Lego House - Our Trip to Lego Land

As a part of our ongoing quest to experience more and acquire less items, we gifted Jack an experience gift this Christmas.  We're going to continue to practice this type of gifting with the kids more often because it was such a success.  When we asked Molly if she wanted to join us for a day at Lego Land or a pyjama party with her aunt K, she chose her girlie day.  Everyone was happy and we were able to enjoy some one on one time with Mr. Jack.

Here are 10 tips for A Successful Trip to Lego Land Vaughn 

A High Five for Merlin 2.0

1. Check for coupons or book your tickets ahead to save money.  We were able to get discount tickets through Groupon that also got Jack a free Nexo Knights figurine.  Total cost for the three of us worked out to around $60 with the two coupons.  Regular admission for kids 3 and over and adults is $24, so be sure to clip your coupons.
2. Read the fine print on the coupons or have the proper coupon app loaded onto your phone.  For whatever reason one of our tickets didn't print and we had to pay full price for one admission for one of us.
3. Let your child lead you.  There was a really cool looking playground, but Jack wasn't interested in going in because adults weren't permitted and he didn't want to go solo.  He didn't feel like he was missing out, so we checked back in before we left to make sure there wasn't anything else he wanted to do.

   

   Hanging out with daddy on one of the rides

4. Wait until lunch time to go on the Knight ride or when the lines appear shortest.  You pass by the knight ride when you first enter, so many people are tempted to line up right away, even if they arrive with a huge crowd.  We waited until a lot of people were eating lunch to line up and only spent twenty minutes waiting
5. You can bring your own food it you want to save a bit of cash, but if you don't want to bother, food prices are pretty reasonable.  We were able to get cheese pizza, chocolate milk, ice tea, a hot dog, a grilled cheese sandwich, and a bag of chips for $16.12.
   
   

   

   Practicing some shoddy architecture at the Earth Quake Table

6. The earthquake table is a lot of fun.  Be prepared to be way more excited about it than your child is.
7. Your child may not appreciate the beauty of the same Lego sculptures as you do, but make sure you take a minute to really look at the artistic craftsmanship of some of the Master Builder's art.
8. The Lego "Movie" is totally worth the wait, and is 4D, meaning they blow air at you and shoot you with pretend kragle!  Lining up about 10-15 minutes before show time should guarantee you a spot on most days.
   
   
   

   

   3D Glasses on and Ready to go!

9. Cold weather, no problem. There are some coat racks for free use with the honour system.  So put your valuables in your pockets and enjoy walking around without having to hold bulky gear.
10. Be prepared to exit through the gift shop and temper your child's expectations accordingly.  We had a no buying toys in January rule that we made an exception for jut at Lego Land.  Jackie knew this and spent some of is saved up allowance on a Lego Key Chain and a couple of mini figs.  

Inspecting Lego Yoda

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Painting the Roses Red

This year, in the spirit of both New Year's Resolutions and bucket lists, I started a 101 in 1001 list.  Details on my bucket list/resolutions can be found here.  One of the items I wanted to check off my list was to paint a painting, so to get my list rolling before January is gone the husband and I booked a date night at a sip and paint event place.  We decided to support local and visit Pinot's Palette in the Junction, and walked over Saturday night after dinner.

One of the ideas of this list is to help expand my horizons, do things I've always wanted to do, and in many cases push myself outside of my regular comfort zone.  I think it's important to show the minions that something can be fun and worth trying, even if you aren't that good at it.  My grandmother Alice was a painter, I am not.

Apparently the last Friday in January is typically when most people abandon their New Year's Resolutions...and it's called fail Friday, so it seemed like the perfect day to take on a challenge from my list!  After watching some Bob Ross painting on Netflix, we decided painting a winter cabin would be the perfect selection.  We put on our aprons, grabbed some beer, and followed our instructor's lead.  It was challenging and fun, and I'm glad we did it.

In our festive aprons we're ready to get started!

As we finished our paintings I realized that the last time I painted anything other than a wall in my house I was in grade nine art class.  So, It's been nearly 25 years since I picked up a brush! 

My winter cabin 

Here are Chris & My paintings side by side

While I don't think I'm going to give up my spot at my laptop writing any time soon and host my own art show, painting was fun, rewarding, and relaxing.  Molly has decided that she wants us to hang both eerily similar paintings on the wall above her bed.  So at least we have one fan. 

