How To Make A LEGO Cake!

LEGO Cake Rocks! 

Birthday Fun

My kid wanted a LEGO Birthday Cake... So my wife got her creative hat on and went to work. Here's how she did it.

LEGO CAKE Attribution: DarrellWolfe.Com 

Overview

So my kids REALLY enjoy LEGO! LEGO everything! So a while back we (my wife) made a LEGO CAKE for my son's birthday! I thought I'd take a break from reviewing places and tell you how to make it.

You'll need:

• Three Rectangular Cakes (Any Flavor, we chose "Rainbow White Cake")
• Several Batches of Chocolate Chip Cookies (or you favorite kind). 
• One Over-sized Bottle Cap from a large three liter bottle. 
• Or some other round object the size you want. 
• * She did find that the ridges in the bottle cap tended to stick to the cookies making them hard to get out. She destroyed several. Finding something with not inside edges could be good. 
• White Frosting
• Food Coloring
• Baking Sheet (Or Large Presentation Dish, once it's built you kind of don't pick it up). 

The steps:

1. Use REAL LEGO bricks to build your model.
2. Bake the Cakes and Cookies.
3. Use the cookie cutter/bottle cap to cut as many round little cookies as you want. 
4. Cut off the top layer, making it flat. Frost the first cake.
5. Leave any area you are stacking on flat. The exposed area frost several cookies, stacked on each other and place those on top to make the LEGO DOT look. 
6. Keep Stacking layer by layer.
7. Add Real LEGO toys on top.

Pictures Tell The Real Story:

Cost

Very Cheap. Didn't count the cost on this one, but it's a few box cake mixes from the store, cookies mix, frosting, time.

The Actual LEGO's to put on top the cake were the most expensive part, but that would have been wrapped as a present anyway had we not done this.

Kids

My kids REALLY enjoyed this!

Have you ever made any fun birthday cakes? Share you ideas in the comments on this post, and link to them if you have pictures or posts on it. 

Life In Fort Worth By Darrell Wolfe

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Disclaimers:

* This information is AS IS. I make no assumptions to know everything, or be up to date. I am a fellow traveler passing on what I learn to you. If you need official assistance from a professional, please get that help from them. 

*Affiliate Links may be included. In some instances I make money from the reviews of products or services I do here. In some cases I get a few freebies as well. Nevertheless, I only leave my honest reviews. This is how I see it. They can pay me to review, they can't pay me for how my review turns out. Please see my full disclosure list at: Start Here - About. 

What is YOUR favorite place to go? Comment Below!

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Fort Worth Museum of Science and History: A Review

Fort Worth Museum of Science and History

Fort Worth, Texas

• 1600 Gendy St
• Arlington Heights
• Get Directions
• Phone number(817) 255-9300
• fortworthmuseum.org

Rating (5 Being the Best)

3.89

Attribution: Darrell G. Wolfe www.LifeInFortWorth.Com

Overview

The Museum is a great place to hang out with the kids.

You walk into the big glass doors and work through the entrance/ticket area. If you head left there is a cafeteria. Left up the stairs you find exhibits, often the traveling exhibit is located upstairs. Also upstairs you find the Cowboy exhibit where you can see cowboy history. 

To your right you find a wing full of hands on fun like building paper things that might be able to fly in the wind tunnel, building with wooden blocks, a dark room to play with lights, and more. 

Further down the hall you find a Dino area, mining exhibit, and a smaller kids play area. Outside there is a small water area. 

The whole place is actually VERY small, compared to the Perot Museum, but also less crowded, usually. 

If you felt that you wanted a place that was indoors (summer AND winter resistant) to take the kids for a few hours once or twice a month, this would be a good one to have on your list. There are many hands on things to do and that in and of itself usually keeps them busy for a while.

Incidentally there is plenty of seating for parents to watch their kids play with stuff.

As with any popular place I'd advise going on a Mon - Thu and not on a weekend to avoid the crowds. 

The kids had fun and didn't want to leave when we did. We have passes, so we'll be back. 

