To celebrate the beginning of summer, I am teaming up with Indiana’s Family of Farmers to give away 2 tickets to the first nod to summer- The Vintage Indiana Wine and Food Fest.

INDIANA. It may not be the first place you think of when you think of wine, but actually, there are 63 wineries in Indiana. I’ve been to four of them, I think (I was, you know, drinking while I was there). I’m not the best judge of wine, I’ll admit it- the night that we decided which kit to make at Harmony Winery, I had a star next to every wine I tried. I was good with any of our choices. I’m easy like that. These 63 wineries produce 1.25 million gallons of wine each year. I’m proud to say that my friends and I produced a few gallons of that last fall, and so far this year, I’ve probably consumed a few gallons. I like to support Indiana ventures, what can I say?

This is Vintage Indiana’s 13th year of bringing together the best local food and wine Indiana has to offer. 26 Indiana wineries will be offering samples of over 200 award-winning wines. I can’t wait to draw a star next to every one that I try.

Here’s the thing though- even if wine isn’t your thing (are there really people like that?), there is still plenty to do on June 2nd. In addition to wine samples, there’s also food available from 14 Indiana restaurants, food and cooking demonstrations, a KidsZone for the younger set and live music. There is really nothing I love more than live music outside, in Indiana, on a summer’s day.

Here’s the current line up:

12-2pm: Mike Milligan & Steam Shovel

2:30-4:30: Jennie DeVoe

5:15-6:45: Casey James, former American Idol! Current hit is “Let’s Don’t Call it a Night”

Ticket information (in case you don’t win) is as follows:

Adults tickets are $22 in advance at Marsh Supermarkets or online at www.vintageindiana.com; $25 at gate

Designated Driver tickets are $10 and include unlimited soft drinks and water. No wine glass or wine samples allowed on this ticket.

Kids ages 6-20 are $5. Under 5 years old are free.

Here’s the Ticket Giveaway to Vintage Indiana Wine and Food Festival:

So you want to go to this,right? I mean, there’s great entertainment, there’s great food, and there are 200 varieties of wine being poured. What’s not to like?

To enter to win 2 adult passes (with drinking privileges) please do the following:

1) (required) Leave a comment here telling me something about either wine, an Indiana winery you’ve been to or want to visit.

2) For up to 2 additional entries (one for Twitter, one for Facebook): Tweet or post the following on Facebook:

“I entered to win tix to @vintageindiana from @gotchababy & @FamilyofFarmers & you can too: http://wp.me/pVbJS-HY #VintageIN”

(feel free to take out the @ if you’re posting it on FB) and then leave a comment (one for each action) here telling me that you did.

This giveaway will be open until Thursday, May 24th at 9pm. I will email the winner, and the winner will have a day to get back to me- if I don’t hear anything by 9pm May 25th, I’ll pick another winner.

Good Luck!

Want some more chances to win? My friends Katie, Sarah, Angie and Crystal have ticket giveaways going on RIGHT NOW. Check back here often, and as more giveaways go up, I’ll link them here:

• Giveaway on Evoked By Light
• Giveaway on Redefining Perfect
• Giveaway on Mom for Less
• Giveaway on Just Like the Number

Disclosure: As an IFOF Ambassador,  I received compensation for running this giveaway and 2 tickets to the event for my own personal use. My experiences with Indiana wine are all my own.

Related posts:

1. Indiana State Fair: A Good Way to Wrap Up Summer {and a Giveaway}
2. Take Me Out to the Ball Game: A Giveaway
3. Fun at Kelsay Farms- A Giveaway

What’s sweet is that she doesn’t understand the business side of these packages, so sometimes our conversations go like this:

“Oh look, there’s a FedEx bag!”

“Do you want to help me open it?”

“Oh yes.”

“Let’s see what we have.”

“Oh look Mommy! It’s cards, and a keychain, and oh, this says FREE BURGER. Mommy, who sent us this?”

“Wendy’s did, because they’d us to try their new cheeseburgers.”

“Wendy’s is SO NICE, Mom!”

For the record, Wendy’s really is nice. I love what they do, both with cheeseburgers and the Dave Thomas Foundation.

