Sunday, July 10, 2011

Shakespeare in the Park (Clare Gardens and Hintonburg)

a Company of Fools,Bringing Shakespeare to life in Canada since 1990!Have you considered exposing your children to Shakespeare? It’s often a bit daunting for parents to take their children to more "serious” theatre, but this summer there are a number of performances in our neighbourhood parks that can change that. I think it is a great opportunity for slightly older children to get a sense of live theatre, depending of course on levels of interest / maturity. And face it, parks are open areas, you can always leave if you need to, and the price is right – a recommended $10 per person when the hat is passed.  So take a stroll past and see if it catches your child"s (and your) fancy!

“A Company of Fools” will be presenting “Antony and Cleopatra” at Clare Gardens Park (off Clare Avenue, between Kirkwood and Churchill) on Tuesday, July 19th, and at Hintonburg Park, just south of Wellington Avenue off Fairmont (by St. François d’Assise Church) on July 29th and 30th. They do plenty of elementary school workshops so they do know children though the shows are not specifically designed for children.

The Company describes themselves as “Ottawa’s longest running independent professional Shakespeare company: our mandate is to produce innovative, entertaining and accessible shows based on the works of William Shakespeare.”  Sounds good to me.

More information about A Company of Fools can be found at http://fools.ca/wordpress1/.

Saturday, July 9, 2011

Summer Calendar of Fun Family Stuff!

Tuesday, July 12 - Fairytale Splash at the Westboro (Dovercourt) wading pool; 11-2;  Favorite storybooks will apparently come to life.....can't wait to see what that means.

Hintonburg Summer Movie Nights   Saturday, July 16th; Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules at 7 pm and Gulliver's Travels at 9 pm.  Movies are shown courtesy of the Hintonburg Community Association in partnership with the Hintonburg Community Centre.  Films are shown at the Community Centre with the 7 o'clock showing inside and the 9 o'clock showing outside.  Admission is free with refreshments at reasonable rates.  See http://www.hintonburg.com/ for more details.

The Hintonburg Centennial 5k with a 1k for kids will be held again this year on July 17th. For more information see http://hintonburg.com/run11.html. Children under 3 can race for free in either the 5 or the 1K though donations to youth programming offered in the community by the Hintonburg Economic Development Committee are encouraged. And yes, parents can run the course with their children. Just don’t get left behind......

Monday, July 18th - ok, I missed posting the first two but....the third in a series of Mom and Tot groups will be hosted by All Saints United Church and Carlington Community Health Centre on July 18th from 9:30-11:00 http://www.westborobeach.org/home/specialmomsandtotsprogram

Tuesday July 19th - "Girls on the Move" at Roy Duncan Park, 295 Churchill Avenue from 5-6:30 , a free program for girls aged 9-13 to get out and get active.  Runs for 6 weeks (started July 11) and hosted by Carlington Community Health Centre.  Snacks provided.

The Wiggles "Big Birthday"- July 26th, 6:30 pm - at Scotiabank Place; http://www.scotiabankplace.com/.  They put on a good show - if you have little kids you should go!

Thursday, July 28th - the famous Bubble Bath Brunch at McKellar Park wading pool.  Bring a tub toy, bring a blanket and picnic lunch and enjoy the bubbles in the pool.  Perfect for preschoolers.

Ice Cream Festival - August 7th at the Canadian Agricultural Museum

Puppets Up! In Almonte, Ontario this is another total favorite of mine (oh, I mean the kids). August 6-7, 2011 http://www.puppetsup.ca/.  They’re still in the planning phase but keep checking out their website. Their photo gallery should get you inspired!

Friday, August 12th - I think this one is new but I could be wrong.  "Christmas in the Summer" will be an evening of games, carols and Christmas (!?) activities from 6:30-8:00 pm.

Saturday, August 13th - Ottawa Kids Triathlon, Duathlon at Westboro Beach- http://www.ottawakidstri.ca/;

Saturday, August 13th - Hintonburg Summer Movie Night with Toy Story III at 7 pm and Ferris Bueller's Day off at 9 pm at the Community Centre.  I'd take the kids for the first but not the second!

Sunday, August 28th - the annual dog swim at Westboro (Dovercourt) wading pool; bring your kids AND the dog, or just the kids if you don't have a dog becuase it's just fun to watch. 5-6 pm

FALL (gulp!) Registrations

I hate to do this, but I do it every year...here is a list of fall registration dates for activities in the neighbourhood.  Some don"t matter that much, but others do, depending on how much you want to be in a specific activity at a specific time for a specific age etc.  So here goes...for all you planners out there....

Listings are roughly in order of registration date.  There will be more to come, this is just the beginning...

Ottawa School of Speech & Drama - Fall registration opened June 1; http://www.ossd.com/

4Cats Art Studio - Registration for fall programming is open; see http://www.4cats.com/hintonburg-fall for detail.

Ottawa Gymnastics Centre - Fall Kindergym and Recreational registration starts July 20th - http://www.ottawagymnasticscentre.ca/

Dovercourt Recreation Association - Fall registration begins Tuesday, August 9th http://www.dovercourt.org/