Wednesday, January 11, 2023

Hotel McCoy in Tucson a cute alternative hotel!

 

Aside from selecting a destination, the first step in planning any vacation is deciding which hotel you want to stay at. I always like to look for a hotel that is not only within our set budget for the trip, but also close to what ever attractions we will be visiting. I recently planned a mini in-state trip to Tucson which is only about a two hour drive from us to visit some attractions in the area we hadn't been to before & also visit an old favorite. Prior to the trip I had already seen a few posts online about a newer hotel called Hotel McCoy & decided to reach out to the property owner about checking out their hotel while we were in the area. Before booking a hotel it is always nice to check out reviews of previous guests to read about the good, the bad and the ugly, after all you are paying hard earned cash to stay so you want to make sure the property is right for you. On Google they have a 4.7 star rating with 87% five star reviews and 13% four star or less reviews which isn't too shabby, after staying I can agree with both some of the good and bad reviews left for the hotel. They are located at 720 W Silverlake Rd #302 Tucson, AZ 85713 which is right off of the interstate and is close to pretty much everything we had planned for the trip. 

One of the main things that originally drew my attention to the hotel is that they have tried to create a fun & welcoming hotel experience that sets them apart from other hotels in the area. Every room on the property has some kind of mural on the wall or art work displayed in the room, there are murals painted all over the property itself and they have a wide range of amenities available for their guests. I do want to note for families with small children who book a double queen room or singles room to put a crib in, aside from the murals painted directly onto the walls any photography or artwork in the rooms is for sale & range in cost thus if anything gets damaged you will have to pay for it (You should take care of items in your room, no matter where you stay). Each room features a different artist/art style, we had several lovely photography canvas prints in our room. Parking is free, each room has a space in front of it to make your room easy to access. There is also a retro mini fridge in each room which is nice as we ended up picking up some cereal bowls & milk for breakfast our second day there so we were able to keep the milk cold over night along with our other beverages.


This hotel also has a small gift shop that has snacks, drinks & souvenirs next to a small bar that serves beer and wine. When you first check in you will be given one poker chip per member of your party, each adult can cash their chip in for a free small glass of wine or beer and kids will get to select a non alcoholic beverage from under the check in desk. My kids went with the Jones Soda! If you get a little hungry they have some local tamales they can pop in the microwave which will run you $4 each or there is a cute food truck that sits in front of the lobby that is open in the evening. It smelled really good, but we didn't end up trying it out for a family of four the prices were a little high so we went into town for dinner. Free breakfast is included in your stay, they set everything up on the bar in the morning which is poptarts, oatmeal with a number of toppings to add to it, apples/oranges, fruit juice boxes and coffee/tea. For various reasons I would give the breakfast a 2.5 star rating. You can eat in their lobby dinning hall which has a good amount of seating, at any of the outdoor seating arrangements or in your hotel room. There is a small on site bookstore, I was told the hours of it vary but we were able to check it out the second day we were there and my daughter found a pair of earrings she loved & bought. The hotel pool is saltwater & it is heated, they provide pool towels so you won't need to bring the towels from your room. It was nice to get into the pool for a bit, but man was it cold running back to the hotel room after getting out of the warm water. 


During our stay there were a few things we feel could have been improved a bit, such as our room cards didn't seem to want to open any of the pool gates or the room which has the gym/ice/water bottle refill station so to get into the pool we just had to reach over the gate and open it from the other side, but we never got to visit to get ice or water as we couldn't get into the room. The hotel is a remodeled old motel strip so the shower pressure & shower head quality were poor, the water had primarily one setting which didn't get that hot but I am not sure if that part can be improved. Wear socks in the room or bring slippers, after check in we decided to unpack a little & relax which meant walking around the room. When I went to sit down on the bed to lean back & relax against the wall to watch TV, I noticed that my feet had picked up a lot of dirt from the floor they looked grey on the bottoms, so I went to the bathroom to wash my feet off and throw on a pair of socks so they would pick up the dirt instead & I could take them off before bed to prevent any dirt from getting onto the white sheets of the bed. 


