Sphinx puzzler

My son insisted I get him this model when he was about 4 1/2. He was going through an Egyptian phase. He of course, didn't put it together. I did. However, It turns out to be a lot of fun. As I had never done one before it took a little bit of time to figure out the instructions, but once I did it went together well. We opted to glue it and my son has played with it happily ever since. And yes, it's a model, but that's just how he roles. To him, it's a toy.

For parents with geek kids into Egypt - go ahead - enjoy yourself. As far as these 3d models go, this is apparently a fairly easy one to figure out.

Battle Ships

My son was given a couple of toy battle ships for his birthday. They are wonderful. The first was the Mighty Mac 31 inch aircraft carrier. It's neat. It has several planes, a storage area so nothing get's lost, lights, a variety of sounds and a launching mechanism.  He loves it.

The 2nd ship is a 30 inch battle ship. It has turrets that spin and everything is easily taken off and put back on again, which is good because these ships get blown up/sunk a lot and everyone knows that if you blow up a battle ship all the turrets are blown off it as well.  This ship came with 3 planes, a helicopter, tank and jeep. The extras are all diecast and quite nice. Again, there is a nice little slide out area to store all the extras.


Both toys say they are for ages 3 and up, but my 6 yr old loves them.

My only complaint as a parent is that they are 30 ish inches long. Which is great for my son and actually a good fun size to play with. But for me as the mom, where the heck can I store them out of the way when he isn't playing with them?  I haven't sorted that out yet. Still, my son likes them so that has to count for something. 

This really glows

My son got this for his 6th birthday. And I am embarrassed that I don't know who gave it to him. We were at a splash park and you know how kids are when they open presents. Anyway, to whoever gave this to us thank you.

My son loves it. He plays with it and doodles on it and does the stencils and everything. Now, this might not seem like a big deal for a 6 yr old, but mine hates to draw, color, write or do anything that requires holding a pencil, crayon, pen or marker. The fact that he can't seem to put this down is nothing short of amazing!

It is also nicely put together. Everything it comes with has it's spot so it's easy to keep it together. The only downside is that the tablet does glow in the dark on it's own. It's not really a big deal, just saying it does. The fun bonus is that the glow pen is like a black light and my son has been playing with that as a sort of flashlight on it's own.

I find I like playing with it too. It's a lot of fun. So, if you are a parent, whose child is resisting drawing and you are thinking of trying different things, I do recommend this.

This is really silly

Fruit & Nut is one of those movies you just have to give yourself over to. It is incredibly silly. My favorite bits were the old man dance sequence and when the transvestite mob, mobs our hero in a street dance sequence.

The story line is, well, ridiculous, but enjoyable. Basically a doofus who reminds me a lot of a cute chubby Indian version of Fred Armisen manages to get himself embroiled in a plot to destroy Mumbai and somehow manages to doofus his way through to solving the case. He is super cute in his doofusness.  However, this movie is so silly, it really is impossible to predict how or where this movie will go. Just go along for the ride and enjoy it.

What you should know is that this is a Bollywood movie, so it's in Hindi with English subtitles. It's also a musical. On the plus side, it's only about 1 1/2 hours long, so rather short for Bollywood. But, if you like silly Bollywood musicals, you'll like this movie.

Netflix link: http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Fruit_Nut/70132319?trkid=496624

Dr Dreadful is wonderful

Bought this for my son's 6th birthday. It's kind of like an easy bake oven for boys but without the oven. He really likes it.  My main concern prior to purchase was that there wouldn't be enough of the mixes to make more then one or two things. Turns out there are plenty of the mixes so that you won't have to buy refills for a long time.  All the portions are really nice as well.

Long story short: It is simple, easy to use, easy to clean, super gross and actually, quite tasty.

My other concern was that we wouldn't be able to use this for anything but the official zombie brain and barf concoctions. However, you can use this for a variety of things. Yesterday my son was mixing a saltwater flour concoction in the brain. He really likes measuring and stirring and mixing and creating. If you have a little mad scientist, this is actually quite a nice toy.  Just be warned, zombie barf is a lot like drinking snot - tasty snot, but still, the consistency of snot.