The Carousel Theatre for Young People always has great plays for kids (and uh, young people and adults too of course), always put on by a very professional and talented group of artists. They truly put on an amazing show that will wow you and your kids, and have your whole family laughing and having a great time.

Darren Burkett as Scarecrow and Robyn Wallis as Dorothy

I was invited to watch their current production, “The Wizard of Oz” and let me tell you, it was awesome! They did a fantastic job reviving this classic, and both me and my 5 year old son Smarty Pants loved it.

I was a little worried about taking him at first, because I know he is scared of witches, but I told him beforehand there would be a witch in it and that she was just pretending. To my great relief, he actually thought the witch was really funny and was laughing at her remarks (she really was funny at a lot of parts – well done).

One of the highlights was definitely the munchkins – all played by the adult cast on their knees. You have to see it to believe it- we were cracking up. My son is still singing “The Lollipop Guild” a week later. Hearing all those songs again really brought me back to my childhood too.

If you want to see the Wizard of Oz at Carousel Theatre, you need to hurry, as they are selling out really fast and breaking their box office records! Not surprising with such a great show and a story that people of all ages love (many people have told me it is their all time favourite story/movie). They just added another show too on Sunday, January 1, 2012 at
2:00pm to meet the high demand!

Here’s some additional info and links for you. If you don’t manage to get tickets for The Wizard of Oz, follow them on Twitter and Facebook to stay up-to-date on availability of tickets for their upcoming productions.

Info about The Wizard of Oz at Carousel Theatre:

VENUE Waterfront Theatre (1412 Cartwright Street, Vancouver)

DATES December 2 – 31, 2011 (Various Times) – New show just added on Jan 1, 2012!

TICKETS (604) 685-6217

INFO www.carouseltheatre.ca

FACEBOOK Carousel Theatre

TWITTER CarouselTheatre

THE WIZARD OF OZ BLURB:

Follow the yellow brick road with Dorothy and the gang in The Wizard of Oz!

This brave adventure follows Dorothy and her three strange friends; a Scarecrow with no brain, a Tin Man with no heart, and a Lion without any courage as they journey on to see the great and powerful Wizard of Oz.

During Dorothy’s search for the Wizard she discovers the true meaning of friendship, personal growth, and most important: there is no place like home!

ABOUT CAROUSEL THEATRE

Carousel Theatre, now in its 37th season, has produced 147 plays for young people. In its early years, the company performed at several different venues in Vancouver including the Arts Club Seymour Street and the Vancouver East Cultural Centre before moving to their home on Granville Island, where they operate a small arts complex that includes administrative offices and two rehearsal halls. Carousel is one of the long-term resident tenants at the Waterfront Theatre on Granville Island.

Each season more than 40,000 young people and their families benefit from Carousel Theatre’s unique programming. Under the vision of Artistic Director Carole Higgins, Carousel Theatre stages a mainstage season of Literary Classics at the Waterfront Theatre, a Teen Shakespeare Program each summer and a year-round Theatre School for young people ages 3 to 17 years. Carousel Theatre also runs a mentorship program for fledgling theatre for young audiences companies and a new play development program.

Carousel Theatre plays a unique role in the ecology of our community, and is the only theatre company in BC that produces a fully professional season of mainstage programming especially for young people.

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Don’t know what that is?  Don’t worry… I didn’t know either, until I recently had the pleasure of touring it myself.

The Observation Area is designed for young inquiring minds to explore and learn.  For example, did you know that the airport has 26,000 employees… two of which are dogs?  Fun facts like these are abundant at the Observation Area kiosks.

Here are a few things you’ll find for the kids (and the kid inside of you) there:

1. A model of the Airport and island (Sea Island) that the airport is situated on.  You can press different buttons to make the runways light up!
2. A cool flight simulator that allows you to fly over B.C. and land in different communities.  You can watch videos and learn about each community that you land in.
3. Kiosks with fun facts and info – Like a “follow your bag” video; jobs at YVR; facts quizzes; airport art; listen to a recording of air traffic control; and the past, present and future of the area.
4. Mini-telescopes that allow you to view the airplanes along the runways as the take-off and land.