And OMG, the cheeseburgers. They’ve been reconstructed, and they’re YUMMY. My mom and I tried them out last weekend (the kids opted for chicken, even though they both had cheeseburger tattoos on their arms), and they were delicious. Substantial bun, juicy burger, fresh toppings. With this remake, the Wendy’s basic cheeseburger is more like a speciality burger. And unlike some other chains, this burger is sized so you eat one and you’re DONE. My mom and I both got a small fry with our meal and neither one of us could finish them. SO YUMMY.

But back to the FedEx bag- I’m wondering though, if next time, they’ll just contact Mam directly. I was walking near her in the hallway at school the other day (I was volunteering, she was going to class, and she was not acknowledging my existence) when she started her pitch:

“Hi Will!”

“Hi MaM!”

“I have a new keychain.”

“Cool.”

“It’s a cheeseburger. It’s from Wendy’s.”

And the future generation of bloggers has been born.

Disclosure- I was sent a bag of Wendy’s goodies, coupons and a gift card in exchange for my honest review. I chose to eat and sing the burger’s virtues on my own free will. And MaM raved about Wendy’s all on her own, with no prodding from me whatsoever. 

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If you live in Indy, you may have heard- the Container Store is finally here! If you’ve never been to one, you might not know why this is a big deal. If you’re familiar, well, then, you aren’t reading right now, you’re shopping.

Last week I had the opportunity to have lunch with some of my favorite people and tour the Container Store, all 25,000 sq ft. That evening, I attended the Preview Party, complete with live band, dance floor and 2000 of the Container Stores biggest fans.  It was a lot of fun, really overwhelming, and really left me wanting to reorganize my entire house. October 6, 2011 will forever be known as “Container Store Day” in my book.

The Container Store generously sent me home with a bag swag and I thought it would be fun to take some before and after pictures to demonstrate how useful their products really can be.

Exhibit A: The kids’ bathroom caddy. Ack.

Before: The basket actually held everything from toothpaste to a measuring tape, to hair ties.

Every time I need a paper, everything else held by the clip falls to the floor!

Sorting the papers I need each each week by topic make things easier.

There are more goodies to put to work- I think the FlipFold  might have to be it’s own post. I find it oddly relaxing to fold my shirts like they do at the Gap.

What do you need help Containing? Whatever it is, I’m pretty sure the Container Store Indy will have an answer for you!

(Top photo courtesy of Angie Six, local blogger and Container Store enthusiast!)

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1. Admitting Defeat, or Plan B

I marked off each student’s number on a sheet, in a binder. With a pencil and paper. 

Fast forward nearly twenty years, and my first grader is more slick than I ever was.

Her school has an automated lunch payment system- I load her account online, and she enters a PIN before she goes through the lunch line.

My first grader has a PIN. 

It only goes to reason then,  that a lot of her life is electronic. She even has her own arsenal of iPhone apps, and was most excited about getting to play with the My Little Pony app from Ruckus Media.

“Mommy, there’s a pony. Her name is Twilight Sparkle (of course it is!). And she sparkles. And there’s a dragon. And it’s a story, and there are games. You touch the sparkles and things happen, and there’s a maze, and …”

Sounds like a perfect match for six year old girls, don’t you think? Especially six year old girls who already have PINs.

My Little Pony, from Ruckus Media is on sale through Thursday for $0.99. Friday the prices goes up to $3.99. It’s been a huge hit around the blogosphere, and I think any little girl would like it!

Disclosure- Ruckus Media provided me with a download of the My Little Pony app in exchange for this review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

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Monday night we took MaM to her new school to see her classroom and meet her teacher, and she was mightily impressed with the classroom library. There were easily 500 books on the shelves, including a shelf full of the Magic Treehouse Series, which she loves, along with the Rainbow Fairy books, which she also loves.

After that meeting, I went down to the Fox’s Montessori school for their orientation and was delighted that the first thing they had us do was make a little something for our kids. The teachers had cast plaster of Paris in shallow bowls, and stuck a paper clip in it as a placecard holder. The parents all got to decorate their child’s place card holder for lunch with paint and ribbon- isn’t that fun? Then, instead of giving the parent orientation talk, I got to listen to it (and nod my head vigorously at all the good parts).

