Category Archives: Potpourri

Family fun at the Calgary Stampede

Posted on July 5, 2012 | 2 comments

Ask my daughter the best thing about the Calgary Stampede and she’ll tell you: “The SuperDogs!” Forget western culture and heritage, and cast aside that new jean jacket and pink cowgirl hat from The Children’s Place. When Avery gets excited about the midway, she has trained dogs jumping through hoops on the brain.

Grab yer pink cowgirl hat and head down to the Stampede grounds for food, rides and the SuperDogs.

As a mother who has suffered through three SuperDogs performances too many in this life (no offense SD lovers, but I just don’t get it), I am here to tell you that when the gates open for tonight’s Sneak-A-Peek (6 p.m. to midnight), there’s way more to do than watch that cheesy dogstravaganza. There’s also a whack of high-sugar, artery-clogging confections to eat, like fried mac-n-cheese-on-a-stick and cotton candy cupcakes.

Mac-n-cheese on a stick is delish (heck, anything on a stick tastes good for some reason).

If you dare to brave the crowds and the lines to share in Calgary’s once-in-100-years festival and, what’s more, if you want to add your progeny to the mix, here are some family-friendly ways to spend the next 10 days on the Stampede Grounds.

1. Heritage. Make a beeline for Weadickville, located just behind the Coca-Cola stage. Three words: real ice cream. You will see people wandering the grounds licking real ice cream cones (as opposed to those soft serve ones) and wonder where they got them. It was here, in an ice cream store located along this shady, faux, circa-1912 Calgary street.

2. Entertainment. Do you love Barney the dinosaur? Me neither; he’s annoying and I’d frankly rather sit though back-to-back performances by the Young Canadians (or, hey, even the SuperDogs) than watch Barney live in concert. But if your tot loves the purple dinosaur, you’ll want to check him out on the Coca-Cola Kids’ Stage.

Is Barney western even? Better suffer through his performance anyway.

3. Food. If watching Barney prance around makes you feel a little queasy, it’s obviously been too long since your pancake breakfast. Time to fill your and your little one’s belly with something healthy. Oh, wait! You’re not at the Organic Vegan Festival, are you? Nope, might as well embrace midway fare such as these little mini donuts (a favourite) or something new and innovative such as deep fried pickle chips (self-explanatory) or sausage-on-a-stick (“carb-friendly”).

Mmmm … mini donuts …

4. Western-type stuff. By now you’re looking at your watch and wondering if you can pack up the kiddos and head home for a nap. Nice try. There’s a lot more to see, like actual western stuff. I would recommend the rodeo, but it’s a bit long for younger children. Instead, you can see what their life would have been life if you were raising them in Arkansas by letting them test their skill at the Kids’ Pedal Tractor Pull (ages 4-12). Or, visit Indian Village or Draft Horse Town for a taste of western life 100 years ago.

5. Rides. The Kids’ Midway (Kidway) is where your wee thrill-seekers will want you to take them. There are 26 rides, varying widely on the fun-o-metre. If they’re tall (and brave) enough, take them on Outlaw, the new roller coaster.

Now that you’re exhausted and feel sick from all the sugar and spinny rides, drive the kiddos home, drop them off with a sitter, down a nice cold beer and head back to the grounds for a night of adults-only two-stepping at Nashville North. Yahoo!

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Posted in Potpourri, Travel

Tagged Calgary Stampede centennial, Calgary Stampede for kids, family fun at the Calgary Stampede, kids activities at the Stampede

Calaway Park: Just for the Bumper Boats

Posted on June 5, 2012 | Leave a comment

I have a confession. Prior to this past weekend, I had always harboured a somewhat snobbish and superior attitude toward Calaway Park. For those readers not from Calgary, Calaway Park is an amusement park on the city’s outskirts that operates in the summer. It has a roller coaster, log ride, bumper cars and carousel, plus all manner of midway snacks, and games to play to try and win those giant stuffed animals popular among children and the white-trash set. You know the ones I’m talking about.

Snack break by The Vortex. Blake says I should’ve dressed him in a ‘beater to complete the look.

At any rate, Disneyland it ain’t. But here’s where it helps to see a place through the eyes of your child, as if for the first time. Our kids have never been to Disney or Magic Mountain or even Elitch Gardens. They have only been to the Calgary Stampede midway, and compared to those rides (and the accompanying lines), Calaway Park is “super awesome.” I am now in agreement with this sentiment.

Bennett knows he’s on the lamest ride at Calaway Park — it’s not even listed among rides on the website!

