Marvel Universe Live Is Coming to Canada This Summer!

   

Marvel Universe Live! is coming to Canada this summer! This live entertainment show features your favourite Marvel characters. Whether it's Spiderman, Iron Man, Hulk, or any of the other 25+ Marvel characters, you'll be amazed by the special effects, pyrotechnics, and amazing stunts in this live show!

Check out Marvel Universe Live! at one of 7 stops this summer across Canada:

British Columbia

Vancouver: Pacific Coliseum, June 18 - June 21st, 2015

Saskatchewan

Saskatoon: Sasktel Centre, July 16th - 19th, 2015

Manitoba

Winnipeg: MTS Centre July 23rd - 26th, 2015

Ontario

Ottawa: Canadian Tire Centre July 31st - Aug 2nd, 2015 

Hamilton: First Ontario Centre, August 6th - 9th, 2015

Toronto: Air Canada Centre, August 13th - 16th, 2015

Quebec

Montreal: Centre Bell, August 20th - 23rd, 2015

***** These views are mine, and mine alone. As with anything, you are responsible for assessing whether this item and/or activity is safe and suitable for your specific needs. InfoMommy does not make any warranties of any kind, expressed or implied, and assumes no responsibility and/or liability for any actions taken as a result of this blog post.*****

You Don't Need The Right Reasons To Read This Book!

   

Whether you've only watched a couple episodes of The Bachelor or The Bachelorette, or you proudly consider yourself a member of Bachelor Nation, you will all enjoy Sean Lowe's brand new book "For the Right Reasons: America's Favorite Bachelor on Faith, Love, Marriage, and Why Nice Guys Finish First".

Sean Lowe is the fair haired Texan who got sent home after the overnight dates on Emily Maynard's season of The Bachelorette. He later went on to be The Bachelor himself on the following season of the franchise. As of now, he is the only "Bachelor" to marry his betrothed, and is only one of a handful of couples who actually tied the knot after appearing on the show.

Released this past January, the title of the book first got me thinking that it would be a book about his faith specifically. But it's much more than that! Whether you are a Christian or not, it is a pleasant and interesting read. This 232 page read chronicles Sean's life growing up, to his experience with The Bachelor franchise, to his marriage to the recipient of his final rose, Catherine Giudici.

While the book does address his faith and how he applies it in his life, it is not a book about religion. The book contains all sorts of insider information, deleted scenes, and gets you in behind the cameras with plenty of interesting details on how they produce the show. It helps the reader get to know Sean on a whole different level, and chronicles his take on his seasons of both The Bachelorette, as well as The Bachelor. It also delves into his general successes and failures, as well as with his personal and relationship struggles that came with his fame and the opportunities that the notoriety presented. His time on Dancing With The Stars is a great example, and he does address his time on that show as well.

All in all, I enjoyed the book. I think it humanizes someone who we might think of as a character on a TV show. We can easily get caught up in the show, forgetting that these are real people, whether their portrayal on the show is or isn't an accurate depiction of them.

Take for example, Courtney Robertson who was on Ben Flajnik's season of The Bachelor. People were all over her. But after reading Courtney's book "I Didn't Come Here To Make Friends: Confessions of a Reality Show Villain", I had a different perspective. It's not to say that she didn't do or say some of the things the show portrayed her to have done. But it does remind us that we are all human and capable of frailty, failure and success.

As with Courtney's book, I loved learning about what goes on behind the scenes, in addition to learning more about the author. Whether you grab this book at the local library or head on out to purchase it, I think you'll enjoy it as much as I did!

Happy reading!

***** These views are mine, and mine alone. As with anything, you are responsible for assessing whether this item and/or activity is safe and suitable for your specific needs. InfoMommy does not make any warranties of any kind, expressed or implied, and assumes no responsibility and/or liability for any actions taken as a result of this blog post.*****

Ripley's Aquarium of Canada is Sea-riously Awesome!

