On The Hunt For More Minions

Disclosure: This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc., and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #The7thMinion #CollectiveBias

Do you remember being a kid and being super excited to dig through a cereal box to find the toy inside? I do. I didn't really eat cereal but I remember fighting to grab the box from my brother so I would be the first to get the toy. I also remember getting into lots of trouble for being mean to my brother and for sticking my hands in the cereal box. These are some of my favorite Saturday morning childhood memories so you can imagine how excited I was when I found out that there were now toys inside some General Mills cereals. Yup, there are now Minions toys inside specially-marked General Mills cereals at Walmart. I quickly wrote down "fun cereal" on my grocery list!!

The next time we went grocery shopping, we hit up the cereal aisle. The kids saw the Minion movie boxes before I did. All of a sudden I saw 4 cereal boxes in my shopping cart. Yup 4 boxes! 

Minions movie packaging comes on the following General Mills Family Size cereals:

Honey Nut Cheerios

Cinnamon Toast Crunch

Lucky charms

Resse's Puffs

Trix

Cocoa Puffs

Golden Grahams

The kids (and JC) are super excited for the new Minions movie coming out this week so they were super anxious to see which Minions they would find! There are 7 Minions to collect, including an exclusive Prehistoric Minion only available in cereal boxes sold at Walmart!

Thankfully, the toys were not inside the cereal! They were inside the box. No broken boxes or bags of cereal! All the fun, less mess! 

We found these three (one was doubled) inside our boxes. I have already been asked to go back to Walmart and buy more cereal!! We need to collect them all!

Do you remember digging through cereal boxes to find the toy? 

Are your kids on the hunt for all 7 Minion toys?

Sunday Funday

Yesterday morning after breakfast we packed up the kids and headed to a splash park. Yes, I know my kids are older and the splash areas are meant for young kids/toddlers but we didn't care. I needed to get out of my house, get out of my neighborhood and go somewhere new.

The kids had a blast. This park has a splash area, lazy river and wave pool. Best part? My kids are old enough to be let loose. They each do what they want when they want to but first, family lazy river ride. We grabbed two double tubes and one single. We jumped in our tubes, held onto each others ankles and off we went. It was wonderful! I didn't get any pictures of this because I didn't want to get my phone wet. Maybe next time!  I actually took one lazy river pic from later on in the day:

Of course, my kids were the ones swimming in the lazy river instead of riding on tubes. Anyway, after the family lazy river ride, we went to the splash area. There were maybe three other families there (when it gets super hot in Miami, everyone heads to the beaches, best time for a water/splash park) so it was great to run around and have fun!

Man, he's handsome!!

Then we went to the wave pool. Here I annoyed them enough to take a group pic for me!

And then everyone in true form:

We had a wonderful, family-fun, carefree day. Exactly what a Sunday should be!! After the park we went to Dunkin Donuts and had doughnuts and bagels for dinner! This was our "We survived the first week back to school" celebratory dinner!! Days like this make life worth living!!

What did you do this weekend? 

Down By The Lake

Swimming in a lake is a summer must-do! We have a lake in our neighborhood (actually right behind our house) perfect for swimming. This summer, now that they are better swimmers, we allowed the kids to go swimming in the lake. They had the time of their lives!

I love these stairs. They lead from the pool area down to the floating dock where the kids spent hours jumping into the water.

Adrian front-flipped right in!

 Amberly is more a "let's test it out first" type of girl.



She quickly joined in the fun though...

This is the face of pure childhood joy!

Jumping with Dad...

This daredevil isn't scared of a thing. He wouldn't even stop a second to get a good picture!

Solo jumping isn't as fun as being launched into the water.

He is so happy in the water. I might have given birth to some sort of human-fish hybrid!

This is exactly what dads and uncles are for. Cool jumps!

I snuck away to get this shot of all of them enjoying their afternoon. My brother and his friends joined in so I know they all had a great time.

Cross this experience off the summer bucket list and into our memories forever!

Showing My Fun Side With Juicy Fruit! #JuicyFruitFunSide #CollectiveBias

Disclosure: This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc., and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone.

