Here’s a round up of some great, inexpensive family events happening in the Grand Rapids area next week!

But first, I want to take a minute to make sure you are all signed up for the Grand Rapids Marathon Kids Race.  Your kids need to download a training log and start running now so they can run that final mile at the marathon (October 15th) with ease!

Check the CALENDAR for full details and even more great events!

Friday, August 19 9:00 PM Hot Kroc Movie Night at the Kroc Center.  Go see How To Train Your Dragon for free!

Saturday, August 20 Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital Bike Race

Sunday, August 21 Danish Festival Family Fun Day, Greenville

Monday, August 22 Hudsonville Fair begins

Tuesday, August 23 Make sure you have turned in all of your Summer Reading Club logs!

Wednesday, August 24 10:30 AM Mayor’s Book Club Kick Off, Seymour Branch of Grand Rapids Public Library.

Thursday, August 25 Take the kids to a frisbee golf course near you!

Friday, August 25 YASSOU Greek Cultural Festival begins

Races For Kids This Week

Saturday, August 20 Grand Cycling Classic

Saturday, August 20 Mitchell’s Run Through Rockford

Free Concerts This Week

Tuesday, August 23 7:00 PM Summer Concert Series, John Collins Park, 650 Lakeside Dr. SE, East Grand Rapids. Bring a chair or blanket. Free Admission. 940-4800 ext. 300, 949-1750.

Tuesday, August 23 7:00 PM Music on the Lawn. Averill Historical Museum, 7144 Headley St., Ada. Bring a lawn chair or blanket. Free Admission. Donations accepted. 676-9346.

Thursday, August 25 7:00-9:00PM Lowell Sizzlin’ Summer Concert. Live music along the Flat River at the Riverwalk Plaza in downtown Lowell. Bleacher seating available or bring a blanket or chair. Free Admission and parking. 897-8545, 897-9161.

Friday, August 26 6:00 – 7:00 PM GRAM on the Green, Grand Rapids Art Museum.

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The GR Cycling Classic is back! It’s on August 20 this year, and we are PUMPED!

We love this race and do it every single year, because it is:

• part of an awesome downtown community event {The Grand Rapids Cycling Classic}

• free

• great for keeping the kids active

No matter what kind of bike your kids have (even if they are on training wheels!), as long as they are 9 and under they can participate! They race on the same cobblestone course as the pros.

Registration is free, and the first 100 kids to register will receive a FREE BIKE HELMET, courtesy of the Grand Rapids Griffins’ “PUT A LID ON IT” program.

The Race starts at 11:15 a.m., on Ionia, South of Fulton.

Sign up today.  We will see you there!

Linked up to West MI Link Up.

Here’s a round up of some great, inexpensive family events happening in the Grand Rapids area next week!

• Thursday July 28, Friday July 29, and Saturday July 30.  Byron Days – A good, old fashioned small town fair.  The field day looks really fun! 
• Friday, July 29 6:30 – 8:30 PM.  Jazz at the Zoo.  John Ball Park Band Shell, 1300 W. Fulton St., Grand Rapids. Bring a blanket or chair. Free Admission. Donations accepted.
• Monday, August 1 - The Grand Rapids Public Museum is FREE to Grand Rapids residents on Monday! Cruise around the museum and make sure you check out Story Time With The Mighty Wurlitzer.
• Tuesday, August 2, 9pm – 11pm Salvation Army Kroc Center 2500 S Division, Grand Rapids. Gnomeo & Juliet will be shown on the big screen in the ampitheatre. Free family fun on National Night Out!
• Wednesday, August 3, 2:00 PM Marimbamania! Virtuoso marimbist David Hall brings 20 years of experience to this unique program of music from around the world. Musical selections are heard on marimbas and xylophones. Audiences sing, dance and clap along! Gaines Township branch of Kent District Library.
• Thursday, August 4 - Why not take the kids bowling? It’s FREE!
• Friday, August 5 - WGVU Dollar Day at John Ball Park Zoo.

Vacation Bible Schools This Week

July 31 – August 4 PandaMania, Faith United Methodist Church, 2600 Seventh St. NW, Grand Rapids, 453-0693.

