I had previously played Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4 and Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga on the DS and was a big fan of the series.  They take everything that is great about the fictional world and place their own fun spin on it.

I was interested to see how they would handle Years 5 – 7.  Anyone who has read the books or watched the movies knows that this is when things turn really, really dark.  Harry can’t just be a kid anymore.  Voldemort is back and will go to any lengths to kill all who oppose him.  People die.  People Harry cares about.

The previous DS game took an easy route out of the main non-villain death.  When Cedric Diggory dies in the game, he breaks into pieces.  His grieving dad weeps over his boy’s pile of parts until is handed a blueprint for a Lego minifig.  The implication is that all Amos Diggory needs to do is plus Cedric pieces back into place and he’ll be ok.

This DS game picks up with Year 5, aka The Order of the Phoenix.  The Ministry of Magic, not believing that Voldemort is back and suspicious of Dumbledore, installs Delores Umbridge into Hogwarts.  While the movie focused on Umbridge’s efforts to instill her brand of order, the game uses Order of the Phoenix as an introduction to the various spells and concepts that you will be employing in later games.

As you progress, you’ll use Reducto, Expecto Patronum, Aguamenti, Wingardium Leviosa, Lumos, and more to battle bad guys, avoid obstacles, and collect studs.  For those who are not familiar, those little bumps on Legos that allow them to interlock are called studs.  Studs are used like money to buy new characters and abilities.

Of course, given that nearly everything in the world is made from Legos, you can destroy many of the items that constitute the scenery.  Flowers, rocks, tables, and chairs can all be destroyed for studs.  Sometimes, in fact, destroying these unlocks something special.

All in all, this is a fantastic game.  The humor and gameplay are perfect for kids and adults.

Disclaimer: We purchased this game with our own money and the opinions expressed above are my own.

Luckily, when Uncle I, Aunt M, Cousin S, and Cousin B came to visit, we exchanged Chanukah presents early.  Guess what NHL got.

Yes, that is a Melissa and Doug magic set.  NHL begged to open it up.  At first, I was reluctant.  After all, Cousin B is only one and a half and there were some small pieces.  I soon relented, though.  Even I was intrigued by what was in the package.

I opened the packaging up and took out a few of the tricks.  NHL excitedly looked at each and every piece, wondering what they did.  We were having difficulty figuring it all out until I got to the very last (and arguably most important) piece: the instruction manual.

As you can see, it was sealed shut to prevent any non-magicians from learning the valuable secrets contained within.  I got to work looking over the magic tricks.  Finally, I found an easy one.  The disappearing scarves trick.

How did I do it?  Well, a magician never reveals his secrets.

NHL also quickly mastered the disappearing/reappearing ball trick and the magic number prediction trick.

All in all, there are about 10 tricks for him to practice.  The entire set comes in a magic box that is used in one of the tricks and doubles as a storage case.

The pieces feel very sturdy and are of very high quality (as Melissa and Doug products have a reputation for being).  About my only gripe would be the lack of some kind of latch on the magic box to prevent it from opening once closed.  Without a closing mechanism, the filled, closed box easily opens, spilling its contents all over.

Still, this is a minor complaint in an otherwise wonderful magic set.  I’m sure that NHL will have plenty of fun playing with it and learning the tricks (and, let’s face it, so will I).

Disclaimer: NHL got this toy as a gift from relatives.  We weren’t compensated for this review in any way.  I just wanted to share what I thought about it.

By the time the P-Touch arrived, I had already mostly organized the playroom.  Of course, it still had plenty of room for improvement.

Using a gift card provided by Mom Central and Brother P-Touch for the organizational project, I went to Target and purchased some Rubbermaid storage bins of various sizes and a metal shelving unit.  We had shied away from these kinds of units before, worried that they would topple over on the kids.  This particular unit, however, is one that B’s father has used to keep his many plants.  It is very sturdy, so we got one for our playroom.

Before long, the mess of puzzles, games and other toys were tamed.  I couldn’t affix labels to the metal shelves, so I purchased some luggage tags.  After putting the labels on these, I hung them on each shelf to show just what belonged there.

The storage bins were used to store toys such as Legos (previously jumbled in a much older storage bin whose lid didn’t fit on right, Lego figures (tossed in with the Legos and thus often lost), and Hexbug tracks.

This has really helped us out.  Not only do we have a playroom that the kids can use, but we’ve been able to move more toys into it.  This means less toys downstairs to clutter the living room or the boys’ room.  While before the boys were content to stay downstairs on the couch watching TV, they’ll beg to go upstairs now.  (Despite the fact that the TV up there doesn’t get cable.)  They have no problem putting toys away upstairs (since the “homes” for each toy is so clearly labeled.

