Wondering what to do with the kids on July 1st? There is lots to do in and around Calgary to celebrate Canada's birthday!

Heritage Park is having an old-fashioned Canada Day celebration with bands, a trick roper, family games and more! My family always enjoyed the park. I loved the exhibits and the historical details in the houses and the school, the kids loved the blacksmith shop and the ice cream!!

Celebrate Canada's birthday with family and friends on Prince's Island Park July 1st, from noon to 6 p.m. The Island will be alive with music, live entertainment, food, and festivities. Three stages will be jam packed with live music and entertainment for all ages and interests. In the evening at Olympic Plaza there will be more food, entertainment and fireworks -- a great ending to another fantastic birthday celebration!

Fort Calgary is having a full-day celebration with a free pancake breakfast, live stage entertainment, petting zoo, pony rides, games, crafts, jump houses, and much more.

Spruce Meadows is hosting the Canada One Tournament. Watching the horses jump is exciting, and there is lots of space to wander around, get a bite to eat and visit the exhibits.

Of course, any day is a good day to visit the Calgary Zoo. Everytime we visit the Zoo, there is something different to see. When we were there in May, it must have been mating season for the peacocks as every time we turned around there was another marvellous display of tail feathers. You can attend some of the daily scheduled programs for various animals, such as the gorillas and the elephants, or just wander around. Who knows? You might see Zola the Break Dancing Gorilla!

For a list of other Canada Day events in Calgary, go to Calgary Canada Day.

A little further afield, DeWinton is hosting the annual DeWinton Station Garden Railway Annual Exhibit, from 10:00 - 6:00. It will feature G scale indoor and outdoor layout, Ol' Smoky rides, Panpipe musician Nikolai and Kazoo Facepainters.

Even further afield, Banff is hosting a Canada Day celebration complete with pancake breakfast, parade, native dancing and a magic show among other things. So if a trip to the mountains is in your future, this would be a great way to spend the day. Best of all, entry into Banff National Park is free on Canada Day, according to their webpage.

If you would like to share some of Canada's fascinating history with your kids and the reason for all the celebrating, why not check out some of the wonderful books at the library? Just don't come on July 1st -we're closed so staff can celebrate the day!

Here are just a couple of possibilities.

We have recently started canoeing with our seven year old daughter. Here are a couple of the places that we have discovered and love to visit.

Forget-me-not pond is west of Bragg Creek in Kananaskis Country on Highway 66. This beautiful site has picnic tables and fire pits. It is a great place to canoe and also has an easy walk around the pond.

Wedge Pond is approximately 70 kilometres west of Calgary on Highway 40.There is fishing as well as canoeing. There are picnic tables here as well and, again, it is an easy walk around the pond.

For more ideas on where to go and what to see close to Calgary, check out Day Trips from Calgary by Bill Corbett. And why not take along a copy of the Alberta Nature Guide if you're strolling in the country.

Patti

Celebrate the May long weekend by attending a children's festival or a Little Britches rodeo, all within easy driving range.

The Canmore Children's Festival is an opportunity to set the kids free and to unleash your inner child for a day of fun, laughter and merriment. Storytellers, theatre, comedy, magic, puppets, crafts and games await discovery. Programs at the festival run all day Saturday, May 21st. Check their webpage for details on programs and tickets.

The Cochrane Children's Festival has games and activities for the entire family from 12 - 4 pm on May 21st and includes a one hour show by International Children's Entertainer, Flying Bob! Tickets are $6.

High River is holding its annual Little Britches Rodeo preceeded by the Little Britches Parade. The parade starts a 10:00 am on Monday May 23rd. The rodeo begins at 2 PM. Admission is free, so load up the car and head on down. Participants are aged 3-14 and they put on a really good show.

The library has a great children's book, Little Britches and the Rattlers, about the adventures Little Britches has on her way to the rodeo.

Last week one of our staff shared her secrets for travelling with her son and some of the activities that they enjoyed when visiting Edmonton. This week we'll talk about fun activities for the kids in our fair city.

Calgary Public Library has some great programs on Saturday, May 21. There is a Drop-in Storytime at Country Hills Library at 11:30 and one at Crowfoot at 10:30. Bring the little ones for a half hour of stories, songs, and fingerplays the whole family can enjoy. Ages 2 to 5 with a parent/caregiver. No registration required.

Shaganappi Library is offering an exciting program, Tales from the CYPT, on Saturday, May 21, 3:30 - 4:30. Join us as the troupe of young performers from Calgary Young People's Theatre weave their tales for folks of all ages in this special preview of their upcoming show. You can register online, by phone at 403-260-2620 or in person at any branch.

