Travelsmartplanet

Looking for some fun, family friendly entertainment this holiday season, well Fredericksburg has you covered.

Why not check out the 30th Annual Gingerbread House Contest and Exhibit at George Washington’s Ferry Farm . This year’s theme is “Home for the Holidays.” A long-standing holiday tradition,  adults and children alike will enjoy the sights and smells of the festive creations displayed at George Washington’s Ferry Farm.
Location: 268 Kings Hwy (Route 3 East) Fredericksburg, VA 22401
Dates: until Dec 30th (Closed December 24 & 25)
Hours: Mon – Sat 10am – 4pm; Sun 12pm – 4pm
Tel: 540-370-0733 x24
ferryfarm.org

Visit Historic Kenmore this holiday season for an exhibit of highly detailed, replica dollhouses – including the mansion – and miniatures in the Crowninshield Museum Building. A Wee Christmas – Dollhouses and Miniatures Show where you can  share memories as you explore life in miniature. Put your mind and eye to the test with their “I Spy Miniatures” challenge – fun for young and old alike.
Location: 1201 Washington Ave, Fredericksburg, VA 22401
Dates: until Dec 30th (Closed December 24 & 25)
Hours: Mon – Sat 10am – 4pm; Sun 12pm – 4pm
Tel: 540-373-3381
kenmore.org

And for the kid in all of us, Mr. Grinch is coming to Downtown Fredericksburg! Every Sunday in December Mr. Grinch will be available for a 15 minute ride down Caroline Street, sing some Whoville songs, admire the decorated store windows and enjoy the ride. This is a great photo opportunity and kids get a Christmas Goody Bag.
Location: 706 Caroline St., Fredericksburg, VA 22401
Dates: every Sunday in December
Hours: 11 to 4pm
Tel: 540-371-0094
visitfred.com/events/mr-grinch-coming-to-downtown-fredericksburg

For Regional Accommodations, Restaurants and Attractions: visitfred.com

Last chance to see Heart and Seoul: Growing Up in Korea is a new, cultural exhibit in which five modern-day Korean kids will open their hearts and invite you to take an intimate look into their lives through their diverse interests, customs and ambitions. The traveling exhibition will be in town only until end December at Stepping Stones Museum for Children.

The exhibit, both fun and educational, will use traditional folktales as well as current day personal stories told by Korean children to engage visitors in learning about time-honored cultural values and life in South Korea’s highly urbanized and technologically-advanced country.

Children and visitors will be able to explore gallery areas that recreate the settings that characterize the lives of typical South Korean children in Seoul, such as an apartment, classroom, taekwondo studio, and K-pop stage. Throughout the exhibit, these spaces will be embedded with traditional folktales and games to show how values like respect for parents and elders; the importance of scholarship; loyalty to family, friends and community; and hospitality are still an integral facet of 21st century Korean life.

Hands-on experiences include:  an animation studio where visitors can try their hand at stop-motion animation. (The popular television series The Simpsons and Family Guy were created in Korean studios, as was the film Avatar.) Musically inclined kids will take the stage at K-Pop Stars Studio, where they can get on camera and “perform” with popular K-Pop singers. There’s a Taekwondo studio, where kids can practice their moves and learn this martial art based on 2,000-year-old ancient techniques.The exhibit also includes a plaza, a restaurant, an apartment, a classroom and a Hanok guest house.

Location: Stepping Stones Museum for Children, Mathews Park,
303 West Ave, Norwalk, CT 06850 |
Dates: til the end of Dec.
Hours: Mon – Sun, 10 – 5 pm
Tel: 203-899-0606
steppingstonesmuseum.org
For Regional Accommodations, Restaurants & Attractions: visitfairfieldcountyct.com

The Wilson Whirligig Festival is a community celebration of people and art in motion held the first weekend in November, where everyone comes together for an energetic street festival focusing the whimsical North Carolina Folk Art, Vollis Simpson’s Whirligigs.

Don’t forget to check out the Cake Dive, the festival’s MESSIEST event, held on the Courthouse plaza on Sunday at 4 pm.  Participants  “dive” into a large10 ft x 10 ft anniversary cake for a variety of prizes.

With 35,000+ attendees , over 200 vendors, 3 stages of entertainment, arts & crafts
food vendors, FREE! Whirli-Kidz Zone and lots of Special events.

This commemoration is truly family-friendly and kid focused. FREE  live performances all day long with a wide variety of dance and demonstrations, from hip hop to lyrical, from clogging to ballet, from singing to karate. Play carnival games, create a craft, slide down a giant 26 foot slide or bounce in one of the many inflatable activities. Children of all ages can enjoy a variety of activities. Kids shouldn’t have all the fun! Demo’s available for 16 and up. Virtual Reality is not just for gamers anymore, it is everywhere. Learn more about this technology.

