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The Kid Cave, a featured inflatable at the North Phoenix PumpItUp Location

When the temperature jumps to 109 degrees and your kids are bouncing off the walls with unspent energy, where do you go that won’t cause heat stroke, dehydration or heat exhaustion? I have a solution to your problem! …PumpItUp! The Inflatable Party Zone!

They are currently getting ready to celebrate their 4th anniversary on August 31st! Congrats! This will be a special event in that it will offer a free “open bounce” from 5:00pm-8:00pm with groups of 25-30 kids being moved through two bounce zones every 30 minutes (equalling 1 hr of open play for each attendee). Probably the most exciting thing about this anniversary, however, is that Banerjee is going to accept donations to support the American Society of Autism.

Banerjee has hosted events for the Southwest Autism Research & Resource Center (SARRC) before along with many private parties for autistic children’s groups. Banerjee confided, “the (autistic) kids really seem to enjoy themselves…something about the environment awakens something in them and they truly have some amazing fun!”. Banerjee added that he is careful to consult parents in attendance about the environment (ie. music volume and selection) to make sure that he creates the best environment possible for these special needs children.

“We have a deep appreciation and concern for autism in our community…these families are truly special and have given us some sobering insights into the struggles faced by autistic children and their caregivers,” says Banerjee. “This is our way to give back to the community that has supported us these last four years,” he adds.

I would encourage you to attend this free bounce event if possible but if you don’t make it, Banerjee assured me that they are open year round, with the exception of major holidays. Banerjee recognizes that his business depends on the disposable income of families, something not many have a lot of these days. So he has restructured some of the standard PumpItUp! party package options at his location specifically to address these tough economic times. So don’t be afraid to give it a try! Remember, “no matter how far life pushes you down, no matter how much you hurt, you can always bounce back!” (quote by Sheryl Swoopes)

If you have ever been to a BounceU or Jump and Shout, then you will be very familiar with this type of indoor inflatable playground. The North Phoenix location boasts two arenas of over 4000 square feet each, filled with various inflatable activities. PumpItUp has a brightly colored and exciting atmosphere to offer even the most seasoned bouncer! There are 4 valley locations (Tempe, Scottsdale, North Phoenix and Arrowhead) that offer open bounce times as well as scheduled private parties for all ages. For those of you who are bounce-savvy, you might be interested to know that PumpItUp was actually the original “indoor bounce zone”, later adapted by BounceU and others. But now, even BounceU falls under the corporate umbrella of PumpItUp Holdings.

I spoke with Swapan Banerjee, owner and operator of the North Phoenix PumpItUp! location on August 26th about his operation. His facility holds two open bounce sessions per week for smaller kids (6 and under) as well as one session per week for older kids (although these older kid bounce sessions are only available during the summer months and are discontinued during the school year). The open bounce price is $7 per child and siblings two and under can enter free. In order for the two or under sibling to enter for free, though, there needs to be an older sibling that has paid admission.

While they offer these open bounce sessions as opportunities for prospective clients to sample the goods, private parties are their bread and butter. They specialize in children’s parties but have even hosted corporate parties for adults; after all, you don’t stop playing because you get old, you get old because you stop playing!

For more info: Visit the PumpItUp website or you can contact the North Phoenix Location at (623) 434-7867 or visit their location at 22515 N. 18th Drive in Phoenix, AZ 85024-1356.

Tags: entertainment, free stuff, fun, product reviews
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Yes! I know, I know…you must be rolling your eyes right about now. Tucson? Really? My answer is absolutely! I have to say, I would have been sharing your same reaction if someone had shared this thought with me. But give me a chance to defend our southern desert.

I recently vacationed here with my family for a weekend away from home. We were looking forward to getting out of town and really didn’t care much where we were going. We are like everyone these days and needed our vacation spot to meet some specific criteria…namely, pricetag and close proximity of activities. Tucson delivered and then some! We stayed at the Tucson Omni National Resort where they are currently running an amazing summer deal where they match dollar for dollar what you spend on your room in resort dollars. So basically, whatever you pay on your room, you get back in cash you can spend at the resort! We golfed, dined, and some of our group even visited their spa…all for the price of the room!

