Yummy Yellow Watermelon!

Have you ever tried yellow watermelon?
I have seen them before at the Olympia Farmer's Market but had never tried one. On Saturday, while at the Sand in the City, a booth had some out to sample. We all loved it and decided to pick one up. We ate half on Sunday and the other half for dessert tonight. It is a little different than the regular but still very sweet and so yummy. I can't wait until we can buy another one, which probably won't be until next summer.
Have you ever tried a yellow water melon, and did you like it?

Sand in the City in Olympia, WA

We are having a blast at Sand in the City. We used to live down here and always make a point to come here for a great day. The best part are all of the free crafts. The princesses happily try them all. You can see the chef hats, bird and bracelets. They also made sailboats, necklace, windmill and much more. We also got our favorite dish, curry chicken at Curry in a Hurry at the Olympia Farmer's next door. The festival continues tomorrow so if are close you should try and go!

Water Sliding in the Backyard!

The girls were so excited that it was warm enough to set up the water slide. I bought the slide before school got out when it was on sale at Target. The plan was to use it for Princess G's birthday party before school got out late June. Instead it rained, and then rained some more. We finally had the birthday party last week. The temps were over 80s so I set up the slide again. It is so easy to set up but takes a while to put it away!

Hot (for us) Day in Seattle

Yesterday we went into Seattle and let the girls play in the fountain at the Seattle Center. They both had so much fun and both got soaked. I took this photo after they had changed into dry clothes. It was in the mid 80s but that is hot for Seattle.

Princess A Finishes the Last Harry Potter Book

Princess A was so proud when she finished the last Harry Potter book today. Even more impressive since she only turned eight a few months ago. The last book did take a little while. To celebrate I made her a little heart shaped cake.

Fijit Dance Party (Toy Review)

Have you heard of Fijits? They are the cutest, new interactiveAs soon as the box arrived my girls were so excited. They had never heard of Fijits before but as soon as they saw them they were so impatience to get the packaging off. Princess G kept pressing the button on the tummy for the demo mode as I opened up the package. Luckily for me the package was not to hard to open. They rest of the day all they did was play with their two Fijits. Princess G named her green one Sage and Princess A named her purple one Willa.

The Fijits interactive with set phrases. As the Fijit interacts just watch the tummy, when the tummy is lit up the Fijit is waiting for you to talk. We found it was best to be about a foot or two from the Fijit for the best interaction. It took a few times but my girls learned to only speak when tummy was lit and to speak in a normal voice. The different conversations are weather, how you are feeling and jokes. One additional mode is the dance mode, my girls favorite. All day I hear "dance with me", " your music or mine?" and then dancing. Fijits love dancing and will dance differently based on the type of music they are dancing too. My girls played some of their own music (mostly the Rio Soundtrack) but most of the time they just have the Fijits play the music. The girls were still constantly playing with their Fijits when we had a playdate Fijit party. Their friends thought the toys were so cool and spent most of the time just dancing with the Fijits, over and over again. I know more than one little girl will be asking their mom to buy a Fijit for them. One of their friends has even asked if the next time my girls go to their house to play if they would bring their Fijits. My girls have playing with the Fijits all of the time. Since we have two of them it is funny to watch them interact with each other. It does not work perfectly but with a few extra prompts it is fun to watch the Fijits and my daughters all dancing. Now we have started to find Fijits while shopping. Just yesterday we were in Target and my girls found a shelf of Fijits which they kept turning on. I highly recommend these fun toys but I suggest that purchase extra batteries. After about a day or so the Fijits started stopping suddenly while dancing and reseting as though they had just been turned on. I replaced all of the batteries (5 for each Fijit) and they have been working perfectly ever since then. Most times the batteroes that come with a toy don't last long so I always make sure I have extra batteries even when toys come with batteries.

I also made a few videos with my girls dancing with their Fijits. I will try and post them later.

wrote this review while participating in a campaign by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of Mattel Fijit Friends and received product samples, a party kit, and a promotional item to thank me for taking the time to participate.

Giveaway: The Help Movie Prize Pack ends 8/22

ITEMS FOR GIVEAWAY: ( note:Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures– Digital Marketing and Publicity is providing the prize pack)

- THE HELP t-shirt in adult female sizes of S, M, L, XL
- THE HELP pocket jotter & pen
- THE HELP fan
- THE HELP nail file/mirror
To enter: Please leave a comment if you plan on watching this movie and/or read the book.
(If your email is not available on your blog please include it in your comment.)
US Only
Ends 8/22/11 at midnight PDT.

