What we enjoyed about The Berenstain Bears Musical

My children and we enjoyed the wonderful story line of The Berenstain Bears show at the Living art Centre.  The lighting, music, conversation and special effects at the show made it lively.  My children said their favourite part was when Papa bear was telling brother and sister bear the bedtime story about not talking to strangers.  
Before the show began, the audience was asked to take a clubhouse oath to not eat in the theatre or take pictures of the performance.  We were able to take pictures outside the theatre with brother and sister bear.  After the show children were provided with juice and a granola bar.

We sat in the balcony of the RBC theatre in the side edge, which made it very uncomfortable to enjoy the hour-long show.  I believe theatre should be visible and fun from all angles.  There is no designated seating so we can sit wherever we want on the levels printed on our tickets.  Many people like us didn't know about this and found it uncomfortable to watch the show from the top-side angle.  Next time when we plan on a show at the RBC theatre we would go inside the theatre a little earlier to secure comfortable seats.  Despite our seating we enjoyed the show.

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How To Spend Your March Break and Giveaways

Here are some ideas on how to spend the March Break, I will update the post with more ideas and giveaway :)

Crafts and Activities:
Interactive digital story books for children
Making robots
Making gooey slime with cornstarch
White sauce to serve with vegetables

Shows, Events and Places to go:
Alliance Cinema Toronto movies for $5 (Giveaway)
Berenstain Bears at the Living Arts Centre
Disney of Ice Rocking Ever After 
Indigo Kids Play area programs
SkyZone Toronto

Contests:
Free preview of Disney Junior and $500 gift card
Watch for Easter family events by following the Kinder Canada Facebook page.
Fisher Price picture contest to win $200 value prize packs

Giveaways:
Chasing Mavericks blu-ray and 2 surf bracelets (3 winners Canada and US ends March 31)
Draw Something game (Canada ends March 15) Indigo/Chapters $50 gift card (Canada March 20)
Life of Pi blu-ray (2 winners Canada and US ends March 31)
Netflix 6 months subscription (Canada)
more giveaways on the side bar of my site :)

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Review of Life of Pi and a chance to #win 1 of 2 blu-ray copies

Life of Pi comes to Blu-ray and DVD on March 12th.  This fabulous Oscar winning family movie is about Pi Patel, a young man on a fateful voyage. 

I highly recommend watching this heartwarming family movie with the whole family.

We really enjoyed the way the movie started off with a beautiful Tamil song and vivid pictures of animals in a Pondicherry Zoo. Pondicherry or Puducherry is a place in South India influenced by the French. The architecture and feel of the area is beautifully portrayed in the movie. My children couldn't wait for the part when the adventures of Pi started in the sea.

• It was funny to watch how Pi or Piscine Molitor Patel and Richard Parkerthe Bengal tiger, got their names.  
• The scene where the family was ill-treated by the cook in the ship because they were Indian was heartbreaking.  This type of racial discrimination and prejudice still exists in our society... more about that in another post.  
• I felt really sad when I was watching the scenes of Pi loosing his family and when he retells the story.  
• Pi Patel and the fearsome 450 lb Bengal tiger are the only survivors of the shipwreck.  
• Pi did everything possible to survive by putting his faith in God even in moments of despair.  
• Although Pi knows life is about letting go of things, he regrets not being able to say goodbye in the movie to many people. 
• It was amazing to see this young boy trying to make the best of everything he had without giving up hope and believing that God did not create us in vain. I think this is something many people these days should remember as we see there are lots of people that commit suicide and loose control of their life because of their lack of belief in the higher power.

The wonderful special effects will be really enjoyed by everyone such as the jelly fish lighting up the dark ocean. It was amazing to see how it was filmed with the tiger so close and the Meerkat in the carnivorous island. This drama, adventure movie is based on the acclaimed best-selling novel from Yann Martel that has been published in 40 languages. This magical adventure of hope, wonder, survival and the power of the human spirit is wonderfully directed by Ang Lee.
The documentaries in the bonus feature of the blu-ray are a must watch. This movie won four oscars for best director, original score, cinematography and visual effects.

Giveaway:

2 people from US and Canada can win this giveaway by entering through the rafflecopter below before March 31st.  To be eligible please follow all the social media networks on the rafflecopter and comment.

