• 3 graham cracker squares with 1 tbsp peanut butter
• 3 cups popped popcorn (no fat added) with seasoned salt
• 10 seasoned mini-rice or mini-popcorn cakes
• 15 mini-pretzel twists
• 10 to 15 tortilla chips (1 ounce) with 1/4 cup salsa
• 4 or 5 whole-grain snack crackers plus 1 ounce reduced-fat cheese
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cereal
• 1 small muffin or 3-inch cookie
• 1 medium apple, orange or pear
• 12 to 15 cherries or grapes
• 1/4 cup raisins or other dried fruit
• 3 cups raw vegetables with 1 tbsp dip
• 1 1/2 cups tomato or vegetable juice
• 3/4 to 1 cup plain or artificially sweetened yogurt

Guest post – Randy, Canada

Arrival – We were upgraded from the Oasis Palm Beach

Rooms - Room was gorgeous, we asked for and received an ocean view room. Unfortunately hot water was inconsistent and despite the fact that we tipped, we had a hard time getting the maid to clean our room (we had to call several times – it was like pulling teeth to get housekeeping over). But to be fair, that may have been due to the fact that my friends slept in every day until noon, when the maid came by in the morning they would send her away. So housekeeping had to make a special trip to clean our room. But for a 4* they should be able to clean our room within an hour or so of us requesting it, and they didn’t.

Restaurants - Excellent! The a la carte restaurants and sushi and pizza were fantastic! I really recommend eating at the a la cartes all the time. The buffet was decent, but not special.

Bars – Wonderful, and plenty of them! I’m just a cerveza drinker myself, can’t comment on the mixed drinks.

Beach and Pools - Pools were spectacular, and so was the beach.

Grounds - Very pretty grounds

Activities - Unfortunately, I’m not the person to judge bacause I think activities are really annoying in general and I prefer that there not be any at all. I would have loved to relax by the main pool, but couln’t because of the “Animation”. For pete’s sake, we are on vacation to relax, I can’t fathom why these resorts think we want to be “entertained” by noisy aerobics classes, bingo games, etc. If you’re looking for peace and quiet, the infiniti pool on the other side of the resort is better.

Tours – I dodn’t take any tours from the resort. I was there to do some serious diving, every morning I went with Ben from Mayan Aqua Dive for a two-tank dive and the diving was great (and I’ve dove Cozumel, Bahamas, etc so I know good diving when I see it). On the last day, got a ride with some friedns to Xel-Ha, a natural waterpark in a lagoon. It’s $75 US but worth it – nice snorkelli

Conclusion – Overall, a good resort. not perfect, but perfection is very rare

Arrival:

Rooms:
clean, nice linens. wonderful maid service. Please tip at least $2.00 US a day. they only make $5.00 US for an 8 hour shift. they come in all day long and remake beds and take and replace water and dirty towels. they bust thier tails. you have to put the card in the slot for electric and AC. if your smart, close the curtains, keep the card in after you leave (take extra card key with you)leaving the AC running and the fan on ceiling going if you want any relief from the heat and humidity. it worked pretty good. the only complaint we had of the room was the refridgerater. i have insulin that needs to be kept cold. these are not regular fridges, they are like wine fridges. they keep it tepid/cool inside. and i could not get the importance of keeping insulin cold across to them or the fact that i couldnt replace the medicine in mexico. they didnt seem to care (service desk) i had to go get ice twice a day in the bucket and keep the the insulin in the ice bucket. and we were in the Boca building and only 2 of the 9 ice machines worked and all the complaining in the world did not get them fixed either. of course the two that worked were all the way at the other end and on different floors.
there are no vents or fans or windows in the bathrooms. it can get kind of “close” in there. LOL

Restaurants and Bars:
food is so-so, almost boring and its the same stuff every day with little change. they like to put out for breakfast some of the night before food too.
the milk is not real milk either, so don’t go taking a big gulp of it till you try it, same with the “butter”. its not real butter, its like the old time oleo your mom used to cook with. you might want to pack some butter pats and a ice pack with your lugguge. there is very little american quisine on the menu, so no chicken wings, roast beef, fried chicken, no ice berg lettuce. so not a great salad bar. taste the dressings first. they are not what you would expect.
ala carte restaurants are fantastic with great service(MAKE THE RESERVATION UPON ARRIVAL) or you will not get in. we missed one of the 3 dinners we had already paid for.
the steak house was great
the seafood was good, no crab or lobster or cocktail sauce