Now, I know what your saying…the food must’ve been nasty or the accommodations had to be poor. But I will tell you now that the room we stayed in was probably one of the nicest, largest and most well-equiped rooms we have ever stayed in. We had a dining area, sitting room, bedroom with two queen size beds, and a bathroom as large as the bedroom. The food was amazing whether we were eating in the formal dining restaurant, eating room service on our couch or munching on some great lunch dishes at the little cafe overlooking the golf course. The pool area was clean and large with a sand volleyball court and two full size tennis courts. They even offered lunch barbequed poolside along with drinks for guests playing in this area.

The golf course was well-manicured and a lot of fun for experienced golfers as well as those of us who don’t play quite as often. It was challenging without being frustratingly difficult. The weather was amazing…warm in the mornings but by afternoon, Tucson’s legendary monsoon storms settled in and dropped the temperature 10 degrees while entertaining us with some spectacular lighting! Who needs fireworks? But Tucson delivered that as well over the fourth of July weekend.

We visited the Kartchner Caverns which was a delight for my husband and I as well as my little ones. Amazing cave formations coupled with a family-friendly guide made the 45 minute tour a great experience for us all. Word to the wise, Kartchner Caverns sports an 80 degree temperature with about 98% humidity so don’t plan to go anywhere you have to look nice for afterwards! We were a little disappointed we couldn’t see the “Great Room” because this area closes down this tim eof year while the bats that make this cave their home are taking care of their babies. But maybe on our next trip.

Pima County Air Musuem had some great hands on activities for the kids as well as some fun historical trivia for the adults!

We also visited Pima County Air Museum. This had a wonderful array of history. I was impressed as I read about the different types of planes how many historical air events took place in Arizona. The kids had a wonderful time playing in the kid-friendly hanger where kids can be hands on with various types of planes, simulators and even toddler friendly equipment. We probably spent at least two hours here and didn’t even see the entire museum. There is a tram that will carry you throughout the outdoor exhibits but we declined this trip because it is not air conditioned and we didn’t like the idea of baking in the sun for 30 minutes. It gives us something to try next trip!

Wyatt Earp, Morgan and Virgil stopped by for a photo

We took the short drive to Tombstone one day as well and had a wonderful time reliving the OK Corral with Wyatt Earp and his brothers. We even got some spooky fun visiting the real life haunted saloon, the Birdcage (I ended up with a few photos here that smack of ghost action!). This museum also has some amazing history. Did you know where the term “Aces and Eights = Dead Man’s Hand” came from? Wild Bill was shot in the back while playing poker…he died clutching his hand of aces and eights. The Birdcage is full of incredible history and worth taking some time to walk around and read the plaques.

I read about a Children’s Museum here as well but we didn’t have time to visit this trip. Hopefully we can make it next trip because there will certainly be a “next trip”! I know most would roll their eyes at vacationing in Tucson, but I’m here to tell you…it’s a wonderful spot for a family on a budget and with a little forethought, you can find some wonderful “things to do” here!

Tags: entertainment, Family and Home, free stuff, fun, product reviews
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We have wanted to visit the Arizona Science Center for several years but have always had difficulty with the pricing. With 5 of us (and sometimes 6 if my husband can get off work!), paying for parking, admission, special exhibits, lunch and gas (we live in Mesa) it quickly becomes a very expensive adventure…especially if we want to add on any other activities like the planetarium or the imax movies. But after an hour of waiting in line, we were fortunate enough to get a “Culture Pass” through the Mesa Public Library and were very excited to be able to use it! (Word to the Wise: if you want a culture pass, be at the library an hour before they open and park yourself right in front of the door…the Mesa Public Library puts out 14 passes every morning from Tuesday through Friday and it’s first come, first serve)

Normally, I would have packed lunches for my kids but I read that food was not allowed  inside the museum but there was a cafe for lunch (I didn’t learn until after our visit that they allow food and drink as long as it’s not eaten within the museum – a fact I will remember for our next visit!). So we determined to eat at the cafe. But I was very surprised by the prices and was not quite prepared for it. With the cheapest sandwich being around $9.00 and the cheapest kids meal is around $6.00, it is definitely wise to brown bag it. They have a nice patio outside for us brown baggers.
Because of the pricing, we were hesitant to buy passes to the extra exhibits like the planetarium or the IMAX theater. But I assure you, although we were there from 10:30am to 5:00pm, we were not bored for even a minute! Here’s a run down of some of our favorite exhibits…
The Home Building Exhibit
My 6 year old really loved this exhbit because he is my probable engineer! He loved watching the video of the house being built in accelerated time. We’ve had a lot of development going on around us near our home and he is constantly asking me how it’s done…it was fun to be able to say “well, son, here’s how it’s done!”. My toddler really loved the little play area here and it was a really nice place to let her run around and explore without worrying too much about what she’s up to. She loved the oversized soft lego’s since legos are a very popular toy at my house but her brothers and sisters don’t always want to share!

