The Sword of Truth Series by: Terry Goodkind

When I was 24 years old I walked into a Barnes & Noble with a Starbucks in hand, just kinda wondering around wasting time. I liked to read, but I wasn’t really into reading. I enjoyed going to book stores because it always felt like there was possibility of finding something spectacular in them.

My thing was walking the rows of books (all genres), browsing the titles, waiting for something to just jump out at me and whisk me away on an adventure. On this particular trip, I remember going through the store and not really finding anything of real interest, so I started to head out and I noticed a collection of books on the Science Fiction end cap that I had missed. I studied it for a moment from several feet away, debating if I should check them out, took the last gulp of my cinnamon dolce latte and wondered over. (It’s hard to imagine now that there was a time when this was the biggest decision I had to make in a day. Go check out the books or don’t check out the books, hmmmm)

I walked out of Barnes & Noble that day with the first book of the Sword of Truth Series, Wizards First Rule and 14 years and 24 books later am still hooked. There is actually more than 24 books related to Sword of Truth series, I am 2-3 behind waiting for the price to drop. Needless to say, I am now a dedicated citizen of the world he created in these books.

I feel like anything I say about these books and about the world he created just won’t do him justice. It’s a world where magics are used instead of technology, there’s forbidden love, fighting for human rights, sick and twisted power hungry people trying to take over the world, unbreakable friendships, and most importantly, lessons to learn from. It’s the whole package.

I will admit, there were 1 or 2 books in the middle of the series, up till now, that I found a little repetitive and had a hard time getting through. I won’t say that every single one had me on the edge of my seat, but most of them do. The first 6 books of the series are by far my favorites, I listen to them on audible now while I work, and I encourage anyone looking to start a wonderful adventure to go on this one.

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“The Last Kids on Earth” by: Max Braillier

I liked it. I thought it was a fun action packed story where kids who normally don’t “hang out” became best friends as they fight to survive their new normal world filled with zombies, dozers, winged wretches, and vine thingies, among others.

When we started this book, I had the boys reading it to me, and they did ok with it. My boys are 7, are are a little behind on the reading level, but more than that they are a little behind on the maturity level also. They weren’t really understanding the dialogue between the characters and the witty sense of humor Jack Sullivan (the main character) has. So I decided to make it our bed time story book, where I read to them. After a few chapters I realized it wasn’t helping much for calming down and going to bed but I enjoyed the book so much I just kept on reading. When I read to them, I typically get really into the story with cheesy character voices, sound effects, and emotion. Not to mention its an action pack monster bashing adventure. Not really the right ingredients for bed time. Anyway, once I took over the reading they enjoyed it more but I had to constantly explain the sarcasm. Which isn’t a negative towards the book or the author, I loved it, it’s just something to consider if your kiddos are seven and take words very literally.

I bought the trilogy, so we will be eventually reading the second book to see what kind of new big bad tries to destroy the rest of the world and what this monster bashing team of friends does to stop it.

What the kids have to say:

Ninja D: ” I liked it because it had a lot of action in it, and I love action.”

Robo D: “I didn’t like it that much. I didn’t really understand what they were talking about most of the time. But I like the cartoon on Netflix.”

Disclaimer: All opinions and context are my own and are not influenced by any other parties. I was not paid or compensated for this review, this was only me sharing some thoughts about the book.

“Ninja Farts- Silent But Deadly”

I have yet to meet a boy who doesn’t want to be a ninja at some point in their life or think that farts are the funniest thing on this Earth. So what better combination for a kids book?

My 7 year old twin boys love Ninja Farts by JB O’Neil. It’s one of the few books that they will read over and over, of course they prefer me to read it because I get the crazy sound effects and voice character voices going, but regardless it’s one that never gets old.

Milo is very relatable for young boys as he finds school extremely boring and often finds himself dreaming about fun adventures using the power of the fart to do good in the world. Even though weirdly gross, there is a moral at the end of the story for kids to learn from.

There are several books in the “Fart” collection from JB O’Neil, I have ordered some of the other adventures for us to go on and can’t wait to share them with you!

We highly recommend going on these stinky fun adventures with Milo Snotrocket, they are fun and entertaining, and extremely gross. All of the major ingredients for fun in a boys mind.

Though my kids are not one for words, this is what they have to say about this story.