Beach/Pools/Grounds:
absolutely stunning, well kept and clean

Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel:
in the Mayan Beach (where we stayed) there is nothing worth staying up for. it rolls up at 7pm (pool closes) no night time beach activites, no dancing (unless you want to go to one of the other hotels) the only thing open is the lobby bar (24hrs) and thats it. the two shows we caught were awful the only food available after 10 is room service and there is an 8.00 minimum
3 tv stations are in english

off the resort- we went to tulan ruins, mayan village (not quite what we expected) it was two shacks in the middle of damn nowhere, not a like a town or anything. bring plenty of mexican change, they dont make change for american money, just give you an extra bracelet to make up for it. we went to Boca to see the mayan temple (two mile hike in the jungle or pay 10.00 to ride a rickshaw there) we swam in a cenoyte and we had lunch at a restaurant with a lake of alligators next to it. be prepared for thier versions of the bathroom and ask for the tpaper before you go in the stall. it was alot of fun. this was all in one day.

we went to playa twice, once at night (very lively) and once during the day. hit senor Froggs if you can. thats a lot of fun.
they have a bus that runs the whole complex so you dont have to walk everywhere.
and they have a Catholic church with mass on sat and sun at 6pm. that was nice to go to.

Other Comments:
would we go back? probably not. Next time i will spend the extra money for a higher end resort. but for this being our first vacation it was ok. the friends we traveled with made it fun.

Writer gave this property 4 out of 5 stars overall.

Guest writer – Janice from Canada

Stayed at Paradisus Riviera Cancun from February 9 to 16.

Your Arrival:
We booked our trip with Itravel2000, through Transat Vacations. We chose this hotel because Transat had it on sale for a few days for a really good price, less than what you’d pay for a 4 star hotel. The flight was with Canjet, which turned out to be fine, pretty much ontime each way. We pre-booked exit row seats, so had lots of leg room.

First time we’ve been to Mexico in many years. Landed at Cancun airport, got our luggage fairly quickly, and were directed to the bus to the hotel. Note that you should just walk out of the airport and find your tour rep, ignore the people inside who try to direct you to their counter, they just want to sell you tours and timeshares. The hotel is located about 20 minutes from the airport, so was a quick trip, and they only stopped at one other hotel first.

We booked a regular junior suite, not Royal Service. We checked in and were informed we had a ground floor room. We had specifically put in a request for a room on the second or third floor, and after some searching they were able to find us a second floor room, which turned out to be in a much better location than the first room.

After we checked in the girl who makes the dinner reservations called us over to make our dinner reservations. First she introduced us to a man at another desk and told us he would be our concierge and look after us during our stay. This, of course, made no sense as we did not have Royal Service. Turns out he was just promoting timeshares via discounts on tours and hotel services. We told him we had absolutely no interest in timeshares and he walked away and he never approached us again. We were not bugged by anyone else during the week re timeshare presentations. On to the reservations desk where we were able to make dinner reservations for Tuesday through Saturday. The only restaurant not available until Sunday was the Japanese Restaurant, and she told us to come back the next morning to make a reservation for that, which we did. Some of the times available were a little late, we prefer 7 or 7:30, a couple were for 8 p.m. No big deal.

Rooms:
We were taken by Club Car to our room, which was in Building 7, second floor. Turns out our keys didn’t work, but the bellboy was able to get us in and later we went to the front desk and had them re-done.

Rooms are very spacious, over 500 square feet. We had a garden view, actually quite beautiful, saw lots of birds.

There is a regular bathroom, no Jacuzzi tub or anything (I think there is an outdoor Jacuzzi in some of the Royal Suites rooms). There is a hairdryer, makeup mirror, shampoo, bath gel, and lotion. Also a coffee maker and refrigerator which is stocked daily. Lots of bottled water available.

The room also contains an iron and ironing board, and electronic safe. Bathrobes were also supposed to be there, but we didn’t have any. A couple days later we asked for some and received them in about 5 minutes, with a followup call 5 minutes after that to make sure we got them. Mattresses were quite firm, but we had no problem with that. Our room was very quiet, we didn’t hear any noise from adjoining rooms.

I had brought my netbook and enquired at checkin about wireless internet in the rooms. I was told that it would only work in the Royal Suites rooms, but that wasn’t exactly true. When we got to our room I turned on the computer and did get a signal, so the next day we went back and signed up for 5 days of internet. It’s very, very expensive, $80 US for 5 days! (free if you have Royal Service). I think 7 days was $120 US. Our building was right next to a Royal Service building, so I guess that’s why we got a signal. We heard one guy complaining he had paid for the in-room internet only to find he couldn’t get a signal in his room, so best to check first, it will depend on where your room is located.

