Avenue Calgary Blogs | Avenue Magazine

Things to do with kids in Calgary that don’t suck for grown-ups: Rock Climbing

Posted 1 year 28 weeks ago | By Susan Pederson | Culture Snacks

I don't do heights well. No, actually I loathe and detest heights. I get nervous looking down from the second floor of Southcentre Mall and refuse to go near the see-through floor at the Calgary tower. So when my oldest daughter suggested we try climbing together, I did what my mother used to do when presented with such an invitation from me. I took my cigarette out of my mouth and said, "over my dead body." (O.K. I don't smoke and "over my dead body" came out sounding remarkably like "sure, Sweetie, that sounds like fun!"). "What better time to...

Good Sushi in a kid-friendly restaurant

Posted 1 year 29 weeks ago | By Susan Pederson | The Food Files

The buffet has long been the oasis for harried parents of starving kids. "Drop in, sit down, dig in, get out" — especially if you have younger kids with the attention spans of knats. While a great way to get kids fed in a hurry, buffets often offer sub par food choices and an atmosphere akin to Wal-Mart on a Saturday afternoon. Invariably, at least one of your wee ones will only nibble at the "$11.95 kids rate" plate and then declare renewed hunger on the way home. When you're out long past the few minutes promised for an errand; or the thought of putting...

Things to do with kids in Calgary that don’t suck for grown-ups: River Rafting

Posted 1 year 33 weeks ago | By Susan Pederson | Culture Snacks

Once the spring rush of fast-flowing water settles down to a more relaxed pace in the Bow River, I always find myself mesmerized by simply watching the water flow by while I'm riding along the bike path, or enjoying a picnic lunch with my daughters. Them, not so much. They would rather be pelting the water with stones, dreaming up contests that involve sticks and aforementioned stones, complete with some combination of "the rules must follow these steps" that involve the dog, which inevitably leads to a minor catastrophe. What they REALLY want, as they watch countless...

Things to do with kids in Calgary that don’t suck for grown-ups: Drum Lessons at One World Drum Co.

Posted 1 year 35 weeks ago | By Susan Pederson | Culture Snacks

I blame it on my kids’ school. They kept coming home with stories about learning to drum at school. Then I went to a “celebration of learning” assembly and saw them in action: I was hooked. The leader, an artist in residence from the One World Drum Company, was banging out rhythms and calling out words like “chocolate milk and potato chips” while the children followed, or answered back with various sequences of their own. I admit, I always...

Things to do with kids in Calgary that don’t suck for grown-ups: Bike Riding

Posted 1 year 37 weeks ago | By Susan Pederson | Culture Snacks

Isn’t it great when your kids first learn to ride their bikes? Those training wheels and streamers blowing back from the handlebars are so adorable. It takes me back to the first time I finally rode my sister’s old orange two-wheeler for the first time in Drayton Valley, down our front lawn, when my uncle John tentatively let go of the seat. In that moment, when I became aware that I was pedaling on two wheels (two wheels!) I began a new chapter of childhood, and felt a sweet freedom that to this day, I relive every time I hop on my trusty Univega. As wonderful as it is to...

Things to do with kids in Calgary that don’t suck for grown-ups: The Glenbow Museum

Posted 1 year 39 weeks ago | By Susan Pederson | Culture Snacks

My daughters' Godparents discovered a surefire way to earn themselves the coveted "more fun than my parents" award last year when they bought a family membership at the Glenbow Museum. While some well-meaning family members would sit our kids in front of the latest video whenever they took them off our hands, the Godparents were always inviting them to some special event, or art-making class at the Glenbow, geared for families. My friends aren't exactly crafty, but got into the spirit of the art workshops, and...

Things to do with kids in Calgary that don’t suck for grown-ups: Kid Friendly Coffee Shops

Posted 1 year 40 weeks ago | By Susan Pederson | Culture Snacks

I’m all over dropping my kid off at a birthday party at a so-called “family fun,” place, and yes we do occasionally subject ourselves to “family” entertainment, but let’s face it: most things that claim to provide entertainment for the whole family do anything but. Most families includ an adult or two, and most adults don’t get too jazzed about sitting on hard floors listening to Raffi, or careening through an obstacle course which includes fabric tubes that we can barely wedge our asses through. And what’s with the refreshments at some of these places? When did we ever...

Things to do with kids in Calgary that don’t suck for grown-ups: Family Yoga

Posted 1 year 42 weeks ago | By Susan Pederson | Culture Snacks

Double downward dog If you’re like me, you are constantly choosing how to parcel out your time to everyone in your family and still fit in a decent workout. Strolls to the playground don’t cut it, and I’m not one to do that “playground routine” that I have heard was developed by a couple of moms who obviously don’t mind looking like fools. When my daughters’ bedtime changed and we found ourselves staring at our eight-year-old for an extra hour each evening, I started inviting her to do my yoga DVD with me. At first the distraction of her flipping around beside me...

Things to do with kids in Calgary that don’t suck for grown-ups: Saturday Morning at the Symphony with the CPO

Posted 1 year 43 weeks ago | By Susan Pederson | Culture Snacks

Honesty, I don’t often listen to classical music, save for Sunday mornings or when I have a bad case of kid-related sensory overload. The sum total of my musical expertise is encapsulated by my long-ago, much-regretted engagement to a sax player, and faking it through the alto lines of a local choir, until morning sickness crushed that aspiration. So it took a couple of freebie tickets to coax me away from my Saturday a.m. Globe & Mail and warm muffins, and down to Jack Singer by 10 a.m....

Things to do with kids in Calgary that don’t suck for grown-ups: Bowling

Posted 1 year 44 weeks ago | By Susan Pederson | Culture Snacks

We could all use real fun, real food, and family activities without the purple dinosaurs, heinous music and bouncy houses. This week’s pick: Bowling Chinook Bowladrome is located in Chinook Shopping Centre, 6455 MacLeod Trail. Ph: 403-252-5747. 32 - 5 pin lanes. Cost: $5.50/game/person. $5.00/game/children under 12. Shoe rental: $2.50 (some are pretty enough). Or you can rent a lane by the hour for $36.00. www.chinookbowl.com. It was last year when I was considering taking my youngest...