The airport observation area at YVR opened this past July after much demand from the community.  Now is the perfect time to go there and get a change of scenery on a rainy day.  The kids will love it, and there is lots of room for them to run around and explore.

The observation area also ran a pilot school program from September to November, where school groups came in and learned about the airport, how to pack their bags when they travel (e.g. what you can and can’t put in your carry-on luggage), and other fun and practical facts and tips.  With any luck, this program will continue, and open up to more schools to enjoy.

On the lower level, just under the observation area, there is a food court with a play area for the kids to climb and tumble around while you take a break and have a coffee.  And if you’re in the mood, there are some shops right there as well, including a Vancouver Aquarium souvenir shop and some Olympic souvenir shops.

One thing I liked about this area is that it is a little bit away from the high-traffic areas of the airport, so you don’t have to worry about your kids wandering off or getting lost in crowds of people walking by.  They would have to wander pretty far to get to the higher traffic areas – giving you enough time to catch them before they get there.

Getting there is also easy – the new Canada Line Skytrain goes straight there.  Just take the Canada Line in the direction of YVR Airport and get off at the very last stop, which is the airport terminal.  Head towards the Domestic Terminal and you are practically there.  Just follow the signs to the Airport Observation area, or ask one of the info people on the ground.  This is my recommended option for getting there… the Skytrain is fun for kids, and you don’t have to worry about fighting traffic or finding parking once you’re there.

So get on out there and make a day, or morning, or afternoon out of it.  It’s fun and exciting for kids, and something completely different than the usual rainy day outings.  You and the kids will learn a lot too!  Click here to visit their website for more info.

Take care for now and Merry Christmas!

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Let’s start with Man in the Moon.

Man in the Moon is a program where dads of all types (i.e. foster, step, grand, etc.), shapes, and sizes, can bond with their little ones.  If you’ve ever gone to a program with your child and were surrounded by moms with their children, making you feel like the odd man out, then Man in the Moon is for you.

It is put on by the Vancouver Public Library, and if you haven’t heard of it before, you are hearing about it from me now.  It is a great program for dads to spend time with their kids and take part in fun activities that engage them in play, bonding, and song.  It is for dads and their kids only, so you can have a real tribal time.

The sessions for babies run for newborns to 18 month olds, and the toddler sessions are for children ages 12 to 36 months.  It is great quality, bonding time spent between dad and child, and a great way to meet other dads and their kids.  Not to mention, it is a great way to give your wife some time off, which I am sure she’ll appreciate.

The Man in the Moon program is also offered in English, Spanish and Cantonese!

Admission to the program is free, but you need to call your branch to register.  For more information, you can also call 604-331-3657 or 604-331-3675.  You can also go to this website and find all the Man in the Moon times and places there.

On a related (and not so related) note, I followed-up my 2009 resolutions with my buddy Tyler over at Building Camelot recently, as we are at the halfway point through the year.

I enjoyed reflecting on my resolutions and the progress I have made on them so far, and you will see that some of my resolutions have turned out to be pipe dreams, while others have proven easy for me to hold true to.

Read the full article on how I’ve been making out on keeping my resolutions over at Building Camelot – here.

You’ll see that one of my resolutions was to spend one-on-one time with the kids… hence the relationship to the Man in the Moon program.  So if you also resolved to spend more time with your little ones in 2009, it’s still not too late!  If you live in Vancouver, check out Man in the Moon!

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I was happy to learn that kids 3 and under get into Playland free,  and me and my wife were both able to get guardian passes, which were only $13 each.  That is a sweet deal at about half the price of a regular adult day pass.   Another reason to have kids right there.

So, $26 dollars later, we were through the gates and ready to go on our Playland adventure.  We hit the Super Slide first.  Smarty Pants is still too young to go on it by himself, but he enjoyed going down with us.  Its a really long bumpy slide that you slide down pretty fast, cuz they give you slippery blankets to ride down on.  Smarty Pants wanted to go again, and again, and again, and again…

After Super Slide exhaustion, we chugged on over to the Honeybee Express.  Its a cute little train that we all rode on together.  Smarty Pants was excited cuz he got to ride up front in the engine with his buddy.