We scored tickets through Renfrew Educational Services where my son attends preschool, as part of the Light Up a Child’s Life event sponsored by the Calgary Cerebral Palsy Association and Calaway Park. Though the theme park could use a fresh coat of paint in spots and the rookie teenage workers give the place an Adventureland feel (but not in a bad way), we had a super awesome evening of great weather, no lines, lots of junk food and crazy rides. Here is my Top 5.

1. Shoot the Chutes. Calaway Park’s version of Splash Mountain has all the steep descents without all those annoying singing animals. In fact, at one point when our log floated dangerously close to the log in front of us just prior to the 33-foot drop, I thought we were going to die in a log-jam pile-up. I only wish I’d shelled out the $9 post-ride for a picture of us screaming during the descent.

2. Cotton candy. Sometime between 1979 and now, scientists have experimented on this childhood confection, turning a once humble-if-sugary treat into a diabetic catastrophe of colossal proportions. Could they make the $5 bag any bigger? Sweeter? Pinker? I think not.

It’s three days later and what’s the bigger surprise: that there’s still cotton candy left, or that Avery hasn’t succumbed to a sugar coma?

3. Rides for all ages. While Avery and Blake were off on The Vortex, I took Bennett on the Swirly Twirl. It is way cooler that it looks.

Just chillin’ on the Swirly Twirl.

4. Haunted House. This is quite possibly the lamest haunted house I have ever set foot in. And yet, the children loved it, likely because it’s dark but not at all scary. A giant papier mache spider? That’s all you’ve got? The best part: no nightmares post-house.

5. Bumper Boats. We almost skipped this gem of a ride because it was late in the evening and I was worried we’d get wet and cold. Well, we got wet, but our maniacal laughter as Bennett and I chased down other boats to spray them with the squirter, kept us warm.

Thanks for the fun CalawayPark. We’ll be back!

Playground plans derailed by rum punch

Posted on May 31, 2012 | 7 comments

As a parent of a school-age child you often find yourself roped into school-related volunteering. It’s always for a good cause but it’s time-consuming and more work than you thought it would be when another mom, or the smiling principal, strong-armed you onto the team.

And so for the last several months myself and three other Grade 1 moms have been spearheading a new playground at our kids’ school. The current playground is more ashphalt than parkland. It has no trees for shade, nowhere to sit, is riddled with ankle hazards (gopher holes) and has a rather ghetto/penitentiary-like feel to it, what with the net-less basketball hoops and in-need-of-paint exterior of the school’s 1960s-era addition. Plus the equipment has reached its best-before date and is deemed unsafe by the Calgary Board of Education.

Peeling paint adds to the school playground’s woes.

Before you wonder what I’m complaining about and how rum punch could sabotage the process, let me tell you that designing and building a new playground is not about flipping through a Little Tykes brochure and ordering equipment. No. It’s about engaging the community, parents, teachers and students in the process. It’s about working with a landscape architect to naturalize the space so it no longer looks like a prison yard. You want a play area the kids will love and the community can be proud of; not one that invites vandals with spray paint at 3 a.m.

Building a new playground also requires a lot of money. Like, hundreds of thousands of dollars. So, this year our school’s Kitchen Party fundraiser was dedicated to the new playground. We on the playground committee thought this would be a perfect time to have our captive audience fill out playground surveys, plot dots on a playground map and leave the party with brochures to bring to their employers to hit up for cash.

Revellers would’ve plotted dots on a playground map and filled out surveys had the Mardi Gras-themed party not served up nine gallons of rum punch.

I think all of that would have happened, if it hadn’t been for the rum punch. Several months ago Kitchen Party organizers asked me if I could make a signature cocktail for the event; something festive that nodded to New Orleans and Mardi Gras. I love rum punch so this was a no-brainer. I also make it really strong, like they do in Barbados, home of Mount Gay rum (Select Wines & Spirits donated a case of Mount Gay Eclipse to our cause).

Revellers in line for rum punch.

What ended up happening was this: everyone drank a lot of rum punch. Then everyone lined up for tequila shooters. No one filled out surveys. No one plotted dots on a map or walked away with a colour brochure to ask their employer for a cash donation. Instead, sombreros were worn and we danced the night away.

Sombreros happen when you drink rum punch.

But everyone in attendance sure spent a lot on booze, and that night, for the first time, I was having a blast on the playground committee. If it takes a village to raise a child, it requires an inebriated one to raise money for a new playground.