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We are a week into Omnifest at the Science Museum, and we’ve yet to see any of the 5 films showing on everyone’s favorite giant, motion-sickness-inducing screen. If you aren’t familiar with Omnifest, its a six-week Omnitheater film festival where you can catch any one of 5 movies each day. For members the first movie each day is free, and if you want to catch a few more while you are there its 15% off each ticket.

I wanted to get our oldest, Dominic, all psyched up to check out some of these films, so I decided I would show him the online trailers for all 5 and let him decide which ones seemed the most interesting. Certainly it’s hard to judge a movie made for the mega-screen from a tiny little online trailer, but as you will see in the video below, certain themes emerged.

Dominic Previews “Omnifest” for the651.com from 651 Family on Vimeo.

“Africa’s Elephant Kingdom”: For some reason Dominic found it hilarious that they referred to an elephant community as a “kingdom”. He also noticed there were a lot of scenes of both fighting and babies, and wondered if at some point we’d see fighting baby elephants.

“Into The Deep”: Dominic is obsessed with sea creatures so he pretty much spent the entire trailer shouting out the names of the fish and animals he saw. I figured this one was going to be a winner.

“Van Gogh – Brush with Genius”: He recognized some of Van Gogh’s famous paintings, but that wasn’t enough to keep him from deeming this one “boring”. No real shock there. I thought it looked cool though.

“The Greatest Places”: He perked up for this one, especially the scenes that involved giant icebergs. So I thought maybe he was impressed. But when I said “woah” during a majestic scene, his reaction was “what do you mean woah?”. Hrmmm.

“Ski To The Max”: No shock that he was digging this one. Basically its a bunch of footage of the craziest skiing stuff you’ve ever seen.

So – probably obvious, but – stuff involving snow, animals and action definitely wins with the 8-year-old set over stuff involving close-up analysis of paint strokes and slow-moving nature scenery. Regardless, the scale of the Omnitheater can make even mundane subjects seem huge and engrossing.

Omnifest runs through March 11th.

One interesting thing about procrastination is the sheer number of ways it can come back to bite you. Take, for example, the fact that we opted not to attend the St. Paul Winter Carnival early on. At the time it seemed cooler to wait until closing weekend – which the Carnival has deemed “Family Days”. That was before the temperature dropped 20 degrees.

When you live in Minnesota, part of your job as a parent is to convince your kids that Winter weather is really no big deal. But our kids never thought it was a big deal to begin with. It’s their parents who hate the cold! So I guess its more of a case of proving to our kids that we are undeterred by a little chill in the air. I just try and put on a good smiley, happy face long enough for it to freeze in place that way. Then we’re good to go for the rest of the day.

Saturday is going to be the perfect day to achieve this. Earlier in the day are some outdoor events at Lake Phalen, then the closing ceremonies of the Carnival downtown.

At Lake Phalen, the theme appears to be “stuff you’d normally do in the summer, but are crazy enough to try now”

Frosty Fingers Kite Fly. Yes, the Minnesota Kite Society is going to be out on ice at Lake Phalen flying kites. You can watch the enthusiasts flying the big stuff, or bring your own and join in.

Ice Boat Racing. On the other end of the lake, they’ll be racing ice boats. These things look cool and go fast.

Bikes on Ice. Like most kids, ours find slapstick humor hilarious, especially if its unintentional. And this annual bike ride on the ice promises more than a few thrills and spills so it’s probably even more fun to watch than participate in.

Then back downtown, its all about the end of the Carnival, and the conclusion of the mythological story that inspires it. For those who have never read the legend of the Carnival, the story ends like this:

“On the 10th day of celebration, Vulcanus Rex and his Krewe stormed the magnificent ice castle and confronted the King’s Guard. Upon the good counsel of the Queen, Boreas bade farewell to the people of his winter capitol in the interest of peace and goodwill, and returned to dwell among the gods of Olympus. Boreas and his court looked forward to the time when summer’s warmth would once again relinquish its hold on the realm and the frosty atmosphere of winter would prevail.”

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mulad/ / CC BY 2.0

Pretty good bedtime story, yes? This epic tale plays itself out in 3 ways on Saturday evening.

The Vulcan Victory Torchlight Parade starts at 5:30 on 5th and Wacouta.

Following that is the Overthrow of Boreas on the steps of the public library right after the parade. Not 100% what this entails, but it involves the Vulcans booting out the Carnival’s royal family, and my kids always enjoy a good coup d’etat.

Finally, the night ends with Fireworks down by the river at 8:00.

Yes, its going to be cold, but this is why we have snowpants.

Art is big in our world.

A recent piece by Dominic.