As for the Brother P-Touch, I found it very easy to operate.  After the first labels came out with tiny type, I explored the settings and found that there are plenty of options.  You can change the font size, bolding, the font itself and more.  After about three minutes, I was able to produce labels that looked just like I wanted them to look.  It’s a simple machine, but one with many options.  The previous label makers I’ve used, were from a decade or two ago.  It’s interesting to see how far they’ve progressed.

Disclaimer: I wrote this review while participating in a campaign by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of Brother P-Touch and received a product and gift card to facilitate my review and a promotional item to thank me for taking the time to participate.

The boys were eager to design a Hot Wheels Custom car featuring themselves.  First, we needed a photo.  This would have meant a long search through our photo archives, so I decided to take a new one.  Here are the boys posing:

Those two smiling faces would soon be on a car.  We chose the car type and decided on a name for vehicle.  There is a character limit (21, if I recall correctly), but we came up with a good one.  We even got to choose the cardboard backing.

After ordering, we just needed to sit back and wait.  Then, the cars (see disclaimer below) came and the boys were eager to rip right into them.  Here’s where we ran into a problem.  The cars looked so nice in their packages that I didn’t want to open them.  Here before me was a Hot Wheels car with my boys on it.  I didn’t want that banged around and tossed in the box along with all the other Hot Wheels toys!

(Click to enlarge.  The pixilated text on the car is from my photo editing since I don’t typically post NHL or JSL’s real names online.)

Luckily, the boys were easily distracted and the cars “disappeared.”  They will be put away and given to the boys in the future.  For now, I’m enjoying them in “mint” condition.

Although I didn’t open the boxes (yet), much is apparent through the packaging.  The cars look just like they were purchased from a store.  If that store stocked cars with your custom photo, name and cardboard backing.  The photo quality is great as is the text on the side.  It all looks exceptional.

Price-wise, it is more expensive than your average Hot Wheels car, but this is to be expected.  Given the price of your typical custom photo product, the $7.99 (plus shipping and handling) isn’t too pricey.  This would definitely be something I would recommend to give to someone as a gift (or get for a gift for yourself).

Disclaimer: Thanks to MomSelect, I was given a code for a free Hot Wheels Customs car and free shipping.  The free shipping actually covered the cost of shipping two cars, so we decided to buy (and pay for) a second car.

When the Hot Wheels Nitro Speeders box arrived, I was excited to (re)introduce them to the world of RC cars.  The kids, however, were even more excited than I was.  They barely tolerated me taking photos of the box and cars before I put batteries in the controller/case.

I was stuck by how small these cars were.  You can see, in the comparison photo above, that they are just bigger than a quarter.  I’d worry about the cars getting lost, but, luckily, Hot Wheels has addressed this.  The controller doubles as a case.

Even better, the case triples as a charger.  The car itself contains a non-replaceable Lithium-Ion battery, but the case runs off of 4 AA batteries.  Connect the car to the case via a cable (inside the case) and the car can quickly be charged.  I didn’t time the charging, but it was definitely ready in under an hour.

All of this wouldn’t matter, though, if the cars weren’t fun.  Luckily, they are plenty of fun.  Again, my kids put up with me clearing the hallway of any obstacles (and closing doors so the cars wouldn’t scoot under beds).  Then, they not-so-patiently put up with me videoing myself playing with the car.

Once this short video was done, I let them have at them.  Notice the two cars.  B got selected for this review as well.  It wound up being a good thing because otherwise the boys would have fought over the controller.

Of course, still photos of smiling faces and racing cars is one thing.  It’s quite another to hear their reactions and laughter.

The box says that it is for ages 8 and up, but JSL (age 4) had no problem operating the car.  I’ll admit that I couldn’t quite get the car to go where I wanted it to go, but that could be the fault of my inexperience with RC cars more than the fault of the controller.  Even without pinpoint accuracy, I had fun making the car race, turn, and spin out.  This is definitely a toy that I’d recommend for kids or even grown-ups.

Giveaway

You can win a Hot Wheels Nitro Speeders RC car.  To enter, simply leave a comment below answering this question: What kind of cars do your kids like playing with?

You can also earn bonus entries by doing any (or all) of the following items. Just be sure to leave a separate comment for each item that you complete.  (Don’t just leave one comment listing everything you did.)

