First ArtWalk of 2010

The first ArtWalk of 2010 takes place Friday, May 21st, from 6 to 9 pm. Stroll along Main Street betwee 3rd and 6th Avenues to enjoy all sortts of art exhibitions, face painting, balloon artists, dance, live theater and music from bands like Mojomama. It's a fun, FREE community event and a great way to expose yourself and your kids to various art forms! For more information including a map of all the activities and a list of all the artists see http://www.artwalklongmont.org!

YMCA 40th Anniversary Community Day

On Saturday, February 6th, from 10 am to 2 pm the Longmont YMCA will celebrate their 40th anniversary with a community celebration. There will be bounce houses, open swim, prize drawings and, best of all, they'll waive the $50 sign up fee if you join that day! We joined at this event two years ago and have loved everything they offer - the facilities are nice, their Child Watch program has been great for our boys and they even have Parents Night Out events! Click here for more info!

Miller Farms Gleaning

Yeah so I haven't had as much time to tweak the blog layout as I would have liked but hope to get it all fixed up soon. In the meantime, check out this article from the Times Call about gleaning at Miller Farms this Saturday:

"Miller Farms will be open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday to visitors who want to dig and keep leftover produce from the Platteville farm.

Farm spokesman Dave Patterson said this year there aren’t as many leftover vegetables as there were during a similar event a year ago because of summertime hail damage, but items such as carrots and Brussels sprouts are still good.

Patterson said that in 2008, gleaners left with about 600,000 pounds of food.

Patterson said people should bring their own shovels, bags and boxes.

Miller Farms is located east of Longmont on Colo. Highway 66."

2009 Boulder County Fair

The Boulder County Fair started today and runs through Saturday, August 8th! There are far too many events to list them here so head on over to their website and check out the Events listing. You'll also definitely want to check out the Kids Schedule which is chock full of free activities for the kids including scavenger hunts, story times, make n takes and more! You can even download an Excel format master schedule with every possible fair related event on it!

A few of our can't miss events:

Longmont Rotary Club Pancake Breakfast
Saturday, August 1st
6:30-9:30 am
4th and Kimbark
$7 for adults and $3 for children 12 and younger

Boulder County Fair Parade
Saturday, August 1st
10 am
Can't seem to find the exact route online but they line up at Roosevelt Park and then make their way down Main Street (perhaps to 3rd?) and then back up Coffman. Full of bands, color guards, floats, horses, tractors, you name it! Great fun for the kids :)

We'll also go to the Carnival (probably Wednesday when it's a little cheaper!), see all the animals, hopefully do some mutton bustin (eek!), and watch some auctions. No, we're not buying livestock any time soon but our oldest thinks being an auctioneer is one of the coolest jobs on the planet :)

There's really no excuse not to go with free parking and free admission! See you there :)

Rhythm on the River this weekend

One of our family's favorite Longmont events starts tomorrow - Rhythm on the River. This FREE festival with great food, music and entertainment runs Friday 5-8:30 pm and Saturday 7 am to 8:30 pm at Roger's Grove. There is free parking at the Boulder County Fairgrounds and stroller friendly shuttles to take you over to Roger's Grove.

There are so many fun things packed into that short time that I just have to direct you to the city's website about it. Our favorites include the music, climbing on city trucks, the pancake breakfast, and the many many kids events - rock climbing, bike course, jumpy castles, puppet shows, art projects, food from lots of local restaurants, etc, etc. It's a great way to spend a day in Longmont!

FREE movies at Twin Peaks 2009

Sorry for the delay posting about this! Be sure to check out the Free Family Film Festival at the Twin Peaks Mall United Artists Theater at 10 am on Tuesdays and Wednesdays! Here is the schedule of remaining movies...

Twin Peaks 10

06/16/2009-06/17/2009
Mr. Bean's Holiday (G)
Journey To The Center Of The Earth (PG)

06/23/2009-06/24/2009
Charlotte's Web (G)
Igor (PG)

06/30/2009-07/01/2009
Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: Veggie Tale Movie (G)
Nim's Island (PG)

07/07/2009-07/08/2009
Horton Hears A Who (G)
City Of Ember (PG)

07/14/2009-07/15/2009
Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium (G)
Inkheart (PG)

07/21/2009-07/22/2009
Space Chimps (G)
Kung Fu Panda (PG)

07/28/2009-07/29/2009
The Tale Of Despereaux (G)
Hotel For Dogs (PG)

08/04/2009-08/05/2009
Doogal (G)
Spiderwick Chronicles (PG)

Pet and Doll Parade this Saturday

Don't forget Longmont's annual Pet and Doll Parade is this Saturday at 10 am at Roosevelt Park! Bring your kids and their stuffed friends for a walk around the Roosevelt Park loop followed by a free popsicle! Wagons and strollers (especially decorated ones) are welcome. This year's theme is Under the Big Top and there will be clowns, jugglers, balloon sculptors and painters. See this page for a few more details!

Movie and a Makeover at Twin Peaks

From the Twin Peaks Mall website...

Movie & a Makeover for Mom
May 3 – May 9

Enter for a chance to win a variety of prizes, including the following:

4 movie tickets to United Artists theater
Haircut & Style from Master Cuts
Gift pack from Master Cuts
“Day of Pampering” from Dillards
Manicure & Pedicure from Nail Elegant
Jean Fitting from The Buckle
Gift certificates from Mobile 1 and Verizon
Kingman mine turquoise necklace from Art & Soul
Kay Jewelers

The first 100 entrants will receive gift bags containing merchant coupons and items.

Enter to win at the Security/Information booth in South Court.

(Winners will be announced on May 10th)

Spring Awakening at Sandstone Ranch

From a City webpage...

