personal — MomStart

Four New Major Adventures at Florida Eco Safaris

April 19, 2012 By Momstart 26 Comments

Florida Eco Safaris is all about adventure. You step foot on this amazing property of protected land with hogs, alligators, horses and cows all around. Of course they’re all separated and the alligators aren’t allowed anywhere near the people. They had issues with one alligator a few years ago, he really wanted to be included in the safari, coming back no matter how many times they removed him, so they just made him a home inside Florida Eco Safaris and you can wave hello to him as you zipline or do the Cyprus canopy cycle over him.

I just did three of the four new exhibits and WOW that was the adventure of my life. I never knew how scared I could be until I did the Panther Pounce. You go up stairs until you’re 70 feet up and then they hook you to a harness and you’re supposed to walk off the ledge. UM yeah…..that took me a while to work up the courage. The more I thought about it the more scared I was. In fact, I was next to hyperventilating. I asked a lot of questions and finally I just did it. I took the plunge and dropped. The drop that was easy and almost relaxing, it was trusting myself to take that step that scared the *hit out of me. And yes, I have to admit that I cussed the whole way down, I never cuss, never except I did then, even though it was the easy part, I couldn’t believe I just did that. I’m not sure I would do it again. It’s hard to make yourself step off into nothingness. When I was done, I thought I was going to pass out, that could have been due to the almost hyperventilating in fear, and the fact that we had already done two of the other new adventures and I didn’t have water for over 2.5 hours. So I’m no pansy I tell you that! Watch!!!!

I also did the zipline roller-coaster Rattlesnake and loved it. I want to go again and again. I do have a love of the thrill of rollercoasters. I love them so much, I remember being a kid and terrified and my parents forced me and I was still terrified and when I became a teenager suddenly I loved them. So whenever I hear the word rollercoaster I have to try it. I Loved the zipline roller-coaster, you go up and down and swing side to side and you hit a palm tree and it’s amazing. I thought I was going to run into the metal bar and then I dropped down and it was an amazing thrill.

We also did the Superman Zipline and it was such a smooth ride. I wasn’t afraid I just glided off and flew to the other end. It’s awesome. The final new adventure isn’t open yet. They were in testing stage and we were out of time. Otherwise I probably would have tried it too because I like to try new things. I’d hate to miss the opportunity and regret it later never having the chance to do it again.

Thank you goes to Disney as part of the exciting Premiere of Chimpanzee, Global Resort Homes for a place to stay, Kissimmee CVB and Florida Eco Safaris.

Filed Under: personal, travel Tagged With: cypus canopy cycle, eco safaris, Florida, Kissimmee, panter pounce video, panther pounce, Rattlesnake zipline rollercoaster, travel

My Two Travelers Imagination Taking Flight #sogoodsosweet

April 18, 2012 By Momstart

Having kids you really never know what you’re going to get from day to day. On a rainy day last year, I had decided that I wanted to pain the front door. Which means I had to leave the door open, I had to get the door ready and I needed to be alone. My husband had planned on having the day to watch the kids so that I would be able to get it done. Turns out he had to get some work done on his computer that day too, but he said it would be ok if I did the door anyway. So I started painting and of course the kids were interested. When they realized mommy was serious they went back in. Then came the explosion of fun.

They created a brand new game and played on their own for three hours. I was shocked when I came in and they hadn’t eaten or asked for food. They weren’t crying or in need of me or dad. They were just plain having fun, and I listened to them for a few minutes and the sound of my kids playing together well, giggles and excitement is one of my favorite sounds in the world. If I could bottle it up and save it forever I would.

Their game is called Trip and the location is almost always South America. They find their back packs and pack them as if they were going to get on an airplane. They get clothes out, toys out, activities, blankets everything they need to travel. Then they have to make their tickets, so they write Miles and Zoe and South America on their tickets and off they go. Their imaginations take flight as the stairs suddenly become an airplane and they are jettisoned to South America. They don’t stay long and they also seem to understand that the trip will take a long time. They travel in style saying that their airplane always has a bed and a food trolley which is why they don’t have to pack any food. Now is this kind of imagination because they have a mom who happens to be a blogger that travels all the time? Maybe, but it sure did make my day to hear them having such a great time without needing me or dad the whole day.