• Follow @TechyDad on Twitter. (1 bonus entry)
• Follow Hot Wheels on Twitter. (1 bonus entry)
• Tweet about the giveaway on Twitter. Be sure to include @TechyDad, @Hot_Wheels and a link to this post in the Tweet. (1 bonus entry per day) For example: On your marks, get set, RC race with @TechyDad and @Hot_Wheels Nitro Speeders #Giveaway http://bit.ly/n5848v
• Subscribe to my RSS feed or let me know if you already are. (1 bonus entry)
• Leave a comment on any of my non-giveaway posts from August/September. Leave a comment here letting me know which post you commented on. (1 bonus entry per comment, maximum 3 entries)
• Enter B’s Hot Wheels Nitro Speeders giveaway.  Leave a comment here letting me know that you’ve entered. (1 bonus entry)
• Write a post on your blog linking to this giveaway. Leave 3 comments about this to get credit for all of your extra entries. (3 bonus entries)

To enter, please follow the rules above within the comment section. Contest starts today, August 25th and ends at Noon EST on September 12th, 2011. You do not have to be a blogger to enter, but must leave a valid e-mail address for me to contact you for mailing address once the giveaway is over. I will select the winner using random.org and contact you via e-mail. You will have 48 hours to claim the prize. If there is no response, another winner will be selected. Open to U.S. residents only.

Disclaimer: I wrote this review while participating in a campaign by MomSelect.  I received a Hot Wheels Nitro Speeder to review.  All opinions above are my own.

The first part of this review campaign was a durability test.  As you can see, a box was sent to me wrapped in caution tape.

Inside was a sponge, scrub brush, abrasive soap, a wipe soaked in nail polish remover and a piece of plexiglass with a label attached.

First, I scrubbed as hard as I could with the brush.

Next, I added some soap (mixed in water) and let it soak for a bit.  Then, I wiped it off with a sponge.

The label didn’t show any sign of wear, so I used the scrub brush a bit more.

There was still nothing, so next up was the nail polish remover.

Besides smelling bad, there was still no sign that I had done anything to the label.

I’m definitely intrigued.  I put this label through abuse that should have removed it or at least scratched it.  Instead, the label held up.  If it can hold up to scrub brushes and abrasive chemicals, it might just stand a chance against two young boys.

Disclaimer: I wrote this review while participating in a campaign by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of Brother P-Touch and received a product and gift card to facilitate my review and a promotional item to thank me for taking the time to participate.

Since the bow and arrow set says it launches over 100 feet, I thought it wise not to try these out in our front yard.  Even though the darts are made of a soft foam, which probably wouldn’t even hurt if they scored a direct hit on a person, I thought it wise not to take a chance damaging one of our neighbor’s cars.  So off to a local park we went.

Now, my boys are 7 years old ( almost 8 ) and 4.  The package said that these toys were meant for ages 8 and up.  I figured that JSL would have a lot of trouble with them.  Sure enough, he did.  With my guidance, he was able to shoot off a few arrows.  I didn’t measure how far these went, but they were a good distance.  Maybe 20 feet.  Not bad for his first bow shot!

NHL had a bit of trouble at first, but adapted quickly.  Before long, he was shooting arrows quite far away.  I don’t know if they landed 100 feet away, but they were pretty far.

Then it was my turn.  I liked that the arrows fit into a “quiver” that could be attached to a belt loop or other strap.  This helped keep them in place when they weren’t flying through the air.  The arrows have hooks on them that grip the bow’s rubber bands.  Pulling back, I let the arrow fly.  Sure enough, the arrows went extremely far.  I didn’t measure, but it just might have been 100 feet.

Here are two photos showing the distance that the arrows travelled.  The first is of the boys recovering an arrow that I shot.  The second is of me standing approximately where an arrow landed after one of NHL’s shots.  (Click to enlarge.)

As NHL and JSL took turns running after it, the arrow’s red tip really helped us locate the arrows on the green grass.

Next up was the slingshot.  Unlike the bow and arrow, this had a ball that gets positioned between two stretching prongs.  You pull the ball back and let it fly.  Theoretically, it then shoots over 50 feet.  Practically, the ball kept twisting and getting caught on the prongs.  These misfires only went a few feet.  We did get a few good shots out of it, but it was definitely the harder of the two to properly fire.

Both the Zing-Shot Launcher and the Z-Curve Bow were a lot of fun.  It didn’t take long for our toys to catch the notice of other children on the playground.  They asked to try and before long there was a veritable line of kids waiting to try them out.

Of the two, I would definitely recommend the bow and arrow over the slingshot.  It was easier to work and launched much further.  Plus, the “quiver” helps keep the arrows in place while the slingshot’s balls don’t have any receptacle to keep them in.  Either way, both toys were a lot of fun and both of the boys have begged to use them again.

Disclaimer: I received the Zing-Shot Launcher and the Z-Curve Bow from ZING Toys to review.  However, the opinions expressed above are my own.

Unfortunately, fate (in the form of old corroded plumbing) intervened.  The plumbing job took so long that, by the time we left the house, we were pushing against the kids’ bedtime.  And they had anniversary cake for us waiting.  We went to B’s parents’ house and had dessert first.

