Reviews by samarabellek

samarabellek says "Great for a first dollhouse" about Fisher-Price My First Dollhouse

samarabellek — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 03:44:22 GMT

My mother in law the FP My First Dollhouse for my daughter for Christmas. I loved it at first site, and so did she! She didn't want to open any other presents. At not even 2.5 I wasn't sure if she would like it but she did. It came with some basic furniture, mommy, daddy, and a little girl.

My first complaint is that my mother in law didn't buy ANY of the sets to go with it, but that isn't FP's fault lol. We ended up getting the bedroom sets right away, and have eventually purchased all the sets.

I have 2 little girls...and thankfully there is a big sis and a little sis. But there are no boys! Don't boys play with dolls too? Or sisters who have little brothers that want to pretend?

Anyway, this is a wonderful first dollhouse, there is nothing that can be eaten destroyed.

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samarabellek says "Cute idea but could use some improvements" about Fisher-Price Star Station

samarabellek — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 03:38:18 GMT

My dad purchased a Star Station for my 3 year old for Christmas. It was an immediate hit...once I finally got it hooked up. I had to try 3 different TV's for it to work. It only worked on my newest television set, which was hard to configure b/c we a DVD player, sound system, etc etc hooked up. Also it is in the basement where the lighting is low which made the picture quality very poor. ALSO it is a big screen which I'm sure didn't help with the quality.

Thankfully we bought a different cartridge b/c the songs that came with it where not very kid friendly. We bought typically kid songs which were more to her ability.

It needs too many batteries as well. I contacted FP for an a/c adaptor b/c there is a plug opening but apparently they don't make one. Very odd.

B/c of where we had to put the Star Station and its complication of set up it hasn't been used much. The batteries leaked in it making the spring in one of the battery compartments break off. Now it is useless....

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samarabellek says "Cute game, great for kids (and even adults!)" about Hasbro Elefun - The Butterfly Catchin' Game

samarabellek — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 03:30:24 GMT

We bought Elefun for our 3 year old. She immediately loved it! You put butterflies in an elefants trunk and it blows them out and you need to catch them in your net. This game can be played alone or with up to 4 players.

Sometimes my friend comes over and we play with my daughter...and we start to make up "adult" rules where we have to stay on our knees and can't do this or that...very silly! Makes it fun for even us to play.

Recently my 3 young cousins came to stay with me and the 10 and 6 year olds even got a kick out of this game, making up similar stay on your knees kind of rules.

Cons: Not all the butterflies come out. The batteries drain really quickly and you need 4 or 6 C batteries. The lid is really hard to remove even for me.

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samarabellek says "Great game for kids of all ages!" about Cranium Hullabaloo

samarabellek — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 03:23:43 GMT

We purchased Hullabaloo for my 3 year old for Christmas 2007. We got a great deal on it through Amazon for $9.99. It was one of the first toys she wanted to play with. It does require quite a few batteries, 4 or 6 C if I remember correctly. We set it up for her and she LOVES it! Basically there are pads on the floor and the game calls out what you need to do, like jump to the square, run to a food, etc etc. Easy commands. We had the whole family playing it was great! You can also play all alone. I even brought this to her preschool class for a class party. My only complaint is you can't turn it up loud enough when there are a bunch of kids and they start getting really silly (which will definitely happen!...

samarabellek says "Good food, a good price, service hit or miss" about Olive Garden - GURNEE, IL

samarabellek — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 03:15:11 GMT

We love Olive Garden, the food is usually great in general. We've had a few times where the service hasn't been great but overall no big issues!

We brought our 2 children with and they love the pizza and the fettucini. When the wait is too long they get really antsy. The Tour of Italy is really good and is enough to take home for another meal. I also LOVE the toasted ravioli.

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