Saturday, November 26, 2016

Oh, what fun we had at the Alaska Ultimate Mission Camp!

This post is brought to you by Alaska Milk.

Last Sunday, my little superheroes Captain America and Iron Man were absolutely pumped to go to the Alaska Ultimate Mission Camp. I imagined a day of chaos for me but, boy, was I mistaken! The Alaska Ultimate Mission Camp was AMAZING!!!

The Mission Camp was held at SMX Convention Center at SM Mall of Asia. I don't know why I got the idea that it would be held outdoors but I slathered the kids in sunblock, brought towels and a change of clothes, and boxes of Alaska Choco milk. When we were ready, we piled into a taxi and then zoomed all the way to MOA. There's no traffic on Sundays so we did literally zoom there. Once we got there, the kids got even more excited seeing the crowd. They immediately started playing with the other kids while we were still lined up.

With Momma 'n' Manila Michelle Aventejado and her daughter Gelli.

Inside, we did a tour first, so we can develop a game plan. We wanted to experience everything that the Mission Camp had to offer! There were four main areas:

(1) Kids Activity Zone for the younger kids. This is where they can busy themselves with arts and crafts activities like coloring, cutting out masks, building with blocks and bricks, stacking Alaska Milk cartons to make a tower, face painting, and playing memory games.

(2) Disney Mission Zones for kids 4 and up. There are four Mission Zones: the Marvel Zone where the kids skate, stick to the wall, hit a target, and crawl through a tunnel; the Frozen Zone, which is basically a big skating rink; the Ultimate Zone, which is a big obstacle course where kids test out their skills in balancing, jumping, climbing, and other major physical exertions; and the Alaska Zone, which also has lots of activities to test your kid's strength and agility, plus there's a big dome the kids enter and inside they experience virtual reality.
Safety briefing from secret agents at Marvel Zone. 

(3) Parents Zone, where grownups can learn about making coffee with Kreme Top, making desserts and cooking with Alaska Evaporated Milk, Alaska Condensed Milk and Alaska Crema Whipped Cream. There was also a Toy Kingdom booth which peddled Disney and Marvel goodies.
Waiting for the coffee-making workshop to start. 
Pop-up shop for Disney toys

(4) Entertainment area. In the middle of it all was a big stage where games, song numbers, and educational talks were presented for the entire family.
My kids in front.

Look at what my kids did:

Listening to Ate Secret Agent finish briefing the kids.
Iñigo is Spider-Man! Sorry for blurry pic. All parents had to stay outside and
we can only look through these little windows.
Just finished their Alaska milk refreshments and about to go to the Ultimate Zone.

The obstacle course at Ultimate Zone was physically challenging!
Enjoying the ball pit at Alaska Zone.
They just missed the cupcake decorating workshop! My boys weren't happy about that but oh-so-adorable 
Selene (unica hija of The Misty Momjust jumped up to check out what new activity she can do!

We had soooo much fun! More importantly, my kids learned to be independent because the Mission Zones were parent-free. The brothers had to take care of each other and Vito was really looking out for Iñigo. So proud of my boys! They also learned how to listen carefully to instructions, and bravely take on all the physical tasks. They weren't that easy, but they did it anyway! I'm especially impressed with Iñigo because he usually has lots of reservations when it comes to new places and new things but he jumped into each new activity happily. I am oh so proud!

I'll let my kids tell you about their experience at the Alaska Ultimate Mission Camp:



It definitely was a winning day for my kids! As a parent, I am also happy to report that the event was so organized. I've been to other events where the organizers were just overwhelmed with all the kids. The Alaska Ultimate Mission Camp was well staffed—there was a LOT of them to make sure every kid and parent is attended to. The staff knew what every activity was so if you ask a question, you get an answer fast. The zones were all safe and secure, and they controlled the number of kids in each area so that it doesn't get too crowded and the staff can manage the kids better. Should accidents do happen, there was a medical team in a very visible area.

I had been a bit apprehensive when I found out that the mission zones didn't allow parents in, but when I saw how safe and secure the areas were and that the staff was in control of everything, I relaxed and allowed myself to have just as much fun as my boys! In hindsight, I should've not been so scared because Disney was involved in the event, and Disney has the ultimate credentials when it comes to giving families an exciting yet safe experience for all.

Tired but happy little boys.

I'm so happy that Alaska and Disney mounted this super fun day. Thanks soooo much for inviting us, Alaska and Disney! Thanks also for providing Alaska Milk for all the thirsty kids at the event. I saw that all the kids (and the parents, too!) enjoyed the delicious and nutritious milk drinks. They liked pointing out the beloved characters like Spider-Man, Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Princess Anna, Queen Elsa, and even Olaf whenever they pop a straw in a box of Alaska Choco, Alaska Sweet Milk (my favorite), and Alaska Yoghurt! The drinks didn't just refresh them and sustain them for the day of physical activities, it also provided them with the essential vitamins and minerals and, with the yoghurt drinks, even good bacteria for their tummies. As a mom, I am oh so happy with all that!

I'm hoping that Alaska will have another Ultimate Mission Camp next year. Pleeeeeeeeease do it again! My kids can't wait to go again. It was the most fun they've had in recent memory, so thank you and please do another one soonest!


For more information on Alaska Milk, visit www.alaskamilk.com; and like their Facebook page, Alaska Milk, to be updated on promos and other activities.

Wednesday, November 23, 2016

Blog Biz: Don't forget these 4 social actions to promote your blog

Hello everyone! I am fresh off my latest and oh so successful Blog Biz workshop last Friday at The White Hat Yogurt at Fully Booked BGC, and I am so happy with how smart and enthusiastic my workshop attendees were. I am confident that their blogs (when they finally start blogging!) will be bigger than mine! I am so sure of it!

