Coast 2 Coast Mom

Star Wars Phantom Menace 3D Fun at AMC Theatres

The force was with lucky folks (including C2CDad and the Kiddo) today at ten AMC Theatres nationwide for a Star Wars special event to celebrate Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace coming to the big screen in 3D. Here in New York City at the AMC Theatre Empire 25, Star Wars fans were treated to photo opps with Darth Maul, Queen Amidala, and face painting (Darth Maul was by far the favorite).

Representatives from Microsoft's Xbox 360 team gave kids and adults alike the opportunity to play the new Kinct Star Wars pod racing game, and showed off the special edition Star Wars Xbox Kinect bundle with the R2-D2 Xbox, gold C3PO controller and white Kinect.

If that wasn't enough, people could work on building a Darth Maul mosaic made entirely of LEGO pieces. Hundreds of square color-coded LEGO tiles were set out, each numbered on the back, corresponding with its place on a big board. By the time we left you could see the image of Darth Maul starting to take shape.







Of course you can't forget about the movie (the reason why C2CDad and The Kiddo were there). This AMC Theatre was distributing "Pod Racer" 3D glasses made to look like the pod racing glasses worn by Anakin Skywalker in the movie.  The Kiddo thought these were great, and kept him on his head as he played with Star Wars Fighter Pods that were handed out before the movie started. These tiny Star Wars action figures come with their own clear pod that you can spin on any flat surface.

A big thanks to Joe Fitzpatrick and his team at the AMC Theatre Empire 25 for putting on a fun event where everyone seemed to have a great time. I hope they repeat these activities for the subsequent Star Wars 3D film launches as I know we'll make an effort to attend.

 

J&R Jr. Grand Opening in NYC

Yesterday we were invited to a private launch event for J&R Jr. - an entire floor at J&R Electronics just for babies and kids clothing, equipment, technology and toys! The public J&R Jr. grand opening is scheduled for February 11-12th 2012 and includes some phenomenal children's entertainment. You don't have to visit the store to check out all of their great gift ideas, you can shop JR.com/jr from home across the country.

As you arrive off the escalator, you quickly see that J&R Jr. is more than just electronics for kids. There's an entire floor filled with a variety of baby and kid essentials: strollers, clothing, toys - everything from wooden train sets, musical instruments and puppetry to video games and tablet accessories - just for kids. I'd say it's a great place to shop or stop in for kids 0-10, as we spent time checking out tablet accessories, video games, craft supplies, LeapFrog storybooks and guitars for the Kiddo.

Here's some pics we took of the space. . .

Of course, the Kiddo had a blast at the party playing video games and being entertained by a performance of The Amazing Max.

Seriously, any show that makes the Kiddo smile this big and laugh uncontrollably nearly the whole time is worth checking out . . .

J&R Jr. is located on the 2nd floor of J&R Electronics, about a block away from the World Trade Center. After visiting the store, I can say that we'll be adding it to the list of suggestions for our friends and family visiting from out of town and want something to occupy or entertain young kids before or after their families visit the site. J&R Jr. would make a fun stop (it's essentially a toy store), but maybe more importantly offers the opportunity to segue to or from a 9/11 discussion with your kids as you read about the history of J&R as a family-owned neighborhood spot in Jason Friedman's letter about opening J&R Jr.

Special thanks to Momtrends, KidzVuz and DadaRocks for the invitation to check the space out. I'm sure we'll be back or taking people to check it out many times over, and the site has such a variety of great gift items that it's been bookmarked already. :-)

Don't Let The Pigeon Run This App by Mo Willems Launches from Disney

On Friday we had the opportunity to lunch with Mo Willems and learn more about his darling new Pigeon app, "Don't Let the Pigeon Run This App!" from Disney Publishing Worldwide.

You may know Mo Willems as the Caldecott Honor-winning author of Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale,

I Attended Fashion's Night Out and Took 1 Photo...of a Laptop

I spent last night traipsing NYC's 5th Ave for the stylish citywide soiree that is Fashion's Night Out: A casual citywide embrace for consumers during Fashion Week. It's like the biggest fashion party imaginable, and appeared to be even larger, bolder and brighter than ever in just its third year.

Stores hosted celebrity meet-n-greets and photo opps, clothing and accessory unveilings, exclusive colors and items, shopping discounts, personal shopping and makeovers, raffles, samples, goodies and more. A girls night out to end all girls nights out.

I have to share, though, that while I was marveling at the designer shoes, jewelry, scarves and faux fur vests, I awoke this morning to one photo on my camera:

Yep, I attended a fashion event and the only photo I have is of the super swanky Lenovo DJ laptop in the Lenovo Connections Lounge set up at Saks. Or should I say party laptop? Because wherever that thing is, there's sure to be a party. It was one very cool tricked-out turntable laptop!!

