Tampa Mom

Lowry Park’s ZooBoo is open on Thursdays-Sundays through Nov. 1. Admission is $17/Adults (ages 12+), $14/Kids (ages 3-11). ZooPass holders pay $12/$10. Open 7-10pm on Thursdays and Sundays, 7-11pm on Fridays and Saturdays. Important information: For the safety of guests, adults (ages 12 and older) are not permitted to wear masks, wigs, face paint or costumes of any kind. Little boys and “ghouls” (ages 11 and under) are invited to come in their most spooktacular attire. Toy weapons of any sort will not be allowed into the Zoo.

Guavaween Family FunFest will be held Saturday, October 25, 2008 (10am-3pm) in historic Ybor City. This is a totally free event with a daytime crowd estimated at around 20,000. Safe trick-or-treating, costume contest and parade, and pumpkin contests are among the fabulous family activities.

The Florida Aquarium is holding Guppyween 2008, a safe, fun, and supervised children’s trick or treating on Sunday, October 26 from 4 to 9 p.m. Bring your ghosts and goblins in costume for a deliciously fun time! Candy stations will be set up throughout the facility with plenty of kids’ activities in between. Kids in costume are free, while adults (12 and over) pay $12. It’s a safe, fun party with spooky creatures and loads of tasty treats.  * Limit four children per adult. Aquarium members get in free to this event.

MOSI presents their 3rd annual Hall-O-Boo! Family Halloween Event on October 24 & 25, 5-9pm. Admission for members is only $8, and non-members is $10. Activities include hayrides, monster mash ball, mad scientist demonstrations, and much more!

Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party at the Magic Kingdom is a fun Disney event especially geared to the under-10 crowd. Tickets vary in price depending on the date. Expect to spend up to $56 for an adult ticket. October 31st is sold out. Event takes place 7pm-midnight, though October 31st.

If you know of another family friendly Halloween event, please post your info in a comment! Thanks! Happy Halloween!

It’s Your Life, Make a Difference!
Leadership Kick-Off & Family Fun Weekend
September 27, 2008

If you have a Girl Scout in your family, or someone who wants to join, you do not want to miss this Fall 2008 Kick-Off event at Cypress Gardens. There will be scavenger hunts, badge activities, and lots of scouting fun in addition to all of the great attractions at Cypress Gardens. The price is only $18/per person, and for only $10 more, you can extend your ticket to unlimited admission for the rest of 2008!

Find out more about the Girl Scouts of West Central Florida and register for the event.

Today, I enjoyed a Mommy’s Day Out (by myself!) and saw the Metropolitan Opera’s Live HD Broadcast of Gounod’s Romeo et Juliette. I am a huge opera fan and am absolutely thrilled that the Met has this series so people around the world can enjoy 8 of their operas this year. I host a group on Facebook for this series and posted the following commentary there. Enjoy!

“I thought I’d share a few observations about today’s opera experience.
The actual opera was fantastic! Staging and costumes were superb,
camera work was very well done, and well planned for the opera, and the
singing was amazing. The sound was mostly very good, but there were a
couple of spots where it could’ve been better. It is my opinion that
this is due to the incredible live acoustics in the hall, the
particular planes of sound reflection, and ultimately microphone
placement. Due to the dynamic nature of opera and the integration of
movement with singing (dueling, lovemaking, dancing, etc.), the singers
are not always face forward in a static position. The orchestra sounded
consistently brilliant, but the singers sometimes were unbalanced, and
I found this to be most noticeable during some duet moments. Even then,
it did not bother me at all. It gave me an opportunity to think about
how difficult it must be to get great sound on a live broadcast! The
audio engineers are most impressive!

There are a couple of bonus
features I should talk about that I really enjoyed. As soon as the
curtains close, there are live cameras following people around
backstage, eavesdropping, catching glimpses of the complexity of the
backstage “goings on.” You could see the set changes (and this was a
totally cool set!), singers warming up, slugging down bottled water,
stretching, rehearsing fight scene choreography… I could go on and
on! And Renee Fleming interviewed the leads and Placido Domingo during
intermission! Fantastique!

The movie theater atmosphere was a
little odd. I was thrilled that I could eat popcorn at the opera,
however, during the Prologue, which is quite serious, I felt odd with
my popcorn and put it off until Act I and the Masked Ball. There were
other moments that it just seemed so inappropriate for me to be eating
popcorn! I was a little saddened that I was one of the youngest people
there, and I’m 40!!! I know so many people who would’ve really enjoyed
this experience and I want to encourage everyone to go to the next one,
Hansel and Gretel, on Jan. 1, 1pm. This opera is suitable for “children
8 and up, and some 7 year olds who aren’t afraid of the dark!”

One more note… buy your tickets early!!! Do not wait until the day of the show.”

The only theater in the Tampa Bay area to show this is the Regal 20 Cinema at Citrus Park Westfield mall. It is located on Gunn Hwy, just off the Veteran’s Expressway in NW Tampa. Tickets are $22 for adults on Fandango, with a $2 convenience fee. We could argue all day about whether or not it’s reasonable, but with Christmas shoppers taking a break at the movies today, I thought it was a bargain! Also, this event was sold out on line 2 days before, and they opened up an overflow theater. Do NOT wait to get your tickets.

This was a first-rate event. You will want to bring interested and well-behaved children, ages 8 and up, to see Hansel and Gretel on New Year’s Day! It’s going to be a great start to a wonderful year!