HaPpY NeW YeAr

Hi Everyone!!

Here's what I've found!

Free Events in Waterloo
Manulife Financial Sportsplex & Healthy Living Centre, RIM Park
2001 University Avenue East,
519-884-5363 TTY: 1-866-786-3943
7-9pm: Public Skate @ Pillers Rink
7-9pm: Public Skate @ Optimist Rink
7-9pm: Adult Skate @ Lions Rink

Albert McCormick Community Centre
500 Parkside Drive,
519-885-1220 TTY: 1-866-786-3943
7-9pm: Public Skate

Waterloo Public Square Family New Year Celebration
King Street & Willis Way, Waterloo
519-886-1177 TTY: 1-866-786-3942
8pm-12am: Ring in the New year with music, dancing and free skating on the Ice Rink.
Bring the kids for a 9 o'clock New Year Celebration or stay for the main event at midnight. 12 midnight Free ginger ale “champagne” toast.

(The swimming at the Rec Complex has been Cancelled)

Free Event in Kitchener
City Hall
Ring in 2011 at Civic Square!
Join us for the largest free, outdoor New Year’s Eve celebration of its kind in Waterloo Region! Ring in the New Year at Kitchener City Hall on Friday, Dec. 31 from 5 p.m. to midnight.
Enjoy an evening of family fun with free public skating, live entertainment - and two countdowns to 2011!
Erick Traplin kicks things off at 5 p.m. with a children’s New Year’s Eve celebration.
Beginning at 9 p.m., ring in 2011 with K-W Glee and opening artist, 2009 Canadian Idol contestant Alisha Nauth.

Free Event in Cambridge
Family New Years Eve Party
Friday, December 31st, 2010
Join family and friends to celebrate a new year. Family skating, costumed characters, video skating party, games and more.
6:00 - 8:00pm
Location: Hespeler Arena, 640 Ellis Road
Contact: 519-740-4681 ext. 4277 or
http://www.christmasincambridge.ca/


Free Event in Brantford
Come celebrate New Years Eve at Harmony Square!
With entertainment from Green Daydream! The ultimate Green Day tribute band taking the stage at 10:30pm. Checkerboard Floors will play at 8:30pm. Full stage schedule coming soon!
There will be food, an outdoor licensed area provided by The Piston Broke, skating, music and entertainment all night long! :)
Bre Creative will be facepainting too!
Bring in the new year at Harmony Square!
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Chicopee Event
Ticket cost for this one details are here http://www.discoverchicopee.com/index.php/events/info/chicopee_new_years_bash/
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New Year's Day
Meet Mayor Zehr and council at New Year’s Levee
Citizens and visitors of all ages are invited to join Kitchener’s mayor and city council at the 2011 New Year’s Levee, held at city hall on Sunday, January 2, 2011 from 2-4 p.m.
This free event is an annual ritual to mark the start of another year, exchange New Year’s greetings with friends and neighbours, and with council, in anticipation of good news for the year ahead.
Bring skates for a spin around the rink on Civic Square, then warm up indoors in the Rotunda, where the Kitchener Musical Society Band will be performing. There will also be a special performance by members of the Grand Philharmonic Children’s Choir.
Refreshments are donated each year by Bingemans.
The levee is a great chance to greet returning members of Kitchener City Council, meet the newest councillors, and continue the holiday spirit into 2011.
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Jan 9th

