The kids have been playing "Just Dance for Kids", on the Wii at their cousins place practically every alternate day since X-mas.
They were hooked to the songs and we were hooked on watching the little one make those cute dance moves. She really gets into it and moves like a pro!
Was not happy when we went to Best Buy and the store clerk said "there is no Just dance for kids in Kinect. Only for Wii. Kinect is aimed more at adult audiences and Wii is more of a family entertainment thing" and he went on to give us a few Dance options which either had "mature" dance moves or Lyrics that were PG13 or simply NC17!
My track record with Microsoft Hardware products has not been good. Even bad mouthed Microsoft and ended up in a fight with the wife and MIL because saying negative things about THE company is tantamount to abusing the BIL in proxy and that is not nice.
Considering the fact that I verbally abuse most companies including IBM, Google, Motorola, McAfee, Adobe and Microsoft on a regular basis thanks to certain shortcomings on their products and the only companies that seem to make me happy are Canon and Apple it should be clear that the household is very polarized at times!
Thanks to a Wiki article that had an entire list of Kinect Games, was able to find out that there is a Kinect version of Just Dance for Kids and is available in "select" stores.
Went and bought one for the kids this evening.. just to see them smile and dance away!
History sometimes is cruel. It repeats itself as some say.. and you think back and go "wait a minute. Wasn't I supposed to learn something from the past and build on it in the future?"
Well, the little one is now at the same stage as Jr. from a few years ago and we are now watching the breakfast saga as though is a slow motion rerun of a bad Law and Order episode!
The only good news is that Jr. outgrew the custom of "chewing the cud" and behaving like a Camel after two years. The little one amazed me by doing something two weeks ago. She looked at me around lunch time and said "Can I spit this out?" to which I said "fine!"
She spit out something in the wash basin that pretty much was hard and simply would not wash down to the drain. I had to literally smash that stuff and push it into the drain.
Further interrogation revealed that the two hard objects she spit out where the breakfast cereal she had stuffed into her cheeks that morning. After having stored it in her mouth for almost 4 hours she spit it out because she needs the space to store parts of her lunch.
This kid is getting very good at shortening our lifespan significantly. Her sister was a saint by comparison. So we are creating new history here!
This year we have a new Christmas attraction that is local. A "Global Winter Wonderland" in the parking lot area of the Great America Park in Santa Clara.
Guess they bought all the props from the Beijing Olympics at garage sale prices and set it up in Santa Clara. The whole thing was like a Chinese Christmas celebration with "Chineseized" doll displays of American icons including Disney themes!
The "Global" was thanks to the following displays and they were all very impressive.
The ticket prices were a rip off considering there was separate tickets (3$ a ticket per kid per ride) and an entrance ticket of 9$/person on discount! There should have been no entrance tickets for the kids and that would have come close to being fair. Nevertheless, we had already promised the kids that we were going there and we had no choice in the matter once there.
We made the most of a very cold evening and spent a good 3 hours wandering around the light displays, taking photographs and having the kids go on a few rides and try some of the carnival type attractions.
The kids were happy and tired enough to eat a speedy dinner and go to bed fast. So from that stand point it was a good deal! Next year we will be back to Christmas in the park. For all we know, might still take the kids there one of these days.
Some snippets of the three hours caught on video..
Next year if this attraction is still there, might go only if there are some discounted tickets... then again the rest of the family thought it was okay for the price we paid.
We went through what has definitely a family tradition..
A sleepover at the cousins place and the kids opening gifts from under the tree after breakfast.
The hungry lions in front of their prey knowing that in a matter of seconds they get to jump on it!
The carnage of wrapping paper after the cubs are done unwrapping the stuff..
What happened in between..
and this year (as most years) one of the dads gets two of the same gift. When your life is an open book, guess everyone knows what to get you for Christmas?!
The little one wrote stories for the parents. One was Snow White written in her own words with Daddy substituted for a bad guy!
and the other was a cute frog family story.
We hope all of you had a very merry Christmas and are enjoying the holiday season.
We are slowly checking things off our to do list...
For starters we knocked off - last minute gift buying for the kids and - watched Mission Impossible 4 on Christmas Eve!
The theaters were relatively empty and the movie was a blast!
We had a good time with the kids showing their happy smiling faces throughout the day!
Our local adventures and checking off lists goes on over the next few days. Just shudder at the thought that our next break will have to wait till Memorial day! That thought can take a backseat for now as we try to live in the present..
Tuesday, January 17, 2012 at 9:30PM 
