Category: giveaway

April 16, 2014

Racing Action with AnkiDRIVE #review #giveaway

I love race cars and everything racing! We love auto shows, race tracks and playing racing video games with our children. We love the fast pace, quick decisions and excitement of choosing cars and winning.

When I was given the opportunity to test out Anki DRIVE how could I resist? This looked like one of the most exciting video games ever brought to life. Anki DRIVE uses artificial intelligence to deliver a racing video game in the real world with you in control. Pretty amazing, right? I had too literally take it away from my children in order to set it up they were so excited.

Anki Drive comes with a starter kit starting at $199 – which may seem expensive at first but once you open the kit and begin to use the cars you can fully appreciate the technology behind the system and appreciate the price.

Each kit includes:

the racing track (roughly 8.5 feet by 3.5 feet)
three car charger
two cars with charging pods
start up information.

The Anki Drive app is free to download at the Apple app store and the game is compatible with any of the following: iPhone 4s or newer, iPod touch 5th generation, iPad3 or newer or iPad mini. Anki Drive is suitable for all ages capable of using an iOS device (our two year old had no problem!). You can also purchase additional race cars for additional cost.

Set up is incredibly easy – I was actually expecting it to take long but was pleasantly surprised.

Physically you have to just unroll the mat in a clear and flat area, ensuring the cars are fully charged before you can begin to play. The game will work best on a smooth and flat floor but we also played on the carpet in our children’s toy room and had no problem as well.

The app took less then two minutes to download – which was perfect for my impatient family members who could not wait to start playing. This also surprised me because apps can sometimes take quite a bit of time to download.

The technology in Anki DRIVE is jaw dropping – literally. The moment you set them down on the race track they sense the track’s every curve and line. The cars speed around the track, gliding through every curve and avoiding each other. It is incredible watching the cars race each other. Our boys were screaming in excitement. Using blue tooth the cars report back to the app on the IOS device. You control the speed, turns, maneuvers – all through the app. The app also has a great starting guide that walks you through on how to control the car so you don’t have to worry about not understanding how to play.

As if this was not cool enough – the cars battle. Yup you heard that right – they sense each other and can battle their racing opponent. This has been a fantastic game for our whole family to play and has provided hours of entertainment for all of our family and friends that have come over to visit.

Anki DRIVE and PTPA are now giving you the chance to win your own starter kit – the perfect gift for any car enthusiast in your house!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This giveaway is open to residents of the US and Canada.

Don’t forget to follow Anki on Twitter and Facebook to keep up to date on important news and information!

April 8, 2014

Raincoast Board Book Bundles #review & #giveaway

It should not come as much of a surprise that we love books in our home!

Books have a special way to take us on an adventure. They teach both adults and children a like important moral and life lessons. Reading together also helps to build bonds between parents and children as well as building language skills.

We received a Raincoast board book bundle that we fell in love with at first sight. In the bundle we found the You Are My Baby collection, A Tree for All Seasons, Daddy Wrong Legs and Peek a Zoo. Each board book is strong and durable with bright colours as well as an unique design. The board book bundle is suited for ages 1-4.

Our favourite out of this collection was the You Are My Baby series that included ocean, farm and garden animals. This series of books pairs a larger board book with a smaller inset book. The larger portion contains the images of the adult animal and the smaller portion has their baby.We were able to turn each page and our youngest was able to learn how to match up the animals based on the images and the sounds they make. We also had a great time making all the accompanying sounds!

A Tree For All Seasons shows the life of a tree in a year. The book is designed to look like a tree and the top part of the tree opens up with each turn of the page. It was a very unique design (my first time seeing a tree shaped book!) with easy words and pictures.

Daddy Wrong Legs will provide lots of comic relief! The book opens in two and allows readers to mix and match Daddy’s legs to the appropriate upper body. We also had fun making silly matches with the legs to the wrong upper body. Even our eldest son got in on this and had fun with the match ups!

In Peek-a-Zoo by Nina Laden readers are able to read the clue, guess the animal and then start all over ago. This book is colourful and full of rhymes. The little windows on each page allowed us to get an even better picture of which animal was waiting for us next.

You can purchase your own copies of these books at Amazon, Indigo and KidsBooks. You can also follow Raincoast books on Facebook and Twitter.

Raincoast Books is offering my Canadian readers the chance to win the book bundle featured in this post! You can enter via the Rafflecopter form below.

GOOD LUCK!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: I received the above mentioned board books in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.

April 2, 2014

Win a NEW Spring Wardrobe from @TheQuiltsofLove | “Maybelle in Stitches” Giveaway!

Don’t miss the newest Quilts of Love book, Maybelle in Stitches, by Joyce Magnin. Maybelle can’t sew. But when she finds an unfinished quilt in the attic of her mother’s house, she gets the crazy idea to complete it.

Joyce is celebrating the release with a $200 Modcloth giveaway. Enter today for a chance to spruce up your spring wardrobe!

One winner will receive:

A $200 ModCloth.com gift card
Scraps of Evidence by Barbara Cameron
A Sky Without Stars by Linda S. Clare
Maybelle in Stitches by Joyce Magnin

Enter today by clicking one of the icons below. But hurry, the giveaway ends on April 19th. Winner will be announced on April 21st on the Quilts of Love blog!

Spread the word—tell your friends about the giveaway via FACEBOOK or TWITTER.

April 1, 2014

Enter to win a Kindle HDX from @TLHigley in THE QUEEN’S HANDMAID giveaway!

Tracy L. Higley is celebrating the release of The Queen’s Handmaid with a fun giveaway.

Retailers + Resources gave it this glowing review: “Rich in historic detail, Higley’s vivid writing brings to life the plots and intrigues that swirled through the ancient world as alliances were built and broken on the calculated schemes of power-mad monarchs.”

A Kindle Fire HDX
The Queen’s Handmaid by Tracy L. Higley

Enter today by clicking one of the icons below. But hurry, the giveaway ends on April 19th. Winner will be announced April 21st on Tracy’s blog.

Don’t miss a moment of the fun; enter today and be sure to stop by Tracy’s blog on April 21st to see if you won.

March 25, 2014

DANCING WITH FIREFLIES || RSVP for April 10th Facebook Party and enter to win a Kindle HDX from @DeniseAHunter!

Don’t miss Denise Hunter‘s latest Chapel Springs Romance, Dancing with Fireflies. Reviewers have already labeled Dancing with Fireflies “swoon-worthy” and “the perfect love story.”

Join Denise in celebrating the release of her new book by entering her Kindle HDX giveaway and RSVPing for her April 10th Facebook party.

One winner will receive:

A brand new Kindle Fire HDX
Dancing with Fireflies and Barefoot Summer by Denise Hunter

Enter today by clicking one of the icons below. But hurry, the giveaway ends on April 10th. Winner will be announced at the Dancing with Fireflies Facebook Party on April 10th. Connect with Denise for an evening of prizes, book chat, and an exclusive look at the next book in the series.

Don’t miss a moment of the fun; RSVP today by clicking JOIN on the event page. Tell your friends via FACEBOOK or TWITTER and increase your chances of winning. Hope to see you on the 10th!