Experience Sandstone Ranch through the seasons – May 2, 2009 Spring Awakening

Bring a snack or plan a picnic lunch at Sandstone Ranch Visitor Center on May2, 2009 from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm. We are having an Open House to greet the spring and have many fun activities planned. Come hear our resident beekeeper, Don Potratz talk about the bee hives at 10:30 am followed by Leslie Lewis talking about pollinators. There will be guided nature tours and house and barn tours, old time games such as jacks, jump rope, hopscotch, marbles, bean bag toss and others. Visitors can help plant part of the garden. We hope that you will come back when we are normally open or to one of our other public events to check on the status of the garden. The produce from the garden is donated to the OUR Center.

Cinco de Mayo Celebration

Unfortunately the forecast for Saturday once again includes rain but perhaps this event will still happen?

7th Annual Longmont Cinco de Mayo celebration
When: Saturday, May 2nd from 12:00pm to 6:00pm
Where: Roosevelt Park (Longs Peak Avenue & Coffman Street)

Enjoy the Chihuahua Dog contest, specialty and information booths, New Car Exhibit, live entertainment, and delicious food booths!

Lots of fun for the whole family - they usually have fun crafts and freebies for the kids!

For more information, contact Mary Vigil, Cinco de Mayo Planning Committee Chair, at 303-776-8184.

Free pretzel at Pretzelmaker on Sunday 4/26

I haven't been to the mall for a while - do any of you know if the Pretzelmaker is still there? Well, if they are, you can get a free pretzel there this Sunday (4/26) to celebrate National Pretzel Day. See details here.

Little Builders FREE family drop-in

One of the Longmont Museum and Cultural Center's upcoming exhibits is called Little Builders. It will feature hands on activities including building structures with blocks, bricks and pipes as well as learning about weight, size, gravity and balance. The exhibit runs from May 23rd to August 2nd but they have a FREE family drop-in day on Wednesday, May 27th, from 10 to noon! This event will include free hard hats for the first 250 kids from Longmont Power and Communications and cool construction equipment on display outside!

Arbor Day/Earth Day Celebration

The City of Longmont Parks Dept is hosting a combined Arbor Day and Earth Day celebration at Collyer Park on Saturday, April 18th, from 11 am to 3pm. Come learn more about what an arborist does by going up in a bucket truck, riding a zip line or climbing a tree! There will be trees and roses for sale, lunch for a dollar, live music and opportunities to learn more about our environment! The rain date is April 25th. Or maybe they should call it the snow date as things are going these days! :)

Car Seat Safety

Did you know you can get a free car seat safety check? The City of Longmont provides a car seat safety check point on the 2nd Wednesday of every month at Longmont Fire Department Station 2, located at Mountain View and Hover Street, from 2pm until 7pm. There is no need to make an appointment and there is no charge.

If you have two vehicles, it is recommended that you bring both to the checkpoint. The firefighters are really knowledgeable about car seat safety and have been so helpful for our own family. We visited there before our oldest was born to make sure we had the base to his infant seat installed correctly and learned so much that they don't tell you in the car seat manual. We've gone back each time we get a new seat to be sure it's installed right. It's definitely worth the time!

Also, you can get more free MATT stickers at several locations throughout Longmont. These are the stickers that you put on your car seats so that if you are unable to communicate after an accident they will know important information about your child. We were good about putting these on our infant seats (since we got the MATT stickers at the hospital) but forgot about them when we got toddler seats until we went to the car seat safety check! These are also really important if your child rides in other people's cars (i.e. for carpools) so you can be contacted in case of emergency.

3/2/09 Redbox Code

Here is today's free Redbox code:

MS72K3

Use it until midnight tonight to rent a movie for free from any Redbox location :) Enjoy!

Free Lunch!

Quiznos is giving away one million sub sandwiches in the next 5 days! Go to http://www.millionsubs.com and register to get a coupon for a free small signature sub or small everyday value sub!

Free Redbox Movie Mondays

Have you rented movies at a Redbox before? In Longmont you can find them at Albertson's, McDonald's and Walmart - they are red boxes (of course) where you can rent movies for one day for just a dollar plus tax! It's a great deal and they have lots of movies to choose from - the latest releases and kid-friendly flicks too! Each Monday they send out a code for a free movie. Here's today's code:

S39XKT

Enter this code during checkout before midnight tonight to get a free movie rental. You still have to swipe a credit or debit card but nothing will be charged to it. You can use one code per credit or debit card.

We like Redbox because you can reserve a movie online, there are no late fees (just an additional $1.08 for another day's rental) and you can return the movie to any location - not just the one you rented from! Obviously the selection isn't nearly as large as Netflix, but if you watch less than 8 or 9 movies a month it's much more cheaper!

By the way, here's a good example of why you might prefer to read this blog in a blog reader like (my favorite) Google Reader! If you subscribe via email you won't get this message until tomorrow morning which will be too late to make use of this code :)

Pancakes!

Visit IHOP on Tuesday, February 24th from 7am to 10pm to receive one free short stack of their famous pancakes in celebration of National Pancake Day. All they ask is you make a donation to support local children’s hospitals through the Children’s Miracle Network. Why Tuesday? Well, it's Fat Tuesday and apparently, in preparation for Lent, people used to use up their supplies of eggs, milk, butter and other dairy products that day since eating dairy was prohibited during Lent. Interesting :) No matter the history, now it means yummy pancakes and helping out a great cause! What could be better?

Texas Roadhouse Valentine's Day special

If you can get a babysitter over the next several days you might be interested in a Valentine's Day special at Texas Roadhouse. See this page for more info! Happy Valentine's Day!!!

TGI Friday's coupon

Our family loves TGI Friday's and will definitely be using this coupon for Buy One Entree Get One Free! The coupon is good until March 1st but can't be used on Valentine's Day. Enjoy! :)