Win one of five great prizes, such as chef services, house cleaning, Flip Video UltraHDcamera and more from KFC! Vote for my sweet unexpected moment below! You can vote once per day, check out mine and other sweet moments at www.sogoodsosweet.com!

Celebrate the little things! For a limited time, get a free Double Chocolate Chip Cake with the purchase of a 10-piece meal or larger at KFC.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of KFC. The opinions and text are all mine. Official Sweepstakes Rules

Filed Under: personal Tagged With: blog conversation, KFC, sogoodsosweet, the blog frog

We’re Going to Be on TV The Balancing Act on Lifetime! Thank You Sani-Brand

April 15, 2012 By Momstart 29 Comments

By: Ashley

Remember a while back, when Louise and I talked about our trip to Florida for the filming of The Balancing Act? Well our big debut is almost here. I have to say, I’m a little nervous about it! It’s been awhile since all of this started, so let me give you a quick refresher.

In December, we ran a giveaway sponsored by Sani-Brand. I had an AWESOME time reviewing their products and learned so much about staying healthy during cold and flu season. In fact, my family stayed pretty healthy all winter long! (I am currently knocking on wood… twice just to make sure.) I would like to think that had something to do with our commitment to keeping our hands clean and using our Sani-Brand wipes. I really did keep my Sani-Brand wipes handy pretty much all the time. I kept some by the table for quick pre-meal washes, some in the car, individual packet wipes in my purse/diaper bag for when we were on the go… you name the place, Sani-Brand wipes were there with me.

After the great entries we had on the December “This Calls for Sani” contest, Louise and I got to travel to the Balancing Act studio in Ft. Lauderdale, FL for a segment all about Sani-Brand. It was a great experience! Michael Ferrara of Sani-Brand was there with us supporting us every step of the way. (Thanks, Mike!) The people working on The Balancing Act were amazing too! Danielle Knox, the host, did a fantastic job leading us through the interview and making us feel comfortable.

Since then, I have learned SO much more about Sani-Brand… and I’ve continued to make the products part of our normal routine. I even went in search of Sani-Brand wipes at Wal-Mart when we were out of town… and luckily they were there waiting for me.

The countdown is officially on. Our segment from The Balancing Act will air on April 17. That’s just around the corner! So, make sure you check Louise and I out then… AND to celebrate, there might just be another Sani-Brand giveaway coming up. Stay tuned!

Here’s a teaser link… as soon as the video is ready, you’ll be able to see it here.

About Ashley: Ashley is a mom, wife, sister, daughter, friend, and former teacher working to navigate through the mysterious world of Mommyia. Read more about her adventures at www.Momicles.com and follow her @Momicles2010 .

Thanks to Sani-Brand and The Balancing Act for their time. No compensation was received for this post. All opinions expressed are my own.

Filed Under: Ashley, personal Tagged With: Lifetime, personal, The Balancing Act

Resolve All-Stain Torture Test

April 12, 2012 By Momstart 17 Comments

*I am a brand ambassador and I am being compensated for my participation. I received free product samples in order to do this stain torture test. Any opinions expressed are entirely my own and are not influenced in any way.

I’m really enjoying being a Resolve Ambassador. This past week I did a few different stain tests as part of the Resolve Ambassador campaign.I did a stain torture test, following guidelines provided to me by Resolve.

Supplies:

· beef gravy, grape juice, chocolate sauce, blueberry juice, grass, old navy t-shirt, and Resolve All Stains

Directions:

Using the materials included in the containers and the grass:

· Beef gravy and chocolate sauce: measure ½ tsp. of beef gravy and ¼ tsp. of chocolate sauce, then pour the materials on the shirt one at a time. Gently rub each material into the fabric for 5 seconds with your index finger to ensure the stain sticks.

