Welcome back, if you haven't done it already, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

We went to see Disney/Pixar’s “Up” on opening night. I’m glad I waited until the next morning to write this review because I needed time to reflect on the depth of this movie and not react to my initial response to the film. Yes, you read that right, I said “depth”.

Pixar has always been known for creating stories that include moral dilemmas and the characters response to those dilemmas is what beautifully fleshes out the stories. Every Pixar film is visually stunning, musically amazing, emotionally diverse and highly entertaining. Even deeper than that is the fact that every Pixar film, when looked at on a deeper level, would preach on a Sunday morning-and “Up” is no different.

The story of “Up” is more like a fine piece of art or literature than a children’s animated film. The exceptional use of color, symbolism, regret and humor weave together in the beautiful tapestry of “Up”. The moral themes that run simultaneously throughout this movie are dream big but don’t let unfulfilled dreams fill you with regret, keep your promises, respect others, people/friends/animals are all more important than things, spend quality time with your kids, and love conquers all fears.

**Spoiler Alert-next 4 paragraphs**The movie begins when Carl and Ellie are children dreaming of following in the footsteps of famed explorer Charles Muntz. A beautifully scored montage follows the opening scene. In the montage we follow Carl and Ellie through their life as they marry, continue to dream of adventure, hope and plan for a family that they never have, save money in their adventure fund, and subsequently raid that fund for unexpected needs that arise in life. Carl and Ellie grow old together, still dreaming of adventure, Ellie gets sick and eventually passes away and Carl is left alone in an empty church. Then the movie truly begins. Yes, the opening sequence is somewhat long, yet necessary to create the foundation for the story that ensues.

Carl goes home to try and live life without Ellie, who has been his companion for 70 years. This is when Russell, a Wilderness Scout comes into his life. Russell, whom we later learn is in need of a father figure in his life, just wants to get his “Assisting the Elderly” badge so he can promote to Senior Wilderness Scout.

Throughout the film Carl’s character is filled with loss and regret while Russell balances that with his energy, hope and the strong moral compass that has be instilled in him as he has worked on each of his Wilderness Scout badges.

Last night I had shared with some people that this film was rated PG for a reason and I would not take anyone under age 8. Though my reason isn’t exactly the same as that of those that rated the film. Officially “Up” was rated PG for peril and action, yes characters are often in perilous situations and there is a lot of action-though often comedic, throughout the movie. Personally my feelings on this is the theme of death that flows through the film. Though it is artistically portrayed (and most young children won’t get it), Ellie suffers a miscarriage. Ellie gets sick and dies, multiple dogs presumably fall to their death and in the end Charles Muntz falls to his death-though no impact is shown, just implied.

There are also scary elements to this movie-scary dogs baring teeth and growling, one character trying to kill another, dogs attacking other characters. After some of these attacks there is blood, though it is in no way gory.

The action scenes are well choreographed and in the sword fight scene our geriatric superhero uses the tools at his disposal, his cane and the 4 tennis balls attached to its feet, to fight off his much better armed attackers.

The movie stars Ed Asner as Carl Fredricksen, Christopher Plummer as Charles Muntz, Jordan Nagai as Russell and Bob Peterson as Dug the dog. Pixar fans know that John Ratzenberger has at least had a cameo in every Pixar film and “Up” continues that tradition. We went to an evening showing of the film and the audience was mostly adults, tweens and teens-many of whom know of Ratzenberger’s appearances in Pixar films. When his character began to speak, many in the audience laughed out loud-not because his lines were funny but because they were caught off guard by his appearance.

I can’t wait to see this movie again, though I will not pay the $3.00 extra a ticket to see it in 3D-it just isn’t worth it. In case you have somehow missed seeing the trailers for up, I am including a link to the long one that includes clips from some of the more intense scenes so that you can make the decision for your family. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hr32TzpOA9k

Unigo is a new website, launched in September of 2008, that was created by 26 year old entrepreneur, Jordan Goldman who has written a series of 100% student written college guidebooks. Unigo is the place to go on the web to bypass what a school’s marketing department wants you to know about the school and find out what the students have to say about the school.

