Ringling Brothers Circus Honors Future Leaders

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Baily Circus will be passing through Denver 9/30 – 10/10/2010.  In celebration of P.T. Barnum’s bicentennial birthday, the Circus will be offering a unique award…   

Do you know a child or group of children age 6-14 who has used creativity or innovative thinking to develop a solution to a pressing issue affecting our community?

Visit www.thebarnumaward.com to find out how to nominate a deserving child or group for The Barnum Award before September 9, 2010.

Winners will be honored on September 30 at the Denver Coliseum, opening night of “The Greatest Show on Earth®”!

Barnum Awards:

The Gold Award Recipient will receive $1,000 to fund future community service endeavors and a gold-finish Barnum Award.
The Silver Award Recipient will receive $750 to fund future community service endeavors and a silver-finish Barnum Award.
The Bronze Award Recipient will receive $500 to fund future community service endeavors and a bronze-finish Barnum Award.

Moonlight Madness

I wasn’t quite sure what Kaiser Permanente’s Moonlight Classic was all about, so I had to give it a try so I could report back…it was super fun! 

Now, I’m not sure, but you may need to check with your kids to see if they’d be interested…dressing up in costume, staying up really late, venturing downtown in the dark, riding bikes under the light of the moon — and doing it along side all kinds of other crazy people!  I’m thinking this one will go over well 😉  …oh, and did I mention that it’s for a good cause too?!   

Information from the website, http://www.moonlight-classic.com/index.html:
“The Kaiser Permanente Moonlight Classic is a 10- mile, non-competitive late night charity bike ride through Denver’s historic neighborhoods. Benefiting Seniors Inc – Seniors Inc. is a 40 year-old non-profit agency dedicated to helping Colorado’s elderly and their personal independence.”

Two start waves were offered this year: a Family Wave at 10:30 p.m. and a Gonzo Wave at 11:30 p.m.  Start/finish was at the Colorado State Capitol and wandered through a closed-course in Lower Downtown and Cherry Creek districts – all monitored by city police.  People rode a variety of bikes – large, small, fancy, tall, lots of wheels, one big wheel, bikes with trailers, bikes with music, lit up, dressed up…pretty much just about everything you can imagine.  For people without a bicycle, or just interested in renting one for this ride, B-Cycle (Denver’s Bike Share), had bikes, helmets, and lights available – still BYOC (bring your own costume) though.

Prizes were awarded for the best costumes in several categories, so dress up and be silly!  If you’re concerned about a costume slowing you down, don’t be!  There were fellow bike riders in front, beside, and close behind keeping the pace at a gentle speed.  The 10 miles went quickly even at a leisurely pace, and the course wasn’t too challenging – mostly flat with plenty of rest stops along the way. 

Not much training involved for this race 🙂  and you may not break a sweat, but I do think you’ll have a great time – and certainly a unique experience!

 

Shepherding a Mother’s Heart

As promised, I’m reporting  back from my summer study on Shepherding a Child’s Heart.  We ended up a bit off the subject in one of our core group conversations – or maybe the topic was led right where it was supposed to go, but we had an interesting discussion on how our children have provided spiritual guidance to us through innocent words and how amazing it is that God would shepherd our hearts in that way.  Some moms had very specific examples and some were more general, but we all agreed that our children have taught us at least as much as we hope to teach them.

So, maybe it’s simply that I’ve been more aware lately – maybe there’s no such thing as a coincidence…but in just the past few days, both of my children have shared important lessons on God and faith that have left me thinking.

My daughter passed along a simple, yet important message through song lyrics she had unknowingly changed.  She was attempting to sing Alvin & The Chipmunks’ “You Had a Bad Day” but her lyrics said…”You have a bad day, you sing about God and you turn it around”.  She kept singing it over and over in the car – which gave my sister and I a good laugh.  Finally, her brother pointed out that she had it wrong – I told him, “No, I think she has it right” 😉 

My son’s message was a little more direct and given the timing, felt very personal.  I just been pondering some difficult decisions (silently) and he asked me out of nowhere, “Mom, do you trust God”?  I smiled and answered, “Yes, very much”.  His response was clear, simple and straight to the point – he said, “You should trust him more than that”.  Wow.  Really, wow.  What could I say back to that?  He had no idea what I was thinking and certainly no way of measuring my faith at that moment, but he was exactly right.  As naturally witty and clever as he may be, I don’t think my six-year-old son was working alone on a message so profound.  It gave me chills – the good kind 🙂

Free Summer Movies

Parents of preschoolers, are there G-rated movies you’ve been anxiously waiting to see only part way through with several interruptions throughout?  Well, then this is for you!  Hee hee 🙂  The free (and almost free) summer movies offered at several local theaters are the perfect opportunity to introduce your young children to the theater.  It’s a fun, wild experience, but you won’t feel like your little one is the only child interrupting, and you won’t feel bad about leaving half way through the movie if they just can’t make it!  I am 100% guilty of bringing a book and reading light – especially for the films I’ve seen one too many times.

Check my “Free Days” page for a listing and links to FREE summer movies in the Denver area.

Follow the link below for the AMC $1 movie Tuesdays.

http://www.amcentertainment.com/smc/

Hope to see you there!