Friends with Kids is a Ridiculously Funny Movie

April 10, 2012 by Mom on the Make Leave a Comment

Friends with Kids

Finally, a movie that does not star Will Ferrell that made me laugh so hard I practically fell out of my chair!

This movie caught me by surprise, because I was not expecting anything. A few weeks ago, it was raining heavily and my Mom was taking me out to lunch for my birthday. Afterwards, she mentioned that her favorite movie reviewer on her local radio station was raving about “Friends with Kids”. Since it was raining and we were close to a movie theater, we purchased matinee tickets.

I went in expecting nothing, because I had not heard anyone talking about this supposedly fantastic movie. The low expectations might have contributed to my high praise of this movie, but I think it is much more than that. I can tell you that from two minutes into the movie, I was laughing and I really do not think that three minutes went by in the rest of the movie where I was not cracking up along with the rest of the theater.

The Movie Begins

The movie begins with a group of six friends (two couples and two singles) having dinner at a fancy New York restaurant. These six friends have been good friends for at least a decade with several of them having known each other since high school.

There are some kids crying at the table next to them and they all roll their eyes at the parents for bringing their young kids to such a nice restaurant. Within seconds, Maya Rudolph and Chris O’Dowd announce that they are having a baby, and the hilarity begins.

Four years after the dinner

After Maya and Chris announce their impending parenthood, the movie cuts to four years down the road where the main characters played by Jennifer Westfeldt (Jules) and Adam Scott (Jason) are visiting Maya and Chris’ family in Brooklyn to celebrate Jason’s birthday.

When Maya answers the door in complete disarray with screaming kids behind her, the complete hilarity of this scene begins and symbolizes how things have changed in a BIG way from four years earlier.

Anyone who has had kids in the past decade, especially, will be cracking up at this scene just due to the fact that a lot of the events hit a bit too close to home. 🙂

Jon Hamm (who I love from Mad Men) and Kristen Wiig play a couple who have a two year old at this point and are not happy.

In a nutshell, Maya and Chris play the solid couple, Jon and Kristen play the unstable, unhappy couple and Adam and Jennifer play the best friends who realize they might actually really love each other.

Adam and Jennifer after much hilarious discussion, decide to have a child together and maintain a 50%/50% custody arrangement. As you can imagine, it does not play out as nip and tidy as they had planned when they devised this plan.

So many subtle moments

This is one of those movies that you go home afterwards and keep thinking of all of the individual moments throughout the movie that made you laugh very, very hard.

One of the moments that comes to mind is when Maya Rudolph pushes Jennifer Westfeldt into Ed Burns at a parent night at her kid’s school. Ed Burns is recently divorced and a great catch, so being the good friend that Maya is, she literally shoves Jennifer into Ed and pretends to have “lost her footing”. Really hilarious and something many of us would do for our good friends.

There are also serious moments filled with reflection and “aha” moments that help to make this movie a well rounded piece.

Seen the movie three times

Ten minutes into seeing this movie, I was already thinking that I just had to see this movie with my husband. I was also thinking what a fun movie it would be for a girls night out with other Moms.

So, the following week, I organized a group of 5 Moms to go see this movie and everyone was in hysterics. One of my friends had a kleenex in both hands, wiping tears from her eyes most of the movie from laughing too hard. Yes, it is that good.

It was also funny to see the audience that arrived that night. It was other groups of Moms and Moms with their daughters. So, I could see that people were finding out about the movie, but I still don’t think enough people know about it, which is why I really felt the need to share on my blog.

Then, two days later, I took my husband, who found it equally as funny, but in typical guy mode, thought the ending was unrealistic. Who cares? Its a feel good movie and I always want the perfect ending, so I was happy. 🙂

Our Disneyland Trip 2012

April 9, 2012 by Mom on the Make 2 Comments

Disney Castle and Characters

We were two weeks away from our kid’s spring break week. The thought of no school for a whole week with no plans was not an uplifting feeling ( 🙂 ), so my husband and I decided to plan a getaway.

Our kids are finally ALL at a good age for Disney, so we decided to look into a Disneyland (Anaheim) trip. We had not been there in two years and it seemed like a good time to visit again.

