American Girl's 2018 Girl of the Year is here and we LOVE her! I'm sure this comes as no surprise to anyone that has been following our channel for a while, since both of my girls enjoy doing science - and especially Isabella loves space and technology... this collection was going to be RIGHT up our alley! Luciana Vega is a girl that is into science and technology, and she loves SPACE!
Luciana Vega loves Space
As a bonus, Luciana's story has her going to SPACE CAMP in Huntsville, Alabama!! As you'll also probably remember, we moved to Huntsville, Alabama just this past summer! We became members of the U.S. Space and Rocket Center (on the same property as Space Camp) shortly after arriving, and I'm also a prior Space Camp alum!
We are just in the beginning of reading Luciana's book, but her collection has us hooked! Our family had been hoping for a STEM based American Girl doll for years, and we are happy to finally have one! We purchased about half of the collection on release day, and I think with birthday money, money they earn throughout the year, and AG Rewards certificates - we will likely end up with most, if not all, of the collection by year's end!
Luciana is a cute doll, and as Isabella pointed out - looks a lot like her! She has dark hair, dark eyes, and a medium complexion. Her purple hair streak is sewn in, so that means it isn't removable. The girls like the hair streak and it actually isn't that noticeable with her hair down.
One of Isabella's favorite parts of the collection were the iridescent pieces - the girl and doll sized iridescent backpack - and Luciana's iridescent meet boots! I don't think Isabella had ever seen anything iridescent prior to this collection coming out, so now we know she's a fan!
Favorite part of the Luciana Vega collection
My favorite part of Luciana's collection has to be the blue jumpsuit though. It's so perfect for any Space Camp alumni or aspiring Space Camp attendee - it is just quintessential to the experience. I actually still have my blue jumpsuit from when I attended over 20 years ago!
This collection was a complete home run for our family and I truly hope that American Girl has a lot of excitement from customers over the year for this collection, because I hope to see more STEM or STEAM oriented doll items in the future!
** This is not a sponsored post. All opinions are my own.
It's time for another end of the year round up! 2017 was an interesting year for our family, and we went through a lot of changes! One thing that didn't change, was some of our most popular videos! Which ones carried over from last year? Check out our 10 Top Viewed Videos of 2016 to find out!
Here were our best videos - view wise - for 2017! And I'll try to follow up in a future blog post with my favorite videos of 2017, which may not always be the same as the highest viewed! Check out my favorites of 2016 here!
In reverse order working down to number 1... here are our top viewed videos of 2017!!
10. Magic Kingdom on Halloween (2015)
This video would probably make it into my top 25 video favorites that I've made too. From our second year going to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party at Walt Disney World. This is one of those neat videos that didn't make the Top 10 Viewed videos last year, and is actually an older video from a 2015 trip... but it "took off" in the middle of this year, as I call it when an older video picks up speed after being more dormant for a while and started garnering more views in the middle of the year. Especially right before Halloween. We had a great time that night! I love seeing how little the girls are too!
9. Kid's Road Trip Boredom Busters!
I love when I can make videos that people find helpful and I think this one hit that mark - Kid's Road Trip Boredom Busters - where I shared some of (many) activities that we use while traveling to entertain and this one made it into our top ten videos this year!
8. MagicBand 2.0 Review and Comparison
Ok, so this is a cool one. We did a MagicBand review on the new style MagicBand 2.0 bands that came out in 2017, with a comparison to the old style and showing both styles side by side on the girls wrists. I figured it would be a helpful video to many, and I think it was.... but, to toot my own horn for a minute - I found out from a friend that DISNEY actually was using my video internally and the developers of the MagicBands themselves were using a clip from my video at conferences... uhm, HOW COOL?!? Not just that they were using a clip from it - but that they had seen it at all!! The imagineers of the bands themselves!! Definitely a Disney geeking out moment for me!!
7. Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique in the Castle Experience
This is such a fun one!! Our 2016 Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique experience, where the girls both had their hair and makeup done together for the first time! This is probably one of my favorite Disney memories too, and I'm looking forward to them doing this hopefully at least one more time together! (Before they are too cool for school and all that good stuff!)
6. American Girl Shopping Surprise!
We took a quick trip to the American Girl store in Michigan where I surprised Natalie with the trip there, and shared it in a Shop with Us video. We used up some gift certificates and rewards certificates we had for American Girl. It become our sixth highest viewed video of the year!
5. Christmas morning 2016!
Our Christmas videos have started becoming some of our higher viewed videos, and Christmas morning was our 5th highest viewed video for the year!
4. Walt Disney World & Disney Cruise Surprise!
Everyone loves a good surprise! Last year we surprised the girls with the news of going to Disney Social Media Moms Celebration 2017 with a big surprise box! It was a lot of fun, and also one of our higher viewed videos for the year! Since I started squealing in the car when I got the email invitation back to 2018 and they were in the car (while we were AT Walt Disney World on our October trip, none the less!) - they already knew about our upcoming trip... so no surprise box at Christmas this year. Sorry guys! I was really excited when I got that email!!
