And for those of you into brand new colors, the new Midnight Purple Nintendo 3DS also launches May 20th.

{Photos courtesy of Nintendo.}

I was introduced to the Air Storm Z-X CrossBow, Air Storm Zip-Bak Bow and Air Storm Z-Curve Bow at the Time To Play Magazine Spring Showcase 2012, where the Z-X CrossBow was named on their Most Wanted Toy List for Spring and Summer. These are super sturdy toys that my kids have already battled with for hours with no breakage (at least of the toys). And I predict these toys will have staying power: my kids really enjoy shooting at each other and at their father (who’s a real trooper), and so far the weapons have stood up to the challenge.

And I like them because my kids are outside, running around after each other and having the time of their lives. Nothing wrong with that.

One note of caution in the otherwise important point about the toys being so sturdy and well-made: even though the arrows are made of foam, they are tough and a direct hit certainly hurts, so do bear that in mind. I used to feel that my kids should not have weapon toys because of all the shooting at each other, but over the years I have realized how much fun they have playing like this – and their fun overrides any of my issues on that topic.

Take a look at the video we made of the guys’ epic battle. Looks like summer fun to me.

{Zing Toys Air Storm Z-X CrossBow and the Z-Curve Bow both retail for $19.99, and the Zip-Bak Bow retails for $14.99. I was provided with a set of these toys for review. Photos courtesy of Zing Toys.}

In Kenya, Dame Daphne M. Sheldrick has lived a similar life, spending the past 30 years assuring that orphaned baby elephants have a fighting chance when they are returned to the wild. These women have chosen to live such amazing lives, the documentary could have been just about them and I would have been happy to watch it. But the baby animals do make it more fun. Honestly, even a baby elephant, which probably weighs as much as my car just looks like something you could cuddle. And a baby orangutan would be welcomed in my home any day. My god, they are so cute!

My kids and I really enjoyed the movie, and it was nice to see such hopeful, positive work being done. We highly recommend!

Flip: Interactive Storybook tells the story of Emma, who wants to escape her dull world, and with your help, she can. The app makes use of the touchscreen to move the story along, varying the actual commands necessary from a tap to a finger swish, to a two-finger move. And it’s very intuitive – kids don’t have to be able to read to know what to do or how to do it.

Of course, Emma finds out her dull world isn’t so bad after all…

The graphics are really beautiful, and it’s a charming thing to watch kids use. I highly recommend giving it a try.

Grids Interactive has pledged to donate 10% of the net proceeds from the app to the Huntsman Cancer Foundation for cancer research at Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) in Salt Lake City.  HCI is part of the University of Utah’s Health Care System and serves thousands of cancer patients throughout the Intermountain West each year.

Flip: Interactive Storybook is Grids Interactive’s third children’s app. Other apps include The Truly Great Noodle that benefits Kids Against Hunger and Surf Angel benefiting The Make-A-Wish Foundation.

{I was given a copy of the app for review.}

My kids and I saw the movie opening day and the theater was packed. I tweeted out my prediction that the box office would be good, based on the crowd packed into the 5:15pm show, and it seems I was right. Educated guess.

The movie was really good. Both my kids and I enjoyed it enough to want to see it again right away, always a good sign in a popcorn movie. Plus, although we stayed through some of the credits and saw a teaser for the next Villain to challenge the Avengers, we apparently missed a special added scene at the Very, Very end of the credits. That’s enough reason right there to see it again.

What did we like about it? The action was great – non-stop during the final attack. The dialogue was great – very witty and fast-paced, with references to other films from the Marvel characters. It was smart and it made you feel like you were in on the joke. What else? A strong female character in Black Widow. She can kick some serious butt, and that was a nice change from seeing helpless women being saved by male super heroes.

All in all, very enjoyable and we highly recommend it.

{Photos provided by Disney/Marvel.}

Sherlock Homes and Dr. Watson

In this version, set in present day London, Sherlock Homes uses text messages and email on his smartphone, and Dr. Watson, instead of writing his stories on paper is of course, a blogger.

Sherlock Holmes, played by Benedict Cumberbatch

And my god, Sherlock is smart.

Moriarity

In the first season, Sherlock and Watson had us hooked for 3 fantastic episodes where they solved crimes like having to solve a puzzle the murderer devised in The Great Game, a locked-room murder in the Blind Banker, and finding a murdered woman’s killer in A Study in Pink.

The Dominatrix

This season, Sherlock faces a Dominatrix in A Scandal in Belgravia, airing on May 6, he pursues information about genetically-altered animals in The Hounds of Baskerville on May 13, and finally, he faces Moriarity again in The Reichenbach Fall on May 20.

As always, check local listings.

{Photos courtesy of PBS.}

Skyrim is a like a virtual world game, for those not in the know. In fact, my son spent the first dozen hours of his play-through just “around the edges”, getting to know the world of Tamriel – and apparently, meeting his wife.

There are battles to wage, and of course there are weapons and all of that in Skyrim as well. He finally got around to playing that part of the game, too. There are so many quests, my son says, it’s hard to even know which ones to tell me about.