From there, we were off to the merry-go-round, Pirate Ship, cars, boats, motorcycles, rollercoaster, flying helicopters, flying Dumbos, maze and back to the Super Slide and merry-go-round again.  There was so much to do that my head was starting to go merry-go-round.  In between the romps and riding, we had an over-priced lunch, some yummy ice cream and a Spiderman face-painting session.   Playland was heaven on earth for Smarty Pants, especially cuz he got to enjoy it all with his little buddy.

About $100 later, we were set to go.  We packed a lot into the time we were there.  We had a lot of fun, and it made us really happy to see Smarty Pants having so much fun too.  Leaving Playland was the most difficult part of the day.  Smarty Pants could have easily spent the rest of the day and night there, and especially didn’t want to part from his friend after having so much fun with him.

Back on the home front, the questions kept on coming, “Can I go back to Playland, pleeezze, Papa?” and “Can I go there again, Papa?”

We’ll go back again a few times this summer I’m sure.  I was surprised to see it actually wasn’t very busy.  Unlike my memories of Canada’s Wonderland and Disney World, we didn’t have to wait in any lines.  Okay, Playland is not as big as either of those, but still, it was nice to just be able to hop on any ride we wanted.  The longest wait we had was for our lunch, but only cuz the dude at the counter couldn’t figure out how to work the Interac machine.

So if you are sitting idle with your kids on a nice summer day in Vancouver, definitely consider taking them out for a fun and adventurous day at Playland.

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This March 2009 is a good month for Swap Meets in Vancouver.  I’m sharing our list of Swap Meets that we plan on visiting this month.  These Swap Meets all take place in Vancouver, BC, but if you are interested in Swap Meets in Langley, Coquitlam, North Vancouver, or elsewhere in the Greater Vancouver Region, check out the following page:  http://www.kidsvancouver.com/index_swapmeets.htm.

By the way, before you attempt to set foot in a Swap Meet, or if you think a Swap Meet is a place where butchers go to exchange racks of lamb (in which case it would actually be called a “Swap Meat,” by the way), please check out the Dad Jam’s Swap Meet Survival Guide.  It is essential reading on getting good, cheap, stuff for your kids, and living to tell your future grand kids about it.

******************

March 22, 2009

Kids’ Stuff Swap Meet
Coal Harbour Community Centre
480 Broughton Street
Vancouver

Free admission for buyers.

$18/table for sellers.

10:00 am – 1:00 pm
March 28, 2009

Kid Swap
West Point Grey Community Centre
4397 West 2nd Avenue
Vancouver

9:00 am – 1:00 pm

March 29, 2009

Family Toy and Clothes Sale
Kitsilano Community Centre
2690 Larch Street
Vancouver

$15 / table for sellers

$1 admission for buyers

10:00am – 1:00pm

*********************

If you come out to these Swap Meets, you’ll probably see me there, in all my Swap Meet glory.  If you are in Vancouver, come on out!  No, wait, actually don’t come… I want all the good stuff for myself!   If you have any questions, please post them here, and until next time, happy Swap Meeting!

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Flickr photo courtesy of Immagina

We brought our home-made lantern and joined the festivities at Triangle Square on Granville Island.  There was an awesome band playing funky, jazzy, swingy music (The Carnival Band), and lots of people donning their lanterns while dancing away in the snow.

We proceeded through Granville Island and stopped for singing and fire shows along the way.  We ended up at the False Creek Community Centre, where hot chocolate, jazz music and Christmas performances awaited us.

All in all it was a great time and I will definitely join again next year.  If you missed out this year, mark your calendar for the 2009 Winter Solstice Lantern Festival now!

This was the 15th Annual Winter Solstice Lantern Festival in Vancouver, and it sure was a hit.  It is produced each year by the Secret Lantern Society of Vancouver.

In the future I’ll post a jam on how to make your own homemade lantern too!