However there were other perks we did take advantage of that most hotels don't have, in the front lobby area they have a ping pong table, a foosball table, a claw machine, a pinball machine and a mini grass area with cornhole. We played used the ping pong table, foosball table & pinball machine several times plus we played a fun round of cornhole in the morning. They have it set up to where you can easily play at night as well because it is well lit and there is a firepit you can relax next to if you get cold. The mattress on the bed was very comfortable & the blankets kept us cozy. Each room also has a 55" TV with a roku hooked up to it, they had Netflix and Disney+ easily accessible on it so we watched a few things on Disney+ when we were relaxing in the room in the evenings, our remote had a few issues but we got it figured out. As mentioned before it was also really coinvent because we were close to all of the places we visited during our trip. Is it affordable for families on a budget? Yes and no, it honestly depends on when you plan on visiting. Like most hotels the price per night can vary depending on what events are happening in the area at the time, if it is busy season, etc. so the price can range from anywhere from $100 up to $400 a night for a room. Lastly I did also enjoy a lot of the artwork & murals that were painted along the hotel walls, there were some pretty whimsical & fun characters. You can see it all as you drive by to your room, or go for a stroll to see it all. My daughter & I took a short walk along the walls to look at everything. The hotel is also pet friendly, they allow dogs and fish however they can not accept poisonous animals such as snakes, nor do they allow cats. We were able to see a lot of cute dogs that hotel guests brought with them & everyone was doing a great job of cleaning up after their pets. 


So there you have it! A review of the good and bad from my point of view, I always feel slightly awkward writing about the things that I didn't like about a review opportunity but it is life & the whole point of why people read reviews in the first place. If you are an art lover & want to check out a new type of hotel experience, this hotel may be for you the next time you are in the Tucson area. If you are looking for more adventures in Tucson type in "Things to do in Tucson" or "Things to do in Arizona" in the search bar of my blog, I have several more fantastic animal attractions and more in Tucson to share with you & when all done within a few days it makes for a action packed vacation. 

Which part of the hotel do you think you would enjoy the most?

Disclaimer- A one night stay was provided free of charge + a 50% off was applied to a second night stay which were provided by Hotel McCoy for the review free of charge no other compensation was provided. However, no product compensation will influence the outcome of any review. My honest opinions are used in all reviews, they are solely my own & they may vary from others. My reviews are posted for readers in order to provide an informed decision before purchase.

Monday, January 9, 2023

Flamecraft - Use adorable dragons to build your way to victory!

 

If you are a fan of board games & adorable dragons then you need to pick up a copy of Flamecraft sold by Lucky Duck Games it is fun for the whole family & can be purchased for $39.99. This is one of the newest games added to their game catalogue with a few other game titles coming out this year. This is a fun game for adults & children alike, you can play with 1-5 players ages 10+ and games last about an hour on average. We found this game very easy to understand when learning the rules & we all picked it up quickly. 

Every player will earn items & points by collecting dragons, placing dragons in shops to work that match their skills, and casting enchantments. To be honest when I was reading the rules it reminded me a bit of the Lilo & Stitch series they had on the Disney channel as they caught experiments then looked for a home that suited them. Players will have six different character colors to choose from when selecting a player dragon token, I personally always select the light blue/aqua dragon. The base set has small wooden dragon figures that all look the same, but if you want to give your game pieces an upgrade Lucky Duck also sells a set of small plastic dragon mini-figures for $19.99 that you can use in place of the wooden dragons. 

It is hard to decide on which part of this game is my favorite thing about it because there is a lot to love packed into this box. For example instead of a traditional folding cardboard playing board it has a thick, durable & soft fabric playing board that is roll up for easy storage. It feels very similar to how a mousepad is & is heavy enough you won't need to worry about it moving around on you. The size of the playing board and how it is set up also allows for players to have plenty of room in front of them for organizing their cards/items. Once either all of the basic dragon cards or enchantment cards have been claimed the game ends & each player will be given one final turn to gain as many points as possible before the final tally to see who wins. Depending on the number of unique moon dragons in your hand you can really pull out all the stops and fly past the rest of the group with end game point scores. You will have a lot of fun looking at all the adorable dragons, adding dragons to shops, swapping them around & more when playing this game. 

