Salem Saturday Market

I'm very behind on posting lately - spring cleaning and life has kept me away, but I definitely want to make sure that I keep the posting up!

This last Saturday, we decided to make a quick trip to the Salem Saturday Market. I am not as familiar with the Salem market as the Eugene one, because for years we have taken road trips down to Eugene for their farmer's market (as well as a quick stop into Ben and Jerry's!). It's probably been 2-3 years since I've been back to Salem's Saturday Market.

What is really nice about the Salem market is their parking. I really appreciate easy parking in the gravel lot just across the street that provides easy in and out.

We got going much later on Saturday morning than expected so by the time we made it to the market there was just a little over an hour until it closed so I'm sure we missed out on the early morning bounty. I had a list in mind of things I wanted to get: basil (and lots of it to make some homemade pesto!), maybe some carrots, peas and beans. Unfortunately though, I wasn't able to find any of those things (could only find basil plants and only 1 stand had some peas).

One huge advantage that Salem has over Eugene is wide walking areas making it easier to maneuver through the crowds.

Organization is a bit lacking - I would much prefer to have the farmer's market stands in one area, hot food in another and homemade goods in another so I wouldn't have to walk the entire market if I only wanted to go to the farmer stands.

I didn't spot any restrooms while we were walking, but I'm sure that they were around somewhere.

There is a Friends of Salem Saturday Market site that lists some upcoming free events, but none specific geared towards kids. It'd be great to see some activities maybe like how the Ag Fest provides!

The Original Roadhouse Grill

This weekend we were running late getting going with dinner. It was so hot outside that we decided to just go for a drive and pick up some take out.

We decided to head to the Original Roadhouse Grill on Lancaster because we like their salads and dinner rolls and we can usually split an appetizer as our main meal and then add salads and it isn't too expensive.

We didn't have a menu with us or their number so dh ran inside to place the order and Bug and I stayed out in the car to wait. Dh placed the order and came back outside.

About 20 minutes later, Bug said she needed to go potty so dh took her inside. Dh said that the bathrooms seemed clean but were pretty dark. On their way back out to the car the hostess noticed him and said that she'd gotten so busy she'd forgotten to put his order in but she'd try to push a rush on it. By that time, Bug was distracted by the peanuts they have to snack on so they decided to stay inside and wait for the food.

It was extremely busy even for a Saturday night, as there must have been a prom going on. While inside, dh said there was a waiter who was messing around acting silly who started swearing like crazy in front of people in line plenty loud enough for everyone, including my 2-year-old, to hear. Not so great.

They finally got our food and we headed home, only to be disappointed once we got back that they'd forgotten a few things in our order. I made sure to send off a comment via their website, though I haven't heard a response back yet.

Since we only got take out I wasn't able to rate their overall family friendliness - has anyone else dined there recently that could shed some light?

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?

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

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."

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.

Ag Fest

Long time no post. It seems these last few weeks have been especially busy around here and we haven’t had much time out and about.

We did venture out to the Ag Fest this weekend though. This is only the 2nd time I’ve ever been. I’d previously sworn off the Ag Fest because the last time we went not only was it extremely busy and there were so many strollers that we could barely move through the crowd, but 3 people in our family got pink eye when my nephew didn’t wash his hands after petting some of the animals. I thought Bug would be old enough now to enjoy it a bit more than she did before so off we went.

We arrived early on Saturday morning determined to beat the crowds. We got there around 10:00 a.m. We parked in the back closer to the barns instead of up front where there was a huge line for the ticket booth. At the back gate there was no line at all and we got right in. Parking was free. Admission was $7.50 per adult and kids under 12 are free.

There are so many things to do at Ag Fest that I’m sure we missed a bunch of stuff.
We had a chance to see llamas, goats, sheep, cows, horses, chicken and some rabbits while we were there. All around the areas where there are animals there are places to wash your hands either with good old soap and water or with some sanitizing gel. I also brought along a little bottle determined that we would avoid pink eye this year.

