Disney on Ice: Worlds of Fantasy

Here I am with my son, friends and my best I've-never-been-a-VIP-before smile. Oh yeah, and some celebrities known as Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse.

We got to meet them as Mom Central VIPs (and got the royal treatment from Feld Entertainment, which puts on the Disney on Ice shows) before opening night of Disney on Ice: Worlds of Fantasy. It was fantastic! The show is going to be in the South Florida area through April 5.

We later saw Mickey strut his stuff on the ice.



Lightning McQueen (from Cars) showed us how cars can move across the ice and not crash or spin out.



And so did his posse.



Then Ariel and Prince Eric from the Little Mermaid showed up. I promise she wasn't topless.



Come on and kiss the girl already, Sebastian implored. (Who knew crabs could be so romantic?)


Little Mermaid photos courtesy my friend Guinevere.

Simba used Nala as a comb for his wild mane.



Then the whole Lion King cast, plus herds of animals, touted the circle of life.



The second half of the show was all about the fairies.



Tinkerbell actually flew. I could do this, too. Totally.



But I wouldn't look like this when it was all over.



The finale had a perfect Disney ending.



Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Goofy came back out for the grand finish, much to the Man-cub's relief. He was really worried about where they had gone.



And maybe just a teeny bit worn out from all the excitement.


Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Paurotis palm trees

A stand of paurotis palms in Everglades National Park

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Today's Foxtrot comic

Win Disney on Ice tickets!

Exciting news! Thanks to Mom Central, I have four tickets to give away to the opening-night event of Disney on Ice: Worlds of Fantasy at BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise on Thursday night, March 26! (We have a winner! Please see the bottom of the post for details.)

To win, please click below on "Lines of (L)attitude" or "Post a comment" and leave a comment saying you are interested in the tickets. Please make sure you provide at least an e-mail address so I know how to reach you if you are the winner.

I will use random.org to select a winner on Monday night, March 23. That way, if you don't win, you can still use the exclusive coupon code MOM at Ticket Master to buy a four-pack of tickets to the event for just $44.

Worlds of Fantasy will be at the BankAtlantic Center on the following dates:

Thursday, March 26, at 7:30 pm
Friday, March 27, at 7:30 pm
Saturday, March 28, at 11:30 am, 3:30 pm and 7:30 pm
Sunday, March 29, at 1 pm and 5 pm

The show also comes to the American Airlines Arena in Miami on the following dates:

Wednesday, April 1, at 7:30 pm
Thursday, April 2, at 7:30 pm (Spanish-language performance)
Friday, April 3, at 7:30 pm
Saturday, April 4, at 11:30 am, 3:30 pm and 7:30 pm
Sunday, April 5, at 1 pm and 5 pm

All ticket holders can arrive up to one hour early to view a display of Disney princess gowns!

Please e-mail me at tropicofmom at gmail dot com if you'd like more information or a flyer to give to your friends.

Please click below to leave a comment if you want to win. Good luck!



Update: Random.org chose the number 3, and the third commenter was Sonia. Congrats to Sonia on winning the tickets!

Nature activity for kids: feed the birds

To wrap up my award-worthy (heh!) series of nature activities for kids in honor of National Wildlife Week, I thought I'd make a video. This will tell you everything you need to know about feeding birds in your backyard.



OK, actually it won't.

But the video will show you how we attract birds to our yard -- a great activity for kids, as you'll see. You can find more tips on feeding birds here.

If feathered critters aren't your thing, today's alternate activity is to make a water scope.

I hope you enjoyed at least one of the posts this week. Here is a list:

• Nature activity for kids: wildlife observation
  
• Nature activity: photos
  
• Nature activity for kids: outdoor rubbings
  
• Nature activity for kids: plant seeds
  

Thanks for putting up with the nature nerd side of me.

Nature activity for kids: wildlife observation

The perfect thing happened today for our National Wildlife Week celebration: the wildlife came to us.



This Muscovy duck appeared on our patio this morning and stayed all day. My son was mesmerized and watched her through the window on and off. He wanted to "visit" the duck frequently to see what she was doing, often accompanied by "Hi, duck!" or "Yay, duck!" or even just "Quack!"

Then this afternoon we ventured onto the patio to see if we could get a closer look at her.



The Man-cub and I practiced walking and flying like ducks. Inevitably, he got too close to the duck, and she flew away.

My son was sad, but the duck left several souvenirs -- nice little reminders she had been on our patio -- which I chose not to photograph. You can thank me later....

Sometimes just sitting and watching wildlife is great. You don't have to head out to the wilderness to do it, either, as this article on urban wildlife watching details. If you really enjoy watching wildlife, you might want to pick up a field guide to identify what kind of critters you've got -- but just observing them is fine too.

