The Adventures of Mr. Potato Head

Another fun exhibition is in Ottawa for the summer. The Adventures of Mr. Potato Head has arrived in town on June 8^th and will be at the Canadian Children’s Museum located inside the Museum of Civilization until January 5^th, 2014. However, please keep in mind that this specific exhibition is specifically geared for younger kids ages 2-4. Though my kids enjoyed exploring this exhibition when we went, it was a little bit too “childish” for my nine and twelve year old son. My 5 years old daughter and 7 years old son had a blast on their own way.

This exhibition was created by the Betty Brinn Children’s Museum in collaboration with Hasbro. In fact, I had requested the possibility to check the exhibition out through my contact at Hasbro Canada. Within a few days I received confirmation that we could go anytime we wanted.

So on a nice Saturday morning, we headed up to the Museum of Civilization in order to explore the special exhibition entirely created around the Adventures of Mr. Potato Head. Right at the entrance of this exhibition, my kids were immediately attracted to the play table where you can decorate seven potato bodies using numerous body parts and accessories. My four kids and I created our own silly Mr. Potato Head figure based on our imagination and ideas. You can see the result of this creativity below.

Right after unleashing this creativity, you can discover a bit of history about Mr. Potato Head.   Did you know that Mr. Potato Head used to have a real potato for his head in the 1950s?   You can see the kind of body parts and accessories the set back in those days had in a special presentation bubble.    My kids were amazed by this interesting fact when we explained to them that the toy exist for quite some time.

The exhibition contains four main stations where the kids can explore and discover the world of Mr. Potato Head. In the Spud Safari, the kids can learn to identify creatures based on their calls, hop in a jungle rover and explore the surrounding as well as create their own amazing jungle bugs out of a variety of tools.

In the Space S.P.U.D., the kids can join Commander Mr. Potato Head on the S.P.U.D. (Super Potato United for Discovery) space station as they orbit the distant planet Neptato. For some reasons, unbeknown to be, my kids have not been attracted to this specific station while we visited.

In the Spud Overboard, the kids can expore a playhouse for underwater exploration with buttons triggering water sound effects. Budding musicians can explore your music gifting by composing an ocean overture while using the vessel’s musical pipes.

Finally, in the Spud Quest station, the kids can transform themselves as archeologists in order to explore the ruins of a lost vegetable kingdom. A huge statue is at the centre of the room and using the pedestal, the kids can emboss their names on a piece of paper using the 26 tatoglyphs. This was my favourite part to be honest. However, I would have made the pieces of paper a little bit longer so that you could create tatoglyphs on the whole name of the child when it is longer. Behind the huge statue of King Tato’s you will find fun mazes that are designed to challenge any child – young and old. The mazes immediately attracted the attention of my two oldest kids during our visit.

The kids were also invited to create their own burlap bag to take home while visiting the Children’s Museum Studio. My two youngest kids designed their own bag to collect treasures during their own exploration this summer. My older two didn’t want to do this activity but waited patiently while their siblings were being creative.

If you are visiting Ottawa/Gatineau, you might want to bring your younger kids to the Adventures of Mr. Potato Head. Tickets can be purchase online.  Please note that the purchase of the tickets will allow you to explore the Canadian Children’s Museum and the Canadian Museum of Civilization as well.

Disclaimer: Thanks to Hasbro Canada and the Museum of Civilization for allowing my family to explore the new exhibit of The Adventures of Mr. Potato Head in exchange of a reviews . I was not monetarily compensated for this review. Please note that the review was not influenced by the Sponsor in any way. All opinions expressed here are only my own.

Service as it should be

Let’s travel in time together for a minute.  About three weeks ago, we remove the carpet on the 2nd floor in our home and installed laminate.  Following this gigantic change, I had a small accident in our bedroom – my glasses dropped on the floor from the night table.   With carpet it wouldn’t have been an issue.  I would have picked them up and put them back on the night table.   But with laminate flooring….  it’s another story.  So I picked up the glasses, put them on the night table and rested a bit.  When I got up, I grabbed my glasses to wear them but an arm was missing.  Looking on the floor, I realized that the frame was broken.   SIGH.

Back in May, I got a new prescriptions for my glasses – progressives lenses were a must.   So I shopped around and learned that the eyewear department at Loblaws on Baseline Road was the cheaper place.   I compared many stores – Hakim (well when I went they had closed the store for 30 minutes so I never went back), Laurier Optical (extremely pricey), Costco and Loblaws optical.    At the time of the purchase, Loblaws optical was very competitive with Costco (60$ less).   I could keep my frame which was still good and save a bit in the process.  Having experienced an amazing service with my son’s glasses a few months before, I decided to order through them.

Fast forward to my little accident.   I immediately went to Hakim where the frame were purchase – hoping we could find another one.   That evening, we were told that there were three in Ontario, that we could get one pair transferred and we could purchase them.   However, the next morning, it was someone else in the store and I was told (rudely) that the stores didn’t have any and I could come and pick up the glasses immediately.   No offers whatsoever to find other arms or nothing.   (never really liked the service there….)

So I drove to Loblaws optical on Baseline and told my situation.  He took the frame and told me he will see what he can do.    The next day, he told me he had two options – he had found two frames that could fit but he would have to cut manually the lenses or he had installed new arms on the frame.   We went to check it out.  Obviously, the arms were not a perfect fit…  They were extending more than usual on a regular frame.   But it was doing the job.   I agreed to test them for a week or two and see how it would go.   Price tag for this work: 0$.   We were amazed at the service offered once again.

