Holiday Gift Guide 2014

With help from Chef Jeff Mauro, host of Food Network’s hit daytime show The Kitchen, Juicy Juice unveils a Flavor Exploration website with exclusive content for families, including original recipes, helpful tips and an upcoming three-part video series. Available in 16 flavor varieties, the Juicy Juice 100% juice line offers kid-favorite flavors and juicy fruit combinations like Apple to Passion Dragonfruit and Orange Tangerine.
While on the website, parents, and kids can play flavor-filled activities and games, like a fruit memory match game, and learn fun facts about global fruits inspired by all 16 of the brand’s 100% juice flavor varieties. Families can also unlock special Juicy Juice savings and spin the virtual Flavor Wheel for the chance to win daily prizes from February 5 th through April 30 th , including gift cards.

So if your hubby is like mine, he tends to take picture after picture and never downloads any of them. They sit their “collecting dust” & taking up space. No he doesn’t use any of the cloud services so what other options does he have? The SanDisk iXpand Flash Drive solves that problem by hooking directly up to any of your (newer) iOS devices.
Integrating a Lightning connector and USB port, the iXpand Flash Drive provides a simple way to offload, access and transfer content on iOS devices. The flash drive lets you free up memory on your iOSdevices and instantly expand storage by up to 128GB. The iXpand Sync app auto-syncs your content to the drive whenever it’s connected, and you can watch videos or listen to music directly from the drive through the App. Or, use the USB connector to move photos and videos to your PC/Mac. To keep it safe, iXpand Flash Drive lets you encrypt your files for secure transfer.
This drive is small enough to keep in your purse, pocket or to store in a drawer. It’s a perfect gift for Father’s Day. It allows dad to free up space on his iPhone, or iPad and gets those photos and videos to a safe place…cause I’m sure we’ve all dealt with the dreaded phone photo loss.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one or more of the products or services mentioned above for free in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

The boys just love going to Sea World to see the animals up close and ride some fun rides…but all fall everytime we would plan a trip something would come up where we couldn’t go. I was so upset that we missed the Howl-O-Screem…afterall they all absolutely LOVE Halloween! Well we finally made it for their Christmas Celebration and was able to do some things I never thought we would be able to do!
When we arrived we signed in at our #WildSide table and recieved our itenirary and this years ornament…it’s such a cute colorful glass seal…I love it! After the doors opened we went inside and took our picture by the front fountain which has become a tradition on our trips, only this time it was a big beautiful tree (I’m having issues with my photokey downloads, but will share as soon as I can).
Then we headed back to my 2 year olds favorite spot, the penguin exhibit. He could go through that for hours just watching them swim and waddle along. He had no idea what was coming up next! We lined up with our fellow wild side bloggers as my boys took him through the penguin exhibit another time or two then it was our turn to enter through the door we had so patiently waited to go through…
Our first stop, the behind the scenes of the penguin exhibit! Penguins coming up to the small knee high gate to say hi and everything. Did you know that if the penguins choose not to take care of their eggs, the staff fosters them to another penguin who will take care of and raise that baby! SeaWorld’s penguins live twice as long as penguins in the wild so most of the time they foster out penguins to other zoos and exhibits so that other children can observe and learn about penguins up close too.
Well after that, we didn’t think it could get any better, until we walked into a small room where there was Pepper the penguin waiting to meet us! Yes, that’s right we had a one on one with a penguin and got to pet her and everything!
Well after that excitement we went and took our family picture in a giant snow globe which was pretty cool…but for some reason it didn’t make it onto my photokey …then we let the boys enjoy some rides (okay I enjoyed one too…) before it was time to meat up with the group again for milk & cookies with Shamu Claus.
The boys had a blast and can’t wait to go back again! Hopefully we don’t have to wait so long between visits again…
Disclosure: I am a Sea World Ambassador Blogger known as a Wildsider…I am provided passes and special events in exchange for my coverage, however all experiences and opinions are 100% my own and are in no way compromised.
Disclosure of Material Connection: This is a “sponsored post.” The company who sponsored it compensated me via a cash payment, gift, or something else of value to write it. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
Related