3. Disney Dream Embarkation Day
Our very first cruise aboard the Disney Dream continues to garner views and new viewers find our videos from that trip every day!! We are especially excited to be going BACK on the Disney Dream in February 2018, for Disney Social Media Moms Celebration 2018! It is a beautiful ship, and I'm excited to have the opportunity to do and see some things that we missed on our previous trip - mainly a trip down the AquaDuck waterslide and dinner in the Enchanted Garden restaurant!
2. Natalie's 5th Birthday
The second highest viewed video of the year was Natalie's 5th birthday video! I think especially our younger viewers love seeing what the girls get for special occasions and seeing them open gifts. Our birthday videos have become quick favorites!
1. American Girl Surprise!
WOW!! Coming in again at #1 this year - American Girl Surprise! was our top viewed video for the year! Accumulating 563,683 additional views in 2017, it did slow down a bit from its previous year's view count... but for a video that I couldn't have guessed would take off THAT much, it has been a huge boost to my channel these past three years. I'm so glad that so many people enjoyed it! Will it still be #1 for 2018? Can't wait to find out!
Thanks for watching this year! And I hope you have a happy and safe new year!
** This was not a sponsored post. All opinions are my own.
We recently had an opportunity to try Mayka World Toy Building Block Tape, and the girls went crazy finding new places to build up their building blocks! This is a sponsored campaign, all opinions are my own.
Mayka World Toy Building Block Tape
Mayka World Toy Building Block Tape is available at Toys'R'Us, Target, and Wal-Mart, and is a flexible that has a sticky back so that you can make building block creations almost anywhere! You can even stick it upside down! We purchased a number of rolls of Mayka World Toy Building Tape, and set to work figuring out how we would use it.
Isabella's Bedroom Makeover
The first project we took on with the tape was redoing Isabella's footboard on her bed. Her bed frame came from a convertible crib, so it was a crib that Natalie used when she was a baby. My kids loved chewing on furniture when they were teething for some reason, so the ends of the footboard had some teeth marks from when the frame was used as a crib.
We set out to not only cover these up, but also make the flat ledge on the floorboard some usable (and fun!) space for Isabella in her room! We used two different colors of green along the footboard to resemble a garden, and she made a pet garden for her favorite Legos! I love that the tape is easy to remove when she decides she wants a different color, and in moving and re-positioning the tape, we didn't have any issues with it leaving behind residue or taking off the furniture finish.
Building Outside of the Box
Other plans we have the building block tape, are making travel containers with Mayka tape on one surface and a place to hold their building blocks in the enclosed area.
I also added a small piece of the building block tape to Natalie's lightswitch, so that she could decorated her switch!
We also thought it would be neat to cover a doll sized table, and make the dolls a Lego table! The possibilities are endless!
This building block tape would be a great stocking stuffer or great addition to a birthday gift, if you're giving a building set you could include a roll of tape. My girls are ages 6 and 7, and I think this product would appeal to a wide age range, basically if you're into building blocks - you're going to love this product because it opens up so many options!
Thanks to Mom Select and Mayka World for the opportunity to check this awesome gift idea out!
** This is a sponsored post. All opinions are my own.
Thank you to Mattel for sending us this app to test out and share with our viewers!
Wellie Wishers: Garden Fun
Our family is excited to share our thoughts on an all new kid's app from American Girl developed by XCube, "Wellie Wishers: Garden Fun"! It releases on October 4, 2017 and is available through the app store for iOS and Android. This new interactive game lets you go into the world of the Wellie Wishers and play games in the garden!
The app was designed with ages 6 through 8 in mind, and my girls had a great time testing it out! Natalie is 5 years old (soon to be 6 in November!) and Isabella is 7 years old, and the Wellie Wishers have been a big hit in our household since they were first introduced! We own all five dolls - Willa, Ashlyn, Camille, Kendall, and Emerson, and the girls enjoy changing their outfits, putting on plays on the stage, and having tea parties with their dolls.
Now, in the new Wellie Wisher: Garden Fun app, the fun can be on the go with us! And they can change the outfits on the Wellie Wishers, take care of Carrot the pet rabbit, have a tea party, and complete hidden treasure games that are interwoven with fun storylines within the app.
Isabella's favorite part of the app was the "Find Hidden Treasures" search and find games, and collecting the acorns to unlock new areas and animals. Natalie loved the personalization and playing dress-up in the app, she especially enjoyed putting different costumes on the characters.
The app is free to download with in-app purchases available. There were occasional ads that popped up during game play for other American Girl apps, and these could be clicked down by hitting an "X" button in the corner. The full play pack to unlock all of the games and features is $9.99, and you can also purchase just portions of the dress-up packs or search and find games for prices as low as $2.99.
This app will be great for our upcoming travels and the girls really loved how interactive it was, especially since we have read all of the Wellie Wisher books and many elements from the storylines in the books were seen in the app as well.
