Life After Baby Number Two

Alright, so last time I posted anything was... a little over four months ago? Shortly before our beautiful new baby Topanga was born. Perhaps you can guess that having a second child is quite a bit more difficult than I had originally anticipated; not so much that the second baby is hard to handle, but suddenly the first becomes more work once there's someone else there to share the attention.

Only recently have I finally been able to begin feeling like I can actually start working on my hobbies like writing and blogging once again, hence why I haven't posted anything prior to now. There's certainly quite a bit of work having to change diapers every couple hours after being used to not needing to do so with a 3-year-old. Gotta get up every few hours no matter what time it is to feed the baby and play a bit and put her back to sleep once she's tired again. So busy so much of the time.

But really the new baby isn't all that much work in my opinion. Like... I've done it before. Or even just helped with it. So I know what I'm doing with the second one rather than learning everything for the first time, and thanks to conveniently being let go from my previous job shortly before Topanga was born, I've had so much time to spend with her to get to know her up until this point. I suppose I'm honestly quite grateful for such opportunity, though it has truly been quite a financial strain which couldn't have been handled up to now without Carley being so awesome and figuring out the situation.

The really hard part of this whole ordeal has been transitioning Isabelle into no longer being an only child. I remember my sister saying that the hardest part about having another baby isn't the new baby... it's the first child that's the hardest part. I absolutely get that now; Isabelle is still teaching us new things each and every day for the first time which we can then use to teach Topanga in a better way down the road in the future.

So here we are, four months later from my last post... just when I think things will finally get back to the way life was before, things change again because she figured out how to roll over; now we've had to learn to sleep without being swaddled at night, and wouldn't you know it, she starts getting red-cheeked and fussy which is messing with her sleep schedule. Oh, children are such a frustrating and yet totally rewarding life adventure of new experiences each day. 

Have a wonderful day! ^_^

~ Kyle Welykholowa

=== Mobile Game Review -- I Monster - RPG Adventure - 6/10 ===

What Are We Reviewing?
Today we have I Monster by DreamSky.

Last Updated: December 20, 2019
Price: FREE
Genre: RPG / Adventure
Rating: Teen

I Monster is available on Google Play and currently has over 100,000 downloads. I'm having a bit of a hard time with this one because I both love it and hate it at the same time. There are good things about it, and there are bad things bad things about it the rest is rather... meh. I do enjoy RPG-type games because it's fun to progress into a powerful super-being and this definitely is one of those games... though I think maybe the balance is off somehow because something just doesn't feel right about it. Let me explain...

Gameplay:
Beginning from what I would call the hub we can see an ominous tower in the distance which is where we will be doing our adventuring. Nearby is a large rock upon which sits a bird with a diamond. This rock seems to deliver quests to complete with each adventure while the bird gives advertisements and pays for your time with diamonds.

Before heading off on our adventure we'll check out the Equipment Store for possible new equipment and of course be sure to keep anything of importance in the Warehouse... which I suppose is just a different way of describing a chest. There's also a village area nearby where more services can be given, though at this early point in the game we have only unlocked the blacksmith who is able to upgrade equipment to be stronger.

We begin what is for us yet another adventure into the tower starting from the first level. At this point it is quite easy to complete these early levels of the tower thanks to some equipment which is quite strong for the early spaces as well as having at this point reached level 7 in experience.

Each battle is rather simply done by tapping on a target which causes our character to approach and fight said target. Longer fights are somewhat more interesting by being more back and forth trading blows as well as giving opportunities to use abilities. In our case we've chosen a lightning strike ability which of course uses some mana to do so.

That... is really it. I'm not sure if this game is supposed to get more interesting as the game goes on, but it seems to just be a simple kind of RPG game. Movement is done on a grid and not everything must be fought, only what is in the way or what is required due to being a boss. So I mean, the thing about this game is that I wouldn't say there's anything wrong with the gameplay... it's just... not all that interesting.