Location: Historic Downtown Wilson, 112 Goldsboro E ,Wilson, NC 27893
Date: Sat, Nov 5 – Sun, Nov 6, 2016
Time: Sat 10 – 5pm, Sun Noon – 5pm
Tel: 252-289-9650
whirligigfestivalnc.org

For Regional Accommodations, Restaurants & Attractions: wilsonnc.org

Kids playing in the sand in the center of downtown at Just For Laughs Festival in Montreal. A square block of sand Is dotted with picnic tables and surrounded by food stalls, from BBQ ribs to foie gras poutine.

If you are heading out to Ottawa to enjoy our nation’s capitol, leave some time to explore the Canadian Museum of Nature. It’s the perfect place for all ages of the family to enjoy themselves. The brainy kids (or adults) can soak up extensive details about nature while the playful gang can pull levers or turn knobs in a deep sea sub, learn on many touch screens, or even dance around in front of  the endothermy camera checking out their colorful “hotspots”.

Everyone is awed by the the 19.8-metre blue whale skeleton in the Water Gallery but keeping going further in. All the way in the back are many interactive games for young and old alike: make believe areas for the wee ones, a board game along a wall,  animal jigsaw puzzles on touch screens, word games, etc.  

Gawk at the dinosaur fossils or walk amongst the fleshed-out dinosaur creatures for photo ops with kids. In the Vale Earth Gallery swoon over the 1200 gorgeous minerals, rocks and meteorites. Our 5 1/2-year-old couldn’t get enough of the joystick which controls a huge earth or the button to start the volcano.

Sure there’s a full size mammal gallery but the 11, 8 and 5 1/2 year-olds all stayed longer in the small Nature Live space where they oogled the cases of walking stick bugs in different camouflage colors and thicknesses. How many of you have come face to face with a tarantula? Then they listened intently as a docent showed fossils which were indigenous to Ottawa.

If you have time there are two 3D movies, “Prehistoric Planet 3D and Micro-Monsters 3D” (both too scary for the 5 1/2 -year old) but our gang liked the interactive museum more.

The famous Bird Gallery, with  one of the most extensive collections of Canadian birds in the world re-opened June 1. A special exhibit on now is Ultimate Dinosaurs June 11-September 5 and then upcoming is Reptiles: The Beautiful and the Deadly, October 6-April 2 .

A brand new Arctic Gallery will be unveiled on June 23 which is set to explain how the arctic is changing, including plants, animals and people of the area plus scientific research. Outside, three new ecozones will be shown off on June 17 including a woolly mammoths and an “iceberg”.

I’d like to give a thumbs up to the friendly security guards who answered questions informatively and helped to point out nearby bathrooms and water fountains.

Canadian Museum of Nature, a Beaux Arts building, was our first national museum, completed in 1912. Trivia buffs should note that this building  served as home to Canada’s House of Commons and Senate following the fire that destroyed the Centre Block of Parliament in 1916.

Location: 240 McLeod St., Ottawa
Phone: 613-364-4021
www.nature.ca

Why not have loads of belly laughs on your next trip? There are a few ways to cut costs and take in the hysterical Montreal Just for Laughs comedy festival inexpensively. Here’s all the FREE events:

On July  21st, Weird Al Yankovic is doing a free outdoor concert as part of  “The Mandatory World Tour”. The Scène Vidéotron will be presenting various free activites at 7pm every day and shows at 9pm.

The Street Arts Festival has acts performing for free in and around Place des Arts. Starting at 1 pm each day, the colorful Place de la famille le Lait will offer its load of shows and activities including a merry-go-round for kids and all the family

Also for your family entertainment, the Labyrinthe V8 will be open from 6pm during weekdays and from noon during weekends.

Every night from 4pm-3am, the Melting Pot, set on the Esplanade de la Place des Arts, invites party goers to enjoy great music presented by various international DJs.

From July 23rd to July 25th, the Zoofest Festival will take place on the Parterre des artistes. Nicknamed Le Spot, this 3-days outdoor celebration will feature the craziest, funniest and talented emerging artists.

At the Le Mondial des Jeux Loto-Québec set on Maisonneuve Blvd, you can get to play various table games and board games. In the center of the Complexe Desjardins, you are invited to discover and play the latest and the classic video games. Plus, you will have the opportunity to show off your skills in friendly competitions. Kids and grown-ups will also be able to show their talents at the Complexe Desjardins in a drawing contest.

www.hahaha.com
http://mondialdesjeux.com/en/

TICKET DEALS

The best deal by far is the OFF-JFL pass. It costs $49.50 and you get to choose 3 tickets to any of the 100 or so OFF-JFL shows. Also included is that each day from July 22-25, you get an additional free ticket for an OFF-JFL show.

