In the city that never sleeps – these kids might never get a nap…
Here are a few of the highlights of the weekend…
Oct 1st – Meet and Greet with Yo Gabba Gabba Cast at Best Buy Union Square
You need to be there at 9am to buy the volume 2 CD First 200 get a bracelet for a 4pm meet and greet with the cast. Details are a little iffy but thats what I got from Best Buy and Yo Gabba Gabba sites.
Oct 2nd – Dag Hammarskjold Plaza hosts its 7th Annual Oktoberfest and Children’s Jamboree TIME: 1-4PM WHERE: its 47th street and 1st ave.
iOct 2nd & 3rd – Yo Gabba Gabba Party in my city stops by Radio City music hall. There is also Boo at the Zoo where the Bronx Zoo is ready for some spooky fun.
Oct 3rd – Laurie Berkner has a concert in the city TIME: 11am & 3pm WHERE: The Town Hall 43rd St @ 6th Ave & Broadway. LEGO will be celebrating ‘Play’ in Central Park with Ultimate Block Party TIME: 11am to 5pm WHERE: At the Naumburg Bandshell in NY’s Central Park (enter at 72nd St & 5th Ave) WHY: To ensure that all children are provided with competitive skills for the 21st century global world and to build a public groundswell about the value of play for fostering lifelong learning. WHAT is it?: Families can build and contribute their own original designs to our LEGO imagination construction zone. They will choose from 250,000 loose green bricks to construct a model for a creative landscape designed and built by Ultimate Block Party attendees.
I’m going to admit it – I’m not a fan of remakes of movies that certainly dont need remakes – Karate Kid from the 80’s still stands tall “Sweep the leg Johnny!” is still heard monthly in my life! When I heard about the remake being called the kung fu kid I was just awestruck… how and why would someone remake this classic?
Then I actually sat down to watch it… well its not going to be on my replay loop and it certainly wont be quoted from years from now but it did show something; it showed the update of a the Bully – finally a true bully that would live in 2010 no more simpson nelson like bully who just give you a wet willy. I mean this kid was getting the street mopped up with him and completely tormented by these kids.
We all know the concept bully picks on kid, kid finds mentor, mentor teaches kid, kid beats up bully. Its a very nice holiday formula, but thats just it – its not what really happens. We need to support our children – bullies use mental and physical torment these days and without mentors or support from adults we’re going to make the next generation scared of their own shadows.
Overall the movie was entertaining enough I’m going to watch it again with my wife and paid homage to the original in ways that I was thankful that they remembered it was an original. I would totally suggest this movie for the 10 year old crowd as an 8/9 year old might take it the wrong way without some parent dialog about whats going on and when is it right to use force vs walking away and telling an adult.
Its totally a popcorn flick and comes out on DVD next Tuesday!
Disclaimer: I was provided with a screening of this movie by TravelingMom.com but in no way did that influence my review.
The NFL is back in season and thankfully just in time – I need a good distraction and rooting for my favorite sport is just what the doctor ordered. Sure week 1 was great – upsets, penalties that resulted in the change of the outcome (pet peeve), field goals, injuries, touch downs, and cheerleaders! yup we’ve got it all!
One thing I really didn’t like was Sunday nights game where Dallas had a last second penalty that changed the out come of the game and I really don’t think that’s how games should end – push them back 5/10 yards put 1 second on the clock and lets play. I’ve never been a fan of fact the game can end with a whimper instead of a bang!
The other thing I really enjoy about football is the side pools that are always running! My Uncle Jon runs a great little suicide (aka pick em) pool over at http://usathletics.com [Link] it starts week 2 – just in case you want in on the action.
My picks are pretty simple I think the Jets will do good this season, the Seahawks might impress you a bit, and the Titans are all going to be the strong teams this year. Who are you picking this season?
This past weekend we took Marc to Sesame Place this was our first trip with him. It was well under a two hour drive from New York City out to Langhorne, PA home of sesame place. The ride was mainly uneventful other then a pit stop at a roadside Starbucks (truly the only drug of choice of my family). We arrived at the Courtyard Marriott Langhorne (the hotel and sesame place tickets were my birthday gift from my sister and father) checked in received our tickets to sesame place and waited all of 10 minutes for the next free shuttle bus to sesame place. Marc couldnt stop saying ELMO it was every 3 word out of his mouth it didnt help that the hotel lobby had a elmo cardboard cut out; that you could tell had been battered by the many kids that just came running up to it trying to give him a hug (yes, Marc was completely in that group too).
Within a 3 minutes we were being dropped off at the park. It was like pretty amazing getting to the park and seeing everyone wearing elmo and cookie monster shirts. We got into the park in a matter of a minute there was next to no lines and even on a saturday the park wasnt too crowded.
