Reviews by Friends of LindaBee

SpokaneMan says "The Fisher Price Rock-a-Stack is a Fun and Interactice Baby Toy." about Fisher Price Rock a Stack

SpokaneMan — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:43:10 GMT

The Fisher Price Rock-a-Stack is one of those classic toys where most parents now have already had one when they were a child. The Fisher Price Rock-a-Stack has been around for a long time now, and that is because the product is great for the baby's development. Not only that, but the Rock-a-Stack is such a simple toy that even if the baby doesn't understand the point of the toy at first, it double's as a great teething toy with lots of different parts that the baby can play with.

For those who haven't heard of the Fisher Price Rock-a-Stack, it is a toy that comes with a base and a pole which has five rings on it. These donut shaped rings all slide off the top of the pole, and can be played with individually by the baby or toddler. Each ring is a different size, working from the biggest one on the bottom up to the smallest one on the top, and they also all come in different colors. Recently Fisher Price has started selling the Rock-a-Stack with a fifth ring that is partially...

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SpokaneMan says "A Great Set of Baby Keys That is Extremely Affordable" about RC2 First Keys

SpokaneMan — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:29:28 GMT

This is the first baby toy that we have already purchased a second and third time for our baby, and it is simply because she loves them so much. The Rc2 Brand baby keys are nothing spectacular to look at, as they are just five plastic keys that come on a key ring. The draw to these keys from the baby side of things, is that they are so lightweight that they can do anything they want with the keys. What we have taken to doing, is giving our baby these keys when she is waiting in her high chair for dinner, and she takes to playing them until she is served.

There are five keys that come on the little key ring, with each of them having a different shape and color. This sets the keys apart from each other, and makes the whole toy appear bright with color. That makes it appealing to the eyes four our baby, and it gets her attention every time she sees them. The other way we get her attention with the keys is by rattling them, and then she perks up right away. The ring is large...

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SpokaneMan says "The Fisher Price Musical Teether Keys Toy is a Great Baby Toy." about Fisher Price Musical Teether Keys

SpokaneMan — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 23:56:00 GMT

We purchased an expansive teething toy for our baby that has a lot of different entities to it, and which she has come to enjoy after a lot of use. This particular baby toy is the Fisher Price Musical Teether Keys, which isn't really keys in the typical sense of the word, but could be given that title. I would better classify this Fisher Price toy as a miniature activity center where the baby has a number of things that they can play with or use to teeth on. It's the multi-purpose functionality of this toy as both a teether and a musical toy that make it worth purchasing.

If you take a look at the picture, you can see that the top part is a ring that can hook on to any of your strollers or baby seats so that it doesn't get dropped on the floor. That is connected to another ring, with one side containing three sound making buttons. These buttons give different chimes, with one being a doorbell and another being like a car horn. They also each play a few bars of a song once...

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SpokaneMan says "Earth's Best Organic First Squash Went Over Great With Baby!" about Earth's Best Organic Baby Food

SpokaneMan — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 22:35:04 GMT

Earth's Best First Squash is a baby food sold to parents looking to introduce their babies to new foods. This is one of many beginner foods that Earth's Best sells in an organic form, and another in a great line of products that are made with real ingredients. One of the big selling points to the Earth's Best First Squash is that there aren't additional fillers used to expand the container, and that the ingredients are extremely limited. In fact the only ingredient that even makes the nutrition list is organic squash, putting the minds of parent's at ease about what their child might be getting in this dish.

The Earth's Best First Squash comes in a small jar that is advertised as being organically grown without potentially harmful pesticides, herbicides or fertilizers. Each jar contains one serving of the food (71 grams), but because it comes in a jar that can be refrigerated, you don't have to serve the whole think in one sitting. With the Earth's Best First Squash, we have split...

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SpokaneMan says "Gerber Organic Sweet Potatoes Have Been a Great Baby Treat" about Gerber Organic Sweet Potatoes

SpokaneMan — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 17:22:32 GMT

One of the first real foods we tried with our baby was the Gerber Organic Sweet Potatoes. They are part of the Gerber 1st foods program, where the company has created a selection of foods that are not only easy for the baby to eat, but easy on their stomach. The sweet potatoes option is sold in addition to their carrots and peas, and it comes in a 2-pack that makes it extremely easy to serve the baby. Each of the containers also contains two servings, so with one 2-pack you end up with four good meals. With each being wrapped separately, it also allows you to just use one, and save the other for later.

The Gerber Organic Sweet Potatoes have no filler ingredients, and are limited to just the sweet potatoes and water in their construction. They are a very healthy option for the baby, with each container only having 45 calories total. It's not really the point in their lives where you need to be worried about calories, but it's a good peace of mind to have when you know that...

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mrkstvns says "The Most Beautiful Cavern in Texas!" about Cave Without a Name

mrkstvns — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 21:38:05 GMT

I'm always looking for fun things to do with my kids on the weekends, and one thing we all love to do is to explore a "land down under". Underground that is. As in cave tours.

We do quite a few cave tours because it's fun, it's educational, it's interesting, it's beautiful, it's totally natural, and because it's a very cool thing to do (literally! It's like 68 degrees underground even when it's a skull-scorching 104 in the shade up top.).