Dominic – our oldest – has always been obsessed with drawing pictures, usually inspired by whatever his current obsession is. When he first saw “Finding Nemo” as a little kid, he started filling post-it notes with pictures of fish both real and imaginary. When we got a Wii, suddenly all his drawings were characters from Mario games. But he also sometimes branches out into self-inspired work: comic books featuring himself and his friends, a guide to his own universe of characters (the “Characters of Doom” he calls them), stuff like that.

A recent piece by Vincent.

The younger one, Vincent, is more of an iconoclast. A budding Banksy or Warhol. There is not a surface in the house he won’t try to make his canvas, and scarcely a material he won’t try and make art with. Some his more infamous pieces include:

– Covering an entire room in baking soda so that he could make “clouds” by pounding on the couch and watching it float around the room.

– Somehow locating a box of those little “snap-it” firecracker things, and throwing them at the wall because of the “nice shapes” made by the gunpowder.

– Draping a stretchy rubber toy over the dining table to create a piece he called “November: Don’t Touch The Art Project”

So I guess the point is that is doesn’t take much to get kids into making art, and they can never have too much inspiration. For some reason St. Paul has always felt to me like an “art” city to me, so we decided to try and plan a day around being an artist for the kids.

Inspiration:

The Red Balloon on Grand. Bookstores are naturally more focused on the reading side. Most of them, including The Red Balloon, host numerous author readings, storytimes, etc. But some of my absolute favorite artists of any genre are children’s book illustrators like Calef Brown, J Otto Seibold and Lane Smith. So I think is a great place to go for pure inspiration.

Supplies:

First, a kid-specific store. Everyone knows Creative Kidstuff on Grand is probably the best place to go for creative toys and supplies for kids, and we’ll definitely stop there – it’s our kids favorite store. The hardest part is getting them to leave. But we’ll have to if we are to move on to other cool places.

Second, we’ll head to the nearby Wet Paint. Our kids tend to like grown-up art supplies even better than kid-focused ones, and a store like this like a candy store to them. We always like to have many different kinds of paper around the house – different colors, textures, sizes, etc. (mostly to keep Vinny from drawing on walls or other more interesting surfaces) and Wet Paint boast over 3,000 different papers.

Finally, for kids who think everything is an art supply, there is no more fun/strange place than Axman Surplus up on University. Whereas traditional art supply stores are great for getting what you know you need, Axman is all about grabbing stuff you never knew you wanted and figuring out what to do with it afterwards. Considering he’s already making conceptual installation art, this is the kind of place I could see our 3-year-old getting into big-time.

Coffee:

The cultures of Art and Coffee are inexorably linked, and our kids have picked up on this. Frankly they already have way too much energy so I would never let them near actual coffee. But a hot chocolate in a coffee-shop cup seems to work fine as long as they get to call it coffee and pretend that it “inspires” them. So we’ll prepare them for a future of endless hanging-out in coffee shops with other artists types by heading over to Bread and Chocolate for the world’s greatest chocolate croissants and warm drinks.

After all this, we’ll head home, dump out whatever we’ve grabbed and start making stuff.

While most Holidays are family-oriented by nature, New Years is kind of a problem for us. When I think of New Years Eve I mostly think of 3 things: formal attire, champagne toasts and a kiss at midnight. All of which more-or-less eliminate participation by children. And it’s further complicated by the fact that the grown-ups really, really want to go do those things by themselves anyway.

So we’ve always been at a loss for how to make New Years Eve at all relevant to our kids. Turns out 3 of our favorite St. Paul family institutions have their own solutions.

At the Ordway is Belle’s New Years Eve Ball – an event that piggybacks on the final weekend of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast at the theater. After the 2:00 matinee, families can join the cast of the show for a New Years-themed afterparty that includes music by Radio Disney, activities, food and an apple cider toast to the New Year at 6:00 PM (It’s midnight somewhere, right?). A few reasons why this seems like a good idea: First, its the last weekend of the show so if you haven’t seen it, now is the time. Second, It’s only $5 per person above the cost of the ticket. Call the Ordway Box Office at 651.224.4222 for  info.

Down the street, the Minnesota Children’s Museum hosts Sparkle-Rama, where kids are encouraged to get in the spirit by wearing their sparkliest clothes. Our kids aren’t really the sparkly-clothes type, but the event sounds awesome no matter what you wear. As with the Ordway event, there are hands-on craft activities and such, but one major difference is live music from children’s band Will Hale and the Tadpole Parade. The New Years countdown at this one is at 8PM, still early enough for the parents to celebrate on their own later. Call 651.225.6035 for more info.

If either of those are too late for you, Como Park Zoo has the cleverly named Noon Years Eve which takes place from 10AM to 1PM, with a “beach ball drop” to celebrate the New Year at noon. Kids can make hats and horns, take part in a scavenger hunt and dance to tunes provided by the Radio Disney Party Patrol (who presumably dash over to the Ordway afterwards for their party?). More info on the Como Park website.

