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Back in 2009, we took the assignment to write this blog so that it would encourage us to explore St. Paul more. Living in Minneapolis, the 651 is like our in-town getaway. In 2010 the city provided some amazing fun for all of us – some of which we wrote about on this blog and some of which we didn’t. In the past year we’ve visited museums, seen concerts, played on playgrounds and eaten at great restaurants. We’ve also had a lot of fun with things are more personal to us like taking the kids to the Fitzgerald Theater to see their mom sing with the New Standards, and our annual trips to the State Fair.

Before we talk about some cool ways to close out the year with the kids, we put together some of our favorite photos of 651 activities in 2010.

As I said at the top of the post, St. Paul has provided some of the most memorable moments of the year for all of us, and for that we are grateful. See you in 2011!

With one day left in 2010, there are still a few chances to close out the year with the kids in St Paul. I think we mentioned both of these last year at this time, and they are both great events.

The first is “Noon Years Eve” at Como Zoo and Conservatory. Noon Years Eve is a Radio Disney-sponsored event involving crafts, music and other activities from 10AM to 1PM, with a New Year countdown at noon. Como made this promo video with footage from last year’s event:

The Children’s Museum hosts a somewhat similar event called Sparkle-rama, but it’s different in a few key ways. First, Will Hale and the Tadpole Parade provide live music, and their are several participatory music activities like Karaoke. Second, it’s held in the evening – from 6-9, with an optional dinner pre-Party at 5:15. Details can be found on the Children’s Museum Website.

As I said at the top of this post St. Paul provided some of the year’s most memorable moments for all of us. And for that we are grateful. See you in 2011!

For us, the last week or so has been dominated by two powerful forces – Disney, and Ice. We just got back from our first family trip to Disney World in Orlando only to be greeted by skating-rink streets and sub-freezing temperatures. Fitting then that these two forces will soon combine at Xcel Energy Center for Disney on Ice: Mickey & Minnie’s Magical Journey. I’ll be totally up-front and say we’ve never seen any of the dozens of Disney on Ice shows that have been produced the past few years, but we have had a lot of experience with Disney and Disney characters over the last few months.

Disney stuff (with the exception of the Pixar films) has never been all that big with our kids until very recently. But once we started talking in earnest over the summer about a Fall trip to Orlando it became something of a focus. Just as the hype was building in our house, we got a chance to see a Disney Live production at the Xcel. The show was Mickey’s Magic Show, in which various characters including Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and Donald participate in variations on classic magic tricks. A few weeks later, we were at Walt Disney Word and EPCOT center, where we experienced tons of rides, shows, events and costumed characters.

It’s obvious once you’ve seen some of these things that Disney has a very consistent style and approach to everything they do.

First of all, everything tells a story. Some are better than others, but every production has some kind of narrative running through it. The Magic Show was built around a fairly forced “story” of two guys – one of whom can’t seem to do magic very well. But of course it all comes together in the end. Many of the kids favorite rides at Disney World were also linear stories of sorts – the Spaceship Earth ride at EPCOT center tells the story of technological advancements throughout history, the Monsters Inc. show uses live digital puppets in a comedy show designed to generate power for the monster city from human laughter (it’s a plot point in the movie).

Second, everything is based on settings and characters from Disney films. In Mickey’s Magic Show the traditional rabbit/hat trick was weaved into an Alice In Wonderland scene, as were several popular card tricks. All the parade floats we encountered at Disney World were based on specific stories – there was a Cinderella float, a Beauty and the Beast float, etc. The Aquarium at EPCOT center features digital characters from Finding Nemo that interact with the live fish.

Third, everything is expertly choreographed. And I don’t just mean dancing. Music, sound effects, lighting and video are all used to great effect. In the Disney parks every speaker is part of a networked sound system that cues visitors about what they should pay attention to. During the day different music plays in different areas, but if a “main event” like a show or fireworks display happens, suddenly every speaker pipes in the same synchronized tracks.

Finally, where Disney is concerned the world is always a sickeningly happy place. There are no complex emotions in Disney productions – it’s all 100% in-your-face smiles and singing. This is the one aspect of Disney stuff that is a personal irritant to me, but not to my kids. In fact, its probably the thing that sets Disney apart: ultimately its all about the kids, not the adults. While many of the things we’ve written about on this blog are things both parents and kids can enjoy, Disney takes a very traditional approach based on the idea that when kids are happy, parents are happy. And I guess this is pretty universally true, even for cynical Gen-X parents like us!