I love to reminisce on summers past. I love to think back to a time when life was easy, summers were fun and I was invincible. You know, childhood summers! One of my favorite things to do was sit around with my friends and blow bubbles out of chewing gum. Everyone had their favorite gum, the one that, according to them, would blow the biggest bubbles. We would spend hours sitting around, getting gum stuck all over our faces and fingers, attempting to blow the biggest bubble, the one that was bigger than your own face!

One day, as I was strolling through Walmart, I ran into a Juicy Fruit display by the registers. The display advertised new Fruity Chews and new chunk bubble gum, available in Original and Strawberry flavors, from Juicy Fruit. I was so excited to try them out. All bubble blowers know that chunk gum is it when attempting bubbles!

#CollectiveBias

The new Fruity Chews comes in a super convenient container, perfect fit for the cup holder in my car! I love the taste of the original Juicy Fruit, it satisfies my cravings for something sweet, even thought its sugar-free!!

As soon as I got home, I popped some Juicy Fruit chunk gum in my mouth and began to chew. It's quite the chewing process to get the gum elastic enough for bubbles, but so worth it. I called Adrian over and asked him to take pictures of my bubbles. Check out this beauty:

Almost as big as my face!!! Adrian was amazed. All of a sudden, I wasn't the boring parent anymore. I was fun!!! I tried to teach him to blow bubbles, but it proved to be a very difficult task. It might take a bit longer for him to get it.

Now, bubble blowing by yourself isn't as fun as when you compete with others. As soon as my brother got home, I showed him my new gum and he quickly popped one in his mouth. He chewed for a bit and then we attempted to blow bubbles at the same time. We managed to get one picture of all our fun!

We had so much fun just hanging out together blowing bubbles. Who would have guessed that something so simple would have brought me so much joy? I'm also thrilled that Adrian was so impressed with my bubble blowing abilities. I'm so fun!!! #JuicyFruitFunSide

Want to try out the new Juicy Fruit Fruity Chews? Awesome, because Walmart is hosting demos all across the country! Demo dates are:

• July 25-27, 11:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m.
• August 1-3, 11:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m Friday/Saturday & 1:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Sunday

Check with your local Walmart for more details!

Tell me: Are you an expert bubble blower? Have any tips on how I can teach Adrian to become a bubble master?

Family Fun: Bowling

Last Sunday afternoon, we went bowling. We love to go bowling as a family. It's a fun hour or two with some healthy competition. I believe healthy competition is important for family bonding. Healthy competition makes kids more determined, learn to lose and be proud of their accomplishment when they win. Let's face it, there is nothing more awesome than beating your parents at something!!

P.S.: The big camera was left at home, all pics are from my phone!! 

 Ugly bowling shoes shot!!

First up: Amberly. This girl definitely has the posing down!!

Next: Adrian. All his shots were blurry, he would just run up there, launch the ball down the lane and sit back down!

 Gian came after. He participates but he really hates bowling. He would place the ball on the line and just push it. Maybe he will get the hang of it one day!

JC thought he was a pro. Look at that form! He did well this time, I believe he got like 3 or 4 strikes!

Of course, I posed with the ball. I was the only one paying attention to the camera when Adrian was taking pics. 

Even with all of JC's strikes, Adrian managed to beat us all. He was so excited. We are still hearing "I won at bowling!!"

And of course, the family shot. I am all intot he family shot this year. We take one (almost) everywhere we go!!

We had a fun afternoon and definitely something fun to do on a rainy day!

Does your family go bowling? Do your kids like it?

Protect The Whole Family This Summer With Banana Boat! #BBBestSummer

Disclosure: I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper amplification for Collective Bias® and its advertiser. 

Sunny days, swimsuits, flip-flops and cool refreshing water! That's what summer means to our family. We are very lucky to have a pool that we can jump into whenever we want. Now, those sunny, cloudless days will lead to serious sunburns if we are not protected. The BIG rule in our house: you cannot go outside without sunscreen! The kids know that before they put on their swimsuits, sunscreen needs to be applied. This way, I know they have a base of protection before they jump into the water. We run of out sunscreen quickly and since I knew the kids would be spending the weekend swimming, I stopped by Walmart to stock up on our favorite, Banana Boat. #BBBestSummer #CollectiveBias

During the spring and summer months, Walmart has sunscreen displays all over the store. It's easy to pick and choose which ones your family needs. Every family member requires different sun protection. Our family uses the following:

KIDS

For the kids, I chose Banana Boat Kids Free SPF50 Clear Spray. I love spray sunscreen for kids, it makes applying and re-applying so easy. No need to sit kids down for half an hour while I attempt to apply "yucky white lotion" (their exact words) that they despise. This sunscreen is tear-free, sting-free continuous lotion spray sunscreen that rocks!!

