Great Skate - Glendale

Best. Skating. Ever.....

....according to my 11 year-old daughter, Erica, and her 11 year-old friend, Kaylee, at the conclusion of the Glow Skate evening at Great Skate in Glendale last night.

I had bought a Groupon (Groupon deals for Great Skate seem to come up frequently) for $16 as Kaylee's birthday present from us.  The deal included two admissions, two skate rentals, two slices of pizza and two sodas.  It did not include the $1 charge for a spectator.  Great Skate does, however, take that $1 you pay to go in as a spectator and gives you a $1 voucher for their "cafe".

The reason that the word cafe is in quotes is because I don't consider it a cafe.  You can buy things like pizza (microwave quality), nachos, pretzels, Slushees, and cotton candy.  When I think of a cafe, I'm thinking about sandwiches.  Nonetheless, since I didn't have my youngest daughter with me, I didn't ask about whether or not an exception to the "no outside food" would be made for people with food allergies.

That being said, we arrived early for Glow Skate and still ended up standing in a line.  We made it inside, and Erica got the rental skates.  The girls headed off to the rink while I made myself comfortable at one of the many tables.  Great Skate offers "trainers", which are basically like a walker on wheels, to rent for those who are unsteady on their skates.  The music was pounding, and certainly would've been better (in my never-to-be-humble opinion) on Sundays when they play Christian rock.  The lights were flashing.

I'd brought along some work I'd hoped to get done while the girls were skating.  Stupid me, I wasn't thinking about the volume of the music or the number of times my table would end up getting bumped by skaters careening into it.  Great Skate has free WiFi, but it was simply too loud and too chaotic for me to concentrate.

After a while, Erica and Kaylee came back....hungry.  They took their vouchers and went for their food.

Like any entertainment complex, Great Skate offers an assortment of coin-operated games that spew out tickets, which can them be redeemed for prizes.

And these were their prizes....

The evening came to a close too soon for them.  Adults and kids of all ages had fun out on the rink.

PlayGrounds Fun Zone

Honestly, I cannot believe there aren't more places out there in Arizona like PlayGrounds Fun Zone in Glendale.  This place is fantastic for the under-8 crowd!

PlayGrounds is a brightly colored, clean, 3500 square foot indoor play space for young children, including a special place set aside just for toddlers.  Admission is free for adults and babies under 1.  Your first child is $10 and subsequent siblings are $8.  My friend and I brought our 4-year-old daughters and turned them loose to play while we visited.  We hardly saw them!  They were so busy climbing, sliding, and zipping around in Little Tikes cars.

It's more than that, though...It's also a cafe that offers free WiFi. Even better, the food is good, much healthier than places like McDonald's that have small play areas for kids, and affordable.  I ordered a $4 breakfast croissant sandwich and was pleasantly surprised by how good it was.  My daughter has food allergies and they allowed me to bring in her food.  My friend and I saw our girls when they would zip back to the table for a drink or a bite....

So, moms and dads....grab your laptop, your Kindle, or a good old-fashioned book and bring your kids here.  You can sit and read or work while they play in a gated play area.

Arizona Science Center - Sesame Street "Body" Exhibit

I bought a Living Social deal for the Arizona Science Center recently.  I decided to treat my 4-year-old, my friend, and my friend's youngest daughter to a day at the science center.  The science center has several permanent exhibits and typically one or two special exhibits.  Right now, the special exhibit is Sesame Street's "The Body".  Being Sesame Street, Nikki and I opted to leave our oldest children at home and let this outing be for our preschoolers.

The outdoor water play area is the first thing that kids see as they walk into the museum.  It has all sorts of fun things to do.  Below, Jillian and Kayden are making music with pulses of water striking different spoon-shaped things.

One of the permanent exhibits centers around architecture and building houses.  There are tubs of blocks, tables full of shaped tiles, a child-sized house just for little ones, pipes to take apart and put back together, a shower, and the beams with the level....

I was really impressed with the Sesame Street exhibit for something fun and different to do with Jillian.  I was really glad I'd left my older two at home.  There were many hands-on and age-appropriate activities for the little ones.

The girls had fun with this one.  Pedaling, kicking and jumping made the Sesame Street characters move and light up.