   

We visited Ripley's Aquarium of Canada this past weekend. Nestled right next to the CN Tower and the Rogers Centre, this unique & interesting attraction is definitely a must see for those residing in or visiting the Greater Toronto Area! 

Ripley's Aquarium of Canada features 12,500 square metres of aquatic enjoyment. With 5.7 million litres of water used to house some 16,000 animals, those young and old are sure to be amazed! It takes the average person about 2 to 2 and a half hours to experience the aquarium and all it has to offer. If you are visiting with young children, I highly recommend that you go first thing in the morning once they open. Most of the habitat areas are darkened to highlight the exhibits and I would not have wanted to visit with little ones during their typical peak time between 11am and 4pm for this reason.  Unless you have help with you to make sure one of your young ones don't suddenly get distracted and run off to another exhibit, then the early bird gets the worm on this one. Plus, there are a number of fun and interactive educational components throughout the aquarium which you can take full advantage of if it's not really busy. I would also suggest dressing your kids in bright colours, or patterned clothing so that they are more visible in the darkened areas.  Anything dark or grey in colour would be harder to see when it's busy with other attendees. 

For those requiring wheel chairs or strollers, they are both available for rent. Wheelchair rentals are free and umbrella strollers are available for rent for $3. But they are subject to availability, so remember what I said about the early bird? They also have a free stroller check in, if you don't want to bring your own personal stroller into the aquarium. Personally, I liked having mine as, although we didn't use it for our youngest, it was nice to put our coats and diaper bag in so we didn't have to carry it around. The aquarium does have a coat check and cubbies to rent for a nominal fee. Our youngest just turned 2 years old and he walked the whole way with no issues. He mostly tried to keep up with where his older brother went, so if you have an only child, then they might tire faster. 

Each of the galleries are neat to see, and will have something to fascinate you. Each gallery features a number of interactive learning activities to get the most out of your visit. I think they've done an excellent job at incorporating education into the exhibits. 

The Canadian Waters habitat displays a number of fish and plants from our Great Lakes, rivers and oceans. Our personal favorites in this habitat depiction? The Giant Pacific Octopus, and the Pacific kelp. The seaweed is unbelievably tall and the octopus is huge! And you really should get on the scale to see how much you'd be sold for if you were the catch of the day. Kids get a real kick out of this! In all honesty, so did I! LOL

The Rainbow Reef is beautiful! I could park a chair in front and sit there all day. Watching over 100 species of tropical fish from the Indo-Pacific region provides an array of colour and a buzz of activity.

The Dangerous Lagoon is where it's at! It's the largest exhibit and the most fascinating. You can either jump on board the largest North American slow moving movator or walk along side this 2.5 million litre tank. There you will pass through an underwater tunnel, seeing everything from sawfish & tropical fish, to sharks, sea turtles and stingrays. Seeing the sawfish glide by is quite the sight, as are all the sharks roaming about.We were lucky enough to see a sea turtle swimming above us. You will also see a massive grouper, the largest you've probably ever seen, or will see in your life. It's incredibly huge and I can't imagine how much that thing weighs! 

The Discovery Centre is where you can take a break, use the facilities, and get something to eat. In this section, there is also a playground area right beside the research submarine, which features a number of interactive bells and whistles, along with an underwater viewing bubble into the Dangerous Lagoon. There is also the horseshoe crab touch pool and the Great Lakes Locks water play area. Though this area is mostly geared towards kids, many adults were also taking advantage of what the Discovery Centre had to offer. You can also pop your head up into a puffer fish and clown fish tank which makes for some comical pictures. Kids will feel like they are right in there with Nemo from the Finding Nemo Disney movie. 

