Top2Bottom: Tron Legacy

A long while and many podcasts ago, I took my own slant on the "Top 10" list - the "Top to Bottom" list, which focused on the best three things and the worst three things of whatever we were talking about.

Now, I bring it to SuperRadDad in the form of quick and dirty reviews because, well, because I barely have enough time to maintain a blog, let alone create voluminous content.

So here it is, the inaugural Top2Bottom list for "Tron: Legacy."

Toy Chest: Sprig Dino Adventure Rig

Hold onto your butts.

Tick-tock, Tick-tock.  That's the sound of time running out.

Never fear, though, because SuperRad Dad is here with another fantastic offering from Sprig Toys. 

What does the Mu love? He loves to smash things and he loves things that smash things.  This is why the Dino Adventure Rig from Sprig, which combines a truck to smash and two dinosaurs that smash, is like a slice of heaven to a 2 year old. 

Toy Chest: Sprig Dolphin Explorer Boat

Gordon's Fish Sticks, Eat Your Heart Out.

Though the Sprig Discovery Rig has gone on plenty of adventures both in the Family Room and outside on walks, one place it fears - due to its kinetic generator and other electrical parts - is the water.

Enter the Sprig Dolphin Explorer Boat.

Equal parts durable and adorable, (which is what the company's slogan should be... you're welcome Marketing.) the Dolphin Explorer comes with a Skipper with removable rain hat and backpack, a rescue boat, mommy and baby dolphin, and a life preserver.

Toy Chest: Sprig Adventure Rig

Sprig Discover Rig - Awesome.

It's undeniable: I love Sprig Toys. 

I stopped into our local Mom 'n' Pop hardware store right before Thanksgiving to pick up some specialized items that the Big Box down the road didn't have.  There in the front display was a collection of chunky, rugged-looking toys that looked cobbled straight out of Santa's workshop.   I picked one up to examine it and found it without any licensing tie-ins, "X-treme" packaging, or obnoxious mascots.  It was simple, it was classic, it was Sprig.

Something about the toy line spoke to me, and I knew I had to get it for Mu.  His interest in big tucks, adventuring, and propensity to smash things required a line of toys that would hold up to toddler abuse, but also allow him to fill in the storyline of his adventure - not to have his adventure dictated to him by the folks in Marketing.

And that's where the beauty of Sprig comes in: the Sprig guys are faceless, which means they are ready for whatever your child can imagine.

It's beginning to look a lot like Shutterfly

Every year, Lady Rad and I have the same discussion - are we sending Christmas cards? If so, to who? If so, then from where? If so, then what do we put on it? The advent of digitally uploading photos to a photo-gift site is both a blessing and a curse: a wealth of low-cost solutions are available, but pairing down 1300 photos from the past year into 3 or 4 choice ones to represent your family's entire experience from the year can be overwhelming.  Not to mention that both of the kids age so rapidly (because they are young, not because they are like Tom Hanks from 'Big') that a photo of the four of us from the Fall just isn't very representative of how our family looks right now.

Not to mention, FINDING a photo of LR and I where we don't look exhausted and haggard would be a Christmas miracle in itself.

This year, Lady Rad and I decided to eschew our hopes of a family photo card, and resolved to just find four of the cutest pictures of Mu and Q, and slap their faces on a card, send it to our closest circle, and call it Christmas.  Like past years, we'll be using Shutterfly, both because they have a good selection of Christmas Cards, and we stand a pretty good chance of not sending out the same one that everyone else has just sent.  Plus, since we managed to miss the window to send a birth announcement this year, we can kill two birds with one stone...

You know, "Unto us, a child is born... and her name is 'Q!'

"Eclectic" is my Middle Name

My iPad dropped down my recent Google searches in no paticular order:

• Christmas tree toddler
• TSA body scan for children
• Star Wars DVD original version
• Peggy Noonan
• 'Willenium' Lyrics

I know, it's absurd... I should have searched by the more accurate "Will2K" lyrics

Christmas Trees & Toddlers - the Dilema

The Mu is two-years old, and has gotten his first taste of Christmas Cheer.  Everywhere we go, he manages to point out every St. Nick and Snowman he sees.  So it is with great excitement and anticipation for him and me that we will be getting a Christmas tree soon.

This excitement is, understandably, not shared equally with Lady Rad whose current challenges involve making sure that the Mu doesn't cause too much toddler-destruction while she is needing to attend to Q's nap-training routine.  Normally, this challenge has been met by a diligent child-proofing routine every morning where Lady Rad can be reasonably confident that she can go into another room for 20 minutes while Mu is quietly playing with toys.  Brining a Noble Fir into the front room kind of screws up the entire flow that's been achieved thus far.

Game Closet: Pandemic Review

(boardgame; $34.99; 2-4 players; Ages 10+; www.zmangames.com)

"Pandemic" was a game that held very little appeal for me from reading the back of the box, until I got it home and gave it a whirl.  Like most people, the idea of board games means competition - I win so that you lose - and although I have played many video games where players cooperate to beat the computer, I had never heard of such a concept being applied to a board game.  And how could playing against a board be any fun?

"Pandemic" involves the spread of four diseases (represented by different-colored cubes) into major cities across the globe.  Players take on the roles of specialists from the CDC in Atlanta, each with their own special ability, to travel the world curing diseases in an attempt to come up with a cure for the four diseases before a catastrophic outbreak occurs.