One of the topics we discussed at the workshop was blog promotion. If you run a blog, you want people to read it. Whether you're sharing your opinions on politics or the latest fashion, or you might be writing tutorials or talking about your daily life—whatever you write about, you need to get people to pay attention. 

There are lots of ways you can promote your blog, but social media is one of the best methods. You can connect with a community of other bloggers and blog readers. There are several channels you can use, from Facebook and Twitter to Snapchat and Instagram. If you want to get started, there are several things you should do.

1. Automate your sharing
Once you have social media accounts set up, it can be a lot of work to share your posts. I devote about 10 minutes just sharing away everywhere! Twitter, Instagram, my Facebook friends, my blog's FB page, the FB groups I belong to, and Linkedin. If 10 minutes sound like a lot of time and you're on Wordpress, you can make it much easier by setting up automated sharing. It's simple to do this using various tools. 

Do keep in mind that you may not be able to use the same tool to share to different accounts. For example, Instagram lets you share to Facebook, Twitter, etc. But when you look at an IG post shared on Twitter, it doesn't really look nice. It just redirects you back to Instagram. So now I just post on Twitter itself. I no longer use IG's sharing tool. 

2. Connect your blog and social media channels
As well as doing your own sharing, you want others to share your posts, too. Sharing is caring as they say! Make sure that you have sharing buttons on your blog. Put them on the main page and on your individual blog posts, too. Make it easy for people to share your content to their own accounts straight from your website. 

You can also put widgets for your social media pages on your site. For example, you can have a stream for your Twitter feed or show your latest Facebook post. I haven't done this myself but that's one of the design tweaks I plan to do soon. 

Oh, and don't forget to link to your blog on your social media channels! If you look at my Twitter, Facebook accounts, and IG, all of them links back to www.topazhorizon.com. Make it easy for your followers to find your blog!


3. Paid ways to improve your reputation
If you have an advertising budget, you might want to use paid ways to grow your audience. There are tools you can use on social media to boost your reputation. One thing you can do is use advertising and promoted posts. These are available on a number of channels, including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. I just started doing this on my blog's Facebook page. I select a post I really really really am so proud of and then I boost it. My budget is usually just P200 and that reaches around 2,000 people. I've only done this to four posts so far but my page's likes went up dramatically in a month. So it works!

Now this next suggestion is a bit controversial and the attendees of my workshop last weekend discussed this at great length: You can buy followers and likes for your accounts. Yep. The advantage of that is when people see you have a large following, they might get curious and follow you because they want to know what the fuss is all about. My friends in PR revealed to me the Instagrammers who bought their following and, well, their padded numbers definitely helped make them successful. The disadvantage is when Instagram does a purge and then you're exposed as a fraud. But if you're willing to risk it anyway, you can use sites like buycheapfollowersfast.com/facebook/ to do this. Me, I don't want to risk it since I've built my reputation on being real. But I will judge no one who does this!

4. Connecting with your followers
Promoting your blog on social media isn't just about sharing your stuff. You also need to engage with people to encourage them to get involved. This is my favorite part of blogging—engaging with my Loyal Readers! I love replying to comments! I used to do this religiously but now that I have kids, I can't do this like I used to. But I try! 

Engaging with your readers tells them you want to show them the personality behind your blog and prove that you're interested in them. Get to know your readers and they will love you for life! Many of my dearest friends now started out as my readers before! 

You should find ways to connect with people on social media. For example, you might ask them questions or start a hashtag game. My friend Martine de Luna of Make It Blissful did this so well with her #makeitblissful community. I'm trying to do the same with my own #authenticmama challenge. Yes, show me your struggles and honest revelations on Instagram with the #authenticmama hashtag so we can all cry and laugh together! 

Social media can help you boost your blog if you know how to use it. Remember that it's a two-way street and requires you to communicate. I'm still learning myself so if you have more tips, please share in the comments below!

*images from The White Hat Yogurt and Pixabay

Want to know why no one reads your blog? Watch my Facebook Live broadcast!


Friday, November 18, 2016

See you at the Alaska Ultimate Mission Camp this Sunday!

This post is brought to you by Alaska Milk.


Hello, all you mommies who have kids who love Marvel superheroes and the walang kamatayan Frozen! There's a special day for us and our kids this Nov. 20, Sunday, at the SMX 4 at Mall of Asia—the Alaska Ultimate Mission Camp!!!

Here are my kids getting all excited about the camp:


We're so excited!!!

At the camp, there will be Disney Mission Zones for kids to complete special assignments that are fun and educational. All the activities in the Mission Zones are for kids 5 years old and up. These zones are for kids only. Don't worry—Alaska made sure the missions and the areas are safe and secure.

There will be activities for moms and dads to enjoy, too. I believe there will be cooking and food tasting goodies for us to enjoy. Hooray! I love cooking and eating!

But if you bring kids aged 4 and below (like my Iñigo and Piero), well, you'll need to be with them when they enjoy the other activity zones.

Kids may come in costume but since costumes may restrict vision and movement (hello, capes and masks and gowns and crowns!), it's much better if they come in comfortable attire.

There will be snacks and Alaska Milk drinks (of course!) so just enjoy all the fun stuff lined up for us because Alaska Milk will take care of everything. Yes, even the entrance fee. There is NO ENTRANCE FEE! It's free! You just need to register at the Facebook page of the Alaska Ultimate Mission Camp up until 11:59 pm tonight!

See you on Sunday!