The Lego Exhibit

Life sized dragon made completely out of legos!

Legos! Need we say more? My kids absolutely loved this one! I have two boys (ages 4 and 6) and they thought this was just amazing! They both came home inspired and ready to build their own “master” lego creations! My 8 year old daughter had a wonderful time play acting in the castle and trying on the dress up with her brothers. She also thought the craft activities were fun and encouraged her brothers to build crowns and shields with her! They still have

them and have been playing with them all weekend! Even my 1 year old had a great time on the little toddler slide…she played there the whole time her brothers and sister were building their lego creations!

The Nature Exhibit

My daughter especially loved this exhibit…she loved the simulation platform and talked about it all weekend! Very amazing stuff. They recreate a hurricane, tornado, earthquake, monsoon storm and volcanic eruptions…complete with the heat sensations, ground vibrations, wind and even rain!

My boys liked the water erosion activity and loved to change the path of the water by building the “sand traps”. The only issue we had here was a couple of older boys that were bullying the little kids. They went so far as to steal the plastic pieces they were using to move the sand right out of their hands and throwing them underneath the plastic covering so the kids couldn’t get at them (It makes me angry when parents are not watching their children…having older kids only makes them more obnoxious and should not be an excuse to let them roam unsupervised). The demonstrations on different kinds of volcanoes as well as the liquid nitrogen demo had my kids completely enthralled the whole time! My daughter brought her camera and proudly talks about her “volcano pictures”! I have to say, the nitrogen demo even had me amazed!

The 2nd Floor Exhibit
I think this was probably my kids favorite. They loved all the hands on activities there were to do here. It was really fun explaining to them why the fulcrum works as we battled it out in a massive tug-o-war!  Learning with them about all the different kinds of energy and how it works was fascinating for all of us. The boys loved trying out the bed of nails and decided they were pretty brave fellows! We really had fun exploring this area and luckily, my toddler was asleep for most of it so I got to play some too! Don’t overlook the boxes of brain teaser puzzles against the wall either…when I finally figured one out, my kids thought I was a pretty cool magician!

These were by no means the only exhibits we enjoyed (making the giant nose sneeze in the Life Exhibit was a favorite of my boys!) but these were definitely our favorites! We were all very impressed with the wonderful staff and how friendly, informative, and indulgent these staff members are towards the kids. They really helped to make it a special day.

Definitely worth attending, especially through the Library Culture Pass. It can be a little expensive if you’re not prepared. The parking garage for the museum will cost you $12 before validation and the special exhibits are priced per person, per exhibit. But there is definitely enough to keep everyone busy without the special exhibits if your on a budgetary diet!

Tags: culture, education, Family and Home, fun, product reviews
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Ok, now I know that kids are getting more computer savvy at a much earlier age, but seriously…iPhone Applications for toddlers? Yes, I did roll my eyes when I first discovered these games after purchasing my iPhone. But I have to give it up for the genius application designers that came up with these little gems! I tried out a few of these “preschool apps” and have found them an absoluetly indespensible addition to my iPhone repertoire!

From long lines to even longer waits at doctors offices, these little iPhone apps have created happy, busy children who would otherwise have been devoting their efforts to a well orchestrated tantrum performance. I’ve reviewed a few of these favored applications in our forum area of the website so make sure you stop and take a look at some of our product reviews in our parent forum.

Several applications that I would whole heartedly recommend are listed below with age recommendations…

• For Toddler to 4 or 5 years old: Preschool Adventures, Bubble Wrap, TicTacFree, Scribble Lite, XmasPuzzle, Christmas Tree Decoration
• For 4 or 5 to 8 (and even older): Glyder (although the controls definitely take some practice before you can really enjoy this one), Everest: Hidden Expedition, FastLane Street Racing, TanZen, Word Scramble, WordsWorth, Brain Tuner and Booty Blocks.

For a review of each of these games, check out our forum area for parents under “Product Reviews” and you can see individual reviews for each of these games. Keep your eyes on this forum for new product reviews to come!

Tags: product reviews
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