Category Archives: Things To Do with a Boy on a Friday Night

Looking For Something To Do: North Toronto Splash Pad Edition

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Looking for something to do with the kids this summer to beat the heat?  Why not try out a city splash pad?

Toronto is spotted with great splash pads and wading pools that make cooling off with little ones easy-peasy.  I recently discovered Hendon Park, which is definitely not new since my nephews used to romp in and out of the spraying palm trees more than a dozen years ago.

The large spray pad contains several palm trees which rain water down and just as many fountains that shoot streams high overhead.  An adjacent patch of sprayers is available for the littlest ones looking for some fun, which makes taking kids of various ages just a bit easier.

Next to the water attraction is a decent sized park with swings, climbers and public tennis courts.  Washrooms are free to use so you don’t have to worry about cutting the trip short to use the potty.  But since I have boys, who view the world as their tree, we rarely have this problem!

Bring a blanket, some snacks and grab a spot in the plentiful shade and enjoy a day with friends.

More information about Hendon Park including directions click here.

Melanie On The Go offers her review of Hendon Park here.

For a complete location of Toronto’s splash pads click here.

Where are the best splash/spray pads in your neighbourhood?  

photo credit: http://www.melanieotg.ca

Help! What to do with these kids!?

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Stuck on what to do with the kids?  Are the summer days feeling long?  Searching for the perfect activity to do with the family this weekend?

Melanie On The Go to the rescue!

I stumbled across this great website, where Melanie, a mom of two, reviews hot-spots for kiddies in the greater Toronto area.  She gives a complete over view of parks, splash pads, amusement parks and farms complete with pros and cons, which makes planning a whole lot easier.

Melanie’s site is perfect for families with little ones but for kids who have outgrown wading pools and kindergym, check out these websites that I look to for a little inspiration:

www.toronto4kids.com

www.littlepaper.com

www.savvymom.com

 

Click on About Town and Things to Do With a Boy (on the Categories menu) for some other suggestions from the 4mothers.

How about you?  What are some of your go-to websites?  If you live outside of the GTA share the wealth and let us know where to go, someone might be visiting your town!

photo credit: http://www.livingmymoment.com

Toronto Fun Places

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Picture it. It’s a Saturday morning. A whole long day stretches in front of you, and you have no idea how to fill your day. 

Go to the park?

Sure. For an hour.

Art projects?

Sure. For an hour.

You know what kind of day I mean. Last summer we found something that helps keep those long, tedious, unplanned days at bay.  Called Toronto Fun Places, author Nathalie Prézeau and her family visited hundreds of different locales around Toronto to come up with this guide to family-tested, tried and true day trips in and within a two-hour drive of the city of Toronto. Organized by theme (indoors/outdoors; water fun; natural activities, sports and so on) the book lists every conceivable indoor playground, pool, and park worth visiting.   My favourite feature?  A guide to kid-friendly strolls around various TTC subway stations — a great feature when you have one transit-obsessed child and another who needs something to look forward to at the end of the line.  Prézeau also includes little tips about each location, including what to see, what to bring and where to eat. Now in its fifth edition, Toronto Fun Places is available in the travel book section at Independent booksellers, Chapters/Indigo and through the distributor, University of Toronto Press.

Fun with Face Painting

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I’ve recently emerged from my older son’s 5th birthday celebrations.  I try to keep things on the simple side, so we invited several children (with siblings and parents) to our place for a house party.  The machinations were few, featuring mostly a caterpillar cake I made and a homemade pinata.

The one thing I threw in at the last minute was face painting.  I had bought a basic set of face paints a few months ago and had used them exactly once before the party.   With a certain reckless abandon, I decided to offer this service to the little guests, and all but the one year old took me up on it.

Necessary point of departure:  I have no visually artistic tendencies.  I don’t draw well naturally and have never learned how to improve.   There is no false modesty here.  I’m not a bad dancer; I can carry a tune.  But my freehand pictures are two-dimensional and blobby.

