We Had So Much Fun At iPlay America

I received ride passes and game cards from iPlay America to facilitate this post. All opinions are my own. Or my kids'. Or my husband's. All the (dreadful) pictures are mine, but you can get a really good look at iPlay America on their 3D tour. 

On Saturday, we should have been going to the welcome picnic at our local lake. Except that Saturday's weather was not the kind of weather for picnics, swimming or even being outside. I love my home state - and we have some lovely days - but it seems like New Jersey's weather is getting worse and worse. Which is why whoever created iPlay America and placed it within a half an hour of many shore points is a genius. Now when it rains during your beach vacation, you can just go to the indoor boardwalk at iPlay America.

We got a tour when we arrived. Here is the very kind Eric showing the family one of the cooler arcade games. It's set up like a giant square, with two sections that are like the boardwalk and two sections like the city. The giant arcade sets in the center. 

It kind of reminded me of a family-friendly casino; all bright and exciting and with no connection to the outside world. 

I think this is how you bribe your kids to leave. 

We spent a lot of time in the arcade area. There were games for every skill level and every preference. All the kids played several rounds of skee-ball and Hot Guy found plenty of complicated shooter type games. 

This is what we did while waiting for each kid to have a turn at the Go-Karts (they all had to go with an adult). The fishing game was pretty easy. 

But they had a good time doing it. 

And there were prizes after each turn. 

The Go-Karts developed quite a line as the afternoon wore on (when we go again, we will go at 10am when they open, because it got much more crowded in general around 3). The kids loved their rides around the track. 

One of the first things we did was laser tag. Well, Hot Guy, Ironflower and Lovebug did laser tag - Hugmonkey freaked out as everyone was putting on their vests so he and I left. Lovebug was apprehensive (he doesn't like the dark), but he fell in love with it. Hot Guy says they have a great system and area for it. Next the family daredevils did the kiteflyer, which they described as very fun. 

There were lots of air hockey tables in the central arcade area. We LOVE air hockey. 

And there was a huge climbing structure for kids over 32 inches tall and less than 100 pounds. 6 credits gets kids unlimited play time there. It was Hugmonkey's favorite thing; I kind of enjoyed relaxing and watching them for a few minutes, to be honest. The area near the climbing structure also had a bunch of games geared just for preschoolers - the air hockey table there was the perfect size for Hugmonkey. 

Hugmonkey did not want to do the bumper cars. Hugmonkey might have been a little overwhelmed with the noise. As Hot Guy pointed out, "It's like a carnival without all the carnies." And carnivals - especially when they're indoors - are loud. So that would be my complaint, if you forced me to have one. But I'll take the noise level for the cleanliness of the facilities and the kindness of the employees at iPlay America. 

Lovebug went on the boat ride (similar to the Dumbo ride at Disney) while Ironflower went on the giant swing. Needless to say, I could not get a decent picture of her on the giant swing. But to be fair, this was after we all went on the dragon ride. Which is a spinning ride. Did I mention that I had a horrible head cold going on? Yeah, spinning around and around is not good when your sinuses are already messed up. I was dizzy for the next half hour. 

I did manage to get a photo of a party room, though. My kids would flip out to go to or have a birthday party here. 

One thing I really liked is that instead of collecting all those tickets in the arcade, everything was saved on your card, so you didn't have to worry about losing tickets or whatever. And when you collected your prizes or were finished with your ride cards you could drop them in one of these boxes to be recycled. 

There are lots of places to eat; many are boardwalk style places for treats like funnel cakes and frozen yogurt. But there's also a huge sports bar with really yummy spinach dip and very tasty chocolate cake. It was great to relax there after our busy day. It had pool tables and giant screens for sports; I saw one dad relaxing there with a beer while his older kids went off and did various activities. 

It took us about an hour to get there and it was TOTALLY worth it. I highly recommend it. 

A Party of Two

So I was supposed to host a party this month. It was supposed to be for boys Lovebug's age, which would make up for the fashion thing Ironflower did last fall and I figured I could smuggle in a friend of HugMonkey's as well.

Except.

We got stuck in Florida. Then there was scheduling. Then there was illness. Then I was freaking late to turn in my blog post, which was due Friday.

So. I did not get to have an Xtreme Customz by Ridemakerz Party yet, but I am writing my blog post anyway. Because the ladies at Mommy Parties are super understanding and kind. And because my boys would have lost their minds if "the car box" had gotten mailed back.

So Xtreme Customz are toy cars that your kids can build themselves.

It took 7 year old Lovebug about 30 seconds to figure everything out and not much longer to build his car. Um, it took me considerably longer to figure things out well enough to help Hugmonkey. In fact, Hot Guy was the one who built Hugmonkey's car. It took him longer than it took Lovebug, though.

Clearly, 7 is the perfect age for these things. But both boys happily embraced playing with their cars.

The coolest thing is that the parts are interchangeable from one car to another so they can really customize them, over and over again.

Actually, no, the coolest thing is that a set costs $9.99. When the two most popular toys in your house are American Girl and Lego, anything that's reasonably priced is welcomed. Things that are reasonably priced and entertaining even more so.

Full disclosure: I got these for free, courtesy of the saints at Mommy Parties and XTreme Customz.  And some more, which I will be giving out when I get to have my party. Except for the one the boys commandeered for their sister.

