Coast 2 Coast Mom

GIVEAWAY: Thomas & Friends Live! On Stage Prize Pack

There's something about trains that many boys just instictively gravitate toward. Even during my son's most recent play date last week, the kids found the Thomas the Tank Engine set that goes around the Christmas Tree packed up in the basement and proceeded to bring it upstairs and spend the majority of the playdate playing with it.

The kiddo's excitement around Thomas the Train is well timed, as Thomas and Friends Live! On Stage will be steaming into town at The Theater at Madison Square Garden this weekend, on March 5th & 6th. 

The whole gang - Thomas, Percy, Diesel and others are on the job as they work together to save the Magic Lantern Festival from a big storm rolling onto the Island of Sodor.  In advance of the show, I'll be giving away a prize pack consisting of a Thomas the Tank T-Shirt and Magic Wand.

Tickets are on sale now for between $25 and $125, but using this SPECIAL OFFER you can get 50% off select tickets with code 20DIESEL.

GIVEAWAY! Enter to Win: Leave a comment below to be entered to win the Thomas t-shirt and magic wand. The giveaway ends at 9 a.m. Thursday, March 3, 2011 when I'll use Random.org to pick a winner.

 

Good luck!

 

 

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It Takes Only 10 Bricks to Click with LEGO

One of the more creative - and surprisingly frugal - ideas I brought home from Toy Fair is actually a marketing concept from LEGO that shows how few bricks it really takes to be creative with LEGO.

Yep, how FEW. It's fabulous news for some parents. Those parents who roll their eyes in exasperation when they hear the clickety clack of hundreds of LEGO bricks being dumped out onto the floor - in fear of having to clean them up, losing one, or stepping on one later.

LEGO's new initiative is called "10 Bricks to Click," and it focuses on the idea that you don't need 1,000 bricks to bring your ideas to life...you can do it with just a handful. In fact, they're challenging you and your kids to do it with 10. This was a "well duh" moment for me. Just like I take a couple of dinosaur figures along in my purse when we go to restaurants, etc., I could easily take a Ziploc with a handful of LEGOs for the kiddo to entertain himself. I assume I hadn't thought of it before because LEGOs can easily find themselves dropping off a table onto the floor...but then, so do the dinosaurs and the crayons, etc. that the kiddo is usually using when we go out to eat.

Signs Your Kid Is Going To Be Smarter Than You (Maybe)

There have been several moments recently that caused me to pause and honestly consider the possibility that my son is well on his way to becoming smarter than me. Which says a lot, because I'm smart . . . and my husband's smart. So while I'm finding it a bit hard to fathom, I'm seeing the signs and getting the distinct impression that our son is going to surpass us in intelligence - perhaps sooner rather than later.

I'm not talking about the sneaking around or lying to us type of thinking he's smarter than us...I'm talking about him understanding concepts and things beyond what my husband and I may be capable of comprehending or solving ourselves.

I should be thrilled, right? Or beaming with pride. I am, but those emotions are mixed with anxiety. I want him to lead an ordinary fun life and remain happy at his age and I don't want him to grow up faster than other kids. How can we mentor and parent him successfully if he'll be a step - or two - ahead of us? Admittedly, the kiddo's five years old and beginning kindgergarten in the fall , so we have a long time before he'll surpass us (if he ends up doing so) academically.

Here's why I think our son's going to be smarter than us:

Elmo Finds His Green Thumb

Yesterday we went to Madison Square Garden to see  Sesame Street Live: Elmo's Green Thumb . It was a delightful show, featuring colorful human-sized versions of your favorite Sesame Street characters (with the exception of Big Bird, who was his normal "big" size). The kiddo was mesmerized from the time the curtain went up on Elmo's show, and he got particularly excited when Count Von Count ("The Count" as we call him) walked on stage. The Count is currently the kiddo's favorite character...because, you know...he's a vampire.

The story follows Elmo as he figures out what to do with his sunflower Sunny, now that it has outgrown its pot. Accompanied by his friends, Elmo searches for a place to plant Sunny in Big Bird's garden. But instead of waiting for Sunny to grow, they decide to speed up the process a bit, with Abby Cadabby leading the charge and casting a spell on Sunny.

Disney Pixar Cars 2 Movie - New Characters and Toys

I'd been looking forward to attending the preview of Disney Pixar's Cars 2 movie for weeks since I received the invitation. The movie Cars and its cast of characters have been such favorites of the kiddo's, and it's been nearly five years since the first Cars, so you can imagine the build-up of anticipation. I showed the kiddo some video and photos from the event and to say he's revved up would be an understatement. I'm sure there's a generation of little boys being told that they have to wait just a few more months as Cars 2 hits theaters June 24th. Although, you can watch the movie trailers now as many times as you'd like. ;-)

Disney Names New Cars 2 Characters and Voice Actors

Jeopardy's Man vs. Machine: The IBM Watson Challenge

I think this is so cool. To give you some background, the kiddo and I watch Jeopardy every weeknight we're home. Every. Night. It's really one of very few shows on at 7 p.m. that are kid friendly, unless we go to the kid channels. 

The Kiddo's such a smartie, that I don't know why I'm surprised anymore when he knows an answer on Jeopardy, and he usually knows at least one every episode. (Yeah. At five. I know. <Sigh>) The last episode he knew that Mary Poppins was the correct answer on a Broadway category. He usually gets something correct in a travel, music and definitely animal category too. Even if he doesn't know the answer, it becomes a bit of a competition for him to see if I'm going to be right or not with whatever I blurt out. It's our thing.

