personal — MomStart

Finding Nemo in 3D: Visiting the Seattle Aquarium #2DaysInSeattle

February 6, 2012 By Momstart 5 Comments

It’s been a while since our family has visited the Seattle Aquarium. It’s grown quite a bit since our last visit. They have a new indoor entrance and so many more hands on opportunities to play with the sea life.

After buying the tickets we were able to catch the end of the diver feeding the fish and her interview. My kids were fascinated and amazed, it reminded me of how much my kids loved going to the aquarium in the first place. Of course Finding Nemo brought out a love of aquariums in all kids (which by the way Finding Nemo comes out in 3D September 14, 2012), but my kids loved looking at fish way before they saw the movie..

The aquarium used the familiarity that children have and created an activity where the kids had to find different fish from the movie. Not all the fish we had to find were prominent in the movie but Nemo and Dori were both on the list. My kids had a blast searching through the fish and different tanks to find Nemo and the other fish on the list. What a great educational opportunity taking your kids to the aquarium was.

After our fish hunt we went to see the baby otter. To get to the otter l we had to go through the puffin house. Wow!! there was a puffin in there that was going a little crazy I think. Quoting Finding Nemo, “Fish don’t belong in a tank, it does something to them”….I was thinking that actually applied to this crazy puffin. The kids loved it though, they thought he was just putting on a show for them. Seriously, I’m happy the aquarium does what they do, the educate the kids and myself in so many different ways.Look at this seahorse it’s amazing!

Through stories, hands on exhibits and information we had a very fun and educational day. I learned that the Great Pacific Octopus can get up to 400 lbs, at least that’s the largest recorded weight. And they can get into as small as a quarter size hole as long as their beak isn’t that big. It’s their only limitation.

We ended our day with fish hats and I leave you with this trailer of Finding Nemo in 3D.

Travel and Expenses were covered by 2daysinseattle, the Seattle CVB. And yes I do have an ongoing relationship with Disney and DreamWorks. I have permission to use their artwork.

Filed Under: personal Tagged With: 2daysinseattle, Aquarium, Finding Nemo, Finding Nemo 3D trailer, personal, Seattle

Celebration Dinner Snow & Ice Skating In Florida

December 20, 2011 By Momstart 19 Comments

As part of our exploration of Kissimmee and Central Florida we visited the town of Celebration. Celebration looks like a quaint little town right out of a movie. The buildings are all colorful and as they look different they all blend in to each other having the same picket fence appeal. First off we had dinner at Columbia Restaurant.

Columbia serves a taste of Columbia, which is something I’ve never experienced before. I tried the sangria and I had an excellent dinner with rice, sausage, beef and pork, it was called Paella “Campesina”. The flavors were fantastic. I had a hard time stopping because it was delicious. I was actually full before it even arrived because we had the original “1905: salad. YUM. My friend didn’t like what she ordered and since the serving sizes were huge I had plenty to share with her. I also tried the Sangria and we had a fabulous lime dessert. After dinner we hurried over to Celebration for the SNOW! It snows in central Florida and they have an ice rink. (although the ice rink looks like it’s made plastic.)

The Snow comes down at different scheduled times and it’s actually soapy bubbles. Somehow even as bubbles the snow captivated all the people there and feel as magically as real snow does. Watching all the people gave me joy. You could see people in the streets just lifting up their arms looking straight up into the sky with their arms outstretched. I had a great time.

I recommend visiting the picturesque town of Celebration built by Disney. They know how to do food and fun!

All travel and expenses were paid for by Global Resort Homes And Kissimmee CVB.

Filed Under: personal, travel Tagged With: Celebration FL, Columbia Resturant, Florida, Gobla Resort Homes, Kissimmee, personal, review, travel

Bloggers Amazing Race New York: The Race To War Horse

December 5, 2011 By Momstart 25 Comments

This is the most amazing experience, stressful at times but something I’ll always remember. Yesterday was the world premier of Steven Spielberg’s movie War Horse. It was an amazing movie. Each character in the movie took me down a different emotional journey. I even experienced an adrenaline rush, but that, was the journey to get to the movie.

We all met down in the lobby to get in our vans at 4:30, for a half mile trip to the Lincoln Center. The world premier of War Horse started at 6:00. When we got outside we found there was only 1 van able to hold 14 people other than the driver. There were 20 bloggers not including Marshall (our PR rep) so you do the math. 14 of us got on the van and we waited for the other van to show up. We waited and waited and waited, and then finally the other van came so we got the green light to get moving.

We started moving and 15 minutes later started actually worrying that we weren’t going to make it. Because we only moved 1 block, not even a block, it was more like 3 feet!!! We asked the driver and he said as soon as he gets to the other block traffic will speed up. NO WAY! I never believed him. Oh and I forgot to mention that we called the PR rep and told him we weren’t moving and he said he was already there. The other van had pulled a u-turn and got to the theater in 3 minutes. We told our driver to do a u-turn and he yelled something back at us that wasn’t quite as nice as a simple no. So we moved at our turtle speed and he turned and we still weren’t moving very quickly. We got to a street that he could turn on and then we found a police officer that said we can’t turn. He blocked our path and said to keep going. We went another block and that street was blocked off too. Frustrated I started asking how far it was to walk. The girls pulled up the GPS and said we’re getting farther and farther away from our destination, a few blocks had turned into a mile. We were going the wrong way! Jeana said, “I want to get off” but no one moved, not even the van. She said it again, then she said, “Seriously, I want off: and she started climbing over people. I wanted to get off too, our van driver protested saying we did not want to walk that far. Almost all of us piled out of the van anyways and guess what? We had to start running! In our glamorous attire and high heals we were running in the streets of New York.