We couldn’t stay in our house thanks to fumes from some chemicals used during the sink cleanup.  So while the kids were sleeping in strange beds (in B’s parents’ house), they wanted some degree of normalcy.  Meaning, have Daddy stay in their room until they were asleep.  Unfortunately, that took until 9:30pm.

The restaurant we wanted to go to was closed as were many others.  B recalled a new Japanese restaurant that she had heard good things about: Mr. Fuji.  We checked their website and found out that they were open.  Score!

With the kids safely in bed, and the clock pushing 10pm, we made our way to Mr. Fuji for dinner.  Given the time and our appetites, we decided to skip a big main course and instead have a dinner comprised of 2 appetizers and 3 sushi rolls.

The first to come out was the Age Tofu.  This tofu might be deep fried, but it was not greasy.  Instead, it had a nice crunch to it and the sauce was delicious.

Up next was the vegetable tempura.  I’d say this was our least favorite dish, but that would give the impression that it wasn’t tasty.  It was very tasty.  The vegetables were big and nicely fried.  The only “problem” was that the rest of the food was so exceptional that the tasty vegetable tempura wound up in the back of the pack.

Up next was our sushi.  See if you can identify the rolls.  (Click on the photo below to see a larger version.)

Let’s begin with the ordinary.  A Philadelphia roll.  For the non-sushi aficionados, that’s smoked salmon, cream cheese and cucumber rolled up in rice.  Yes, it’s a Japanese version of bagel-lox-and-cream-cheese and it is tasty!

Up next, is a favorite of mine that I’ve seen in a few places.  The sweet potato roll.  This isn’t just sweet potatoes rolled in rice, though.  It is first fried tempura-style and *then* rolled in rice.  This adds a crunchy texture to the soft rice and sweet vegetable filling.

The big win of the evening, though, and the roll that will become a *must order* every time we go back to Mr Fuji, though, was the Peanut Avocado roll.  I’m going to let the pictures describe the roll first.  (As always, click to enlarge.)

Yes, that’s peanuts in a sushi roll.  And not just any kind of peanuts, but honey roasted peanuts.  Delicious!  I could have eaten five more of these roll.  Ok, maybe not.  My stomach would have gotten full before they were done, but my taste buds would have kept screaming for more.

As I said before, we ate dessert before this meal, so we opted not to get any more dessert.  Still, the tempura cheesecake sounded good and the looked good when it was brought to the table next to us.  That will be a major temptation the next time we go there.

The staff was wonderful and the service was prompt.  In fact, when they heard it was our anniversary (and about our plumbing woes), they insisted that we couldn’t leave without some kind of dessert and presented us with a small plate of watermelon.  B was too full to eat any, so I ate the entire thing.  I just wish I thought to get a photo of it before I tore into it, though.  The four long watermelon triangles were arranged upright in a square.  It almost looked like some kind of watermelon flower.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to drool a bit while I think about the peanut-avocado sushi.  YUM!

Disclaimer: I wasn’t compensated for this review in any way.  We just found a nice restaurant and I wanted to blog about their great food.

Disclaimer: We purchased Rory’s Story Cubes on our own and were not compensated in any way for this review.  All opinions expressed above (and in the video) are our own.

I’ll admit that I thought that wrestling was real for much longer than I should have.  Perhaps I was holding on to the fantasy to preserve a common interest my father and I held.  Or perhaps I was just very naive.  (Probably a bit of both.)  Either way, my interest in wrestling faded.

Although I’m not a wrestling fan currently, I still have fond memories of wrestling.  When I heard of the WWE Defining Moments figures (ARP: $22.99), I was interested in just how realistic the figures would be.  There are many different figures including “Macho Man” Randy Savage (from WrestleMania® VII), Ultimate Warrior (also from WrestleMania® VII), Shawn Michaels (The 25th Anniversary of WrestleMania®), and The Rock.  I received Macho Man and Ultimate Warrior to review.

The boxes themselves were impressive.  They showed off the figures quite nicely and had detailed description of the match they were from on the back.  I’ll admit that I considered leaving them in the box for display.  In the end, though, I figured that I couldn’t review them properly if I didn’t remove them from the packaging.  Besides, NHL and JSL were chomping at the bit to try them out.  (I did wind up saving the description on the back of the box.)

Removing them from the packaging, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that they were extremely detailed.  Ultimate Warrior’s knee pads and tights, for example, feature images of him and his opponent (Macho Man) from their match in WrestleMania® VII.  The figures are also highly articulate.  Knees bend, ankles turn, midsections move and heads turn.

My boys, although not wrestling fans (JSL refers to Ultimate Warrior as “the cowboy”), immediately claimed the figures as their own and had some mock-fighting sessions with them.

Of course, the details on these figures is impressive enough that they could be displayed prominently in the display case of any wrestling fan.

Disclaimer: I received the two figures mentioned above to review.  All opinions mentioned above are my own.