Stay tuned for some regular updates of some of my more noteworthy list items as I cross them off the list. 

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Boys Don't Cry - From Poster to Radio, Past to Present

What feels like a million years ago and yesterday all at the same time, Chris and I made the decision to keep a Cure, Boy's Don't Cry poster on a wall where it was affixed directly above Jack's crib.  We thought it was fun, after all, he was a baby, he wouldn't complain about the nursery decor - that is until he did.  When Jack was a toddler he began to have trouble sleeping thanks to "the shadow man" which we soon figured out was the profile of The Cure lead singer Robert Smith.  So I wrote about it, (you can check out the post here).  We eventually took it down, and then it ended up in another nursery for another little boy named Wolfgang whose mom and dad met at a Cure concert (you can read that story here).

Fast forward years.  Jack is no longer afraid of Robert Smith.  In fact I'd argue he's a fan.  This six year old loves music: he can tell the difference between whether or not an ACDC song is sung by Bon Scott or Brian Johnson. A year or two ago when I asked him if he was interested in checking out a Monster Truck show he told me, in complete seriousness, that he'd rather watch The Cure video where Robert Smith falls down a cliff in a wardrobe instead, so we did, about eight times in a row.  He is a sensitive boy who knows what he likes.  He isn't afraid to show his emotions. He loves to dance and he's much more likely to cry from hurt feelings than he is from a bump or a bruise - which to us is more than okay -and pretty much summarizes the importance of the song.

Last summer I was approached for BBC Radio 4 for their Soul Music series to talk about Jack and Boy's Don't Cry.  As a huge Cure fan, my wedding song was Just Like Heaven, I was over the moon when I heard that founding Cure drummer Lol Tolhurst was also being featured in this series.  I was excited when the program aired, and my jaw dropped when the BBC relayed a message that Lol enjoyed our story and would share it with Robert to give him a chuckle.

As the 40th anniversary of the band is here, I'm hoping that they come to Toronto and that maybe I can take Jackie to the show.

Here is a link to the series if you want to check it out.   It is totally worth a listen in its entirety or if you just want to hear my (and Jack's) story, start at 19:07. The story shortly after mine is also connected to where our old Cure poster ended up.

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I've Had The Time Of My Life - The First Skating Lesson

As a semi-suburban kid growing up in the 1980's one of my first tastes of freedom was Friday nights at the local skating rink when I was in middle school.  My parents would drop me off there shortly after dinner and pick me up around 9PM when public skating had ended.  Although I wasn't a good skater by any means, I was proficient enough and had a good time.  Most of the time at the rink was centred around me and my closest friends harassing the kid who ran the music that played over the loud speakers at the rink long enough that he'd play one side of a cassette tape of our choice.  Our choice was ALWAYS the Dirty Dancing Soundtrack, and it didn't take that kid long to realize that it was easiest to just let us listen to our tape and skate around in our interpretation of Dirty Dancing dance moves on ice.

This past Saturday the minions had their very first skating lesson (with eight more to follow), but here's what my takeaways were...

Miss Molly Before Her Very First Lesson

8 Lessons Learned From Our First Skating Lesson

1. It's going to cost a lot of money
We ended up spending less than $100 combined for the lessons, but safety approved helmets with cages, skate sharpening, and skate guards set us back another $165 bucks.  Thankfully the helmets are adjustable and should last them both for another two years or so, but ouch!

2. Bring lots of socks
No matter how careful you tell your child to be they will step in a puddle the second you take off their winter boots.  I brought a second pair of socks for each kid, but it wasn't enough since Molly soaked her first pair before she even had he skates on.  She then complained her feet were cold. Make sure there are at least three pairs of socks per child.





3. Your child is a liar
Molly refused to wear a second pair of gloves for the lesson swearing she wouldn't get too cold.  She had to tap out of her lesson 15 minutes early because (drum roll) she was cold.  For the next lesson she is going to be wearing ALL OF THE LAYERS including a toque under her helmet.

4. They will be terrible, but won't care
Most of the lesson was spent on the ground learning to get up, the rest is spent laying on the ice with Molly getting cold, but the kids didn't care.  Because the minions had asked for skating lessons and mom and dad broke down how expensive the equipment was, they knew that they needed to really try.