One of the buildings is full of activities for kids. They can milk a “cow” (cow model set up with udders that can be milked for water), play in little kiddie pools full of corn, spin wheels for stickers/toys, etc., dig for potatoes, make “dirt babies” (panty hose filled with seeds and dirt that will grow “hair” later), etc. The wheat growers booth saved us when Bug was starting to melt down just before lunchtime because they were cooking up pancakes. She was thrilled to get in a warm snack and it bought us enough time to finish looking at everything and then head for the door.

The other building was mostly full of booths selling various things, most of which weren’t related to agriculture. What surprised me the most when we came in through the doors of the building was the very strong smell of gasoline coming from the trackers they’d parked inside of the doors. It was strong enough to give me an immediate headache and I even looked around to see if they were running them inside of the building because it was so overwhelming. We shuffled Bug through the doors quickly to get on the other side of the gasoline smell, passed through the vendor area and made our way to the stage where we were able to watch a few minutes of the Cherry City Cloggers perform (I always love watching them! It looks like a lot of fun) before Bug let us know it was definitely naptime.

Another great thing about going is that you get a hand stamp so you can leave and come back. Bug could not stop talking about the “mamas” (llamas in toddler speak) and we almost went back for another round, but decided against it. It was nice to have the option to go back though if we wanted to brave the afternoon crowd.

Tulip Festival

This last Friday we decided to make a trip out to Woodburn for the Tulip Festival. We’d never been there before, but $5 a carload ($10 for the weekend) seemed extremely reasonable for some spring family fun.

When we arrived, we were greeted with friendly staff and were given several brochures/guides about the different kinds of tulips and what events were going on. We were lucky we picked a time that was perfect weather wise and didn’t have to deal with any mud. There were plenty of easy-to-find and very clean portable toilets near the parking area, which we were grateful for after the long trip out and Bug having just woken up from her nap when we arrived.

There is a sort of main area where there’s some food from Mt. Angel Sausage Company and some booths as well as play areas for kids. I was very pleased to see how exceptionally clean the area was and was very happy that it was grassy and not just dirt or concrete to walk on. All areas were very stroller friendly. There were picnic tables, horse tire swings, tunnels for kids to climb through and it looked like they were setting up a large slide and rock climbing area as well. They also have a large garden area and a gift shop too.

The horse tire swings were a huge hit with dd. Actually, she didn’t want to do anything but ride them so we didn’t really even get to see the tulips. She thought about riding one of their little kiddie trams that are shaped as either wooden shoes or cows, but after we paid twice (they charge $2 per person, but one of the staff only charged us $2 total since we’d only technically be taking up 1 of the carts) she changed her mind both times (we were refunded thankfully) and was happier just waving at the people going by. In the end, I was actually relieved that she decided against it because I saw many adults being tossed to and fro on the bumpy ride and saw a teen smack her knees pretty hard on the inside of a wooden shoe when they went over a big bump.

The tulips, from what we could see from the horse swings, were beautiful. We were told that they were a bit behind schedule because of the weather and would be blooming even more this upcoming week so if you get the chance I highly recommend making the trek out!

To The Letter

I got the review letter put together and thought I'd share what it will look like when I send it out. It feels good to be not only be sharing information about what is around, but also trying to enact some change!

*****
Dear _________,

Congratulations! Your business was recently reviewed in our undercover mom blog that reviews local businesses in the Salem area on their level of kid friendliness. I’m including a copy of that review for you to look through.

If you would like to see the site and the other businesses that we have reviewed in this area, please check out: http://kidfriendlysalem.blogspot.com/

The following are some suggestions that we have for making your businesses more kid friendly:
1)
2)
3)
4)

We hope that you will take a moment to read your review and consider the suggestions listed.

Sincerely,

Kid Friendly Salem
*****

I'm hoping we will make it out to the Tulip Festival today! Review to come shortly!

Notification Letters

After receiving a lot of emails and comments about this blog and the reviews I’ve done so far, I’ve realized the importance of making sure that I let businesses know about the reviews and comments on their businesses so that they make the changes that parents want to see – isn’t that the point?

I’m working on putting together a form letter to send to local businesses once they’ve been reviewed, letting them know a bit about the blog, encouraging them to read the review and I’ll also include suggestions on how to make their business more kid friendly.

Thank you so much for taking the time to comment and email me – so far, the blog has been a huge success with almost 700 hits in 1 week!

Upward and onward!