself how to edit videos; to enhance Family Friendly Daddy Blog.

Let’s see if I end up being any good at it. I’ll make you a star, kid!

Love,

Daddy

Leave a comment Posted on April 16, 2015 parenting, Storytelling, Uncategorized

Dear Jack: Cupcakes/Music Lessons/Upcoming Pensacola Road Trip

4 years, 4 months.

Your teacher Ms. Aimee lets your class do something special every time you guys earn enough marbles to fill up the jar, on account of good behavior.

A few weeks ago, it was a pajama party. This past week, though, you all had a cupcake party. I was surprised to see the pictures… you actually made your own cupcakes, thanks to Ms. Aimee’s handy dandy cupcake maker.

I didn’t even though that existed… we might have to get one for our house. Here’s your teacher’s note:

“Hi Nick!

Today was our cupcake party!

Jack had a blast mixing all the ingredients together to make our cupcakes.

The best part was frosting and decorating them!”

Jack had a blast today with our guest, Mr. Adam, from Firey Music!

He showed us how to play the; guitar, banjo, and mandolin! Jack got to try each instrument.

Mr. Adam also gave each student an instrument all of their own (the greatest sight you’ve seen, 14 children’s eyes lighting up, finding out they get their OWN instrument!)

Jack has also fallen in love with our magnet tiles! He is the master of building rockets!”

Aimee Cornelius

Lead Rockstar Preschool Teacher (self-titled)

Rainbow Child Care Center

Spring Hill, Tennessee

www.rainbowchildccc.com

Coming up, we have a fun road trip/mini-vacation planning for Pensacola, Florida. We will be reviewing a 2015 Toyota Sienna, which will only add to the excitement!

On our itinerary is a fun trip to the Gulfarium Marine Adventure Park, as you are currently obsessed with sea animals since watching and reviewing Dolphin Tale 2 a few months ago. You have already decided your souvenir for our trip will be a dolphin stuffed animal.

And it should go without saying, I will officially be reviewing the city of Pensacola from a “vegan friendly” perspective; as I’ve already done with our trips to Atlanta, Asheville, and Lake Tahoe.

I’m excited to see you play in the ocean. I have a feeling you will be looking for baby crabs there on the beach.

Pensacola is apparently only about 6 and a half hours from our new house, which is a bit closer to the ocean than our home in Nashville was.

This may turn out to be a new regular vacation spot for us, like Asheville has become.

All fun ahead, it sounds like!

Love,

Daddy

Leave a comment Posted on April 9, 2015April 9, 2015 parenting, People, Storytelling, Uncategorized

Dear Jack: Our Easter 2015 Egg Hunt/Visit To Hawkins Spring Park

4 years, 4 months.

Dear Jack,

Our Easter tradition every year since you have been born has been to take you to the big egg hunt that Nonna and Papa’s church has at someone’s (very large) house.

I gave you several coaching sessions before the hunt; sharing with you the effective strategy of immediately running to the far corner of the field, where no one else bothers to go. I also reminded you not to stop to open the eggs; just to throw as many as you could into your basket, then worry about opening them after the hunt is over.

Without surprise, you easily obtained more eggs than the other kids by doing so. While you are still not quite inspired to kick the soccer ball during your games, egg hunting is a sport you can get excited about!

What’s funny is that you’ve yet to really look through the eggs, even now. You were happiest about bringing home some of my old stuffed animals from when I was your age; not what was inside the eggs.

Later on, we all went to Hawkins Spring Park there in Fort Payne, Alabama; my hometown. Where I grew up, there were several parks around our house, yet I never really went to this one.

Had I known about it back when I was 4, this might have been my favorite park; especially since a giant creek runs through it.

Of course, I didn’t let you and your cousin Calla have all the fun on the playground. They happened to have an adult playground where grown men like me and your Uncle Andrew could test our agility and strength. We were victorious… mostly.

Oh, and we rescued an old abandoned tire from the creek. We helped the environment!

A common question I have been getting this week is, “Did you have a good Easter?”

I did. We all did. We have nothing but good, fun, quality time as a family… while visiting family.

Love,

Daddy

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