On March 3rd, the newest “best of” Elmo collection hits the streets. Of course, one of the benefits of being a successful blogger is that I am able to get my big hands on certain merchandise ahead of time; in order to share with my readers what the new product is all about.
Last night I sat down with my 4 year-old son Jack to indulge in the Sesame Street: The Best Of Elmo 3DVD. As you can see in the pictures below, we had a lot of fun!
What caught me by surprise was how hilarious it was; not just for my son, but equally for me as well.
My son’s favorite part was watching Elmo drive in a car with Taye Diggs, as they zoomed past dancing cows who proudly displayed their udders. Jack couldn’t stop laughing.
For me, my favorite was the musical collaboration that Elmo did with Justin Bieber. Seriously, how could anyone not enjoy this?
Part of the charm of Elmo is his ability to remain fun and loveable, despite his long term, world-wide, celebrity pop culture status.
Granted, this DVD is full of educational lessons, as you would expect from Sesame Street.
If I could only describe Sesame Street: The Best Of Elmo 3 in 3 words, based on my son and I watching it last night, here’s what I’d say:
Fun, hilarious, educational.
So by default, it’s also obviously captivating and entertaining.
The Sesame Street: The Best Of Elmo 3 DVD (and digital), from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment and Sesame Workshop (the nonprofit educational organization behind Sesame Street) will be released officially on March 3, 2015 for $14.98 SRP. It also includes the full-length feature, “Elmo and Abby’s Birthday Fun”.
It’s over 2 hours of fun, featuring Elmo the whole time! Now, I’m ready to watch Elmo and Justin Bieber again…
However, this year, with you being 4, Mommy and I can get away with letting you cheat your bedtime every once in a while like we did a few weeks ago for Marvel Universe Live.
Well, turns out that this year in Nashville for Monster Jam 2015, there was a Sunday afternoon show date. So we went!
You named her “Annie.” And she apparently loved the monster truck show as much as you did!
One of your favorite monster trucks was there: Grave Digger.
Not to mention, Son-uva Digger showed up too.
Something I have learned after seeing two Monster Jams is that the location of the venue determines which trucks will show up, because I supposed that’s based on which drivers live closest to the arena it’s being held. (We were at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, TN.)
As you can see from the shots of the crowd, it was a packed stadium! Nashville shows up for monster trucks, that’s for sure.
I think your favorite part was seeing both Grave Digger and Captain’s Curse flip over and have to be rescued by the machine.
They also had some ATV racers there as well. Which, speaking of, I hate it that we’ll miss the Arenacross event at the end of this month. However, that’s the weekend we move into our new house!
Granted, I should define “had a blast” when referring to 3 and 4 year-old little boys like the two of you.
You weren’t necessarily screaming and cheering the entire time… That’s because typically when something overwhelmingly entertains you like that, you just sit there and soak it all in.
From there, you will go on to tell all your friends and teachers about it at school for the following weeks. Going to the show also feeds your ongoing interest in playing with your growing collection of toy monster trucks.
It was no surprise that as soon as you got home, you began racing your Monster Jam trucks on the bedroom floor: “Vvvvvvvrrrrroooo! Eeeeeeccckk! Jch-jch-jch!”
You are a kid who loves Monster Jam. And your anteater, too… at the same time!
Having visited the Wizard World Atlanta Comic Con this past June in Atlanta and seen all the Marvel characters there, Mommy and I decided it would be a good decision for our family to drive the luxurious Lexus RX 450h to downtown Nashville this past weekend to see Marvel Universe Live!
Even though we live in Nashville, as a family we only visit downtown a few times per year. So I took advantage of using the GPS to remind myself how to get to the Bridgestone Arena, while we all listened to classic Christmas tunes on Sirius XM.
I am pleased to say that the show was completely appropriate and relevant for you; having just turned 4 years old a few weeks ago.
You have recently gained great interest in watching Power Rangers on Netflix. It was that same type of thrilling, over-the-top action in the Marvel Universe Live show that you were exposed to, only instead of on a laptop screen, you got to see it live in person, while sitting in between Mommy and Daddy.
I paid attention to all the families around us and they seemed to be as excited as we were to be there.
