Gear up for feeding the hungry (Nov. 15)

If you’d rather not stay home and watch the Rams get trounced by the Saints on Sunday, and if you’re avoiding raking/mowing/blowing all the leaves that have fallen this week, I have a suggestion for spending your afternoon (Nov. 15): the annual Cranksgiving food drive, er, ride. A couple hundred cyclists will set out at noon from Atomic Cowboy, 4140 Manchster Ave. in The Grove, with a map of stores at which they’ll purchase items from a shopping list for Food Outreach. Along the 10- or 25-miles routes, they’ll stock up (in the $10 to $20 price range total) then loop back around to Atomic Cowboy.

If you’d prefer to watch the Rams but want to donate ahead of the ride, there’s a list of drop-off points on the St. Louis BikeWORKS homepage.

Blues and symphony (Oct. 21 and 22)

Our Sunday afternoon was a bit incongruous: We went directly from M.’s first concert with the St. Louis Children’s Choirs to his first hockey team photo with the St. Louis Rockets. Due to time constraints, he wore his tux shirt and black slacks under the hockey pads for the photo.

I should clarify that it was a strange combination to me — M. though nothing of it. He likes to sing, he likes to skate. It was a good reminder that we parents sometimes pigeonhole our kids unintentionally. What’s wrong with liking classical music, anyway? Or, for that matter, what’s wrong with liking hockey?

For hockey lovers, as I’ve mentioned before on this blog, the Blues’ practice sessions are free and open to the public. You just have to call ahead to make sure they’re on as scheduled at the Mills mall (314.227.5288). The next one is scheduled for Wednesday (Oct. 21) at 11 a.m.

For symphony lovers, this Thursday (Oct. 22) there’s an opportunity for high school and college students to see a SoundCheck sneak preview concert of Barber’s Adagio for Strings and Tippett’s A Child of Our Time for free — all that’s required for admission is a current student ID. The Friday (Oct. 23) performance of the same works can be seen by students for only $10 per ticket — and the same offer holds true for many other SoundCheck concerts. See the homepage for details on dates and how to go about getting the tickets.

Sportsmanship off the ice (anytime)

Last night at M.’s hockey practice I overheard an exchange that’s been bothering me ever since. A woman approached a man standing a few feet in front of me and said, “Did you hear that? The coach told ___ good job.” I hadn’t realized the two were together — she was sitting on a bench maybe 30 yards from where he was standing, and up to that point I hadn’t seen them conversing. Without shifting his watchful stance, the man replied that the child wasn’t doing a good job at all. He tersely explained why he thought the coach was wrong, and she retreated to her bench again.

The kids were Mites, the youngest age group in organized hockey. They’re just learning to skate and to handle the stick, and I find it pretty touching to watch them giving their darndest out there. For his part, M. left the ice last night with a huge, triumphant grin. He’s not leading the pack by any means, though he falls less frequently than some, but he thoroughly appreciates the simple joy of gliding fast on skates from one end of the rink to the other — and now that he can do it while dribbling a puck, he’s just tickled with himself.

Not that we don’t have expectations for him. It’s just that we’re more focused on things like listening to the coach and trying hard than out-skating the competition at age 6.

I wish there were a way to make them read the St. Louis Sports Foundation’s Sportsmanship Blog. Its mission is to create a positive environment where kids can have fun playing sports — at all levels — and its insightful messages about athletes both national and local really resonate with me, particularly when I witness scenes like the one above.

Wild weekend roundup (Sept. 12-13)

In the nearly two years I’ve been doing this blog, I’ve noticed that four or five times a year there is one weekend that’s crazy-full of events. Usually they fall early in February, April, June, September and December. Something about seasons changing, I suspect. The coming two days are perhaps the most crazy-full ever, and it’s impossible for me to choose which events to highlight because so many sound so good:

• The Hispanic Festival is back downtown at Soldiers Memorial Park (closer to me, so I’m happy, but probably the folks in North County feel differently!) with food and crafts and music and activities for the kids.  I like the schedule for the stage — bands are interspersed with dancers and other performers so there’s no time lost to breaks. Saturday and Sunday (Sept. 12-13)

• Due to a my own crazy-full week, I wasn’t able to promote the Best of Chesterfield as I should have, because the organizers were asking anyone interested in attending the free event in Herman Stemme Office Park to register in advance. So … it runs from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. tomorrow and it’s worth a late-notice effort, because the music lineup is great, and the food samples are only $2 to $7. Proceeds benefit the Howard Park Center, which helps kids with disabilities. Saturday (Sept. 12)

