#Ad Archives - Dad of Divas

Giving Minecraft as a Gift This Holiday Season

December 17, 2016 by dadofdivas Leave a Comment

For any of you that have kids these days you may have found that the kids are clammoring to create their own worlds using Minecraft. This great game is all about placing blocks and going on adventures. You can explore randomly generated worlds and build amazing things from the simplest of homes to the grandest of castles.

With this in mind, Minecraft really encourages people playing the game to use their creativity to build worlds that are fun.

For this holiday season you can now build and explore exciting new worlds with Best Buy’s assortment of Minecraft games and collectibles.

With these great new Minecraft games and collectibles you can play in Creative Mode with unlimited resources or mine deep in Survival Mode, crafting weapons and armor to fend off dangerous mobs. The fun part? You can do all this alone or with friends.

We have played Minecraft together as a family and I can tell you, the games are very family-friendly and great for kids and these toys and collectibles make great gifts for anyone already into the game or even for someone just starting too!

Best Buy carries a large assortment the assortment of Minecraft products – this includes an Xbox One S console bundle, additional Minecraft games and Minecraft toys and collectibles.

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Kubo and the Two Strings is coming to theaters August 19!

July 4, 2016 by dadofdivas Leave a Comment

Have you heard about Kubo and the Two Strings? This looks like a truly unique movie that is coming out on August 19, 2016. This adventure looks like it will be bringing together some amazing animation from Japanese animators. While I have not seen the movie yet, it seems that it will weave together some amazing storytelling to create a magical film. I am looking forward to seeing this with my own girls this August!

About the Movie

An epic action-adventure set in a fantastical Japan from acclaimed animation studio LAIKA. In Kubo and the Two Strings , Clever, kindhearted Kubo (voiced by Art Parkinson of “Game of Thrones”) ekes out a humble living, telling stories to the people of his seaside town including Hosato (George Takei), Hashi (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa), and Kamekichi (Academy Award nominee Brenda Vaccaro). But his relatively quiet existence is shattered when he accidentally summons a spirit from his past which storms down from the heavens to enforce an age-old vendetta. Now on the run, Kubo joins forces with Monkey (Academy Award winner Charlize Theron) and Beetle (Academy Award winner Matthew McConaughey), and sets out on a thrilling quest to save his family and solve the mystery of his fallen father, the greatest samurai warrior the world has ever known. With the help of his shamisen – a magical musical instrument – Kubo must battle gods and monsters, including the vengeful Moon King (Academy Award nominee Ralph Fiennes) and the evil twin Sisters (Academy Award nominee Rooney Mara), to unlock the secret of his legacy, reunite his family, and fulfill his heroic destiny.

Voice Cast: Art Parkinson, Matthew McConaughey, Charlize Theron, Rooney Mara,Ralph Fiennes, George Takei, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Brenda Vaccaro
Director: Travis Knight
Writers: Marc Haimes and Chris Butler (“ParaNorman”)Teaser Trailer: https://youtu.be/FKSqHmQcOzk
Official Trailer 1: https://youtu.be/p4-6qJzeb3A

Official Trailer 2: https://youtu.be/7BU3ecHy6PA

Official Trailer 3: https://youtu.be/R9tDqmOPmto

Creating Space To Allow For More #DadTime This Fathers Day

June 7, 2016 by dadofdivas Leave a Comment

Disclosure: I have partnered with Life of Dad and Lowe’s for this promotion.

As my kids have gotten older we have accumulated more stuff and this stuff distracts from the #DadTime that we have together. It seems the older they get the more things that we have and that means the more things that we have to store. The challenge that I have found in the home that we live in is that the garage that was put on to our home, while large enough for our vehicles, is not large enough for all of the stuff that we have accumulated.

I have for years wanted to find a way to get some of the stuff out of our garage as I am always spending my dad time putting things away (or so it seems). The problem, is that the neighborhood that we live in has specific rules for what we can or can not have on the outside of our home. Luckily, I am the President of our neighborhood association and have for the last few years been working to change our bylaws so that sheds could be allowed. Just this year I was able to get enough votes to add in a provision that would allow ships to be built on a property. Now, the shed has to be a certain size and has to look a certain way butt the best piece of this is that I can now have a shed.

