trip Archives - Dad of Divas

Treating Yourself This Summer

July 3, 2019 by dadofdivas Leave a Comment

From ferrying the kids around on the weekend to buying them presents rather than spending on yourself, everything that you do, you do for your children. This, however, means that you don’t leave a lot of time or money for yourself to do the things that you want to do. By continuing to live on in this vein, eventually, you’re going to become resentful of the life you’ve fallen into, and nobody is going to benefit from you going through a mid-life crisis, that’s for sure.

To avoid this plight, you have to ensure that you make time and save money for yourself. What better time to do this than the summer? There are plenty of ways you can treat yourself throughout the months of June, July, and August. Read on to unearth a few of them.

Cleanse your body

The very best thing you can do to treat yourself is to tend to your health and wellbeing. Summer doesn’t necessarily need to be three months straight of partying, drinking, and generally binging. It can be a time where you resolve to cleanse your body.

If you want to be the best possible version of yourself come the turn of the new decade, then the summertime is the perfect time to start. Whether you go all out and check into a California rehab center in order to beat an alcohol or substance addiction, whether you book yourself in for a spa day, or whether you simply resolve to go sober throughout the whole of the summer — whatever lengths you need to go to in order to cleanse your body, go all out and go to them. If you do, you’re not the only one who will benefit. You’ll be happier and healthier, and this new version of yourself will be sure to make life easier for your family and friends.

Take an adult-only trip away

When was the last time you and the other half went on a holiday that wasn’t centered around the wants and needs of the kids? You probably can’t remember, it was that long ago! For the sake of your sanity, you and your partner should resolve to take a trip this summer that is strictly adults only.

Ask your family or friends if they’ll take care of the little ones for the weekend, book a relaxing break, and go out and enjoy yourselves for a change. What type of trip you head on is entirely dependent on your own tastes. Whether you decide to lounge by a pool or head on a hiking holiday, just be sure to pick a vacation destination that you want to go to.

As a working father, you probably don’t get to treat yourself all that often. True, you aren’t going to be able to go out there and indulge on things as did when you were a single young man. Being a dad doesn’t mean that you have to forgo all personal enjoyment, though. You have just as much a right as anybody to enjoy life, so that is what you should do. Take the above advice and set about treating yourself throughout the ensuing summer months.

Sharks Arrive at Sea Life Michigan ( @SEALIFEMichigan )

January 11, 2015 by dadofdivas Leave a Comment

Just recently, SEA LIFE Michigan Aquarium, the 35,000-square-foot aquarium in Great Lakes Crossing Outlets, welcomed one Nurse shark, three Blacknose sharks and two Bonnethead sharks to their new home, along with the enthusiastic winners of the Young Environmentalist contest—aged 8 to 12—standing by to cheer them on.

The creatures arrived in a transport truck, and after some testing and preparation, were rushed inside via stretchers by trained aquarists. The sharks were then placed into a small, connected acclimation tank before swimming off into the main ocean tank.

“Great care is taken in transporting the SEA LIFE animals,” said Curator Lucy Handel. “There is a trained crew of three in the truck checking water parameters at regular intervals, looking at ammonia levels, oxygen, temperature and pH.”

Many of the other creatures, including Moray eels, seahorses and stingray, have already been delivered to the aquarium, with the remaining inhabitants arriving within the next week, allowing them time to settle in before the attraction opens to the public at noon on Jan. 29.

SEA LIFE Michigan Aquarium will feature 22 tanks in highly themed, engaging exhibits, including a 180-degree ocean tunnel and interactive touchpools. SEA LIFE’s conservation messaging will be included throughout, inspiring guests to take an active role in protecting the world’s oceans and sea creatures.

Tickets to SEA LIFE Michigan Aquarium are now available online at www.visitsealife.com/michigan/buy-tickets at special pre-opening rates.

About SEA LIFE Michigan Aquarium

SEA LIFE Michigan Aquarium is a 35,000-square-foot aquarium slated to open in Auburn Hills, Mich.-based Great Lakes Crossing Outlets in January 2015. As the 7^th SEA LIFE location in the United States, and the 42^nd in the world, SEA LIFE Michigan will feature engaging, educational and one-of-a-kind experiences that bring guests nose-to-nose with more than 5,000 amazing creatures, including sharks, stingrays, jellyfish, sea horses and much, much more. SEA LIFE provides a glimpse of the diversity of marine life while also playing an active role in animal and environmental conservation. Visitors will see strong evidence of SEA LIFE’s Breed, Rescue and Protect activities around the world, including new projects developed locally. For more information, visit www.visitsealife.com.