This was another big hit.  You can make a trail light up by walking on the feet (to the left in the picture), rolling the wheelchair, or rowing.  Jillian and Kayden made it a race.

There were magnetic pieces of clothing to peel off and place on Elmo throughout different seasons, and a big pair of shoes to tie....

Finally, a restaurant and a big market to encourage imaginative play and healthy eating habits.

Now for the Low Down From Becky....

My kids always love going to the science center.  I'm generally less enthusiastic about it for several reasons.

The first is cost.  Without a membership, admission is steep and doesn't include any of the special exhibits, the planetarium or any IMAX movies.  For example, if I wanted to take Jillian to the science center and the Sesame Street exhibit, and I didn't have the Living Social deal I'd purchased or a membership, it would cost me $14.95 for general admission for me, $11 for Jillian, $21.95 on top of general admission for me to take Jillian into the Sesame Street exhibit, and $18 for her admission into the Sesame Street exhibit.  For those who aren't counting, that is nearly $60 for one adult and one 4 year-old!

If I had a membership, which ranges in price considerably depending on who the membership is for (a student, an educator, a lone adult, a grandparent, a family) and how many people are on the membership, the Sesame Street exhibit would still cost me $10 for both of us to go in.

If you can find them, many local libraries offer something called a Culture Pass, which gives holders a week to use usually 3-4 free admissions.  That would be general admission and would not include the special exhibits or extras.

The second reason I'm less enthusiastic than my kids are about going to the science center is that there's only one of me and three of them...and guaranteed not a single one of them will want to be in the same exhibit at the same time.  Keeping track of more than one child in there is not easy.  And having a play date there? Forget it.  Not fun.

You will see adults and kids of all ages at the science center.  My personal opinion, having been there when my older two were as young as 7 and 4 themselves and several times between then and now (they are almost 15 and almost 12), going to the science center is considerably more fun - unless the special exhibit is geared toward little ones like the Sesame Street exhibit - with children who are at least 9 or 10, and considerably less fun with kids under 6.  Too much of the museum just goes right over the heads of the little ones.

Parking at Heritage Square is convenient.  It cost me $8 for...mmm...I think we were there for 4-5 hours. The science center validates parking as well.

The center has a restaurant on site.  Nikki and I brought our own food and water, though.  We picnicked just outside of the museum entry.

Shrek at the Herberger Theater

 My kids and I recently joined a group of other homeschoolers to go see a production of "Shrek" at the Herberger Theater.

The theater is in downtown Phoenix.  I was able to get street parking, but since there is a two hour time limit, I had to leave right at the end of the play.

We were ushered into the theater.  The seats are a little small.  Not much leg room.  My knees were touching the back of the seat in front of me.

The lights dimmed, and the play started.

What I liked about this production was that it was totally low-tech and whimsical.  The costumes were quirky and cute. For example, when we met the dragon, it turned out to be a giant puppet controlled by actors donned in all black.  

We will go back in the future for other productions.

Celebration of Freedom

The annual Celebration of Freedom was on June 29, 2013 in Mesa, Arizona.  I went to drop off my oldest two children, who were participating in the honor guard for the Fallen Heroes Memorial alongside other members of the Veteran's Pride Battalion of the United States Naval Sea Cadet Corps.  After I left them with the officer in charge, I decided to scope out the event.

Because I am so tremendously proud of my own children and all of the other children affiliated with the Sea Cadet Corps, I'm including the "changing of the guard"...

The event concluded with a fireworks display...

Memorial for the Fallen Hotshot Firefighters

This is the first time I am profiling an event I went to with one of my children that my readers will not be able to go partake in themselves.  I'm writing about it anyway, because it was an amazing display of community amidst tragedy.  For those who don't know, 19 of a 20 member team of "Hotshot" firefighters died on June 30th, 2013 when the Yarnell Fire overtook them.  

Originally, my 14-year-old son and I were heading up to Prescott to observe a Congressional field hearing and meet Congressman Paul Gosar.  My son has a blog of his own, called XY Politics.  Jarrod had done a phone interview with Congressman Gosar, and when we heard that he'd be in Prescott for this hearing, we decided to make the trip to Prescott to meet him.

When we got to Embry Riddle Aeronautical College, where the hearing was supposed to be taking place, we discovered that Congressman Gosar had begun working with the mayor of Prescott and others that morning to set aside politics for the evening and turn the event into a memorial for 19 young men.  We decided to stay.

