March 19, 2015
Donkey’s Kite Book Review and Giveaway
A wonderful set of new children’s books, The Three Little Horses and The Big Bully Donkey and The Donkey’s Kite written and illustrated by Liana-Melissa Allen are ready to entertain and engage your child.
Book One: The Three Little Horses and The Big Bully Donkey
This is the tale of three little horses who suddenly lose their home to a fire. The young horses are all alone and thrust out into the world. They must depend on themselves and each other to protect themselves from the bully donkey. The donkey wanders the forest wrecking homes and bullying other animals.
Book Two: Donkey’s Kite
The three horses and their friend Donkey are back! In this book, it is a perfect day for flying a kite. The four friends decide to make their own kites but try as he might, Donkey can not get his kite to fly! A friendly goose decides to help him out.
My Thoughts
I love a story that teaches and guides our children. A good story should show strong morals, understanding and compassion while still being engaging, fun and entertaining for a small child. Liana-Melissa Allen delivers this and more! In both books, Donkey learns some valuable lessons about friendship, respect and never giving up.
The illustrations are gorgeous! It is hard to believe such a young girl drew all of these drawings! They are truly beautiful and draw your child into the book. You will enjoy reading these books aloud with your child.
These two books will be the perfect addition to your home library. They are geared towards young children, ages 2-9.
You can purchase a copy of this book on Amazon or Barnes & Noble.
Rating: 5/5
About the Author
Liana-Melissa is a young author and illustrator of children’s books and books for youth. She has written, illustrated and published six books. Reading and music are her primary passions in life. Her love of writing was fueled by her Father. You can connect with her on her website.
The Giveaway!
Disclosure: I received copies of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.
March 16, 2015
Vostok by Steve Alten #bookreview #giveaway
New York Times best-selling author, Steve Alten, returns with the sequel to Loch: Vostok.
About Vostok
East Antarctica: The coldest, most desolate place on Earth. Two and a half miles below the ice cap is Vostok. Vostok is a six thousand square mile liquid lake over a thousand feet deep left untouched for more than fifteen million years. Now marine biologist, Zachary Wallace and two other scientists aboard a submersible tethered to a laser will journey 13,000 feet below the ice to discover Mesozoic life forms long believed to be extinct and an object of immense power responsible for the evolution of man.
My Thoughts
I love a good science fiction. Who doesn’t want to believe that there is life on another planet? Aliens? Pre-historic animals hidden in the world? This novel delivers pre-historic creatures at their finest hidden below the dark depths of the Antarctica. A place that has been left truly untouched and a world that we don’t know much about.
I loved how they explored underneath the ice of Antarctica and it was almost like an upside down world hidden there. A lake beneath what you would assume was a frozen lake, mountains, rain storms and creatures that it is hard to even imagine. It was definitely an incredible adventure to take with the main characters in this book especially with all the frights along the way. Steve was even able to throw in some aliens and a super secret plot that has so many twists it can be hard to follow.
The novel is fantastic start to finish, I love the idea of this undiscovered world underneath the ice. I found near the end if became a bit hard to follow with the amount of twists in the story and never quite knowing who to trust. I found myself re-reading parts just to make sure I understood them correctly. This only added to the suspense of the novel but definitely makes it a novel you have to pay full attention to.
You can purchase a copy of this book on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
Rating: 4/5
About Steve Alten
Steve Alten is a New York Times best-selling author of fourteen novels. His work has been published in over thirty countries and is being used by thousands of middle and high schools as part of the Adopt an Author program he founded in 1999 with teachers.
The giveaway!
Disclosure: I received a copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.
March 12, 2015
Dining At Blue Mountain #WinterWarrior
Food has this magical way of bringing people together – to laugh, to talk and to catch up. The best part of vacation is getting to dine out with no worries about cooking but just being able to enjoy the meal and company.
With so many dining options to choose from at Blue Mountain, we chose to have dinner at Firehall Pizza Co and at Oliver and Bonacini. We chose to have breakfast at the all day breakfast restaurant, Sunset Grill.
The Sunset Grill serves up delicious all day breakfast with endless coffee (mmmm…coffee!). I loved the warm decor that brightened up the inside and made you feel right at home. Our meals were very well priced and came with huge portions which was perfect for filling us up for a day of skiing. Sunset Grill was the perfect breakfast dining option for us and it was located within a five-minute walk from our hotel.
My delicious meal:
The hubby got the protein meal! Check out all that goodness:
Hungry yet? I know I am!
We had dinner at Firehall Pizza Co on our first night and I fell in love with the food and decor (and from the large group of people gathering it was definitely a hot spot at Blue Mountain Village!). The music was pumping (but not overwhelming so), the staff were fantastic, service was quick and the food was delicious!