A week passed…. I kept adjusting the glasses as one arm would pop out every once in a while.   After a week, I told my husband that it was driving me crazy.   He told me to go and get one of the two frames that the owner had found a week earlier.   So I went, he ordered the frame and worked on the lenses.  On Wednesday this week, June 10th, he called me and told me that he had cut the lenses but he wasn’t satisfied with the result – there was a bit of space between the lense and the frame.  He was ordering a new set of lenses and will return the old ones.   The previous night, I had mentioned to my husband that I had the feeling that he would do such a thing.   I can go and pick a brand new frame for the new lenses – something I would be more comfortable with – if I wanted to.   He thinks the lenses should be in by Friday at the earliest.

I’m speechless.    

Can you see how amazing the service at the Loblaws optical on Baseline Road (corner of Woodroffe) is?   (Guess which store has just lost my business?  No more Hakim eyewear for this family…)   I am amazed by the service offered by Scott McCulloch and will definitively go back to him for all our eyewear needs in the future.   I strongly recommend you to go check out Loblaw Optical and ask for Scott McCulloch, the managing optician.     He is extremely friendly and will work with you to find the best fit for your eyes.  

Loblaw Optical
1980 Baseline Road
Ottawa, ON  K2C 0C6
(613) 723-3200  Ext. 135

As for me… I need to go select my new frames and wait patiently for the lenses to arrive.   

This is service as it should be.   Thank you Mr. McCulloch for your amazing service and dedication to your clients!

Despicable Me 2 Monopoly and Operation Games

Despicable Me 2 games
From Hasbro Canada

Well the movie Despicable Me 2 is officially out in theaters.     And when we realized that a 2nd movie has been made, my husband asked me if we ever saw the first one.  Nope, not yet.    So now we have a new titled to watch with the kids.   Well, make that two movies in a way because if we watch the first one we will more than likely watch the second as well.

Watch this trailer of Despicable Me 2.

NEW MOVIE MEANS NEW GAMES

Hasbro as teamed up with Universal Studios in order to offer some interesting games based on the movie.   I have received two of the product from Hasbro to present to my readers!

Monopoly Despicable Me 2

 

It’s the classic fast-dealing property trading game of Monopoly, now with multitudes of minions! Gru is back with another evil plan and it’s up to you to collect Banana Bucks and own all of your favorite properties before he succeeds. Spin the Minion Spinner to move your minion around the board and wheel and deal to win the most mischievious Monopoly game ever!

This Despicable Me 2 version of Monopoly is mischievous property-trading fun! Buy and sell properties! Collect Banana Bucks! Includes exclusive minions! 50 minions to collect! (Each sold separately.)  Game includes 4 minion tokens, spinner pod with Nom Nom Tom minion, game track, game tray (plus 2 clips), 16 Cupcake tokens, 8 Ice-Cream Sundae tokens, 16 Property cards, 16 Chance cards, Banana Bucks and game guide.

Operation Despicable Me 2

It’s the classic skill game of Operation, now with multitudes of minions! Stuart’s having a bad day and it’s up to you to fix him. Operate on Stuart to remove the unicorn fluff or fix his nutty noggin and his toxic tongue! Collect all of Stuart’s Funatomy parts to win and earn extra points with Minion Medics, but don’t set off the buzzer! Are your hands steady enough to win the Despicable Me 2 version of Operation?

This Despicable Me 2 version of Operation is mischievous fun! Use the tweezers to collect Funatomy parts!   Includes exclusive minions! 50 minions to collect! (Each sold separately.)  Game includes gameboard featuring Stuart the Patient and tweezers, 4 Minion Medics, 11 plastic Funatomy parts, 1 storage bag and game guide.

My Thoughts

Even though I am not familiar with the minions, I must admit that I find these two game totally adorable.    I like the creativity of the creators behind these games geared toward kids.   I think you have to be very imaginative and full of ideas to adapt well beloved games to a specific movie.   I have seen other games based on movies in the past and to be honest Hasbro as a way to impress me every time.   

Take the Operation game for example – Though it is somewhat similar to the original version when it comes on how to play the game, it’s different at the same time because it contains fun anatomy parts for a minion.  Also you will find included in the package four minion medics to help you with the surgery.

Same goes with the Monopoly game.   Gru is planning to take over the game of Monopoly.   The goal of the came is to collect Banana Bucks as fast as you can and own your favorite Despicable Me properties.    Kids will learn to count money, how to pay for things, and take chances to win.    Also included in this fun game is a special minion that you have to spin in order to move.  You will also find ice cream sundaes and cupcakes tokens for this special version of a classic game.

And the best part for kids (not so much for parents who will have to pay!) is that you can collect up to 50 minions which are sold separately.   Each games contains some of the minions to collect but you will have to purchase the other ones if your child wants to have other ones.

Both the Despicable Me 2 Monopoly and Despicable Me 2 Operation games are available at your favourite toy store, even amazon.com.

  

Disclaimer: Thanks to Hasbro Canada for sending me the above mentioned products for review purposes . I was not monetarily compensated for this review. Please note that the review was not influenced by the Sponsor in any way. All opinions expressed here are only my own.