Mayor’s New Year’s Levee
Time: 11:30 AM - 2:00 PM
Description:
Don’t miss Waterloo Mayor Brenda Halloran and Council’s annual New Year’s Levee. The event is on Sunday, Jan. 9, from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., at RIM Park.
Enjoy free skating, children’s activities, live music and entertainment, and food and refreshments, while quantities last.
Entertainment will be provided by the K-W Symphony Community Orchestra, pianist Jason White, the Chinese Singing Group, the Wilfrid Laurier University Singers, the Waterloo Collegiate Institute Ensemble, the K-W Skating Club and Happy Space Clowns.
A free Grand River Transit shuttle will run from Conestoga Mall to RIM Park during the event. Call 519-585-7555 for more details on the shuttle.
RIM Park is at 2001 University Ave., Waterloo.
For more information on the levee, please email linda.vandenakker@waterloo.ca or call 519-747-8700.
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Also FYI most kids are off school Jan 14th if you're looking for a good place for them to spend the day while you're at work I highly recommend The Camp @ THE MUSEUM (aka The Children's Museum)
http://www.themuseum.ca/children-camps.htm
 ask for Sherri tell her Lisa McDonald sent you.


In the not so distant future we'll be having our APRIL 9th MeFest at the Waterloo Rec Complex. If you know anyone who would like to be a vendor please have them email those2girls@writeme.com

We hope you put it on your 2011 calendar! It shows how much you support this group when you come to the show!


Here's something fun http://email.chuckecheese.com/hostedemail/share.htm?h=22b5b765ad01a9916028973f5d35e003&CID=12354845010&ch=DB51DA44B20FCA2FD5FFBD3DEE703526&show=1
If you move the mouse around & click the mouse it's grabbing tickets for you to redeem at Chuck E Cheese (I got 27)

Also I'm putting together a post about Friendships Formed on Facebook & Twitter. If you'd like to contribute just send a message to my inbox facebook.com/lisamcdonald122

HaPpY NeW YeAr!!!
& Keep Smiling!
Lisa

@kwartzlab with @DarinTheGreat

Normally Tuesday nights are busy around here. With dinner the homework it doesn't leave much time for anything else!  Being that it's Christmas Break here in Kitchener-Waterloo we decided to check out the @kwartzlab 's Open Night (held every Tuesday at 7pm) & we're so glad we did!  Here is just a sample of the neat stuff that @DarinTheGreat showed us.

After that we got to see an EGG BOT in action!

How are we spending the rest of Christmas Break?  I believe ripping apart old computer hard drives and seeing what we can come up with!
For more info about kwartzlab please visit http://www.kwartzlab.com/

Thanksgiving on 10/10/10

Today being the only time I'll be seeing 10/10/10
I asked people what they are doing at 10:10
I was told many are people are getting married, some people are just starting brunch & many are getting ready for Thanksgiving.

In Canada the holiday is tomorrow, but the majority of my Kitchener-Waterloo friends are having their big turkey dinner today, so they can enjoy the Oktoberfest Thanksgiving Day Parade & family day at a lot of the festhalls.

As for myself today at 10/10/10 at 10:10 I was hanging out with the person I am most thankful for, playing the sport he is most thankful for (incase you're new to my blog it's hockey). He is the subject of this blog. I'm very happy about our 10/10/10 at 10:10 moment this Thanksgiving.  I'd love to hear about yours!

Video Diary of Our Day Trips!

& we saved the best for Last .....

Convo time again

Son "I like pulling off scabs it's fun"

Where exactly does the fun come from? The thrill of ripping it off in one tug (like peeling a beer label)? Seeing whether or not you have to yell "MOMMMMMM I need a Band Aid"?
Deciding if you're going to get up & put it in the garbage?
I'm not sure where this thrill in all of this is as long as it doens't end in "Ewwwwww"

Convo from today

Son : I'm like a ninja
Me : Huh?
Son : I just jumped off the stairs.
Me : Oh okay, be careful NinjaBoy
Son : I'm not a ninja
Me : You just said "I'm like a ninja"
Son : Ya, I said I'm LIKE a ninja

Too funny

Do write about your tween?

I love that a lot of Moms write about their families. The thing is, most write about their babies & toddlers. That's okay, that's what they know, & I will continue to read & support them. I just wonder who writes about their tweens? I'd like to connect with some others who post or enjoy reading about raising tweens. Does that exist or am I a lone soul here in the blogsphere?