Before the guests arrived, I had reassured myself thinking that at the worst I could at least paint a star on a cheek or something.  I thought the kids would be easy to please.  And they were, kind of, but kind of not too.  I was not prepared for the requests that came in, including Batman, Ironman (who?), a panda bear, a dinosaur, a dog, and a butterfly.  I did, however, have the sense to set up the paints in front of the computer (yes, the computer), where I googled images of every single request.  Then I looked for the simplest image that also satisfied the model.

Then I copied.

I’ve asked no one at the party for permission to feature their kindie beloveds for this blog post, so I won’t show the pics, but they’re not bad. As with just about anything, it’s possible to get very fancy with facepainting, but even my amateur version was a hit.

Given how easy it was, I’m here to sing its praises to anyone who is looking for a fun activity with the kids.  Because while it’s an obvious bonus, you don’t really need to know how to draw, just to copy.  Basically, if I can get away with facepainting/facecopying, you can too.

I bought Snazaroo face paints (something like this (but not a gendered version) at Mastermind Toys), as this brand was recommended to me by a couple of face painters I’d met at local festivals and parties.  They’re non-toxic, no one who had used them ever had a kid react to the paint, and being water-based they rub off easily with a wet cloth.  Some people like paint pencils, but the palette I bought is so simple to apply, I can’t really imagine anything easier.  At about $20 for a basic set, which will paint many, many faces, they’re an inexpensive way to have a lot of creative fun.

And of course our children can wield the brush too…

Seasons Do Change

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Photo credit:  mableymeadow.blogspot.com

After having hip surgery last week, my husband surprised me by taking up his mother’s offer to recuperate in her small basement area.  The set-up there boasts few stairs, a walk-in shower, quiet, and no young children.  It’s been a huge help to us, and my only concern about it is that I hope we aren’t wearing out Ben’s retired mother to the bone.

I got a birds-eye view into this make-do period of our lives when I overheard my mother-in-law describe the following scenario to my sister, who had dropped by with some food.  My family of four was in my mother-in-law’s basement this afternoon.  She descended the stairs because she heard someone moaning, “I can’t move.”  That would be me:  she found me lying in the tiny basement hallway, outside the bathroom.  (My back had gone out, and I couldn’t move, but I didn’t realize I was making noise.)  Ben was on his crutches, trying to edge his way around me through the narrow space to get back into his bed.  A raised, plastic toilet seat was a foot or two away from my head, and our two young children were hovered around me, alternately offering comfort and trying to coax me into play.

I’ve discovered that the chaos of our present is inescapable.  It has me searching, when I am calm enough, for pockets of pleasure in the day.  Sometimes it’s just an observation – like noticing the blooming crocuses or my son’s ringlets or the way his brother just helped him do something, unbidden.

Sometimes it’s more tangential, a barely-related-memory, like a conversation I had with my mechanic five years ago.  He was a grandfather, and I was pregnant with my first son and nervous.  He reassured me with this:  “Don’t worry.  Kids are okay.  With the first one, you worry.  The second one, you enjoy.  The third one, you throw him in the back and you hope he don’t choke himself.”

Like I said, a barely-related memory.  But I’m glad it came to me, bringing to mind someone I like, adding a little levity into my thoughts and a little nudge in my side, the one that tells me that there are low tides for everyone, when you kind of do what you need to do.  There’s no equilibrium to our lives at the moment, but I can try to remember that there are seasons, and that the seasons do change.  Spring did finally arrive, didn’t it?

A modified version of this post also appears at http://thekingsandi.wordpress.com.

Come To My Garden

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The Festival Theatre Edinburgh touring company is presenting the musical adaptation of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s 1911 novel, The Secret Garden at Toronto’s Royal Alexandra Theatre.