I Monster works as a game in that there seems to be a goal and a progression into a more powerful state as there should be in an RPG, but I just don't feel like what's happening in this game is good enough to keep my attention. I'm not driven to want to explore more into this game than I have at this point. Watching advertisements gives Diamonds which can be used to reset the equipment shop as well as unlock more backpack pages. But really it feels more to me like it only wastes time and interrupts gameplay.

Graphics / Sound:

Sort of a cartoony type of style. I really like the hub screen and the menus are nice to look at, but maybe it's because of the combat being so fast... or maybe it's because of the advertisements interrupting gameplay (because we all know getting as much of that special currency is highly important in any free game)... but in any case, there just isn't anything all that special to note. The graphics are nice, no glitches, nothing to complain about; just really nothing special.

The sound is a similar situation where there isn't truly anything special about it, but I have noticed that there is a sound or two "borrowed" from Diablo II when using a health or mana shrine.

Replayability:

Well, I suppose as long as you enjoy exploring the same sort of thing with different layouts over and over again... this can be replayed forever and ever and ever. So far as I've been able to experience, the only thing stopping a player from continuing to continue forever would be the boredom of experiencing the same thing with little to no difference.

SUMMARY:

I don't know, maybe I'm being a little harsh on this game. It seriously isn't a bad game, I just find it doesn't have much special going for it and that really is a bit of a drawback these days. I suppose I'll give it a bit more go and see how I feel about it from there. But at this point my feeling is that the score I'm giving will be 6/10.

Points would be lost for sound being taken from another WELL KNOWN game as well as gameplay not being all too interesting. All in all, I would still recommend this game to try out if you're looking for something ENGAGING; bonus points for not having the entire game be played by turning off the game as many other free games tend to do. I suppose I would say I Monster is average with a recommendation to at least give it a try, which is why I've decided upon this score.

~ DaemonVirus

Our Winnipeg Adventure, 2019 - Part 1 -- Driving

Hello everybody, welcome back!

So it has definitely been a little bit since I've last made a personal post about my life, but here we go with our Winnipeg Adventure. Now this adventure, while it was definitely important and a fun time, I did not feel like it was of so much importance that I need to go on for 10 or 15 posts about it like I am still working on doing with our 2018 Honeymoon Adventure. I still want to tell you all about what we did and what it's like out there compared to living here in Saskatchewan, but the occasion connected to the trip was of less importance than us getting married; we really just wanted to go on a family trip.

Some people may think the drive to a location is the most boring part, but I feel like the drive to and from places is part of the fun. I mean, it's about a five-hour drive to get there or back in one direction. So you definitely either need to find a way to make the drive itself into a fun activity or to enjoy the scenery along the way. Whenever we go on a long drive such as this Carley likes to have herself a nap, or watch movies downloaded onto her tablet, or listen to music or some combination of the above. I on the other hand... I'm usually the one who gets to drive most if not all of the way. Now before you complain about me getting the short end of the stick, having to drive so much while she has so much fun... at no point do I actually ask her to take over driving if I'm doing well and feeling good. Surprisingly, I actually enjoy doing most of the driving. Besides, while Carley is a fantastic driver, she doesn't like to drive in unfamiliar places... especially when those unfamiliar places generally tend to be busier than our lovely hometown of Moose Jaw.

I don't know what the traffic is like for all of you readers out there where you live, but where we live in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan the traffic is just not that busy. Really, the worst part about driving in our hometown is the parked cars on the street that make it difficult to see through. Other than that, you can get anywhere in the city you want by car in about 5 minutes... maybe 10 minutes on a slow day if you hit every single red light. I mean heck, you can pretty much walk / run from one end of Moose Jaw to the other in half an hour if you're determined. So let me tell you, driving around a larger place such as Winnipeg, Manitoba is quite a bit more stressful than driving at home. I find it absolutely crazy that driving from one place to another can take you up to an hour depending on where you're going and what the traffic is like; and all of that driving is done within the city. Thankfully we live in a world of GPS rather than paper maps so it is a lot easier to find our way around places than it would have been even just 10 years ago... With all the twists and turns and u-turns included in the GPS directions just to get from our pretty central apartment location to say... The Forks Market... I can't imagine trying to figure that out by paper.

