Review: Max and Cheese

Name: Max and Cheese
Location: approximately 1200 W and State St. in Orem, UT
Cost: Adult $7, child $4
What we ate: I had a BLT, my son had corn dogs, and my daughter had a hot dog
Rating: 3 stars (don't hate it or love it)
Review: I'd wanted to try this place for a while, since they advertise as being kid-friendly. I had a coupon, so my son, daughter, and I went. The decor was school/cafe. The meals came with a choice of fruit cup or apple sauce or chips. We chose chips (choice of Sun Chips or some weird/deluxe brand of chips). I added apple juice to my son's order for a quarter. My BLT was incredible, probably one of the best BLTs I've had. But after the BLT, and bag of chips, six grapes and 3 cheese cubes that came with it, I was still hungry. My son liked his corn dogs. My daughter's hot dog was cut like an octopus and came with gold fish crackers. Neither of them finished their meals. I thought the meals were pricey for what you got, but then the kids didn't finish their food, so I guess there was plenty of food for them.

The play area has puzzles, legos, a train table, and various other wooden toys. There are no play structures. My kids liked playing, but were willing to leave after 15 - 20 minutes. I wouldn't take a child older than six, I think they would find it boring very quickly.

All in all, I had fun, but I probably wouldn't go again unless I had a great coupon or my son begged to go.

Review of Razor Pro kick scooter vs. Razor A Kick Scooter

Recently I bought scooters for my children (review here). But I had fun riding their scooters and so did my husband (although he is technically too heavy for them). We decided that for our anniversary, we'd buy Razor Pro Kick Scooters.

The Razor Pro is more expensive, but it has a higher handle bar and a higher weight limit. It also fits an adult better. I like it. I can use it when I take my kids to ride bikes or scooters because it is easy for me to fold up if I need to help them.


Pros:

• Higher handle bar
• Higher weight limit
• Better lever to make scooter fold
• Rides better / faster

Cons:

• Minor assembly required
  
• Higher cost than Razor A
• Heavier (might be harder for a young child (<6)>
• Can't fit two feet on the base

Hop

This is Hop the parakeet. I got him yesterday.

My daughter has a parakeet named Skip that we've had for a few months. Skip is very shy and still is uninterested in people. My daughter wanted to teach Skip to talk. From what I've read though, a parakeet will only learn to talk if it is interested in people, and Skip isn't. Parakeets need companionship and since we couldn't provide that, a parakeet friend was probably best. I thought if we got him a friend, at least he wouldn't be lonely. Also, I thought a friendly parakeet friend might convince Skip to not fear humans as much. (In my daughter's defence, we don't think Skip was the parakeet she picked out at the pet store, just the one the keeper caught.) Skip does have a very pretty voice though and is fun to watch from a distance.

Hop seems to be just the opposite of Skip, very curious and interested in things. He climbs all over his cage. At the store, I bobbed my head at him and he bobbed back, so he is interested in people. I had one concern with him: he is an older bird, with his head stripes mostly gone. I decided to pick friendly over younger.

I put Hop in Skip's old cage. (I bought a big new cage for the two of them to share once they are used to each other and once Hop is finger tame.) Once Skip saw Hop, he seemed to take a new interest in life, climbing all over his cage just like Hop. I wonder if Hop was someone's pet before and was returned to Petco. But then maybe most other parakeets are this friendly and I just didn't know since Skip is very timid.

Today my son was feeding Hop millet through the bars. Hop decided he wanted to come out the cage door. I decided to let him out (maybe not the best choice since he isn't finger trained and probably doesn't see his cage as his home.) He explored the house and had a grand time. His favorite perch is the bottom rail of the kitchen chairs. Skip saw that Hop was out and really wanted out, so I opened his door and he flew right out and went to find places to hide. Since after an hour and a half they both showed no sign of desiring to return to their cages , I eventually had to catch them by throwing a towel over them. Hop didn't seem to mind too much. Skip hated it, but seemed relieved to be back home.

Hints on choosing a friendlier parakeet:
- pick one that is active and looks healthy
- bob your head at the parakeet and see if he bobs back. This is how parakeets say hello.
- put your hand on the cage near the parakeet, does he fly away, or just move away then look curious (your life will be easier if it isn't terrified of humans)
- try and make sure you can identify the exact parakeet you want, or inversely, make sure there are no parakeets that look similar to the one you like that you DON'T want
-more head stripes mean a younger bird. Younger means easier to tame.