So, what does all this mean as a preview for Disney on Ice? The website describes the show in a way that definitely lines up with all of the above Disney core themes: “Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Goofy have their bags all packed for a journey that will transport audiences straight from their seats into the magical worlds of best friends Lilo and Stitch as they hula in Hawaii; Simba and Nala as they explore the African Pride Lands; Ariel and Sebastian as they experience an aquatic adventure in their undersea kingdom; and Peter Pan and Tinker Bell as they soar through the starry skies.”

So expect familiar characters, world-class skating, amazing costumes and art direction, somewhat cheesy music and smiles on the kids faces. In other words, everything you expect from a Disney experience.

Disney on Ice: Mickey & Minnie’s Magical Journey runs from Thursday, Dec. 9th to Sunday Dec. 12th at Xcel Energy Center. Tickets are on sale now at the Xcel Center website.

I know this is hard to believe, but my 4-year-old son Vincent hates chocolate. I mean, he hates it. So while an exhibit on the history of chocolate might be tempting for most kids, it took more than a little convincing to get Vinny there. The rest of us thought it seemed like a great excuse to check out the Minnesota History Museum for the first time. Yeah, its kinda dumb that we hadn’t ever been there, but that’s what makes this blog fun – getting to see things we’ve never seen before.

First thing we notice is that the building itself is spectacular, and as we walk in we see tons of banners and signs welcoming us to the Chocolate: The Exhibit.

The exhibit itself is up on the 3rd floor. The display windows near the entrance provide a little “appetizer” – a spectacular array of modern, molded chocolate pieces.

The room is arranged, like most historical exhibits, in chronological order. Each area tells part of the story of Chocolate, it’s history, and how it is made. The story starts in the rainforest where Cacao beans grow and are harvested. Dominic was surprised to to see how big the beans are and what they look like inside.

The second area is all about the ancient origins of Chocolate, in particular how it was made and consumed by the ancient Maya. One of the displays explains the complex meanings behind the designs and decorations on the cups used to drink Chocolate in it’s original liquid form.

Continuing through the space, the next couple areas were all about the era when Chocolate came to Europe. A huge map shows the enormous extent of the Cacao trade in the early 1600s. Several displays show how Chocolate became an aristocratic drink at this time. Dominic couldn’t resist sitting next to a painting of dressed up nobles and acting snooty for a laugh.

The rest of the exhibit presents a more modern view of Chocolate, showing vintage molds, packaging, advertising, etc. Being kind of a design nerd, this was by far my favorite part, especially the wall of mid-century candy-bar wrappers.

Because it was opening weekend, the hallways were full of local Chocolate makers giving out samples. Even Vinny the chocolate-hater tried a couple pieces. But his real interest was in exploring, so we took the opportunity to check out some of the permanent exhibits at the History Center.

The kid’s favorite area was all about the weather in Minnesota. Great displays included a model of an old Winter Carnival ice castle, a spinning “tornado” made of fabric. I had to physically drag my 4 year old away from this room.

Our final stop was a climbing area modeled after a grain elevator, where the kids can follow the path of grain through the entire process of storage and distribution. This was really cool and fun, sort of similar to some of the things at the Children’s Museum.

All in all, the Chocolate exhibit was great, but even better was that it got us to the History Center for the first time. Both kids have been begging to go back ever since.

As we’ve mentioned on this blog many times before, Janey grew up as a “theater brat” in St. Paul, and one of the many places she worked was Stepping Stone Theater for Youth Development. Back then it was located in the Landmark Center, and was a much smaller operation. But it’s mission has always been the same: to bring together students from all over the city and use theater arts as a tool to teach, inspire and build confidence. In 2007, the company moved into a spectacular renovated, 100 year old church building across from William Mitchell College of Law, and began producing plays in its 400-seat theater. Sad to say, we had not been to this not-all-that-new space until just recently, when the 4 of us headed over to see their production of “The Stinky Cheese Man”.