We grabbed a map and off to the rides… its important to note that half of sesame place is a dry park and the other half (ok maybe a little more then half) is a water park. Our first stop was the carousel. Marc loves carousels but he was really thrilled to be on this one… after that we did a bunch of other rides and character meet and greets. It was awesome to watch my son’s face glow – I’m sure the same way my parent’s face glowed when they had taken me all those years ago (and my wife grew up with one in the Dallas area, its now closed). Yup, Marc is a second generation Sesame Place kid (and to me thats very cool!).
I say that sesame place is great for kids of all ages because there are rides clearly suited for the 2-3 year olds which Marc loved, some rides really designed for 4-9 year olds and another whole set thats really designed for the 7-13 years olds. I noticed that on my second day there that the ages of the kids jumped to the teens, I’m sure that was based on the idea that it was about 10 degrees hotter which might be why the lines for the water park made it a little tough to go on any of the water rides.
I highly recommend going to sesame place, if its your first time it would be tough to due it all in one day but that might be why they sell so many season passes and they’re such a good deal… Sesame Place is currently offering one of our best deals of the year—purchase a 2011 Season Pass and enjoy unlimited admission the rest of this season and all of 2011! Families who purchase season passes enjoy unlimited admission to Sesame Place, a 30% discount on all food and merchandise in the park, entrance into exclusive Season Pass Member events and kids eat free at Dine With Me! with the purchase of an adult dinner.
Sesame Place’s 2011 season passes are available in three levels. Sesame Passes, $92.00 per person, gives guests unlimited admission into the park, exclusive access to member events, plus a 30% discount on food and merchandise. Big Bird Passes, $122.00 per person, allow guests additional benefits including complimentary general parking, complimentary meet-and-greets with characters, and 50% off single day admission to SeaWorld, Aquatica, and Busch Gardens. Super Grover Passports, $189.00 per person, offer the most benefits to guests. In addition to everything mentioned above, guests receive unlimited admissions to SeaWorld, Aquatica and Busch Gardens, complimentary preferred parking, and ride again privileges.
I’m a huge fan of the meet and greet which allows your some quality time with the characters before the parade, but it really gets amazing when you have the super grover pass to stay on some of the dry rides again or even better the Abby’s Magic Queue (line cutting) ticket which lets you cut the line on a bunch of dry rides and sit upfront in Elmo’s World show (and arrive late). The abby bracelet is an add on but not waiting on lines sooo worth it and they limit how many they sell!
My cousins have season passes and are on they’re 4th or 5th trip this season so clearly they’re getting their money worth. My step-sister recommends going mid week to really cut down on the crowds but for those not looking to take vacation days the abby pass will save the day on a weekend visit.
I’m hoping for another visit to check out the count’s spooktacular!
Well my friends at Sesame Place are kind enough to offer one lucky family a family 4 pack of 1 day tickets to be used some point this season.
How to win it… Contest ends 11:59pm EST. September 11, 2010.
You must comment telling us your favorite Sesame Street Character, please include some method for us to contact you in the comment (twitter or email)
You get 1 extra entry for tweeting about this contest (you can do this daily). Must contain the following information:
@SesamePlace @dadarocks – http://bit.ly/deS7GH and you must also comment with the link to your twitter message.
Example: I want to win @SesamePlace tickets from @dadarocks – http://bit.ly/deS7GH
You get 1 extra entry for becoming a FAN on facebook –facebook.com/DaDaRocks you must comment that you’re a fan
You get 1 extra entry for becoming a Fan on facebook of Sesame Place – facebook.com/SesamePlace you must comment that you’re a fan
You get 1 extra entry for subscribing to our Feedburner digest mailing (right side subscribe by email) – you must also comment that you’ve subscribed
You will have 24 hours to reply before we pick another winner!
Disclaimer: Sesame Place is providing these tickets for the raffle.
Snapfish has teamed up with Fantastic Sams Hair Salons for a photo contest where parents can submit a favorite photo and caption of their child’s favorite first day back to school moment. All entrants will have a chance to win great prizes valued at over $600 including styling sessions from Fantastic Sams, styling product and free wallet prints for all who enter the contest!
One thing I love is the photography that comes out of the pictures we shot during the summer, the crisp blue sky, the pictures of the flowers or beach or those little weekend trips. Trying to figure out how to keep your memories alive long after the time has past has always been limited to some cheesy screen saver on the office computer or just pictures on the wall or in a book. These days the digital technologically allows for so much more! So here are some of the cool things that our friends at snapfish by hp are offering…
How to win it… Contest ends 11:59pm EST. August 26, 2010.
You must comment telling us what picture you really want to be made into something cool? please include some method for us to contact you in the comment (twitter or email)