As an alternate activity, if the wildlife just never show up, try to make a sound map.

What's the coolest animal you've seen in your yard or local park?

Nature activity: photos

It's day three of National Wildlife Week. Normally I post a South Florida photo on Wednesdays, but today I bring you the Man-cub.



I had great plans to go to a local park with friends and lead an alphabet hike. However, for the first time in months, it rained. This is normally South Florida's dry season. And the day of my alphabet hike, it rained for 18 hours straight.

So instead, my son and I played outside in the rain.



So just like yesterday, I'm trying to be flexible. Because the point is to get kids outside, having fun.

But if you have good shots of your kids playing in nature, you can join the Green Hour Flickr group pool and submit your photos.

Older children might want to take their own nature photos as an outdoors activity. They might even have better sense than I do and check the weather forecast beforehand....

Nature activity for kids: outdoor rubbings

This is day two of celebrating National Wildlife Week with my son by doing a different nature activity every day. And I have to admit things didn't go as planned today. But stick with me . . . .

Today, we tried to do nature rubbings.



This isn't a wildlife activity, but it did get us outside. And it led to an impromptu wildlife activity.

We used the back side of unwanted office paper to get a second use out of it. We also grabbed some crayons and chalk, and took everything outside.

The Man-cub has done nature rubbings before -- putting paper over a natural object like a flat stone, leaf, tree bark or flower -- but today he just wasn't interested.

I showed him how a fern appeared on the paper when I rubbed blue crayon over it. See, my son, it's magic!



And look at this pretty red leaf Mama made!



But my son wasn't buying it. Two-year-olds can be fickle that way.

I think he was just so distracted by other things outside that he wanted to do, not sit and color. He wandered all over the yard, smelling flowers and picking up leaves.

Then he asked to rescue a ladybug.

Yesterday, I took two beetles out of our pool. Today, he wanted to check to make sure there weren't any "ladybugs" in the water that needed a rescue.

So I packed up our nature rubbing items, in search of bugs.

And then he moved on to lizards.

So in the end, my son turned aside my not-exciting-not-wildlife-related nature activity in favor of an exciting bug and lizard search and rescue mission.

And that's really the whole point of doing nature activities and having a Green Hour: get kids interested in nature.

So my tip for the day is to not get discouraged if your child doesn't like a nature activity. Together, you'll find things you enjoy doing outside. Depending on your child, it might take some trial and error, but I think it will happen.

If you're looking for an alternate activity, try how to make a bug vacuum. You'll find more ideas here.

National Wildlife Week nature activities for kids

There aren't a lot of holidays or celebrations in the year that have to do with wildlife. Oh sure, we had Groundhog Day last month, but isn't that over in about 15 minutes, tops? We think about reindeer at Christmas (but it's a stretch), and sometimes bats for Halloween.

But this week, Monday through Friday, is National Wildlife Week. So no animals will get left out. It's a push by the National Wildlife Federation to encourage wildlife awareness and love for nature.

It's been awhile since I wrote any Green Hour posts, so I thought I'd try to come up with a no-matter-how-lamely wildlife-related nature activity for kids every day. It's my way of celebrating. If you're interested and want to get right to the activity, just scroll on down . . . .

Having a Green Hour is a fun and relaxing part of the day. It's good for kids to have unstructured play time outdoors where they can explore the natural world. According to the Green Hour people, there's actual research that backs up the idea that time playing outside helps kids physically, mentally and emotionally. It also helps kids learn to care about the environment. The Man-cub and I don't have a Green Hour every day, but we try.

I think even if you can do only a half-hour, it's helpful. Most of my nature activities for kids this week don't take a long time. (Hello, short attention spans!)

If you want to do National Wildlife Week along with me, check out the links above and also Wildlife Watch, where you can report any wildlife you see and find out more about animals in your area.

Like the squirrel we saw.



I know -- ho hum, big deal. Squirrels are everywhere. But our yard is its habitat.

Thinking about our yard as a habitat has encouraged me to plant bushes, trees and flowers that provide food and shelter for birds, butterflies -- and squirrels too, I guess.

So today's activity is to plant wildflower seeds that will produce nectar for butterflies.

We started with just a couple old pots and some dirt.



Which my son loved digging in.



So much so, that he flung dirt on my nice white shorts.



Then we planted the seeds. I just happened to have one of those papers that has seeds inside of it. Sometimes you find them as a greeting card, sometimes as a bookmark -- please tell me you know what I'm talking about so I don't feel like an idiot.



Now we'll water the seeds and wait for them to grow, then plant them in our butterfly garden.

This is an easy activity, doesn't take a lot of time and is high on little kid appeal. (For an alternate activity, check out how to make a toad abode.)

