travel — MomStart

Kenmore Innovation A Double Oven A Refrigerator and other Coveted Appliances

February 9, 2012 By Momstart 5 Comments

While I was at the Kenmore Blogger Summit I perused their new appliances and what I’m most interested in purchasing is the Kenmore Double Oven. The one they featured, Kenmore Elite® Double Oven Electric Free Standing Range, has two ovens built into one unit. I must have been living in the dark ages because I figured the only way to have a double oven was to have one built into your wall for an outrageous price. Really, I didn’t know I’m not just saying that.

Kenmore has more than one double oven but because I would prefer to have a gas oven and stove top I would have to get their older model. Figures! They said the reason is because the gas takes up extra room causing them to need more space in one compartment verses the equal space. I’m still excited though because I don’t need to cook two 28lb turkeys at one time. All I need is to be able to bake dessert at the same time I’m making dinner. I just love the idea of having dinner in the oven and pies or cookies in the top portion of the double oven. Their double oven with two equal sizes can cook two 28lb turkeys at one time. So if you have large family there you go! The Kenmore Elite® Double Oven Electric Free Standing Range retails $1,899.

They had more innovation than just an oven that was just my favorite part. My second favorite appliance was the refrigerator. That The grab and Go Kenmore Elite® Trio® 31 Cubic Foot Refrigerator was huge and innovative. The door was amazing. You can open the entire fridge at one time and then there is a separate attachment that you can open allowing you access to things in the door without losing all of the cold air in the fridge. It’s genius.

A Few other highlights

Has an integrated dispenser that virtually disappears into the door to provide a sleek and integrated look. It also has a tall dispenser that makes it easy to fill tall items like pitchers, coffee pots and water bottles.
Plus it has a Slim In-Door Icemaker provides more storage on the top shelf while still allowing for plenty of door storage bins.

We also used and learned about their smaller appliances. I just love the way the Kenmore Stand mixer looks. It’s so retro and modern at the same time, plus it has a timer built into it. I love that feature.

We created slow cooker meals, drank smoothies and created commercials using vacuums. Plus we spent the whole day coming up with the most innovative ideas and things we want to see in appliances. I would love to have a crockpot that fits nicely in the dishwasher. My idea was one of the winning ideas. So I won a toaster. Other great ideas were apps built into the refrigerator, and a pizza door added to the oven so you don’t lose all your heat when throwing the pizza in the oven. I received three different appliances from Kenmore as prizes for participating in the event and I can’t wait to share each one with you.

Travel and expenses were covered by Kenmore/Sears. .

Filed Under: review, travel Tagged With: appliance innovation, Double oven, Innovation, Kenmore Elite® Double Oven Electric Free Standing Range, Kenomre, The grab and Go Kenmore Elite® Trio® 31 Cubic Foot Refrigerator

Soring Over Florida Alligators Zip Lining at Florida Eco Safaris

February 7, 2012 By Momstart 22 Comments

If it’s not enough that my very first time zipling at speeds I’m not used to traveling at heights I’m not used to standing at we were also soring over Alligators. As far as Alligators go I would say he’s pretty sweet, if you talk to him he’ll move closer to you. I’m not sure he’s hungry, I think he enjoys the conversation, at least that’s what I was telling myself as I was praying that my lines wouldn’t give.

When asked if I wanted to go on a trip to Kissimmee, Florida, I said yes, of course. I was expecting Disney World, I’ve never been there before. Next thing I know, I’ve signed myself up for ICE, bi-plane riding, and zip-lining. UHHH, the nerves kicked in at the words ziplining and bi-plane riding. Hmmm. Ok, here we go, I wasn’t going to back out. I put on the gear and felt quite adventurous.

Then we climbed the stairs, the rickety stairs up to our first line. Now we’re talking rules and don’t touch this and don’t’ do that, my hearing glosses over as I’m noticing how high we are and that we have to be unhooked for a brief time as we get ready to jump/fall/sit into our glide across the trees. My nerves kicked into high gear and I wasn’t sure what to do.

As I watched everyone go before me I was wondering if I could really do this? The thrill seeker in me won out. I did it, I flew through the trees like a bird and loved it. It wasn’t until about four lines into it that I was actually able to really enjoy it. I’m pretty sure I’m afraid of heights but I have a closet thrill seeker in me that rides mechanical bulls, runs through the streets of New York in a ball gown, and fly down zip lines over Alligators.

