RedBox Wii Games Review

January 16th, 2012

I was approached by smiley360.com to do a review on RedBox. For those of you who do not know what RedBox is…it is a small kiosk located outside of many retail stores where you can rent movies…and now Wii and XBox 360 games. smiley360 gave me 5 free promo codes to rent some Wii games.

It’s actually pretty simple. You browse the selection on the screen, pick your movies/games, and proceed to checkout where you swipe your credit card. Movies are $1 per day and games are $2 per day. Not a bad deal at all!

We went to a local RedBox to rent a Wii game. The first RedBox kiosk we stopped at only had three Wii games available…and they were all checked out. XBox 360 had more of a selection, but we do not have an XBox.

So, we went to a second location. This RedBox had 5 or 6 Wii games available. The first one on the list was Wipeout 2. Ace is addicted to that show. We DVR it and he will watch it at least 50 times before the new one comes out the next week.

We rented Wipeout 1 a while back and it was too complicated. Even I had a hard time playing it. But we took Wipeout 2 over to Grandma’s house where Ace and his cousin Olivia could give it a go. They both picked up on the controls rather quickly and played it for a few hours before the Wii remote batteries died. Otherwise I think they would still be playing.

We all played the Wipeout 2 game and everyone got a kick out of it! It was so much like the TV show with it’s replays of your wipe outs and even has John Anderson, John Henson, and Jill Wagner as hosts with their funny commentary!

We were going to use all five free promo codes, but since it was my first rental I could only rent one game at a time. Also the selection was limited (I’m hoping because it is such a new thing to rent Wii games). So I will have to continue to check back and rent the four other games and post reviews here as well.

smiley360.com also sent me a free game called Go Vacation. This game is amazing! We have played it for hours and only touched the surface of the things you can do.

The whole point of the game is that you are on vacation and can roam around the resorts on your own and do the different activities that you find. The box for the game says there are over 100 different mini games you can play.

Ace just liked hopping on the four wheelers and jet skis and cruising around the island. We left the game at Grandma’s house one night and the next day Olivia played it for like four hours!! We took it back home and she was quite upset that she could not continue to play…so, I think her Dad will end up buying it for her.

All in all we had a great time. We got the family together, made homemade pizzas, and played the Wii into the weeee hours of the night. Much longer than the kids lasted. I’m pretty sure the adults enjoyed it as much (if not more) than the kids.

Note: smiley360.com provided me with a free sample game to play as well as five free promo codes to rent games from any RedBox location. I was not paid to do this review and the opinions expressed are my own.

Tags: redbox, wii
Posted in: Entertainment, Family, Fun Activities, Product Reviews |
Views: 1,091
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Riding In Style!

March 28th, 2008

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My wish list keeps getting bigger and bigger and bigger. :D

Back when Momma and I were picking out diaper bags and strollers I insisted that they not be too “girly” looking. Admit it. Most diaper bags and strollers are designed for moms. I wanted something that was gender neutral. No lace. No fru-fru. No bright colors. I mean I would have to be seen in public using these things too.

Obviously I am not the only one who thinks this. Why? Because KidKustoms has come out with some awesome strollers specifically with Dad’s in mind. Dads with style that is… Check out “The Roddler”!

How sweet is this beaty! They are totally customizable with options for built in LCD screens and IPod/IPhone docks. You pick your colors. You pick your fender style! Look at the white wall tires!

This thing is definitely on my Wish List, however I think it will probably be there for a while… The Roddler may be for Dads with style, but in reality it is for Dads with style…and money. These awesome rides start at a whopping $2500 according to their website.

Oh well. It’s OK to dream, right? I mean, I have an imagination. I’ll just pretend my hunker-junker…

…is one stream lined, baby strolling machine, as I dodge the bumps and cracks in my suburban neighborhood sidewalks. Vroom Vroom Baby!

Tags: gift ideas, gifts, Links, Money, outside, products, walking
Posted in: Links, Product Reviews |
Views: 1,773
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Stylin’ The Do

March 14th, 2008

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Well, Ace is one year old. He has a full years worth of hair growth. It’s long in some places and short in others. It hangs over his ears and he has the makings of one cool-ass rat tail.