With regards to getting something to eat, you can purchase snacks and entrees from the Ripley's Cafe. Outside food and drinks are not technically allowed, but I'm sure if you had little ones, that their snacks would be OK to bring in. Obviously milk or formula wouldn't be an issue. If you are a nursing mom, there are a lot of chairs and tables in the Discovery Centre area where the cafe is for you to sit. There are also plenty of benches around the aquarium itself should you need to feed your little one. I snapped a picture of their menu so that you can see what's available and how much it would cost. Eating at venues like these is never cheap, so this way you can plan ahead! But to be honest, I didn't find the prices to be all that expensive, all things considered. We were there early, so I did not see the portions of these items, but compared to other attractions the prices aren't that bad. 

Moving on to the The Gallery, you'll see amazing creatures such as seahorses, leafy sea dragons, the electric eel, and the invasive lion fish. The seahorses and leafy sea dragons were particularly neat to see. 

The Perfect Predators area features an underwater viewing bubble where you can pop up inside a shark tank, and a clear tunnel tube to "crawl" through and view the sharks all around you. Most kids love these features, although a couple were a little hesitant to go in. There are also a number of interactive shark educational activities to do in this particular section.

Ray Bay is another of my favorites. Like the Rainbow Reef, I could park a chair here and watch for hours. Luckily there are benches there, so you can literally do that. Watching the stingrays, both large and small gliding about was mesmerizing. They appear to be so graceful and adorable. You'd never think that they could be dangerous in the wild. 

Planet Jellies is definitely a must see! It's amazing to see these little creatures moving about, and changing colour. Like the stingrays, they are also elegant in appearance. They are deceiving though, in that you'd never think they could hurt you. The saying "Don't judge a book by its cover" definitely applies to these beautiful but misleading little guys.

Upstairs, you can also check out the Shoreline Gallery.  There you will be able to touch small sharks (which I am pretty sure are bamboo sharks) in the touch pool, as well as the stingrays in the main area as they pass by. As I've said before, they are pretty amazing to watch! You can also look over the Dangerous Lagoon from up there as well and get a different perspective of the sharks, sea turtles and other fish previously mentioned in Dangerous Lagoon. 

The aquarium opens daily at 9am and is open most days until 11pm. Occasionally it closes at 6pm, so be sure to check the day that you plan to visit if you intend to be there or stay later into the evening. Regular admission for adults is $29.98, and $19.98 for seniors and youth ages 6-13years of age. Children 3-5 years of age are $9.98, and kids under 2 are free. HST is not included in those prices. There are discounted tickets available if you purchase Timed Tickets or Shark After Dark tickets. You can also check out their promo page to see if there are any further discounts or promotions going on. Military personnel are also eligible for further discounts.  

I think this attraction is not only fun but educational. And I'd be surprised if anyone did not enjoy their experience. The only downside for me is the crowd, because we have young ones. But that is simply fixed by going early when it's more quiet. For everyone else, it is likely not that big of a deal, as the aquarium does a good job of making the exhibits large and visible for a number of people to appreciate at one time. Whether you are an infant who enjoys watching things moving about to and fro, a school aged child who enjoys interactive learning displays, or an adult who appreciates the magnitude of our oceans and waterways, everyone will get something out of this unique attraction.  

All in all, I give Ripley's Aquarium of Canada 2 sharks, I mean, 2 thumbs up! 

***** These views are mine, and mine alone. As with anything, you are responsible for assessing whether this item and/or activity is safe and suitable for your specific needs. InfoMommy does not make any warranties of any kind, expressed or implied, and assumes no responsibility and/or liability for any actions taken as a result of this blog post.*****

    

The Lego Ideas Book Will Keep You & Your Kids Building!

    

Who doesn't love Lego? Whether you are young or old, there's nothing like expressing your creativity by building something with these well-known little bricks and pieces. 

The Lego Ideas Book features a myriad of things to make. Whether you want to build a monster truck, a castle bridge, animals or spaceships, you are guaranteed to find something that will get your creative juices flowing in this 200 page hardcover book. They even have useful build ideas to make organizers for things like pens and pencils, and to make your own picture frame out of your Lego pieces. 