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You will find lots of great hand-made gifts, and best of all, you will be supporting local mothers at the same time.  You’ll find creations that are sewn, thrown, painted, beaded, quilted, knitted, molded and stamped.  Everything you need to complete your Christmas list.

I plan on being there with my family on Saturday, I think it will be a lot of fun.  A good friend of ours will also be exhibiting some of her crafts there, so we really look forward to seeing them, and hopefully getting some good stuff for the kids and gifts for the family in the process!

You will find clothes, carriers, jewelery, booties, bags, cards and more.  Admission is free.

The show will be going on Friday November 21, 4-8pm and Saturday November 22, 12-5pm at:

Hope to see you there!

Flickr photo courtesy of Margarida Sardo

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If you don’t know what a swap meet is, then stop reading.  Just kidding, a swap meet is an event similar to a flea market or a garage sale.  The kinds of swap meets that I jam about are the swap meets where the sellers are parents who no longer have a need for the toys and clothes that their kids have grown out of (often contrary to their children’s beliefs), and the buyers are parents with kids who have a need for toys and clothes that other kids have grown out of.

If you go to a swap meet too late, this may be all that is left

If you haven’t been to a swap meet yet, I highly recommend you check one out.  You can get some great deals on some great stuff for your kids.

In Vancouver, they are called swap meets, in your community they may be called something different.  In Vancouver, they usually take place at community centres, in your community they may take place at the local firehall or on the side of the road.  In any case, read on, you will find some good tips here no matter what your flavor of swap meet may be.

Here is The Dad Jam’s Swap Meet Survival Guide:

1. Plan your strategy ahead of time: Do you want to be one of the first ones there to try and get all the best stuff before it is taken, or would you rather go later, when the best stuff might be gone, but the prices might be lower?  If you choose the former strategy, be prepared to get there on time or even 15 minutes early (and even to wait in line when you get there).  Pack your wallet with some extra cash too.  Sellers are more likely to snub your negotiation attempts and look to the next anxious parent in line when everything is fresh and new at the start.  You can get the top pickings right at the beginning, so if that is your main goal, then go for it.  When you go later, the tables turn in your favour.  Sellers start looking at their table of unsold trinkets and dread the thought of lugging it all back to the minivan, re-boxing it and going through the whole shennanigans of another swap meet again.  At that point, your offer of $1.00 for a box of Duplo may be very welcome.
2. Make sure you and your wife agree on your strategy: If your wife’s strategy is to get there early, and yours is to catch the tail end of things, it is not going to be pretty when she is rushing out the door and you are still reading the morning paper.  Trust me.  I had to learn this one the hard way.  Choose your strategy together and make sure you are both on the same page with it.
3. Don’t be afraid to negotiate: Your powers of negotiation will increase as the swapmeet dwindles to its closing hours, but that doesn’t mean you can’t negotiate at the beginning too.  Don’t be afraid to negotiate a better price or ask to have something thrown in for buying a few items.  Generally, people just want to get rid of the stuff.  They understand what it is like as a parent to go shopping for the kids, so they will often be willing to do you a favour.  It’s a win-win situation.