August 1-5  Thornapple Covenant Church, 6595 Cascade Rd. SE, Grand Rapids, 957-0580.

August 1-5 6:00 – 8:30 PM Base Camp Forest Hills Baptist Church, 3900 E Fulton, Grand Rapids, 49546.  949-0540. For children entering kindergarten through 7th grade.

August 1-5 6:30-8:30PM The Lord’s Prayer Blythefield Christian Reformed Church, 6350 Kuttshill Dr, Rockford, MI 49341.  For children ages 3-10.  Please call 866-2962 to register.

This post is linked to West MI Link Up at Natural Living Moms.

You still have time to enter Dawg Days of Summer Giveaways for a LEGO Ninjago Starter Pack and a Baseball Prize Pack!

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I signed up to drive in too many field trips.  Which seems like a horrible thing to say considering the entire reason we bought our minivan was so I could drive for field trips – so I wouldn’t call it complaining, as much as -

Who am I kidding.  I am complaining.  Somehow the fact that our school schedules 95% of the field trips in the last three weeks of school escaped me in September when I was full of optimism and put my name on every single list that said, “Drivers Needed”.  It wouldn’t be a problem but, um, have you SEEN the gas prices? Of course you have.  I am totally counting field trips in the ‘entertainment’ category for home-budgeting purposes; which means:

We need some frugal fun for the next few weeks!

You too? Well, make sure you keep checking the Event Calendar. It has been updated with some GREAT things, including a few Memorial Day goodies.  My favorite is the discounted rate on the Coopersville Marne Railroad Troops Train and of course, there are parades! They’ll be happening in:

• Grand Rapids
• Rockford
• Walker
• Caledonia
• Grandville

I also added an entire guide to Free Outdoor Music Concerts which will change as details are added, and updated the Whitecaps Deals with a way to get four free tickets! Hurry though, the offer is only good for one week.

I also helped Kitchen Stewardship with a “Grand Rapids Staycation” post she did earlier this week – check it out for some great, frugal, “Hallelujah I have gas money!” ideas.

This post is linked up to Natural Living Moms West Michigan Link Up.

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The kids played in the sprinkler yesterday. My windows are open today.

My husband’s classes are over.  A.P.’s Faith Formation classes are done.

We have 250 field trips and school events in the next three weeks.*

It’s almost here.  We are so close.

Summer 2011

Plan; but don’t over plan.  Make good choices.  Say “no thank you” to meh.  Focus on the awesome.

• Find a great place to picnic.
• Find some races and rides to participate in.
• Find somewhere to pick cherries (or strawberries, or blueberries).

Spend your money and your time – and your summer – wisely.  Take advantage of the chance to explore Camp Manitou-Lin for free at an open house this Sunday, May 15 from 2:00-4:00.

Photo credit: Camp Manitou-Lin

I’ll be there; meeting the counselors, checking out the camp, and deciding which program to enroll in.  My kids will be there enjoying horse drawn buggy rides, a petting zoo, arts and crafts, games, and s’mores.

Epic childhood memories are made in the summer.  The twelve weeks of Summer 2011 will become a huge part of what your kids remember for a lifetime.

Focus on the awesome.

*approximate number; based on a dramatic increase in volume of Important Notices coming home from school with the kids over the past week.

What are you going to do this weekend? No big surprise, I have a few ideas!

• Head to Art.Downtown Friday night.  The organizers recommended a few kid-friendly activities to me; including Fuzzy Logic, a show that is currently running in Gallery 104 at Kendall College of Art and Design. The artist, Tanja Bakija, is a Graduate at Kendall who works with hand sewn drawings and dolls. The dolls range from 8 inches to 8 feet! Also located in Kendall’s Gallery is the work of Melissa Sirk.  Her work looks like sea creatures or flowers or organisms. The installation makes you feel like you’re in a completely different environment.

• Check out the Activity Calendar for a fun event.

• Find an Easter Egg Hunt near you.

• Start training for a bike race or fun run you find on the Active Kids page!

Whatever you do, have fun!