For those of you who read my previous post reviewing the JumpStart online world, I have some good news for you! I have a 3 month membership($23.97 value) to giveaway to one of you. Just leave me a comment below if you’re interested and I’ll do a random drawing to pick the winner. Even if you don’t have kids, enter anyway, I bet you know someone else who might! I’ll draw a winner Monday. Good Luck!

*** UPDATE ***
We have a winner! It’s comment number 2, Astaryth! I will email you for your info shortly.

Ahhh, the holidays are upon us. Unlike previous years though, I’m actually feeling it a little more than usual. Like, I’m kind of into it more than my usual Humbug self. But there’s still 10 days to go and I don’t think I have gifts for everyone. Hmmm…

I think being at Disney last Saturday had something to do with that. Hollywood Studios is doing it’s annual Osborne Lights display. It’s pretty amazing to be honest. Although it’s hard not to be when there’s 5 million lights synchronized to lights. Really good stuff. It also could be that after Monday I won’t be at work until 2010. I’m looking forward to that very much even if HR doesn’t think I actually have that much time this year. I do. I have proof it was in my terms of employment from C-level officers who backed me up. I swear my company has removed the human from human resources. I feel no different than a desk or a chair in the eyes of how they run that department. Oh well. 2010 will be better right? It has to be.

We saw the Princess and the Frog last weekend. Excellent flick. Followed the Disney movie template and flow pretty much to a tee, but the execution was great. My 3 and 5 year old loved it very much. I loved the music in it myself, but I also love New Orleans jazz.  Younger than or kids aged 2 may have a hard time with the “villain” parts of the templates, especially in a theater, but is very enjoyable for adults as well to take kids to.

Remember my holiday plat from last year, Buddy? If not, here’s what he looked like a year ago.

Well, after a year of nothing but my leftover spring water and changing the water along with washing the rocks once a month as instructed, here’s what he looks like today.

That’s one of those full size water bottles too. Not a little one. I use whatever from those I don’t finish in a day to keep the water level up. Not bad huh?

Sorry for the randomness, but I’m still organizing some thoughts I have on some better posts. If you got this far, thanks! Was it the pictures? Just kidding. If your in an area where it’s cold out, I’m sorry for you. The weather here is awesome. 70′s and even low 80′s with loads of sunshine. I love it. I like the cold, but want nothing to do with winter. Been there done that, I much prefer being able to play golf all year round.

Here are some more pics to enjoy.

If you follow my blog or twitter you’ll see loads of funny pics that one of my employees always makes of me with photoshop, like this one:

Well I got him back with this pic. I also did my brother in law with this shot, but I’ll keep that one to myself. Here’s my employee:

A cool action shot with my camera phone during pre-game warm-up of my favorite team in the world.

I snapped this during the morning fog. Thought is was pretty and not a bad nature shot for a camera phone at a gas pump. Poor spider only caught morning dew from fog instead of a tasty morsel.

Perhaps you’ve seen or even own some of the CD games for your computer by JumpStart. They’re everywhere computer games are sold and have been around for over 15 years. What you may not be aware of is that they’ve taken that world and put it online in a 3D world for kids to explore. It is quite the online world to explore as well!

I let each of my kids have their own screen name under my single account so they can each customize their characters, called Jumpees, how they see fit. They have a lot of fun changing up their name and appearance all the time with tons of silly options. What I like most about this online product they offer is it is always changing along with the seasons and holidays. Most areas will always look the same, but the world around it changes to  keep it fresh for the kids. For instance, it’s currently winter, and snowy conditions are everywhere in the world. It’s the closest my girls will likely get to throw a snowball this year!

There is so much to explore on the site that I don’t think my girls have been able to see it all. They’ve spent quite a bit of time on the site exploring the different areas and playing all sorts of various educational activities. The activities cover math, reading, and critical thinking skills for children aged 3 – 10. Each activity area is labeled with a sign that lets your children and you know what range is best to enter.

Navigation is handled by the mouse but in most areas the keyboard can also be used. Helping kids learn skills with the mouse and keyboard is important at a young age, since I think it’s a safe assumption they will be using computers their entire life. Kids are so lucky to be kids in today’s age. I would have loved this stuff as a kid. Sometimes I even sign in myself to play around with the games, but don’t tell them that!

Throughout the game’s activities, the kids can earn stars to unlock more activities and stories as well as coins they can use in stores. With these coins, kids are able to purchase clothing items and decorations for their house. They can also purchase pets, rides, and even add things to their JumpStart world like mazes and pools!

Something the online product also features is the ability to connect with and make friends while online. My girls are a little young to take advantage of this just yet, but as they get older and discuss their experiences with real life friends, they’ll be able to friend each other and send messages within the online world. After asking for some specific details aout the chat system I learned that the users are restricted to “canned” messages only. This means they can only say things like “What’s Up”, “I like to swim”, “You are funny”, etc… The messages do not allow for private information like birthdays, addresses, and full names. You always do see other kids running around and playing the games while you are and in some cases they must wait their turn. Never longer than a second or two though.

You should know the website app loads in a new browser window that disables all the little things in a browser that could allow your child to leave the site. There’s no address bar and no ability to right click. There is a full screen mode to remove the ability to click out of the window, which is nice to help deter from errant clicks.

The only negative element I have found with the product is reporting. I would like to see some detailed usage reports for each child that logs in. I would like to see what things they are playing the most and how they are doing when they do engage in the educational activities. For those kids that utilize the friends and messaging aspects, I think it would be extremely important to know who your children have interactions with. I know, I know, as parents we should always be right by their side and using the computer with them, but once they can fly solo we don’t always sit right over the shoulder. Still though, being able to track progress and identify problem areas would be a great feature.

The JumpStart online world is free to try out and play around with. However you will be limited in what you are able to see and do unless you purchase a membership. The rates are quite reasonable for the amount of content contained in the online world. They offer monthly, annual, and lifetime memberships and you can purchase online or acquire a membership card at several retail outlets. All the information you need are in the links below.

JumpStart Online

JumpStart FAQ’s

JumpStart Blog – A welcome addition for parents to get details on all the updates constantly showing up in the online world.

***FTC Disclosure: JumpStart provided me with access to the online product for the purposes of this blog review. However, the opinions and ideas expressed are solely mine and mine alone. ***