Aloha Friday: Grown Up Indoor Playground

Aloha Friday, Fun, Photos

IMGP4889Over the weekend, we went to Cousin B’s second birthday party.  It was held in an indoor play area.  Waiting, the boys all but drooled over the long trampoline, foam pit, zip line, climbing net, balance beams, bounce house, and more.  As the boys removed their shoes and socks, they asked if I would go on everything with them.  I told them that grown-ups weren’t allowed on anything, that it was only for kids.

IMGP4854Then, the staff member corrected me and let me know I *could* go on almost everything.

As the kids raced to each item, I accompanied them from time to time.  NHL and I bounced on the trampoline together.  JSL buried me in the foam pit and I chased him through the bounce house.  (I did sit out the zip line, though, as that was one of the IMGP4958not-for-adults items.)

In all of the bouncing, foam-climbing fun, I worked up quite a sweat.  After the play portion of the party was over, I joked with the staff member that they should open the place up at night for adults.

IMGP4873As I thought about it more, I began to wonder.  How many grown ups, like me, hate the idea of a gym with lines of stationary bikes, treadmills, and other "boring" exercise equipment?  How many adults would love to feel like a kid again as they bounce along a trampoline, crawl through a foam pit, and climb up a rope bridge?

My Aloha Friday question for today is: Would you go to an indoor playground for grown ups?

P.S. If you haven’t already, try out my Twitter applications: FollowerHQ and Rout.

Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the linky there if you are participating.

Aloha Friday by Kailani at An Island Life

Aloha #127

Your Shape Fitness Evolved: Week 4 Diary and Giveaway

Fitness, Games, Giveaway, Health, Video Games

IMGP4764_thumb1_thumb3

This week, I tried out Your Shape Fitness Evolved’s Humana Health series: Strengthen Your Heart, Active Kids, and Aging With Grace.  Each of these is targeted to a particular demographic/purpose.

Strengthen Your Heart had me moving with squat punches, knee-up punches, tap backs, jumping jack punches, kick crosses, jab knee-ups, dumbbell squats, goblet squats, and triceps skating.  All of these workouts burned 49 calories.

P1070513Next up, I tried Active Kids which is targeted more towards the younger set.  Though I did these by myself, I could picture my son doing the squat kick combos, knee-up punches, shuffle cross punches, front kick punches, squat punches, jab knee-ups, combo arms switches, jumping jack punches, and kick crosses with me.  This workout wound up burning 56 calories.

P1070517If Active Kids is aimed at younger folks, Aging With Grace is geared towards an older crowd.  This workout wasn’t strenuous but still managed to burn 49 calories using step touches, knee fronts, tap backs, Z-Steps, Open-Close, squat punches, dumbbell squats, scaptions, and braced squats.

Giveaway

You could win a copy of Your Shape Fitness Evolved. Simply post a comment to this blog post. You can enter multiple times by leaving one comment in each of the posts of this series: Week 1, Week 2, and Week 3. When my five week series is finished, one commenter from across the five posts will win a copy of the game from Ubisoft.

Disclaimer: I was given a copy of Your Shape Fitness Evolved by Ubisoft and financially compensated for this Clever Girls Collective, Inc. campaign. In addition, I was loaned an XBox 360 and Kinect for the duration of the campaign. The opinions expressed above, however, are my own.

The Impossible Task of Picking A Favorite Disney Theme Park

Disney, DisneySMMoms, Photos

IMGP5993Leading up to the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration, I’ve been participating in the Countdown to Disney blog hop.  This week’s topic is: Your favorite theme park, or the one you’re looking forward to visiting the most if it’s your first time.  I have a problem with this, though.  I really don’t have a favorite theme park in Disney World.  I do, however, have favorite elements of each park.

IMGP4064The Magic Kingdom, of course, is the quintessential Disney park.  It’s the one that most people think of when they think "Disney World."  When I go to the Magic Kingdom, I can’t wait to get on Splash Mountain (where I was crazy enough to take my camera to take photos during the wet ride), the Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor (where NHL got a joke of his told once), or Small World (yes, the song can be annoying, but it’s a classic).

IMGP3254In Epcot, you have the World Showcase, with its amazing architecture and culinary treats.  Disney really goes all out in making it seem like you are visiting a mini-version of the foreign country.  Then, there’s Test Track, Soarin’, and Turtle Talk with Crush.  Of course, then there’s Spaceship Earth, which chronicles mankind’s communications breakthroughs over the past few thousand years.  (It’s also what people think of when they think "Epcot" and makes for wonderful photos.)

IMGP4691Over at Hollywood Studios, there’s the Muppet’s 3D movie, Star Tours, and, my personal favorite, Toy Story Mania.  Our Hollywood Studios routine is to get there before the park opens, hand our tickets to the fastest walker (they stop you from running) after passing through the gates, getting Fast Pass tickets immediately, and then getting on the normal line.  This way, we guarantee at least 2 quick trips through.

In addition, Hollywood Studios has the wonderful cupcakes at Starring Rolls.  At least, I’ve heard they were wonderful.  When we went there last time, we were too late and they had closed.  This is a mistake that *WILL* be rectified this year.

IMGP5299Finally, there’s Animal Kingdom.  Here you can find the Tree of Life, which contains tons of animals "carved" into a gigantic tree, Finding Nemo – The Musical, a Broadway-quality show that is not to be missed, and Kali River Rapids, which is fun but will leave you soaking wet for hours afterwards.  The highlight to me, though, is Kilimanjaro Safaris.  Disney went above and beyond to make an area that looks to all the world like an African habitat.  Fences that keep animals in their areas are cleverly hidden so it looks as though the lions could just decide to head on over to where you are driving by.  Plus, there are some areas where animals *CAN* come right up to you.  A few years ago, a giraffe came within 10 feet of us.

Asking me to choose my favorite park is just impossible to do.  There are so many great things at each park.  I really can’t decide which one I like more than the others.  Cop out answer?  Perhaps, but it is the truth.

Taking A Family Time Day Off

Family

Happy_familyPlease excuse the short blog post, but today is a rarity.  Usually, Monday morning means heading off to work after a weekend with my family.  While I love my job, I also miss not being able to stay home with B and the boys every day.  If I could have my fondest desire, it would be to have every day be like Saturdays usually are.  Therefore, when I get a day off, I want to make the most of it.  Our plans for the day aren’t fully set in stone, but we might have a lazy morning, go out to lunch and even see The Secret World of Arrietty.

What do you do when you have a day to spend with family?

Disclaimer: The "Family" image above comes from OpenClipArt.org.

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