So, we decided to have it cut for the first time. Here is a before shot…

Before Shot #3

So how should we get it cut? What would he like? Should we buzz it off so he looks like me? (which is impossible because he already has more hair than I do) Should we get him a tight fade? How about a flat top? Or should we let it grow into a rock-star like hair-do?

I went to http://ecarddesignanimation.com and made some virtual hair styles for the little guy…take a look at what I mangled up…

(Ignore the “FOR GOLD MEMBERSHIP” text. You gotta pay $20 or something to get rid of that crap, so you all will have to live with it, aight?)

Here is the pic I started with…

and here are a couple of the looks that I created for the little guy?

2008-03-13_152415 2008-03-13_152507

How about a little longer?

2008-03-13_152628

And how about some shades and facial hair?

2008-03-13_152756 2008-03-13_152901

Which one is your favorite?

After some in depth considerations we decided to go with this look…nice and simple.

Admiring his new hair-do.

We took Ace to a place called Cookie Cutters. This place was awesome. There was a small play area for kids to play in before getting their hair cut right next to where the parents sit.

The chairs that the kids sit in are even cool. Ace sat in a tractor. There were also chairs that looked like horses, trucks, airplanes, and boats! At each chair there was a TV. The kids can pick from a library of their favorite cartoons, or for the older kinds they can play their favorite Play Station game while getting a trim.

I think I might go there to get my hair cut next time (yes they cut Dad’s hair too) to get some uninterrupted Grand Theft Auto playing time.

Anyways, Ace loved the tractor. He immediately grabbed the steering wheel and was “Hoggin’ up the road in his P-P-P-P-Plower” (For all you country music fans out there.)

All was good until the clippers got close to his ears. Then you would have thought that something jumped up and grabbed him by his danglies!

Momma had to hold him for a while while the stylist kept on cutting. I grabbed a bottle of bubbles and blew bubbles at a higher rate than a professional bubble blowing machine…to no avail.

Then Ace reached for me, so I held him while the hair cut lady kept on cuttin’. Drawing his attention to the TV stopped the screaming for a few minutes, but it didn’t last long enough.

Finally, the torture was over and he came out with a brand spankin’ new hair cut. After cleaning up a few tears with a Kleenex and wiping a years worth of Ace hair off of my coat’s shoulder…we were done.

Of course Ace got a fancy certificate and a locket of his hair for keepsake purposes. Hopefully next time there will be a little less screaming and a bit more laughing! We might have to mess around with my hair clippers at home for some practice before our next visit.

Tags: crying, hair cuts, screaming
Posted in: Funny Stuff, Growing Up, Pictures, Product Reviews |
Views: 3,016
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Let Me Outta Here!

November 23rd, 2007

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Let Me Outta Here!

Aaaahhhh! The sacred baby gate! What would we do with out them?

Well, Ace is now very mobile and has taken to the stairs. He can go up, but he only knows one way down…tumbling.

So, for his safety (and our sanity) we put up a few baby gates. One at the bottom of the stairs leading upstairs, and one at the top of the stairs leading to the basement.

So now I can check off another baby proofing task. Next task…baby proofing the dog food bowl! Any ideas?

Recommendation

By the way, if any of you out there are questioning which type of baby gate to get I would highly recommend the type that we are using. It is an Evenflo Simple Step Pressure Gate.

Things I like about it:

Easy to install…no drilling or screwing into the walls.
It is strong…I could not knock it down, so I know Ace can not.
It has a swing open door…I can easily open the gate to walk through without having to take the whole gate down every time I want to go up the stairs.
Child proof latch…the latch is a bit cumbersome at first, but once you get the hang of it, it can easily be opened with one hand. If Ace gets this thing open he is a genius!

Again, I highly recommend this baby gate. Get more information about this gate at Amazon.com…

Tags: baby gate, safety, stairs
Posted in: Child Safety, Product Reviews |
Views: 1,371
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