Giveaway: Journey 2: The Mysterious Island DVD

Hey wonderful people!! Guess what?  My Katie is now a high school graduate!! We are so very proud of her!! The last few months I've been very limited in how much time I've had for blogging, but now that the excitement and activities of graduation are over,  I will be back with lots more great stuff!

I'll do a separate post on the graduation soon, but first I have to share this awesome app and giveaway!
Warner Brothers just released Journey 2:  The Mysterious Island on DVD & Blue-Ray.  Don't know much about this movie?  Here ya go:

Sean Anderson (Josh Hutcherson, The Hunger Games) finds a hidden signal that he believes will lead him to his long lost grandfather (Michael Caine, Miss Congeniality).  With the help of his new step father (Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, The Scorpion King), Sean finds a map and starts his adventure which leads him to Kailani (Vanessa Hudgens, High School Musical) and the island of Atlantis!  Sean and his friends battle giant bees, killer lizards, a volcano of gold, and electric eels to escape the lost city and make their way home!

And there is a fun app to go with it!  Check out the fun things you can do:

Activities: Choose Your Own Adventure! Spin the wheel to get your own personalized adventure! Will you brave the wilds of Family Movie Night or map your house and have your own treasure hunt!



Quiz: Would You Survive The Mysterious Island!? Are you a Wilderness Warrior or a Timid Trekker? Take the Mysterious Island quiz and find out how you would fare in the outback of Atlantis!



Warner Brothers is giving one of my readers a DVD of the movie!  YAY!  I'm gonna make this a really easy contest to enter.  Just play with the app, (click on Choose Your Adventure & Would You Survive in the graphic above to play) and then let me know what your favorite activity is!  Do this by leaving me a comment below this post, and make sure that you put your email in the comment so I can contact you if you're my winner.  No email listed,  I'll draw another comment.  So be sure to include it!
( I always enter contests listing my email as:   jane dot doe at gmail dot com to escape spammers...feel free to do the same!)

UPDATE:  Congrats to the winner of this contest ~  Sarah!! : )
The only requirements they have given me: winner must live in the US, and address must be a street address, absolutely no P.O. Boxes.  Contest ends on June 18th at 12:01 am.  Winner will be notified by email, and I must hear back from you within 24 hours, or another winner will be drawn.  DVD will be mailed via UPS or Fed Ex from sponsor. 

I am not being compensated in any way for this post,  sponsor provides DVD prize, and I'm not required to participate,  I just wanted to share this great giveaway with my readers!

The 43rd Annual Yellow Daisy Festival is almost here!

Just got the press release about one of the best arts & crafts shows around , and wanted to share with my Atlanta readers!!  If you haven't been, you've got to check it out!

Celebrating its 43rd year, Stone Mountain Park’s Yellow Daisy Festival (YDF) is one of America’s favorite and most well-known arts and crafts festivals. Featuring more than 400 artists, YDF is consistently voted one of the nation’s top arts and crafts shows by Sunshine Artist Magazine’s Annual “200 Best” survey. This year’s show will be held September 8, 9, 10 and 11 at Stone Mountain Park’s Special Events Meadow.

The Yellow Daisy Festival features 425 crafters and artists from across the U.S. The artists are selected from a pool of applicants by the Yellow Daisy Jury to display their distinctive hand-made work in categories such as pottery, fabric, painting, jewelry, sculpture, dolls, photography, fine arts and crafts and traditional arts and crafts. “One of the best things about the Yellow Daisy Festival is seeing the same shoppers year after year,” said Wendy Thomas, Stone Mountain Park Special Events Manager. “Generations of women come in groups to spend the day shopping and socializing; it is a unique aspect of this event.”  The annual celebration attracts an estimated 200,000 shopping enthusiasts to the four-day event. The event draws multi-generational shoppers as a family pilgrimage to shop for the hot craft item of the year. 

In remembrance of the 10th anniversary of 9/11, select YDF crafters are donating a piece of their artwork to be sold in a “We Remember” display. All proceeds from these sales will go to HeroBox, a non-profit organization that supports deployed American service members. More information about HeroBox can be found at http://www.herobox.org/. 

New for 2011, Yellow Daisy Festival shoppers can also enjoy accommodations right inside Stone Mountain Park at Marriott Evergreen Conference Resort. Yellow Daisy Festival Girlfriend Getaway Packages start at $209 a night, include a one-night stay at the newly renovated Marriott Evergreen Conference Resort, breakfast and a meet and greet with this year’s featured artist.

The Yellow Daisy Festival selected chARiTy elise as the 2011 Featured Artist. Originally from Maine, Elise has travelled the globe and currently resides in Tucker, Ga. Her artwork features designs including flowers, leaves, the sun, wavy lines and geometric shapes. This year’s featured artwork is a kaleidoscope design using vibrant colored acrylics on a 19 inch round masonite board. A glowing yellow daisy is predominantly situated in the center of the design. Her artwork will be included on all promotional and marketing materials for this year’s festival.   “It seemed like a perfect kind of design for such a tremendously vibrant festival,” said Elise.

In addition to the unique arts and crafts, the festival offers entertainment for everyone in the family and festival foods to meet a variety of tastes. Throughout all four days of YDF, there will be live main stage entertainment including the JaneDear Girls. The JaneDear Girls are a new breed of country music. They will perform their hit song “Wildflower” Sunday evening. The Children’s Corner will provide crafts, entertainment, face painting and Fair Hair.  The Men’s Den is a great venue for the gentlemen coming to the event that don’t want to miss the big game. The Men’s Den is outfitted with recliners and big screen TVs showing fall football.

