Tag Archives: children

Family Friendly 4th of July Events

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Check out some great family-friendly 4th of July options in and around Boulder this year! For families with really young kids, or those who just don’t want to be out late, check out Parenting Place’s Kids’ July 4th Bike Parade OR head over the Boulder Rez for some daytime fun. The evening events are all fun, but remember you can see a lot of them from outside of the crowd if you want a more mellow experience for your family. Whatever you decide to do–enjoy!

Boulder: Ralphie’s Independence Day Blast: Gates open at 8 p.m. Program at 8:30pm. boulder4thofjuly.wordpress.com

Boulder: Kids’ July 4th Bike Parade. 10am to 1pm. www.myparentingplace.org

Boulder: Boulder 4th of July at the Boulder Rez. Race, family-friendly activities, food trucks & more. 6am to 6pm. Boulder Rez

Broomfield: Broomfield County Commons Park: Celebration begins at 5:30 p.m. broomfield.org

Lafayette: Waneka Lake: Celebration begins at 4 p.m. lafayettecolorado.com

Louisville: Coal Creek Golf Course: Events begin at 6 p.m. louisvilleco.gov

Longmont: Boulder County Fairgrounds: Fireworks planned for 9:30 p.m. ci.longmont.co.us

Boulder Parks and Recreation Offers FREE Events in July!

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Boulder Parks and Recreation is offering FREE Events in July! 
 
Check out these Free Days at their pools & Rec Centers in July! Want to try out a recreation center or pool? Here is your opportunity to try it for FREE!
 
  • East Boulder Community Center July 9
  • Boulder Reservoir July 22
  • Spruce Pool July 16
  • North Boulder Recreation Center July 24
  • South Boulder Recreation Center July 29

There are also FREE Concerts in the parks throughout July! Find your neighborhood park and plan a night out! All concerts are from 7:00 to 8:00pm.

  • July 1: Harlow Platts Park [1360 Gillaspie] Presents the Boulder Summer Concert Band
  • July 8: Salberg Park [19th St and Elder Ave] Presents the Boulder Summer Concert Band
  • July 15: Scott Carpenter Park [1505 30th St] Presents the Boulder Summer Concert Band
  • July 22: North Boulder Park [9th St and Dellwood] Presents the  Boulder Summer Concert Band
  • July 29: Chautauqua Park [900 Baseline Rd] Presents the Boulder Summer Concert Band

Common Sense Media Helps Parents Make Informed Movie Choices!

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Today my 9 year old and I sat down to find an appropriate movie for him to download for our upcoming trip. We headed to Common Sense Media because it is tough to determine what shows are acceptable for him AND that he will enjoy. I was amazed. I was able to search for movies, then his age, and up popped a list of options. Not only do they have a great list, but the list includes trailers, Common Sense Media’s take on the show, and a rating of appropriateness. Just what we needed!

Want the scoop on age appropriate movies? Head to www.commonsensemedia.org and click on “Reviews” in the left corner.

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Add your criteria such as age, genre, etc…

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And you get some great suggestions with detail on what you are watching, what is good about the movie, what to watch out for, and what you may want to discuss with your child after or before watching the movie. Common Sense Media is opinionated! I like it!

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I am so thankful that we have Common Sense Media to help us make tough decisions about movie watching!

Do You Instagram? This Social Media Tool Is Not Just For The Kids!

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Instagram is a really cool social media tool that allows you to take photos, use great filters to make them look amazing, and then share them on a photo stream with your friends. You choose who shares your photo stream so you can keep your circle as small an you want. Instagram quickly becomes a photo journal of your life.