I turned around to find that we lost some bloggers along the way, Crystal and Jeana, I asked Kas where they were and she said, they went another way. Then I suddenly thought to myself, are we going the right way? Again I started asking people to pull up the GPS, and yelled at the girls in front of me to find out if they knew where they were going. They both said no! So we stopped for just a second because we wanted to keep moving. We got the GPS up and off we went again in our heels Someone decided to take a pedi cab and as soon as we stopped one, I jumped on. The Pedi-cab only seated 3. So our group split again. Now we had the girls in the van, the girls still on the street who ended up getting a taxi, and the girls on foot.

Knowing I had a $20 in my pocket. Another blogger said she had cash so I figured we were good for the pedi-cab. It was nice to be off my heals. I started looking for my $20 and I couldn’t find it. Turns out the other blogger only had $31. Ahh, next step was breaking the news to the pedi cab driver. I told him, You might want to stop, we can’t pay you. Hmmm, he said it’s 20 per person just to stop now, I said, yeah we don’t even have that. He kindly finished out the block and said this is the street you want, go down this street and turn left on 57th. We took off running again because we only had 8 minutes to make it to the premier at this point.

As we were getting closer we were stopped at an intersection waiting for the light to change and we ran into an actor who asked us where we were going so dressed up and in a hurry. We told him what we were doing and he said he was going to the same place. I wasn’t really paying attention to the conversation and I didn’t even realize he was an actor none of us did until much later in the evening. We finally get across the street and start looking for the entrance to the Lincoln Center, I was just looking for Marshall (our PR rep). I saw him and started running towards him and he saw me too and he smiled. I was thinking I hope everyone made it since he was smiling. When I reached Marshall, he said, don’t worry you’re not eliminated you’re the second group to arrive in the Amazing Race. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to crack up laughing or have a stress break down. I decided it was funny! The three groups that abandoned the van got there at about the same time. The ones that ran the whole way got there first, my group got there second and the taxi group got there third. The van got there a little after six, but guess what…

All that worrying about getting there on time and the premier didn’t even start until 6:30pm, a half our late in typical Hollywood fashion! But be sure to check back later this week for my recap of the actual premier with photos from the red carpet. As for now, I still need that foot massage after all that running!

Filed Under: personal Tagged With: Amazing Race, New York, personal, premier, Red Carpet, War Horse

Getting Red Carpet Ready at Northgate Simon Mall

November 29, 2011 By Momstart 10 Comments

Yesterday, I should have stayed home and worked all day. I really need to get some posts scheduled for my trips this weekend and the next. But instead I spent the day getting ready for my trip to New York. I’m walking the red carpet again, this time with DreamWorks and the movie War Horse. So instead of buying a dress, I bought a coat, but I found such a good deal, that I ended up getting a dress and a coat. So where did I spend my day, I spent the day walking the halls of Northgate Mall. I had a snack, my hair done and found some fabulous clothing.

If you keep up with me on Facebook, I posted both of these coats and asked you guys for some help in picking out a coat. The one vote I had was for the red one and I didn’t see that vote until after I purchased the black one.

I bought a new coat because my current coat is not a dress coat. I really thought having a nice dress coat would be better, plus ever since I saw my sister had a nice black dress coat I wanted one too. While I was there and enjoying my kid less time I looked at dress too.

I think the only reason I ended up getting a dress was because I got the coat for $37.00. Amazing I know, you would think that all the sales would be over, but just because black Friday came and went doesn’t mean you won’t find a good deal. You’ll find fantastic deals at Northgate Mall in Seattle.

I got my hair cut at Regis and you know I bought a coffee and the best part was I just enjoyed my experience today in the mall without kids.

This is not a compensated post but I am a Northgate Mall Ambassador.

Filed Under: personal Tagged With: dreamworks, Northgate Mall, personal, Simon Mall, War Horse

Wordless Wednesday Muppet Domination

November 8, 2011 By Momstart 18 Comments

Filed Under: personal Tagged With: personal, The Muppets, Wordless Wednesday

A Front Door Makeover From Brown To Red Glidden Trim & Door Paint

October 24, 2011 By Momstart 6 Comments

Earlier this year Glidden introduced a brand new type of paint. No mixing, shaking or second coats needed. Really! I didn’t believe it so Glidden sent me 1 quart of paint to put it to the test, I transformed my front door from brown to red.

First I made sure the door was clean and then taped off the window and door frame. We also took all the handles and knobs off. The paint said no drip, no spill, but I’m quite accident prone so, I was extra careful. When I opened the can, I found that the paint was very thick. That’s part of the secret, the technology behind the paint keeps you from spilling and dripping. The new Glidden Trim & Door, is an industry-first innovation that amazingly leaves behind no drips or brush marks, making it easier than ever to paint interior and exterior trim, doors, furniture and more. As I was painting I felt like I was getting all kinds of paint brush marks. So I had to look at the directions again.

The can says that you need to apply a generous even amount of paint to the surface. So I went back and made sure that I had an even amount of paint on the entire door. It wasn’t exactly a second coat because the paint was still wet and most of it was fine. My husband looked at the door and said you’re probably going to have to do a second coat. I thought, the same but told him we needed to wait and see how it dried.

The next day we both agreed, the door looked great and didn’t need a second coat. Also I didn’t spill one single drop of paint. The only paint I got on the floor was from paint I got on my hands. I put my hand down to balance myself and oops. paint on the floor.

Available in eight classic colors, Glidden Trim & Door fills and covers wood grain and minor surface imperfections to provide an exceptional high gloss, no brush mark finish. In addition, this ultra durable, oil-based paint stands up to wear and tear far better than traditional, acrylic paints.

Stay tuned, next week we have another fun painting project and a giveaway to accompany it. It’s an awesome room makeover giveaway.

We received a sample quart of paint on behalf of Glidden.