On the way over, Janey mentioned that one of the productions she was in at the theater was a sort of modernized version of Aesop’s Fables by frequent Stepping Stone collaborator David Simmons. 5 years later in 1997, the theater commissioned a musical based on Jon Scieszka’s twisted take on fairytales, “The Stinky Cheese Man” and this year they’ve revived the play for the 3rd time.

If you aren’t familiar with the book….uh…you should be. Jon Scieszka is now the official US Ambassador for Children’s Literature (sort of the Poet Laureate for the younger set) and in 1992 he and Lane Smith (one of my absolute favorite illustrators known for his somewhat dark style) created the book as a postmodern “remix” take on fairy tales. It’s built on a simple idea: what if the premise of famous fairytales was wrong? What if “The Gingerbread Man” was made of stinky cheese instead of delicious cookie, would people chase him or run away as fast as they can? What if “The Ugly Duckling” grew up to be just an ugly duck instead of a beautiful swan? What if happy endings weren’t a given in these stories?

The play takes these bizarro versions of famous stories and threads them together into a single narrative. 3 recurring characters drive the story: Jack (the beanstalk guy), Foxy Loxy (sort of a hodgepodge of the evil fox from many different stories) and The Little Red Hen (played by Alexander Kronfeldt, Chase Adelsman and Annacita Gomez respectively.) All 3 young actors were great in their parts, with Jack being the “good guy” – always wanting the fables to go in a traditional direction, Foxy being the agitator – enjoying when things work out differently and The Hen as intermittent comic relief.

Each of the stories is pretty funny for both adults and kids. “Cinderumplestiltskin” combines the two stories referenced in the title with unexpected results. “The Other Frog Prince” leads up to a funny awkward kiss that has no result at all except for the annoying princess being grossed out. “The Stinky Cheese Man” re-imagines “The Gingerbread Man” as the offspring of a Green Bay Packers-obsessed, do-nothing father and a lonely but absent-minded mother. A lot of the humor comes from these kinds of pop culture references – for example Rumplestiltskin is basically a dwarfish Michael Jackson complete with one shiny glove and a moonwalk.

Each of us had favorite bits: Mine was when Cinderella tries to explain to her stepmother the French origin of the word “Soiree”, the mother responds with “You’ve mistaken me for someone who gives a merde.” (I’m guessing you don’t need to know French to deduce what “merde” means. If you do, Google it.) Janey admitted to the catchiness of The Stinky Cheese Man’s musical numbers. 4-year-old Vincent was obsessed with the giant pointing hand that kept appearing above the actors – meant to be the hand of Jack’s nemesis, the Giant from the Beanstalk.

After the show all the actors came out and greeted everyone as they left, which I thought was an awesome touch. Vinny actually seemed kinda star struck about meeting “Jack” which was super cute.

I always like to “bottom line” these things so for this one I’d say: it’s youth theater, so it’s not Broadway but the performances are great, the play itself is funny and built on a cool concept, the theater is amazing and what they are doing is great work. I’m a well-known hater of musicals, so I wasn’t all that into that part, but the lyrics are funny and the music is catchy. Also, at about 60 mins, it is the perfect length for a family aged 4 to 40 with notoriously short attention spans. I mean that seriously, I was impressed that it held the kid’s attention so well.

The show runs for one more week with performances Wednesday through Sunday, August 1st.

Family activities usually fall in to 2 categories: stuff the kids like that the parents tolerate, and stuff the parents like that the kids get dragged along to. Every now and again something comes along that is equally awesome for both parties, and I was banking on “Star Wars – In Concert” being one of those things.

I grew up in the heyday of the original Star Wars movies, and man was I into it. And not just the movies, I had the soundtrack albums, the action figures, books, comics, toys, everything. Dominic is now about the same age I was at the time, and he discovered Star Wars via the “Clone Wars” TV show on Cartoon Network – a show we both love and often watch together.

It’s no exaggeration to say that I wore out the grooves on the soundtrack records (yes, vinyl records) for the original Star Wars trilogy back in the day, so let me just say that this review of the show looks at it from 2 different perspectives: that of a parent looking for good family fun, and that of a huge Star Wars nerd.

I’ll cut right to chase and say that from both perspectives the show was TOTALLY AWESOME.

