Moving In Style with our Twist Smart from Zooper

I received this Zooper Twist Smart Stroller from Zooper in exchange for my honest review. All experiences and opinions are my own. 

After Christmas shopping is a family tradition for us. December 26th also happens to be my husband's birthday, so we hit the after holiday clearance sales in the city and end our day with a birthday dinner to celebrate and relax.

This year my kids had their hearts set on picking up a few items remaining on their Christmas wish lists. For my son it was a large LEGO train set and my daughter had to pick up a DocMobile. Unfortunately this wouldn't leave much room left over in the back of our car for necessities like a stroller.

If you like to shop sales, you know carrying an 18-month old around through stores all day is impossible.

This was the perfect time to try out our new Twist Smart Stroller from Zooper. This umbrella stroller doesn't skimp on features though, but is fantastically compact, light and convenient for quick transitions so you won't miss out on getting all those good deals.

I love this Tealberry color, but this stroller comes in 5 color choices.

This stroller conveniently locks into a compact, folded position with a side latch. Once the brake is applied to the wheels it can stand up for easy storage or while you are getting kids in and out of a parking lot. I love that it stays where I put it, and that is one less thing to worry about.

Our toddler was not having a great day shopping, so my husband appreciated that he could set up the Zooper Twist Smart with one hand. Life isn't always perfect, but having an easy to unfold stroller at least makes transitions less stressful.

The buckle is easy to use and secure. But not easy for little fingers to figure out.

One of my favorite features included the cup holder, that comes with the stroller along with a front bar and infant carrier strap. It kept my water bottle handy for a long, hard day of shopping, but out of stride while pushing it.

I also appreciated a generous, but appropriate sized cargo basket underneath. It was ample enough to hold my wet bag and baby necessities, but not large enough for me to cram with random things.

If I have too much space, I tend to use it. And then, of course, forget all about it.

The stroller was a breeze to push with tall, cushioned handles and swivel or locked front wheels. Despite being light, this stroller felt sturdy and didn't feel "tippy" as we navigated curbs, store aisles or sidewalk cracks.

If you have ever done the single-handed stroller push, you know that not all light-weight strollers are created equal. Sometimes I have a hand to hold, or my purse to secure, and this stroller delivered stability and control.

Check out Zooper's website for other great stroller options, and be sure to follow them on Facebook and Twitter for promotions and announcements.

Check out my brief video intro to the Zooper Twist Smart:


What is your favorite feature of the Zooper Twist Smart?

Taking the Planes Characters on the road this Holiday Season

 This holiday travel shop with Disney Planes the Movie has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions and experiences are mine alone. #PlanesToTheRescue #CollectiveBias

We usually don't travel around the holidays. In fact, the longest holiday drive we take is about 15 minutes. We live surrounded by multiple generations of family, so keeping my kids occupied in the car is usually not an issue. This year though we have a little surprise in store for the kids.

We will be packing up the family to go on a special North Pole bound train ride and I know the kids are going to have a blast. My only concern is to get to the station is an over 3 hour drive.. and I have 3 small children to keep entertained for the entire way there.

I like to be prepared, so while picking up some car ride essentials at Walmart, I took a peek down the toy aisle. 

The die-cast 3-pack, Secret Hangar Meeting, is currently on Rollback at Walmart, along with several other great last minute gift ideas, or "car ride boredom busters". My children are huge fans of Disney Planes and Planes Fire and Rescue, so I knew this would be a big hit.

I have fond memories of driving my own die cast cars around the back seat of my parent's mustard yellow Matador during family road trips.

The cute Disney characters inspired me to also create a No Sew Felt Board or Flannel Board for my daughter who loves to create her own. Dusty and his friends from Planes would be my inspiration.

To get started, you will need:

• Foam Core Board
• X-Acto Knife
• Ruler
• Scissors
• Felt, in various colors
• a collection of ribbon, washi tape or lace 
• Felt Glue
• Hot Glue Gun
• Freezer Paper
• Pencil
• Assorted Permanent Markers

I started by cutting foam core board. I wanted my felt board to be like a book, small enough to fit in my daughter's lap in the car, but big enough to tell an entire story. In the end I cut my cover pieces to be just larger than a 9" x 12" sheet of felt. I allowed for a 1/2" around the edges so cut them to be 10" x 13".

Then with glue, I started putting down my felt for the storyboard. I went with a solid blue sheet on one side for the sky. 