This is a very family friendly game that is sure to make a great addition to your board game collection. Lucky Duck Games as a whole sells some pretty amazing games that will become instant favorites once played, they have quickly raced up the ladder to be one of our two favorite board game companies, I highly suggest checking out their catalogue of games. You can also find several other reviews on other board games in their collection by hitting the "board game reviews" link on the right hand side of my blog. Keep an eye out as I will be sharing another game from them soon! 

Disclaimer- The products mentioned above were provided by Lucky Duck Games for the review free of charge no other compensation was provided. However, no product compensation will influence the outcome of any review. My honest opinions are used in all reviews, they are solely my own & they may vary from others. My reviews are posted for readers in order to provide an informed decision before purchase.

Tuesday, January 3, 2023

January Beauty & The Book Giveaway!

I hope all of you had a wonderful holiday vacation, and I want to wish you a fabulous 2023! December went by in a switch of the Christmas lights for me, it was a busy month. I went out of state to visit a long time best friend & help her out with a favor she needed, my family and I went on a small vacation for the holidays. As our kids have gotten older we are shifted from doing a bunch of holiday gifts to instead doing fun memory building experiences together. We visited several fun places during our vacation which I will be sharing through out the next month here on my blog. We also celebrated our daughters fourteenth birthday.

Blog wise I will be sharing the list of recent giveaway winners from giveaways I hosted last month over on my Facebook page, you will be able to find it on the announcement post for this giveaway. I have some fun reviews headed your way along with a giveaway or two and I will be sharing some of the spots we stopped on our trip. A brand-new month means it is time for another monthly Beauty & The Book Giveaway. I will also be hosting a mid-month giveaway where three different winners will get some holiday themed face masks like the masks shown above, I bought a bunch of them to use for a giveaway. 

Let's jump into what is included in this month's giveaway bundle;

🎉 Paper copy of "Atlantis Rising"
🎉 Three Masque Bar Face Masks
🎉 Silicone mud mask applicator
🎉 Bottle of Lavender body butter
🎉 Mini Purple eyeshadow pallette
🎉 Gold single pan eyeshadow
🎉 Amika hair mask
🎉 ELF lipstick
🎉 Black eyeliner
🎉 Winter berry lipbalm
🎉 Cute pair of tweezers
🎉 Glitter pocket mirror
🎉 B.Pure Lip Oil
🎉 Tarte travel mascara
🎉 Lottie London travel lipstick
🎉 L'oreal lipstick
🎉 Starbucks cup with holiday flavored coffee


One lucky winner will win it all! When I notify the winner it will be via yahoo under my blogs previous name so it will come from Burningmoonproducts @ Yahoo.com so please make sure to add it to your approved list or be sure to check the spam filter on the email address you enter this giveaway with. I had to re-pick a few winners a few giveaways ago that didn't respond to emails or my IG message letting them know they won so new winners were selected for those giveaways. 

This is open World Wide! Please remember if you DO NOT leave a comment on this blog post as your mandatory entry into the giveaway then all of your entries will be void. Doing the Daily entries will increase your chance of winning. Winners have 72 hours to respond to the notification email! This giveaway is hosted by ME.

This giveaway ends on 02/01/2023

Giveaway entry question: Leave a comment answering at least one of these questions.

What is one of your favorite memories from last year?
How was your holiday, did you receive anything exciting?
Do you have anything planned you are looking forward to this month?
If you could vacation anywhere, where would you want to go?


You can complete as many entries as you want, there are several one-time activities and daily activities that can earn you more entries into the giveaway. Be sure to keep an eye on my site & social media pages for more giveaways headed your way.

Saturday, December 24, 2022

Venustas heated vest Review!

 

As many states are bracing for major snow storms it may be a great time to pick up a heated vest for when you need to go outside. I was recently gifted a Womens Heated Vest 7.4V from Venustas to test out for winter & it is wonderful to have on hand for the extra cold mornings. Whether you enjoy being outdoors or just get cold easily this is a great way to add a little extra warmth to your outfit when the temperature drops outside. This vest can be purchased for $159.99 on their website & they also sell heated jackets, gloves & more. 