Cost

Honestly when it comes to places like this I think of them as recurring places, annual pass, type places. That way I can go when I want, for how long I want, and not feel I need to "see everything" while I'm there. 

I'll tell you now, I don't know that it's worth the cost just to go once. 

Non Annual Pass Holders: Paid Parking (+/- $5)

Annual Pass Holders: Park Free. 

Kids

The kids enjoy this place. Especially when we go during non busy days/hours. They can play and enjoy themselves touching things. 

Tips to enjoy it better...

Get an annual pass if you are local. 

ANNUAL PASS HOLDERS: Get free entrance to BOTH Fort Worth Museum of Science and History AND the Perot Museum... At last they do this year and last year. 

Final Thoughts

It's small but enjoyable, especially if you go often just for a fun outing. 

See Other Reviews on Yelp: Click Here

Pictures

Life In Fort Worth By Darrell Wolfe

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Disclaimers:

* This information is AS IS. I make no assumptions to know everything, or be up to date. I am a fellow traveler passing on what I learn to you. If you need official assistance from a professional, please get that help from them. 

*Affiliate Links may be included. In some instances I make money from the reviews of products or services I do here. In some cases I get a few freebies as well. Nevertheless, I only leave my honest reviews. This is how I see it. They can pay me to review, they can't pay me for how my review turns out. Please see my full disclosure list at: Start Here - About. 

What is YOUR favorite place to go? Comment Below!

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National Day of Prayer - Community Gathering - Thursday, May 1, 2014 from 11:30 A.M. to 1:30 P.M.

I got this in an email and wanted to share it with you. Event Details Below. 

There really wasn't much info on the official website about it. So I figured it would be good to duplicate the information here.

Fort Worth, Tarrant County Community

National Day of Prayer - Community Gathering Thursday, May 1, 2014 at 11:30 A.M. to 1:30 P.M. Burnett Plaza, 501 West 7th Street Fort Worth, TX 76102 (7th, Lamar, Cherry and West 10th)

2014 Theme: One Voice United
2014 Scripture: Romans 15:6

 “So that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father Lord Jesus Christ.” 

 Website: www.NationalDayofPrayer.org

Go To YELP to show you'll be there, and add it to your calendar! 

• http://www.yelp.com/events/fort-worth-national-day-of-prayer-community-gathering-thursday-may-1-2014

This Even Is For You IF

As a member of the Fort Worth Tarrant County Community, who believe prayer is the answer for our city and nation.

Our community comes together each year on the First Thursday in May to join with friends, neighbors, co-workers, community leaders, and musicians to lift our voices in prayer and worship as a community in prayer.

We need your involvement. 

In addition to Joining Us for the 2014 National Day of Prayer we invite you to take part in the planning and organizational meetings.

Meetings are on Monday’s at noon in the Burnett Plaza Office Building, (address above). For those who cannot attend the noon meetings we schedule Saturday lunch meetings at various locations.

We will also be having a call center, and work days in preparation for the event and ask you to prayerfully consider being a part.

If you are interested in joining these meetings, please send an email to: Vicki.Phillips1@att.net. 

We are depending on people of faith to participate in the National Day of Prayer.

How can you participate?

• Pray for the National Day of Prayer Event and events across our nation on Thursday, May 1, 2014.

• Join the National Day of Prayer Organizational Meetings

• Announce this event in your 
• Businesses
• Newsletters
• Emails
• Churches
• Synagogues
• Community Calendars
• School Calendars
• Adds in the newspapers
• City Calendars
• Magazines
• Radio Stations
• And Your Social Channels on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+, Tumblr, and more.
• Spread the word about this important day and enjoy our freedom to publicly assemble together in prayer.

• Join together as a community united on May 1st at Burnett Park, Downtown Fort Worth.

• Hold Your Own National Day of Prayer Event at your work place, neighborhood, and nursing homes or pray in your home, and join by webcast at noon as the nation prays.

• Consider making a donation to National Day of Prayer Tarrant County to help cover the costs of this event. We would appreciate your support and donations of any amount. If you own a business and willing to donate services, we would greatly appreciate your participation.