Can I just take this with me now?

So for an early fathers day I bequeathed upon myself the ability to purchase something that would allow me to gain space and #DadTime too, a shed! Recently I took a trip to my local Lowe’s store to check out the sheds that I have seen on their lot for many years. I had been impressed with the look of many of these sheds and now with the change in the bylaws I have the opportunity to actually build one. Almost immediately I found the shed that I wanted, the Heartland Straford Saltbox. It was the right size and the right dimensions for the space that we wanted to place a shed Within. What are the nice thing is is that Lowe’s offers everything that you need to be able to build the shed yourself or you can even pay them to put it up for you if you don’t have the skills or the time to put it up yourself. We ended up ordering everything that we needed for me to be able to start the project and they would deliver everything for a minimal fee and then I was ready to go. Lowes was definitely the right place to go to be able to make this fathers day an amazing one in my perspective!

Well, maybe not completely ready. You see, when I got home I had to actually prepped the area to begin the project because the area that the shed is going in has been an area that has been overgrown for many years. Thus, I had to spend quite a bit of time first Mowing and cutting all of the grassy areas down. Then, I had to take the time to be able to try and flatten out some of the areas as well. We also had to make the decision to get rid of our playset as this would be in the way of where the shed would go and the kids really we’re not using it any further. So we were able to sell the playset and prep the area. I also had to take some time to spray all of the area to try and kill off any grass that was there. Luckily all of the supplies that I needed for that I picked up at Lowe’s as well and I also picked up some weed mat that I can put down under the shed to hopefully keep the weeds to a minimum for the years to come.

So I am prepped, ready and waiting for the delivery of the shed so that we can start this project and over the next few weeks I’m going to be working on the project with a few friends. Luckily I have some good people to help me and because I work full time I have to do this kind of slow but as the old adage goes slow and steady wins the race. I have my Kobalt tools at the ready and I am willing and waiting for the fun to begin.

I love that I’m finally able to get the shed that I always wanted and I can do it by building it myself and I am so looking forward to seeing all the extra space that this is going to offer my family once everything is completed as well as all of the extra #DadTime that it is going to give me too now that things can be out of site whenever I need them to be, thus freeing me up for basketball, soccer, baseball or whatever else the girls want to do with this old guy!!

What would a #DadTime project be for you that would draw you closer to your kids? Leave me a comment and let me know!

Learn more about Lowe’s and the amazing fathers day gifts that are available!

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Get Ready For A Whole New Viewing Experience With The VIZIO SmartCast P-Series!

May 18, 2016 by dadofdivas Leave a Comment

Whoa, I love to watch movies and it is even better when I can watch it on an amazing television set. I have been completely floored lately at the quality of some of the displays that I have been seeing in my local Best Buy. Even though I have two televisions that I have been happy with in general, the crystal clear, HD displays that are coming out now just blow my sets out of the water.

In a recent visit I was really impressed with what I was seeing with the new VIZIO SmartCast™ P-Series™ Ultra HD HDR Home Theater Display™. In talking to the person working there he told me that this was the first 4K ultra HD display to feature High Dynamic Range with Dolby Vision, Ultra Color Spectrum, Google Cast™ built-in, with a powerful 6” Android™ Tablet Remote included. Say what???? A tablet you say! Yes, it actually comes with a tablet to let you control all functions of the television!

While this may sound like a whole new way of doing things, which in some cases it is, it also is going to revolutionize the way that we see and experience the movies and other shows that we watch too.

I mentioned that the VIZIO SmartCast™ P-Series™ Ultra HD HDR Home Theater Display includes a 6” Android™ tablet remote that is pre-installed with the VIZIO SmartCast app that lets you browse content by genre across multiple apps all at once with simple tap, swipe and voice-based commands. You can browse movies, TV shows, music and even Live TV* by genre across multiple apps all at once on the VIZIO SmartCast™ app, then tap to play your show onto the P-Series™’ stunning display.