Being around Winnipeg was strangely familiar in design and layout to other places we've been and other places we have lived such as Moose Jaw and Regina. A big difference between the small town living that we are used to compared to the larger places that we go to visit is that the parking everywhere there is paid parking for like a 2 hour time limit on it. Of course it could just be because we were basically situated downtown, or maybe it's just a thing that larger places have more paid street parking. Either way, we did learn the hard way that the street we decided to park on when we first arrived did not actually have unlimited parking after I think it was about 9 p.m.? As it turns out there was a little period of time between 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. if I remember correctly where there was no street parking allowed at all in that area because of rush hour traffic. Of course, we would have known that... if the location that we had parked had actually shown that on the sign; unfortunately the sign that we parked in front of was the only sign that did not show the time period where you could not park there. Luckily we had taken Isabelle's car seat into the apartment with us that night for the purpose of washing it out as best as we could because she spent the whole 5-hour drive there puking almost constantly because it was her first time having her car seat facing forward; it did not occur to us at all that she might get carsick on the way there. Turns out this was quite lucky because as we walked towards the location where the car should have been that morning... It wasn't there. So lucky us, on our first day there in the unfamiliar place of Winnipeg Manitoba we lost our car to a towing company because we parked in the wrong spot between 7 and 9 am; hooray for unexpected towing expenses!

Thankfully after a couple days we managed to find some nearby residential parking that did not have a time limit or needed to be paid for; it only required a short walk to and from the apartment we were staying at.

So there you go, and that is all there is to know about the fun we had when it came to driving around the city of Winnipeg. Join me next time for some information on the fun that we had with the events we were able to take part in while we were there.

~ Kyle Welykholowa


Back to Winnipeg Adventure

The Honeymoon Adventure - Day Two - Calgary Zoo BONUS

Now what adventure would be any good without a bunch of selfies and a surprise event that we were lucky enough to be there for? Lucky enough for you, I am giving you exclusive access to these bonuses at the Calgary Zoo.

First thing's first. Look at this lovely place we found to enjoy the scene once we were running wandering through Eurasia.

Ooh, pretty. :)

Let's take a selfie! ^_^

Now that that's out of the way: They had shops in like every area and this is something that I had to take note of because you just don't get to see that sort of thing happen all too often.

The quality of that picture didn't turn out that great for some reason. Luckily, I don't think clarity is REQUIRED to see what's wrong with these items on sale.

Also... Fish. There were some indoor places around that had LOTS of fish. Carley has always wanted an active fish tank at home. Do you think this would be overkill?

Now for some pictures of Carley with animals. I've never seen someone so brave, getting that up close and personal with the animals. I guess they've been trained really well.

Wow! Even getting right up next to the cubs! How crazy is that? Actually... speaking of bears...

No wait, that's not an animal Kyle... it's just a log... let's try that again.

For those of you who aren't sure what that is... it's a bear. No, not a polar bear just a regular brown bear. Only... it's not quite brown. I didn't know they could come in different colours, but it turns out that they can! I mentioned the white bear in a previous post along with the bear training that we were lucky enough to catch if you're interested in reading about that.

I don't know about you, but I'm having fun. What about you Carley?

Oh... Uhh... is that giant petrified tree stump? That's right it is, and there's more where that came from.

There's my tough girl, being all tough and stuff after so bravely approaching those creatures. Hmm... I wonder what else we can find around here if we wander some more? Has Carley found something? Let's go follow her and find out!

Hey, what are you doing back there? Come out so I can take some beautiful pictures of my new wife!

That's better.

Wow, looking great in all the places. And rockin' those space pants!