Florida Eco Safaris take care of everything you need. They provide tour guides who help you along the way. They are quite prepared for any and all occasions and ours even provided some quick witted much needed humor to lighten the tension of something so adventurous. They of course provide the gear and keep up with all ziplining standards. I had an amazing time and can’t wait for round two. At Florida’s Eco Safaris you can choose from four amazing ways to explore Forever Florida: Coach Safari, Horseback Safari, soar over it all on Florida’s biggest and All New Zipline Safari™, or pedal through the treetops on the New Cypress Canopy Cycle. We also did the Cypress Canopy Cycle, it’s a lot of work and I was a little too close to really large spiders for my taste but I did really enjoy the workout.

Travel Expenses were covered by Kissimmee CVB, Global Resort Homes and Florida Eco Safaris. Special thanks to Kas pictured above for helping to organize the event.

Filed Under: personal, travel Tagged With: Cypress Canopy Cycle, Florida, florida eco safaris, Forever Florida: Coach Safari, Horseback Safari, or pedal through the treetops on the New Cypress Canopy Cycle, soar over it all on Florida's biggest and All New Zipline Safari™, travel, ziplining

A Walk Down Alaskan Way Through Photos #2DaysInSeattle

January 31, 2012 By Momstart 13 Comments

Pier 62 and 63 is where my husband asked me to marry him almost 11 years ago. We’ll be celebrating out 10 year anniversary June 8th.

Thanks to @2daysinSeattle/ Seattle CVB for a fantastic day out with the family experiencing the fair city of Seattle.

Filed Under: personal, travel Tagged With: Alaskan Way, photography, photos, Seattle, travel

Behind Broadway with Steve Fickinger: NEWSIES Hits March 15th

January 31, 2012 By Momstart 3 Comments

When I was a little girl NEWSIES came out and when I watched it I was bored out of my mind. I think that because of the NEWSIES I decided that musicals must not be my thing. I actually hated the NEWSIES when it came out so long ago and Steve Fickinger, VP of Creative Development and Licensing for NEWSIES on Broadway, said the movie wasn’t the best. “I can’t imagine many of you saw it in the theaters, because I think it played for one week.” Because it failed. “Well, as you might know, oddly the film failed. Failed, failed. I think it made maybe three million bucks. It was in the theater for one week, one week, a famous failure.” He said, “It’s not a great movie.” But NEWSIES the Broadway Musical is going to be fantastic.

Talking to Steve and watching the preview of NEWSIES the Broadway musical gives me hope that N on Broadway it actually has a chance at being something really special. The songs are better the dancing is better and they incorporated more girls into the show. I wish I lived in New York so that I could see it in March when it starts it’s run. I guess my other hope would be that it’s so successful that it goes on tour and comes to Seattle so I can watch it locally. I bet my kids would like it this go around.

Steve Fickinger was great to interview, funny and candied with us. He admitted that Disney had a problem with parents in movies and LOVES to kill them off and if a parent actually gets to survive then only one! You know it’s true and that he was being quite silly telling us not to quote him. His honesty with us made me feel I could trust his judgment.

How did the idea for NEWSIES on Broadway get started?

NEWSIES is the number one requested Broadway musical. So Steve talked with Alan Menken and Jack Feldman, who did the original film, and also spoke with Bob Tzudicker and Noni White who wrote the original film. They didn’t have Broadway experience so Steve had to find more help. He told us a story about how he found more help. “Alan Menken, who I’m sure you all know from Beauty and the Beast and etcetera, etcetera, etcetera, Enchanted, Sister Act, many wonderful things, he happened to be at Leo’s Grocery Store. He lives, uh, kind of slightly upstate New York in some beautiful, leafy suburb where I’ll never be able to afford a home, and he happened to run into, uh, Harvey Fierstein, who you probably also know from Mrs. Doubtfire, he wrote the La Cage aux Folles, he wrote towards some trilogy. “ …..”they fell to talking, they’d never met before, and Harvey says, what do you do, what are you working on? And Alan, well, I’m doing this, and I’m doing this, and I’m doing this, and he happened to throw Newsies into the conversation, and Harvey said, let’s talk more about that. So they went over to Alan’s house, and, uh, as they talked more about it, Alan, uh, Harvey watched the film, and Alan picked up the phone, and he said, you know, you’re never going to believe who actually is interested in writing the book for Newsies. Harvey Fierstein.”

Together they created NEWSIES and they had to use the best parts of the movie because believe it or not there is a cult following that loves the movie. So he took the songs, the emotion, sort of the bravado of the musical and created an adaptation that I’m ready to go see right now! Advance tickets go on sale starting Monday, January 30^th, previews begin on March 15^th and opening night of the show on Broadway is March 29^th.