Now is when a stash of ribbon, lace and washi tape comes in handy. I glued red striped ribbon over the page edge and then "finished" the edges of the felt with strips of my choice. I went with a typeset alphabet and metallic ruler tape for this part.

On the other side of my felt board I created a sky and mountain backdrop. I wanted the felt back for this project to be smooth, so I inset the mountain then glued it all down. This will be perfect for staging the woodland fires for my daughter's stories.

I made a simple "binding" for my foam core book with extra wide ribbon. This part I attached with hot glue for added durability.

Then I finished the outer edges with a little bit of lace.

On the outside of the Felt Board I used adhesive washi sheets for quick covers.

Then it was time to start on the removable felt pieces for storytelling. 

One of the easiest ways to cut felt for an intricate project like this is to use Freezer Paper. I found these cute flames online. I printed them out and taped them into a window for easy tracing. Then I covered them with a sheet of Freezer Paper (wax side down) and traced.

Then on a low setting, I ironed the wax side down onto a piece of red felt. It doesn't take long for the paper to stick and the stencils are reusable with a little more heat.

Using Freezer Paper makes it really easy to cut out simple shapes and designs. I tried cutting these little flames freehand, but this is much better.

To complete my little Fire and Rescue scene, I cut out more flames, trees, clouds, a smoke jumper and parachute, Dusty and another generic plane.

The best part about a project like this is we can keep adding felt characters and pieces to our collection and my daughter can use it over and over on our car trips as well as at home. I would point out that this is a nice and quiet car activity, but we all know the kids will be supplying the sound effects, right?

And it is so much fun to have more adventures with Disney Planes Dusty and all his friends.

So if there are young children and car trips in your future this Holiday Season, or maybe just are looking for a last minute gift idea, think of creating your own personalized Felt Board with a Disney Planes theme, or stop by and stock up on these great Planes toys currently on Rollback - Disney Planes Flight to the Finish Speedway Rollback to $24.97, Disney Planes Fire & Rescue Die-Cast Vehicles, 3-Pack Rollback to $14.97, or Disney Planes Fire & Rescue Deluxe Talking Vehicle Assortment Rollback to $19.97.

Either way, you will be a big hit this season with the kids.

Do you have any long car trips over the Holiday Season? How do keep everyone entertained?

Happy 110th birthday, Crayola! Win a Trip to the Crayola Experience.

*Disclaimer - Crayola provided the contest information and in exchange for a post I will receive a box of  the limited edition 110th birthday pack. We love crayola so much I wouldn't mind working for peanuts on this one.

The  8 original Crayola crayon colors are looking pretty good considering this year they are celebrating their 110th birthday. Wouldn't we all love to be still so popular and vibrant?

You can get in on the fun by visiting the brand new Crayola Experience, the world's only interactive Crayola family attraction. The new experience features 4 floors of hands-on fun and one-of-a-kind attractions.  Follow the original 8 on their colorful adventure to spread the word and invite their friends to this fun-omenal birthday party and Grand Opening!

Follow their adventures for a chance to win a trip for 4 to the all-new Crayola Experience when it reopens May 2013. Visit the Crayola Facebook page and click "enter now" for your chance to be first in line when the Crayola Experience reopens.

Vacationing in the PNW - A Visit to OMSI

We just returned from our annual Spring vacation and it completely wore me out. If you have any plans to visit Oregon or Washington and will be passing through the Portland area, you really must check out OMSI -  The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry.

OMSI is a great destination for families because it allows kids to get hands on with science. My son, who is a big fan of the Discovery Channel, was over the moon to find out that the traveling exhibit featured at OMSI during our visit was MYTHBUSTERS The Explosive Exhibition.

This exhibit will be open through May 5th, 2013. These two crazy guys, Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman, try to answer questions, myths and urban legends through experimentation. They determine whether a previous assumption is confirmed or busted using the scientific method but also doing things the rest of us would only dream about. Many of their explosions and more dangerous experiments should not be attempted at home, but these two special effects and stunt gurus do it for us so we can safely watch and learn from home.

The exhibit is packed with actual items used in the shows, video clips, explanations and the chance to even try some of the experiments yourself.

From trying to create a structure that can withstand wind gusts to whether toast always tends to land butter-side down, the kids (or just kids at heart) are invited to try their own experiment.

My husband had pretty good success at the Tablecloth Chaos exhibit, and my son even tried his hand at it. Now, haven't we all dreamed of mastering the tablecloth pull-out? I'm just glad it wasn't attempted with my dishes.

Another popular part of the exhibit included an indoor rain chamber where you could hypothesize whether you became more wet walking through rain or running through it. They even included black lights and mirrors so you could check out the results.