We decided to visit our AAA office and find out the details about booking a Disneyland package for our family of five. We have three kids under the age of 11, so we have some very particular needs. These needs included, to name a few, a three day hopper pass to both parks (Disneyland and California Adventure), a hotel with suites, early entry to the park, and an affordable price.

We were pleasantly surprised to book a reasonably priced package ($1700) that included three nights at the Embassy Suites (a mile away from the park) and five 3 day hopper passes. I really believe in the multi day passes when you have young kids. It completely takes the pressure off having to hit all of the rides and shows in a short time frame. The kids were excited when AAA handed us our Disney envelope a week later that included cute luggage tags with Maeder from the The Cars movie on them. 🙂 Disneyland is opening its Cars ride this summer, so there is major promotion of the Cars characters going on right now with all of the Disney knick knacks.

Our Three Days at Disneyland and California Adventure

We were visiting the park from Tuesday to Thursday. We drove down to Anaheim early Tuesday morning and checked into our hotel. Everybody was anxious to get to the park, so we immediately headed to the Donald/Goofy parking lot to leave our car for the day. One aspect of the AAA package that is nice is free parking at any of the Disneyland lots all day every day during your stay. This is a huge savings in itself as it costs $15 to park your car in one of these lots for the day.

The good part about visiting Disneyland during a more popular time is that the shuttle buses are running constantly. A shuttle bus was there for us within moments of parking our car.

So, the talk on the shuttle was, of course, “which ride should we hit first?” It was decided to check out Buzz Lightyear in Tomorrowland first for my four year old son. He could not wait and we were all excited to see his reaction to meeting Buzz in person. Luckily, my husband had found a very helpful app, MouseWait, for our iphones that will tell you how long the wait is for each ride. Buzz appeared to only be 10 minutes, so we went for it.

While we were in line, my husband grabbed fast passes for Autopia. This strategy works really well – stand

Autopia and the Matterhorn

in line with your family for a ride, while one member of your family runs off to grab a fast pass for another ride. This simple strategy worked really well for us and saved us hours of time.

Buzz Lightyear was a great way to start the day as everyone enjoyed it thoroughly. My husband loves video games, so any ride that includes the video game aspect of shooting for a target and earning points is always a big hit with him.

Immediately afterwards, we headed to Autopia and waited maybe 10 minutes due to our fast passes. Without them, it would have been at least a 40 minute wait.

Autopia was again, a huge hit, so we were off to a great start!

Our Disneyland Schedule of Rides

Disney’s Goofy

I thought it would be fun to document the order of rides and attractions that we visited while at Disney. I love hearing what other families visit while at the park. There are so many awesome attractions, its neat to see what other families consider to be important.

I documented this list as we went through Disney on my Evernote app:

Tuesday

Entered Disneyland at 1pm

1. Buzz Lightyear

2. Autopia

3. Jedi Show

4. Disneyland Train to New Orleans Square from Tomorrowland

5. Cafe Orleans for lunch – the Monte Cristo is to die for! Highly recommend.

6. Haunted Mansion

7. Winnie the Pooh

8. Tarzan’s Treehouse

9. Jungle Cruise

10. Its a Small World

11. Wilderness Park at California Adventure

Left California Adventure at 9pm

Wednesday

Entered CA Adventure at 10am

1. Soaring California

2. Grizzly rapids

3. Toy story

4. Goofy flight school

5. Soft ice cream cones at Paradise Pier

6. Kebab lunch and Greek salad at Paradise Pier

7. Bugs life- bumper cars

8. Ariel underwater adventure

9. California screaming

10. Wilderness play area

11. Heimlichs search for food ride

12. Jazz cafe for Dinner at Downtown Disney- highly recommend the Drunken Chicken dish and the cheesy bread!

Went Back to Hotel at 8pm

Thursday

Early Entry to Disneyland at 7:15am

1. Mr toad

2. Pinocchio

3. Dumbo

4. Nemo Submarine Cruise

5. Autopia

6. Haunted mansion twice

7. Winnie the pooh

8. Casey jr

9. Storybook cruise

10. Roger Rabbit car ride at Toontown

11. Disneyland train to new Orleans square

12. Canoe Ride – really funny captain on our canoe!

13. Lunch at River Belle Terrace with Jazz Band playing lovely tunes for us

14. Golden horseshoe revue with billy and the hillbillies- root beer float and sundaes

15. Disneyland Main Street Parade

16. Autopia

17. Fantasmic at 9pm and Fireworks at 9:30

18. Alice and wonderland at 11pm

Left Park at 11:15 (Yes, it was a 16 hour day)

Disneyland was easier for us this time

So, I noticed two things on this trip to Disney including how much easier it is without a stroller and how apps make our lives so much easier.