Mary Lennox, the daughter of rich British colonials is orphaned while living in India when a cholera epidemic sweeps through the city.  She is then sent to live with a distant uncle in the moors of England.  Uncle Archibald is still reeling from the decade-past death of his beloved wife and distraught over his convalescent son.  Mary is quickly overcome by the gloomy shadow cast over the house and turns to the servants for companionship.  She soon discovers how beautiful friendships can be while unearthing a secret garden that belonged to her aunt.

The staging, costumes and theatrics of this musical are much more understated than those of Billy Elliot but by no means does this performance fall short.  The performers command of the stage and the strong vocals make for an engaging 2 ½  hours.

After seeing this play, my love for The Secret Garden was renewed.  I returned home to find my twenty year old copy with my name scrawled in oversized loops in the front cover and my favourite passages falling open like a natural part.  I remember receiving this as a gift for my tenth birthday (along with Bridge to Terabithia) and reading it under my covers at until my eyes grew weary.  There are few books that I always go back to – almost like comfort food:  Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, The Great Gatsby, The Picture of Dorian Gray, A Farewell to Arms, The Stone Angel and The Secret Garden.  These special novels line my “secret bookshelf” and provide me with as much affection as the garden provided Mary.

The Secret Garden will not be in Toronto for long.  The company will depart following their March 19th finale.

Electricity!

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We subscribe to over a thousand television channels and I can say with certainty that there is nothing worthwhile watching about 90% of the time.  It used to be that Maury Povich and his “Who’s your daddy?” episodes were the most deplorable, soul-sucking train wrecks on TV.  Now the medium is cluttered with “reality” programs that feature pretty much the dreads of society making a complete mockery of the human race (yet, I find some of it too fascinating to turn off.  Do people really live like that?!?).

In an effort to protect my brain from any further softening and to stop padding the wallets of these “stars”, I have renewed my interest in live theatre.

As a Christmas gift, my brother and I purchased a series of shows from Mirvish Productions for my mother.  The poor catch for her, is that she has to attend each performance with me.

A few weeks ago, we attended Billy Elliot.  To say that it was a musical spectacle worthy of Sir Elton John’s sequined pants is a gross understatement.

Billy is a young boy growing up without his mother in northern, working class England.  His father, brother and most of the village men work at the coalmines.  It is 1983-1984 and while I was just toddling around with my Chatty Cathy doll, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was determined to privatize the long public coalmines of England.  A fierce standoff between the government and the union ensued.  After a yearlong strike that affected more than 300,000 workers the union was defeated.

Billy’s father, a recent widow, is a hard working, hard drinking, hard fighting man.  He scrapes together a few coins a week for Billy to learn boxing.  It is after a boxing lesson that Billy stumbles upon an all-girls ballet class.  The instructor soon identifies a raw talent in Billy but he is torn between his newfound love for ballet and his loyalties to his father.

The storyline tugs at the heartstrings, as Billy faces ridicule from his peers and disappointment from his elders.  However, Billy remains true to himself despite the challenges that he faced with.

There is no disputing that the moral of Billy Elliot is one we can all stand to hear (again) and to share with our children.  The theatre was a full house and many of the seats were filled with boys who watched in awe at what can only be described as musical electricity!

The young boy(s) who plays Billy is destined to be a star.  It is impossible to take your eyes off him during his numerous tap dance solos and the power behind his voice begs one to pay attention.  And it is the attention of Sir Elton John that he caught.

This March Break consider catching a performance of Billy Elliot at the Cannon Theatre in Toronto. Billy is also playing in London and New York and maybe your city too.  Click here to find out!

Coming up: This Thursday, I will be giving my “review” of The Secret Garden.

photo credit:  www.steveonbroadway.blogspot.com

 

Canadian Air and Space Museum

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It used to be all about cars and trucks.  Then it was trains.  Now it’s airplanes.

Old-fashioned paper planes soar around the main floor of the house causing me to shriek, “Watch the baby!” about a gazillion times a day.  A remote control helicopter was a favourite birthday gift and is quickly becoming a Saturday morning play ritual with daddy.  And of course, Santa didn’t disappoint leaving a battery-powered hovercraft under the tree.