Check out our video review of Wellie Wishers: Garden Fun!
Look in the app store on your mobile phone or iPad, and the Wellie Wishers: Garden Fun app is available for download now!
Enter to win a Wellie Wisher
To celebrate this new app being released, I've partnered with Mattel to bring you a fun GIVEAWAY! Enter below to win a Wellie Wisher doll chosen at random. One winner will receive a Wellie Wisher doll!
If you've been loving the Wellie Wishers as much as we do, this app is sure to be a hit in your household as well!
** This post was done in collaboration with Mattel/American Girl, some items were received complimentary for purposes of testing. All opinions are my own.
We went to Toledo Zoo on Mother's Day 2017, which was a short drive from the metro Detroit area and only took about an hour drive despite some ongoing construction along the usual route to get there. (I-75 South is current closed for the next year while being rebuilt, and you will have to use a detour to get there from the metro Detroit area at the current time. The northbound route is still open at the time of writing this.)
Toledo Zoo Lights Before Christmas
During the Toledo Zoo Lights Before Christmas celebration on a rare "warmer" (warm being used relative here) day in November. It was a great time and we loved getting a chance to look around the zoo for the first time. Some of the exhibits were closed and some animals were moved inside since it was still the middle of winter- so we knew we wanted to stop by in the warmer months to see it again!
The zoo becomes a winter wonderland in November and December!
Mother's Day at the Toledo Zoo
On Mother's Day, the weather was finally nice here in the metro Detroit area, so we thought a trip down to Toledo Zoo would be a great outing for our special day! We didn't know it when we planned the trip - but a nice bonus we found out about after arriving was that mothers actually got into the zoo free that day too!
Panda statues at Toledo Zoo
We had a great time checking out the polar bear exhibit, which is always a favorite of mine when we visit zoos. The polar bears at Toledo Zoo seem to be especially playful and like to play with toys in the water. The giraffe area was closed off on that weekend, so we grabbed a Dip'N'Dots ice cream treat since it was a fairly warm day and headed across the bridge to the other side of the zoo.
Mother's Day Treats!
What the other side of the bridge looks like in warmer months!
Toledo Zoo Aquarium
Toledo Zoo received funds a few years to do improvements to the zoo, including an all new aquarium area. We had seen this one our trip to Zoo Lights, but I knew we wanted to check it out again. The aquarium is well laid out with a wide variety of species and sizes of fish life!
Lots to do at Toledo Zoo for Kids
One of our favorite parts of the Toledo Zoo actually has few animal exhibits in its area - but is especially designed for kids! Nature's Neighborhood is an area especially designed for little ones to play, explore, and learn! My girls loved this area and we spent the last few hours at the zoo doing different activities here!
There is a great climbing and play structure that the girls can slide and climb on, adjacent to that is an area that was closed in the winter, but we had a chance to try out on our Mother's Day trip to play... the Stream! This was a hit because the girls took off their shoes and socks to play in the water and build mini dams with stones and sticks provided.
Climb, run, jump, and play!
The Stream ended up being a quick favorite!
We stopped for a snack at the snack bar area there in Nature's Neighborhood, and then went into the Home Sweet Home and Forest areas to explore animal life there.
There's even a special area for babies!
Natalie enjoyed being a bee!
Playing in "the woods"!
It was a fun day and as Detroit Zoo members we received a discount off of admission of the tickets we purchased that day. (Which only turned out to be 1 adult and 2 children since moms were free!) It was around $25 after our Detroit Zoo Association discount and a great day trip! Check out more about Toledo Zoo's hours and special summer activities here: https://www.toledozoo.org/
** This is not a sponsored post. All opinions are my own.
Well this is an exciting change that I can't wait to share in an upcoming vlog... I routinely dye my hair at home, but this time - I decided to try something a little different!
Inspired by one of my favorite colors - PURPLE!
I had been thinking about dyeing my hair a purple hue for a while now, but I hadn't quite figured out whether the timing was right, would it go with all of my clothing? What if I needed to have "normal" hair for something like a school event? I finally decided to throw caution to the wind and go for it!! And I'm loving it!!
I used L'Oreal Feria hair color because it is a brand that I have used for a number of years for all kinds of different shades, this is the first time trying out this color though! I chose M32 Midnight Star, which is a multi-faceted shimmery violet soft black.
The color is really interesting on my hair because it looks different depending on the light it is in, in natural light it is a deep brown-black color with a violet hue, in direct bright or artificial light it takes on more of a red tint.
I've only had it on my hair less than 24 hours, so I will follow up in the future as to how it wears - but having used Feria hair color in the past I'm fairly confident it should last 5-6 weeks with no problem! The girls are loving it, they thought it was fun and I took them with me to pick out the hair dye so they felt like they were a part of it!
What do you think? Would violet hair be a yay or nay for you?!
** This is not a sponsored post. All opinions are my own.