One of the most naturally beautiful caves we've visited in Texas is the Cave Without a Name, located outside Boerne Texas. Boerne is in the heart of the infamous Texas Hill Country, maybe a half hour or so northwest of San Antonio. Though it can be something of a challenge to actually FIND, the Cave Without a Names is fairly close to San Antonio, making it an excellent family day trip for visitors to the Alamo Ciy.

Not only is the Cave Without a Name beautiful and natural, it's also affordable fun: $14 for adults and $7 for kids. A tour takes a bit over...

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mrkstvns says "A World of Childhood Wonder -- Mexico City's Papalote Museum" about Papalote Museo del Nino

mrkstvns — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 20:49:57 GMT

I'm a dad, and that means I spend a fair chunk of time on any trip doing things that shorter people like doing. Zoos and parks figure prominently in our family time, but so too do the many children's museums that are becoming highlights of many major cities. My small crew have been to quite a few children's museums, but their favorite (and mine too) is the delightful Papalote Museo del Nino in Mexico City.

I love the Papalote Museum because it's so big with such an enormous variety of fun activities and because it's got such GOOD exhibits for the little hands and developing minds. Many of the exhibits are hands-on explorations of the world we live in, with a hefty dose of technology to go with it. Papalote has these, just like most childrens' museums do. But what Papalote has that sets it apart are several exhibits that strike me as particularly Mexican.

Most childrens museums I've been to don't have hands-on archaeoligical digs, but then, most childrens museums aren't located in the heart...

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mrkstvns says "It's ALWAYS a Gruesome Halloween Night at the Mummy Museum!" about Museo de las Momias

mrkstvns — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 20:14:38 GMT

One of the COOLEST, most utterly gruesome and terrifyingly WEIRD museums in all of Mexico is the infamous Museo de las Momias --- The Mummy Museum!!

Most travelers come to Guanajuato for the beautiful colonial atmosphere and the city's many cultural celebrations and festivals. But the macabre Museo de las Momias is just icing on the cake!

The museum has an ENORMOUS collection of mummies --- must be hundreds of them. There's galleries where you walk in, and just look down long glass showcases with mummy after mummy, most with grotesque expressions of death on their face, scraps of rotted clothing, bits of wood and dust, or other typical mummy attire.

Some though are just plain unsettling. They have a collection of "child mummies" --- babies or toddlers who died and became mummified, some still wearing very identifiable Sunday best, or clutching rotted bits of beloved toys.

You do know what Beethoven is doing these days, right? He's decomposing!

Well, that's a sure sign that he wasn't buried...

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mrkstvns says "The Convenient Weekend Beach Getaway for Arizona Partiers..." about Puerto Penasco

mrkstvns — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 19:40:03 GMT

A look at a map shows you that Arizona is a land-locked state. It also shows you that it has a long border with Mexico and that there are miles of beaches along the Sea of Cortez just beckoning to Arizona locals. The most popular and fully developed of these beaches is Puerto Peñasco, which many Arizona folks prefer to call "Rocky Point" because otherwise they have to learn how to pronounce the sound of the ñ (en-yay) character, which as all gringos know, is a terrifying prospect indeed.

In any case, Puerto Peñasco has some things going for it that make it popular with the Arizona local yokels. First, it's got beaches (which sure beats the miles of brown sand that Arizona has). Second, it's pretty darn affordable with lots of dirty cheap hotel rooms and plenty of small seafood restaurants where you can sit out on the beach and dig your toes into the brown sand as waiters bring out plate after plato of yummy-licious camarones al diablo or filetes al mojo de ajo, along with chilly cervezas...

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mrkstvns says "Museo de Jose Luis Cuevas --- Where Modern Meets Ancient" about Museo Jose Luis Cuevas

mrkstvns — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 19:09:13 GMT

There are more than 100 major museums in Mexico City, making it one of the most complex yet most rewarding big city destinations in the world. There's at least dozen big museums that can take you hours, if not full days, to tour --- but there are also countless smaller museums with tightly focused themes that can be fully experienced within only a couple hours. The Museo de Jose Luis Cuevas is one of these smaller museums.

I love the traditional Spanish architecture of the colonial home in which the museum is housed. It's just a few blocks walk from the Zocalo, making it an very easy side trip for anyone already sightseeing in the downtown area. It also means that, like just about everything in Mexico City's Centro area, everything you see and touch is about 400 - 500 years old. You'll walk up the cobblestone streets to the museum, which is easily identified by the enormous warped looking human heads outside.

Those sculptures give you a delicious first taste of what Jose Luis Cuevas is...

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mrkstvns says "Museo de Vidrio --- A Unique Glass Museum in Monterrey" about Museo de Vidrio

mrkstvns — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 18:25:57 GMT

Monterrey is one of Mexico's most interesting large cities because it's so dynamic and there's so much to see and do for the visitor who scratches just slightly below the surface.

The city has quite a lot to offer the visitor with an interest in the fine arts, and one of its real artistic gems is the Museo del Vidrio --- the Glass Museum. The museum itself is located inside a mammoth industrial glass works, and it does have some exhibits that are educational and that inform you about glass as a commercial product. That's not its strongest point though.

The Museo del Vidrio has an extensive collection of stunning artworks, all crafted from glass. There are many, many examples of hand-blown and spun glass objects of stunning artistry and complexity, but what blows my mind are the really large, complex artworks. They have things like an enormous horse that sparkles under its spotlights as if it were crafted from a million diamonds --- but it's glass.

There's also an enjoyable gift shop on site,...

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