From Unigo-

For years, prospective college students have had to rely solely on costly print guidebooks for
their research. These books offer limited information, are typically written by marketing
professionals, have few photos, no videos, and no interactivity. Launched in September 2008,
the free website Unigo.com is quickly replacing these outmoded resources, with tens of
thousands of interactive reviews of America’s top colleges by the real experts – the students
who attend them.
These reviews were described by The New York Times Magazine as “…so evocative they make
the one-page U.S. News summaries read like junk mail … they are vivid in a way no guidebook
can match,” and The Wall Street Journal’s Walt Mossberg called Unigo “…a college information
resource built for the age of YouTube and Facebook.”
Pre-launch, Unigo’s team of 19 editors spent months researching America’s top 250 colleges,
and networking with tens of thousands of students to give them the opportunity to tell their
stories. They made sure to contact a diverse range of students within each university –
students from every class year, major, ethnicity, religion, political affiliation, sexual orientation,
etc.

After more than 30,000 candid and original reviews, videos, photos, documents and more
poured in, Unigo’s editors viewed and organized all of it, working with students on campus to
ensure accuracy and making all of it available at Unigo.com. At many featured colleges, close to
10% of the student body contributed content.

Since Unigo is a new site and currently only has full profiles of the top 250+ colleges and universities, it has a long way to go. I searched for 6 universities that my son is interested in and none of them are profiled on Unigo at this time. To do my research I finally went to my alma mater The University of South Florida.
Unigo has a very nice review of USF with pictures and videos as well as reviews by students. I was impressed that in the sidebar of the page there are quotes from students that are the “Best things about USF” and the “Worst things about USF”. The content is real and regularly added to by students. Unigo also has a forum section where students can talk with prospective students and answer some of their questions before they ever step on campus.

Unigo is free to join and is a worthwhile place for you and your high school junior or senior to start researching and planning for their college career.

My son is now officially a high school senior, where did the time go? He is already taking dual enrollment classes at our local community college and only God knows the plans He has for Aaron down the road.

In talking to my friends I have realized that no one is helping them choose the right college for their child. Even those in public schools with “guidence counselors” aren’t getting the support and information they need to make one of the most important and expensive decisions in their lives so far.

I have been doing some research and I have found some interesting online resources. Over the next few months I will be sharing them with you. I have not received anything from these sites though some of them have asked me to talk about them on my blog.  Some of these sites may see each other as a “competitor” but every family has different needs and different questions about preparing for and choosing a college. I am doing this as a service to you, my readers.

I hope you will find this series of articles helpful and please feel free to share them with your friends via Twitter, Facebook, e-mail, StumbleUpon, Propeller, Digg and any other way you like to share great information.

We made it though Memorial Day weekend without sunburns! For our family that is almost a miracle. We spent the weekend in the pool, on the Banzai Skimboard Surfer, on a boat and at Epcot and none of us got burned. The fact that we didn’t get burned is largely due to using Vive Sana Solar to Polar Ultra sunscreen.

Vive Sana is the world’s first 100% natual 70% organic sunscreen. Vive Sana means “live healthy” and by protecting your skin without harsh chemicals you are living healthy. From  Vive Sana:

CHEMISTRY WITHOUT CHEMICALS

Starting from scratch is liberating. It’s where innovation is born.
We use photo-protective organic botanicals to triple the SPF provided by our natural minerals while providing deep moisturization. We use potent antioxidants to aid skin before, during and after sun exposure. We removed water, fillers and all synthetics. We were left with the first 70% organic high performance and baby sunscreen on the market, which also happen to be…

• Stronger, with higher SPFs – by far – than all other all-natural sunscreens.
• Greener, being the first high performance and baby sunscreen with over 70% organic, sustainably-farmed ingredients, and using domestic, BPA-free packaging
• Clearer, due to relatively low mineral content and a high level of photo-protective organic botanicals
• Safer, without synthetics, phthalates, parabens, nanotechnology, plastic tubes, or anything at all from China.

Vive Sana comes in a tube and is more like a thick ointment than a thin, runny lotion. It covers well and lasts a long time. It also has a pleasant herbal scent, which is a nice departure from the coconut scent of most sunscreens. You can purchase the full line of Vive Sana products at their website. Or.. You can win a tube of Vive Sana Solar to Polar Baby Sunscreen SPF 42 from The Mom Maven.

How to Enter:

Visit the Vive Sana wbesite and look around. Then come back here and tell me one interesting thing you learned about Vive Sana. (this is mandatory and must be completed to be entered in the giveaway).

Bonus Entries: Leave a separate comment for each one you complete.