I make no bones about the fact that I envy my kids the era that they are growing up in. Tech – and culture in general – is just way cooler than it was when I was a kid. Of course the flip side is they really don’t appreciate how lucky they are, because they’ve never experienced a world that wasn’t totally customizable and on-demand.

So it never hurts to remind them how things used to be. I really wish there was a place where you could live in the 80s for a day so the kids could experience things like the Nintendo NES, 5lb. cell phones, cassette-tape answering machines and the spectacular “hi-res” color graphics of the Apple IIe.

Unfortunately there is no such place that I know of, but there are certainly ways of experiencing life as it used to be. Two of the best happen over the next few weeks in St. Paul. Both are holiday-themed and focused on life in the late 1800s.

The first is “Hill House Holidays” at the James J. Hill House on Summit Avenue. Actors dressed in period servants’ costumes take visitors on an hour-long walkthrough of Christmas preparations at the house during its heydey. The details of the story come largely from actual letters written by servants at the house  at the turn of the last century. The program starts in the nice parts of the house, then goes “behind the scenes” into the kitchen and servants areas. Nothing like an early-1900s kitchen to make you realize how much more convenient our lives are now.

A second, similar event happens at the Ramsey House. “Homecoming: A Victorian Christmas” is set a few decades earlier, and is a guided tour that includes a Christmas tree decked out in blown-glass ornaments, a dining room table all set up for 1875 Christmas dinner, and music being played on a period Steinway piano.

This coming Wednesday evening, Dec. 16th, Ramsey House also hosts a one-time event called “The Dolls Victorian Christmas”, which is a special children’s tour featuring the dollhouse and extensive doll collection of Alexander Ramsey’s youngest granddaughter. Kids are encouraged to dress up and bring a doll to the event.

I think all these are a pretty good way to take a break from the Pokemon/Super Mario world for an hour, and give the kids a sense of how it used to be.

Many more details on all these events at the MN Historical Society website. They recommend advance reservations in most cases.

It must be awesome to be electricity this time of year. I mean, name one other property of physics that is so beloved during the Holidays. Everywhere you look there is something comprised of lots of little lights making the nights a little brighter. I am guessing electricity enjoys the extra attention and appreciation.

We took in a couple electrically-charged activities in St. Paul recently and both were cool. The first was the annual “Night Trains” exhibit at the Twin Cities Railroad Museum in Bandana Square. It had been years since I had been in there – and I had never seen the nighttime thing, but based on a blurb on their website the whole family decided to check it out.

Every Saturday night during the Winter the museum (which normally closes at 5) re-opens from 6-9, only with all the lights off. The effect is amazing. The layout of the track incorporates bits of famous landmarks from both Minneapolis and St. Paul, as well as some “small town” scenes that are more typical of model railroad setups. There are several different trains running, including a Christmas-themed one all decorated in lights. The lighting was amazing throughout, and the kids were mesmerized by the little details in each scene. I took a few cameraphone pics to show some of it, but these don’t really do justice to how impressive the whole setup is.

The other thing we did was check out the IBEW’s Holiday Lights display at Phalen Park which we wrote about a couple weeks ago. Although its on the other side of town, it turned out to be a fun thing to do right after seeing the trains. When it’s cold out, its pretty awesome to have something you can do while staying in the car, so this fit the bill. The drive through the park took about 15 mins, and took us past (and sometimes through) about 50 different light displays – most of which were animated in some way.

Both of these things turned out to be great way to spend a couple hours on a Saturday night. Thanks electricity!

So, the holiday season has officially kicked off and if you have kids you are probably out at a major retailer right now engaged in an epic battle for this year’s hottest toys. Assuming you make it out in one piece, you’ll probably be looking for some family activities that steer clear of the malls.

The first big events of the season in St. Paul happen on Saturday: the opening of the WinterSkate outdoor ice rink at Landmark Center, and the lighting of the big tree at Rice Park.

The WinterSkate rink plays host to a bunch of different events between now and the end of January, but the real draw is free, open family skating from 11 AM-5 PM on Mon-Thurs, 11 AM-10 PM on Fri-Sat and 11 AM – 9 PM on Sun. You can check out all the action at WinterSkate anytime via this handy webcam!

The opening of the skating rink is just one of the draws on Saturday afternoon from 4-5 as the Rice Park Christmas tree is lit up for the first time with 20,000 LED lights, followed by skating, dance and music performances and some fireworks to boot. Should be a pretty fun time and so far the weather looks to cooperate.

Along with the rest of the world, we are getting ready for the Holiday Season to really kick in in the weeks ahead. We are a pretty typical family when it comes to the Holidays – we all love toys, food, family, decorating and music. For us, Thanksgiving and Christmas are the big ones (New Years is more for us parents).