In the main quest, you’re The Dragonborn, which means you’re born with the blood of a dragon, giving you “shouts” which can vary from Fus ro da, an unrelenting force, to Storm call, which sends lightning down on your enemies in open quarters. These are good things to have, I would guess.

In the Main quest, you’re called on by the Greybeards, after fighting and killing your first dragon outside of Whiterun.

Although it may seem weird (it did to me) to kill a dragon when you are Dragonborn, apparently that’s how it’s done.

Getting deeper into the game, you are sent on quests that introduce you to the Blades, an organization that once hunted down and killed dragons for the safety of the Empire. Everyone thought the dragons were killed off, but now the dragons are coming back due to the Dragon God of Time, Alduin, who is bringing them back to life.

History note: a long, long time ago in Skyrim, humans were enslaved by dragons, but the earliest Dragonborns were able to send Alduin forward in time, trying to save themselves from the enslavement. Now he’s in this time, and he must be stopped.

Of course there are over 100 hours more to play in Skyrim, and my son has enjoyed it thoroughly.

{My son was instrumental in preparing this review. Not only did he explain much of the backstory and many of the lements, but since he bought the game, I’m indebted to him on that level as well. Thanks, honey!}

Bob’s Burgers is an animated series set in a small beach town in New England, but really, you hardly ever get out of the burger shop run by Bob, his wife and his 3 kids. Which is fine, because the kids are some of the strangest characters ever to appear on television and they could be drawn against a white background and it wouldn’t matter; you’d still be laughing.

In fact, the animation is not what anyone will want to watch Bob’s Burgers for. It’s very minimalist, and the characters are very odd-looking. But again, all you have to do is listen to them.

There’s an equally strange and hilarious cast of minor characters, like the mortician whose business is next door. (Next door to a burger joint, mind you.) Or the health inspector who’s Bob’s wife’s old flame and still carries a torch. And the contractor/handyman whose accent is so spot-on New England, it takes me right back to Providence in the 80s. (But that’s another story…)

There are also fantastic voice guest stars, like Kevin Kline, and Kenneth.

The episodes are zany, to match how odd the characters are, like the documentary filmmaker who brings a cow and ties it up outside the burger joint, trying to torture Bob and make him see how cruel he is to animals. Or the episode where Bob’s eldest daughter Tina takes capoeira, or as Bob calls it “sexy dance fighting”. Or the lobster festival Bob tries to sabotage because he’s allergic to shellfish.

They are all funny enough for me and my kids to watch a second & third time – and that’s saying something.

Now, this is an animated series, that is not meant for all kids. My 9 year old loves it, but remember – he’s got a 12-year-old brother. If your kids are younger, or have different sensibilities, this show might not be right for them. You, as a parent, get to decide that.

There are plenty of poop jokes, just FYI, like when Louise, the middle daughter, has her sister Tina believing that the cow in episode about the documentary film crew is speaking to her through emoticons left in the cow poop.

See what I mean? Hilarious! But not for everyone.

Louise is a pot-stirrer, that’s for sure, and in one episode she convinces the school counselor and all her friends at school that her father is dead, when in fact he is simply living in the crawl space between the walls of their house/burger joint – which he’s doing to avoid spending time with his in-laws, which is of course, another story.

Youngest child and only son Gene is a bit of a dolt, but good at heart, I suppose. And Bob’s wife, although referred to as “Nagatha Christie”, is nonetheless one of the most tolerant wives on TV, in my humble opinion.

I highly recommend checking out Bob’s Burgers on DVD. I think I saw it available on streaming Netflix as well, if you have that option.

{I was given a copy of Bob’s Burgers for review. Photos courtesy of Fox Home Entertainment.}

The contest is to make a rec for a gift for a friend that costs $25 or less – and if your gift idea and the reason you’re making the rec is a compelling enough story, you’ll win the gift for your friend – PLUS you’ll win another one of the recommended items for yourself! Sounds good to me! Oh and there will be 10 winners – so the odds are very good, people.

Here's Batman's post about the contest in the rec stream

If you haven’t already downloaded Wikets for your iPhone or iPad, you can do so through the App Store. Once you’re in the app, look for Batman having asked the question in the main rec stream – and go ahead and make a rec. It’s that simple. I can think of tons of things I’d give my friends that cost $25 or less, and wouldn’t it be even better if someone else were paying for them?

Here's the contest entries stream

Here are some rules to keep in mind: You need to say something compelling to be considered one of the winners; don’t just use the default setting “Wiket Awesome.” You can make up to 3 recs, giving you up to 3 entries in the contest. The contest ends at 11:59 pm ET May 1st – which is tomorrow night, so get going!

{This post is part of a sponsored campaign.}

We’ll be joined by expert panelists Ciaran Blumenfeld of Momfluential.net, Katie Dillon of LaJollaMom.com, Heidi Leder of Coast2CoastMom.com, Janis Elpas of MommyBlogExpert.com.

And we’ll be giving away 2 $50 Amazon Gift Cards and a Kindle Fire! You must RSVP here to be eligible to win, so be sure to click over!

{This is a sponsored post.}