MY MAN

Banana Boat has a new men's line of sunscreen and I made sure to choose the Men's Triple Defense SPF 30 for JC. This sunscreen with ActiveProtect technology provides heavy-duty UVA/UVB protection, combats odor while sweating and contains Aloe and Vitamin E. JC is fair-skinned and always wears sunscreens, no burning for him! 

ME

For me, I love the Protect & Hydrate 50. It's a 2-n-1 sunscreen and moisturizer. Let's face it, I'm not getting any younger and I'll take all the moisturizer I can get. Protect & Hydrate 50 comes in lotion and spray. It doesn't feel greasy and dries quickly. 

IMPORTANT TIP: Re-apply sunscreen often! Once you are able to corral your children, spray them with sunscreen, you are able to let them go. Kids Free SPF 50 is water-resistant so they can go right back to this:

and this:

Keeping my family's skin protected from the sun is a top priority. We are too busy swimming and practicing our cannonballs to be worried about sunburns!

Banana Boat Wheel of Fun Contest

Want to win a trip to Sea World, Disney World, Disney Land or Six Flags amusement park? All you have to do is LIKE Banana Boat's Facebook page to enter the contest! 

Our Summer Goals & FREE Printable

School's out and even though the summer season doesn't technically start for a couple more weeks, here in Miami, we have deemed it Summer! The kids started summer camps this week and are loving life. I even get to sleep in for an extra half-an-hour every morning! Woo hoo!!! This year, I am trying something new with the kids, Summer Goals. I want them to work towards something and learn this summer. I sat them down the other day, with paper and markers, and asked them to write a list of all the things that wanted to work towards this summer, a Summer goals list that I would put up on the fridge and they would follow.

At first, it was hard for them to figure out what goals they wanted. I started them off with an exercise goal. No sitting around all summer! From there, we moved onto a reading goal, then a chore and then a place they would like to visit. Goals are good. Achieving a goal teaches children perseverance and that hard work pays off! They could write down as many as they wanted, but at least four. 

Let's start with Gian, only because he finished his list first and he wrote it in crayon (super adorable!):

 

His list reads: swim faster, jump rope, read 4 books, learn to make my bed. He left the table before we discussed a final prize for completing goals so his list doesn't include his reward. 

Now Adrian:

Adrian dreams of one day becoming Lebron James so his summer goals are focused on exercise. His list reads: squat 10x times a day, push-ups 10x a day, 100 jump-ropes, cleaning my bedroom, 100 books every day (in other words, read 1 book a day), go to a waterpark.  He left the table quickly also, so no reward here either. It's hard to get these kids to sit for more than 15 minutes. I have no idea how teachers are able to do it!

Amberly took the longest writing out her list, in fact, she did it twice since she realized that the colors she chose for her first list didn't match! #artistproblems

                           

Her list reads: read 3 books a month, help with laundry, jump rope 10x a day, go to a waterpark, learn to sculpt, do flips in the pool, go to Legoland, go to an art museum. Her reward is a My Little Pony Equestria Girls Apple Jack doll (most complicated toy name ever!)

JC and I are working with them to achieve all these goals. A biggie on all three lists is jump roping, they are obsessed with learning how to jump rope. First, we got Adrian a rope since he watched a video that shows basketball players warming up by jump roping and he decided that he needed to do that too. Then, Amberly and Gian saw him using it and wanted to learn also. So we took a whole afternoon and worked on that (quite a feat!). We are going this weekend to the library to check out some books so they can get on the reading goals. Little by little, they have about 70 days of break, I know they will be achieving all their goals. 

Want to try something like this with your kids? I created a fun printable that you can use to help your kids create their summer goal list!

Download here

Have you talked to your kids about summer goals? It's never too early to start!