Battle of the nerd box subscriptions

For the past few months, the kids have been receiving a monthly subscriptions box, called Loot Crate. For $13.37 a month, plus s & h, you get a box filled with all things nerd. They have loved every box so far, and it has been worth the money. With 2 kids, I pay for 2 boxes, and they get the same items each month. If you are interested in subscribing, click on the link.

https://www.lootcrate.com/

This month, I decided to try out an additional nerd subscription for the boys. This one is called Nerd Block. https://www.nerdblock.com/ They have several different boxes to choose from. I ordered two classic nerd boxes for the first try. The classic boxes are $19.99 each, plus s & h. They are slightly more expensive than Loot Crate.

Here is a comparison of the December Loot Crate and Nerd Block Classic boxes. 

First up, Nerd Block. Two kids, means 2 boxes. 

Each box received:

• an autographed picture of Val Kilmer. Apparently, some received Warwick Davis autographs. 
• Gizmo plush toys. Pretty cute!
• Kreo-O Dungeons & Dragons figure. You can't go wrong with Kre-O.
• Tetris Notebook. These were pretty cool. Definitely something that you would keep on your desk.  
• 2 different shirts. The shirt was supposed to be a Harry Potter Butter Beer shirt in either maroon or black. Both boys received the maroon. They were good quality. The 2nd shirt was a surprise bonus. Nik received a Japanese anime shirt. Sorry, I don't recognize the character, but it was an angry dog. Noah's bonus shirt was of Adventure Time. The bonus shirts were both nice, and a very pleasant surprise.

The boys really loved their Nerd Block boxes, so I will keeping the subscriptions going. This month, the value of the box definitely exceeded the $19.99 price tag.

Next up, the December Loot Crate. The boys received identical items in their boxes. They included the following:

• A Captain America Air-Freshner in vanilla scent. The kids loved these and immediately hung them in their room, so it's not in the picture below. 
• I Am Groot socks. Another big hit with the kids. But Nik's socks had little holes on each sock. I was able to stitch them up and he will still wear them. But the quality of the socks was not great. 
• Tetris sticker set. They were a package up puffy stickers in the Tetris design. 
• GhostBusters door hanger. Another thing that was a hit and immediately went into the kids rooms before I could take a picture. 
• Simpsons wallet. It's lightwieght, and the package says that it is durable and water-proof. It kind of feels like paper. But it really does seem like a durable wallet.
• Exclusive to Loot Crate Joker as Batman POP. Pretty cool!
• Exclusive Batman Comic Book issue 36. The cover is supposed to be exclusive to Loot Crate. 

I was surprised at the lack of t shirt, since they had been receiving shirts for the past few months. But even without the shirt, the box was a great value. 

It's hard to compare and say which monthly subscription is better. The kids liked the shirts and Gremlin from Nerd Block, but loved the socks, comic,and Pop from Loot Crate. So they say subscribe to both boxes!

Hanging out with dinosaurs

Walking with Dinosaurs Live made a stop in town over the weekend. As luck would have it, Travel Zoo had a great discount on tickets. If you have never checked out the travel zoo website, I highly recommend it. We have been able to find some good deals on anything from hotels to theater tickets. http://www.travelzoo.com/ I was able to score 4 tickets for less than $100. What frustrates me on any of these live performances, are all of the ticket fees that get added on. The tickets were $16 each, but after this fee and that fee, they ended up totally about $24 each.

Let me start by saying that we tried to see this show the last time they were in town. That was in 2008, right after we moved here. Noah was pretty much home bound. His anxiety was severe enough that it prevented us from doing very much. But we always tried. We took the kids to the show back then, hoping that the appeal of the dinosaurs would keep Noah in his seat. No chance. He bolted almost immediately, so one parent sat with Nik, while the other parent sat with Noah in the lobby of Sprint Center.

