Month: July 2015

Giveaway – Kellogg’s Vector Prize Pack!

Posted by mike On July 24, 2015

How’s your summer going?

I don’t know about you, but my family has been pretty active. We all enjoy being outdoors and partaking in various activities. A nice, cold breakfast really helps, in starting the day off right. So, imagine my pleasant surprise when this package of awesomeness showed up at the house recently, courtesy of my good friends at Kellogg’s:

J beat me to it.

To help fuel (and fill) busy families like mine, Kellogg’s recently launched a new product – Vector Granola Honey Almond Flavour! Per serving, you’re looking at 20g of protein, 5g of fibre, and 10 vitamins and minerals. I’ve tried them with milk and yogurt. Very tasty, you can’t go wrong either way! Plus it comes in a resealable package, which is handy when you’re camping, or hiking, or you get hungry while driving around aimlessly, windows down, volume turned up, rapping along to “Summertime” by DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince (that last one is probably just me).

Now, I’d like to hook you up, like I got hooked up. Enter below, for your chance to win the Vector Pack that I received (so….much….tastiness)!

DATES – Giveaway closes at 11:59PM on August 15th, 2015

ELIGIBILITY – Open to all residents of Canada, except for Quebec.

TO ENTER – Use the form below to complete the mandatory and optional entries, for your chance to win.

GOOD LUCK!

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Ten 90s Inspired Baby Names

Posted by mike On July 22, 2015

One thing I’ve noticed about parenthood is that even the simplest decisions are occasionally very difficult. Take naming your kids, for example.

Back when I was younger, and I was tasked with naming our pets, I would pretty much spend the amount of time that you took reading this sentence to come up with one, and that was that. Once, my mom came home with a kitten. As she walked in the door, a commercial for a halitosis fighting mouthwash or toothpaste or gum (I can’t remember which) popped up on the TV. I thought the idea of naming a cat after its bad breath was cool. However, I mispronounced halitosis, so we ended up calling the poor thing Alowishus.

With children, though, you can’t name them after their bad breath. You gotta take that decision way more seriously. You want to settle on the perfect name for your kid. One that they will cherish forever, and not one that they will resent you for, until they are legally able to change it. Yes, coming up with a good one is pretty stressful . If your significant other is on a whole ‘nother wavelength, with their choices, it can be pretty hostile, too. But don’t sweat, my pet. I’m going to help you out.

See, a great name should have meaning and some personal importance behind it. Now, if you’re my age (30 something), the 1990s were probably a meaningful and important decade for you, chock full of adolescent memories. So why not honour that phat decade by choosing one of these 90s flavoured names for your baby?

FOR GIRLS

Buffy

After everybody’s favorite vampire slayer, of course.

Posh

Spice up your life! Let’s narrow things down:

You can’t name a baby “Baby”.

Scary and Sporty are verbs, not suitable monikors.

Unless you want the poor child being kicked for the rest of their life, Ginger is a bad idea, too.

So why not Posh? It’s original. How many Posh’s do you know?

Monica

Man, the 90s had a bunch of high profile Monicas! Monica Seles, Monica the R &B singer, Monica Gellar from Friends. If you name your daughter Monica, keep your expectations high, because they probably won’t suck!

Oh. Right. Moving on then….

T-Rex

Rex is a pretty manly name. If you put a T in front of it, however, it could sort of pass, on a girl. And hey, in terms of strong female role models for your daugther , you could do worse than the dinosaur in Jursassic Park that tore ish up!

Macarena

What? It’s kind of a cute name! Who knows, maybe in a few years, everyone will have forgotten about the stupid dance/cringe-worthy song and they’ll be able to judge your lil Macarena on her own merits.

Honourable mention: Beezus, Tamagotchi, Lorena

FOR BOYS

Jazz

It’s not just a type of music. It is also the Fresh Prince’s cool, bespectacled BFF who had a propensity for being thrown through the air while rocking a brown and yellow shirt. The kids can call him Jazzy!

Kirby

Furbies were mad popular. If you liked Furbies, but don’t want to name your son Furby because that’s a dumb name, well, Furby and Kirby rhyme. Kirby Puckett was one of the best baseball players in the 90s, so why not?

Hale-Bopp

This one is for the astronomy and hyphen fans. The Hale-Bopp was a pretty big deal back in the day. Before it, the only other Comet that guys like me knew was the dog on Full House. Pick this, and you’re sure to have a shooting star on your hands!

Ma$e

Think you’re having a bad boy? Then call him Ma$e, after everybody favorite baby-faced rapper! Keep the spelling in check, too (everything looks cooler with a dollar sign in it. Duh!).

Goro

Many an hour in my youth was spent being violently finished by Goro. This one is suitable for a future BOSS.

Honorable mention: Keyser, Orenthal James, Dawson

So there you have it.

What? I didn’t say that these were great options. Remember halitosis? Yeah, I’m still the same guy.

Guess I should have called this Ten Pretty Terrible 90s Inspired Baby Names.

Oh well. Live and learn.

Have fun picking that perfect name. No pressure!

Giveaway – Marvel Universe LIVE!

Posted by mike On July 11, 2015

A few months ago, I was out and about, when I saw a poster saying that Marvel Universe LIVE! was coming to Hamilton. Not even knowing that this tour existed, my initial reaction was ‘That can’t be real!’

Oh, it’s real, though. It’s so real.