I explored the VIZIO SmartCast™ P-Series™ Ultra HD HDR Home Theater Display and found that the P-Series™ features High Dynamic Range with Dolby Vision content support and Ultra Color Spectrum for a dramatically different visual experience with astonishing brightness, radiant contrast, and captivating color. Full-Array LED backlighting and up to 128 Active LED Zones™ deliver exceptional light uniformity and deeper, richer black levels.

And with Google Cast built-in, you can cast from thousands of Google Cast-enabled apps that you already know and love, like YouTube and Netflix. Sports and action fans will appreciate the powerful image processing of the P-Series™ with up to Clear Action™ 960 that combines a blazing 240Hz effective refresh rate achieved with backlight scanning for sharper detail in fast action scenes.

WOW! This is definitely on my fathers day list!

*Live TV listings compatible with IP-based set-top boxes from DirecTV® and Dish® services, with more services to be added. See vizio.com/smartcast for details.

See what the VIZIO SmartCast™ P-Series™ Ultra HD HDR Home Theater Display™ looks like by viewing this short video!

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I’m Heading to San Francisco For An Amazing Event!

September 6, 2015 by dadofdivas Leave a Comment

Disclosure: I am being provided with an all-expense paid trip as part of a press Junket with Disney in exchange for my press coverage. All opinions are 100% my own.

As many of you know I had the amazing experience about a year ago to go out to California to experience the press junket and viewing of the Guardians of the Galaxy movie as well as a number of ABC Family shows and the movie Hundred Foot Journey. I had an amazing experience at this event and I am VERY excited to be heading back to California at the end of this month to be able to experience and report back to you great information on the new movie, The Good Dinosaur as well as a number of different other experiences.

These trips are whirlwind adventures, but they are definitely exciting. On this trip some of the things we will be doing include:

Viewing and Learning More about the new Disney Pixar Film, The Good Dinosaur

About the Movie
Have you ever sometimes wondered what it would be like if animals, moreover, dinosaurs roamed the world as we humans do everyday? “The Good Dinosaur” asks the question: What if the asteroid that forever changed life on Earth missed the planet completely and giant dinosaurs never became extinct? Pixar Animation Studios takes you on an epic journey into the world of dinosaurs where an Apatosaurus named Arlo makes an unlikely human friend. While traveling through a harsh and mysterious landscape, Arlo learns the power of confronting his fears and discovers what he is truly capable of. In theatres on November 25th!

You can follow along with me and all of the other bloggers on the trip with me on social media using the #GoodDinoEvent hashtag.

2. Celebrate the Release of Disney’s Inside/Out With a Press Junket!

My family and I are big fans of this movie and I am looking forward to hearing from some of the actors form this film too. I have yet to find out who I will be meeting, but I know that it will be eye-opening and a ton of fun too!

About the Movie

Growing up can be a bumpy road, and it’s no exception for Riley, who is uprooted from her Midwest life when her father starts a new job in San Francisco. Like all of us, Riley is guided by her emotions – Joy (Amy Poehler), Fear (Bill Hader), Anger (Lewis Black), Disgust (MindyKaling) and Sadness (Phyllis Smith). The emotions live in Headquarters, the control center inside Riley’s mind, where they help advise her through everyday life. As Riley and her emotions struggle to adjust to a new life in San Francisco, turmoil ensues in Headquarters. Although Joy, Riley’s main and most important emotion, tries to keep things positive, the emotions conflict on how best to navigate a new city, house and school.

3) Seeing and Learning About the new Short, Sunjay’s Super Team

About the Short
Sunjay’s Super Team follows the daydreams of a young Indian boy who is bored with his father’s religious medication, and imagines the Hindu Gods as superheroes. See it in theatres on November 25th!

4) Pixar Press Day & Miles From Tomorrowland

I have always wanted to go behind the scenes to explore the Pixar Animation Studios and I will be at the end of the month! During this day I will be having an exclusive press day trip to Pixar where I will also be able to interview some of the amazing and talented filmmakers and animators of The Good Dinosaur as well as learn more about Disney Junior’s Miles From Tomorrowland at Google Headquarters and interview with some of the voice talent from the show.

