Michigan’s Adventure Amusement Park & WildWater Adventure Water Park

Michigan’s Adventure is Michigan’s largest amusement and water park, featuring over 60 rides and attractions including our world-class wooden roller coaster, Shivering Timbers which is over 1 mile long and 125 feet tall. Experience six other great roller coasters, Corkscrew, Thunderhawk, Wolverine Wildcat, Mad Mouse, Zach’s Zoomer and Big Dipper.  WildWater Adventure offers Beach Party, three wave pools, tube slides, body slides, Funnel of Fear and a family play area.  Michigan’s Adventure also offers thrill rides, and kiddie rides. Take a ride on Thunderhawk, Michigan’s first suspended looping roller coaster, RipCord, Grand Rapids, Go-Karts, Dodg’em Cars, Be-Bop Blvd, Timbertown Railway, and HydroBlaster. Food stands, miniature golf, games and gift shops round out a whole summer of fun for all ages.

Michigan’s Adventure offers fun for the entire family and at a great price of just $29 per person, Toddlers 2 and under are free!

I can’t wait to visit next month and tell you all about it.

Disclosure: Michigan’s Adventure is provided my family with a complementary pass for the day and lunch for their Parent Blogger Day. All opinions are that of my own. No other monetary compensation will take place.  Pictures provided are courtesy of Michigan’s Adventure.

That’s right, locally grown foods are at Meijer!

Meijer currently works with more than 100 local growers within its five-state footprint, representing an economic impact of more than $80 million annually. The retailer’s focus on quality and locally grown has been a mainstay since 1934 as Meijer grew throughout Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky

How great is that? Another Meijer store here in Michigan, adding more jobs for our much-needed economy and it’s the first of six news stores that Meijer is planning to open in Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois this year!

Don’t forget to check out Meijer on Facebook and Twitter!

Now don’t you worry, I’m not going to do away with the learning aspect of the conference all together, but I do have to make sure that we have enough time to hear from all the wonderful sponsors.  After all, Mitten Moms is all about connecting Michigan Bloggers with Michigan Companies!

I update he conference details as they become final and will continue to do so up until the conference. Keep an eye out for more details to come, new stuff being added. We’re still looking for speakers and would love to hear from you if you are interested.  You can get more information from the Speaker Proposal page.   I can’t wait to meet you all in August!

When: April 16, 2013, from 8-9PM EST

Follow: @Meijer, @MittenMoms, @Week99er, and hashtag #MittenMoms!

During the party, participants will have a chance to win discount codes for their 2013 Mitten Moms Conference ticket as well as Meijer gift cards!

Prizes:

• 1 winner will receive 50% ($75) off their conference ticket
• 3 winners will receive 30% ($45) off their conference ticket
• 1 winner will receive a $100 Meijer gift card
• 2 winners will receive a $50 Meijer gift card

Winners will need to cash in their code by May 15th.  Twitter party winning codes cannot be combined with any other codes and are for full conference passes only.

Be sure to follow hosts @Meijer, @MittenMoms, and @Week99er along with hashtag #MittenMoms to participate.

Please RSVP below by entering in your Twitter Name and Twitter URL. Only those Michigan Bloggers who RSVP before the start of the Twitter Party will be eligible to win.

NOTE: If for some reason the linky isn’t working please leave a comment with your Twitter information!

“Meijer is committed to supporting Michigan businesses, and the Made in Michigan initiative is a great opportunity to highlight some fantastic small businesses throughout the state,” Meijer said. “The response we received from our customers last year about this initiative was overwhelming, which is why we decided to further invest and expand this selection into all our Michigan stores.”

Back in January 2012, Meijer launched its Made in Michigan initiative with the Michigan State University Product Center for Food-Ag-Bio, to help strengthen the state’s economy with 49 grocery items.  You can check out some of the 55 new Michigan-made grocery products by visiting Meijer’s Facebook pictures!

Meijer is having their Meijer Mathlete contest now on Facebook, which runs through 4/24/13 and to celebrate that Shawn Ann’s World is holding a giveaway now for a $25 Meijer Gift Card and a Meijer Mathlete T-shirt.  Head on over for your chance to enter and for more details about the Mejier Mathlete contest.