Canadian Marvel fans, assemble! Here’s a summary of this original live action arena experience, from their website:

Marvel Universe LIVE! will captivate audiences with an authentic and original story that brings more than 25 Marvel characters together on one epic quest. The story is framed around the battle over the Cosmic Cube, the source of ultimate power and one of the most feared and coveted treasures in the Marvel Universe, that has been shattered into pieces by the Mighty Thor in order to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands. With the pieces scattered across the globe, Thor’s villainous brother Loki devises a scheme to clone its powers, inciting a threat that could not only decimate Earth but also obliterate the Universe.

To defeat Loki, Marvel’s biggest Super Heroes must band together, including The Avengers – Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk and Thor along with Spider-Man and Wolverine, must trek across the globe to retrieve the Cosmic Cube fragments and unite them. As the Super Heroes track the Cube, they will encounter some of their biggest adversaries including Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus, Red Skull, Madame Hydra, Aldrich Killian, Electro and more, in the quest for the very same fragments. These foes have no problem teaming up if it gets them closer to their ultimate goal of world domination.

Superheroes, stunts, martial arts, pyro and movie-like special effects, in one live show? Count me in, yo!

Marvel Universe LIVE! will be at the FirstOntario Centre in Hamilton through August 6-9 2015. If you’re looking at buying tickets, I may be able to help you out with that. Use promo code MULOC, and you’ll receive a 20% discount (Valid on select performances. Service charges and handling fees may apply. No double discounts. Excludes FR, VIP and all premium seating Maximum 8 tickets per code). You can purchase tickets here.

Now, Feldman Entertainment generously hooked me up with four tickets to the show. My family is pretty pumped about it, but my son in particular can’t wait. This is right in his wheelhouse!

Wanna go, too? Enter below, for your chance to win a family pass of four tickets to the August 6 show in Hamilton!

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Good luck!

Canadian Contests at AllCanadaContests.com

Bird Kingdom!

Posted by mike On July 9, 2015

One of my family’s favourite places to visit is Niagara Falls. It’s only an hour from us, so we hit it up a few times a year. There’s just so much to do , that it is always a great way to get out and entertain the kids.

Recently, we visited an attraction which we had never been to before – Bird Kingdom! They generously hooked me up with some complimentary passes (thanks again, BK!), so we checked it out. Here is my review of our trip there.

Now, I wasn’t that familiar with this place, prior to going. I’m not exactly an ornitholgist. I assumed that the Trashmen would be around somewhere in the building, singing “Surfin’ Bird”. When B and J asked what Bird Kingdom was, I told them that it was a place with lots of birds in it.

Turns out, it is actually a lot more than that!

What it is, you see, is the world’s largest indoor free flying aviary. It covers several different floors, and is broken up into different experiences.

Unfortunately, our visit started off on a bad note. Despite wearing shorts, J really had her cranky pants on. Once we arrived, she refused to get out her stroller, and was being extra whiny. Luckily for us, the whole facility was very stroller-friendly, and easy to navigate.

Our first experience was The Old Museum. Full of old artifacts and pictures, it showcased the history of the building, and also of Niagara Falls. I didn’t soak it in as much as I would have liked, however. J was still grumpy, while B was in a rush to find the birds. They didn’t really want to learn about Annie Taylor, as fascinating as she was.

Sorry, Annie

We did slow B down enough, to snap a picture of him in a barrel, going over the Falls.

Not literally going over the Falls, of course

Next up was The Explorer’s Base Camp. This area had lots of birds and creatures out n the open, for us to get real close to. In some cases, we could even touch them!

At this point, J’s mood brightened (the idea of looking at a turtle was too alluring). So she got out of the stroller, to explore. She spent the rest of the visit running around excitedly, like her big bro.

Turtle Power!

Up next was The Small Bird Aviary, which was exactly as it sounds. It was pretty surreal, watching these little tiny birds zipping around. I could feel the breeze sometimes, on my face, as they flew by. One thing I forgot to note is that a ticket attendant gave us a list, on the way in to the kingdom. It was a scavenger hunt, for finding various things throughout the facility. Several of them were in The Small Bird Aviary, and B had a blast trying to track them down.

We then moved on to The Night Jungle. This had numerous strange and nocturnal animals in it, many of which appeared to be asleep (go figure). Flash photography wasn’t allowed, so I couldn’t take any pictures, but take my word for it: The Night Jungle was pretty cool…..and creepy. Also, while we didn’t stop to partake in it (Wait. Scratch that. We couldn’t stop because B and J whizzed by it in a hyperactive rush, to see what was next), there was a Kid’s Archaeological Dig in this area, too, where children could go and dig up treasures.

The last experience, was the best one, in my humble opinion, Discover The Kingdom. It is this huge, multi-level indoor rainforest! The pathway starts at the top, and works its way down. Along the way, you encounter numerous birds and other creatures hanging out freely.

I particularly was impressed with the big waterfall, which you could walk under, and the Javenese house, a hand-carved wood structure built in 1875.

All in all, my family really enjoyed Bird Kingdom. We spent about an hour there, and that was with two fast-moving small kids who couldn’t wait to see what was next on the adventure. Tickets are reasonably priced, as well. If you’re visiting the Falls, it’s definitely worth checking out!

Bird Kingdom

5651 River Road

Niagara Falls, Ontario L2E 7M7

http://www.birdkingdom.ca

Daddy Realness