You can find seeds at a nursery or hardware store. You can get seeds from a gardening neighbor. You can even buy them at supermarkets -- in the form of unpopped popcorn kernels! And you can grow them inside near a sunny window, so you don't have to live in South Florida like I do to plant something.

My tips: Don't be afraid to get dirty. (White shorts? What was I thinking?) Explain to your kids how planting seeds can help wildlife. And mostly, have fun.

CSI: Laundry

Sometimes, I find money in the wash. That's fine, except usually it's only like a dime or something.

Sometimes, I find a receipt that got forgotten in a pocket. That's usually unfortunate, because paper fluff has gotten all over the whole load of wash.

And sometimes, I find something peculiar, as I did last week.



I'm no CSI agent and I don't know much about forensics, but even without dental records I believe these are the remains of a gummy bear. Actually, a gummy bear vitamin. And let me tell you, it was extremely gummy by the time I found it here. I don't think the little guy stood a chance against all that water, soap and friction.

The case has been closed, but I still wonder if, like Humpty Dumpty, he was pushed.


Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Sunburst

Sunshine streaming through clouds over the Atlantic Ocean

Baby Month, or, Score some natural goodies for babies and moms-to-be

March must be Baby Month. I just keep seeing babies all over the place -- in real life and online -- and baby stuff. And pregnant mom stuff. I'm just a magnetic force field for moms-to-be and cute babies. Or maybe it's just because I'm 25 weeks pregnant and I have babies and bellies on the brain.

One of the things that makes this Baby Month is the Whole Foods "Whole Baby" podcast series that starts today. You see all these goodies in the photo? You can win them for yourself or a friend by listening to a Whole Baby podcast and commenting about how you like it.

The giveaway is a Green Baby Diaper Bag -- the "Deluxe Urban Sling" diaper bag made with 100% post-consumer recycled materials (discarded water bottles and yogurt containers). It comes loaded with natural products like:

• Belly Bar -- Assortment of Chews, Shakes and Bars
  
• California Baby -- Super Sensitive Shampoo and Body Wash - No Fragrance
  
• Peter Rabbit Organics -- Baby Intense Therapy Cream
  
• Seventh Generation -- Natural Baby Laundry Detergent
  
• Hylands -- Teething Tablets and Teething Gel

Check out the giveaway guidelines below.

Today's Whole Baby podcast is about natural baby body care. Natural products are important for babies because what goes on the baby may go in the baby! Learn more about natural baby body care and the best choices for baby's sensitive skin. Whole Foods Market's Senior Global Whole Body Coordinator, Jeremiah McElwee, has been working in the natural product industry since 1994 and has been a devoted father since 2005.

Next week, listen to the Whole Baby podcast "Pregnancy – A Time to Go Natural." Yeah! Being pregnant -- or trying to get pregnant -- seems to make a move toward a healthier lifestyle. From diet to household products to a little pampering for stress management, nutritionist and mom Malia Curran, MS, MPH demystifies natural supplements, body care and aromatherapy for pregnancy.

Then March 24 is a video podcast, "Organics for Baby, Beyond Food." You might already know cotton uses more pesticides than any other crop. (Number two? Coffee.) That's why there's such a buzz about organic cotton these days. So if you already eat organic food or serve it to your baby, you might consider organic cotton bedding and clothing. Find out more from Lynda Fassa, author, expert on raising kids naturally and founder of Green Babies organic clothing.

Now here's how to score the Green Baby Diaper Bag:

1. There are three Whole Baby podcasts this month. You can listen to and comment on all of them, but you need to leave a comment on just one.

2. After listening, click on the "comment" text to leave your comment. You must enter http://tropicofmom.com/ in the Web site field on the comment form.

3. When you leave a comment, with http://tropicofmom.com/ in the Web site field, you will be entered in the drawing. On March 31, one winner will be randomly selected to win a Green Baby Diaper Bag!

Go you, and good luck!

I'm Blog of the Day!

The Sun-Sentinel has erroneously graciously named Tropic of Mom today's Blog of the Day. Can you believe it? I had to write about this before the Sun-Sentinel folks changed their minds.

And here is proof.

This is today's home page:



And if you click, you can read a blurb about my blog:



Even though journalists strive to report the facts accurately, I should point out "The blog is well written, well organized, and has many followers," may be stretching the truth just a bit.

But I'll take it.

Tropic of Mom's Three-Cheese Spinach and Artichoke Dip

First, I have to start at the beginning and apologize for the lousy photo. My camera has been acting up. I think it has multiple-personality disorder. Or possibly Alzheimer's. Or both. It turns on only some of the time, and then it's iffy whether it will take a decent picture. I know it can't possibly be a fault of the user. Ahem.