One of my favorite parts was the getting to see the nonstop motorcycle tricks. Conveniently, most of the Avengers (Captain America, Black Widow, Bruce Banner before he becomes the Hulk, Wolverine, Spiderman. etc.) all drive motorcycles while constantly “popping wheelies.”
I was so impressed when Captain America jumped up a ramp unto a ledge; it had to be at least 15 feet high!
And of course there were constantly explosions going on; one of the bad buys even “caught on fire” and ran around on flames.
Mommy’s favorite part was when Spiderman “stood upside-down” on the Green Goblin’s glider.
Speaking of flying, there was a lot of that going on the entire show!
I’m pretty sure your favorite part was when Bruce Banner turned into the Hulk.
How awesome!
The crowd went wild when that happened. It was awesome to see. Our seats happened to be right where that was taken place.
However, my warmest memory of Mommy and I taking you to see Marvel Universe Live was during intermission. Our friends the Van Dykes ended up winning the giveaway I did on the Facebook page for Family Friendly Daddy Blog.
So as we were speaking to them, I happened to look down at you, as you were sitting on Mommy’s lap, looking to the aisle with your hand raised up in the air.
I then saw that a vendor was selling illuminating toy swords and you wanted one. It didn’t help that Jackson, the Van Dykes’ 3 year-old son, had gotten one at the beginning of the show.
I offered to buy you any $15 Transformer you wanted instead, knowing we were going to Target the next morning…
All I can say is you’re one lucky kid. It didn’t take much more than a frantic look from you, knowing that was your only chance to get one of those swords, and you had convinced Mommy and me to bascially beg the vendor to take our $25 so we could get you that sword.
And boy you were proud. Just as I expected, this sword was not simply an impulse buy.
The next morning, Mommy and I found you in bed, clutching the sword. From there, we went to go see Santa at Bass Pro Shop; and you guessed it, you took the sword!
We had a wonderful time as a family and I would recommend Marvel Universe Live to any families who would like to see non-stop action, explosions, fires, motorcycle stunts, martial arts, and “flying” Marvel characters.
I hope Marvel Universe Live returns to Nashville next year!
Love,
Daddy
Catch up on the entire series of the Lexus RX 450h Weekend. A lot of exiciting things happened!
It is made by the creator of Veggie Tales, Phil Vischer, so you already know that it’s a quality production.
Not only is it high quality production, but it is also very informative, as well as funny.
My son’s favorite part was the blue flying squirrel. Of course, there are also robots and pirates!
The Buck Denver Asks… Why Do We Call It Christmas? DVD does a great job of giving answers to the questions about the traditions of Christmas that most of us have never got around to asking or looking up:
Why is it called “Christmas?”
Why do we celebrate on December 25th?
What year was Jesus really born?
What do Christmas trees have to do with Jesus?
Where did Santa Claus come from?
Which came first – Christmas or Hanukkah? And which one did Jesus celebrate?
What are the “12 Days of Christmas?”
How does the name “Emmanuel” explain the real meaning of Christmas?
The humor is aimed at adults as well as kids. I feel that had this been a Disney production, the jokes would have contain innuendos.
But with the Buck Denver Asks… Why Do We Call It Christmas? DVD, I feel the humor is instead a capitalization of “awkward moments.” The puppet characters are more relatable and lifelike because of it.
I’m not sure that it’s being marketed this way, but in addition for home entertainment, this DVD would make a perfect and extremely addition to your church library.
In fact, I would even say it would make an essential addition.
I noticed that this the Buck Denver Asks… Why Do We Call It Christmas? DVD is very “Catholic friendly.” I know that might sound like a strange comment, but it’s evident to me that this DVD is not simply geared towards Baptists, as I feel a lot of “Christian entertainment” is.
Though I’m not Catholic myself, I sort of feel like Catholics get the short end sometimes in regards to being marketed to alongside Protestants.
However, the approach and narrative in this DVD includes Catholics in the same boat as Protestants; in that we all are believers and followers of Christ, as our spiritual salvation.
With all that being said, even if you are not a religious person, instead even the biggest skeptic, I still believe you would find this DVD to be enlightening.
If nothing else, you’re going to learn answers to questions you’ve probably always wondered, but never asked, about how the ways we celebrate Christmas actually goes back to the birth of Christ.