Extra Entries: (please leave a comment for each extra comment)
1.Follow my blog (2 entries, button on the side of blog)
2.Follow me @SillyMommy on Twitter (2 entries, leave your twitter name in comment)
3.Blog about the contest (5 entries, leave link in comment)
4.Tweet about the contest (leave link in comment, may tweet once a hour)
5. Enter another of my giveaways (listed on right near top, two entries per giveaway entered)

Moby by Contigo App Review

I love my iPhone and part of the reason are all of the great apps available. I admit I like to go to the apple store and explore different free apps. I am always downloading new ones and seeing if they work for me. Most apps are erased after only a few weeks or so. I found an app that I am keeping: Moby by Contigo! Moby lets you share your location with those you select. My husband has been home the last few weeks after ankle surgery. Since he is home I have been able to run errands without dragging my two children (they hate shopping.) Since I also downloaded the Moby app on our iPad my husband can see where I am with a few clicks. He can also send me a message or ask me to check in using the app. Since I tried to do many errands at once my husband can see where I am. If he sees that I am still at the library and he thinks of a movie (he has been watching lots of DVDs since he is still not walking without crutches) he can send me a message to pick it up. Earlier this week I had to attend a meeting in the evening in not the best area. My husband could see if I was still there or if I left and he can give me a call. Of course sometimes I sent my husband a message or just checked in (an alert with just my location and a request for his location) and he did not hear the iPad or it was across the room and not worth the pain to retrieve it. Later when the girls came to check and see if Daddy needed anything and they brought him the ipad he could see all of the messages and/or alerts I sent. The app will save up 25 such messages. I don't care if my husband knows where I am all of the time (I tell him where I am going always) but if you want to go somewhere without those in your Moby circle knowing you can click a button and not share your location. You can also decide to share your location with only certain people. You might want your friends to see where you are on the weekends but only your spouse or kids during the week. My husband has been home or with me so I never explored having someone else checking in but once he goes back to work it will be nice to check on him and see on Moby where he is on the drive home.

When I was setting Moby up I was able to send invitation to others to download Moby too. One thing I did not like is that currently you can only add people via your contacts and they must have a first and last name. That was a problem for me since my husband is listed by a nickname in my phone. Also you can not change any of the contact info once it is imported to Moby. If you need to change something you need to delete the person in Moby and reload their contact info from your phone. I actually sent a message to Moby about this. I was very impressed by how fast they answered my message. They informed me that they are already working on fixing that. Moby is only going to get better.
I highly recommend the Moby app. It works great on my iPhone and iPad and my husband is going to look into downloading it on his work Blackberry (he has to find out if he is allowed to since it is a company phone.)
If my kids had phones I would definitely put it on there phone.
If you decide to try Moby (it is free in the apple store) let me know what you think.

I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of Moby and received a promotional item to thank me for taking the time to participate.

Visited China via Michael's free crafts

We have been meaning to attend many of the free crafts at Michael's. We have only made the Germany one because I need to attend it for ideas for Girl Scout camp. Today the girls made sand art, you just peel off an area and pour sand on the exposed area which is sticky. The girls had A blast but were so careful it took over 45 minutes.

Finally Caught the Ice Cream Truck!

All summer we have been trying to catch the ice cream truck and today: Success!

Giveaway: PHINEAS & FERB Movie (ends 7/26)

My girls (and my husband) adore Phineas and Ferb. I must admit I like them too. The show has great and catchy tunes, we have a few of their songs on our ipod. We have been seeing commercials for the new Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Across the 2nd Dimension. The movie premiers August 5 at 8 pm/7 central.


SYNOPSIS
In the series, there are 2 very separate worlds - Phineas, Ferb and Candace in one world, Dr. Doofenshmirtz and Perry in the other. In the movie, Phineas and Ferb Across the 2nd Dimension (aka PF2D), these two worlds are thrust together for the first time to create a big adventure like we’ve never seen before. After the boys stumble upon Dr. Doofenshmirtz’s lair, Phineas and Ferb unintentionally help the evil scientist perfect his latest –inator, which sends them all to an alternate dimension where a truly evil Dr. Doofenshmirtz (as opposed to our simply ineffective Dr. Doof) has succeeded in taking over the Tri-state Area and plans to travel back to our dimension to conquer it as well. After overcoming the shock of discovering Perry’s secret, the threesome learn to work together and establish a newfound relationship as not just pet/owners, not just friends - but a dynamic team ready to face their greatest challenge yet: to save the world as they know it.

Well if you (or your kids) are excited about the Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Across the 2nd Dimension you could win tickets to watch the movie Saturday July 30th in Seattle!

I have 5 family 4 packs to giveaway. Please only enter if you can attend the movie Saturday July 30 in Seattle at 10:30 am.


Giveaway
5 of my readers can win family 4 packs to the movie Saturday July 30th at 10:30am in Seattle.
The movie tickets will be mailed to you so I will need the winners addresses by the morning of 7/27, so please check you emails.

To enter: Please leave a comment with your favorite Phineas and Ferb character (mine is Perry the platypus.)

(If your email is not available on your blog please include it in your comment.)
Seattle area only
Ends 7/26/11 at noon PST.

Extra Entries: (please leave a comment for each extra comment)
1.Follow my blog (2 entries, button on the side of blog)
2.Follow me @SillyMommy on Twitter (2 entries, leave your twitter name in comment)
3.Blog about the contest (5 entries, leave link in comment)
4.Tweet about the contest (leave link in comment, may tweet once a hour)
example: win Phineas and Ferb movie 4 packs of ticket, contest ends 7/26 http://t.co/u5GHn51 #win #giveaway #contest
5. Enter another of my giveaways (listed on right near top, two entries per giveaway entered)

I am receiving a family 4 pack to attend the movie in exchange for hosting this giveaway. No other compsation is being recieved.