· Blueberry and grape juices: Measure ½ tsp. of each juice pour juice on shirt

· ·For grass:take the handful of grass blades and rub them onto the shirt four to six times

Let shirt sit with the stains for maximum 24 hours

THEN

Using the Resolve All-Stains Laundry Stain Remover, treat the stains

· Placing your thumb and index finger on the indicated spots on the side of the bottle, squeeze both bottle chambers evenly to release both liquids evenly on the stain

· Rub gently to mix formulas and cover the stain completely

· Wait five minutes (at maximum)

· Rub effectively into stain (do not use the bottle nozzle to rub the stain as it may cross contaminate the two formulas)

. I made quite a mess on the shirt. I also left the stains on there for the full 24 hours.

I applied the Resolve All Stains

I washed the t-shirt

And I was impressed

The stains were almost completely removed. What do you think?

Win a Washer and Dryer and Resolve All Stains:

Go to the Resolve Facebook page and enter the Stain Gambler contest. To Enter you can take the quiz or just enter the contest. I took the quiz. You get to guess what ink blots look like to you and share some stain experience. I’m a Horse something, LOL, it’s funny what these companies think up some times.

Call To Action:

Do you have questions on cleaning and being a busy mom? Share them in the comments!

We’re going to be answering questions on Resolve’s Facebook page. Please leave your questions below.

Filed Under: personal Tagged With: chocolate milk, grape juice, gravy, personal, Resolve, Resolve All Stain, review

Easter Sunday With The Avengers A Super Hero Weekend

April 8, 2012 By Momstart 18 Comments

Huge surprise to me when I went to church on Sunday morning and who was at church. The Avengers were there; my pastor was even Captain America with a bullseye on his chest. The music pastor was Iron Man, The Hulk, Captain America and Thor. You may ask how could he be four different super heroes at once? T-shirts that’s the answer. When most people get all dressed up to go to Easter service our church dressed up as our favorite super heroes. Yeah there were a few none Marvel heroes too, Superman and batman made an appearance and had a little argument about Christmas lights but you all know me, I’m a Disney/Marvel fanatic so I’m concentrating on The Avengers. My son however his favorite super hero is Spiderman and he yelled it out during service. I was so proud of his courage and boldness. Our church got them all in there it was a super hero weekend celebrating life!

Imagine how awesome it would be to have super heroes at church? Most people find church to be a stuffy building where you listen to a sermon for an hour and are so glad when that hour is over. It’s not so at Evergreen Community Church. We except the unexpected every week, I never would have ever expected our pastor to be Captain America, no wait, one week he was Captain Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean so I should have considered the possibility.

Plus I have to mention that we have a super hero at church every week. We have the ultimate super hero; God. We even sang a song with all the children today because we had a family service, we sang Jesus You’re my Superhero. We wanted all of the children to feel welcome.

Jesus you’re my superhero
You’re my star, my best friend
Jesus you’re my superhero
You’re my star, my best friend

You can find the song by searching for Hillsong Kids. And here’s the music video to Jesus You’re my super hero.

So who is your favorite super hero, is it one of the Avengers:

Or are you a DC kind of person, Or are you a Pixar kind of person. Today during second service Mr. Incredible was the fourth most popular super hero. So Who is your favorite super hero?

I’m a crazy fanatic of Marvel and all super heroes, but feel that I have to mention too that I have a relationship with Disney and Marvel.

Filed Under: personal Tagged With: Captain America, Easter Sunday, Marvel, Super Hero, The Avengers, Thor

Get Stains Out With Resolve All-Stain

April 5, 2012 By Momstart 31 Comments

I can finally announce my new partnership with Resolve. I’m going to be an ambassador with fun giveaways, including one in this post, creating a commercial in another post and I get to conduct my own stain torture test. I know the kids will be happy to dawn their stain gear and help me in creating quite the torture to see how Resolve All Stains fairs.

I love using Resolve products. We use them on our laundry for stains all the time. I have it on top of my washing machine and as I loaded in the kids clothing I give most of my son’s shirts a little squirt.

