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Mandatory 1st entry leave me a comment telling me a brief favorite memory of your dad.
Bonus Entries:

• Blog subscribers get 1 entry
• GFC friends get 1 entry
• Networked Blogs followers get 1 entry
• Facebook likers get 1 entry
• Tweet about this giveaway. You must use @mommaven and link to this giveaway in your tweet. Leave the tweet URL in your comment. (you may do this 3x a day)

This giveaway ends Thursday, June 24, 2010 at 10pm. The winner will be chosen by Random.org

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Goby’s location-aware app allows users to quickly and easily find fun activities in their locale or fill their next vacation itinerary with fun things to do in just three taps on the iPad-optimized interface. Goby has over four million unique things to do across 350 categories, ranging from local festivals to hiking trails, beaches, restaurants, theaters and live music events. It covers every town and city in the United States, providing a rich set of listings and an interactive map for every category, allowing users to pinpoint the closest activity and learn about new things to do right around the corner. Activities can be selected in a single tap, and specific details including descriptions, reviews and photos appear in a fun, well-organized layout that is easy to view on the larger iPad interface.

With the Goby iPad app, users can be inspired to try new things to do whether they are bored at home, planning their next vacation or just looking for some fun in a new destination. Goby’s findings are time-sensitive, which makes finding out what’s happening today, this weekend or even this summer quick and easy. With one more tap, users can coordinate with friends by sharing their plans via social sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

“We created Goby to inspire people to try new experiences,” said Mark Watkins, CEO and co-founder of Goby. “The iPad allowed us to give users a visually compelling app that empowers them to easily find and explore new things from their own home, in an unknown city or on their vacation, in a fun and simple way.”

Launched in October, Goby’s “What, When and Where” search engine has helped hundreds of thousands of people across the country cure their boredom blues. The iPad application can be downloaded for free from iTunes.

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The post Family Fun Day Winner appeared first on The Mom Maven.

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Goby is simple to use it poses three questions: What, Where and When. By just answering two of the three questions, you can instantly receive an easy-to-read results page that includes not only detailed information about attractions, activities, locations and events, but also an interactive map and photos from sites like Google and Flickr. I spent some time playing on Goby and I found lots of things to do in my town. I found bike trails, museums and family events that would be a lot of fun for my family.

Goby wants one lucky reader of The Mom Maven to be able to plan a fun family day for their family. Goby is giving away $50 to spend on your fun family day.

Mandatory 1st Entry Visit Goby, do some searches and find some new things to do in your area. Then come back to this post and leave a comment answering the questions, “What type of adventure are you looking for and what did you find?”

Bonus Entries may be completed after you complete the mandatory 1st entry-leave a separate comment for each entry.

• Subscribe to my blog (click on orange heart) current subscribers get 1 entry also just leave me a comment letting me know you subscribe.
• Follow @therealgoby on Twitter
• Tweet this – I hope to win $50 for a family fun day from @MomMaven and @therealgoby Enter here http://bit.ly/goby50  (you can tweet this 1x a day)
• Become a fan of The Mom Maven on Facebook

Please make sure there is an e-mail or Twitter name attached to your comments so that I can contact you if you win. This giveaway is open to US residents only. The winner will be chosen by Random.org at 10:00pm ET on 2/1/10.

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Arjun Sen was a busy man in the business world. On September 12, 2001, he realized that he did not know his young daughter. Due to his busy-ness their relationship was reduced to phone calls and short visits. Instead of sticking with the status quo, Sen took action. He quit the corporate world and started a home based marketing consulting company so that his relationship with his daughter would be his primary focus. In his book Raising a Father, we get to read about Arjun Sen’s journey toward becoming a better father and a better man.

Raising a Father is comprised of short, heart-felt stories about Sen and his daughter, Raka. Sen now measures his success by the time he spends with his daughter and not how far he has climbed up the corporate ladder. This book should be required reading for all parents and parent-to-be. Though it is written from a father’s perspective, the truths in this book are equally important for mothers too.  This book  makes you rethink your priorities and your relationships and helps you get them back in line.

Check out this trailer for the book-

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, this book would make a great gift for the special parents in your life. You can order the book online by clicking here.

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Re-founding Fathers
Johann Christoph Arnold
for Father’s Day 2009

Many problems in our society will be solved when young men are willing to become good fathers. Of course, they can do this only if they have an example to follow. As fathers, we need to be the strongest role models for children, especially for our sons.

I loved my father. He had a tremendous sense of humor, but he also was strict and set boundaries which I didn’t always appreciate at the time. I always knew he loved me. Once when I was eight or nine, I angered him so much that he threatened to punish me.  I looked up at him and, before I knew what I was doing, blurted out, “Papa, I’m really sorry. Do what you have to do-but I know you still love me.” To my astonishment, he leaned down, put his arms around me and said with a tenderness that came from the bottom of his heart: “Christoph, I forgive you.”

Like many fathers today, my father’s work sometimes kept him away from home for long stretches. I remember as a five-year-old, if I refused to obey, all my mother needed to do was to show me his picture. “Your Papa wouldn’t like it,” she’d tell me, and I’d give in.

I felt very secure just being with my father. As a small boy I decided I wanted to be like him when I grew up. This relationship held me through hard times, even after his death. Now I want to pass this on to my children, grandchildren, and to all of you.

Fathers, if you love your wife and if you love your children, give them your time. Spending time together will give your family inner and emotional security. This is much more important than financial security. The Chilean poet Gabriela Mistral writes, “Many things can wait. Children cannot… To them we cannot say ‘tomorrow.’ Their name is today.”

The love we show our children by giving them our time and attention can hold them in good stead even years down the road. As Dostoevsky reminds us in The Brothers Karamazov, “You must know that there is nothing higher and stronger and more wholesome for life in the future than some good memory, especially a memory of childhood, of home…For if a man has only one good memory left in his heart, even that may keep him from evil.”

To be a father is to fulfill a noble vocation. But fatherhood is not for everyone: it is not for cowards or for those who are unsure of themselves. Once we become fathers, we remain fathers until we die. A true father must be a leader-a captain who guides his family’s ship through perilous waters to safe shores, a general who rallies his troops to take on the daily battles.

On the other hand, a father should also model love and compassion. Jesus was not afraid to compare himself to a hen gathering her chicks. He also wept. These qualities belong to true manhood, and a true father will seek to embody them.

Finally, I believe even the best intentioned fathers will not be able to fulfill their task without finding a firm faith in God. When they do, our families and the entire country will be strengthened, because strong families form the backbone of our nation.

[Johann Christoph Arnold is a pastor and author of ten books, which are now available as free e-books at www.plough.com

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The people at Snapily , a photo-technology company, developed a new 3-D, animation technology that literally allows you to bring your photos to motion (flip-book style) on a card, invitation, wallet sized business card, scrapbook, or stationary. In a nutshell you can customize a card where 2 to 5 photos can be brought to motion on a card.

Aside from Snapily just being a cool new gift idea, it has a strong eco-friendly value. Over 7 billion greeting cards end up in the trash every year – something tells me, you’re less likely to throw out photos let alone ones that come to life.

These high-quality, plastic-coated lenticular photographs, or “living prints”, start at just $3.50.  With Snapily you can:

• “Blow your mom a kiss” from a far
• Morph an old photo of your children as babies into a photo of them grown up
• Wave “hi” to a grandparent all the way across the country
• New dads can create a family scrapbook by uploading photos of his precious newborn to the first family photo

Snapily is simple to use. It took me less than 3 minutes to make a Father’s Day card using a picture of my boys from 1999 and one from 2005. Make sure you check out Snapily today and order your Father’s Day cards.

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