1. First time without a stroller – YAY!! My husband and I felt so unencumbered, it was amazing. For the last ten years, we had a stroller at Disney – not anymore! Freedom! Our littlest is four years old and way past the stroller stage. Although, my husband did have to carry our little guy a bit. 🙂 Disney can be tiring and an afternoon nap is almost always going to happen with a four year old. The naps took place on my husband’s shoulder.

2. Apps are wonderful – Our Mousewait app and my Evernote app really helped cut down on our wait times and helped to keep us organized.

I used my Evernote app on my iphone, making it so easy to keep track of everything. If you have not tried Evernote yet, drop everything and download this free app. It seriously rocks. Whenever I need to jot down a reminder, or a note for one of my blogs, or just a random idea, I put the information on a note in Evernote. My Evernote then synchs with the Evernote app on my laptop at home as well as my desktop at home. I seriously do not know how I functioned without this app and its FREE!! Highly recommend.

Also, while in line, my iphone helped keep me and my kids entertained and the time flew by.

The walking around Disney without a stroller did not occur to my husband and I until we were in the park for several hours and we noticed hundreds of strollers parked everywhere, and we felt surprisingly not tired and in good spirits and it hit us like a ton of bricks. We do not have a stroller with us – wow. I don’t mean to rub this in, but rather to let Moms know that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Your baby gear will diminish eventually and you will feel lighter and have more energy soon. I promise. 🙂

Highlights

We really enjoyed our three day visit to Disney. Several rides and shows stood out for us including the following:

Rides:

1. Buzz Lightyear

2. Autopia

3. Haunted Mansion

4. Canoes

5. California Screaming (awesome roller coaster!)

6. Lunch at Cafe Orleans – the Monte Cristo Sandwich is a must have

7. Wilderness Play area at California Adventure – the zip line in particular

8. Riding Alice in Wonderland for our last ride at 11:00pm with smiles on every family member’s face ( 🙂 )

Suggestions

1. Go for the two or three day hopper for a more relaxing visit

2. Use the Mousewait app to schedule when to visit rides

3. Use Fast Passes as much as possible

4. AAA has really great vacation packages to take advantage of, so looking into them would be smart

Conclusion

Disneyland is just so much fun and a perfect family vacation.

From this trip, I learned that the age of four is when kids really start to get it (the magic of Disneyland) and they thoroughly enjoy every aspect of this very special getaway. 🙂

Costa Rica Looks Amazing

April 2, 2012 by Mom on the Make Leave a Comment

Costa Rica Waterfall

In order to get my mind away from my sometimes humdrum daily duties of shuttling my kids to and fro from one activity to another, cooking meals, cleaning house and walking the dog, I let my mind drift to my next dream vacation spot. Typically, the spot that enters my mind is Hawaii.

I have been to Kauai three times and Oahu once. My idyllic spot to dream about is Hanalei Bay on the North Shore of Kauai. The waterfalls seem to go on for miles, the waves are just right for a beginner surfer, and you can really grab a local flavor there that feels worlds apart from the touristy areas.

However, I have a new dream spot. You guessed it – the land of adventure, Costa Rica.

A friend of mine and her family visit Costa Rica once a year for their annual vacation. I used to always only consider Hawaii as the perfect destination, but when my friend’s family described waking up one morning to a herd of turtles on the beach right outside their home, I quickly became more interested in expanding my horizons.

I love turtles and all sea creatures, except maybe piranhas. 🙂 This family would also describe how the home they rented came with a chef and a housekeeper and that all of this was included in their package deal. The package deal was significantly less than a package to Hawaii.