Otherwise you can pay $10 US an hour in the lobby area if you have your own laptop, or go to the business centre.

Restaurants and Bars:
Food and drink here was good. Breakfast is at the Caribbean Market Place buffet. (We were looked after by Ismael, we always sat in his section, the service was top notch. He would see us coming in the morning or at lunch and have our table and drinks ready for us.) For lunch we usually went to the buffet, twice we just grabbed hamburgers from the BBQ by the pool, and once we ate at the Reef Grill outside, where you order from a menu. All very good.

There are 5 restaurants you can make reservations for, we ate at each one once for dinner, and twice at the buffet. The buffet wasn’t that great at dinnertime, much better at breakfast and lunch.

L’Hermitage is the French Restaurant, Sumire is the Japanese restaurant, Capri is the Mediterranean restaurant, Tequila is the Mexican restaurant, and Reef Grill is the steak/seafood restaurant. They were all good. I liked the Mexican and Reef Grill the best, except the Reef Grill is outdoors and we nearly froze it was so cold that night. The others are indoors.

Lots of bars throughout the resort, and they had servers taking orders at the beach and pool.

Beach/Pools/Grounds:
We did not have the best weather while we were there. There was a cold front going through, and lots of cloudy days with some rain. When the sun was out it was great, but highs were usually less than 23 celsius, so when it clouded over it was a little cool on the beach. We found both the pools and ocean to be very cold, so other than walk into the ocean up to my knees, I didn’t even go in the water. We did get a good suntan though. Some nights were quite chilly. We turned off the air conditioning in our room after the first night. This weather is not the norm for this area though. Usually February is the driest month of the year.

Beach is very nice, soft powdery sand – not as nice as Punta Cana in the DR, but still very nice. There is a little bit of seaweed that washes up, but it is cleaned up daily. It is a good beach for walking, which we did quite a bit of. You can walk to Puerto Morelos along the beach, we never went quite that far, we were told it’s a 30 minute walk, but I think it’s further than that.

The grounds of this hotel are gorgeous. Very mature vegetation, perfectly manicured.

We found we had to save a chair on the beach or by the pool by around 8 a.m. to get a good spot. No problem for us as we get up early. There are beach beds by the main pool, but these were all reserved for families there with Family Concierge. There is a separate pool area for Royal Service, lots of beach beds there. Looked pretty empty through the week though. The Royal Service pool is adults only. There is also a section on the beach reserved for Royal Service only.

This is a family-friendly resort, and there were tons of kids there, although we never felt bothered by that.

Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel:
They had activities and entertainment during the day, we caught part of the Michael Jackson show one night, it was pretty good. Shows start at 8:30 and then at 9:30 they have live music in the lobby area. They also have vendors in the lobby area during the evening. Be prepared to bargain. I was interested in a picture and his price started out at $225 US, which he said was a bargain, they sold elsewhere for $450 US. I ended up getting it for $70 US (which was probably still a lot more than it was worth). It was fun playing the game though.

Went to the spa once for a massage on a rainy afternoon. Found it very pricey at $110 US for a 50 minute massage.

Other Comments:
Overall this was a great resort, and we wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it. Can’t think of one thing to complain about, except maybe the weather. The staff is absolutely excellent at this hotel, they’ll do anything for you.

Writer gives this resort 4 out of 5 stars overall.

Aliya Mawani, spokeswoman for the Department of Foreign Affairs said officials in Mexico are aware of the beating and are assisting the woman along with her family.

“Our thoughts are with the badly injured Canadian and her family during this difficult time,” said Mawani in a press release earlier today.

The woman, reported to be in her 20s, was found by another traveler lying in a pool of blood in an elevator at the Riu Emerald Bay resort.

According to Noroeste.com a Mexican news site, another tourist was trying to enter the resort elevator where the woman was found. Investigators say she may have been assaulted in her hotel room, dragged down the hall and abandoned by the elevator.

This incident adds to the reported 112 Canadian incidents in Mexico over the past five years which has caused concerns for local travelers.

Josefine Oshunrinde, travel consultant at Humber’s Travel Centre told the dailyplanet.com that situations like this can be caused by things other than chance.

“We don’t know if the traveler had any previous altercations,” said Oshunrinde.

26 year old project management student David Achimugu said he would not be visiting Mexico because of the recent reports.

“It’s been consistently violent there, which means it’s not safe,” said Achimugu.

Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada has advised Canadians to ‘exercise a high degree of caution due to deteriorating security situations in many parts of the country’.

