Summer, Day 1

June 11, 2015 by 3 Comments

Phineas and Ferb lied. There are only 62 days in my kids’ summer vacation as opposed to their 104.

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Still, it’s a long time and many days to fill. We have already planned a camping trip, a Vegas road trip, and our typical 3 weeks in Connecticut to visit family.

Yesterday was the last day of school. I looked forward to spending today in my office in my pajamas, catching up on work while the kids max out on TV and video games. I figured if they got their fill and then some, they’d eventually get bored enough to…oh I don’t know. Play outside? Like children do?

But they are brothers, and they fight like stereotypical ones. So I had to turn off the TV. Then I had to turn off the video games. “Nobody does anything fun unless you can get along.”

One picked up a book. The other started playing with LEGO’s.

And then one started whining that he wanted a friend to come over, so I texted around and found him a playdate. But a threesome always makes for one whiny brother who usually ends up in tears, so I found another friend who was willing to host him. Now we’ve got games spread all over the house. Inventory: 2 happy kids, one off site playing with friends.

So far so good. Wish me luck.

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Make Music With Zya – a Free App

January 14, 2014 by Leave a Comment

zya mixing studio

There’s a great new game you can play with your kids (or alone, nobody has to know) on your iPhone or iPad. Zya is a music mixing game (available in the App Store) that allows you to choose avatars for every member of your band, the guitar riffs, the drum beat and hook, and even record your own lyrics. Here’s a song that Kyle made after a few minutes of playing around:

(He preferred pop over rock. Give him time.)

zya drummer

You pay to add on the option of recording your own vocal duet with a popular song, like “Blurred Lines” (for the grownups) and “Bye Bye Bye.” But even in the free app, you can score points to earn cool new options like additional vocal filters (like auto-tune, which many people can use) and new artist avatars to choose.

It’s fun to play around with it and it’s creative, too!

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Dear Santa: LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean

October 31, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Kyle checks out the multi-plane camera at the Frank G. Wells Building at Disney

We’ve been to a lot of Halloween parties the last few weeks. The first one was thrown by Disney Interactive on the lot at Disney in Burbank. My kids were in heaven – there were video games to play all around the room, and lots of sugary cookies to eat. They basically stationed themselves at the LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean game in the corner and took a break every 20 minutes or so to go put icing on a Tinker Bell cookie and lick it off. Here’s a description of the game:

LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game – This action adventure video game brings to life the Pirates of the Caribbean world and all its colorful characters in LEGO brick form. Rated E10+.

So I guess I know what they want for Christmas. We’re already big LEGO Star Wars fans, so it’s not a surprise that LEGO Pirates would follow, even though the kids haven’t seen any of the movies. What was extra super cool was that the young man helping the kids with the game is a video game tester for Disney Interactive, so he knew what he was doing. The young lady stationed at the game next to them actually designs the games. Proof that video games don’t necessarily rot your brain – they can provide you with a career.

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