by Tyler, editor and reviewer
When I get in the KIA Optima Hybrid, I get the sudden urge to just drive. Cross state lines and head out and see the world. There is something about having run your errands all week without filling up and still seeing 450 miles until empty that makes it feel like a challenge.
Go on, open up the sunroof and crank some tunes, because we have some driving to do.
by Tyler, editor and reviewer
As much as I love SUVs, I’m really a car guy. I drive around a big and clunky work truck all day, so there’s nothing I love better than being able to hop in a car and zip around town when I get home. It’s so much more engaging and effortless, not to mention much easier to find parking.
That being said, I immediately took to the 2014 KIA Forte as soon as it arrived for our test drive. Since these days we travel with a full crew 4 door sedans are very much a part of our world and I’ve been curious about this compact sedan for a while. The one concern I did have beforehand was size, but I was pleasantly surprised by how big inside the Forte is, since in my mind the Forte might have been a bit small for us.
Most people pay almost no attention to the tires on their cars, which floors me. Those 4 tires are what connects your car to the road and what keeps you rolling, yet they don’t get nearly the amount of love they deserve.
3 years ago, I was hit while driving on the freeway and my car lost control, spinning and eventually coming to a stop in oncoming traffic. Ever since then, I am petrified of losing control while driving and even something minor like a little bit of ice or water over a roadway sends me into a panic. Since tires can make a huge difference in what traction you get in inclement weather, tires are very, very important to me.
As you can imagine, I was thrilled when I heard I would get the opportunity to outfit one of our vehicles with Goodyear's newest tire, the Eagle Sport All-Season later this year. I’m really excited to take my car in and trade in my old tires for these new high-performance tires just in time for the rainy and icy seasons.
For over 100 years, Goodyear has been devoted to advancing tire technology, and to applying this knowledge to new products that advance driving excellence. At the Akron Innovation Center, nearly 1,500 engineers, scientists, technicians, and other specialists collaborate to improve tire manufacturing for a wide variety of vehicles on six continents. The result is the new Eagle Sport tires.
I’m an urban girl at heart and have never met any big city I didn’t feel at home in. My stroller, however, prefers wide open spaces where turning radiuses are as far as the eye can see. On the days that my suburban stroller makes it to the big city, I feel like I am constantly apologizing for taking up the whole sidewalk, for knocking things off shelves, and for occasionally running over a toe or two.
Since strollers are still very much a necessity once we hit the city and are ready to explore, going without is just not an option. But, even though we needed something compact, it needed to be something as adventure-ready as we are and hopefully with a few premium features. Umbrella strollers need not apply.
I finally found the perfect candidate, and am now fully in love with the Stokke® Scoot™, hailed as the urban compact stroller. Besides simply being compact, it is by far the most maneuverable stroller we have ever pushed. It has an incredibly small turning radius and it takes almost no effort at all to steer – even one handed with a child inside. Add in the suspension to give you a smooth, easy ride and it really is a dream to push.
Yes, that's all the same stroller pictured above in 4 different positions. As you can see, it features an active and rest recline both forward facing and parent-facing. And, it looks absolutely nothing like an umbrella stroller with a minimal frame and lack of features. As many of you already know, I pushed an umbrella stroller for exactly two days in the past 3 years because I simply cannot stand them. Sidewalks trip them up, they require two hands to push, and they have zero storage, comfort features, or agility to handle real city life. Thanks, but no thanks.
And, then I met the Stokke® Scoot™ and fell in love with the perfect stroller for our active lifestyle. I love how versatile it is, the kids love how comfortable it is, and it's a great for all of our adventures. 
I know some people swear by them, but I hate sippy cups. Really, really hate them. I’ve never had one that didn’t leak, had a million parts, or that didn’t take up my entire cupboard with plastic parts, accessories and odd-shaped cups. So, instead of investing a ton of money on a very short-lived item, I asked my friends for an alternative to the sippy cup.
Their answer was the CamelBak Eddy bottle that has a neat bite-valve mouthpiece and straw. One quick look around our Stroller Strides class or a day at the park with friends and CamelBak was the clear preference of moms and kids.
That next week, I went and loaded up on some CamelBak Eddy bottles and immediately fell in love. I had worried that at age 18 months my daughter would be too young to use a cup with a straw, but because the bite valve needs to be engaged in order to drink, she didn’t inhale water like she did with other cups. If it had been a problem, the rumor is that you can simply remove the straw and they can use it more like a traditional sippy cup, but we’ve never done this.