SWAGGER WAGON

Different Era (Thankfully)

Last night I took my son to East Side Marios (FYI Kids eat free is on from Mon-Wed where we live).
We sat so we could see the screen with the Canadian Women's Hockey playing Sweden.

My son asked Do you know how many medals the Canadian Women's Hockey team has won? I said I know at least 2 gold medals
(I've since looked it up 1998 - Won Silver Medal 2002 - Won Gold Medal 2006 - Won Gold Medal)

& he responded THAT'S IT? Only 2 we're known for hockey!!! Why only 2?

That's when it clicked.

I told him that the Women's hockey has only been recognized as an Olympic Sport for the last 3 Winter Games (as well as the one we were currently watching).

He asked WHY?

Goes to show you how things change. He's not from the mindset that girls can't play sports. He doesn't have a sister so it's not like he can see her play. It's great to know that our kids have a different mindset.

It also makes much more sense to why he laughs so hard at this EGGS commercial. He keeps saying, those guys don't know that these girls are in the Olympics. Most chuckle because of the whole girls playing hockey thing.



I'm glad to know there's a shift in this thinking. No more Us VS Them when it comes to sports. We can all play (well except me, due to an extreme lack of co-ordination, but I'll cheer from the sidelines).

Here's another great example of sports commercials with more forward thinking

Thank-You for our newest source of fun! & our 1st Flip Video

As you may know Tweens love anything that sounds gadgety. I don't know how many times I've been asked to purchase a SHAM WOW or MIGHTY PUTTY (infact one time I had a pimple & was told I NEED TO BUY THE MASK=PROACTIVE). They advertise all these products on Teletoon Retro (which is something I should add to my post from a few days ago about what to watch with a tween).



Back to gadgets. We do have some gadgets, but not many Hi-Tech ones.

That all changed!

On twitter we won a Flip Ultra HD!

Courtesy of @ParentClub (follow her, she rocks)

So here's our thank-you card/video

What to watch with a Tween ?!?!?!?!!?

I myself am looking forward to the arrival of THE A-TEAM to theatres this summer (take a look)
Once again I'm up in the air if it's appropriate for my son.

Seeing this brings me back to the days of watching shows like
THE A-TEAM & THE DUKES OF HAZZARD. These were just fun shows filled with comedy & adventure (& a lot of car chases).
Where are those shows now?
Heck I'd even settle for something like Love Boat or the Cosby Show we can watch & not have to discuss later.
Everything now is full of CRIME DRAMA or INAPPROPRIATE COMEDY for his age.

What happened TV networks?

Did you forget families do like to watch TV together? You know, just turn it on & click to something funny or action packed.
If you want to do that now, it involves renting a movie (which then means making popcorn, turing the house into movie theatre etc).

What do we watch?
Survior, YTV & Sports

Survivor is funny & adventurous. He gets bored during the monologues, but joins me to see the challenges & the voting at the end.

YTV has shows like Drake & Josh, as well as iCarly (but have heard those shows are moving to Nick Canada & I think I'll have to pay to get that channel).

As for Sports. This used to be the true fun experience for us. We would watch the games at night & in the morning we'd watch the Sportscentre highlights.
That all changed with Tiger Woods. Not that I think Athletes are role models, it's just that one morning Sportscentre spent most of it's show talking about that whole fiasco. I kept clicking away & back to the station since I kept hearing "I really want to see the scores". I'd click back, still talking about Tiger. Click away & click back & the announcers are talking about Tiger. Click away & click back, now everyone on the show is joking about Tiger.

Seriously? I when did TSN become TMZ ?

So here I am hoping that the A-TEAM movie will be so successful that they make a TV spinoff, which would then bring that whole thing full circle (expecting the new plotlines not to be extremly violent & controversial).

One can only hope.

What do watch with your children? I'd love to hear, maybe we would enjoy it too!