Wow! Wait... aren't those penguins a little bit....... big? I'm getting a strange feeling here.

Now we've had a great time looking around and enjoying the views. and things, but I think it's time to find our way out of here. We've been here at the zoo since it opened this morning and I'm thinking we should find somewhere else to explore or something else to do for a little while before supper.

Now... how to we get out of here...? Wait... is that...?

Uh oh, looks like we've stumbled into the Prehistoric Park.

Yes it's pretty, but we should be careful we don't want to get trampled or eaten, right?

Really Carley? don't you think you're a little bit close?

No really though... shaking hands with them?

Alright, alright, I'm not mad, you can come out of hiding now.

Alright, but did you have to kill it?

Okay, I'm glad you had fun, but now it's time to go for real.

So that's everything. For serious this time. No more bonuses. We did really have a lot of fun though. We managed to get there at opening time and with how much we looked around, we basically went through the whole place twice by the time we left... and I think that was around 3:00 if I remember correctly. We even got some souvenirs from the shop (everything is probably way too expensive just because of the location) including Carley's panda sweater and my stuffed wolf which has been happily added to my collection of stuffed animals over the years.

Now, believe it or not, we're finally done with the Calgary Zoo. Time to move on to other parts of the adventure.


~ Kyle Welykholowa

Back to Honeymoon Adventure

The Honeymoon Adventure - Day Two - Calgary Zoo Five

Today I bring you to the final area of the Calgary Zoo: Eurasia. As you can imagine this areas has creatures which one would find in the area of Eurasia, and let me say, there is no shortage of cool creatures there that I would likely never see if not available to witness in a place like this.

I've seen all sorts of cartoons of camels, and probably seen a couple in movies as well, but actually witnessing one for real is something entirely different.

I'm not a big fan of lizards, but I have heard of Komodo Dragons before thanks to The Kratt Brothers and Zaboomafoo. They really are as big as seen on TV.

Now I know Carley really liked THE WHOLE ZOO, but this may have been her second favourite part right here:

That's right. Real. Live. Pandas. Now she wasn't quite in awe as she was earlier with the Giraffes, but she was still pretty much pressed up against the glass to see them. And I will admit, they are kinda cute; I don't normally think bears are all that cute, but Pandas seem to be an exception for me. Also, I wasn't able to get a good picture of it, but they have much bigger teeth than I would have ever imagined.

Now the trail we were on which led inside to see the Pandas then went outside and into The Panda Market. I cannot describe to you the number of things inside that place that are ALL panda themed. Seriously... everything. Carley got an awesome hat inside which... is.... somewhere around the house right now. You'll see what I'm talking about in some following pictures.

Back outside we go to see the rest of the creatures. Turns out some cats LIKE to climb trees.

Now I've said before that other areas were my favourite and as I think about it more and more, I realize that I have favourite things in every area. In the Canadian Wilds, it was the wolves. In Destination Africa it was the Lemurs. In the Dorothy Harvie Gardens, it was the amazing butterflies. Here in Eurasia it is without a doubt the Red Pandas. I didn't even know there was such a thing as a Red Panda before I saw them on this trip... isn't that crazy? Here's a look at how adorably cute they are!

It may be difficult to see in this picture, but they have their own treehouse to hang out in.

Isn't that so cute? It's like... I don't know... a dog / cat / raccoon thing.

These were nearby the Red Pandas. I don't remember what they're called... but isn't Carley's Panda hat real cute like all the pandas we've seen? I MEAN TOUGH.

Finally at the end of the Eurasia trail there was a Tiger.

And that covers everything there was to see at the Zoo. What a lovely place it was to visit. I'm really looking forward to the trip we have coming up in July 2019 when we're going to Winnipeg (there's a zoo there too I hear). I will absolutely be taking tons of pictures and telling you all about that as well once we go on that trip.

(I plan to be a little bit quicker with telling the story of our adventure next time though.)


~ Kyle Welykholowa

Back to Honeymoon Adventure