Guests may also visit the 40th Annual Yellow Daisy Flower Show at Memorial Hall.  The theme for the 2011 flower show is “Daisy…Fabulous at 40!”  The Yellow Daisy Flower Show runs from September 9-11. The flower show is sponsored by the Redbud District of the Garden Club of Georgia. 

Shoppers can stop by the Humana tent, the festival’s presenting sponsor, for free giveaways and to enter for a chance to win a Stone Mountain Park Annual Pass Package good for four (4) Mountain Memberships. For more information on the Yellow Daisy Festival, please visit http://www.stonemountainpark.com/.

Or watch a slideshow of the event at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09o9uN_IVbI. Listed in Frommer’s 500 Places to Visit with Your Kids Before They Grow Up and cited by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution as one of “35 Natural Wonders in Georgia You Must See Before You Die,” Stone Mountain Park is located 16 miles east of downtown Atlanta. 

To get to the park, take I-285 to Exit 39B, Hwy. 78 East.  Stone Mountain Park is Exit No.8 on Hwy 78. More information regarding Stone Mountain Park attractions and hours of operation is available at 770-498-5690 or by visiting http://www.stonemountainpark.com/.

Free movies this summer for kids!

These are specifically for Gwinnett county, but you can look on the linked websites for your location to see if the same movies will be showing! This is a fantastic deal that we try to take advantage of each summer!

http://www.regmovies.com/nowshowing/familyfilmfestivalschedule.aspx?state=GA

At our Regal theater they start at 10 am on Tuesday and Wednesday!
06/08/2010-06/10/2010 Tale of Despereaux (G)
Alvin And The Chipmunks Squeakquel (PG)
06/15/2010-06/17/2010 Charlotte's Web (G)
Night At The Museum II (PG)
06/22/2010-06/24/2010 Wallace and Gromit (G)
Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs (PG)
06/29/2010-07/01/2010 Polar Express (G)
Ice Age: Dawn Of The Dinosaurs (PG)
07/06/2010-07/08/2010 Doogal (G)
Planet 51 (PG)
07/13/2010-07/15/2010 Pirates Who Don't Do Anything (G)
Imagine That (PG)
07/20/2010-07/22/2010 March Of The Penguins (G)
Paul Blart: Mall Cop (PG)
07/27/2010-07/29/2010 Kit Kittredge: American Girl (G)
Hotel For Dogs (PG)
08/03/2010-08/05/2010 ARCTIC TALE (G)
Monsters Vs. Aliens (PG)

http://www.greatescapetheaters.com/Promotions.html?banner_id=22

at our Great Escapes theater they start at 9:30 am on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday!
SUMMER KIDS SHOWS 2010
Sponsored by: The Dojo American Karate Centers

Alvin & The Chipmunks: Squeakuel - June 1,2,3
Ice Age: Dawn Of The Dinosaurs - June 8,9,10
Monsters vs. Aliens - June 15,16,17
Cloudy With A Chance OF Meatballs - June 22,23,24
Planet 51 - June 29,30, July 1
Paul Blart: Mall Cop - July 6,7,8
Night At The Museum 2 - July 13,14,15
Hotel For Dogs - July 20,21,22
Tale Of Despereaux - July 27,28,29
Kung Fu Panda - August 3,4,5

How I freaked out my kids on April Fool's Day

SO glad to see the sunshine again!! We've had SO much rain the last couple months! Today is bright and beautiful ~ the sky is gorgeous, everything is feeling spring-y outside, and my heart is happy!

I'm trying to get ready for St. Patrick's Day tomorrow ~ the kids are going to complain, but I am making a faux shepherd's pie for supper, plus a green punch to drink, and Lucky Charms cupcakes for dessert! The next project I'm working on is April Fool's Day. My poor kids - I always try to trick them! This year I'm doing a pet theme. Dinner will be a variety of weird appetizers, including dip served in a (new!) doggie bowl, with bone shaped crackers for dipping! Dessert will be that really gross cake in a (new!) litter box, complete with "litter" on top and a few tootsie rolls for effect. Again, my poor kids!

** update** here are some pics. We just used regular crackers for the dip, but the kids were so freaked out by my kitty litter cake!!**





Holidays are so much fun, and I'm realizing every day how truly short time with our kids is. My daughter is almost 16, and I swear just last year she was in elementary school! It's flying by, and I don't want to miss a minute of the next few years with her still here at home! And my little guy is 6, but he loves all my holiday stuff!

Coupon update: Very happy with our coupon savings from yesterday & today! For 2 weeks of groceries: Publix: spent $29, saved $29; Kroger: spent $139, saved $93.01, CVS: spent $26, saved $16 in coupons & got $9 back in extra care bucks. Our grocery budget is $100/week - I came in a bit under this time! :o)

Enjoy your day, I hope it is sunny for you, too!!

Fun Places to visit in metro Atlanta

Some of our favorite places around Georgia:


The Bulloch House Restaurant/Buffet: www.thebullochhouse.com
Callaway Gardens: www.callawaygardens.com

Sevananda Natural Food Co-op: www.sevananda.com
Fernbank Museum of Natural History: www.fernbankmuseum.org

Pick your own berries: www.washingtonfarms.net

The Varsity: (we like the Athens location best!) www.thevarsity.com
Bear Hollow Wildlife Trail: http://sandycreeknaturecenter.com/index.php?id=119