• Subscribe to my RSS feed (click on the orange heart shaped button)
• Follow my blog-sign in on my Google Friend Connect widget
• Do any or all of these-Tweet, Stumble, Digg and/or Prop this giveaway

This giveaway is for US residents only and will end on June 2, 2009 at 8:00pm

For today’s Walt Disney World Wednesday post I am leaving our trip planning behind. Thanks to Walt Disney World’s “What Will You Celebrate?” and “Free Admission on Your Birthday” promotions, I was able to spend Monday (5/25/09) at Walt Disney World. With the “Free Admission on Your Birthday” promotion you get a 1 day 1 park pass good on your birthday. It took me a week to decide which park to go to because it has been 16 months since I had been to any park. I finally decided to spend my birthday at Epcot. My son Jordan came with me because he received a Florida Residents Seasonal Pass for his birthday so his ticket was already paid for.

We arrive in line at the will call window at 8:45am. While waiting in line, I took off my prescription sunglasses so that I could apply sunscreen to my face and I accidentally dropped-and broke-my sunglasses, hopefully the day will get better.  It was 9:15am by the time I had my turn at the window. I turned in my registration paper (if you are going to take advantage of the “Free Admission on Your Birthday” promotion go to http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/ and pre-register). I got my ticket and my birthday badge and entered the park.

Since there is still a week left in the annual Flower and Garden Festival we were greeted with beautiful topiaries of the princesses and their princes. I love this picture of Cinderella’s pumpkin coach rising out of the pumpkin patch.

We headed to Test Track first, since there was a 20 minute wait for regular riders we chose to go as single riders. We walked right in, skipped the pre-show movie and were on the ride in less than 3 minutes. As soon as the ride finished we went back in the single rider line and rode again. We enjoy riding Test track with strangers, especially if we get to ride with people who have never ridden before. It makes the ride even more fun! Next we walked over to get our fastpasses for Soarin’. We then went to The Living Seas with Nemo and Friends. the line wasn’t that long so we rode the ride, spent some time watching the manatees and fish and then went in the theatre to see Turtle Talk with Crush.

Next it was off to Innoventions. There have been a lot of new attractions added to Innoventions since our last visit. We did Storm Struck, about severe weather safety, that was very interesting especially for those of us that live in hurricane plagued Florida. We also did The Great Piggy Bank Adventure-sponsored by T. Rowe Price. This is a great interactive exhibit on finances, saving and investing. We had a lot of fun working to save and make money for our ultimate family vacation. Here is Jordan with our piggy bank. In Innoventions I got to ride a Segway for the first time, that was way cool! We also went to the SlapStick Studios show sponsored by Velcro. That was a funny audience participation game show about all of the uses for hook and loop fasteners.

After eating lunch at the Electric Umbrella and riding Soarin’, it was time to head to World Showcase. In France we had a tweet-up! We were able to connect with Lou Mongello from WDWradio.com. I have talked to Lou on line and it was great to meet him in person. After meeting with Lou we took a turn at the new Kim Possible World Showcase Adventure. This was a lot of fun. Back in Innoventions we had registered for our “Kimmunicator”. We picked it up when we arrived in the World Showcase. It is a cool Verizon phone with amazing graphics and sound. You receive clues to help Kim and Ron solve a case in the country they send you to. here is a video of part of our mission in France.

We had a lot of fun on the adventure. Each mission takes about 35 minutes to complete and depending on how busy it is in the park you can do 1-2 missions before being told where to turn in your Kimmunicator. Our second mission was in China and most of it took place in the large store at the back. That was a good thing because, the only rain we saw all day came then and it was torrential!

We visited Mexico to ride the Gran Fiesta Boat Tour and Norway to ride Maelstrom before heading back to Future World. In Future World we rode Journey into Imagination with Figment, took another ride on Test track via the single rider line, and then ended our day by riding Spaceship Earth. We had a great day, met a new friend and basked in the magic that is Walt Disney World.

If you want more information on Epcot or any of the attractions I mentioned in this post, please leave me a comment, I love to answer your questions.

This weeks numbers are from Samantha!

16th picture folder
28th picture

or

August 2008 {the host’s 16th picture folder}
28th picture

This picture is from Christmas 2008. It is of my son Aaron opening his new bowling shoes. Aaron had wanted his own bowling shoes for the past few years but his feet grew so fast we didn’t invest in them, until know. He was so excited.

Have fun with your pictures! Join in the Random Picture Challenge.