You will find special sections in the book like Meet The Builder, which includes interview questions and answers from the Master Builders themselves. There are also sections that go into essential & alternative pieces to use and brick tips to get your own builds started. 

Many of the builds are relatively detailed. To copy the build ideas piece for piece, you would require an extensive array of Lego pieces, and experience that is not likely in a young child. But with an adult alongside, or for older kids, these ideas are easily adaptable to the pieces that one would already have in their collection.  As with The Lego Play Book, it would be nice to see some female oriented builds to balance out the creations already in the book, to coincide with the Lego Friends Lego sets and such. All in all this is a great educational book that my son has enjoyed looking at. He has spent a lot of time going through all the pages one by one and taking it all in. It would be of great interest to many. It's amazing what these builders come up with!  

The Lego Ideas Book is one of the many titles that DK Books Canada has featured this month in their March Break Boutique.  This title retails for $27.99CAN, but you might be able to find it for a better price at your local book store as it is a couple of years old.  

Happy building! 

***** These views are mine, and mine alone. As with anything, you are responsible for assessing whether this item and/or activity is safe and suitable for your specific needs. InfoMommy does not make any warranties of any kind, expressed or implied, and assumes no responsibility and/or liability for any actions taken as a result of this blog post.*****

Waves Indoor Waterpark Waves The Winter Blahs Goodbye in Niagara Falls Canada!

   

We visited Americana Resort's Waves Indoor Waterpark in Niagara Falls Canada this past weekend and had a great time. Americana Resort is located on the popular Lundy's Lane and their waterpark offers 25,000sq of water play! It features a one of a kind retractable roof that can be opened up during the warmer months, and is ideal for families, especially those with younger ones!

Upon arrival, you purchase your day passes from the front desk clerk. You head on over to the waterpark area and enter through the arcade. There you will find the change rooms that have approximately 5 single change rooms and 2 family sized change rooms. It would be nice if they had a couple more family sized change rooms as when we were there, there were a few families waiting in line to use them. If you have older children who can change on their own, they can take advantage of the single rooms which would speed up the changing process. There are 2 types of lockers in the change room area. The medium sized ones cost $2 per locker (as pictured) and the smaller ones cost $1. The smaller sized locker would easily accommodate one person's belongings for the most part.

Being a family of 4, and with it being winter, we required 4 of

the smaller ones to put all of our stuff in. One of those was for the diaper bag that we needed. We could have gotten away with 2 of the medium sized ones but they were all taken. During peak times, you might run the risk that they might all be taken as there were only a few left when we were there. It would be nice if they added another row of medium sized lockers especially for the winter months when everyone has so many more layers.  Be sure to bring a beach bag or something similar to hold your essentials such as diapers, cash for the snack bar, etc, as the lockers are one time use only. If you need to get something out of your locker, you will need to pay again. Fortunately, there are change machines in the area to get loonies and twoonies for the lockers should you not arrive with the proper change. 

In addition, I would strongly suggest bringing some flip flops or other footwear such as Crocs to wear between the change rooms and the waterpark, as you do walk through the arcade area to get back and forth. Day pass holders need to supply their own towels as hotel towels are for staying guests only, so don't leave those at home!

All of the water features at Waves are nestled closely together, which makes it easy for you to monitor your older children and/or to reunite or meet up with your friends and family throughout the day. The waterpark is best explained as these 5 areas:

#1 - The hot tub area accommodates approximately 16 people. 

#2 - The main water slide area contains 4 slides. The first two features a body slide and a tube slide. Most kids approximately 5yrs and up (& adults!) would enjoy these 2 slides. These were my personal favorites! Then there are 2 higher tube slides that are about 3 stories high. I didn't have the guts to brave these 2 in particular, but my husband and son did and they loved it! They described it as flying through a pitch black tunnel on a large inner tube and then getting spit out into the landing pool! This is a great area if you've got older kids!