Time To Save Some Money at Great Wolf Lodge!

April 17, 2013 by dadofdivas 3 Comments

As some of you know I was selected to be a representative for the Great Wolf Lodge in Traverse City, Michigan this year and I am very excited about it as it is a wonderful place to take the family and my whole family has loved the experience in the past, and I know we will in the future as well. I just found out recently that Groupon is having a great deal right now, where you can save some money on a trip to your local Great Wolf Lodge. For this Groupon, there are designated prices ranging from $219 to $499 depending upon the size of your group and the days you’d like to stay at the resort. Get your Groupon here! This is only available from 04/16 Through 05/23 so you have to book soon.

There are so many things your kids will enjoy both in and out of the waterpark. I highly encourage you to try out Great Wolf for the first time or come back for a return visit!

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@GreatWolfLodge Will Provide Lasting Memories for the Whole Family!

April 30, 2012 by dadofdivas 26 Comments

Have you ever looked for an amazingly fun getaway for your family that gives you the best of all worlds. This past weekend my family and I had the opportunity to travel to Traverse City to go to Great Wolf Lodge. We had never been there before, but we had heard of many people that had gone and they had a great time. For us, it took us a little over three hours to get there, but the three hours were definitely worth it. When we got there, of course, the kids wanted to hit the waterpark. While the waterpark is a large part of the resort, I came to find that there was much more to the resort than just water and slides.

Before I get into the rest of the resort, I have to talk about the waterpark itself. The waterpark was huge and had a little bit of everything, from pool, three waterslides, whirlpools and huge waterpark tree park. One of the best things about the waterpark was the fact that they kept it at a constant 84 degrees inside the waterpark and the water is also quite comfortable as well (unlike many waterparks that I have been to in the past). For my eldest daughter, she mentioned that her favorite parts of the waterpark were the waterslides as well as the huge can of water that dumped on bystanders every 5 minutes or so (and did it ever drench you). The three waterslides were quite different, and I have to say that my favorite was the yellow on that allowed up to three people go down and provided a bit faster ride and you even got to go in the dark. My youngest daughter loved the two waterslides that came off of the tree fort and for only being four, she showed some great bravery going on that over and over again!

On day two of our stay at the resort I spoke to the manager and he let me know about a program that they had called the paw pass. This great addition to your stay opens up the rest of the resort to you and your family. It provides you with the opportunity to try out a interactive scavenger hunt called MagiQuest as well as get a cool tattoo, a stuffed friend, a snack in the waterpark, tokens for the Arcade and a memorable take home gift from the Cub Club.

MagiQuest was something that looked awesome and in starting the quest itself, my eldest daughter worked to become a Master Magi. This took a few hours and quite a bit of walking between floors, but she was able to achieve this rank and then battle both a Dragon and Goblin King.

There was quite a bit more that she could have done if we had more time, but alas, we were not able to complete everything. The game though is fun because you get a magic wand and go around collecting special runes that you need to defeat your enemies, as well as gold to support your quests. The game makes you think deeply about riddles, and remember where things are along the way. The game was a ton of fun and the resort had some hidden fun things around the resort as well which worked with the wand that made it even more worthwhile.

The tattoo that I mentioned is not your run of the mill tattoo but a multicolored, sparkling tattoo that was amazing! They had so many tattoos to choose from and my youngest chose one of the characters from the resort and as you can see it is quite intricate.

The resort itself had a great gift shop, and inside this gift shop you can find some amazing items to help you remember your trip. One of the things that my youngest was able to do thanks to the Paw Pass was build a stuffed friend that she will have forever. If you have ever been to Build-A-Bear workshop this is a similar idea and they have outfits that you can purchase as well.

The Cub Club is a fun location that allows kids to be able to be creative or just chill out playing some games, watching a movie, or making a fun take-home item (for a small fee). They had a ton of things that you could make and take home that allowed kids to show their creative juices and my eldest made a knap sack and my youngest made a monkey pillow (as she loves monkeys).

The arcade was a blast and you can find games that range everywhere from one to four tokens (each token is worth .25/token). Our girls each had 10 tokens so they did not last too long, but that did not stop them from having a blast in the arcade itself!