Summer for a lot of families mean travel, whether it’s for beach vacation or just visiting family it can be stressful. I have 5 tips to give your summer stress free traveling. 1. Plan. If you know that you will be traveling this summer create a travel binder with checklists so you have everything planned out. From route or flight numbers (tickets) to lists on what to take. Having a list and everything in a neat little package saves time, energy and stress! 2. Pack Early. Don’t wait till the last minute to pack! Have your bags packed at least a week in advance. That way if you realize you forget something (that shouldn’t happen if you create lists, but you never know) you have time to get it done and not stress about your time limit. 3. Let The Kids Help. Yes, I’m sure your saying “but I thought you said stress free..the kids only add stress” well, If you give your kids a print out or hand drawn paper with exactly what to pack, they can at least have their items ready for you to place in the bags neatly…I will post example below 4. Have It Ready. Go over your final check the night before and have them by the door, or packed in your vehicle ready to go (I don’t pack in the car the night before because we live in an apartment and that is just screaming break into me). 5. Don’t Sweat The Small Things. If even after you go through all this and your on your way..you happen to forget the tooth brush because, well they had to brush their teeth that morning and you didn’t want to buy brushes just for the trip…there are drug stores everywhere just go purchase one. It’s nothing to freak out about. Things will happen all you can do is breath and calmly handle it. I hope these tips help you have a stress free family vacation this summer! Where do you plan on traveling?

IK Multimedia, the leader in mobile music creation technology, is pleased to announce that its iRig® Keys range of highly regarded mobile keyboard controllers is going universal. Both the ultra-portable iRig Keys and mobile full-size keyboard iRig Keys PRO controllers will now come with a Micro-USB to OTG cable for Android devices in addition to their Lightning and USB cables. Now, for the exact same affordable price, players can plug in and jam out on a compact and fully functional keyboard with an even wider array of their favorite mobile devices than ever before – iRig Keys and iRig Keys PRO are now ready to go with Lightning-compatible iOS devices and Android devices as well as Mac/PC right out of the box.
Portable performance
The iRig Keys line has established itself as a firm favorite of keyboard players across the world. iRig Keys (previously named iRig Keys with Lightning) is an ultra-slim and extremely portable MIDI keyboard controller with 37 mini-keys. iRig Keys PRO is a similarly slim keyboard that gives players the luxury of 37 full-sized keys in a controller that can be easily carried in a gig bag or backpack. Both deliver a full 3 octave range (plus one note) and come equipped with all the extras that keyboard players love: mod and pitch bend wheels, a Volume/Data knob, a SET button for storage and recall of up to 4 different custom setups, input for a sustain or expression pedal and more. With compact size and advanced features, the iRig Keys line offers keyboard players a portable playing experience like no other.
Complete compatibility
With the arrival of this announcement, both iRig Keys and iRig Keys PRO are compatible with more devices than ever before. Each now comes boxed with Lightning, Micro-USB to OTG and USB cables. This means that they can be immediately used with Lightning-compatible iOS devices, Android devices and Mac/PC right out of the box. In addition, an optional 30-pin cable can also be purchased for use with 30-pin iOS devices. And no matter what device is used, both iRig Keys and iRig Keys PRO deliver a seamless plug-and-play experience thanks to built-in Core MIDI compatibility for iOS and USB class compliance.
Killer apps and software
Creativity starts immediately with iRig Keys and iRig Keys PRO thanks to their extensive suite of included apps for iOS and Android, plus software for Mac/PC. These apps are powerful IK Multimedia fan favorites and they all come with extra material for registered iRig Keys and iRig Keys PRO users.
iRig Keys and iRig Keys PRO are also fully compatible with Apple’s GarageBand and Logic Pro X, and compatible with a wide variety of third party apps and software, like Samsung Soundcamp, Cubasis, MultiTrack DAW and more.
Pricing and availability
iRig Keys and iRig Keys PRO are available now from music and electronics retailers worldwide, and from the IK online store, for $/€129.99 and $/€149.99 respectively (excluding taxes).
Users who purchase an iRig Keys with Lightning or iRig Keys PRO starting October 1, 2015 are eligible to receive Micro-USB to OTG cable at no cost, if one is not included. Contact IK Support to request the cable. Eligible users must register the product and provide proof of purchase.