Unfortunately, both kiddos are under the weather, and MaM actually missed her first day of school. It was kind of devastating. I’m hoping with one more day of rest, she’ll be ready on Thursday.

When she does finally get back to it, I have a few surprises for her, including a couple of fun things sent to me by my friends at Hallmark. Their Back to School Confidence Care package features items from their Kids Encouragement collection,  including greeting cards from their kids collection, little lunch box notes, and a recordable storybook . The lunchbox notes are my absolute favorite- this set of 50 notes have sweet, funny, inspirational sentiments, and few to help on those rough mornings when getting out the door wasn’t easy. I plan to keep them with the lunch making supplies and use them as much as I can!

Aren't they cute?

{The Giveaway}

I am giving away a Back to School Confidence Care Package with the same items to one lucky reader this week. If you, or someone you know, is getting kids out the door for school, please enter to win by leaving a comment about your favorite thing when it comes to back to school. Be sure to fill out the email field in the form so that I can contact you if you win!

The second way to enter is to cut and paste this tweet, and then leave an additional comment telling me that you did, “I entered to win a Hallmark Back to School Confidence Care Package from @Gotchababy and you can too! http://wp.me/pVbJS-DO”

Comments will be open until Friday night around 9pm. The winner will have until 9pm Sunday night to respond to my email, or I will pick a different winner.

Disclosure: Hallmark sent me my own Back to School Confidence Care Package, and I was happy to give another one away. My opinions on the products are expressly my own.

Related posts:

1. Indiana State Fair: A Good Way to Wrap Up Summer {and a Giveaway}

In addition to MaM turning six this week, we also finished the last week of our summer routine. She loved every minute of daycamp, and the Fox thoroughly enjoyed his “new school” (we are seriously so happy at his new Montessori school I will be gushing about this at another time). In exactly two weeks, she’ll be on the bus to first grade (gasp!) and Summer 2011 will be officially over.

There is one shred of summer to hold onto, and it’s something that I’ve grown to love about living in Indianapolis. It’s the Indiana State Fair. Much like racing, I once poo-poo’d it. I have to say though, I look forward to it every year. (I do NOT look forward to the historic train that runs every 45 minutes all hours of the day and night for the duration of the fair, but that’s another blog post)

We eat at the Dairy Bar.

We see all kinds of animals, including the world’s largest boar (who, in turn has the world’s largest, well, you know….).

We get a deep fried something.

We enjoy the little mini-farm they have each year for the kiddos.

We climb all over the farm equipment Reynolds has on display.

The kids ride ponies.

We walk all over the grounds, seeing what there is to see, and there’s always something to see.

I scanned my archives, and I can’t believe I’ve never done a post about the fun we have at the fair, because it’s always a great day when we go.

We’re going on Monday to see some behind the scenes things, with Indiana Family of Farmers. I’m excited for the kids to learn more about the agricultural parts of the fair, and hello, Indiana Beef, Indiana Pork and the Dairy Bar are feeding us. YUMMO. It’s the Year of the Soybean, and there’s supposed to be some taste testing involved as well. And seeing baby animals. And milking cows and what not.

{The Giveaway}
Want to win two tickets to the Indiana State Fair yourself?

There are two ways to enter, and you may do so each one time:

1) Simply enter below with the ONE THING you have to see/eat/do at the fair every year, or the ONE THING you’d like to check out if you’ve never been.

2) Tweet the following, “Raise your hand if you love @indystatefair! Enter to win tix from @familyoffarmers & @gotchababy http://wp.me/pVbJS-Dp” and leave a comment here to tell me that that you’ve done so. 

(Comment moderation will be on, but I promise I will approve them with lightening fast speed. Be sure to enter your email on the comment form.)

Comments will be open until Friday, August 5th at 9pm. I’ll pick a random winner that evening! (The winning tickets will be mailed, so my guess is that you should have them by 8/10 or so)

Disclosure: Thanks to Indiana Family of Farmers for providing my family with a fun day at the fair. This giveaway was optional, but I wanted to share the love and pass on some tickets! Check out their blog and Facebook page  for great State Fair info, memories, and promotions, and follow them on Twitter!

