Sunday, May 31, 2009

Question From Reader

I received a comment the other day from a new reader that had a question about local areas to swim:



"I am new to the Salem Area and i am deperately trying to find a place for kids to splash and play in the water. we've been to silver falls park and that was alot of fun and i know the few spray pads will be open in june, but is there somewhere along the river bank where it is safe to let my kid splash and put her feet in the water on a hot summer day? I know the YMCA has a pool but we're not members yet and a visit to the pool would cost us $ 15 which i think is outrageous. I can't wait for the kroc center to open! Any suggestions would be very appreciated!"

This is a great question. I've heard good things about Silverton Reservoir, but other than that, the other places that I know of are definitely not clean and family ok.



We have yet to really venture out to do swimming with Bug. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Monday, May 25, 2009

Movies In The Park

Thanks to Jessica who commented with this information for the upcoming Movies In The Park. I've heard they project the movies onto a large inflated movie screen at dusk! Sounds like fun!

Here's the city's information for the movies

5 movies this summer on Saturdays at Riverfront Park in Salem. The line up is classic, and fun, and FREE (however donations are encouraged)!

Raiders of the Lost Ark (the first one) July 11th

The Wizard of Oz - July 25th

March of the Penguins - August 8th

Shrek I - August 22nd

Wallace and Gromit - August 29th

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Regal Free Family Film Festival

I received the schedule for this summer's Regal Film Festival. I think that dd is old enough now to go to see a movie for the first time in the theater. I'm looking forward to Curious George - that is one of our favorites!

LANCASTER MALL STADIUM 11

06/16/2009-06/17/2009
Space Chimps (G)
Madagascar 2: Escape To Africa (PG)

06/23/2009-06/24/2009
Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: Veggie Tale Movie (G)
Evan Almighty (PG)

06/30/2009-07/01/2009
Kit Kittredge: American Girl (G)
Nim's Island (PG)

07/07/2009-07/08/2009
Horton Hears A Who (G)
Inkheart (PG)

07/14/2009-07/15/2009
The Tale Of Despereaux (G)
Kung Fu Panda (PG)

07/21/2009-07/22/2009
Everyone's Hero (G)
Surf's Up (PG)

07/28/2009-07/29/2009
Igor (PG)
Journey To The Center Of The Earth (PG)

08/04/2009-08/05/2009
Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium (G)
Bee Movie (PG)

08/11/2009-08/12/2009
Curious George (G) - UPDATE: IT SEEMS THAT CURIOUS GEORGE WILL NOT BE SHOWING DUE TO LACK OF ENOUGH AVAILABLE COPIES OF THE MOVIE
Alvin And The Chipmunks (PG)

MOVIELAND 7

06/16/2009-06/17/2009
Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: Veggie Tale Movie (G)
Evan Almighty (PG)

06/23/2009-06/24/2009
Kit Kittredge: American Girl (G)
Nim's Island (PG)

06/30/2009-07/01/2009
Horton Hears A Who (G)
Inkheart (PG)

07/07/2009-07/08/2009
The Tale Of Despereaux (G)
Kung Fu Panda (PG)

07/14/2009-07/15/2009
Everyone's Hero (G)
Surf's Up (PG)

07/21/2009-07/22/2009
Igor (PG)
Journey To The Center Of The Earth (PG)

07/28/2009-07/29/2009
Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium (G)
Bee Movie (PG)

08/04/2009-08/05/2009
Curious George (G) - UPDATE: IT SEEMS THAT CURIOUS GEORGE WILL NOT BE SHOWING DUE TO LACK OF ENOUGH AVAILABLE COPIES OF THE MOVIE
Alvin And The Chipmunks (PG)

08/11/2009-08/12/2009
Space Chimps (G)
Madagascar 2: Escape To Africa (PG)

Here's some more info from their website:
"When school's out, kids around the country visit selected Regal theatres forthe Free Family Film Festival. It's a fun-filled nine weeks of movies forkids and parents. Since 1991, Regal has provided this service to thecommunity, and best of all it's FREE!

Select G & PG movies start at 10AM each Tuesday and Wednesday during thefestival. First-come, first-served seating is limited to theatre capacity.The Free Family Film Festival is safe, lots of fun and a great way for kidsto spend a weekday morning in the summer.

Tickets for our 2009 Free Family Film Festival are exclusively available atselect theatres' box office on the day of the show."

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Olive Garden

The sickness has hit my family these last few weeks pretty hard. I thought we were making some headway but this a.m. Bug woke up with a barking cough so I am up early and intend to do some catch up with my blogging.

A few weeks ago while running errands, moments after I’d realized that I hadn’t had anything to eat that day, I started to have a blood sugar low. I was feeling dizzy and nauseous so we decided to stop and get some lunch at the closest place to where we were, which just happened to be Olive Garden. I figured it couldn’t be busy at 2 on a Saturday, right? Wrong. But, within 15-20 minutes we were sitting at our table and I begged the waitress to bring us anything asap before I started to eat sugar packets.

I appreciate when we are seated in a low traffic area and that day they put us in a corner so we were able to sort of tuck Bug in the back, which was helpful in trying to thwart her constant escape attempts. I’m not a fan of their chairs with rollers on the bottom though because they move very easily and Bug fell off of hers and almost hit her face on the table when she was leaning forward to color so dh and I spent the rest of the meal with our feet wrapped around the bottom so it wouldn’t slide. The food arrived quickly and was good, but Bug’s plate was scorching hot when they set it right in front of her. Prices seemed higher than what I remember. Most of the children’s items were around $5, which includes a drink but says “Share the grown-ups breadsticks and salad with your meal.” For $5, the portion seemed pretty small, heck even my adult portion seemed pretty small.

While we ate, I started to brainstorm different things that would be really helpful in restaurants. Besides foot stools in the bathrooms, what about bringing them their color pages/crayons if there is a wait, or providing smaller utensils so they can eat easier? The only picture that I was able to get during my low blood sugar madness was of Bug’s fork, which was massively huge.

The bathrooms seemed clean, which is always nice, especially when your toddler says she needs to go potty, but then when you get her in there she’d rather play with the toilet paper and collapses on the floor when you try to pick her up to sit on the potty “just in case.” No foot stools though. The changing area for babies had lots of room so that you wouldn’t have to move out of the way to let other in/out of stalls.

Overall it was okay and I’m grateful that we received pretty quick food once we were seated. But, the prices are a little out of our range right now, especially so since their portion size was pretty small, so I don’t think we’ll be going back anytime soon.

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