Researching a Trip to Costa Rica

Up until two years ago, I had never heard of VRBO (Vacation Rentals By Owner). Whenever we planned our vacations, we would just go to priceline and find the best hotel deal we could find. I first heard about VRBO from my friend who goes to Costa Rica. At first, I didn’t think much of it, and then about a year later, I decided to check out VRBO for a vacation we were planning to Lake Tahoe during August.

Well, I could not believe how much more space and amenities you can get with a VRBO than with a hotel. We booked a three bedroom condo walkable to a private beach that came with a fully equipped kitchen, laundry room and new carpeting for $170 per night. If we had chosen to stay at the nearby four star hotel, the cost per night would have been $320 per night. The hotel would have given us one room with two beds and then a rollaway bed for our four year old. Talk about a Major Difference in accommodations! Needless to say, this trip opened our eyes in a BIG way about the advantages of checking in with VRBO when planning any vacation, short or long.

So, when I started considering Costa Rica more closely, I went to VRBO immediately and could not believe

Costa Rica Scenery

what I found. This particular Costa Rica Vacation Home is right on the beach and sleeps up to 11 people and rents for only $2200 per week for high season and $1900 per week for low season. We are considering going with another family of five, so divide those fees in half, and that is how much we would have to pay on a beautiful Costa Rican beach in a spacious home. The reviews on VRBO are typically very descriptive and are a huge help when trying to plan the perfect vacation.

Costa Rica Turtles

I keep hearing about the magnificent turtles in Costa Rica, so I decided to do a little research on them. It turns out there are six different types of turtle species in Costa Rica including the following:

Loggerhead
Olive Ridley
Leatherback
Hawksbill
Green
Pacific Green

It sounds like trying to see a turtle nesting time take place should be a priority. Apparently in January, the Costa Rican beaches are swarming with Leatherback turtles. The huge adult females who are six feet long will dig large holes in the sand to lay their eggs. At the same time, tiny hatchlings are digging out of the hole and immediately run to the water as fast as they can. It has been described to look like little wind up turtle toys, watching their legs spin around super fast.

Costa Rica Sea Turtles

The male turtles will run for the water and never be seen again on land for the rest of their 100 year life. The females, on the other hand, come back to the beach to have their babies.

If you want to catch a glimpse of this extraordinary sight, you have to be on the beach during the night. The hatchlings will not emerge from the holes during the daylight because the sun is too hot. This is just simply amazing to me an definitely on my “to do” list.

This definitely sounds like an experience you will not soon forget. Did I mention that the six foot female Leatherbacks weight one ton?

Costa Rica Factoids

Costa Rica is located in Central America with Nicaragua to the north and Panama the southeast. The Pacific

Costa Rica Map

ocean lies to the west of Costa Rica and the Caribbean Sea to the east.

Costa Rica is also comprised of several islands. Cocos Island is the farthest island from continental Costa Rica at 300 miles away and Calero Island is the largest of the islands at 58 square miles.

The seasons in Costa Rica are determined by the amount of rainfall during a particular period. There are two seasons: the summer (December to April), or “dry” season and the winter (May to November), or “rainy” season.

The literacy rate in Costa Rica is at 94.9%, which is one of the highest in Latin America.

The primary language is Costa Rican spanish.

My Final Thoughts

Hopefully Costa Rica will be my next big adventure. 🙂 It sounds like the perfect mix of adventure and relaxation. I will keep you posted on my Costa Rica plans.

Dolphin Tale: Super Sweet and Inspiring Movie

April 1, 2012 by Mom on the Make Leave a Comment

Winter from Dolphin Tale with Sawyer

I just finished watching Dolphin Tale with my kids, and I have to say, this is an adorable and very inspiring story. The picture to the left shows the main character, Sawyer, hugging Winter. Winter is the star of the show and the inspiration for the book and movie. I love this photo.

Quick Synopsis of Dolphin Tale

Based on a true story, Winter is an injured bottlenose dolphin that lands on a beach in Clearwater, Florida in 2005. A 12 year old boy, Sawyer, finds her on the beach wrapped in rope. Her mouth was shut closed by the rope.