To say that the boys are deep into an “airplane stage” is probably a gross understatement.   To satisfy their love for all things aviation we headed over to The Canadian Air and Space Museum at Downsview Park.

I live about 15 minutes away and I didn’t even know that this gem existed!  The large hangar is home to several to-scale replica planes (including one of the Avro Arrow) and some are even the real deal.

Unlike other museums where I panic that we are going to be the new owners of a priceless Picasso, I wasn’t the least bit anxious when the boys, excited beyond words, ran from airplane to airplane.  Simple cord ropes keep the children back from the exhibit but many of the displays have metal, ladder-like stairs that children can climb in order to get a better view of the cockpit.

A cross-section of an Air Canada passenger jet is tons to fun to explore.  The boys eagerly took their seats and belted up, all the while flicking the tray in front of their seat up and down.

The highlight was sitting in the fighter jet.  The buttons!  Oh, the buttons!  If your kids are anything like my boys, they love pressing buttons and this dashboard is guaranteed to keep even the busiest of fingers occupied for a good five minutes!

What You Need To Know:

  • Admission is $11 per adult and children under 5 are free.
  • Parking is plentiful and free.
  • The hangar is spacious with lots to see but after a few hours you will find yourself ready to head home.
  • There is a flight simulator for older children (and grown-ups too!).
  • Definitely stroller friendly but washrooms are upstairs and no changetables were to be found (of course, I learned this the hard way and had to change an explosion diaper on the front seat of the car . . . in minus ten degree weather!).
  • Looking for some down time?  A quiet colouring station is the perfect place to unwind before packing in the car and heading home.
  • The only way to access the museum is to go through the gift shop, so be warned that this could result in lots of incredibly annoying begging polite requests for a keepsake.
  • I didn’t see food or drink for sale anywhere on the premise, so pack a snack (like your purse isn’t a sink hole of nibblies, crayons, hand sanitizer, Kleenex, etc. anyway).

Check it out!  Let me know if your kids enjoyed it as much as mine.

Do you have an aviation museum in your city?  Share with the rest of us . . .

 

A Different Kind of Date Night

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One week down and I am proud of my progress.  Granted, come June I may be singing a different song.  Like most parents, at the start of a new season, we sit down and schedule the kids’ activities.  This winter, I have made sure to schedule my own.  Each day I have allotted time for myself- sometimes just a half hour and sometimes three hours.

To help me achieve my goal of being more fit and incorporating exercise into my daily living, I spoke with certified CanFitPro Instructor Vanessa Reeve last week.  Part one of this interview focused on the benefits of exercise and why it should be a part of everyone’s daily life.  This week Vanessa offers tips and suggestions on how to do just that.

Vanessa advocates setting a goal (realistic, people!) and telling everyone so that they can support you.  A realistic goal should be attainable and to give yourself a bit of motivation dangle, a carrot: i.e. buying a new pair of jeans, a dinner at a nice restaurant, a new book – whatever makes you happy!

An ideal fitness routine should include:

  • Strength/weight training 2 – 4 times per week
  • Cardio training 3 – 7 times per week (a minimum of 25 min of exertion)
  • Flexibility training 3 – 7 times per week

Before you throw your hands up in the air, insisting that you don’t have the time for this, consider a few things.  Firstly, flexibility training is stretching.  It can be as formal as attending a yoga class or more casual like stretching while your watching TV.  Just don’t stretch for the bag of chips!

Secondly, weight training does not mean investing in a set of dumbbells (although free weights can be an affordable option for at-home sessions).  There are many exercises you can do that use your own body weight for resistance.

Joining a gym provides an opportunity to connect with other like-minded individuals who are also working towards a goal.  The sense of belonging can be empowering and give you the nudge that you need to stay on track.  Classes taught by instructors take the guesswork out of planning a routine, and generally instructors kick your butt in ways you never would.