Oliver and Bonancini was the last place we dined at during our stay and it offered a good variety of cuisine to satisfy each one of us. The children’s meals came with an appetizer, main course and a dessert! Both of our boys devoured their food!
My husband ordered the lamb and in his words “That was the most incredible meal I have ever eaten!”. And it truly was.
The atmosphere and design of the restaurant was gorgeous. Later on in the night, in the picture below the top part of this middle area lights up with a fire casting a warm glow in the restaurant. The restaurant is perfectly located on the main floor of the Westin hotel just adjacent to the lobby.
I had to share a picture of my gorgeous Sangria!
Do you have a favourite place to dine out at when visiting Blue Mountain? Which one of these places would you want to visit first?
March 12, 2015
Handprint Tulips Canvas #DIY #Crafts
Easter is just around the corner and this is a perfect time to get your children ready by creating crafts and decorations to place around your home.
I stumbled upon this idea while on Pinterest (my favourite place to spend some time online!). I thought this would be the perfect craft to do with my children and it leaves a lasting memory of this time period to treasure later on.
For this project you will need:
- large white canvas
- yellow, blue and green paint
- paint brushes
Directions:
Set up a clean area and lay your canvas on the table. Put out your paint and paint brushes. With a pencil roughly plan out where you would like to place your tulips.
Take your child’s hand and generously coat it with the desired paint.
Place your child’s hand on the canvas in the area you had set for the bloom of the tulip. You can alternate hands and paint colour to create a garden of tulips. In our case we alternated older/younger child’s hand. Wash up nicely!
Using the green paint, draw on a stem on each of the tulips.
You can create a garden bed or grass bed at the bottom of the canvas.
Allow your painting to dry. Once your painting is dry you can place the tulip canvas in a prominent place in your home. For us this was in our livingroom so that everyone could see their hands when they come to visit us.
This would also make a great gift for the Grandparents this Easter season!
What crafts have you started this season?
March 11, 2015
Ensuring Financial Security and Well Being for Your Family with FormalWill.ca
One of the most important documents you will ever develop for your family is putting together a will to ensure that your family and friends know your wishes and that the minor details are taken care of.
Have you thought about who your estate will go to? What if your children are minors – who will take care of them in the event that both your spouse and yourself pass away? While these are not the most pleasant questions to have to ask yourself they are necessary to ensure the security of your family in the event you pass away.
What is a will?
A will is a legal document that will grant your executor the power to divide your property, name who will control your estate and if you have any minor children who will be their legal guardian to care for them when you are not there to do so.
Why does this matter?
This matters for so many reasons. Without any legal document containing your wishes, your estate could go undistributed or be distributed to individuals you did not wish your estate to go to. Your family may not be able to access the necessary funds that they need. Your children may not go to the guardian you had spoken to and wished for them to go to in the event that something happened to you.
So what is holding you back from getting a will? For us it has always been finding the time and the cost of creating a will, not to mention the whole concept is scary. I am terrified of leaving my children alone but it is because of them that I know how important it is to ensure my will is complete and up to date.
Here comes the easy part! FormalWill.ca has made preparing a will simple and convenient. You can now complete your will online from at home in a few, quick steps.
First step: Speak with your spouse about your wishes and who you want to step in as guardian and executor if your spouse does not survive you. You want to make sure this person is aware of you appointing them as guardian and executor. Now this may be an awkward conversation (trust me on this one!) but you will feel so much better after you have done so!
Second Step: Visit FormalWill.ca and create an account. This will take you literally seconds and you will receive a confirmation email with your account details. On the second screen you will enter basic information (name, where you live, spousal information, children).
Third Step: Name your beneficiaries and executors of your will. You can name up to three executors. If you have specific gifts in mind (wedding bands, special jewellery) you get to name those gifts and who you would like them to go to. If your children are minors at the time you can list up to three guardians to be appointed to care for them as well as the age they must be in order to receive money held in trust for them. Any donations? Name them here.
After making a payment of $69 CDN, your will is complete! Whew! What a relief, right? The will is sent via email to the email account you entered on the initial set up. This email will contain instructions on how to have the will signed and witnessed as well as suggestions on how to safely store your will.
FormalWill.ca has simplified the process of creating and putting together a will for individuals and families. With three easy steps, those you love will have their future secure in case you aren’t there to be able to do so.
Have you started putting together a will? Have you looked at possible executors and/or guardians for your children? If not – what is holding you back?
Disclosure: I received the above mentioned product in exchange for this review. All opinions expressed are my own.