About Miles From Tomorrowland

Disney Junior’s “Miles from Tomorrowland” is an intergalactic adventure that charts the outer space missions of young adventurer Miles Callisto and his family – mom and ship captain, Phoebe; mechanical engineer dad, Leo; tech-savvy big sister, Loretta; and best friend robo-ostrich pet, Merc – as they help connect the galaxy on behalf of the Tomorrowland Transit Authority. Miles, Merc and the Callisto family explore wondrous and diverse new worlds, taking young viewers and their families on a futuristic journey designed to fuel kids’ natural interest in space, and at the same time reminding them of the importance of what lies close to home – the family bond.

You can follow along with me and all of the other bloggers at the event on social media using the #MilesEvent hashtag.

5) Visiting the The Walt Disney Family Museum

I am super excited about visiting this museum. As a lifelong Disney fan I have always wanted to see this museum since it opened and now I can say that I will! If you want to follow along on the fun and geez out with me on all things Disney, follow along with me and the other bloggers at the event on social media using the #Waltagram hashtag.

As you can tell I am very excited to be heading to San Francisco from September 29-October 2. Stay in touch with me on all of my social channels to live vicariously through me! You can follow along with me on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook!

Girls Unite, It’s Time For The Avengers: Age of Ultron!

April 24, 2015 by dadofdivas 1 Comment

I have always been a fan of comics. I grew up reading Spider-Man, X-Men, Fantastic Four, The Avengers and a number of others. So you can probably guess that the past few years, with the huge number of Marvel/DC Comic based movies hitting the big screen has been an exciting time for me and for my family. It has been so exciting for me to be able to share my love of this world with my daughters, breaking down the stereotypes that some of society have placed in regards to who can or should like comics.

This May will be an exciting time in our home because of our love of comics. With MARVEL’s The Avengers: Age of Ultron coming out, we already have watched the first The Avengers movie, and my girls are already speculating on whether one of the Avengers will be coming back after this movie and if not, who that might be. They also are very excited to have a new female superhero coming into the movie in the guise of the Scarlett Witch. My oldest knows that the Scarlett Witch and Quicksilver both have been good and evil characters in the comic books, we are all interested to see how they will be portrayed in the new movie, though the trailer makes them look very dark.

Not only are we excited about this but we also have come to find when we go to the store that we also are seeing MARVEL’s The Avengers: Age of Ultron food, toys and more at stores as we have been shopping lately. Of course, because my daughters are aware of the comics and the characters, having them see these superheroes connected to food and toys makes them even more excited about the movie to come. While sometimes this branding can be over-the-top, it is still effective and my girls have enjoyed seeing the characters too.

During a recent trip to our local Walmart store we checked out all of the MARVEL The Avengers: Age of Ultron items. I was amazed to see many more items than I was expecting. While we were there we picked up a few to have some Avengers fun ourselves. We ended up choosing some of the collectible figurines. You will notice that we ended up picking Ms. Marvel and Hawkeye. My daughter chose these, and I was a bit surprised that she did, as I thought that she would have chosen the Scarlet Witch. As a father, I will say that I am a bit happy that she didn’t because the Scarlet Witch was in one of her more skimpy outfits and for a younger girl I think a more fully clothed superhero is more appropriate. The choosing of Hawkeye did not surprise me, as this is a character that she liked from the first movie. I was a bit surprised as he was in his purple outfit which is not something seen from the movie itself. In looking closer though I see now that the characters from this are not completely connected to the movie itself, but instead The Avengers universe instead.

I also selected some of the new LEGO brick sets for The Avengers: Age of Ultron movie. I loved that we got a few of the superheroes in each set as well as villains too. The sets that I picked up were easy to put together and worked well together too and allowed me and my daughters to have fun together using our imagination in some creative play together. My youngest daughter was the most excited when she saw that Iron Man was a part of one of the LEGO sets, as this was her favorite Avenger.

We also picked up some snacks that we could have while we re-watched The Avengers movie. We picked up some Doritos as well as Cheez-Its and both were connected again to the movie too. I let the kids pick these, but I did tell that that we were going to make an Avengers Snack mix (See below recipe) to make this a bit healthier.