On arrival, the cross-generational appeal of Star Wars was obvious. People of all ages were there wearing Star Wars and Clone Wars T-shirts of various kinds, toting life-sized lightsabers and even sporting a few costumes. A number of props and artifacts from the films were on exhibition, including weapons, helmets, a full-size Chewbacca, some pages from the original music score and some panels of amazing concept art.

I had seen pictures and read about the show beforehand obviously, but I wasn’t quite sure what to expect until we got in our seats and the show began. On stage was a huge orchestra backed by a large choir and surrounded by futuristic looking lights. Behind all of this was a gigantic video screen, which was bordered by meshes of LED lights that took on the color and texture of the video being shown.

The show started with an arrangement of the traditional Star Wars opening title theme, during which the screen showed close-ups of the musicians and the conductor. I’ve seen a lot of orchestral concerts, so my expectations for sound quality in a hockey arena were pretty low, but it really sounded great – surprisingly good really.

After the opening overture, Anthony Daniels (do I need to say who he is? he played C-3PO) came out on stage to narrate the show. He was sort of what you expect – a bit overdramatic, but an entertaining storyteller. Each musical piece was arranged around a particular theme from the story – battles between rebels and empire, the love affair between Anakin and Padme, Jedi training, etc., and presented in vaguely chronological order.

The music was synchronized to audio and video clips from the films, but they were more like collages or music videos than straight excerpts. The quick-cut editing lent massive eye candy to John William’s dramatic music. Being one of seemingly few original Star Wars fans to also like the prequel movies, I dug the way the show blended images from all 6 films. My only nerd gripe is that the clips from the original trilogy were taken from the controversial “re-mastered” versions that included added CG special effects.

Toward the end of the show, the lasers came out. I took this handheld video of one of the best bits – a sequence of “battle scenes” set to the Death Star assault music from the original Star Wars.

Star Wars – In Concert from 651 Family on Vimeo.

I think we were both pretty surprised at the blend of orchestra and visual tech, but most importantly it was just a really fun time for both long-time fans and younger newbies. It also proved to me that the Xcel Center can be a great venue for non-sporting events.

As we’ve talked about on this blog before, the Minnesota Children’s museum in downtown St. Paul is one of our absolute favorite places. So when we heard there was a new exhibit coming that was WIzard of Oz-themed, we were psyched. We went to check it out on opening day.

The exhibit follows the format of all other Children’s Museum exhibits – hands on activities that help kids understand how something works. In the case of the Wizard of Oz, it was a mix of activities about the story itself and the making of the movie.

There are a few different sections in the room based on different parts of the story. On the left as you go in is the Emerald City, which has a couple really cool things – a “horse of different color” activities involving light-mixing and (Dominic’s favorite) a thing that makes your voice sound like the Wizard of Oz.

At the center of the room is the yellow brick road, and series of soft blocks that let you build a rainbow. Nearby is Dorothy’s house, which lets you control a spinning tornado in the window with a crank.

One of the coolest things I saw was a replica of Mrs. Gulch’s bicycle that drove a kind of zoetrope thing using mirrors. When you pedal the bike, a spinning set of mirrors makes a simple animation of Mrs. Gulch transforming into the Witch. I had Dominic take it for a spin so I could get it on video.

Dominic on the Zoetrope Bike. from 651 Family on Vimeo.

The Children’s Museum has always been good at the “exit through the gift shop” thing, so there is a huge amount of Oz-themed swag in the store. Like the exhibit itself, some of it is movie-themed, and some is book-theme. The exhibit is really fun and we spent about 30 mins in there, which is a lot when the rest of the museum is calling. I think it’s well worth checking out, with the usual Children’s Museum rules: bring hand sanitizer and don’t go on Free Sunday unless you *really* wanna save the money.

This weekend is the 78th annual Festival of Nations in St. Paul, so we decided we would check it out on Saturday and report back before the the event closes on Sunday evening.

Although it’s one of the longest-running ethnic festivals in the country, strangely neither Janey or I had even been. When I was growing up our school used to take groups there, but for some reason I always chose to skip.

So the four of us headed to St. Paul to check it out.