Thanks to Disney and DreamWorks for covering travel expenses.

Filed Under: Movie review, personal, travel Tagged With: braodway, entertainment, movie, musical, NEWSIES, Newsies the broadway musical, review

Creating Drinks and Doughnut Variations at Krispy Kreme

January 24, 2012 By Momstart 15 Comments

I love trying new things and had to try everything while I was visiting Krispy Kreme and taking only one bite of each was difficult.

Part of our visit included making our own doughnuts. We were given the doughnut shells and we had to use those plane doughnuts to make our own. We were given glaze, chocolate, drizzle and a wide assortment of toppings but not every toping possible. Krispy Kreme has pretty much any topping you can imagine to create their doughnut variations. They’ve used fruit, licensed products like Oreos, candy bars, and candy. Some products are used to create color and some are used to infuse flavor, because it’s a combination of color and flavor that makes us want those doughnut variations.

Now if you know me you won’t find this surprising, but we were supposed to create our own doughnuts within our group, decide who made the best one and then box up 12 of the same doughnut, I misunderstood the directions and thought we were supposed to make a dozen doughnuts of whatever we wanted, so I had fun getting creative. I created about 12 different doughnut topping variations.

OOPS! I’ll try to follow directions next time. Out of all the ones I created I decided that my signature doughnut was an original doughnut with plane glaze, mocha powder and chocolate shavings on top. It was delicious. Another thing I didn’t realize was that we weren’t supposed to eat our creation. I took a bite so it couldn’t go in the box.

After making doughnuts we had fun making drinks. Krispy Kreme makes cold and hot variations of fabulous drinks. Last year my favorite chiller was the Oreo chiller. My favorite drink of the day was a salted caramel chiller. It was really good, we also created a toasted marshmallow latte that left me wishing I could find a local coffee store that made toasted marshmallow lattes. YUM!

Look out for these fabulous creations from Krispy Kreme this Valentine’s Day along with a buy a dozen doughnuts get a dozen free doughnuts coupon with their Valentine’s Day promotions!

Travel and Expenses were covered by Krispy Kreme.

Filed Under: personal, travel Tagged With: creating doughnuts, creating drinks, doughnuts, Krispy Kreme, North Carolina

Inside Krispy Kreme Winston-Salem North Carolina

January 23, 2012 By Momstart 9 Comments

Taking a tour through Krispy Kreme is not a lite matter, in fact it’s filling and quite sweet!

This is a picture of the Krispy Kreme headquarters in Winston-Salem North Carolina. Inside there is the beginning of every Krispy Kreme doughnut. They create the beginning of the mix that is distributed world wide, so they have touched every doughnut in a way. The quality of every doughnut is of upmost importance to Krispy Kreme.

The tour included a little history and that was the best part about Krispy Kreme to me was that it wasn’t just a boring history lesson it was a lesson filled with stories, personal connections with the brand. Like the photo above, this is how they used to cut their doughnuts. They would roll it out on a wood table, cut them with this and then after they were fresh and hot they would store them in a wood box.

They didn’t know all the things about wood that we know now. Now every doughnut is made form a mix. that mix is created at the headquarters and distributed world wide. In each region of the world taste buds and regulations are different so the recipe is a little different for some of the doughnuts variations. However, the original doughnut is as close to the same as it can possibly be for each region. They mentioned a green tea doughnut and I want to go to the country that sells that doughnut just to taste it. Krispy Kreme really understands their customers, it’s rooted into their company motto. Of course they care about how many doughnuts they sell but what’s even more important to them is enhancing the lives of others through joy.

Our tour included the store front model. Here they simulate how things are to be positioned and how they should look. Are the doughnuts easy to put together and how do the drinks come together. On day two we even went back there and created our own drinks. I’ll tell you more about that fun later.

And it included ever so beautiful hair caps and lab coats. Pictured here is my friend Liz (A Nut in a Nutshell) and me.

We also saw the doughnut assembly line. They make all the variations of doughnuts on this machine, they run them in shifts. That’s actually something I didn’t realize. I thought every store made only the glaze doughnuts Plus we had an original doughnut hot off the line. YUM!

Krispy Kreme prides themselves on their high standards. They don’t accept flour unless it’s up to specifications and they monitor everything with state of the art technology.

We also had the privilege of seeing the original Krispy Kreme recipe.