#3 - The infant and toddler area is located in the back corner, which is a great place for it, in my opinion. Having 2 children who are a few years apart, my toddler will often want to copy what the older one is doing whether it is an appropriate activity for him or not. Having the larger play area for school aged children placed at the other side of the waterpark was great thinking. This way, the younger ones can play in this particular area without being tempted to utilize the playground structure designed and used by older kids. The infant and toddler section features bouncy swings within the water, toddler slides, and small toys such as balls for the kids to play with in this pool.  

#4 - The main pool area is where the waves happen. Literally and figuratively! It has graduated beach style entry, which is great for toddlers, and also includes basketball nets and balls for school aged kids or adults to play with. This pool becomes the wave pool at alternating intervals so that people who prefer the water without the waves can enjoy their time as well. The waves are quite strong, so be mindful of this when having younger ones such as toddlers and infants in the water at that time. 

#5 - The playground structure mentioned in #3 is a great place for school aged kids to burn off some steam! There are smaller sized water slides, sprinklers, small water cannons to spray people with and a large tipping bucket that spills over and splashes everyone when it fills to the brim with water. They also had a number of activities planned in the waterpark throughout the day to entertain the children. 

For your comfort, you will find a number of patio tables and chairs around these areas. You can even rent a private cabana for approximately $70-$140. Cabana rentals feature a TV, a mini fridge, towels, lounge chairs, and a hostess. Lifeguards were everywhere the day that we attended. It was comforting that have all those extra sets of eyes and ears even if it is ultimately a parent or guardian's responsibility to watch over their children. Lifejackets were available as well should you need one for your child or other non-swimmer. 

We found the temperature in the waterpark to be a bit on the cool side when we were there. It wasn't freezing by any stretch of the imagination and was warm enough for everyone to enjoy themselves. We were just expecting it to feel warmer than it did. Their website indicates that they keep the waterpark at a year round temperature of 84F, which it may have actually been. It was overcast for the time we were there and probably feels hotter when the sun is beaming through the retractable roof. With that being said, it was definitely warm enough. 

Waves Snack Bar is open for typical snack bar items and is fully licensed. Restaurant and snack prices at venues such as these are always pricey. Needless to say, I found the prices there to be the going rate for any type of family attraction. We had the pizza and it was quite good! I saw someone else ordering a salad and it looked fresh and appetizing as well.  No outside food or drinks are permitted inside the waterpark, so you will either have to come prepared, or bite the proverbial bullet and spend the extra money on snacks and/or meals while there. To view menu items and costs associated, click here. 

Waves typically opens at 10am and closes around 9pm. Times can vary throughout the year and they do set aside some days for maintenance, which forces a full waterpark closure. Be sure to call ahead so that you can plan to attend when the waterpark hours are amenable to your needs. 

There are 3 indoor waterparks in Niagara Falls, Canada. Only 2 of them allow you to buy day passes and Americana's Waves Indoor Waterpark is definitely the most cost effective. An All Ages Full Day Pass costs $26.95 per person 12 months of age and up. Children under 12 months of age are free. If you are a Niagara Falls Canada local, you can get your day pass for $15.95. If anyone plans on attending after 5pm, you can get a pass at a discounted rate of $19.95. These prices do not include taxes and may vary slightly during peak times. As always, check for promo codes or other discounts before you book. After all, my motto is "why pay more if you don't have to?" LOL

All in all, my family and I think this is a great choice for families with younger kids, or those on a budget. You will have a splashing good time and you will kick the winter blahs to the curb! Happy splashing! 

***** These views are mine, and mine alone. As with anything, you are responsible for assessing whether this item and/or activity is safe and suitable for your specific needs. InfoMommy does not make any warranties of any kind, expressed or implied, and assumes no responsibility and/or liability for any actions taken as a result of this blog post.*****