The Festival takes place at RiverCentre, so there was plenty of parking in the RiverCentre ramp. For some reason I thought we had parked just a few levels down from the skyway, and suggested it might be fun to walk up the ramps instead of taking the elevator. Our oldest was way into it and started bounding up the ramps. It didn’t take long for us to realize we were, in fact, about 7 floors down, so the day started with a bit of exercise. (Which turned out to be a good thing once we started checking out the food area later on.)

As we arrived, a bagpipe group started playing in the main performance area at the bottom of the escalator. I’m personally a fan of the pipes, but 4-year-old Vincent covered his ears the whole time! Adjacent to the performance area was an information booth staffed by some folks who didn’t smile much but were very helpful.

Just beyond the performance area is the food area, chock full of “Ethnic Cafes” representing foods from all over the world. Let’s be honest though, this area is far and away the least authentic of anything at the festival. It’s a sort of Epcot Center meets State Fair take on world cuisine. A world where most things are fried, almost everything is incredibly delicious, and no one cares whether any of it is good for you in any way. Which is to say it was awesome! Again, if you don’t take it too seriously its really great and we were actually surprised at how inexpensive the food was from some of these booths.

In the next area over was the Bazaar and Demonstrations area. For the most part, the places selling stuff were near the center, while the booths along the wall were giving various craft demonstrations.

For the kids, the demonstrations were the most interesting part. Dominic learned all about weaving, Vinny was dazzled by Origami and we saw a bunch of other stuff from paper-cut art to wood carving.

The Bazaar was selling a predictable mix of total junk and pretty cool stuff. A couple of the ones that I found funny and/or awesome:

The Malaysia booth, which was clearly going for a more modern take on the country’s fashions – selling graphic T-shirts and other pop-culture stuff.

The Finland booth where not one single item strayed from the traditional blue and white color scheme!

The was a secondary stage in back with more rotating music. As we walked by it was a couple playing duets on Didgeridoos.

Upstairs from the bazaar were the more earnest Cultural Exhibits and an area for Dance performances.

All-in-all we had an awesome time. Sunday is the last day, and I believe the Festival closes earlier that day – around 6. I think its worth the time if you haven’t been yet.

Spring is now in full swing and me and my 4-year old, Vincent, had Saturday to ourselves. Outside was definitely calling. Vinny, like most kids his age, is really into playgrounds with slides, ladders and climbing equipment. So we decided to make it our mission to find the best playground in the city.

We started with our favorite research method – just ask Mama. Janey mentioned a place I had never heard of called “Treasure Island” in St. Paul. A quick Google search on it brought up several references from parents calling it the best playground in town. I was still slightly skeptical. I mean, if its such a great place why have I never heard of it? It was enough to convince us to go check it out.

The playground is part of the Expo Magnet School near Snelling and Randolph, a block or two from Cretin-Derham Hall High School. Once we got nearby it was a little more obvious why I hadn’t heard that much about it. It’s not visible or particularly accessible from any of the main streets in the area. In fact it’s in a spot where Pascal Ave dead-ends into a parking lot [Map]. Let just say you have to know where you are going.

As soon as we roll up, it becomes obvious why people like this place. It is a huge, all-wood, structure decorated to vaguely resemble a pirate’s cove. There is a main structure of interconnected walkways, towers and tunnels surrounded by a few smaller areas with typical playground climbing stuff. Among the things we saw: a wooden Tic-Tac-Toe board, a climbing wall, 3 types of slides and several tire swings.

Just to give a sense of how big this place is, I took this brief video that shows Vincent walkthrough about a quarter of the total structure looking for a room he had earlier dubbed the “Iggywig”. Frankly I had as much fun chasing him as he did running around.

Vinny searches for the “Iggywig” at Treasure Island playground. from 651 Family on Vimeo.

It was also surprisingly un-crowded for a 65 degree Saturday afternoon, further convincing me that it might be more of a neighborhood secret than a destination.

The only way I was going to get Vinny to leave after a couple hours was to bribe him with food and ice cream. Another sweet side-effect of this playground is it’s proximity to tons and tons of family-friendly restaurants and shops, so we took Janey’s recommendation once again and cruised over to Snuffy’s Malt Shop on Cleveland.

Snuffy’s is another one of those places that I feel dumb admitting I have never been to, but I’m glad I finally went. The burgers were awesome, so was the ice-cream. The small, half-width booths near the front were perfect for the two of us. At first Vinny was slightly freaked out by the fact that the bathrooms were through the kitchen and down in the basement, but once he saw the walls painted with fish, he kept trying to find excuses to go back down there.