January marks the time of year when new gym memberships spike.  Many of people who rush to sign up at the start of the year stop going just a few weeks into their new routine.  Perhaps their goals were not realistic (in the beginning consider making a commitment to go to the gym twice a week instead of everyday and then slowly increasing your attendance) or maybe the gym environment isn’t the ideal fit.

How To Exercise At Home and Move More!

  • Walk more.  If it is possible, walk to work.  After dinner leave the mess behind and get for a brisk walk.  Taking your kids for a walk after dinner could the ticket to getting them to sleep better.  Older kids can ride their bikes while you walk/run and with younger kids you can makeup games en route.  Something I like to do with my boys is we run to the lightpost as fast as we can, then walk to the next one.
  • If you live near a school, take your kids with you and let them play in the field while you run/walk laps.
  • Don’t drive to the store if you can walk and if you do drive, park furthest away.
  • On your seventeenth trip to the doctor this month alone, take the stairs instead of the stuffy elevator.
  • Take a bike ride on a path.  Most cities have intricate bike paths that are family friendly.
  • While watching TV or talking with your kids at night, get down on the ground and do some simple abdominal crunches (younger kids love to count along with you), static squats and lunges.
  • Invest in simple equipment like a ball and sit on it while typing on the computer.  These stability exercises help to tone core muscles.  Newborn babies often love being lulled to sleep with a light bounce.
  • Make it a family affair.  Consider taking up a sport that the entire family can do together.  Hiking, skiing, biking and skating are just a few sports that both young and old can engage in.
  • Rent exercise/yoga DVDs from the library, borrow them from a friend, check on-line for free demonstrations (YouTube has plenty).

Date Night Doesn’t Have To Be In A Restaurant Or A Movie Theatre

Instead of the usual fare of dinner and/or a movie, why not try something new.  Lori  Lowe who writes a fabulous marriage blog recently featured Lindsay Rietzsch author of How To Date Your Spouse.  Rietzsch suggests to “ignite the romance” consider activities that allow you to be close such as:

  • Dancing
  • Ice-skating
  • Swimming
  • Walking/jogging

Why not take it a step further and try something neither of you have done before.  Take a snowboard lesson, rock climb or check out the neighbourhood yoga studio.  Lots of studios offer free trial classes so take advantage of them!

Last year, my husband and I tried spinning together and not only was it an incredible work out (I still do it) but it was a lot of fun learning something together.  At night we’d commiserate over sore muscles and during the class we’d motivate each other to keep at it.  Between pregnancies, he taught me to water ski.  Lucky for me, he’s a great teacher and very patient.  We had a ton of laughs and I still remember the look on his face when I lapped the lake.

Doing activities together not only promotes a healthy lifestyle but it increases intimacy. If your partner needs a little encouraging to give hot yoga a try, share this tibit of info.  According to the Mayo Clinic, regular exercise enhances libido in women and decreases erectile dysfunction in men.  Now, if that’s not enough to get up off the couch . . . or maybe get down on it!

Just To Take Away Any More Excuses You Have, Vanessa Answers:

Q:  My ass looks like a pancake.  Any exercises to tighten and tone?

A:  Spot reducing isn’t ideal and doesn’t always work.  The best way to tone and tighten is to do a complete body workout.  That being said, lunges and squats are the best moves to firm a tooshie.

Q:  I know that weight bearing exercise is vital for bone strength but I don’t want to look like I could grace the cover of Body Builder’s Weekly.  Will pumping iron make me bulky?

A: No, not if you are using low weights and doing lots of repetitions.

Q: Does strolling on the treadmill count as cardio?

A: In order to see physical improvements/changes, you need to be doing a cardio exercise where your heart rate is up for a minimum of 25 minutes to the point of breathlessness.

In a few months, I will report back (part of making my goals known) for a check-in.  To get us all off the couch, please share your favourite songs to work-out to.  Music is a great motivator! And/or please share what it is you do with your spouse, friends or solo to stay active.