And one lucky reader (in the U.S. or Canada) will win a free copy of this book today…
If you’re the first person to do so, I will respond by saying yes… After that, I will follow up by getting your address to give to the publisher so they can send you your won copy!
Update: A winner was found within just a few minutes of this post going live. The giveaway portion is now complete.
Family Friendly Daddy BlogYes, Tamera Ballard, you sure did! (Just send me your mailing address and I’ll make sure the agency gets it out in the mail in the morning Thanks for reading!
“Disclosure (in accordance with the FTC’s 16 CFR, Part 255: ‘Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising’):
Many thanks to Propellor Consulting, LLC for providing this prize for the giveaway. Choice of winners and opinions are 100% my own and NOT influenced by monetary compensation. I did receive a sample of the product in exchange for this review and post.
Only one entrant per mailing address, per giveaway. If you have won the same prize on another blog, you are not eligible to win it again. Winner is subject to eligibility verification.”
Last week I had the privilege, as a car reviewing daddy blogger, to be flown from my home in Nashville down to Ponte Vedra Inn & Club in Pompano Beach; about 20 miles from Jacksonville, Florida. I was invited to the Toyota “Family Reunion” where the updated Sienna, Camry, and Yaris were featured and available for several hours of drive time.
There were 48 of us journalists, writers, and bloggers attending the 2 day event along with me.
We were all given around 6 hours during the 2 days to drive all versions of the updated Sienna, Camry, and Yaris; as Toyota provided dozens of the vehicles for us to choose from.
I admit, I took full advantage of every minute of drive time in the beautiful palm tree filled landscape of Pompano Beach.
Toyota provided multiple drive routes for us to tackle with our driving partners, but I often found myself and driving partner so caught up in conversation about the car, and admiring the sunny location, they we would get off course, then just use the navigation system to help us get back to the Ponte Vedra Inn & Club where we were staying.
From there, we would pair up with new partners and cars.
I guess you could say I was “professionally joyriding.”
As for the 3 vehicles being featured at the Toyota “Family Reunion” Press Preview, I’ll start with the Sienna.
It was the first Toyota vehicle I ever reviewed, back in September 2013; in fact, it’s what got me started regularly reviewing cars for my daddy blog here.
With the updated 2014.5 model, I noticed a lower dashboard, easier to access controls, and of course their new Driver Easy Speak feature which enables the driver to use the cars speakers to communicate with whoever is in the back seat.
The acoustics are designed in such a way that if you are in the backseat, it’s almost like the driver’s voice is inside your head, like your conscience or something. That’s the best way I can describe it.
Moving on the Camry; I had never been in one my entire life until this trip! That’s ironic, considering that it has been the best selling car in America; 12 years in a row! Since it’s introduction in 1983, more than 10.2 million have been sold. And there are currently 6.6 million on the road today.
Something else I want to point out about the Camry is how American made it truly is. The production of the Camry employs 7,000 U.S. workers and the vehicle contains 75% North American content.
I view Toyota as more of an American car company than many official “American” based car companies. I realized that back in the summer when I reviewed the Highlander and saw the sticker on the door, showing that it was built in Texas.
My last vehicle to drive was the new redesigned Toyota Yaris; which has adopted more of a European look. As expected, I really enjoyed it; especially because I got to choose between a stick shift or an automatic.
You better believe I chose the stick shift. It’s a lost art these days to drive a stick and I am just the classic gentleman for the job.
In fact, I’m interested in driving more stick shifts when I review cars from now on, but I get it that there are less of them out there.
I hope to review the Yaris, as well as the Camry, in upcoming months. I really enjoyed driving them both in Pompano Beach, but unlike the Sienna, I haven’t already reviewed them back in Nashville with my family.
It will be interesting to me to see how those vehicles mesh with my family. I can see my son Jack really liking the 5 door Yaris.
He would say, “Daddy, this car has 5 doors? I didn’t know cars could have 5 doors!”
My job here today has been introduce you to the newly updated Toyota Sienna, Camry, and Yaris. I hope you’ve enjoyed this glimpse, as I know I definitely enjoyed getting to be a part of this Toyota “family reunion.”
Stay tuned for more Lexus/Toyota/Scion reviews right here on Family Friendly Daddy Blog! I am reviewing a 2015 Scion FR-S the week of November 11-18 for my son’s 4th birthday.
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