We had a blast at both places, and are already planning our next trip to the neighborhood.

This Friday, Stepping Stone Theater for Youth Development opens a new show “My Grandmother’s Tsotchkes: Tales of a Gambling Grandma”. For those not familiar, Stepping Stone was created to get kids involved in a professional-style theater program that – as the mission statement says – builds “self-esteem, confidence, and a sense of community while celebrating diversity in a supportive, non-competitive atmosphere.”

Anytime I want the real dirt on a kid’s theater program I go straight to Janey who was something of a budding child star in the local theater world growing up. Her assessment of Stepping Stone, albeit from back in the day, was that it was about much more than just reciting lines. Kids participate in every aspect of a production including lighting, tech, music, dance and stage management. She also said “it’s a great way to get out of school when there are matinees.” Definitely wisdom we’d like to pass on to our kids.

So, on to the show. In the play, a young girl learns the life stories of her Russian Jewish Grandmother via the trinkets she has collected throughout her life. Beyond just storytelling, the show is heavy on music and dance – which always holds the attention of our slightly squirmy kids. Plus they are all about their Grandmothers, so we’ll definitely be working that angle in the “pitch” to them on why they should pay attention.

One interesting thing happening in the lead-up to this show is that the Pioneer Press has 11 year-old cast member Izzy Rousmaniere doing a behind-the-scenes blog about rehearsals. She seems to have much different attitude than the young, class-skipping Janey had in the late 80s: “Rehearsals go from 6 to 9 every night. I have a pretty busy schedule, so I’m often tired. I also have to find time for my homework.”

Show opens this Friday, full calendar here.

Last week was the start of a series at Landmark Center called “Urban Expedition”. Basically its a Sunday event themed around the history and culture of a particular country including music, dancing, activities, food and art. I remember that Landmark did some of these last year, and they’ve just kicked off the 2010 series.

The first week’s featured country was Korea, which we were bummed to have missed. This week, it was Hungary. Dominic, for one, was excited to learn something about this country. The youth soccer league that he plays in every year uses countries as their team names, and he played on Team Hungary a few years ago. Almost-4-year-old Vincent was more dubious, but I promised there would be dancing and he seemed into that.

When we arrived at Landmark, first thing we saw was a poster for the event. Admittedly, the poster over-promises pretty seriously with the headline “Travel The World Without Leaving St. Paul”, but the hyperbole was forgivable once we got inside.

[caption id="attachment_3132" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="The poster outside."][/caption]

If you’ve ever been to a family event at the Landmark Center – like fall’s famous “Great Pumpkin Festival” – you’ll recognize the format. Easels with signs mark different areas, and there is a main stage with music or other entertainment.

[caption id="attachment_3137" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="The folks tales area."][/caption]

The welcome table was staffed by some very nice ladies who seemed impressed that Vincent could hum “Ode To Joy” until I told them that he learned it from a video game. They told us that the kids get “passports” which they can get stamped at each Urban Expedition event they attend. Pretty cute. They even got their pictures taken for these “passports”. The picture-taking session pretty much revealed the major personality differences between our 2 kids. When asked to smile, Dominic gave a low-key smirk, while Vinny just kept sticking his tongue out at the photographer. Sweet kid.

[caption id="attachment_3134" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Vincent, of course, stuck out his tongue."][/caption]

Once inside, we saw a dancing group on the main stage and tons of different activities around the outside of the space. Among the more hilarious parts were a station dedicated to Hungarian Erno Rubik and his infuriated Rubik’s Cube, and a Chess Master who would take on multiple opponents at a time. Vincent really, really wanted to take the guy on despite not having ever played the game. He kept repeating “I can win, I can win”.

The craft activities were simple but fun, and frankly just being in such a spectacular building makes everything a bit cooler.

[caption id="attachment_3138" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="The Chessmaster."][/caption]

Despite the over-hyped poster outside, the event was actually super fun and we all dug it. There are at least 3 more events in this series coming up, and I think any or all of them are worth checking out. Next Sunday, February 28th features Colombia, then Israel on March 7th and Ghana on April 11th. More info can be found on Landmark Center’s site.