The CamelBak Eddy quickly became our go-to bottle for days out at the park or on the town, vacations, dinner time beverages, and for playtime here at home. On our recent Chicago trip and two day train trip home, these bottles pretty much saved our sanity. No worrying about where we would find drinks while out and about, and no stressing over open cups, missing pieces, or whose drink is whose because we all had our own Eddy bottle at the ready.
In my family we love music. Music while we craft, music while we cook, and even music while we clean. But, while we have wired our house for sound, the fun unfortunately ends at our doorstep. We’ve been known to turn the music up and keep all the doors and windows open so we can still hear it outside while we garden, bounce on the trampoline, or play in the yard, but that unfortunately doesn’t work for when we’re at the park or beach.
And, really, what’s a beach party, cookout or camping trip without good music? Recently, we got to review the HMDX Jam Bluetooth Wireless Speaker courtesy of AT&T and it's now our go-to music source for whenever we're not indoors {and even sometimes when we are}.
It is summer vacation time, and everyone knows what that means: shopping. Whether you are ditching the rain and heading somewhere tropical or you are beating the heat and heading for cooler weather, chances are you need some new clothing and gear for whatever climate you’re headed to.
I like to view this as an invitation to splurge a little bit on myself to make vacation packing easier. Since I love vacation shopping more than any other kind of mall trip, I tend to plan one a few weeks before any big trips to refresh my wardrobe before fully deciding on what I will be packing. So, amed with a complimentary gift card, my daughter and I headed to Northgate Mall in Seattle to prepare for my upcoming Chicago trip for BlogHer.
Packing for BlogHer is a bit different than any other vacation for me, because I need to be professional and put together in addition to staying cool and comfortable, so it’s not like I can pack a few shirts, a pair of jeans and some shorts and skirts and call it good. I need fancy dresses for at night, put-together outfits for day, and coordinating pieces that can do double-duty so I don’t end up with three suitcases.
Naturally, I was really excited to get my shopping started at Northgate Mall, but before I started shopping, I did a little pre-vacation prep. Having become a pro at shopping for trips in the past, this time I knew exactly what I was doing and I followed these guidelines:
My daughter likes nothing more than to match hubby and me. While this is completely adorable, it makes shopping very difficult as I have found that it’s almost impossible to find matching items for us that we both really like. In her size we find cartoon characters and excess amounts of pink, and adult sizes don’t go small enough to fit her.
Thank goodness there are companies like Deuter that specialize in both adult and kid’s gear that is the real deal. No frills, no cartoons. But, that doesn’t mean they scrimp on features, in fact quite the opposite.
We got to review the Deuter Fox 30 backpack for our little explorer this month and she was beyond thrilled. She had been eyeing it at REI for quite a while and talking of all the reasons she needed it, so it wasn’t surprising that she was jumping up and down excited when she realized she got to try one out.
While our next serious camping trip is still a few weeks away, we’ve already gotten a ton of use out of this amazing bag. From weekend trips to days out, the Deuter Fox 30 has been a lifesaver carrying the kids gear, their toys, or just the large amount of stuff we seem to require for all-day excursion.
Whenever we can, we let my daughter pack her own stuff in the bag and then she can help carry any gear we have, any souvenirs {AKA rocks, sticks and other treasures} she picks up, and can access her stuff whenever she wants. We also went out and got her a Camelbak hydration pack that can fit right into the Deuter Fox 30 so she can drink through the straw secured at her shoulder all along the trail instead of having to stop for each sip.
Do you remember as a kid you would go back to school each fall feeling like you were in shape from staying active all summer only to find your legs and abs burning after one gym class because you were now using muscles you had neglected during the past few month? Well, that is exactly what happens to your brain, too, and in a phenomenon commonly referred to as Summer Brain Drain.
What is Summer Brain Drain, you ask? According to research from the Center for Summer Learning at Johns Hopkins University, students typically lose one to two months of reading and math skills during the summer break because they are not regularly exercising their brains.
So, how do you combat Summer Brain Drain? You find fun ways to infuse learning into everyday activities to keep kids’ brains sharp even during the three long months of no formal schooling.
But, how can you do that when most of the summer is spent on the go and you don’t want to spend your days cooped up inside reading or in front of screens? You get a portable learning device that can grow with your child, offers age-appropriate content in a broad library of subjects and that keeps them learning no matter where they are.
Something like the awesome InnoTab 2S, the latest learning app tablet from V-Tech that is perfect for on the go as well as at home. We got to review the VTech InnoTab 2S for the past few weeks and we absolutely love how much fun it is for various ages and how it keeps the kids begging to keep learning.
Before I was a mom, I hauled around a SLR with me wherever I went – first the film variety, then a DSLR – and made good use of my photography degree. In those years I took amazing pictures of our adventures while traveling, around our house with family and friends, and exploring the many … Read more