• Bring canned or boxed food items to be donated to local food pantries within Tarrant County.

• Adopt-A-Leader. Join Adopt-A-Leader by agreeing to encourage and pray for one of our local community leaders for a year. We desire to hold a future community gathering where the leaders and those who adopted them can share how this has made us a stronger individual, community, city and nation.

We look forward to hearing from you, and getting to know you as we come together as a community that PRAYS together.

For More Information Contact:

Vicki Phillips
National Day of Prayer
Fort Worth, Tarrant County
Event Coordinator
Direct Contact: 817-656-9906
Cell Phone: 817-999-8764
Email: Vicki.Phillips1@att.net

NOW IS THE TIME TO ADOPT A LEADER FOR A YEAR. ASK ME HOW!

Google Map For Event:

wordpress

Life In Fort Worth By Darrell Wolfe

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Disclaimers:

* This information is AS IS. I make no assumptions to know everything, or be up to date. I am a fellow traveler passing on what I learn to you. If you need official assistance from a professional, please get that help from them. 

*Affiliate Links may be included. In some instances I make money from the reviews of products or services I do here. In some cases I get a few freebies as well. Nevertheless, I only leave my honest reviews. This is how I see it. They can pay me to review, they can't pay me for how my review turns out. Please see my full disclosure list at: Start Here - About. 

What is YOUR favorite place to go? Comment Below!

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The Tragedy of Spirit Airlines out of DFW Airport

Spirit Airlines

DFW Airport

If you are looking for a cheap flight out of DFW Airport this airline is for you! 

If you are looking for a customer friendly experience Run Away! 

Image Linked From: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Spirit_Airlines_logo.svg, As Review Of Entity

Rating (5 Being the Best)

1.5 out of 5.

Overview

* In full disclosure. This review is actually based on another person's experience. But since it has to do with DFW Airport and it affected my life. I'm going to share it with you. Names have been changed to protect the innocent.

***

The Flight To DFW

She was flying Spirit Air into DFW Airport from another city. In her departing town she arrived at the air port two hours early. Got checked in, bags ready, and had an hour to spare. She headed over to the in airport lounge and grabbed food and a drink.

Then they started boarding... over an hour early. They actually left the airport 35 minutes early.Sounds ok, except you plan these things when you go. She had to box her food and drink and run over.

Anyone arriving "On Time" would have been left stranded. 

The Return Flight From DFW

So on her return I dropped her off at the airport in the evening. I joked with my wife that our guest would be calling me to come back and we'd have to go back to get her again... sure enough less than five minutes after that joke we got a text to come back.

There was snow in the destination area and they'd have to use a smaller plane. So she got booted from the flight. Re-Scheduled for the next morning. It would have been bad enough if that had been a surprise, but...

There was a man there who'd been waiting since that morning because they'd done the same thing to him that morning. So they could have sent this message to everyone way before they came to the airport, they'd known for over 8 hours.

They couldn't figure that out HOURS before and send everyone a message that couldn't board? 

So they proceeded to take off with her luggage, which had already been checked, to the destination, leaving her behind to wait over 12 hours for a new flight, without her luggage. And yes, they still charged her for the luggage expenses.

The Next Morning

We drop her off that next morning (at 5 AM CT) and she sent us another text that she'd been bumped again but not to pick her up because she'd wait to ensure she was on the first-in list for the next flight out.

Yes, That's now two flights she's been bumped from in the same 24 hour period. 

So she was scheduled to arrive that morning in the new city, she arrived that afternoon instead.

***

So that was this woman's experience. Your mileage may vary.

Cost

Cost was CHEAP. But she got what she paid for, maybe a little less than she bargained for.

Kids

I'm not sure I'd go with kids. Thinking that through, if I got bumped (which according to Yelp seems to be common with this Airline) I doubt I'd want to "hang out" inside an airport with kids for 12+ hours.

If your kids are older, calmer, or easily distracted with videos and games, go ahead and try it if you are cash strapped.

