29
Sep
Celebrate Oktoberfest all month long in Tampa! Each weekend, checkout a different festival, and if you are longing for a mid-week bit of Bavaria, have lunch at the Schnitzelhaus! All of these events have family-friendly components to them, so bring the kids! The highlight of the month will be the big Oktoberfest in Oldsmar at Tampa Bay Downs during the last weekend. Attendance was 20,000+ last year.
If you have other events to add, please leave a comment and link at the end of this post! Enjoy!
- Schnitzelhaus German Restaurant
- Oktoberfest will be from Sept 19th to Nov 1st
- Live Music with Inga
Fri and Sat 5pm – 9pm and Sun 4pm – 8pm
- Fri and Sat Special, Four Course Dinner
$21.95 – $25.50, reservations required
- Open Wednesday-Saturday, 11am-9pm and Sunday, noon-8pm
- Closed Monday and Tuesday
- Dunedin Brewery OktoBEERfest 2008
- October 2nd-4th, starts at 4pm daily
- The St. Petersburg Clay Company OktoberBest & Brew HaHa II
- October 11, noon-7pm
- The event will include food, beverages, music, kids activities, and best of all work from our talented artists!
- World of Beer (Westchase) WOBtoberfest 2008, 2nd Annual Beer and Music
- October 17th, 3pm till, October 18th, noon till
- Live music featuring Chris Nathan
- German and American Food
- Authentic Oktoberfest Liter Mugs
- Family Friendly
- $5 admission (free for 12 and under)
- All ages welcome, 21+ to drink
- Oktoberfest on the Beach – 7th Annual Celebration Activity Schedule
- October 18, 11am-7pm, Kinderfest 11am-3pm
- Held at Kolb Park, Indian Rocks Beach
- Live music, German Band “Lorelei” performs at 1pm until 7pm
- Adult activities include: Food Court, Beer Wagon, Vendors, Art Exhibit, Antique Show, Boat Show, Silent Auction
- Championship Competitions include: Stein-carrying, Wife-carrying, Keg-throwing, and Polka-dancing!
- “Kinderfest” (11am-3pm) activities include: Dodgeball, Children’s Dunk Tank, Shuttle Race, Capture the Flag, Spider Web, Red Light—Green Light, Hula Hoop Contest, Water Balloon Contest, Jelly Bean Relay, Inflatable Experiences, Tattoo Booth, Balloon Artist & Magician, Kiddie Olympics, Children’s Arts & Crafts Booth
- Top O’ the Bay Oktoberfest, Tampa Bay Downs in Oldsmar
- October 24, 25, 26 – Friday 5pm to 11pm / Saturday 11am to 11pm / Sunday 12pm to 7 pm
- Schedule of events (pdf)
- Traditionally held the last weekend of October, Oktoberfest brings the best of Old Bavaria and New Florida together for three full days of authentic German food, drink, music and dancing… along with a spectacular carnival & Midway, a great arts & crafts show, and the wildest array of audience participation contests that the Tampa Bay area has ever seen!
- New this year… VolksMarch (5 & 10K Family Fun Walks) and Kinder Zone!
- Oldsmar’s version of the 198 year-old German tradition is both the largest and longest-running Oktoberfest in West Central Florida, attracting between 20,000 and 25,000 attendees.
27
Sep
You have a few days left to take advantage of Swaptember! If you have an annual pass to Lowry Park Zoo, MOSI, or the Florida Aquarium, that pass can get you in to all three for the month of September! So, this weekend, get out and visit the Zoo, MOSI, or Aquarium. The weather’s going to be great!
20
Sep
What are you having for dinner Monday night?
From 2003 to 2008 research by The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University has consistently found that children who have frequent family dinners are less likely to use marijuana, tobacco and drink alcohol.
CASA research reveals that compared to children who have frequent family dinners (five or more per week), children who have infrequent family dinners (less than three per week) are two and a half times likelier to have used marijuana and tobacco, and one and a half times likelier to have drunk alcohol.
Monday, September 22nd will mark CASA’s eighth annual Family Day – A Day to Eat Dinner with Your ChildrenTM celebration. Family Day is a national movement to inform parents that the parental engagement fostered during frequent family dinners is an effective tool to help keep America’s children substance free and reminds parents that “Dinner Makes A Difference!”
“If you asked me based on CASA’s 16 years of intensive examination of substance abuse and addiction in our nation what’s the most effective thing we can do to curb this scourge and protect our children, I would say parental engagement. And there is no more effective example of this than frequent family dinners,” said Joseph A. Califano, Jr., CASA’s chairman and president and former U.S. Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare. “Years of surveying teens have consistently shown that the more often they have dinner with their parents, the less likely they are to smoke, drink and use drugs.”
This information was excerpted from a press release from CASA this week. How many more reasons do we need to have dinner together? Health? Money? Those are some very good reasons, but the relationship building and accountability to one another in love is another great reason. My favorite web celebrity in this area is Leanne Ely, author of Saving Dinner. She finds great solutions when it comes to family eating situations. I came across Leanne Ely and her fantastic work on Marla Cilley’s popular website FlyLady.net. I’m a huge fan of her menus and eating ideas. She also has a great book about Nutrition and a companion Unit Study.
19
Sep
Ahoy! T’day is International Talk Like A Pirate Day. Avast! Many pirate-y activities abound here in Tampa, the home of ye ol’ Gasparilla Pirate Festival.
Captain Memo’s Pirate Cruise has cruises for pint-sized to frigate-sized grog-drinking seadogs! Our wee matey gallavanted off to sea with his Grandma, an’ had a rip-roarin’ time afloat!
Ahoy! The Pirate Ship at John’s Pass is another place full o’ pirate-y goodness with gun battles, face painting, and treasure hunts! Arrr.
Capture this cool stuff for junior pirates from ye founders of this ‘ere day of celebration!
In our family, we’ve casually celebrated this day over the years since Dave Barry’s infamous column appeared in 2002. We still aren’t very good at pirate slang, but we try! Just sprinkle in “Avast!” or “Arrr…” into your daily conversation and you’re all set. If you really want to get into character, get your own pirate name at one of these sites:
Dig up a treasure chest o’ fun with your mateys t’day!
18
Sep
Hot news! Disney just announced today that you can get a free ticket to Disneyland or any Disneyworld park on your birthday in 2009. You can read all about it in their article here. This is reflective of the trend in “celebration vacations.” More families are choosing to make their vacations or celebrations serve double duty as both. When you are shopping for a vacation like this, the highest priority is finding something for everyone, and Disney has it in spades!
Start planning now to celebrate your birthday at Disney in 2009!
UPDATE: “FREE On Your Birthday” link
8
Sep
I saw in the paper today that Syd Entel Galleries in beautiful downtown Safety Harbor is hosting an exhibition of Theodor Seuss Geisel’s unique artwork. It will run through Oct. 2. I plan on taking the kids over to check it out and will update this post with a followup and review. If you decide to go, please leave a note in the comments and tell us what you thought!