Because Thanksgiving is pretty late in the month this year it got us thinking about to make good use of this coming week. I’m not a complete idealist, but one thing I think is important is giving the kids some perspective on their place in the world, especially just ahead of a season of conspicuous consumption.

Turns out, there are a bunch of ways to do this that are also fun, so that’s gonna be our mission between now and Thanksgiving.

For starters, this is the last week to see the “Trash Bash” exhibit at the Children’s Museum, and I can’t think of a better time to take the boys. When you have young children the Holidays generate a lot of trash, and this awesome hands-on exhibit is designed to get kids thinking creatively about trash, recycling and reuse. Highlights include a musical instrument made of junk, an art studio that uses recycled materials and a “Trash Mountain” that demonstrates the amount of trash generated by a family in one year. Best part is it’s all presented in a way that is fun and participatory, not heavy-handed or preachy. Details

Another awesome spectacle that carries a message is the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers’ Holiday Lights in the Park at Phalen Park. An $8 fee ($10 on weekends) gets your car entrance to this leisurely nighttime drive through the park, which is filled with electric art of Ice castles, Santa Claus, gingerbread men and more. The IBEW promises 43 large displays, some of which move. We are big fans of things that shine in the dark, so we have high hopes. So what is the “lesson” on this one? The admission fees are a donation that goes directly to 4 great charities – including Second Harvest which helps feed hungry childen, families and seniors. Details.

Finally, the shopping season is about to start in a big way and its a good time to look for ways to help others less fortunate. Rosedale Center is Partnering with Pillsbury United Communities on a Giving Tree program that allows shoppers to help disadvantaged children. Gift Tags with holiday wishes from children are available at Guest Services. Shoppers can pick them up and return them along with the purchased item between now and December 20th.

Next week we’ll be back to just having fun, but hopefully with a better sense of perspective.

Our strategy this weekend is probably the same as a lot of people: cancel all previous plans, and get outside! Odds are pretty good it won’t be this nice again until 2010, so we should all enjoy it, right?

The tricky part is, as this point in the year there aren’t as many outdoor events – we have to improvise. So we are headed to Como Park/Zoo/Conservatory this afternoon. A couple reasons why this is an awesome idea:

1.) I haven’t been there. I know, this pretty hard to believe but it’s true. Janey practically grew up there, and both the kids have been with her, with other family or school. But for some reason I am always absent when it happens. As I said before, one of the reasons I wanted us to write this blog is to get a chance to go to places I hadn’t been before. And Janey is appalled that Como is one of them!

2.) As I’ve said before – we all have short attention spans. So Como is perfect for us because its more than just a park, more than just a zoo. There are hundreds of different things to do and see there – from the rides in Como Town to the Japanese Garden and places in between. If any of us get bored at this place there is something seriously wrong with us.

3.) The Conservatory’s Fall Flower Show is going on right now in the Sunken Garden. Our kids are fascinated by flowers, both aesthetically and scientifically. The show is always in two parts – with two different color schemes. The “early fall” part of the show (purple, pink and yellow) was taken down this week and replaced with the “late fall” show (maroon, copper, gold) which opens officially today.

Fall Flower Show, Part Deux.

Most important: space to run around, walk around, and hang out outside. And with my computer predicting a high of 68 on Saturday, and 62 on Sunday in St. Paul, there’s just no excuse not to do it. See you all there!

One thing everyone in the family has in common is a short attention span. We’re not super into sitting still. So Fall Holidays are by far our favorites because they incorporate so many different kinds of hands-on activities, many with dark overtones!

On Sunday we are headed to the annual Great Pumpkin Festival at Landmark Center. We’ve never been to this before, but have heard its like a carnival, a camp and a costume party all rolled into one and centered around the almighty pumpkin. Unlike the mythical Great Pumpkin of legend, which never seems to show up, this one is totally real. I mean, I dunno that it talks or grants wishes or anything, but the publicity for this event does promise a 300 lb(!) pumpkin which will be carved during the event. Other bits include music, storytelling and a costume parade. Did I mention the event is free? Thanks, Great Pumpkin! http://www.landmarkcenter.org/events.html

A lot of holidays have some kind of built-in DIY activity – dyeing eggs on Easter, carving pumpkins on Halloween, etc. But none of these are quite as cool and intriguing as the making and decorating of sugar skulls for Dia de los Muertos. This is our family’s kind of activity – the right mix of sweet, morbid, traditional, fun and thought-provoking. If you have never made them, or want to do it a group setting, there are a few opportunities on the West Side over the coming week: Today, October 24th or Friday, October 30th at El Burrito Cafe from 4-7, or Sunday, November 1st from 12-2 at Neighborhood House.