Let's just say that I was too busy soaking in the fashion and making my wishlist that I took photos in my mind of the clothes, shoes and accessories I was enamored with... ;-) Can't wait to see what they come up with for Fashion's Night Out 2012!

 

 

Residence Inn Times Square NYC - Home Away From Home

Just last week I was invited to attend a Residence Inn Resident Mom blogger event at the Residence Inn Times Square in NYC. Owned and operated by Marriott International, it's located in Midtown near Times Square, but tucked away from the usual congestion and craziness at 6th and 39th. The Residence Inn has had such success implementing all of the amenities that make staying away from home for business more comfortable during the week, that they've found themselves attracting family travelers on weekends! They invited some local NYC media and travel bloggers in to experience it for ourselves.

 
I've stayed at a lot of hotels this past year for work and pleasure, but until last week, I hadn't stayed at a Residence Inn, so this was my first experience. My standards are pretty high, having stayed in beautiful luxury hotels, including several Fairmonts, Four Seasons, Intercontinentals, Loews and Ritz Carltons. I almost always feel like royalty during my stays there: the gorgeous grand construction and beautifully manicured grounds, the staff magically knowing my name and any special events or requests before I even broach them.

Foods of NY Walking Tour of Greenwich Village

While attending the "Working Moms Night Out" at the Residence Inn by Marriott last week, we were treated to a delightful Foods of NY walking tour through Greenwich Village. Our guide, Sephra, was thoughtful and funny, going into shops ahead of us to put in special requests. She established our expectations and rapport right off the bat with a silly napkin grader for each stop and her sense of humor and attention to details along the way ensured that all of us had a terrific time. 

While the tour stops for each neighborhood may vary each time, we started our tour off at Joe's Pizza on Carmine. Here's some of the photo highlights from the walking tour:

 
Where we had a slice of pizza...

 

A Little Photo Tour of The Central Park Zoo

The Kiddo and I always have such a great time visiting the Central Park Zoo in the heart of NYC. I took some photos of the zoo itself when we visited last weekend to give you a taste of visiting with us. Normally we spend 30 minutes to an hour just watching and chilling by the seals in the center of the zoo, but we had to leave early to catch a friend's birthday party after this visit. So I'll have to put together a Part II. ;-)

Definitely check out my post about Dora & Diego's 4-D Adventure or Gus the polar bear for more info on those. With no further adieu, here ya go...

 

Central Park Zoo Polar Bear

When we visited the Wildlife Conservation Society's Central Park Zoo last weekend, we noticed that there was only one polar bear, Gus, swimming. I was so focused on taking some photos and staying with the kiddo in the crowd that I didn't think to ask why. We looked the polar bears up online once we returned home and discovered the other polar bear's fate - a week ago Ida, one of the famous pair of Central Park Zoo polar bears died. Ida was 25 years old - what some may consider elderly for a polar bear.

We still thoroughly enjoyed visiting the polar bear habitat. We stopped by at just about 11 a.m. and were delighted to see Gus was in the midst of his usual morning swimming routine! Swimming from the rocks to the window on his back, then pushing off and swimming back to the rocks underwater on his belly. We thought we'd share some polar bear photos with you...

 

 

 

That's a yawn, by the way...not a roar!

 

 

Dora and Diego's 4-D Adventure at the Central Park Zoo

We visited Central Park last weekend to check out the premiere of Dora & Diego's 4-D Adventure at the Wildlife Conservation Society's Central Park Zoo, and loved the 15-minute family-friendly movie. The short film features something for all of your senses: cool water mistings, simulated winds, vibrating seats, the scent of bananas, and 3D images that had the kids reaching out to try to touch the seemingly multidimensional images on screen. Nickelodeon's lovable Dora and Diego were a delight rescuing rainforest animals in 4D.

 

The Dora and Diego characters were at the zoo for the premiere of the 4D movie where they, along with Boots, take the audience on an adventure to save the rainforest animals from a rogue robotic butterfly who's stealing all of their habitats. The Kiddo was happily entertained by the sensory surprises throughout the show, and they truly did add another dimension to the experience.

The movie was followed by a guided zoo tour where we had the opportunity to see the real live animals that were featured in the film, including the macaw, python,and others. We will definitely see Dora and Diego's 4D adventure the next time we visit the zoo.

You can find the show at The Central Park Zoo 4-D Theater located near Fifth Ave at 64th Street. Tickets are $5 per person, but free for WCS members.

 

 

Taking THE RIDE Tour Bus around Midtown NYC

We were recently invited to experience THE RIDE, an entertaining performance-based bus tour around midtown Manhattan and the whole family truly had a blast! A new twist on the traditional Manhattan bus tour, THE RIDE launched last fall and is ready to host the scores of families, tourists and travelers visiting NYC this summer.

 

THE RIDE is essentially a traditional double-decker bus that's been reconfigured with three-row stadium seating to allow passengers to peer out the side of the bus, with the streets of New York as the stage of the tour-based show.