I love Instagram for families! Let me tell you why…

  1. Take Fun Photos! You can take really fun photos and easily manipulate them with filters. It can be addictive!
  2. Share Your Photos: You can share photos with select friends/family/others–you choose!
  3. Photos Are Available Immediately: The photos you share show up on your photo stream immediately so people can share your experiences and see what you are up to. Even grandparents can keep up to date on what’s happening in your family’s life via your photo journalism.
  4. Photos Are Archived: you can always look back for photos you took.
  5. Print Your Instagram Photos: You can now create great photo prints with your Instagram images.
  6. Keep Tabs On Your Kids: You can follow your kids and even their friends–essential for the teen crowd! If you have a teen you know what I mean.
  7. Share Via Email or Other Social Media Sites: After you snap an Instagram photo you can share those photos via email or many other social media sites. It makes it easy to integrate these images into your life.
  8. And Now Video: Instagram just added up to 15 second video capability with some of the same great filters to make your videos look great!

Instagram Example 1: This weekend we went camping with some friends. The kids and I snapped Instagram photos and uploaded them immediately. It was fun to share the journey with our friends and family! I use the photos to document our adventures.

Instagram Example 2: My husband travels a lot for work. I snap Instagram photos and he can follow what we are up to in almost real time. He can “like” or “comment” on all the photos so he can interact with me and they kids too.

Instagram Example 3: The other day I set my mom up with an Instagram account [took under 5 minutes]. She can now follow her grandkids and our whole family. She does this on her iPhone, but she could do it on another mobile device [iPad, iPad Mini, etc…]. She loves it!

Want to get started on Instagram? Here is how.

Do You Know What Drowning Looks/Sounds Like?

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None of us think its going to happen. We teach our kids to swim. We watch them near the water. But drowning is not always what we think. I just want to raise awareness.

It was almost exactly a year ago when my family was in Mexico. It was there that a friend told me the scariest story about a near drowning of their friend’s 3 year old when there were 6 adults around. Here is what I learned:

  • Drowning is often silent [the victim doesn’t yell for attention or gasp for air so loudly you can hear]

Their story goes that 3 couples showed up at their beautiful house for a relaxing vacation in Mexico. The house had a pool in the back. They were standing around talking when they first arrived since they came from different parts of the country. Kids wandered around. 15 minutes went by and they realized they were missing one child. They calmly looked around. It was then that they found their son floating face down in the water with all his clothing on. They still don’t know how it happened, but it did. It was silent. None of the 6 adults heard anything.

Do you know the signs of drowning? Since it is often silent you need to know what do watch for.

Here is a great article on how to know if someone is in trouble in the water. 

FREE Live Music the Whole Family Can Enjoy this Summer!

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Screen Shot 2013-06-05 at 10.30.48 PMThe summer is such a fun time to see live music. It’s better if we can take the kids along! Here are two Boulder classic music series that include free 10 week of live music: Noon Tunes & Bands on the Bricks. Both are family friendly. Noon tunes is great for the little ones and those who need something fun to do on Fridays.

Noon Tunes: Every Friday throughout the summer Noon to 1:30pm enjoy live music on the 1300 block of Pearl Street. Imagine heading downtown with a picnic, or pick something up right on Pearl, allow the kids to run through the pop fountain, and enjoy free live music. A great afternoon! For more details click here.Screen Shot 2013-06-05 at 10.37.04 PM

Noon Tunes Line-up

Bands on the Bricks: This is a 10 week FREE live music series happening every Weds. night from 7 to 9pm. Enjoy performances from the best local musicians along the front range while dancing under the stars.  For the parents this year is featuring an outdoor beer/wine/margarita garden starting at 5:30 p.m. every Wednesday night, featuring Rio Margarita’s and a new local brewery every three weeks. Of course there is food downtown for the kids and the pop fountain is a hit any time of day or night. For more details or to listen to music from this great line up click here.

Bands on the Bricks Line-up

These are great family-friendly music options. Get creative and work these into your week. Enjoy!

Family Movie Nights [Not the ones in the movie theater!]

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My family loves a good movie night! We often have a tough time finding a movie we agree upon. Recently we have tried to find some good oldies and it’s worked. The kids actually like them. And they tend to be free or cheap to watch.

home-aloneYou don’t have to pay [or pay much] to watch some wonderful movies! To get them free or almost free you have to stick to the older movies. Most kids won’t jump up and down for joy when you tell them you are going to play Princess Bride, but they usually end up loving them despite themselves. Head to the library, use Amazon Prime Instant Video [if you’ve got it already], or check your cable company’s free On Demand movie section. Babble has an interesting Top 10 List of free or almost free movies: 10 Picks for Cheap [or free!] Family Movie Nights.