Behind this safe

Inside this envelope. Ok, that’s as far as he got. He said it was his first time to ever hold the envelope, but no one gets to look at the original Krispy Kreme recipe, it’s TOP SECRET.

Travel and expenses were covered by Krispy Kreme.

Filed Under: review, travel Tagged With: blog trip, Krispy Kreme, Krispy Kreme Blogger Summit, Krispy Kreme headquarters, North Carolina, travel

Awed and Amazed by Fantasy of Flight

January 22, 2012 By Momstart 8 Comments

Sometimes I get lucky and have so many fabulous photos of a place I visit that the entire review can be in photos and Fantasy of Flight was breathtakingly photogenic. In Seattle we have The Museum of Flight where we can take all kind of photos of airplanes. It’s walking through a museum. Fantasy of flight takes you on an adventure while showing you all the airplanes over the years. You not only get to see the planes you feel the life they lived. You have to see it to completely understand what I’m saying. You live the fantasy!

Fantasy of Flight is in Polk Florida very close to Kissimmee. It’s worth the drive over to see a unique display of the history of planes. They offer a variety of guided tours including visits to their working restoration and maintenance areas. My favorite part was the tour we took. Walking through areas of war actually made me nervous.

Some of the aircraft we saw has been carefully restored to represent the same dignity they possessed when they ruled the skies. They were beautiful planes. I think because my son has such a fascination with airplanes it gave me a fascination. Seeing everything through the eyes of a child makes me feel young again. This is defiantly a place I want to take Miles to one day.

One area that we didn’t try was the Fun with Flight Center. There you can take a spin on a state-of-the-art hang glide simulator and climb on board a real B-17 Flying Fortress in a WWII bombing mission.

Travel and Expenses were covered by Kissimmee CVB and Global Resort Homes

Filed Under: personal, travel Tagged With: airplane musuem, Fantasy of Flight, FL, Florida, Global Resort Homes, Kissimmee, Museum of flight, review, travel

The Fly Girls: Waldo Wright’s Flying Service

January 21, 2012 By Momstart 5 Comments

Just outside the Fantasy of Flight in Kissimmee Florida is Waldo Wright’s Flying Service. There you get to fly above Florida in a little bi-plane and relive adventures of the 1930’s.

That’s what we did back in December of 2011. Thanks to Kissimmee CVB, Fantasy of Flight, Global Resort Homes and Waldo Wright’s Flying Service, I got to dress the part of someone who took a little joy ride in a bi-plane. We heard the history of the plane, as it was used to smuggle alcohol at one time, a fact I found to be really cool. Plus flying through the air in bi-plane was much easier and much more fun that I ever thought it would be.

I was a bit scared because I’m used to small planes being quite shaky, this wasn’t it was a smooth ride and the weather was perfect for us. I loved the wind in my hair and seeing the water and orange groves below me.

So here are the fly girls.

Kas – Southern Bellas Ways To Save

Crystal – Simply Being Mommy and Becca – Mamabblog

Jen – The Mom Reviews

Now here are the planes. Waldo Wright’s Flying Service offers a variety of vintage biplane experiences. Travel back to the 1930s to enjoy an authentic barnstorming ride in a New Standard D-25, or the 1940s for a more hands-on WWII adventure at the controls of a Boeing Stearman N2S-3.

Here’s a little history:

The New Standard airplane was designed specifically for barnstorming at the request of Ivan Gates, the proprietor of the famous Gates Flying Circus. Gates, with Clyde Pangborn, formed and operated one of the largest groups of barnstorming airplanes from the middle 1920s and into the 1930s. Carrying 4 passengers in a large front open cockpit, the airplane was instrumental in introducing hundreds of thousands of people to their first airplane ride, when aviation was in its infancy. Many still remember flying out of a pasture near their hometown when they were young. There are very few of these magnificent airplanes still operating today; in fact, Waldo owns two of the seven presently airworthy and flying.

My husband had told me a while back that he was going to take our son up and I said. NO WAY. You are not taking my son on a bi-plane. Now that I’ve been on one as soon as I know my son can stay in his seat, he’s allowed to fly with his dad and a professional pilot of course. Waldo Wright’s Flying Service is located in Polk City just outside Fantasy of Flight. If you ever are in the Kissimmee area you should consider going up in one of his planes.

Travel expenses were covered by Global Resort Homes and Kissimmee CVB.