Update: The winners are Arik and Jo-Anne.

a Rafflecopter giveaway All rights reserved on the written content Createwithmom © 2011 - 2013. Please Ask First

Steamed veggies with white sauce + Perks & Contests from @DisneyJuniorCA

I am super excited to be part of Disney Junior Mom Ambassadors and to bring you the good news and special perks from Disney Junior for March.

Disney Junior English will be available for us to preview for the whole month of March for FREE if we have any of these TV service providers *  You don’t have to have Disney Junior in your TV package to take advantage of this preview.  Find out which channel to tune into using the channel finder.

*Bell, Rogers, Shaw Cable, Shaw Direct, Cogeco, TELUS, SaskTel, Westman, Mitchell Seaforth Cable, Source Cable, Cable Cable, Videotron, MTS, TbayTel, Citywest Cable.

A contest from Disney Junior: 
Watch and Win a $500 gift card to shop at any retailer of your choice.

• To enter the contest tune into the Disney Junior channel daily this March between 6-7pm ET and look out for the secret code.  
• Then, visit DisneyJunior.ca and enter the contest on the same day with the daily Secret Code.  
• There will be a new secret code and a chance to win every day starting March 4th

Don’t forget to set your PVR so you don’t miss the code, while watching the commercial-free programming airing during the watch and win times.  

Keep some healthy snacks like fruits, crackers and cheese with water or juice for your little ones to munch on while they watch TV.  

I like to serve healthy foods like this steamed vegetables with white sauce.  To make the white sauce you will need...
1 tbsp flour
1 tbsp butter
1/2 cube Knorr vegetable or chicken stock
1 cup of milk

Heat the butter, then add the flour and wish.  Add the stock cube crushed and keep whisking.  Then add milk and whisk well till there are no lumps and it is smooth.  
Pour the white sauce over the steamed vegetables or serve it warm as a dip and enjoy.  

The upcoming March break will be We Love our Toys Week at Disney Junior.  From March 11th to 15th, 6-7pm ET we can watch back-to-back episodes of Doc McStuffins with Toy Story shorts between them.  This will lead into an exciting network premier of “Toy Story” on Saturday, March 16, at 6pm ET. 

Disclosure: I am part of the Disney Junior Mom program and receive special perks as a part of my affiliation.  All rights reserved on mentioned photographs and opinion of the written content Createwithmom © 2011 - 2013. Please Ask First

4 Pillars of Strength from the movie Chasing Mavericks & win 1 of 3 prize packs

Chasing Mavericks is out on Blu-ray and DVD today.  This movie is inspired by a true story of real life surfing phenom Jay Moriarity (played by newcomer Jonny Weston).  

When the 15 year old Jay discovers about the mythic Mavericks surf break, one of the biggest waves on Earth is real and is only a few miles from his home Santa Cruz.  He asks help from a local legend Frosty Hesson (played by Gerard Butler) to train him to survive it. As Jay and Frosty embark on their quest to accomplish the impossible, they form a unique friendship that transforms both their lives.  Their quest to tame Mavericks becomes about more than surfing. 

Chasing Mavericks was made with the help of some of the biggest names in the surfing world, and features some of the most mind-blowing real wave footage ever captured on film.  

Blu-ray Special Features include: 

    ●    Deleted Scenes

        ○    Frosty and Jay Paddle

        ○    Jay Plays the Bills

        ○    Power of Money

        ○    Jay Laments

    ●    Surf City

    ●    Shooting Waves

    ●    Live Like Jay

    ●    Surfer Zen

    ●    Commentary from Director Michael Apted and

Writers Brandon Hooper and Jim Meenaghan

    ●    Ultraviolet 

I would recommend this PG movie for everyone, it was lots of fun watching how strong the boy becomes following the four pillars.  In Chasing Mavericks, Frosty gives Jay some lessons outside of the basic surfing protocol, including his ‘Four Pillars of Strength.’ 

Physical

In Chasing Mavericks, Jay must demonstrate his physical strength by paddling 28.5 miles from Santa Cruz to Monterey Bay. This is a tough challenge, as it requires incredible strength to complete. This pillar is about taking care of your health and well-being.

·       Walking three times a week for 30-minutes

·       Balancing the diet, having vegetables as half of each meal 

·       Sleeping for 7 to 9 hours is a must for physical strength

Mental

To prepare for Mavericks, Jay had to study the ocean current, tides and wave patterns, and how these different elements work together. Understanding when to paddle out, when to drop in on a wave, how to use an ocean current to save energy can be the difference between life and death when dealing with 40 to 60 foot waves.  Memory tricks are a great mental workout:

·       Next time when you are travelling, think as many words as possible that begin with the letter A, then work your way through the alphabet.