Hot Wheels Nitro Speeder Giveaway

It's very rare that I get a pitch email or sponsored post offer where I'm all like, "Squee! I want to review THAT!" But a few weeks ago I got an email from Mom Select that said "Hot Wheels" at the top. My house is filled with Hot Wheels cars, as is my purse. We have tracks and loops and stuff that makes the cars go flying. Even Ironflower plays with Hot Wheels, though she'd prefer it if you didn't mention that to the girls in her first grade class. My boys are the real fans though.

Hot Guy often bribes them with promises of watching Hot Wheels videos on YouTube*. And then there are all the cars we own. I think what's really cool is that they are just as excited about a new car as they are about getting considerably more expensive toys. Which may explain why we have so many cars.

Anyway, I was pretty much filling out the "please-let-me-do-this-review" survey before I even knew what kind of Hot Wheels product they were launching. When I realized that "Nitro Speeders" were mini-RC cars, I'm pretty sure I cheered. Or squee-d. Or something most 40 year old women don't do about remote control cars. Lovebug has been dying for an RC car but I wasn't sure if he could handle one without getting frustrated. So this would be just perfect.

Lovebug and Hugmonkey could barely contain themselves as we took the Nitro Speeder out of the box. Then there was the charging,
so even Ironflower was pretty hyper by the time we got the Nitro Speeder going. Man, they are fast. I mean like so fast that I had serious trouble controlling it, but in a totally fun way. Lovebug didn't get frustrated at all. They suggest the toy for kids 5 - 8 and while I think older kids could have fun with them too, the toy is not great for kids younger. Hugmonkey at not quite 3 did not have the finger strength or dexterity to make it go himself.

The car itself is very small, but quite sturdy considering all the abuse it's already been through. It's a lot like the typical indestructible Hot Wheels car, but slightly smaller. And, you know, remote controlled. There's a cute case that holds the car and charger, so it's a very portable toy. My only concern would be that because it's so small and so fast, I wouldn't bring it anywhere it could get lost too easily. Like the woods behind our house, which Lovebug suggested. Fortunately I nixed that idea before our beloved Nitro Speeder disappeared. So now I only have to buy 2. I think they'll have a lot more fun (and considerably less fighting) when they each have one.

So yeah, I highly recommend the Nitro Speeder and I'll be buying more soon. You, however, can win one. On this very blog. I know - 2 giveaways within a few weeks of each other. It's totally crazy. Check out the form below for ways to enter. The contest closes Sunday and the winner will get 1 awesome Hot Wheels Nitro Speeder.







*They have real life stunt drivers perform tricks. It's kind of awesome.

The Circus Is In Town

So last night we were lucky enough to see the Ringling Brothers Circus newest show, Fully Charged. In the interest of full disclosure (and bragging), we were given our VIP tickets for free. But last year we went without free tickets, because I like the circus. Er, I mean the kids do. So it's definitely something I would have recommended anyway, free tickets or no.


But the VIP tickets meant we got to go in a side door and get into the pre-show early. Because one of the acts was still practicing when we got there, we sat in some seats and talked to one of the associate production managers (whose name I can't remember and should have written down) for a while. The kids (and adults) got to ask questions. I  had chatted briefly with Cristie from The Traveling Circus, Nicole from Bronxmama and Desiree from Writing to Sanity on the way in, but that was it for socializing. Between trying to control HugMonkey and finding snacks for everyone there wasn't much opportunity.

So next was the pre-show. We got to beat the crowd, so Ironflower got to try on a costume and we got to talk to some of the clowns. And then we got seats up close to the pre-show animal area. We got to see Asia the elephant up close as well as some ponies and a zebra. I think the pre-show is wonderful - Hugmonkey was just fascinated by the lights. I recommend getting there as early as possible, though.

Fully Charged is a traditional circus show, in that there's more of a theme than a plot. There's a ringmaster and 2 main clowns and then all of the acts. Normally I'm not a huge fan of the clown acts, but something about the way they all were making fun of the regular circus acts appealed to me. I'm sure you're shocked.

Anyway, the other acts were amazing as usual. We got to see some of them up close, as people in the "VIP Celebrity Circus" seats have to move to benches on the arena floor for most of the first act. I didn't know that ahead of time so we weren't prepared for it (as in, Hot Guy had just gotten us food when we had to move and I probably wouldn't have brought HugMonkey) but it all worked out. We saw the Fernandez Brothers in their "Wheels of Steel", Russian strongmen, the amazing Danguir Troupe of tightrope walkers and an act with a giant bicycle from the arena floor.

The second act was just as exciting, but Hugmonkey was definitely feeling the effects of staying up so far past his bedtime. Even Ironflower and Lovebug started to slump. But their eyes stayed on the performers the whole time. Well, not Hugmonkey's. He got scared at some parts (we've yet to figure out why) and wouldn't look at others. In retrospect, he was probably just too young to handle it. He REALLY wanted to get down and run around. Especially during the tiger act. Which was the only time that it occurred to me that sitting in the second row was perhaps not as wonderful as it seemed. Luckily there was no mass tiger rebellion.

The Yakubov Troupe, with its aerial/swordfighting/tumbling act, and the Tianyicheng Troupe, with its bounce stilt acrobatics, were probably my favorite part of the second act. Ironflower's overall favorites were the tightrope walkers and the tigers, Lovebug's were the Alimgulov Troupe acrobats and the "Ninja clown with the chicken", a bit we saw during the pre-show. Hot Guy's favorite part was the animal show during the pre-show because the trainers taught the audience about the animals. We are not sure what Hugmonkey thinks, but he did play elephants this morning.

If you live in the New York area, you can get $5 off of your tickets here. If you don't, you can go the the Ringling website and find out when they are coming to your area.