As a brand Ambassador for Resolve, they sent me the Resolve All-Stains bottle that you see in the middle of the two Spray ‘N Wash with Resolve Power products. It’s different from what I used in the past when it was just another form of the Spray ‘n Wash, it’s a new stain remover for clothes. It is a stain pre-treat formula that combines oxygen and enzyme stain fighters all in one bottle. When you squirt it out, it doesn’t really squirt out anymore. It comes out with more of a thick consistency. It’s a little more like gel than like a liquid. Now, I gave it a good test Sunday night. I was writing this post before dinner and stopped in the middle of it to heat up the leftovers for my family. As I was getting the leftovers out of the fridge I knocked the bottle of red wine off the shelf and guess where the wine ended up? All over my socks and jeans, OH I was so upset at myself, but on the flip side it gave me the opportunity to test out the Resolve to finish my review.

The dark spot on my jeans and the pink sock (that’s supposed to be white) is the wine. I squeezed out some of the resolve and rubbed it into the stains and it disappeared right away.

Needless to say, when it came out of the wash my socks were white and my jeans were stain free. Which is really great because it was my favorite pair of jeans.

Like Resolve on Facebook and you can download a coupon for $1.00 off.

This giveaway has ended. Congratulations to the winners, Wanda M. and Debra H.

I am a Resolve Brand Ambassador and am being compensated for my time. This is part of a 2 month long paid campaign. I also received product to review, but will continue to purchase Resolve as my family already loves and uses this product. My opinions are my own, you may have different results.

Filed Under: giveaway, personal, review Tagged With: Ambassador, Resolve, Resolve All Stain, review

Meeting the Pixar Lamp #DisneyPixarEvent

April 4, 2012 By Momstart 17 Comments

I don’t have a lot of time to write a long post at the moment so I wanted to share my quick conversation I had with the infamous lamp

Yeah, it went something like that

The ball on the other hand, gave me some love

These photos were taken as part of the Blogger Press trip for La Luna Brave and Chimpanzee. Chimpanzee comes out in theaters April 20^th.La Luna and Brave come out June 22nd.

This trip was covered by Disney.

Filed Under: personal Tagged With: Disney, Pixar, The Pixar Lamp

Photography: My Little Chimpanzees #DisneyPixarEvent #DisneyGlobalEvent

March 30, 2012 By Momstart 28 Comments

I was going through my photos and I found my two little chimpanzees and had to share the photo as I’m getting ready to go on a trip to see Chimpanzee next week at the Disney Brave Event and again the following week in Florida.

I’ll miss my two Chimpanzees but do look forward to having the chance to find out what all went behind the making of the movie Chimpanzee. Chimpanzee comes out in theaters April 20^th

Upcoming trip and expenses are covered by Disney.

Filed Under: personal Tagged With: Chimpanzee, Disney, movie

Photography: Purple Mischief

March 28, 2012 By Momstart 29 Comments

Filed Under: personal, photos Tagged With: photography, purple, Zoe

Mommy Daughter Movie Star Hair Day at Swink Style Bar University Village Seattle

March 26, 2012 By Momstart 33 Comments

Spending the day with my daughter is always a very special time for us and finding things that she likes to do is still really easy. She’s such a girly girl, enjoying shopping, shoes dresses and primping. Last month I took her to get her nails done, this month we went and got our hair done at Swink Style Bar.

I had a blow out and she had a dry style. We tried one of their new packages. They have two new packages at Swink Style Bar: The one we tried was the Mommy & Me Drystyle we could have done the Mommy & Me Updo, that’s the other option. The Mommy and Me styles are for moms and their daughters (under 7 years old) The drystyle package is $55 and the updo is $75. We had a great time doing this together and I have to agree that it is perfect before family photos, Santa pictures, performances, and special events…we had dad take us out afterwards.

Older girls are of course welcome to come in with their mothers as well, but the services are regular priced ($70 for two dry styles and $100 for two updos). Swink Style Bar also has options for Teens that want to come in with mom or without.

Our pampering experience took about 30 minutes and we came out looking like new women. I actually didn’t even recognize myself whenever I looked in the mirror and a few people looked at me funny until they realized who I was. I had a great time and see myself taking Zoe back there some time just for something special to do.

I felt like a movie star and think my daughter did to. She was all smiles the whole day and showing off her hair for the next three. She’s going to be sad tonight when I finally take those braids out, but I’ll promise to put them back in myself soon. The staff was very kind and easy to chat with. They love what they do and make you feel great about the way you look.