Technology Adventure Badge- Guest Blogger Bronson

The Choice:

Technology Adventure Badge

Adventure 1

Search your house for the oldest piece of technology. Now find the newest. How have they changed?

After some clues form my mom, I found her old VCR in our storage room. I did not know what it was.

I knew the newest technology we had was the Nintendo Switch.

Take a look at my video to see how this video image technology has changed. 

Adventure 2

Share Lego boost coding with group.

It took me around 3 to 4 hours to build Frankie the cat. There is a video of mid-build Frankie below!

You can can find out more about and buy the Lego Boost here.

Adventure 3

Complete Telus Wise Course

This is a free course made by Telus for all age groups. You can find out more about Telus Wise by clicking here.

Adventure 4

Online OutSchool course.

Over three weeks, I learned cursive writing on OutSchool's Tails and Curls class.
I chose it because I am interested in learning to read and write cursive.
This adventure was very fun.

REVIEW your adventure.
Write or draw your thoughts:

Tomorrow I am presenting Frankie the Cat to my Cubs group. I can't wait.

 
These adventures were exciting and I learned some stuff! I learned what the oldest piece of technology in my house was. I din't know what a VCR was and now I know. I thought a VCR was a virtual reality system. 

I learned about technology safety and how to write all the letters and lots of words in cursive. 

I am having fun taking over my mom's blog and I learned how to insert links in a better way. 

I recommend working on this badge to all my fellow Cub Scouts! 

 

Guest Blogger Teaser!

 I am so excited to have Bronson get back to using tech to create! Which also helps me to get back to doing the same. I have been much more of a tech consumer these past two years. I can't imagine why?! When we initially moved to online learning in my province, I was spending more hours than I ever have creating digital content for my students. That lead to more time on screens and a lack of balance away from the screen. Which brings me to this post! Bronson will be posting here about his Scout personal achievement badges. He will be capturing and curating as he works towards the adventures. We will learn together to strive for a better balance between creating and consuming when on our screens.

He is bringing life back into this blog and is motivating me to give it a long overdue update! 

Polar Express Magic

This winter we were fortunate enough to experience Aspen Crossing's Polar Express Train ride. I had heard from many families with children of all ages that this was an experience that everyone would treasure for years to come. The word of mouth was 100% true and we couldn't be happier with this magical Christmas train ride. Warning, some of the photos may contain spoiler alerts! I won't post too many details here as part of the magic is the surprises along the way. The joy that is spread along the trip is infectious and at the end, Bronson said he did not want it to be over and asked if we could go again next year. I can't see why we wouldn't! Check out Bronson's video for tips when riding the Polar Express. My tips are below.

 My tips:
1. Pack Snacks. If you live a ways from the train station, depending when your train departs, you may want to pack a road trip supper or snacks with you for before or after your train ride. Food is available at the train station but we packed our own to save $ and avoid lines.

2. Wear P.J.s! Yes, even the adults. Many families even show up in matching P.J.s! It adds to the magic of it all and I must say, wearing P.J.s on the train ride was extremely comfortable! Just bring your winter gear to wear over top as you are waiting outside to board the train.

3. Buy tickets early! I mean as SOON as they go on sale! Tickets must be purchased in pairs. we went in the lowest priced car and were more than happy, comfortable and could see everything we needed to. There are a few ways to get early access to tickets. Just visit the website for more info. We tried to get into the same car as another large group and even with early access we weren't able to. Tickets sell very fast.

4. Timing. since it gets dark earlier in winter, we scheduled our tickets for 4:30pm. This made for a sunset train ride, arriving at the North Pole in the dark. Perfect! The added bonus was seeing all the beautiful Christmas lights of the farms we drove past on the way home.

5. Souvenirs. Licensed Polar Express items are available at the train station. They offer beautiful keepsakes, books and more. You may want to plan ahead to budget for a few items as they will be hard to resist, especially if it is your first or only time going.

I highly recommend this as a family Christmas outing. I feel it may become a new tradition for our own growing family!

Happy Thanksgiving 2016!

UPDATE BELOW! Have a wonderful Thanksgiving, with family and friends! We are spending it with my parents and also tackling a few projects around the house. Bronson has outgrown his Winnie the Pooh nursery theme. So, down come the quotes, drawings and the baby blue walls. I know, everyone says it but time really does go by so fast. It feels like we were just decorating his nursery.

I'm very excited to create his "boys" room and hope he loves it for years to come. Here is a sneak peek. I may have spent a bit too much time at Michaels, thank goodness for their coupons! Bronson is already "mad" at me for choosing his birthday theme so hopefully he's more impressed with my choice of bedroom decor.

ROOM REVEAL...

I was inspired by Bronson's love of firetrucks. He was with me months before at Homesense and spotted a Firetruck bedding set that he wanted. I returned without him to scoop it up and based the rest of the room design around that set. Pottery Barn Kids had an almost identical set for a much higher price.

The lamp and wall hangings we chose were from Bouclair. Craig and I painted the fire engine. We added a cozy wool rug from Pottery Barn kids. 

Monster Jam Mahem!

We completely lucked out and had beautiful weather for Monster Jam. I've included a video of Bronson's tips for going to watch Monster Trucks. We had a lot of fun watching it this year and we realized that if you go on the last day of the tour, the drivers go all out and attempt way bigger stunts. By the end of the show almost every truck had rolled over and lost most of it's parts. Needless to say, our son was in heaven (Craig too)!

What is your all time favourite Monster Truck? I remember as a kid loving Jurassic Attack! Comment below.

Fall, Family fun and Freezer meals!

Ah fall! Here in Alberta we are having a beautiful start to fall. Our family has been taking advantage of everything the city has to offer. Watch for upcoming posts on the Lego Imagine Nation Tour, Illuminasia and Monster Jam! This is also the time of year I start to make a few freezer meals for the busy and cold winter season to come. If you have a favourite fall family activity or freezer meal recipe be sure to share it in the comments.

My top 2 freezer recipes have to be veggie chili and veggie lasagna. I love this recipe from Acubalance Wellness and have found it freezes really well. My mom has been using this lasagna recipe from Healthy Meals in Minutes for as long as I can remember. It's still one of my favourites. I change it a bit and swap the broccoli for spinach and add mushrooms. 

We're Going to the Zoo!

I'm so glad I was able to visit the zoo 1 more time with Bronson before heading back to work! He absolutely adores it and never tires of the animals or the attractions. Check out tips for visiting the zoo here. The day was perfect and we got there right as the gates were opening. There is something very cool about being virtually the only people in Prehistoric Park (not that I'd want to do that in the dark). If you haven't had the chance to go to the Calgary Zoo yet, Illuminasia is happening now so check it out!