Walking on the Clouds

This weekend, the Liberty Science Center had a special event for blogger from the New Jersey Moms Blog, NYC Moms Blog, and Philly Moms Blog. We unanimously declared it the best blogger family event we'd ever attended. Even my husband agreed. He didn't get that semi-comatose look he usually gets when we enter children's museums. He was as into it as the kids. Hawaii is probably the only place we would have been happier to be at on this frigid day.

The last time we went to the Liberty Science Center, about a year and a half ago, it had just reopened after a huge renovation. We had been underwhelmed by the offerings for little kids and had just written off as a big kid activity. This time we were blown away by the experience, and we didn't even have time to explore the permanent exhibits! We mingled with the other bloggers and were treated to four different shows: Fun with Liquid Nitrogen, a Live Animal Show, and a 3-D planetarium show starring Big Bird and Elmo.

Between shows, we got to mingle and meet each other's families. I realized that over the last year, I've gotten to know a bunch of great ladies from the tri-state area. A year ago, I attended a Kung Fu Panda event and knew no one. This time I was so excited to meet everyone's husbands and kids. I saw Liz from This Full House, Melissa from Fits and Giggles, Feener from Mommy Vents, Amy from Selfish Mom, Kate from Kate Spot, Jen from the Kamienski Chronicles.and

The liquid nitrogen show was amazing. We actually saw it twice! Balloons were shrunk and shoved into small containers, rubber was hardened, and we learned a lot about gases, solids, and liquids. We were all amazed by the cold cloud big finale: it was like walking on the moon.



The 3-D Planetarium place was shown in this cool inflatable black bubble contraption. Entering was the hardest part - almost like re-entering the womb. But once inside, we were treated to an intimate exploration of the skies as seen in the US and China. Juliette loved having Elmo and Big Bird walking around all around us. We all lay down on the floor and looked up at the stars, completely mesmerized.




I would say this post definitely qualifies as a Wordful Wednesday post!

Got Questions for Sarah Palin?

Katie Couric is preparing to spend two days interviewing Sarah Palin.   She just posted an invite on the New York City Moms Blog, sister site to the New Jersey Moms blog, asking for the questions that women bloggers have for Sarah. How often do we get the chance to influence a major interview on the eve of an election?.

So if you have any questions for Sarah Palin - both positive and negative - email them to couriconline@cbsnews.com.

Kung Fu Panda Giveaway

I went to a Kung Fun Panda promotional event on Sunday organized by the Silicon Valley Moms Blog. It was my first family blog event - or as my kids put it - finally our turn for a goody bag!

I'd like to share the spoils of this goody bag with you - my first giveaway. Please post a comment below by Monday, June 9 with your email address and the best kid movie you've recently seen. I'll randomly select a winner to receive an HP Kung Fu Panda activity CD and a gift card for 70 snapfish digital camera prints (50 if you're already a customer).

The event, held at Kidville on the Upper West Side, was really fun. How could it not be fun with a bouncing castle, a trampoline, crafts, video games, face painting, candy, and good pass-arounds? But it was curiously missing promotion of the actual movie. I was expecting to see a clip or receive passes to the movie, but the closest we got to the movie was playing video games and taking pictures with a cardboard panda. Don't get me wrong, we had fun doing that, and we're still just as fired up to see Kung Fu Panda, but it did seem like a little bit of a waste. Isn't the point of getting a bunch of bloggers in one place to show them the actual product, or part of the actual product, so they can talk it up?

Regardless, I had a great time. I got to meet some online friends like Feener of Mommy Vents, and Phat Mommy, as well as catch up with some online friends I've recently met like Andi of Mama Knows Breast and Jessica of the NYC Moms Blog. I even got to have a few minutes of chat time longer than just saying hi as my kids ran around the various rooms. Pretty great for a sunday afternoon.