4. Be quick, don’t hesitate: There is often only one of everything, so if you hesitate on something, you risk not getting it.  If you see that My Little Pony you’ve always been longing for and the price is right, pick it up.  Even if you end up regretting the purchase, you probably only paid a couple of bucks anyways, so its no big deal.  You will probably regret it more if you wait five minutes to think about it, decide you really want it, then find out someone else just bought it.  What’s worse:  The person who just bought it gave it to their kid, who is happily playing with it, while your kid is having a tantrum because he can’t have it.  So be quick.  Chances are you won’t regret it.
5. Bring bags: This may be a bit of a no-brainer, but is something that many people don’t really think about.  You are not going to Macy’s or the local grocer.  Some sellers have foresight and bring bags for their customers, but many do not.  Unless you want to be carrying a pile of Spiderman figurines in your bare hands as you navigate through the swap meet crowds, you best bring a bag or two with you.
6. Bring enough cash: Unless there is an ATM nearby, you may find yourself feeling strapped for cash if you find a must-have item that is on the pricey side right after you spent your last few cents on a Mr. Potato Head.
7. Leave your expectations at the door: Don’t go to a swapmeet hoping to find something in particular, like a Thomas the Tank Engine Figure 8 Starter Set.  Chances are you won’t find it and you are setting yourself up for disappointment.  Keep your mind open and broad.  Know what you want, but in general terms, like “Puzzles” or “Toy Cars” or “Clothes for the baby.”  This way, you know what you are looking for and can stay focused on finding those things (if you plan on buying clothes, have an idea what size you need).  You will likely find some version of what you are looking for, and if you happen to find some other great things at great prices along the way, then all the better.  So, go in with an open mind, and don’t worry if you don’t find that perfect thing… you may find that perfect something-else instead.
8. Decide on your child-strategy: Are you going to bring the kid(s) with you or leave them with the grandparents?  This is an important decision.  If you bring them with you, you best bring an extra set of eyes to watch them.  Going by yourself with the kids is asking for trouble.  There are so many people and toys everywhere.  This makes treasure-hunting combined with not losing your child a near impossible task, no matter how good a multi-tasker you are.  So if you decide to bring your kids, bring another adult with you (e.g. your spouse), and work out who will be the main treasure-hunter and who will be the main child-watcher.  The child-watcher can buy stuff too of course, but has primary responsibilty for not losing the kids.
9. Set your kids’ expectations: If you bring your kids to the swap meet, they are absolutely going to find something, or many things, that they want in the seas and mountains of toys that await them there.  Just as you would before going into a toy store, make sure your child is clear on what he or she will get and what he or she is and is not allowed to do.  It is easy for your child to pick up a toy and just run off with it, so make sure he or she knows that doing that is not allowed (unless you want to see a seller chasing your kid across the room).
10. Know what is reasonable to pay: There are some sellers that try and get top dollar for their stuff, and others that sell at reasonable prices.  If you have an idea what is reasonable to pay (this may vary, depending on where you live), you can avoid overpaying.  It can make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up when you buy a puzzle from one person for $3 and then move on to the next table to see that a brand new puzzle is selling for 50 cents.  And trust me, it happens.  You can usually pick out which sellers are there to get rid of their stuff and which ones are there to make a profit.  Try and buy from the former.  The latter are the ones that try and sell a piece of clothing for $5, while the former happily sell two of something similar for $1.