Related posts:

1. Vintage Indiana Ticket Giveaway: We are Entering Summer!
2. Take Me Out to the Ball Game: A Giveaway
3. Summer Vacation? We Have an App for That

It’s still Birthday Week here at Casa de Kahuna, and the fox is enjoying each and every one of his presents. It’s hard to say which is his favorite, but something he’s played with every chance he gets is his new Little Tikes TotSports T-Ball Set.

Play Ball!

He woke up Wednesday morning asking, “I play with my baseball toy now?” (unfortunately, we had to leave the house), and it was the first thing he reached for when we did get home that evening. This morning he started batting in his pajamas. It seems we’ve got a baseball fan on our hands.

The first team I ever rooted for was the New York Yankees, and I remember my dad and my uncle loading up the four of us cousins and taking us to Yankee Stadium for games. We had a team yearbook from the early 80s featuring Reggie Jackson, Goose Gossage & Bucky Dent.

When we moved to Indiana, we repeated the ritual, this time with the Cubs. It made sense, since at the time, the American League never met the National League except in the playoffs or local games. We quickly formed an allegiance to Ryne Sanberg, Rick Sutcliffe and manager Jim Frey. As kids, we lived the excitement of the Cubs getting into the pennant race in 1984, and everyone was singing the song, “Go Cubs Go”. Plus, we had the iconic Harry Carey on WGN.  (Did you know I knew a little about baseball?)

Here in Indianapolis, we don’t have a local major league team to root for, and it seems most grown ups root for their childhood favorites. We do, however, have a minor league team that plays at Victory Field, the Indianapolis Indians, and taking in a game is huge fun. We’ve taken the kids once, when the Fox was an infant, but we just haven’t made it to a game these past two summers (such a shame, I know).

We’ve got plans this summer though.

THE GIVEAWAY

The Kahunas will be attending the Family of Farmers Night at Victory Field on July 19th! Whoo hoo.

Want to join us? (you don’t have to sit by us, honest)

Family of Farmers wants to give one lucky reader up to EIGHT tickets for July 19th’s 7pm game, and will provide the food and the fun for the night. How can you beat that??

To enter, there are three quick things to do: 1) Like Family of Farmers on Facebook (if you’re a facebooker). 2) Follow Family of Farmers on Twitter (if you’re a Tweep) 3) Leave ONE comment, preferably about baseball. What’s your favorite team? Did you play as a kid? Do you get to Victory Field? What’s your Fantasy Baseball team look like?

When you leave your comment, be sure to enter an email (on the form, not the comment itself) where you can be reached. The comments will be open until Tuesday, June 28th at 9pm. I’ll pick a comment via random.org and  notify the winner via email and we’ll take it from there.

Good luck!

P.S. Comment moderation is on, so if you’re new here, welcome, and I’ll be approving comments as fast as I can!

Related posts:

1. Indiana State Fair: A Good Way to Wrap Up Summer {and a Giveaway}
2. Vintage Indiana Ticket Giveaway: We are Entering Summer!
3. Fun at Kelsay Farms- A Giveaway

Enter: two fun apps the kids have been trying out for the past few weeks.

Gigglebear: Comes with Giggles for a Good Cause

MaM has been spending her iPhone time (my iPhone, her time) playing GiggleBear. Developed by an Indiana teen named Brooklyn, MaM has been fascinated with this app. Brooklyn came up with the idea for the app after complaining to her dad that all the games she was playing were boring. He challenged her to invent something better, and according to my first grader, Brooklyn did.  Gigglebear starts by players designing a stuffed animal in the “creative center”, and then taking the animal through a playroom full of games to play. After a week, MaM has a  wall of trophies in the playroom, earned by playing different games. Every touch of the screen reveals something fun. It’s intuitive enough for five year olds to play, and comes with handy directions for grown ups when needed. The game integrates the music on your iPhone, features a bathtub and blow dry for your pet and a bevy of wardrobe changes. An added bonus is that the app is set up for multiple users, my exploring what the app does doesn’t mess up what MaM is doing.