Oshunrinde gave some tips to stay safe when traveling to potentially dangerous areas.

“Travel in a group, try not to stray, and try not to get in other people’s business. Sometimes things happen simply because people get into someone else’ business,” said Oshunrinde.

In the event that assistance is needed while vacationing in Mexico, Canadian government contacts are available in popular resort areas such as Cancun, Puerto Vallarta, and Mazatlan.

Canadians are expressing concerns, but the tourism industry in the country is still thriving.

In 2010, approximately 1.6 million Canadians visited Mexico.

(Source)

Guest post by Richard, Canada

Arrival:
We arrived @ Temptation around 5pm & were in our room by 5-05, quick & efficent, our room was clean and ready, the mini bar was stocked with water,pop & beer. 5-06 we had our first Tequila Perilizer!!!!!

Rooms:
Our room was always clean, we had a view of the quiet pool, from our balcony we could see the ocean we were on the 3rd and top floor The wife would have liked a little more light in the bathroom area, (she still managed to look fabulous!!) The shower was great we had plenty of towels and they were changed every day

Restaurants and Bars:
The restaurants is where I think Temptation is a 5 star + resort–The staff are great, allways with a smile on their face. This was not our first trip to Temptaion, it is so nice to be recognized (I Think?) with good moring good to see you again, would you like your Momosa Sir, Coffee Senorita? we have been here before but it was 4 months ago!!! Being from Alberta, & off the farm, I have to admit I had one of the best steaks ever in Bellavita (must have been Alberta beef??lol), one of the four a la carte Restaurants all are very good,

Beach/Pools/Grounds:
The beach is another place that temptation has improved, it is probably 3 times the size it was when we were there in Nov. It is very interesting how they pump the sand up.

Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel:
Location location location Temptation is 30 miniuets from the airport, a $10 dollar 10 miniuet form the bars, flea markets, market 28, wallmart, or you can take the bus (this just a fun ride, an adventure lol) from right in front of the Resort. I allmost sound like a commercal The resort has Hobby Cats, and Sailboards with lessons The wife has some great wipeout pictures of me, now no one will go sailing with me!!!

Other Comments:
All and all a relaxing, resonably priced vacation!!!

Overall rated by guest 5 out of 5 stars.

• Spectacular flights – Guinness World Record for the farthest throw (1,333 feet / 406 meters)
• Patented high performance design manufactured to exacting standards
• Thrilling games of catch
• Soft rubber edges for comfortable catches
• Large 13 inch diameter size

Off to the park we went with the flying ring.  At first we stood very close to each other to get the hang of the ring.  Than my son, age 13 wanted to give it a try to see just how far he could throw this ring.  Well, what this ring claims to do, it does deliver.  It just flew and flew and flew.  I am very impressed.  After a while, we had a small audience watching us with this amazing ring.  Low and behold, it was easier than throwing a Frisbee.   Pretty good way to get a workout in with your kids. 

Mission accomplished!

Reviews on Mommy.GirlGetStrong.com reflect the personal opinion of the writer, whether it is good, bad or ugly. This product was supplied to GGS, however no compensation was accepted by me or GGS Media Corporation for this review.

1-I forgot to get a picture of the first step.  Choose lot of almost full or new crayons.  We have so many crayons in this house, I was thrilled I could get rid of some.  Line them up on a canvas board.  I bought mine from the dollar store for $1.25.  Line them anyway you would like.  I tried to guide Lauren to do it in color order but she had her own idea.  Than you glue them on with a hot glue gun.

2-Get a blow dryer and use the hottest setting until the crayons start to melt, which only takes a few minutes.

3-Add some flowers to the top of your stems and presto, DYI project is done!

 Doesn’t that look good?  Super easy fun project that would make a great gift for Grandma!  I crayons are a but crooked for an authentic look, right Lauren?  Happy crayon melting!

This was my 5th trip to Cancun area. The last 3 including this one were Riviera Maya. Our travel agent highly recommended this resort. I have stayed at many all inclusive resorts and this was one of the top 2 we have stayed at. The food was by far the best of any of them. I would encourage you to make sure your package is the premium package. It included wireless internet as well as access to the club premium room. The appetizer were awesome for snacking on while watching the big screen TV or using their computers to get online.
I would highly recommend this resort.

Room Number:
3309

Arrival:
Be sure to have the welcome drinks a slushy mango or strawberry drink. They have these in the lobby as well as bottled water available to guests 24/7. Be sure to reserve your specialty restauants as soon as you check in as they fill up quickly. Over all I would say that this is one of the nicest mexico all-inclusive resorts I have stayed at.