• Another festival that’s near and dear to my own heart (seeing as how it’s put on by an employer of mine!) is the St. Louis Kids Magazine Health and Education Expo at the St. Peters Rec Plex, a fabulous facility that’s open all day for free classes and activities as part of the Family Fitness Festival and Fun Run. Saturday (Sept. 12)

• The parade season is winding down, but there’s still one more chance to do your beauty queen wave at passing floats during the Fenton Founder’s Day Parade at 1 p.m. Saturday (Sept. 12)

• If you want more fire trucks than a parade has to offer, check out the Great Fire Engine Rally at the Arch grounds. The parade is at 10 a.m., but the excitement level rises at 11 a.m. when the firefighter challenge begins. And there are demos throughout the afternoon. Saturday (Sept. 12)

• Also at the Arch grounds is the annual ParkPalooza. It’s a weekend celebrating all our national parks, and activities are tailored to the locale — in our case, the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial. There are 10 interactive stations about outdoor recreation, Mississippi River culture and history, fitness and nature. Saturday and Sunday (Sept. 12-13)

• And if NONE of those events float your boat, hope is not lost — there’s also a free outdoor samba concert in Benton Park at 5 p.m. on Saturday (Sept. 12). It looks to be cooler than the last one, so people may not confine themselves to the shade along the basin’s edges — maybe folks will get up front and center by the band, Samba Bom, and dance! There’s food available for purchase from local restaurants as part of the Taste of Benton Park event, which benefits the park itself.
  

Bike big weekend (Sept. 7)

This is a big bike weekend in St. Louis, culminating tomorrow in the Tour of Missouri, starting tomorrow in downtown St. Louis. Your kids can compete for free on a mini version of the pro route at 1 p.m. (see the Gateway Cup homepage for details and to download the permission form), or you can join us for a bike-centric street party in Soulard, on 13th between Russell and Ann (a block west of McGurk’s), where S.’s school is blocking off the street for the kids to bike around while waiting for the professional racers to zoom past. Come by and grab a snow cone and/or a beer!  We’ll be there around 2 p.m., and expect to see the racers about 2:30 p.m. (and then nine more times over the next three hours).

It’s a good idea to go onto the Tour of Missouri homepage ahead of time to get info on what the race is about and how to maximize your viewing experience. For us, it’ll be hard to miss the 75-mile first stage, as it winds on several Soulard streets, including one two blocks from our house.  There are also estimates of what time the racers will arrive at certain points — because the thing with bike racing is, they go fast — blink and they’re gone. On the other hand, that means there’s plenty of time to enjoy the festivities!

On the water in St. Charles (Aug. 29)

A couple of weeks ago I was talking to a mom who wants to get into kayaking, and ever since I’ve been musing on the fact that, with all the waterways around St. Louis, you’d think you’d hear more about the sport than you do. So today I’m going to try to remedy that a little, by sending you out to an event in St. Charles where amateur and advanced paddling enthusiasts rub elbows. It’s the Race for the Rivers Festival on Saturday (Aug. 29).

The festival starts about 11 a.m., about an hour before participants in the Race for the Rivers (the advanced) and the Clean Water Challenge (the amateur) are expected to float into the finish line at Frontier Park after setting off in Washington, and Weldon Springs, respectively, earlier in the day. The 65-mile Race for the Rivers continues on Sunday to the Columbia Bottom boat ramp near the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi; the amateurs are done after Saturday’s 20-mile jaunt.

Spectators can watch the finish or concentrate on the canoe and kayak displays, the live music from noon to 8 p.m., the various vendors and the kids’ activity area.

Off to the races (until Aug. 15)

If you’ve been reading the Twitter posts (to the right), you may have noticed that last weekend we took our first outing to Fairmont Park Racetrack over in Collinsville. I was leery, in part because of the 7:30 p.m. start (though we arrived quite a bit earlier, around 6:15 p.m., to ensure we snagged one of the picnic tables so the kids would have somewhere to set their snacks and drinks). I also wasn’t sure the kids would get into it. There are long breaks between the races, which themselves only last a minute or two.