Tips to enjoy it better...

One reviewer "Juntin B." had some great ideas.

2. Print off your own boarding pass before getting there.
They will charge you $10 a pass to print it for you. 

3. $30 a bag (each way) under 40lbs. Additional $25 for the next 10lbs. Another $25 for the next 10 after that. $25 for carry-ons (giant backpack or rolling suitcase). FREE personal bag (backpack, purse). 

We took one big bag to FL, kept it under 40lbs and we were fine. Carried backpacks on the plane which were free. Big help to know that if your carry-on is over the size limit, they will charge you $100. How to avoid this? Don't bring a carry-on. A checked bag is only $5 more anyway. 

I'd say he's about right. Take one backpack for each person, keep those VERY Lite, essentials only. If you are going for a long trip take one checked bag, but keep that lite too. I also appreciated his idea about printing the ticket before you leave the house. He has some other ideas, so click his name to see his full review if you still want to give them a go.

Final Thoughts

It could be worth it for a family/individual who is cash strapped and just wants to get out and go.

If you are a person who likes fine wine and fine dining and you expect anything more than a flight that may or may not be when you scheduled it to be but you'll get there...  eventually... you are probably booking the wrong flight.

See More Info from myself and others on this link from Yelp: Spirit Airlines Dallas, Texas

Life In Fort Worth By Darrell Wolfe

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Disclaimers:

* This information is AS IS. I make no assumptions to know everything, or be up to date. I am a fellow traveler passing on what I learn to you. If you need official assistance from a professional, please get that help from them. 

*Affiliate Links may be included. In some instances I make money from the reviews of products or services I do here. In some cases I get a few freebies as well. Nevertheless, I only leave my honest reviews. This is how I see it. They can pay me to review, they can't pay me for how my review turns out. Please see my full disclosure list at: Start Here - About. 

What is YOUR favorite place to go? Comment Below!

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Historic Downtown Grapevine - Grapevine, Texas

Historic Downtown Grapevine

Grapevine, Texas

A fun little walk down a quaint little street. That is how I'd describe Downtown Grapevine, Texas.

It is an eclectic mix of women's apparel, artsy gift shops, wine bars, and more. Among the more interesting attractions: A theater that plays very old classic movies.

Attribution: Darrell G. Wolfe Life In Fort Worth

Rating (5 Being the Best)

3. Fun place to visit every so often. Not necessarily a kid/family place to visit.

Overview

A Quick Walk. A walk up and down Main St in the Downtown Grapevine Shopping area (without stopping in the stores) could take a person of average health 10-15 minutes. I'm using the area map (click here) to state the walk as being from the Train Station at Dallas Rd to 114 Business E Northwest Hwy and back.


View Larger Map

Shopping. My first timers impression of Historic Downtown Grapevine is that it was a shopping mall full of ladies apparel, wine stores, and gift shops. It was an entire of street of my wife saying "I'm not taking the kids in there!" LOL.

If you aren't with the kids, and you are looking for a ladies afternoon out, especially if you like wine, this could be a good place to go. If however you don't drink wine, aren't looking to buy ladies clothes... it wasn't such a hot spot for our particular tastes.

However, there were a few bright finds. A fun little holiday store called "Good Things For All Seasons". Where we found a fun little group of tongue-in-cheeck gift cards. Like this one that said: "I bet I enjoyed getting fat more than you enjoyed getting skinny."

Attribution: Darrell G. Wolfe Life In Fort Worth

There was also a great little Christian Coffee and Gift Shop called: "Holy Grounds: Bookstore, Coffee, and Gifts". This is where I found an awesome notebook cover made of decorated leather, it houses the very notebook type I use from Walmart anyway. I'll be back for this item when I have a few dollars. Or for my birthday. BTW: I think they sell coffee grounds, it's not necessarily a Starbucks.

Finally the Palace Theater shows older classic movies. Everything from Casa Blanca to Willie Wonka. That is something we'll be going back to as a family.

For those wondering, there are public restrooms which can be found just opposite the theater along the brick wall of a building.