Rooms:
Our room faced the ocean. It had a balcony that overlooked the pool, palm trees and a glimpse of the ocean. The room was large with a flat screen TV, couch, safety deposit box and fine linens on the beds.

Restaurants and Bars:
The buffet was large with a huge variety of tasty food. I loved the fresh made juice smoothies, custom made omelets, mouth watering breads, smooth ice cream, flank steak, stone fire pizza, fresh friut, chicken nuggets, variety of cheeses, baked tortilla chips, and so much more. The specialty restaurants were really fun. Each one had it’s own ambiance and theme. My favorites were the Koyo the Japanese restaurant and Santa Fe the Steak House.

Beach/Pools/Grounds:
The pool was large with bridges that crossed over it. The landscaping was well done and kept up continually. The beach had superb sand with plenty of beach loungers. Their sound system on the beach was good. If you walk out to the pier you can see fish right from there. We saw several varieties of fish as well as a momma eel.

Activities on and off the Resort/Hotel:
They had arobics on the beach and in the pool, bingo, crazy games, mini golf, pitch and putt, bocce ball, along with a schedule full of activites from 7 – 5 then at night they had shows. They did a Micheal Jackson show that made you forget that you weren’t at one of his real shows. The show were first class with great music and costuming. Waitresses waited on the guests bringing them the drinks of their choice for free.
They have sail boats, water tricycles, snorkeling equipement,and canoes that are free for guests use as well as jet skis and snorkling trips at an extra charge.
They have people selling tours and renting cars in the lobby. There are some really fun tours and sightseeing trips if you stay long enough to get bored and want to leave all the fun at the resort. We did go on one tour as we had other people with us that had not been to that area of Mexico before and wanted to do some sightseeing. I arranged for us to go with a tour company that I have used before. One of my favorite sightseeing tours is from Alltournative Tours called Mayan Experience. It takes you to the jungle, zip lining, swimming in an underground cenote, repelling, and to the Coba ruins.

I give the resort a 4 out of 5 stars

The floodplain is alive with the sound of music as Richmond’s Gateway Theatre goes with the spiritual uplift of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s 1959 classic for the holidays. Director Chris McGregor has put together a huge, handsome production with a cast of 28 plus 10 piece orchestra and a perfect Maria in Alison MacDonald.

MacDonald has a sweet, effortless voice and really knows how to sell a song like “My Favorite Things,” avoiding the saccharine and getting a big laugh on “schnitzel with noodles” without even trying. Just as importantly, she knows how to play the combination of irreverent spunk and good-girl conformity that makes Maria an ideal pre-feminist heroine. Too free-spirited for the nunnery but beloved by the mother superior, she liberates the seven von Trapp children from their father’s sick militaristic discipline then marries him. And intrepidly leads the family over the Alps to escape from the Nazis.

There’s a lot to like about this show, especially in the long first act that contains all the great songs: the title number and “My Favorite Things,” “(How Do You Solve a Problem Like) Maria,” “Do-Re-Mi,” and “Climb Every Mountain.”

Ranae Miller as Liesl, the oldest von Trapp kid, and Sayer Roberts as her boyfriend Rolf do especially nice work with “Sixteen Going on Seventeen,” which also showcases Dawn Ewen’s choreography.

The other six children (Bridget Esler, Rachel Harrison, Gabriel Schwartz-Dardick, Libby Seltzer, Michael Wilkinson and little Taylor Dianne Robinson) are sufficiently cute and sing well enough that the various versions of “Do-Re-Mi” are as delightful as you hope they’ll be. The strong, sympathetic Mother Abbess (Colleen Winton) and her nuns provide the show’s most beautiful singing in their Latin choral chants. Kudos to musical director Allen Stiles.

As Captain von Trapp, Ian Butcher acts much better than he sings. Allan Zinyk plays the Captain’s friend Max, comic moocher and choral producer, at his scene-stealing broadest.

This Sound of Music features excellent production values. Drew Facey’s versatile set transforms easily from the nunnery to the von Trapp home. He also uses old-fashioned flats very imaginatively. One moment they hold projected images of the Austrian Alps; the next, simple red drop-cloths turn them into the walls of a Nazi concert hall.

Carmen Alatorre has provided dozens of vivid period costumes and Sharon Huizinga’s lighting is effectively moody when it needs to be and appropriately unobtrusive otherwise.

Although the second act feels anti-climactic and the conclusion a little rushed, both in the script and production, this is a fine family show for the holiday season and a great opportunity to get in touch with your inner glockenspiel.

Jerry Wasserman