The app is available for purchase in the iTunes store, and a donation will be made to the Vera Bradley Foundation for Breast Cancer research for each download. Read more about how this game came to be and the amazing teen behind it at GiggleBear.com.

Spot the Dot: An App for iPad by author David A. Carter

The fox does better with iPad apps than he does the iPhone. For starters, he can’t prank call my friend Kate on the iPad, like he does every single time he plays with my iPhone. The iPad is faster than my iPhone, and the bigger screen is easier for him to use. Enter Spot the Dot from Ruckus Media Group (I reviewed some other apps by them a few months ago). Spot the Dot is simple concept — the object is to spot the dot (get it?) of  a certain color on each screen. Every time you open the app, the dot is in  a different place, so it continues to be challenging even after you’ve played a few times. The graphics on this app are amazing — each screen is different and visually amazing. By tapping and sliding his fingers, the fox is able to navigate this game by himself. But I kind of like to sit by him and watch.

So that’s what you’ll find the Kahuna kids doing when they are too hot or too tired to do anything else.The trick is going to be getting them to put these fun games down when it cools off enough to get back outside!

Disclosure: I was provided free downloads of Giggle Bear and Spot the Dot in exchange for my honest review. My opinions are entirely my own.

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Don’t get me wrong, I like me some Yanni on occasion. But BgKahuna? He really likes some Yanni. The first time he told me this, I though he was kidding. He doesn’t appear to be the New Age Music type. But sure enough, when our CD collections merged, Yanni: :Live at the Acropolis and Snowfall were some of his contributions.

Touch of Truth is Yanni’s first original album in 8 years. BgK was glad there were only two vocal tracks on this release, although he openly admits he celebrates his entire catalog of work. “His music is timeless, of course everyone celebrates his most popular album, ‘Live at the Acropolis’, but true fans will enjoy this one just as much, if not more.”

BgK was disappointed that Indianapolis wasn’t on Yanni’s 2011 tour schedule. Maybe next time, BgK, maybe next time.

Disclosure: The One 2 One Network sent me a download of Truth of Touch in exchange for my honest review.

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It’s not secret that my family members are huge fans of the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis. I mean, really, it’s the largest children’s museum in the world and it has some seriously cool exhibits. I love bringing the kids down for even just a couple of hours, to explore and enjoy all the museum has to offer. The kids know the museum well — they start getting excited when they see the dinosaurs outside the museum. They are always on “hat watch” — because they know the dinosaurs will have on Halloween and Christmas themed head gear during those seasons. Last weekend when we were there, MaM was wondering if maybe she’d see some shamrocks or bunny ears on these giant reptiles.

I secretly can’t wait until we go again. This Friday, the museum is going to out-do itself and every boy within a million miles is going to go NUTS from now on whenever they enter the Welcome Center. Why, do you ask?

BUMBLEBEE is going to be a permanent part of the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis!

Bumblebee, as every Transformers fan knows, is one of the good guys. He’s constantly trying to impress Optimus Prime, his leader, and took a star role in the latest Transformers movie. Also? Kids LOVE Bumblebee. My own kids are constantly on the look-out for bright yellow and black cars and shout, “Bumblebee” when they see one.

Walking into the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis and seeing the 17ft tall, 1 ton movie prop? That will rock their world!

Bumblebee will be unveiled at 10:30am this coming Friday (yes! March 11), in conjunction with the special Members-Only Sneak Preview of the new exhibit, Incredible Costumes.

Now for the giveaway-

The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis would like to hook one reader up with a four-pack of admission tickets to see Bumblebee for themselves. If you are able to attend the unveiling Friday, you will also be on the VIP list to attend the Incredible Costumes Preview (the exhibit won’t be open to the public until Saturday, March 12). Otherwise, the admission tickets will be waiting for you at Will-Call on a date of your choosing.

To enter, all you need to do is tell me about a favorite family outing of yours — either now, as a parent, or as a kid. Be sure to fill in your email address on the comment form so that I can contact  you if you win. Because the premiere is Friday, I will pick a winner at 6pm Thursday (that’s tomorrow, March 10).

Thanks for entering, and good luck!

Disclosure: I did not receive any compensation for this giveaway– I just really like promoting this amazing institution!

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