5. Never Underestimate the Power of What Time Is It Mr. Wolf
When we got to the rink we caught the tail end of the previous lesson all of the kids were playing what time is it Mr. Wolf.  Jack was inspired.  Despite being a literal Bambi on Ice for the entire lesson he managed to get up, stay up, and almost (sort-of) play the game.






6. Reward them
We took them to McDonalds after their first lesson.  This week I'm going to buy some hot cocoa and marshmallows for after each lesson to give them something to work towards.
7. Find their sweet spot age
Six is about perfect for the minions skating.  They are used to school, lessons and listening, but not old enough to really worry about falling and getting hurt.  Beginners tended to range in age from 4-7.
7. It doesn't matter if they're super stars
Were me and my friends amazing at our Dirty Dancing skating?  Maybe for sheer entertainment value, but no one was an Olympian, and that's cool.  Molly was a lot better on her skates than Jack was, but he was the only one who had the sticktoitiveness to stay to the end of the lesson. Both kids had fun and are looking forward to next week's lesson.  Could we ask for anything more?  Probably not.

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Paperback Writer: My Writing Featured On Other Sites

After a rather fun holiday season with some much needed time away from my laptop, I'm back at it and it's time to share some of the writing I've contributed to other sites over the past month.  This is where I learn all of that delightful trivia that I can wow people with!

Nowadays as my full-time job I write and ghostwrite articles for online publications, organizations and blogs, in addition to providing public relations services.  While I can't really share my ghostwritten articles on this platform, cause then I wouldn't really be a ghostwriter would I, I can share some of the other stuff I have been working on.

Click on the links for the topics that interest you most, and if you enjoy what I wrote please share, like, and follow, and keep parenting and reading on!  If you have any ideas for a story, a playground review, or article on any front, feel free to shout it out!  I'm always looking for new sources of inspiration!

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Things My Kids Say: As Shared On Twitter

We spend a lot of time with the minions and I'm fortunate enough to record the things that they say and do so I can look back on it and laugh.  Some of it makes the blog and other smaller moments don't.  One of the brilliant things about Twitter is how it's the ultimate parenting "elevator speech", because you have to keep it short. Below are Tweets, conversations, parental musings and things that the minions have done or said over the past month, for your reading pleasure that haven't made it to the blog.

1. M: How come I'm not allowed to wear my rain boots out for errands but he's allowed to wear a dinosaur costume? Dad: Because his choice entertained me. You're just being lazy. #parenting


2. J: do you outgrow diarrhea when you become an adult? me: sorry buddy that will happen sometimes for the rest of your life J: bummer. He he. Bum. (I think he's over it) #parenting #ParentingUnfiltered

Image Courtesy of www.cbr.com

3. Me: What are you thinking about? J: Whether or not Harvey Dent has burnt nipples. Me: Excuse me? J: When he became #TwoFace Me: Probably at least one because it was one side of his body. J: That might make me angry enough to become a bad guy #Batman #KidLife #Parenting


4. J: so I'm not allowed to watch Deadpool because it's too violent? Me: yes. And there's too much bad language. J: Does Deadpool say butt and gonads and crap and fart and poop? Me: yup all the worst swears. J: yeah that is pretty bad. #parenting

Image Courtesy of Giphy

5. I just accidentally washed my hands using J's bubble mint toothpaste...New year...definitely the same me...  
#NewYearsResolutions


6. When your family Singalong ends with a tantrum because someone sang joker ran away instead of the penguin passed ballet #parenting #HolidaySeason


7. Explain reincarnation to my kids. M: So if I lead a very good life I can come back as a unicorn! Me: In theory. If unicorns were real & a higher soul evolution. M: Of course they are -they have horns Me: So do rhinos. Do you want to become one? M: UNICORNS WHEE!!! #parenting


8. J: A lot of animals were bigger versions of themselves in prehistoric times? Me: Yes, then they evolved into other things to better survive their environment. J: So that means Santa's elves and fairies might have been giant in prehistoric times. #parenting #KidLogic

To read more blogs featuring the wacky things my kids say as featured on twitter, follow me @Sarabethbug & click here, click here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, &here.