Age is relative and I am young, I feel young and I look young. Today (5/25/09) is my 45th birthday. Most people who meet me tell me they think I’m in my 30’s. I credit this in large part to my simple yet effective beauty regimen. I am not a froo-froo kind of girl. I don’t have the time or patience for some expensive 5 step morning and evening process. I use 2 facial products and 1 body product regularly.

When I was 18 and went away to college I brought with me Oil of Olay, which I have used daily ever since. It is light, non-greasy and a great moisturizer. Then while preparing for a family vacation in 2001 I discovered my next must-have product, Olay Daily Facials. These are awesome! They are disposable facial lathering cleansing cloths. Just wet it and wash your face. you don’t need bars of soap or bottles of face wash-it’s already in the cloth.

I must admit, I’ve only been using the newest part of my regimen for a month. You see, for the past 15 years I have been a loyal Bath & Body Works user. Originally I had everything in Plumeria scent. When they discontinued my beloved Plumeria I switched to Mango Mandarin. Well, they have now discontinued the body wash-only in the Mango Mandarin scent. I am done with Bath & Body Works. I’m tired of being loyal to a company that discontinues my favorite products. So, anyway, I needed body wash and I was at Wal-Mart. I found the Olay Ultra Moisture Vanilla Indulgence Body Wash on sale for $5.00, great savings from what I was paying at the other store. This is the best body wash I have ever used! It is so soft and silky and the light vanilla scent lasts a long time.

I am definitely an Olay girl and have been for 27 years.

SpellQuizzer is an easy to use software that helps your child learn their weekly spelling list without having to write them over and over again. Yes, I know writing them is a good way to learn spelling words and kids should spend some of their study time every week writing their words, but SpellQuizzer is another tool that families can use to aid in learning.

Each week you input that week’s spelling list and then your child can study his spelling words even when you aren’t available to dictate the words to them. We used it this week for our Bible class. My boys had to know the books of the Bible in order and be able to spell them correctly. I input they words, it just took a few minutes to set up, and then they used SpellQuizzer to practice the words. It worked great!

The SpellQuizzer website has some downloadable spelling lists that you can use over the summer for enrichment or homeschoolers could use them too. Since you create the spelling list in SpellQuizzer, it works with any spelling curriculum.

SpellQuizzer is very affordable at $29.95 and, since it is customizable it will last for years. If you’re still not sure if SpellQuizzer is for you check out their free 30 day trial. This is a great offer-you get to try it before your buy it.  Go to the website, download your free trial and check it out. If you think this is something you’d like to share with a friend please use the ShareThis button below to share it, stumble it, tweet it or Facebook it. Thanks!

As this school year winds to a close I have heard from several parents who are thinking of homeschooling their children. We are completing our 13th year of homeschooling and over that time I have helped several families weigh their options and get started.  I want to start out by saying homeschooling is not for everyone. Homeschooling is one of the biggest committments you will make as a parent.

The reasons families chose to homeschool are as varied as the families themselves. Many families homeschool because of religious reasons, special education issues or poor local school systems. We homeschool mainly for religious reasons but also because I was a public and private school teacher and I was appalled at the low educational expectations, lack of respect and discipline issues in our local schools.

Before diving in to homeschooling you need to make sure you are ready for the committment. Ask yourself these questions:

• Why do I want to homeschool my children?
• Do I have 4-6 hours a day to focus on my children and their education?
• Can I handle the added responsibility of being mom/wife/housekeeper/teacher ?
• Do I have a support system that believes in the benefits of homeschooling?
• Can we afford to homeschool? Each year we spend more and more money on homeschooling books, resources and activities.

Make sure you can answer these questions and then discuss them with your spouse. Your life will change when you begin to homeschool and you need to both be on the same page each step of the way. Once you are both united in this adventure it is time for you to do your research.

Homeschooling is legal in all 50 states, though the rules differ from state to state.  A great starting point for learning about your state’s regulations is HSLDA.org, the Home School Legal Defense Association is a wonderful organization of lawyers dedicated to the cause of homeschooling and the rights of parents who chose to legally homeschool their children. When you visit their site click on the tab “About Homeschooling” and start reading.

Next time we’ll look at the most asked question “Where do I get books?”

A one-day ticket for Disney’s water parks, Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon, has increased by $5. The adult ticket has gone to $45 (up from $40) and the child ticket (ages 3-9) is now $39 (up from $34). This price increase brings it into line with that of Aquatica (SeaWorld Orlando’s waterpark) and Wet n Wild, which are both $44.95 for adults and $38.95 for children.