In Boulder you can check out the Boulder Outdoor Cinema’s showings too. Some are better for the family than others! For 2013 it looks like Despicable Me & Princess Bride are the family-friendly winners in the line up.

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You cannot always count on movie ratings, especially with older movies, to tell you all you want to know about the movie you are considering watching with your family. To check out the appropriateness of a movie you can head to Common Sense Media where you can look into the movie themes and appropriateness for your kids’ age group. This is a fantastic resource since it really is tough to know what is appropriate for your family!

Enjoy family movie night without the huge expense of taking the family to the movie theater! The oldies really are goodies when it comes to watching movies with your kids!

Any other movie recommendations? What are your family’s favorite movies?

Origami Is An Amazing Art Form!

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Origami is a beautiful, meditative practice that is great for kids and adults alike! If you love origami, or you don’t know anything about it, you will love this video of the unfolding of a complicate origami rhino!

Or watch the making of an origami koi fish:

If you are inspired to create origami consider taking a look online for some great tutorials. I would start with YouTube. There is also a group of origami folders in Boulder: Boulder Folders. They offer origami training and practice at the Boulder Public Library from time to time. The next Boulder Folders is June 11, 2013 from 6:30 to 8:30pm. For more information on that event click here.

Origami is a beautiful, meditative practice that is great for kids and adults alike!

Boulder Creek Festival Family Friendly Events: Monday, May 27, 2013

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Boulder Creek Festival Family Friendly Events: Monday, May 27, 2013

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Community Dance Stage

11:00-11:30  AM     Kids’ Open Dance

11:30 AM-12:00  PM     Nederland Mountain Movers Community Dance Group

12:00 – 12:30 PM   Salsa Challenge – Salsa Los Canineros

12:30-1:00  PM     Celtic Steps School of Irish Dance – Soft & Hard Shoe Irish Dance

1:00-2:00   PM     Mile High Belly Dance – Sampling of Denver/Boulder’s Premiere Belly Dancers

2:00-2:30   PM     O Dance – Hoop Dancing

2:30-3:00   PM     A Big Noise – Tap Dancing

3:30-4:00  PM      Boulder Karate Demo

Band Shell

12:00-1:30 PM         Teen Stage Battle of the Bands Winner

2:00-3:00 PM           BluezHouse (Blues)

3:30-5:00 PM           Face (All Vocal Rock)

5:30-7:00 PM           Hazel Miller (Blues/R&B)

Family Friendly Boulder Creek Festival Events Today [Sunday]

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Boulder Creek Festival Community Dance Stage: Sunday, May 26, 2013

10:00-10:15 AM     Boulder Karate Demo

10:15-10:45  AM     El Badree – Cabaret Belly Dance

10:45-11:30 AM   Dance Dimensions

11:30 AM-12:00  PM     Salsa Challenge – Salsa Los Canineros

12:00-1:00  PM    Streetside Studio – Hip Hop/Jazz/Modern

1:00-2:00  PM     Mile High Belly Dance – Sampling of Denver/Boulder’s Premiere Belly Dancers

2:00-2:30 PM      Schiff Dance Collective – Contemporary Dance

2:30- 4:00 PM     Rocky Mountain School of Dance – Jazz/Lyrical/Tap/Contemporary

4:00-4:45  PM     Grace Studios

4:45-5:30  PM      Kakes Studios – Salsa/African/Partner/Hoop Dancing

5:30-6:30  PM      Blue Moon Dance Studio

6:30-7:00 PM      Ascential Dance Theatre Colorado – Modern/World Fusion Dance

Kids’ Place: In this event area dedicated to children, exhibitors are encouraged to host hands-on activities and games in addition to displaying their products and services at their booths. Location: Between Broadway, Arapahoe and 13th Street

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