It was a packed house.  Standing room only.  People crowded around the entrance to the gymnasium because there wasn't any more room.  Armed security guards refusing entry because of fire codes.  Over 1000 people showed up.

Congressman Gosar played emcee.  Congressmen Trent Franks and David Schweikert, and Congresswoman Ann Kirkpatrick were in attendance and spoke.  So did Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne.  

As I'm writing this, the Yarnell Fire is still burning and has not been contained.

If you are interested, I was able to capture most of the memorial from my iPod....

Phoenix Light Rail and Museum of Natural History

My youngest daughter has this thing about buses.  She loves them.  She always wants to "take the bus".  So, when we decided to head to the Museum of Natural History with a group of friends, we opted to take the light rail from the park and ride near Bethany Home all the way to the museum in Mesa.  One toddler didn't share my Jillian's love of buses, but all of the other kids loved the light rail.  I loved not having to drive the 50 minutes out to Mesa and back.

 This gigantic dinosaur greeted us when we entered the museum.

There's a place to build puzzles....

You can watch a giant storm sweep through a created landscape at regular intervals.  The kids loved that.

There are tunnels and an indoor jail to explore.  My kids could have spent hours playing here.

The outdoor area where kids can pan for gold was also quite popular.  It was another place that my kids could have happily spent well over an hour playing.

Back inside, the kids found this "green screen".  They could act as silly as they wanted to against a green backdrop and it would show up on a black and white screen for their friends' amusement.  I'd have to say that this was the hit of the museum for my crew.

All in all, the kids (spanning in age from 14 all the way down to 1) had a terrific time at this museum.  I would highly recommend it for a fun outing.

Hassayampa River Preserve

We have been to the Hassayampa River Preserve in Wickenburg twice in the last two years with friends.  We typically go in the spring, while it's warm but not yet hot.  All of the trees there provide nice shade.

You enter the visitor's center to pay your admission.  The visitor's center has lots of stuff to look at, including some very nice displays about the history of and the wildlife in the preserve.  The staff does provide a fun scavenger hunt for the kids to do while they're on the trails, if you want to partake in that.  After that, you hit the trails.  As you can see, there's a big map of the trail system, complete with photos.

Most of them are flat, easy to navigate with little kids - although it's nice to have big brothers who are willing to carry little sisters when they get tired!

The kids never got tired of looking at bugs, sticks, rocks...all the usual fun things nature has to offer.

There was one steep trail, that leads to a breathtaking view of the preserve and surrounding Wickenburg.

Both of the 4-year-olds with us that day made it up and down, with varying levels of assistance.  It is a little more treacherous of a trail than the others.  I have slipped on gravel both times I've hiked it.  Meanwhile, the kids beat me to the bottom.

The last place we go to is the pond.  It's a favorite.

It was a favorite the year before, too....

We highly recommend the Hassaympa River Preserve as a field trip for families or groups of friends.

Granite Dells

On Sunday, we packed up a picnic lunch and lots of water, loaded the kids into the van, and headed up to Granite Dells for lunch and a hike on the Peavine Trail.  We parked at the Preserve.  It was a reasonable $2 fee.  There were covered picnic tables and decent bathrooms right off the parking lot.  After lunch, we set out on the Peavine Trail, which winds along one side of Watson Lake.

A wrap is an invaluable piece of baby equipment when you're a mommy and you're doing lots of walking.

 Soon, we came upon our first glimpse of Watson Lake.  Unfortunately, there is no swimming allowed in the lake.

 Rounding the corner, we were able to see the distinctive Granite Dells.

 It was hot.  We walked about 2 1/2 miles up the trail before we turned back around and headed back to the van.  The trail was flat, easy walking.  Our youngest probably managed about 2 miles on her own before she needed to be carried.

Before we left the Prescott area, we checked out Watson Lake Park.  There was a nice playground there, and more of the Granite Dells that looked like a fabulous place for imaginative play and climbing that would entertain the troops for several hours.

Clint and I are planning to visit again without our kids - in the early fall hopefully.  We'd like it to be just a little cooler.  We'd like to hike the entire Peavine Trail, and perhaps rent a kayak right at the lake and explore the lake that way too.