The squad from Clearwater Marine Aquarium gets word of the injured dolphin and comes to the rescue quickly.

After some time in rehabilitation, it becomes clear that Winter’s tail is so infected that in order to save her life, they need to remove her tail. Sawyer then sets out to find a way that Winter can swim again and recruits the help of a prosthetic specialist (Morgan Freeman), to design a new tail for Winter. After several attempts, they find the perfect fitting tail that Winter utilizes correctly. The first few tails that Freeman creates, Winter moves her tail from side to side instead of up and down. This type of side to side movement puts Winter in danger due to the stress on her spinal cord. Dolphins need to move their tails up and down when the swim, not side to side.

I found this movie to be very moving and incredibly inspirational for kids. Sawyer was clearly enthralled with Winter and wanted to do anything he could to save her life. The dedication and love displayed through this little boy was wonderful to watch. It is a great illustration of how if a child has just one cause or passion they truly believe in, their ability to grow both emotionally and intellectually shoots through the roof.

What was Different between the movie Dolphin Tale and the Actual Events?

I always find it interesting to compare the events in a movie based on a true story with the actual events of

Winter’s prosthetic gel fin

the true story. Dolphin Tale did a good job of sticking to the story with a few minor differences.

1. Dolphin Tale shows Winter being discovered by a fisherman and a boy at Clearwater Beach in Florida. In Real Life, Winter was found at Mosquito Lagoon by a fisherman. Apparently a boy was not involved in the rescue (would have been neat though). 🙂

2. Dolphin Tale explains that Winter’s tail needs to be amputated due to an infection. In Real Life, Winter’s tail naturally fell off due to a loss of blood supply to the tail. This loss of blood supply was caused by the rope around the tail.

3. Dolphin Tale shows Morgan Freeman, a VA Doctor developing a suitable tail for Winter over a period of a few weeks. In Real Life, this process took over a year and was developed by Kevin Carroll and his team at Hanger Prosthetics and Orthotics. This is typical for a movie to change a timeline. I think this movie handled this difference very well. After all, we only have two hours to cram this whole story in and keep it riveting.

4. Dolphin Tale shows Winter washing up on shore during the summer. In Real Life, Winter was found at the Lagoon on December 10. The Summer idea fit perfectly with the inclusion of Sawyer and using his summer break to grow by leaps and bounds in his maturity and happiness level.

5. Dolphin Tale depicts Clearwater Marine Aquarium as financially distressed. They hold a “Save Winter”

Clearwater Marine Aquarium

day to raise funds for the aquarium and keep it from being bought by a businessman who wants to convert the property into expensive condos. In Real Life, Clearwater Aquarium was not experiencing any financial troubles. This one makes me happy as I grew very fond of the Aquarium’s efforts to rehabilitate injured marine life.

I wanted to run out to my local marine life hospital and donate my time and money. I just love marine life, especially those precious bottlenose dolphins. 🙂 I also wanted to throw my kids in the car and go check out Clearwater Marine Aquarium. We have not had the time to visit the Aquarium quite yet, but we will!

Marine Life Aquariums and How they Teach and Inspire

Marine Life Aquariums have always been fascinating to me. I am a swimmer, and I love watching the dolphins and other marine life swim so effortlessly through the water. As a kid, I would dream about working with dolphins at a big aquarium and teaching others about marine life. However, the biology, chemistry and other science classes were not my cup of tea. 🙂 I suppose I can donate my time at an aquarium and learn and teach at the same time. It is on my to do list.

Monterey Bay Aquarium

One of my all time favorite aquariums is the Monterey Bay Aquarium. The sea otters are just the beginning of the large variety of marine life they share with us here. I love the setting of the aquarium – breathtaking scenery, to say the least.

My kids thoroughly enjoy our visits to this unbelievable visit with marine life. The aquarium makes sure to educate its visitors on maintaining a healthy environment for our marine animal friends by keeping the water clean.

Our favorite exhibits are the sea otters (boy, I wish I could swim on my back like they do) and penguins.

In conclusion, I highly recommend watching Dolphin Tale and visiting an aquarium with your kids soon. SO much fun for everyone!