Finally was the snack that they had in the waterpark. The snack, called Potato Stix, really was a potato on a stick. What was amazing about this was that they literally take a full potato slice it up in a machine with a spiral cut, fry it and place seasoning on it (based on your own taste) and it comes out looking like potato chips on a stick. The snack itself is not completely crunchy like a potato chip, but it was still a lot of tasty fun.

These are only a few things that we tried and enjoyed. There was also a ton of daily activities such as an animatronic show as well as story time every night which was fun and the kids got to meet some of the resort characters after the story. They had an on-site restaurant which the kids liked as well.

All-in-all this was a great trip which will provide long-lasting memories. I think we are hooked and I believe that you will be too! I highly encourage you to consider taking your own family to a Great Wolf Lodge near you!

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Reflections on my trip to theTime to Play Toy Show (@timetoplay, #timetoplay)

October 1, 2011 by dadofdivas 84 Comments

As a dad who loves toys and who loves to share toys with my daughters (and my readers – can’t forget you) I was floored when I was asked to go to New York City this past Monday to be a part of the blogging Team that attended the Time to Play Magazine’s (@timetoplay) Time to Play 2011 Toy Fair.

Seeing that I have not attended many blogging events let alone a toy fair, I have to say that I did not know what to expect, but I was still very excited about the event itself and all of the fun new toys that I was sure to be introduced to.

Leading up to the event my anticipation mounted as I spoke with some blogging friends of mine Adam Cohen (@DadaRocks) and Drew Bettett (@BenSpark) and found out that they would be there along with Josh from @DadStreet and a number of mom bloggers that I had seen around the internet but did not know them much more than that (but now I do!). As I said I do not get to these events often and usually am confined to talking over the phone or via social networking so this was also going to be a treat.

The amazing people at Litzky PR treated me with utmost respect especially by Kaylie (@kayliegrace), she made every step of my trip amazing! I found out more about the trip itself and that I would be coming in the day before and meeting up with the blogging team. This was beyond my expectations and I was very excited to be sure!

Time to play, I came to find is an amazing company and website! They have amazing staff that go above and beyond to make toy buying easy for anyone. What they do best is get down to the basics with the toys and play with them like kids would so that they can share with their readers what the toys are really like and what their positive and negative aspects are. Their site (timetoplay.com) is amazing and so user friendly. In talking to the owners, they have so many great ideas about the future of the company, I know that I and I hope all of you will come to find that this will be your first step before purchasing any new toy!

The night before the event we all went out to dinner at a restaurant called Blue Smoke. It was amazing and I had the best Ribs that I have ever had in my life. If you are ever in New York City you should try this restaurant! We all had a great time getting to know each other and developing even stronger friendships.

Back to the reason I was going. I was going to see and experience the unveiling of the Time to Play’s Holiday 2011 Most Wanted Toys List. Every year Time to Play comes out with the top toys of the holiday season. Below I have linked to a video that unveils these toys to you.

The morning of the show itself was exciting, we got in a cab and went over to the Altman Building to experience the show itself. I don’t know what I was expecting, but it was very well organized with a ton of great businesses. I started the day hanging out with my friend Drew from benspark.com , we started by learning more from Razor, Crayola and LEGO. I was amazed to find that there were so many new great toys on the market!

I could easily spend a long time today talking about all of the toys that I I learned about but I will be talking more about these in the following months as I review the toys and possibly even give some away as we prepare for the holidays!

After the show I had to catch my ride back to LaGuardia to fly back home. I was surprised to find that three great moms that I met at Time to Play were on my flight to Milwaukee and I got to sit by them on the plane as well. So thanks to @momstart, @OutnumberedMama & @RobynsWorld for making a long wait in the airport and on the plane enjoyable and I look forward to keeping in touch!

I had am amazing time and I have to say thank you SO much to a few people that made this happen. First to Adam Cohen (http://dadarocks.com) as he was the person that passed my name on to Time to Play and thus is the person that paved the way for me to have this experience. Second, thanks to Kaylie Nelson, a great PR Representative and a great person (and so organized!). She did an amazing job at balancing everything. I am completely hooked and know that I will be spending a lot more time on Time to Play Magazine’s Website and you should too! I made the video below to talk a little about my experiences…hope that you enjoy!

All opinions expressed in this review are my own and not influenced in any way by the company. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer or provider. Please refer to this site’s Disclaimer for more information. I have been compensated or given a product free of charge, but that does not impact my views or opinions.

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