Filed Under: personal, travel Tagged With: bi-plane review, bi-plane ride, Fantasy of Flight, Florida, Global Resort Homes, Kissimmee, Kissimmee CVB, review, travel, Waldo Wright’s Flying Service

Finding Alligators In Florida Wetlands Boggy Creek Airboat Rides

January 20, 2012 By Momstart 20 Comments

My adventures in Kissimmee Florida weren’t only holiday excursions, we also had lots of adventure. One of the adventures felt like an episode out of CSI Miami and as we went around every turn in the wetlands, I was expecting to find a body floating in the water. You know what TV does to the imagination right? Happy to report no bodies found, just Florida Wildlife.

We were taking an adventure with Boggy Creek Airboat Rides. On this adventure with Boggy Creek Airboat Rides we took a tour through the wetlands looking for alligators, can you guess how many we found. I only expected to see one, and thought we’d be lucky if we saw one. instead we found 18. Most of them were itty bitty babies but it was still so much fun finding and counting them up. The tours started with a leisure idle down a natural canal viewing exotic birds,

turtles

and the 18 Florida alligators we found in their own natural environment.

Ok, we found them as we went along our 30 minute tour of the wetlands, not all in one spot. We found babies in groups and as the alligators got larger they were found in smaller numbers.

We flew down into the wetlands experiencing the wind and water whisping our faces as we traveled on the airboat reaching up to 45 miles per hour. Boggy Creek Airboat Rides is the best way to experience the beautiful Central Florida Everglades. Our tour guide was great at finding the wildlife and explaining everything to us. We saw and eagle and I have to warn you there are a few spiders here and there and even though I’m terrified of them I would ride the airboat again in a heart beat. I had a great time. I’d never seen a collection of shells like this before.

The Boggy Creek Airboat Rides offer 4 airboat tour choices. A 30 minute or a 1 hour scenic airboat ride on 17 passenger airboat, 45 minute airboat tour on 6 passenger boat & the 1 hour night airboat ride. They suggest that In the warm seasons the best time to see alligators is at night. If you are not able to go at night they suggest coming first thing in the morning. Our tour took place in the morning.

I got to drive too, ok, I’m just pretending to drive, I would have run over something I’m sure or tipped the boat over.

And at the end of the tour we had a lesson on alligators and all had the chance to hold one. I gave him a kiss. I guess Alligators don’t turn into princes like frogs do.

This tour was made possible by Global Resort Homes and Kissimmee CVB.

Filed Under: personal, travel Tagged With: airboat ride, Boggy Creek Airboat Rides review, finding alligators, Florida, Kissimmee, travel

Our Krispy Kreme Love Affair Landed Us A Trip To North Carolina #KKVIB2012

January 16, 2012 By Momstart 6 Comments

Last year Krispy Kreme started working with Miles and I. At first I had to think about how I wanted to work with them because I wanted to do something special. Miles wasn’t in school yet and Zoe was so I used this opportunity to have a mommy son date whenever they invited us out to try their new doughnut creations. We even created some fun videos.

Now on Tuesday as long as all flights aren’t canceled due to the snowpocolyps scheduled right before I fly out I’ll be on my way to North Carolina. Krispy Kreme is bringing in bloggers for coffee and doughnuts. While there we’re going to be taking a tour of their facility. I’m pretty excited about getting some more video. I haven’t been taking as much video as I used to so look out readers, here comes new video footage.

In a way I feel like Miles should be coming too. I mean look at this kid his face says Krispy Kreme all over.

But we’re also doing coffee tasting and even though my kids LOVE coffee (it’s my husband’s fault I swear) coffee tasting should be left to the adults and I think it’s not safe for little ones to be taking the tour of their facilities.

Be sure to stay updated on everything Krispy Kreme by following the hash tag. #KKVIB2012 @ KrispyKreme

Filed Under: personal, travel Tagged With: KKVIB2012, Krispy Kreme, North Carolina

Kenmore Innovation A Double Oven A Refrigerator and other Coveted Appliances

Soring Over Florida Alligators Zip Lining at Florida Eco Safaris

A Walk Down Alaskan Way Through Photos #2DaysInSeattle

Behind Broadway with Steve Fickinger: NEWSIES Hits March 15th

Creating Drinks and Doughnut Variations at Krispy Kreme

Inside Krispy Kreme Winston-Salem North Carolina

Awed and Amazed by Fantasy of Flight

The Fly Girls: Waldo Wright’s Flying Service

Finding Alligators In Florida Wetlands Boggy Creek Airboat Rides

Our Krispy Kreme Love Affair Landed Us A Trip To North Carolina #KKVIB2012

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