The vest is sold in a S all the at up to a 4XL, it has a water & wind-resistant exterior to add an extra layer of protection during winter weather. This vest has six sections of carbon fiber heating elements, which include your back, the back of your neck, each shoulder and the front stomach area on both sides under the pockets. It has three different temperature settings low, medium & high so you can adjust to a lower setting if you start getting a little too warm & it comes with a helpful guide to teach out the color for each setting so you can adjust it using the black button on the breast of the vest. 

Depending on which setting you leave the vest on it will run from anywhere between three to ten hours when fully charged. The battery comes with a wall charger & instructions on how to make your battery last longer when you aren't using it during the warmer months. 

I can definitely feel the most warmth in the neck & shoulder areas of the vest, I don't notice the back as much but that may be because I wasn't leaning against anything while I was wearing this. It does really help keep you warmer when wearing this though, it makes a great middle layer between your shirt & your jacket to really keep you cozy. I haven't needed to wash this but you'll be surprised to know that it can be washed in a washer without any issues. 

Disclaimer- Venustas provided me with the products mentioned above for the review free of charge no other compensation was provided. However, no product compensation will influence the outcome of any review. My honest opinions are used in all reviews, they are solely my own & they may vary from others. My reviews are posted for readers in order to provide an informed decision before purchase. 

Thursday, December 22, 2022

Build a wooden Gingerbread house!

 

Building a Gingerbread house can be a lot of fun, but they typically won't last that long so if you are looking for something to build with your kids that you can hold onto as a decoration for years to come why not build a wooden gingerbread house? Made by Me! has a build & paint your own gingerbread house kit which sells for $19.99 on amazon. 

When purchasing this kit I would also pick up an extra bottle of glue & a extra bottle of brown paint as there isn't enough of either in this kit otherwise we are quite happy with everything included. It comes with instructions on how to build the house, a little bit of glue, some paint, a paint brush, lots of pompoms & glittery stickers that look snow covered to put into your house plus the wood pieces to build it of course. 

The great thing about this kit is that it can be done alone or the whole family can participate by decorating different parts of the house. Your work station will get a little messy but it is no where near how much of a mess we usually make with the candy version of the gingerbread house, plus the walls held together much better & we didn't have to worry about gum drops falling off. 

I think this turned out pretty cute & there are still a few things my son would like to add to this to give it some extra holiday magic. I love that we can keep this for years to come & maybe even include in a Christmas village type set up. I am happy with the amount of time the craft takes up & the materials provided, for $20 this is a fun and worth while kit to pick up as a last minute Christmas craft or to hold onto to do next year.

Disclaimer-  Horizon Group USA provided me with the products mentioned above for the review free of charge no other compensation was provided. However, no product compensation will influence the outcome of any review. My honest opinions are used in all reviews, they are solely my own & they may vary from others. My reviews are posted for readers in order to provide an informed decision before purchase. 

Monday, December 12, 2022

See Dinosaurs at Pangaea in Scottsdale, Arizona!


If you have a small child who loves Dinosaurs then Pangaea in Scottsdale, Arizona is an attraction that you might want to consider checking out at least once. We recently stopped by and redeemed our free admission using our POGO Pass, If you don't know what a Pogo pass is then stop by my review here to learn what it is all about. Without a Pogo pass general admission is $17.95 per child & $19.95 per adult, or you can purchase the Paleo pack for $32.90 which comes with extra activities. We went on a Thursday afternoon shortly before their last admission for the day, they are open until 5pm however they stop selling tickets at 4pm to allow everyone enough time to explore before they close. We had the entire place pretty much to ourselves which was nice because we were able to go at our own pace.

After getting your admission tickets you will walk through the gift shop into the back where the entrance for the exhibit is. Inside you'll find a few dozen very large Dinosaur figures & animatronics. You'll find the inside easy to navigate as they have your stroll set up, so you are self-guided along the trail which is set up to free like you are in another point in time. 

Seeing as this is self-guided tour there is no one there to tell you about each of the dinosaurs, so how are you supposed to know what you are looking at? Along the exhibit you will find touch screen kiosks that will tell you all about each dinosaur. It was neat to read some of the information such as what their names mean, how big they were, etc. You will also find a number of stations that have a chain & stamp attached to them, this is so children can stamp the little dinosaur field guide they are given at the start to complete as they walk through. 