·       Try remembering a list of objects or people from one category in the space of one minute

Emotional

Jay learns that he must face his fears head on when he gets in a situation that causes anxiety such as seeing a Shark. When fear becomes too overwhelming it can drown a person. Jay is able to address his fear and let go of the pain of his father leaving his mother and this frees him.

·       Address your emotions and take steps to help it without fearing change 

·       Knowing our weaknesses and asking for help

Spiritual

While this pillar is not addressed extensively in the movie, Jay does mention that his life purpose is to surf Mavericks. His passion and drive to push his limits helps him achieve an iconic status in the surfing world. Having spiritual strength is not limited to people with religious affiliations.

·       Seeing the big picture without limiting life to only one viewpoint

·       Seeking a higher purpose to achieve and having faith

The Surf Bracelet

Giveaway: 

Win 1 of 3 Chasing Mavericks blu-ray and 2 "Live Like Jay" surf bracelets before March 31st.  This giveaway is open to everyone in US and Canada.  Please follow all social media networks to be eligible and enter through the rafflecopter below.

Update: The winners are Darwin, Carolyn and ViviAn.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Wreck-It Ralph Will Make Us Go Retro

Wreck-It Ralph is AWESOME. It has romance, emotions, adventure, action, witty dialogues, comedy, bad guys, good guys and more, which makes it a fabulous family movie. The adults in our home enjoyed making inferences and the smart and funny dialogues in the movie.

• Some of the funny lines that stuck with me are when the dynamite girl on Hero's duty tells Felix that "Flattery doesn't work these batteries". 
• The conversations during the Bad Anon meeting were funny.  During this meeting Ralph talks about his feelings and thoughts of becoming a good guy so he can earn a medal.
• The names used for the characters are really funny and cool such as Game Central Station similar to New York Central Station, where all the characters from different games travel.  The security officer is called the Surge Protector.

Looking at the characters and scenes will make us feel nostalgic and remember our favourite arcade games and moments.  The animators did a lot of work to make the four different worlds in the movie to be unique, believable and realistic.  The directors and the team chose video games from different eras and connected the characters.

1.  The animators created a simple world to represent the characters from the 1980s Wreck-it Ralph game. They were asked to ignore the rules of animation and celebrate the cubes and pixelated characters. If you look closer at the characters from Fix-It Felix Jr. you will see the characters moving in a linear direction.

2.  Sugar Rush is a game that came out in 1997.  The designs on the set for Sugar Rush are inspired by the architecture of Antoni Gaudi. The team makes the models using real food by making the lighting soft without dark shadows so it would be appealing.

There are lots of eye catching delicious sweets in this part of the movie that is made using Nesquik drinks, Mentos, licorice, jawbreaker, gum balls, Oreos, cookies, chocolate cigars and many more sweets. The mini game of making the car on Sugar Rush and how it turned out reminded me of the homemade birthday cake I made for my son's second birthday, this decorated cake was before learning about cake decoration.

3.  The world shown on the Hero's duty game is animated with triangle designs to resemble the recent arcade games, which are more complex, violent, aggressive and scary.  

4.  The arcade room is represented by the stereotypical figures of people found in arcade rooms in Southern California.  The lighting and feel makes it realistic.  

We liked watching the bonus features in the movie. Learning the tidbits from the bonus features of how the movie is created and the concepts were interesting.  Don't forget to watch the Oscar winning, cute, romantic animated short film Paperman, which is part of the bonus features.

While watching the movie we saw a different perspective from the view point of the characters, for example having something blink funny in the game will make us the Arcade players think there is a "glitch" in the game.  When we think that there is something wrong with the game, usually the game goes "out of order," which really means death to the game and its characters.    

My children and we found it sad when the other girls were bullying Vanellope.  We liked the part when Vanellope becomes a princess, but instead of changing her personality Vanellope decides to make her kingdom into a constitutional democracy.

We liked Ralph's caring character, as he helps Vanellope make the car and learn how to race. After Ralph realizes that Vanellope is not a glitch he goes back to help her. When the weather gets better we are thinking of experimenting the Mentos falling into coke just like in the movie.

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