OFF-JFL has a lineup of artists performing at smaller venues where the shows are much more intimate, The lineup this year is absolutely incredible. I really laughed at Ethnic Show headliners Alonzo Bodden, Ahmed Ahmed and Gina Yashere who are on this list.

There are a number of package deals for tickets. There are the tourism packages in which you can stay overnight in a hotel, be right downtown in the midst of all the action, and take in the Gala of your choice starting at only $200 (for 2). There are also multi-show passes available which cuts costs.

Last minute tickets can be purchased at the box office on the corner of Jeanne Mance and Sainte-Catherine.

www.hahaha.com

FOOD

Bouffons! Mtl is a gourmet novelty set on Sainte-Catherine street so festival-goers have the chance to experience a full range of new flavors that will definitely live up to anyone taste buds. Meet chefs, enjoy local products and taste delish dishes from the best food-trucks in the city. The festivities will start at noon every day, inside and outside. For the inside action, look for the Bouffons sign near Clark.

At the Melting Pot on the Esplanade de la Place des Arts, there will be a DJ set every evening and look for the 2 for 1 deal on the burger trio. At Arthur,  during Happy Hour 5-7, you can find 2 for one liquid deals.

www.hahaha.com

Maman the Giant Spider

Most people would not think of taking children to an art museum. However, The National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa offers Artissimo,  one of the best children’s programs I have come across  – and at an amazingly reasonable price of only $24 for 2 adults and 3 children. They try to teach kids about the art through different senses.

– First up was the creation of Art Buddies, toys (like dolls or animals) which can be found in paintings. These exact reproductions are given to the kids to hold, and then they are pointed to galleries where they can try to find them in a painting. Our Marguerite Charlotte doll had golden curls intertwined with green ribbon, and was holding a little blue bird in her hand.

– Second fun activity was the touch box which the child wears around his neck. They can put their hands in the sides (like a muff) and feel textures inside. Each box relates to a painting which has these textures in it; they have to guess what they are feeling and what in the painting represents it: a feather, lace, fur, picture frame, etc.

– Thirdly, was a real hit for ages 4-10. In Sounds Like Art, they are given headphones which play sounds. In each gallery, they have to find a painting which would relate to that sound: water, a crying baby, horses’ hooves, crackling fire.

The Arts and Crafts Area

For completing these games, the kids are rewarded with collectors’ cards of the paintings.

– Lastly there is an arts and crafts area set up in the most beautiful setting possible – the Great Hall with its soaring windows. While they are creating their works of art, you (and they) can oogle the magnificent panoramic view of Parliament Hill, the Gatineau Hills and the Ottawa River.

The children also enjoyed finding the surprise garden (from above and at ground level), the ceiling water window in the lobby, the “sound sculpture” in the chapel and, of course, Maman, the giant spider outside.  And yes, there is also the fabulous collection of art. We spent 4 hours there easily.

Location: 380 promenade Sussex Drive, Ottawa ON K1N 9N4
Phone: 800-319-ARTS
Hours: Tues-Sun 10-5 (closed Mon Oct 1-Apr 30)
www.gallery.ca  www.beaux-arts.ca

The swooping architecture of the building and jaw-dropping 17 metre-high domed ceiling of Canada Hall are visions you will not easily forget after you have visited the newly named Canadian Museum of History (was Canadian Museum of Civilization), which covers Canadian life from AD 1000 to 2000.

From now until Sept 28, 2014,  you can enjoy the informative exhibit about Snow and the ingenious ways in which  Canadians have adapted to difficult winter conditions, from sleighs to snow removal. You can participate in a fun quiz at the end.

The museum is a playground for all, as the Children’s Museum takes the kids on travels around the world – including a passport to stamp in each country. All kinds of imaginative play from driving a bus, motorcycle, ship or camel to running a shop, putting on a puppet show, living in a pyramid, moving heavy boxes using a winch, or booking a trip can all be tried out.

In the main galleries, visitors see a Viking family arriving in Newfoundland around AD 1000,  discover New France through a farmhouse, inn, hospital, shoemaker’s shop and visit a voyageur camp, a lumber camp, a Métis campsite, British military living quarters and a Maritime shipyard. There’s a stroll past shops  along the main street of a small town in late 19th-century Ontario.

Learn about life in a turn-of-the-century prairie railway station and yard, a Saskatchewan grain elevator, an authentic Ukrainian church, a Chinese hand laundry and a 1920s Alberta oil derrick. You can even sit in Yellowknife’s Wildcat Cafe, the town’s first restaurant and a popular gathering spot for prospectors, bush pilots, miners and trappers.

If you love animals, leave time for the up close and personal movie, Kenya 3-D about a safari through Africa.

Location: 100 Laurier St., Gatineau, Quebec K1A 0M8
Phone: 819-776-7000 or 800-555-5621
www.civilization.ca