Attribution: Darrell G. Wolfe Life In Fort Worth

Finally,  I didn't get a picture of it, but there is an historical cabin on display at the far end of the road nearest northwest hwy. It shows what early settlers would have lived like. By comparison we live in mansions today. It really gives a lot of perspective.

So, although not a place the kids want to just jump up and down for, it was a fun walk, something we'll do again someday.

NOTE: This was a Non-Event day. Now grapevine is KNOWN for their events, which they have often. I suggest checking the website for details on upcoming events. This way you can either catch one, or avoid one, depending on your tastes and the event in question. Going when there are a lot of people there makes it hard to find parking or get around, but it does add to a certain vibe, and there are often freebie give a ways when the events are in town.

Cost

Parking is free, at least on non-event days. You don't pay for anything unless you find something you want to buy. But that's kind of the point of a street like this. So unless you just wanted a pretty stroll, bring a few dollars to buy something fun.

Kids

Other than the theater, which could be fun depending on the movie, and the historic cabin, which you can look inside of, but not go inside of, there isn't much to do for kids. That's true unless there is a kid based event. Christmas and Thomas the Train days are two exceptions I know of.

Tips to enjoy it better...

Generally, go for a walk, see if there's a store that interests you, then decide if you want to make more trips back.

Final Thoughts

I'm sure this is a great place for the clientèle it was built for. This is just ONE man's opinion. Don't let that sway you either way. Have a see for yourself, and/or check others reviews before you decide.

Thanks for reading: Darrell

If you want to see what others have to say: Check out Yelp!

Life In Fort Worth By Darrell Wolfe

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Disclaimers:

* This information is AS IS. I make no assumptions to know everything, or be up to date. I am a fellow traveler passing on what I learn to you. If you need official assistance from a professional, please get that help from them. 

*Affiliate Links may be included. In some instances I make money from the reviews of products or services I do here. In some cases I get a few freebies as well. Nevertheless, I only leave my honest reviews. This is how I see it. They can pay me to review, they can't pay me for how my review turns out. Please see my full disclosure list at: Start Here - About. 

What is YOUR favorite place to go? Comment Below!

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Mikes Garden Centers Southlake Texas

Mikes Garden Centers 

Southlake, Texas

Rating (5 Being the Best)

4*

Overview

I'm not a huge gardener. In fact. I've killed every plant I ever tried to grow. But I never really tried. Not really. I never took the time to learn. Apparently it's not as simple as just putting it in the dirt and adding water when you remember.

This year is different. My wife, a better researcher than I, has done the work to learn how to do it right and we're going to start trying. We're actually going to do a raised garden bed. We stopped by Mikes, and in the deep winter cold, it felt like summer inside this little green house. I was impressed.

When the trees outside were bare, it was the garden of eden inside Mike's. We picked up some things we need to get started pre winter and we'll be back for more when the season starts.

It was so pretty inside. Flowers, labels, instructions. The staff was friendly. They answered any questions and looked for extra ideas (always a hint of a person who has passion for their subject). It was a great experience.

Cost

I actually have no experience with what a Garden Center should cost. But it seemed reasonable to me.

Kids

The kids enjoyed their time inside and even helped pick out some plant ideas for the new garden.

Tips to enjoy it better...

Maybe bring a diagram and list of what you want and a notebook and pen to write down their suggestions.

Final Thoughts

This place is worth going to, and central to my Church and Work. I'll be back!

Flickr Photos

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Life In Fort Worth By Darrell Wolfe

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Disclaimers:

* This information is AS IS. I make no assumptions to know everything, or be up to date. I am a fellow traveler passing on what I learn to you. If you need official assistance from a professional, please get that help from them. 

*Affiliate Links may be included. In some instances I make money from the reviews of products or services I do here. In some cases I get a few freebies as well. Nevertheless, I only leave my honest reviews. This is how I see it. They can pay me to review, they can't pay me for how my review turns out. Please see my full disclosure list at: Start Here - About. 

What is YOUR favorite place to go? Comment Below!

Read more ...