To find upcoming swapmeets in your community, check out the websites of your local community centres.  If you live in Vancouver, check back here often, because when I find out about swap meets that are happening in Vancouver, I will let you know about them here.

I hope you enjoyed these tips and found them useful.  If you have any tips of your own to share, or have any comments on these tips, please leave a comment!  Thanks!

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Flickr photo courtesy of Oskay

Fun at the aquarium

Vancouver is a great city for parents and kids, you just need to know where to look and where to go.  Love Buns has been great at discovering all the possible things we can do in Vancouver with our kids.  Some of these things exist in other cities too, so if you are not from Vancouver, you still might find this article useful.  If you are from Vancouver, you will definitely find this article useful.

This list is absolutely not exhaustive…I will continue to post more articles about things to do with the kids in Vancouver as the seasons change, because often the season has an impact on the things that you can do!

Fun at the playground

For the fall, here are my favourite things to do in Vancouver:

• Take a trip to a Family Centre.  We take our son to the Mount Pleasant Family Centre and he loves it.  It is a great place for parents and kids alike.  They have nice drop in sessions that are well structured to include singing, playing, reading, snacks and more.  They also have an adult lounge where parents can take a break, have a coffee and chat amongst themselves while the kids engage in supervised play.  What more can a parent ask for.
• Have some fun at the Telus World of Science (Science World).  This is absolutely a great place for kids with tonnes of fun things for kids to do.  The beauty of it is that they learn a lot at the same time as well.  We cannot pull our son away from some of the exhibits there.  This is a great thing to do on a rainy day too!
• Explore sea life at the Vancouver Aquarium.  My father-in-law just took Smarty Pants there the other day, and he couldn’t stop talking about it.  There is lots for kids to see and do here, and they have a really nice play area for kids too.  Some of the exhibits are interactive too, giving kids an additional opportunity to play.  Also, the new Baby Beluga whale is a great attraction for kids.
• Climb, crawl and shop at the Granville Island Kids Market.  The kids market at Granville Island has lots to do for kids of all ages.  There is an arcade there with games where kids can win tickets to trade in for prizes, plus a big adventure zone where your kids can climb, crawl, jump and slide through an obstacle-course-like area.  You can read about my adventure at the adventure zone here.  Entrance to the Adventure Zone costs about $6 for a day.  Just be aware that there are many stores with toys for kids, so set the shopping/buying expectations with your kids in advance!
• Go to a swapmeet.  Swapmeet season is starting again, and we love to go to them.  Swapmeets are places where other parents rent tables to sell their old kids stuff.  You can buy clothes, toys, books and more there for very reasonable prices, and the stuff tends to be in good condition.  As a bonus, a lot of the swapmeets that I have been too have a big play area for kids set up, so the kids can play with other kids while you look around and get some great deals.  Stay tuned to this site for more details of upcoming swapmeets.  As I find out about when and where they are, I will post the details here.  Swapmeets are often held at community centres.
• Speaking of community centres, they are also a great place to do things with the kids.  Find out where your local community centre is, and get a hold of their recreation guide.  In there, you will find all kinds of things that you can do with your kids.  For example, we go to the False Creek Community Centre.  They have a “Tots Gym” drop-in that costs about $2.50 per drop-in.  It runs in the mornings four days a week and is a great place to go on a rainy day.  The kids can play in the bouncy castle or with lots of other toys that they have there, and you can meet and share stories with other parents, and discuss how much you love this site with them.
• If the weather is still okay, you can always still go to a playground.  Vancouver has a lot of playgrounds where kids can play in the sandbox, climb on the monkey bars, go down slides, fly on swings and more.  The main playgrounds that we go to in our area are the playground by the Granville Island Waterpark and the playground at Charleson Park.
• Get some books at the Library.  There is actually much more to do at the Library than just read books.  The Vancouver Public Library Central Branch downtown has a big kid’s library with lots of kid’s books, toys, computers with interactive games, and multiple play areas.  Definitely worth checking out!
• Speaking of books, here is an idea that I had, where I brought Smarty Pants to a Chapters bookstore to play.  You can read about it on this site here.

Hope that list helps to keep you busy for a bit.  Stay tuned for more, as this is just the start!  Join the jam and leave comments with your own ideas on things to do with the kids in Vancouver, or in the city that you live in!

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To give you some background, the guidelines for the project are:

1.  The photos should showcase anything that relates to you children or relates to life with children.

2.  The photos cannot contain any live faces (but photos with pictures of faces are allowed).

3.  Post the pictures on your site.

4.  Link the post back to Building Camelot so that entries can be tracked and that others can read about the project.

When looking for photos for this project, I realized that we rarely take photos without one of our kids’ faces in them.  This helped to make this entry an interesting challenge to put together.  I feel the following photos illustrate our life with kids really well.  Here goes:

Our sling

This first photo shows our daughter in her sling.  This is everyday life with a baby for us, because we use our sling to take our daughter nearly everywhere we go with her.  In this photo, she is not fully wrapped, but taking a break to have a drink.

Climbing at the playground

This photo is a snapshot of part of a climbing wall at a playground that we often go to.  Life with kids means frequent trips to the playground!  Smarty Pants loves to play there and climb up and over everything in sight.

Kite Flying

What would life with kids be without taking them out to fly a kite?  This is something we started doing since we have had kids, and Smarty Pants loves it.

The shallow end

Life with kids in the summer means going to the swimming pool on hot days.  When you have kids, you often find yourself sitting in the shallow water, as in this image, rather than swimming around or diving in the deep end.

The petting zoo

The petting zoo is a popular place for kids, and life with kids wouldn’t be complete without a visit to the petting zoo and petting some baby lambs.

There you have it!  I hope you enjoyed my entry in this project, and encourage you to check out the project and create your own entry as well.

Feel free to leave a comment and share your own special ideas about life with kids!