Avengers Snack Mix

1 Family Style Box of MARVEL’s The Avengers: Age of Ultron Cheez-It

1 12-15 oz canister of craisins

1 15-20 oz container of unsalted nuts (you choose the type)

2 Cups of dried papaya

2 Cup M&M’s

2 Cup White Chocolate Chips

Mix all of the items together in small individual ziplock bags. Hand them out to everyone for some healthy snacking fun!

As you can see we are very excited about the upcoming MARVEL The Avengers: Age of Ultron movie and for the next few weeks we will be waiting in anticipation for this to come out and if any of the things that I have heard as of late is true, this is going to be an amazing movie and having some toys and even food to keep the excitement alive is fun to experience with the whole family!

So my question for you? How big of a fan of The Avengers are you? Who is your or your kids’ favorite Avengers superhero? Let me know!

Irish Spring Challenges Me to Make #MySignatureMove

March 23, 2015 by dadofdivas 1 Comment

I work for a living in a professional environment that requires me to dress to the nines daily, which means looking good, smelling good, and making an impression to the students I work with on a daily basis. Thus, I am always looking for products that will make this simple and convenient and that will leave me feeling great and refreshed. While I had used Irish Spring products in the past, I had never heard of their Signature for Men product series until I was asked to try it out by #CollectiveBias recently.

As mentioned, it is not that I am in a job that is overly smelly, or that I tend to get all sweaty on the job either, but for me #MySignatureMove is that I have to always look, smell and portray professionalism at all times when on the job, which is not always easy, but it is something that I have to do.

I mean really, there are times when I wish I could simply put on my Jeans and a T-Shirt, skip the shower, and head to work in a grunge look, but I know that this would definitely be frowned upon and it would not come across well to the students I work with daily!

That being said I was excited to be able to try out the new Irish Spring Signature for Men series of products. I found the near me, the closest stores that carried these products, at least now, were a few of the Walmart stores (Super Walmart stores) that were near me, so I got up early and hit the deserted aisles to find them. I found the nestled within the original Irish Springs products that I already was aware of. I had a bit of a challenge figuring out which to try so I decided to grad a few to give a number of them a shot!

I did a little more research when I got home and found that the new Irish Spring signature products are specially designed for men to keep us clean and feeling fresh and I have to say that after using them I was impressed. The first day I used it, I actually had a co-worker come in my office and say, you smell good. I was like, what??? She continued and said, there is a nice smell in the office that I have not smelled before. My first impression was to say, “what… I never smelled good before?”, but I held my tongue and simply said “thank you”.

This conversation made me think though, that maybe my own routine did need to change. I mean, if after only one day of using this (and this was the only change I had made) I received one nice comment such as this, it probably would continue in the future (and I was quick to ask the co-worker if the smell was too over the top and she said no).

I liked both the body wash/shampoo and the bar soap that the Irish Spring Signature Products provide. The soap is ingrained with some great ingredients and it is something that is not abrasive to the skin which is important for me. I typically have to look for soap that is not highly fragrant or with too many unnatural ingredients. Sometimes soaps with these unnatural ingredients dry out my skin and irritate it. This is one reason the Irish Spring products worked well for me. Irish Spring worked to give men like me what they need and with how big of a bar this is, I will not be needing to get new bars of soap anytime in the future!

All of this being said I have to say that I have a new respect for Irish Spring! I love how easy it now is to get feeling clean and smelling great! I don’t know whether or not Irish Spring will be adding new scents or products to this line in the future but I hope that they do. Until then though I am very happy with the line itself and I have now changed up my morning routine to add in these products, and am so happy that I did!

Purchase one of the new Irish Spring Signature products and get $5 off a VUDU purchase! Take a picture of your receipt and then go to http://cbi.as/3boj to upload your receipt. Next step, enjoy watching!

Irish Spring lets me make #mysignaturemove every morning #ad #collectivebias

A video posted by Christopher Lewis (@dadofdivas) on Mar 19, 2015 at 5:37am PDT

I’ve shared with you #MySignatureMove and my daily routine. I would love to hear from all of you. Tell me about you signature move and your own daily routine? What is most important to you when it comes to looking and feeling your best?