At the end once they have collected all of the stamps, they will get a prize. My kids received a small shark tooth! There are additional activities that can be purchased such as a rock sifting, dinosaur dig & more. They also have a small game arcade and grill you can order food from if you so choose. There were only a few other people there so even walking along slowly taking photos & videos along with checking out the information monitors and collecting stamps we were done in about twenty, that was with stopping to take a few photos.

The dinosaur animatronics were neat to see up close, they are literally within just a few feet of you & some are directly in front of your face. Sadly it looked like a few visitors may have taken advantage of being so close to them as a few were missing teeth and small pieces off their backs. The baby dinosaurs were so cute & they have everything set up to get some fun photo opportunities with the kids and family.

What were our final thoughts? It was a cute experience, however it doesn't take very long to look at the figures, read through the tablets, collect the stamps & reach the end. Entrance into the exhibit for two adults and two children is just over $75 which is slightly pricey for the amount of time spent here. It was fun to visit once, our kids enjoyed it though they may have been a little more excited if they were younger, we probably won't make a second visit as we were able to see everything during this visit.  Using our Pogo pass we were able to get the four of us in for free & it adds onto the savings we've already saved using our passes. You can get a Pogo Pass for a discounted cost $59.99 using code 6c8d10a3. You can learn more information about the pogo pass by visiting my review here.

You can find more Arizona attractions, events & restaurants by clicking the "Things to do in Arizona" link on the right hand side of my blog or click the purple link in this sentence. 

**This is not a sponsored post, we stopped by here as a family & I decided to share about our experience with my readers.

Sunday, December 11, 2022

Joanne Arden Organics Bath Set Review + Giveaway!

 

The holidays are quickly approaching & you might be looking for a few last-minute gift ideas. If you have someone on your holiday list who loves bath products, a gift basket in one of their favorite scents could be a great gift to get. A store front on Amazon called Joanne Arden Organics sells a wide range of gift sets in a variety of scents, I was recently gifted one of their Mom's Lavender set to test and I will be giving one of you a chance to win a set as well. This set sells for $24.99 on amazon and has a four and a half star rating on amazon.

This gift set comes in a cute pink toiletry bag that says "Worlds Greatest Mother" and "Amazing, Loving, Strong, Happy,Selfless,Graceful". On amazing it shows that they have the word "Mother" in blue to point out that the words used container the word within them, however the set I received those letters aren't blue they are the same color as the rest of the bag. The bath products included are a body butter, a bottle of body wash, a bottle of bubble bath, a bar of soap, muscle rub cream, a lip balm and a small glass bottle of bath oil. Most of the products have a lavender set to them however the bath oil is a eucalyptus spearmint and the muscle rub is coconut milk & honey. All of the products are big enough they will last through quite a few uses, which is pretty good considering when you break down the price for the seven products + the bag everything comes out to $3.12 each. 

The scent of the products aren't overwhelming or overly strong. I like the combination of the lavender and chamomile, it is calming and will help you de-stress after a long day at work or running errands. I like the toiletry bag, it is quite large and will hold a lot when going on a trip or you can use it as storage in your bathroom. The bundle arrived quickly & everything inside of the gift set was packaged nicely, everything was individually wrapped which made it feel like getting more than one gift and it also helps protect the packaging. 

What is your favorite scent when it comes to bath products?

Prize Alert:
One lucky winner is going to receive a Lavender Bath set just like the one shown above.

This is open US Residents only! Please remember if you DO NOT leave a comment on this blog post as your mandatory entry into the giveaway then all of your entries will be void. Doing the Daily entries will increase your chance of winning. Winners have 72 hours to respond to the notification email! 

This giveaway ends on 12/19/22

Giveaway entry question: Leave me a blog comment letting me know another gift set from their collection you would like to try out OR tell me which product from this set you are most looking forward to trying.


Disclaimer- The products mentioned above were provided by Joanne Arden Organics for the review & giveaway free of charge no other compensation was provided. However, no product compensation will influence the outcome of any review. My honest opinions are used in all reviews, they are solely my own & they may vary from others. My reviews are posted for readers in order to provide an informed decision before purchase.