This past December, they finally reopened after being closed for more than a year and I knew it wouldn’t be long before we had the chance to make it down there.  Our family was invited to take part of an awesome social media opportunity to explore the entire Michigan Science Center, which is located in Midtown Detroit’s cultural center. We decided to head down there as close to opening time as we could so we could spend as much time there before Xavier needed a nap.

Here’s a great recap of many of the displays we visited while at the Michigan Science Center, enjoy!

As you can see there are all kinds of things to do and see while there.  Unfortunately, we weren’t able to visit all the areas, exhibits, and shows!  We did visit the two traveling exhibitions they have going on now; Bodies Human: Anatomy in Motion and Diabetes: A Deeper Look.  Although we couldn’t take pictures while in the Bodies Human exhibition it was a very interesting exhibit to see.  They also have a couple IMAX shows going on, which we didn’t go in to see because we wanted to spend as much time walking around and seeing all the main areas since it was our first time there and we knew our time was limited.

One of the great things with the Michigan Science Center is that there is all kinds of family fun there and you can have a birthday party there, scouting programs, and they even offer some day camps!  There is something there that will be fascinating to each member of your family!

Be sure to follow the Michigan Science Center on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest!

Here is a quick glance at the details of this years conference:

• Tickets are $150, however there is an early bird special until March There will learning sessions in the evening on Friday, August 9th, as well as most of the day on Saturday, August 10th. Ticket price does not include lodging.
• Lodging and the Conference will be at the Adoba Hotel in Dearborn. Rooms are available at $89 (plus tax) per night for a single or double standard.
• You can view the schedule at any time and it will be updated as more information comes in.
• We are looking for Speakers and Volunteers, please apply if interested.
• We will be using the hashtag #MittenMoms on Twitter so please be sure to use it when talking about the conference at all times!
• Tickets do include some meals and a pass to either Greenfield Village or the Henry Ford Museum (your choice) for Sunday.

If you want to keep up with the Mitten Moms Conference details all the time, please join the Mitten Moms Conference Group!  We may open an option to just purchase a Saturday ticket, so please stay tuned for more information.

Although the conference is for Michigan Bloggers, there will be some exceptions to bloggers from surrounding areas.  Please contact me if  you are interested in attending but are not from Michigan.

We sure hope to see you there!

You see, Greenfield Village is like stepping back in time and learning and seeing how things used to be done. You are able to take rides in vintage Model T’s, take a bus ride in an old 1931 Ford Model AA Bus, even the Omnibus Shuttle (horse and carriage style). Oh and don’t forget the train ride with a 19th century steam engine, that travels through a three-mile route!

Don’t forget about dining, you can dine at several different restaurants that serve food from 1850s menus throughout the village.

The entire time you are at Greenfield Village you will be learning!  Going through all of the 83 authentic and historic structures like Noah Webster’s home, Thomas Edison’s Menlo Park, where Abraham Lincoln practiced law, courthouses, school rooms, and much more! The workers are all dressed for the time and play the parts, including cooking, farming, and even blowing glass!

If you are a fan of baseball than you have to go out and visit during the baseball season, June 8-August 18, 2013, to watch the historic baseball games, played by the 1967 rules!  There really is nothing better than watching baseball played this way!

Don’t forget to check out all the events! Greenfield Village is open 7 days a week during spring, summer, and fall.  They are open Friday-Sunday during November and closed for the winter season other than select nights for Holiday Nights in Greenfield Village.

Baby its cold outside and this means I want comfort food but healthy good for me comfort food because after all, I’m still on my weight loss journey! After the Mitten Moms conference the attendees all took home delicious Randall Beans and I challenged the bloggers to use these beans, create a recipe and share with me how they used of one of my favorite products! Boy did this rise up the challenge and these recipes all sound DELICIOUS!

So if you’re looking for some food inspiration check out these delicious recipes using Randall’s Beans:

Ham Hocks and Beans

Monday Bean Soup

White Chicken Chili

Chicken and Bean Dumplings

Winter Chicken Chili

Sausage and White Bean Soup