Last week, I went to a "moms' night in" at a friend's house. Everyone was supposed to bring a snack. (We would say "appetizer" or "hors d'oeuvre," but we're not that fancy.) I got this recipe from somewhere years ago and have adapted it to my own tastes over time. I knew my husband wouldn't let me out of the house without leaving him some of the dip, so I scooped out a generous helping into a dish and gave him some nice crackers to go with it. He ate it all. And I'm pretty sure my friend's husband, who tried his best to stay scarce for the duration of the estrogen takeover of his house, lingered near the snack table and made an appearance a few times to eat some of this dip and the other snacks as well.

So, this dip is husband-approved.

It's also girlfriend-approved, and this dip may be the only reason my chick friends let me stay and pretend to play poker because -- honestly? -- I don't know a flush from a full house from a straight or whatever you call them. One of my friends had to help me out. Then she "borrowed" some of my chips when she ran out. But we weren't playing for money anyway, thank goodness....

Tropic of Mom's Three-Cheese Spinach and Artichoke Dip
(Or, the dip that will let you stay and play cards when you don't know what you're doing)

Ingredients
1 block (8 oz.) cream cheese or Neufchatel cheese
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/3 cup shredded Mozarella cheese
1/2 stick (4 Tbsp.) butter
4 tsp. garlic or garlic powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 package (10 oz.) frozen chopped spinch, thawed and drained
1 can (14 oz.) quartered artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
2-3 Tsbp. milk (optional)

Directions
Put the different cheeses and butter into a medium saucepan, and warm over low-medium heat. Stir the mixture once in a while. When the cheeses and butter have melted together, add the rest of the ingredients. It's OK if you don't like artichokes because you can leave them out. (If the mixture seems too thick, add the optional milk listed.) Increase the temperature to medium and continue to stir occasionally. When your dip just starts to bubble, take it off the heat. Serve warm with crackers, melba toast, baguette slices or your other favorite way to eat warm dip.

Don't let this happen to you

No one needs to carry around seven packages of wipes. Five lipsticks and two lip balms. Two kinds of sunscreen. An open bag of granola bites that is months old. And a harmonica. A harmonica, peeps!

The seven Hot Wheels cars are totally necessary, though.

One of the consequences of my becoming a mom has been the state of my bag. (A guard at Disney who inspected it told me, "You know, this isn't a purse anymore. It's a portable warehouse." And my husband replied, "She keeps the diapers in Bay 19.") After finally cleaning it out -- including the Cheerios and sand in the bottom -- my bag is loads lighter. But I have a feeling I'll be lugging it around for a few more years . . . .



Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Don't forget to download Kidzui and comment about it here for a chance to win a free subscription to the program that keeps kids safe online!

Winter roses

It's nice to have blooms year-round

Download, comment and WIN to keep kids safe online

Last week, I got acquainted with the Banana Rap Song, photos of sun bears and Eine Kleine Nachtmusik (by way of the Little Einsteins) on Kidzui.

I know Kidzui sounds like something you might say while you do a karate chop. But really, it's a cool program that lets kids go online safely.

You download and install the program, and your child can create an avatar for his or her account. Then the fun begins! The program's colorful, user-friendly appearance directs kids to places they are most likely to visit online, from music videos to homework help. The best part is everything available through Kidzui has been screened as appropriate for kids. Parents and kids have a separate login, and parents can view their child's account activity. With a paid subscription, kids can tag sites they like and interact with other kids in the Kidzui community.

So this is how you can win a six-month subscription to Kidzui!

Kidzui is looking for feedback on how to make the program better, and they're looking for parents to download Kidzui and comment on what they might change. Kidzui is having a contest to see which blog gets the most comments and the most insightful comments on improving the program, and also who has the best Twitter conversations about it. So, if you download Kidzui and come back to this post to say how you would make it better, everyone who comments might win! It's a very cool deal.

My son (who turns two and a half on Saturday, sniff sniff) is a bit young to use all the functions on the computer, and he doesn't really need a lot of screen time anyway. But he likes seeing pictures and videos of animals, and also anything to do with characters like Diego and Winnie the Pooh. (On Kidzui, I found out how bad I suck at doing a My Friends Tigger and Pooh online jigsaw puzzle.) The "community" column on the right side of the screen is pointless to him, and probably will be for a few years yet. So I wonder if one way to improve the program would be to offer a version for younger children. Also, a few times, (cue horror-movie music) we had to use the horizontal scroll bar! Some sites didn't fit within the Kidzui screen panel, and we had to scroll over to see the whole site screen. I'm not sure if there's anything that can be done about this, but . . . . I loathe horizontal scrolling.

If you're interested, I hope you'll download Kidzui, try it out with your kids, and come back here and comment! It could mean a free subscription for you and everyone else who comments here.