Kidding Around Vancouver Island

Stuffed with Love at Nanaimo North Town Centre has a very special event this Friday from 1 – 3pm.  Stop by the store and for a $5 donation (which goes to the Child Development Centre) you can make your own mini-bear. And then you can move down the mall to Centre Court and enjoy free [...]

One of my favourite musicals of all time – Fiddler on the Roof – is being put on at the Port Theatre in Nanaimo March 13 – 15th. It’s the story of trying to maintain traditions in the face of changing times; I’m definitely going to see it differently as a mother of two! Put [...]

Readers of this column know our family loves going to live theatre – pantomimes in particular. Well, all of that has given Grace the acting bug, for which we’ve found an excellent cure. It’s called Red Room Studio in Nanaimo and they offer year-round acting programs for kids 7 – 15. What we love in [...]

Need a relaxing spa getaway for an afternoon, where kids have plenty to do, but still taking it easy on your pocket book?  Look no further than the Nanaimo Aquatic Centre.  Ok, maybe “spa-like” would be a better term or “sort of spa-ish” – the point is, a few hours swimming with the kids can [...]

I can’t count the number of times we’ve driven along Departure Bay Road in back of Brooks Landing heading to the ferry in Nanaimo. Did we ever notice that there was a park at that corner? Not that it’s easy to spot. The day we visited Beach Estates Park, we encountered two different couples on [...]

Hockey fans in the Central Island area are being treated to some world-class hockey right now, with the 2009 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge taking place at arenas in Port Alberni, Nanaimo, Campbell River, Courtenay, Cowichan, and Oceanside. View the entire schedule and get up to date scores here at the official website.

Having taken a break for Christmas, it’s time to continue our central island pantomime crawl: There’s Mother Goose at the Bailey Theatre in Nanaimo, from December 26 to January 3, with matinees most days. Then it’s on to Chemainus for Rumpelstiltskin at the Chemainus Theatre Festival. It runs now until January 3rd, with special Family [...]

After taking pottery classes as a family, our girls have become pottery fiends and recently at a gift shop they fell in love with some very fun pieces. The shop owner told us they were by a well known artist named Heather Goldminc and it turns out we pass by her studio every day and [...]

A typical Friday night, when you have two small girls, involves watching a Princess movie or episodes of My Little Pony with a big bowl of popcorn. When George suggested that it might be fun to go see the Clippers he was met with some cold stares. Then Ella’s face brightened and she asked if [...]

We recently solved the problem of which comes first, the chicken or the egg. What comes first is a place to raise chickens and eggs, so we headed off to a chicken farm. This was part of our “Where Does It Come From?” series of outings for the kids – making sure they don’t think [...]