Seatbelt Bags – Could I finally have found the perfect handbag?

March 28, 2012 by Mom on the Make Leave a Comment

Camel Large Satchel Seatbelt Bag

I am a handbag fanatic and thoroughly enjoy the hunt for the perfect bag.

The whole process of checking out a new handbag is an absolute treat for me. 🙂

My research and discovery process will typically include:

Trying new styles (hobo, clutch, satchel, tote etc…)
Checking out the compartments that are inside
Determining if I need a short or long strap
Asking myself, “is the material waterproof?”
Will the purse stand on its own or slouch when I put it on a table?
If one of my kids draws on it, will I easily be able to clean it?
Will I feel stylish carrying it?
Can I easily fit my iphone in the interior compartments?
Will I need to buy a different size wallet so that it will fit better in my new purse?

After trying many different brands and materials including leather, faux leather, vinyl, cotton, straw etc…, I have finally found the handbag for me. The style, as you might have already guessed, is the Harveys seatbelt bag.

The History of Seatbelt Bags

Red Large Tote Seatbelt Bag

The company, Harvey’s Seatbelt Bags, was founded in 1997 by an Orange County, California husband and wife team, Dana and Melanie Harvey. The couple was in the process of restoring their 1950 Buick. When it was time to install the seatbelts, Dana decided to use the extra seatbelt material to create a handbag for Melanie.

Well, of course, she loved her handbag.

From there, they realized that this handbag was pretty darn unique and sturdy and fashionable, so they started to create the bags for friends and family. The bags were very well received, and this lead to Dana and Melanie using their garage to create these wonderful seatbelt bags for gifts and for a business venture.

The Buick that served as the initial inspiration for the first seatbelt bag was then sold to fund their growing business. So, that Buick played a very important role in the phenomenon of the seatbelt bag. 🙂

Style and Design of the Seatbelt Bag

When Dana and Melanie started out, they only made single color bags. They created their first print bag in the summer of 2006 and have not looked back. The colors and designs run the gamut from silver to aqua to black to polka dotted and so on.

Black Medium Tote Seatbelt Bag

The bags are offered in many different styles including:

Satchels
Messenger Bags
Laptop Bags
Baguettes
Totes – Large, Medium or Small
Backpacks

The multi-colored styles are very fun and when running around town, these handbags grab a lot of attention.

Even though they have been around for 15 years now, it always amazes me that the seatbelt bag look is still a new one for a lot of people.

I always receive compliments when carrying mine around town.

My personal experience with the seatbelt bag

I personally own the Large Satchel in champagne color, the large tote in the chocolate, and the medium tote in black. I thoroughly enjoy all of the colors and sizes.

The next one I’d like to add to my collection is the medium tote in teal color. It looks so refreshing for spring. 🙂

Treecycle Large Tote Seatbelt Bag

My three favorite features of this bag are:

Unique look
Sturdiness
Easily stands on its own with built in feet
And, of course, Looks Amazing

Since there are little metal feet at the bottom of the totes and satchel style bags, they stand up so easily, which I love.

Since my bags tend to also serve as a mobile office for me, being able to stand the bag up, as I sort through the contents is a major plus.

Teal Medium Tote Seatbelt Bag

Since I mentioned the cute teal color medium tote, I thought I’d include a picture to the left. The small tote is big enough for a wallet, water bottle, keys, sunglasses and a few odds and ends. The medium tote in black, as pictured above, is slightly bigger and can hold a few additional items like an umbrella and camera for example.

The Sterling Baguette style looks very stylish and fun as well. To be honest, this one is on my wish list as well.

Sterling Boxy Tote Seatbelt Bag

I’ve included a photo of this one to the right. The baguette is smaller than the totes in height, but it could be great for the essential wallet, keys, phone, and sunglasses.

Sometimes I think I should carry much smaller purses like this one, so I’m not tempted to carry around too much. 🙂

I think seatbelt bags are absolutely wonderful, and they have made me realize that, yes indeed, there is a perfect handbag.

I know it sounds silly, but I actually look forward to picking up my seatbelt bag every morning so I can show it off. 🙂

Mom on the Make

Finding fun amidst the chaos of Motherhood