So flash forward to this weekend, we decided to give it a try. Noah seemed a little apprehensive. The day of the show, he talked about being scared when he was little. We reminded him that those days were behind him, but that we would pack his headphones just in case.

The tickets were the least expensive seats, so I was fully prepared to be in nose bleed territory. But they were actually good seats. We were 21 rows back from the stage.

And Noah seemed pretty calm. Maybe the popcorn and cotton candy had something to do with that.

If you are familiar with the Walking with Dinosaurs tv series from BBC, you know that it took you right into the world of dinosaurs, along with paleontologist Nigel.  Well for the live show, we didn't get Nigel. We got some other dude. I forgot his name. But the show did a great job explaining what life would have been like.

Dinosaur and dude not named Nigel.

Of course, there were lots of opportunities to see what happens when herbivore meets carnivore. 

And volcano eruptions.

The show took us through the 3 ages of dinosaurs; Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous. Some of the dinosaurs were small, and I could tell that there was a person inside. The larger ones were controlled by people and remote control. They were quite big.

  

A flying pterosaur even made an appearance.

And of course, the vicious velociraptor. 

And for the finale, T Rex made an appearance.

Mama T Rex came in to rescue her baby.

We all really enjoyed the show. And I loved that Noah could verbalize and be proud of the fact that this was something he could not do a few years ago. Way to go, Noah! We really cheer on these moments. Never let these moments pass, without acknowledging the struggles to get there. It makes these days that much more sweet. 

It's beauty box time!

I recently subscribed to a monthly beauty box service. For $12 a month, Beauty Box five will ship you a small box filled with five different beauty care items. Who doesn't like getting new make-up to try out?  Each box contained at least a couple items that I really liked. And it also had at least one item that I wouldn't have normally tried, but still liked.

Here is what I received in my September beauty box. The theme was called Balancing Act.

1 Eyelight crayon, 2 packs of deep conditioner and co-wash, toe spacers (to apply nail polish), 1 nail polish, and 1 mascara.

First, the mascara. Revlon Bold Lacquer length and volume mascara in black. Retail value is $7.99, but I have seen it at Target for cheaper than that. It has a nice, long brush. I have been using it for a month. It doesn't clump of flake. While it lengthens my lashes,  it doesn't really make them look thick enough. I like thick lashes, since I wear glasses all day. So I have been applying a top coat of mascara made by Too Faced. Perfect!

This is the Nicka K New York Eyelight crayon. Retail value is $4.49. I don't know how this would look as an eyeliner. But I used it today to make a smokey eye look. I just applied it over eyeliner, and smudged it a bit with one of my eyeshadow brushes. I will definitely use this again.

And the nail polish, by My Beauty Spot, retail value of $24.99. I don't know anyone who would pay that much for nail polish. I have never heard, or seen this nail polish in the store. But I would never pay that price for it. I have no idea what the color is, but it is very pretty. It's a nice, thick formula, so it's easy to apply. But it has a very strong odor. 

Final comments for the September box: I definitely got my $12 worth. The eyeliner and mascara alone made it worth the price.

Now on to October's box.

The theme for this month was Effortless Allure

1 chapstick, 1 lip stain, 1 cosmetic tool, 1 nail polish, and yet another mascara.

Ok, so they gave the same mascara in the October box. The. Same. Mascara. That bothers me. I don't mind getting another mascara, but I wish it was a different brand. 

This is the lip and cheek stain. I tested it on my hand, but it's a bit faint. It's just a nice, delicate pink. I applied it to my lips. It's a nice, creamy lip stain. It doesn't have any odor or flavor. Retail value is $19.99, but I have seen it for around $9. 

I also tested out the nail polish. You can see the color on the card above. Nanacoco in Mermaid Lake, retail value is $3.95. The color is very pretty. And it didn't have the weird scent that the September polish had. 