Dr. Scholl's Custom Fit Orthotic Inserts Review

I have never worn inserts but I wonder if I should have. I have the hardest time finding shoes that are comfortable. Most shoes just make my feet hurt if I wear them or try and walk in them more than a little bit. I have narrow feet and high arches. i was given the opportunity to try out Dr Scholl's Custom Fit Orthotic Inserts. The first thing I did was find a Dr Scholl's kiosk (my local Walmart had one). At the kiosk I took off my shoes and followed the directions on the screen. It involved standing on both feet and then each foot by themselves. The machine did some calculations and told me the perfect insert for my feet. Just to me sure I did the whole thing a second time and I got the same results. Once I received the pair of inserts (one for each foot) I tried them out in my favorite shoes. At first it felt a little strange but comfortable. I had complete support in my arches. After a little while I did not even notice that my shoes felt any different except that my feet seemed less tired. Some days I am on my feet all day and others I thankfully get to sit some of the time. To me it seemed as though I can walk (or stand) longer with less tiredness (is that a real word?)

I wish I had know about these sooner and with a price of $50 it is much less than a custom fit at a doctors. If you would like to try them I also have a link to a $7.50 Dr. Scholl’s rebate just for you (http://www.footmapping.com/footmapping/rebate-momscentral.jspa)

I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of Dr. Scholl’s and received a Custom Fit Orthotics from Dr. Scholl’s to facilitate my review.

Disneyland Day Five

We started our last day inOf course our first ride had to be onAuntie Babe joined us just as Princess G finished another ride on Roses (a carousel horse) behindNext we tried Casey's Circus Train. I have not been on this ride in years.

Back for another ride onWe realized that we never got a picture with Mickey so we went to his house to try and find him.

Mickey was in his living room so after taking our picture we wandered through the rest of theAuntie Babe and Princess A decided to try and ride the roller coaster with their hands up the whole time.

At last it was time to battle Darth Vader. Princess G planned on battling him too but she started to feel a little sick on last day (mostly just being over tired.)

Princess A defeated Darth Vader just as we knew sheA picture with my cutie!

This is how we got around the parks.

Princess A loved pushing her sister but in crowds I usually took over so we would not rum overThis is my favorite picture of all of us from our trip.

Too soon it was time toHere we are back in Seattle at the airport.

Disneyland Day Four

This morning we waited to see theirWhile we were waiting we found a great group to take picturesFinally Auntie was here! We went straight to the submarine since it had less than a 10 minute wait (it was the shortest time we ever saw so we had to take advantage of that!)

Soon it was time to head over to California Adaventure so we could have breakfast at Areil's Grotto with all of the Princesses. Besides Ariel we took pictures with Snow White, Aurora, Cinderealla andAfter a big meal we explored the backlot area.

The girls love playing in this area, The next spot where you can add your voice to a cartoon or song is thier veryEventually Auntie had to rejoin her hich school band for some classes. We decided to hop on the train (to give Daddy's foot a rest.)

We stopped at the house of innovation and Princess A was picked to perform someThe girls loved all of the differnt stuff in the house and both would love to move in, of course part of the appeal is that Disneyland is right outside.

We planned on getting right back on the train but it was a very short line so we drove someEventually we rode the train to New Orleans Square.

I have never see the Mardi Gras Mickey and Minnie before, they were soWe staked out a spot to watch the Fantasmic show and ate Gumbo.

While we waited for the fireworks and then the Fantasmic show to start Daddy held our spot while the girls, Auntie and I took turns going on rides and exploring.

The two shows were simply great and well worth the wait!!

Disneyland Day Three

We started our day being greeted by Minnie Mouse as soon as we arrived.Princess G decided that she wanted to try Space Mountain so that is where we went first.

She then decided at the last moment that she was not ready so I went with Princess A.

(Princess G tried twice but was just not ready, maybe next time!)

We let Princess G pick the next spot and she wanted to try the ride in Fairytale land.

Just Bliss!!!!

Of course we had to take a ride on her favorite horse 'Roses'.

We can back later in the day to ride her again.

Princess A also picked out a favorite horse.

Then it was off to New Orleans Square, which means a ride on the Pirate of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion.

The girls wanted to climb Tarzan's Tree house so the girls and I left Daddy to rest and off we went. Princess G made it up about 20 steps before I got to carry her the rest of the way up and then down. There really are a lot of steps!Next we decided to go and explore the island, especially since the girls had never been over there before.

They loved all of the caves and the cool tree house!

After a very long time exploring it was time to ride back to shore!

The girls wanted to play in Toon Town.

I love getting a picture of them having tea in Minnie's house.

A rare picture of all of us.

I love this picture with Walt, Mickey and the castle in the background.

For a perfect ending to a great day we enjoyed a Sundae together at the ice cream shoppe on Main Street. It was so yummy!