Robo D: “I like Ninja Farts because they are farty and it’s funny to fart while reading Ninja Farts! LOL“

Ninja D: “I like Ninja Farts because I am Ninja too and farts are funny! “

Yes.Fit Virtual Racing

I had signed us up for 3 different fun runs this year and not a single one is going to happen because of this virus. They gave me vouchers for next year….if they make it. So, I have turned to virtual racing to get my fix like so many runners. I have tried a few of them now, by far Yes.Fit is my favorite, let me tell you why.

Where all of the programs give you a medal and/or a shirt, its usually sent to you weather or not you actually completed the race. Of course, the only person you are cheating is yourself if you don’t actually complete it, but regardless it’s hard to work for something if you already have it in hand. With Yes.Fit you have to log your miles and when you do complete the race, they send you your chosen reward. To keep you motivated they send e-mails every time you pass a mile marker with some cool information about the theme of your race, pictures, stories along the way, just to name a few. I am currently doing the 97.7 mile Extraterrestrial Highway, I have logged 34 miles so far and started it June 20th. Below are some screen shots of the mile markers I have passed, I didn’t include the link to see what they are about because, hey you have to earn it!! 😉 I just wanted to give you an idea,

The Extraterrestrial Highway is my third race with Yes.Fit, for rewards they give you the option of a shirt or a medal or both if you want to pay for it. I always get the shirts, the medals are really cool but I get more use from the shirts and they are good quality and comfortable.

Another thing I really like about their virtual races, is they have a user friendly app. It keeps track of my progress and I can browse all of their races and challenges easily. Not all of the virtual race programs have apps, in fact I am finding most don’t.

These are pics of the tank tops I received from the other 2 races I completed with Yes.Fit.

If you prefer to achieve before you receive like I do, then Yes.Fit is the way to go. They make virtual racing as realistic as possible with the fun mile marker updates and receiving rewards after you have conquered your race. They make signing up and keeping track of races easy with their app and overall, in my opinion so far are the best Virtual Race Experience I have had to date.

Stay Healthy My Friends!

Disclaimer: I haven’t received any compensation for this review, the company did not ask me to do a review. All words and opinions are my own and have not been influenced by Yes.Fit in any way except they provide an excellent product that I stumbled onto.

Everglades City, Florida

If you are looking for some peace and quite in South Florida, this is one of the best places to go. On the south west side of the state and part of the ten thousand islands, this is an ideal location for kayaking and paddle boarding. We enjoy packing a cooler full of cold drinks, some sandwiches and launching our kayaks at Everglades National Park. Typically, my husband enjoys fishing more than I do, I am more into paddling around and soaking in the sun, salt, and serenity; snapping pictures of all the amazing creatures. But from time to time, I will toss my line in and see if I get lucky.

taking a break from kayaking

I have never seen any alligators or crocodiles here, that’s not to say they aren’t around, because you never know, but I have never seen them here. Me and my young boys have no problem getting in the water and splashing and playing around. I am always on the look out and we don’t venture to far from shore when swimming, because hey, it’s Florida and there are numerous cold blooded animals that can eat you. But like I said, I have never seen them here, but I have seen dolphins playing in the water near the islands while kayaking, it is always a super fun experience when dolphins are around. I have also seen several different crab species, conchs, and a variety of bird species here. The water is brackish, it opens up to the ocean about 3 miles off the main shore, past the ten thousand islands. We always has the luck of catching salt water catfish, they are a very bony fish and eating it can be a little annoying. Usually we fry it up and most of the bones with the meat and it tastes really good. If you find yourself catching them be careful because their fins are like switch blades and hurt like hell if they get you, after being stuck a few times I make my husband take the fish off the hooks when I catch one! 🙂

Saltwater Catfish. I don’t have any of my own pics, so I borrowed from the internet.

Horse Shoe Crabs

Fiddler Crab

Everglades City also home to Big Cypress National Preserve, air boat rides, kayak rentals, sea food festivals (when covid-19 isn’t a thing) and many other fun adventures. I highly recommend checking out Everglades City and all of it’s natural treasures. I have included the link below if you would like more information about this amazing place. Just don’t forget the bug spray and sunscreen!

https://www.visitflorida.com/en-us/cities/everglades-city.html