Overall this exhibit was a lot of fun and as with any portion of OMSI we could have spent all day just playing around. Wanting to pack in as much as possible we also explored the general science experiment area full of paper cups, wind tunnels, earthquake simulation houses, robots and paper airplanes. All of the exhibits were hands-on and child friendly.

The highlight of the trip for my husband and son though was the tour of the USS Blueback (SS- 581) submarine. This sub was the U.S. Navy's last non-nuclear, fast-attack submarine and the first battle-ready class of submarines to use the teardrop hull. It's claim to fame was having been used for the movie The Hunt For Red October for both the Russians and the American interior shots.

Because the interior is a little cramped and the doorways are small, in order to be admitted everyone must pass through this door. With a little prompting even my 3-year old was able to make it, though inside she needed assistance on the steep and narrow stairways between levels.

Overall it was an afternoon well spent. Next time we really should budget for a full day, but the kids still had a blast.

If you live nearby or are passing through the Portland area with your kids, be sure to put OMSI on your list of places to see. They do a great job of making science fun for the whole family.

*Disclaimer - This is not a sponsored post. No discount or promotion was provided for this review. All opinions and experiences are my own.

Need Advice or Ideas for a Trip? Look to Gogobot.

Yes, with the dreary wet weather here in Oregon, I am ready to start planning our next family vacation. Due to my husband's work schedule we tend to take our big family trip in the Spring before things get busy around the farm.

Our yearly destination takes us up to the state of Washington for a water park, but this year I have decided to extend our usual trip to include a little jump up to Seattle.

Now, the last time I vacationed in Seattle I was 5.

Space Needle, Zoo... and...? Yeah, that is the extent of my memories of staying in Seattle. So I don't have a lot to go off of when planning a fun trip for my family.

Have you heard of Gogobot?

Not your typical "travel" site.

In fact, since I am a social person, this is the perfect site for me to do my trip research and planning. It is a social travel site started in 2010. Connect with your friends and other travelers to find the best spots to eat, stay and visit while in that city. You can even create your own poll to help you choose.

I know, there are tons of sites with rating systems and reviews, but this site is much more organic and interactive. It is like getting advice from all your friends on the perfect outfit, but in this case all things vacation related. I have friends in city and even some family nearby, so this is a great chance to see how their opinions all stack up. I might even have to create a poll for the best sushi spot.

So let's start with food. I know Seattle is just bursting with great places to find and food to try, so I selected 'Restaurants' from the top menu.

First I found the Umi Sake House which was recommended for sushi. I can scroll over the title and a box shows up on the map on the right. Very handy.  So, I could find a few more recommended sushi places and throw a poll together for my Seattle friends. I would love to see if they choose the Umi Sake House as their favorite sushi place also.

Then we need to find a place to stay. Yes, you can find information on Gogobot about hotels or vacation rentals. I will be traveling with 2 young children with special dietary needs, so I was especially interested in staying at the Pan Pacific Seattle. What caught my eye were the reviews on the great city views and a Whole Foods downstairs. Doesn't that sound perfect? A little walk from the Space Needle or downtown shopping, but I could pack our jogging stroller and get in an little workout as well.

Then I went over to 'Things to Do'. So many options! It is nice to find all the most recommended destinations all in one spot. As a Mom with small children the Seattle Aquarium caught my eye, and one Gogobot pro reviewer suggested seeing the aquarium, grabbing a bite to eat early and then checking out the new Ferris Wheel. Yes, I am sure my kids would love that!

The Pacific Science Center was another well reviewed attraction. My son loves science and the interactive exhibits would be the highlight of his trip.

Of course to really get into Gogobot, you should create a profile. It's easy, just sign up through Facebook, twitter or your email address. If you love to travel, like I do, you can put destinations in your site passport for your friends to see and enjoy. Travel, experience and tag with what you would tell your friends about the destination.

Gogobot allows you to tap into the knowledge of your friends when planning a trip anywhere. You can find like-minded travelers and inspiration for your next vacation, creating easy-to-use wishlists you can return to again and again.

And when you are not in vacation mode or planning a trip, you can discover hidden gems in your own neighborhood for entertaining guests or a weekend staycation.

The best part? Every page on Gogobot is personalized. You can see reviews from your friends and people you are following at the top, which allows you to weed out the noise and fraudulent reviews that become a problem on other review sites. Check out Gogobot today!

*Disclaimer - This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Gogobot. The opinions and text are all mine.