So we think it's pretty cool that starting tonight, through February 16th, Jeopardy will be airing a historic Man vs. Machine: The IBM Challenge with Ken Jennings, Brad Rutter and IBM's Watson computer. Most people know Ken from hearing about how he's the "most winningest" player in Jeopardy history, breaking the record for the most consecutive games played by winning. Brad has won the most amount of money playing Jeopardy between his original appearance and subsequent "Tournament of Champions" wins.

Watson is the computer, named after IBM founder Thomas J. Watson, and developed by a team of IBM scientists trying to create a computer system that can answer questions in human natural language - including irony and riddles - quickly and accurately.

I'm excited to tune in and share the experience with the kiddo - maybe c2cdad will get home in time to join us for an extra special Valentine's Day dinner and Jeopardy viewing. :-) There's actually a book, Final Jeopardy: Man vs. Machine and the Quest to Know Everything by Stephen Baker, that will be released on February 17th that will provide the background story and details of how The IBM Challenge came about and what was involved with the process.

LeapFrog Leaps Ahead - From Reading to Writing

With the annual Toy Fair ramping up in NYC this week, I'm having fun checking out the upcoming products for the year. Last week I was privy to a sneak peek at LeapFrog's 2011 product lineup, set to debut on store shelves this fall. I was happy to see that they're staying true to their legacy of well-researched educational toys with the introduction of their new products - some of which I can't wait to pick up for birthday and holiday gifts at the end of the year.

Here's two of our near-term faves that you can pick up now:

1. Count and Scan Shopper - pretend grocery play for 6-36 month olds, with empasis on colors and numbers. It's important to note that kids can actually "scan" anything and anyone, which can often elicit rounds of giggles.
2. Tag World Map - interactive two-sided World map for 4-8 year olds, featuring geography, mapping and cultural skills. I can't say enough great things about LeapFrog's US or World Map. I love the focus on geography and social studies, and the care that went into respecting the differences and similarities of kids around the world without stereotyping kids of different cultures. Love it.

A few of my favorite new LeapFrog products to come later this year (sorry, I can't yet share photos):

1. Peek-A-Shoe Octopus - Coming this spring for 9-36 month olds. Drop a ball into the octopus's hat, and guess which leg the ball will spiral down through. This toy focuses on numbers 1-5 and colors, as well as the surprise and fun of peek-a-boo.
2. Tag Solar System Map - Coming October 2011 for 4-7 year olds. Similar to the World and US Map boards currently on the market for the Tag, but for the solar system. Very cool.
3. Tag Learn to Write and Draw - Coming August 2011 for 4-7 year olds. LeapFrog leaps from their focus on math skills and learning to read to learning to draw and correctly draw letters. The focus is on correctly forming each letter with the right number of strokes. I can't wait for it to come to market so we can try it out.

 

Has Your PC Lost That Lovin' Feeling? Try Rekindling The Romance With iolo

The second Monday of February is “Clean Out Your Computer Day,” which happens to fall on Valentine’s Day this year, Feb. 14th. I let out a giggle when I learned that, because if I've learned anything from some of my Intel meetings, it's that people have increasingly become frustrated by long wait times while their computers "think" or complete tasks.

But it wasn't always that way - you probably loved your computer when you first got it, right? In case you've lost that lovin' feeling for your ol' computer - but can't yet afford to purchase a sleek new one - there's some great step-by-step guides on Techlicious to manually improve your PC start-up time and reduce the file clutter on your computer.  

Sneak Peek at Rio the Movie

Earlier this week I took the kiddo into NYC for a special sneak peek at the upcoming Twentieth Century Fox movie Rio with the director, Carlos Saldanha. We both had a blast watching the lively and colorful scenes, and it was interesting to hear about how Carlos was inspired to use Rio de Janeiro as the backdrop for a movie. He was born and raised in Brazil, and his memories and love of the culture are evident throughout the movie.

Rio the movie is about Blu, a rare blue macaw (voiced by Jesse Eisenberg) who is captured as a baby in Rio - before he could learn to fly - and winds up living with a bookshop owner named Linda in Minnesota. An ornithologist learns of his existence and convinces Linda and Blu to journey to Rio to be with the only remaining female blue macaw to continue the species. Once they're in Rio, though, adventure awaits Blu as he experiences the culture he was born into, and learns to listen to the music inside himself and hopefully learn to fly free. (We didn't get to see the ending, so we're hopeful that he does in fact, learn to fly!) Some of the other characters are voiced by George Lopez, Anne Hathaway, will.i.am, Jamie Foxx, Leslie Mann and Tracy Morgan.

Here's the first two minutes of the movie Rio that they've shared online (click on the image below).

 

 

 

 

 

Ford C-MAX Hybrid Launch at the Detroit Auto Show

So as if attending the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas with Microsoft Windows Live wasn't cool enough to kick off 2011, I had the opportunity to follow-up that spectacular trip by attending press day at the North American International Auto Show with Ford Motor Company.

The press conference was a combination of fashion show, concert and hi-tech event all wrapped into one, with hot new cars and future concept vehicles at the center of it all. Doesn't the stage look vaguely American Idol-like?