M. and friends before the first race

Needless worry, all of it. The boys thoroughly enjoyed themselves before, during and between the races. It helped that another in-the-know family had brought trucks and buckets for the kids to play in a little sandpile near the fence. And the horses pass by often enough before and after the races that there is often something to see. Kids 12 and under got in free, so there were lots of little ones of all ages (not really many teens, though). No one under 18 can wager on the races, but the booklet with all the stats is a perfect math teaching tool, so we let the kids pore over it to select a pick ($2 to win) each. S. was uninterested; M. figured it out pretty quickly with help from his 9-year-old friend. He also overheard someone explaining the various bets to me, and after that, simply choosing a horse to win lost a little of its appeal. So we had the more advanced math lesson of mutuel betting, and why a $2 to win bet pays out more than a $2 to place bet on a horse that wins the race. Ay, ay, ay! Taxed my abilities to the fullest, let me tell you!

We did stay out too late, until around 9:30 p.m., and there were still several races left to be run. But the kids were heady with the thrill of having won a few dollars and behaved really well, all things considered.

The race season ends next Saturday (Aug. 15), so you still have five opportunities to go: Tuesday afternoon (Aug. 11) and Friday and Saturday evenings (Aug. 7-8 and 14-15).  Check out the homepage for details, and note that kids under 21 are not allowed in the Friday night Party at the Park.  It’s a bit of a hassle that food is sold only inside, so it’s best to have a minimum of two adults (one to stay at the table, the other to buy food, place bets, take kids to the bathroom, etc.). But at $2.50 gate admission for those over 12, it’s a pretty cheap evening out even for a group of adults.

A hot day at the Rascals ballpark (June 29, July 20 and 27

We saw the River City Rascals play today — yes, it was scorching! But we had a blast because the park had only 1,700 or so fans (and about 1,000 of them were children on summer camp field trips) so we could ditch our excellent seats near home plate for some further back in the shade. We took full advantage of the impromptu water activities in the kids’ zone, and I can attest that SnowCaps Hawaiian shaved ice is the best in the area. It’s too bad the only locations are in the T.R. Hughes Ballpark and in Cottleville.

I didn’t realize it in advance of our outing, but for two Mondays in June and July, the Rascals and McDonald’s are offering $5 tickets. Yesterday was one (sorry for the late notice!); others are June 29, July 20 and July 27. The lawn seats are always $5 preordered, true, but this offer also applies to club, infield and most bleacher seats.

Minor league games are a treat.  The mascots are always out, the giveaways are rampant, and there’s a good chance you’ll be sitting next to one of the player’s mom and dad. By the end of the game, you’ll feel like long-lost friends, even if they’re cheering for the other team.

Old-fashioned choices this Saturday (May 16)

M. is really ready for summer vacation. Unlimited water play, popsicles, TV in pjs every morning … he’s got a plan for post-kindergarten decadence. In the meantime, he’s living for Saturdays — he knows my one-sugar-a-day rule is harder to enforce when we’re out and about, when lemonade and ice cream and other goodies beckon at every turn. So we’re debating between a couple of options for this coming Saturday (May 16). See what sounds good to you:

• Macklind Days, a first-ever festival on Macklind Ave. between Nottingham and Devonshire in South City. From 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. there’s a lineup of bands and dancers, child-friendly art activities, old-fashioned contests like watermelon seed spitting and pie eating.
• Kids Run the Bases day at the Cardinals game.  OK, technically the game tickets aren’t free (though you should check out the pricing deals online) but the opportunity to run the bases afterward is — and I can vouch that it’s a lot of fun.  Last year they let me carry S., who balked at the idea of leaving my side to follow his brother.  Be prepared for a long wait after the game, as thousands of families line up on the stadium’s lower level — but the wait is worth it.
• Those are two classic-style outings, but the First Missouri State Capitol Historic Site in St. Charles goes even further into the past with its Historic Children’s Festival, where kids can churn butter, dip candles, and even milk a cow.  (A fee applies for that last one — yes, unlike in the 1820s, when kids would have been glad to get out of the chore, nowadays YOU have to pay someone else for the priviledge of milking a cow!) The festival runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
  

Fishing under the stars (Apr. 11 and second Saturdays through October)

I’m tickled at how many people are showing interest in the Easter egg hunts!! Hopefully your kids are having a blast. But for those who’re looking for something distinctly non-bunny-related tomorrow (Apr. 11), let me suggest fishing. The new season of Second Saturday Late-Night Fishing kicks off at 6 p.m. in St. Louis County’s Suson Park, Spanish Lake and Simpson Lake. All summer through October, the program invites kids age 5 to 18 to fish for free in the lakes (which the county stocks, just FYI, so you know you’re fishing has a chance to be successful!)  The fishing opportunity ends at 11 p.m.

Note that you’ll need to bring your own bait, tackle and lanterns, and that fishing is allowed from the bank only. For more details, call the parks department 314-615-8371 or check out its homepage.