The Chapstick was retailed at $2.99. I've never seen this particular Chapstick before. It has 2 sides. The light blue cap contains a moisturizing lip balm. The other side contains a renewing lip balm. According to the package, the renewing side will "revitalize lips". I tried it, since my lips are chapped. It does what it's supposed to. 

The last item was something called an Extend Your Beauty tool. It's like a tiny little spatula, and is meant to be used in tubes and bottles where you only have a bit of product remaining. You use the spatula to get the last bit of product out of the bottle.  Retail value is $5.49. I have never seen it in a store before, but it seems like a handy little tool. 

Over all, I would say that I got my money's worth in the October box. The items would definitely have been more than $12 in the store. I will definitely use the polish, lip stain, and lip balm. And eventually, I will use the other mascara. Again. I hope November's box does not include the same mascara. But I am excited to see what is in the box this month.

Interested in subscribing? Here's a link. 

http://www.beautybox5.com/?u=19681

If the Brady Bunch played miniature golf.

I had heard about a campy little indoor miniature golf course in town, and we decided to check it out. I think that this place hasn't been remodeled since the 80's. It was definitely showing some wear, but that just added to it's appeal. It had a whole Brady Bunch goes to Hawaii vibe to it. I mean, it was like we walked into the Tiki Caves episode.

Don't make a necklace and wear these guys while you are surfing.

Let the games begin!

The course was enough of a challenge, that it neither bored or overwhelmed the kids. 

You see. Happy faces!

There were cool little bridges to cross.

One of the more challenging holes. 

There was an actual cave! 

I think we were through the course in just under an hour. It was a nice little activity. It's a great way for Noah to work on his patience, and for both kids to work on some motor skills. I love discovering a new little gem in town. Let's face it. There isn't a lot to do around here. So to find Brady Bunch Hawaii meets miniature golf, was a real pleasure.  We will definitely be back here.  

I think we are being stalked by Star Wars characters

Last week, we headed to the zoo. When we first moved here, it seemed like we were there every month. I guess we got sick of it, and just stopped going. It had been a few years since our last visit, and we wanted to check out some of the new exhibits.

We got there in the morning, ahead of the crowds.  Our first stop was to check out the Polar Bear Passage area. This was something new to us. Since it was early, we had a clear view of the polar bears, without having to wait for people to clear the way. One polar bear just kept jumping in the water, and swimming right up to the glass. The kids got a kick out of it.

There was just a hint of a chill in the air, but it was a beautiful day. The leaves are starting to turn here! I love fall.

Here are a group of monkeys, both inside and outside of the cage. 

All of the animals were awake and moving around. Check out how close the tigers were to the fence.

Noah staring down an orangutan.

Kangaroos. We had just watched the youtube clip of kangaroos fighting in the streets of Australia, so the kids were very curious about them.

We crossed a suspension bridge to get to the gorilla exhibit. The bridge actually sways a bit, so I'm usually nervous walking across.

At this point, we decided to take a break for lunch. It was under that tent, so we ate fast and got back out into the sunlight.

We took the tram to get to the other side of the zoo.

It was so pretty on that side.

We checked out the gators, or crocs. I can't remember which they were.

And the new baby zebra. So cute!

Then we took the tram back to the front of the park. 

I had new boots on, and my feet were killing me.

We checked out the new to us penguin exhibit.

We were ready to leave at that point. I mean, my boots. I couldn't go on without being carried out. On our way out, we saw some Star Wars characters. Because, you know, it's us. Star Wars characters go where we go. What a way to end a great day!

Sadly, we didn't get a picture with Jango Fett. Noah tried, but Jango kept running away. 

It was a great day at the zoo. I couldn't help but think back to all of our previous trips, several years ago. Back when Noah's anxiety was at an all time high. And all we could do was go to Target or the zoo. And now look at our family. We never gave up trying. We kept on pushing and moving forward, even in the darkest days. Never give up, friends. No matter what your struggles are. No matter how hard it is. Keep on getting out there. Never stop trying. Never give up hope.