Heritage Park opens for the summer on Saturday, May 21 with all the usual fun activities. My kids loved a day at the park with the horse-drawn hay-rides, the antique midway and, of course, riding the steam train. No day was complete without a visit to the candy store and the ice cream parlour.

Special events for May 23: The first 500 guests to arrive between 9:30 -10:30am will be treated to Heritage Park’s complimentary pancake breakfast served hot off the grill in Gunn’s Dairy Barn, with regular paid admission. A special Mother Daughter treat might be the traditional Afternoon Tea served at the Wainwright Hotel Tea Room.

The Calgary Zoo is a great place to visit any day of the year. "Giraffes: Behind the Scenes" is a special program which will run on Saturday, May 21st. To make the most of your visit, you can check for times and locations for free Daily Visitor Activities that run every day.

The Telus World of Science has the wonderful exhibit of Titanic artifacts which we went to see on Mother's Day and which was totally fascinating. We each received a boarding pass and became an individual who sailed on the boat. At the end, we found out who survived and who didn't. A sobering experience!

We watched the James Cameron movie, Titanic, the night before. I couldn't believe how accurate the movie was for historic details and the stories of many of the passengers. If you would like even more of the background, the library has Secrets of the Titanic, which is the story of the first undersea explorers to locate, photograph, and explore the wreckage of the ill-fated Titanic.

I wouldn't recommend the exhibit itself for younger kids, but there are related activities for children. The Creative Kids Museum has some special Titanic programs plus there is a new Imagination Playground. I would recommend buying your tickets for the Titanic exhibit in advance. It was busy!!

Summer hours started on May 15 at Royal Tyrrell Museum. Allow yourself 2 - 3 hours for a good visit to see all the dinosaurs in the museum. Some special programs will start on May 21, such as Dinosite, Fossil Casting and the Badlands tour. Visit their website for details on the programs and costs. The museum is open from 9:00 am - 9:00 pm, seven days a week this time of year. And don't forget to stop for a look at Horseshoe Canyon just before you start the long drop down into Drumheller.

And, of course, don't forget Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump for an interesting day trip.

One of my favorite drives is down the scenic Cowboy Trail, and then on to the Crowsnest Pass and the Frank Slide.

Check out this great book, Day Trips from Calgary, for more ideas on places to go and things to see!

In the spring, instead of cleaning, my thoughts turn to travel. We sometimes scratch that itch with a long weekend in Edmonton. We just came back from a five day jaunt. Here are some of the places we visited, and the Calgary Public Library items we carted along for the ride!

When Simon was little we took stacks of readalong CDs and books. I remember Anansi the spider by Gerald McDermott. While I drove, Simon followed along with the book in his carseat. I listened too so that we could talk about it together. As he got older we switched to bookcds.

Recently we’ve been listening to Rick Riordan’s Lightning Thief series. It’s a great way for the family to share a story.

Our first stop in Edmonton was the Telus World of Science. It’s always the first stop, because it’s such a great place. I love the carnival style health exhibit with the big pink tongue and disgusting smells in jars. This year the astronaut exhibit held us the longest. There are also permanent exhibits on solving a crime, helping the environment, and a hands on center for younger kids with water pumps and a dance-on piano.

Second stop- The Royal Museum of Alberta. You might want to read Stick insects: masters of defense by Sandra Markle before you go, because our number one destination is the insect zoo on the second floor. We’re always amazed by the camouflaged stick insects. The dioramas with Alberta animals are also interesting. In fact the fine paintings in the back of all their displays deserve a good look on their own.

Third stop- the new Art Gallery of Alberta. It’s a fantastic new building with a metal ribbon running through it that’s fun to explore. Simon liked the plastic whale skeletons that Brian Jungen made out of lawn chairs. These are gone soon, but a summer show on Andy Warhol will open May 28. Uncle Andy's by James Warhola is a charming picture book about Warhol’s nephew who visited him in New York. (Andy dropped the last a in the family name)

Final stop- West Edmonton Mall. 17 waterslides. Enough said!

Horatio Hornblower DVDs and Warriors books filled in the rest of our spare time. The Warriors series of novels by Erin Hunter is about clans of cats who struggle and fight to survive. Horatio Hornblower is about a young English naval officer in the 1700’s. It’s a great family movie for those with an older boy: ships and cannons for the kids, history for dads, and handsome Ioan Gruffud for the moms.