The biggest and most popular monster truck series, the Advance Auto Parts Monster Jam, is roaring into the Balitmore Ravens’ AM&T Bank Stadium on Saturday night, July 9, 2011.
They’re calling this one night Baltimore show HAVOC IN THE HARBOR.
Want some tickets?
Of course you do!
Your kids will think you are the absolute coolest parent on the planet if you get tickets to this!
UPDATE: The randomly-drawn winner from all entries is Julia B. – she has been contacted. Thanks for entering!
Here’s the official definition of monster trucks if (like me) you need:
Approximately 12 feet tall and about 12 feet wide, monster trucks are custom-designed machines that sit atop 66-inch-tall tires and weigh a minimum of 10,000 pounds. Built for short, high-powered bursts of speed, monster trucks generate 1,500 to 2,000 horsepower and are capable of speeds of up to 100 miles per hour. Monster trucks can fly up to 125 to 130 feet (a distance greater than 14 cars side by side) and up to 35 feet in the air.
Included in your win is access to The Party in the Pits from 2:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. where you’ll have the exclusive opportunity to get a view of the trucks up close and meet the drivers of the massive monster trucks, while taking pictures and getting autographs.
Reader dad Seth sent this tip, “My guys loved the monster trucks in DC. My two cents: Amazon sells noise canceling earcovers – get them before you go. They are cheaper and then work better then what is sold at the arena. They make it more enjoyable for all involved!”
Thanks Seth!!
MONSTER JAM – HAVOC IN THE HARBOR
M&T Bank Stadium, Baltimore, MD July 9, 2011 7:30pm, doors 5:30pm.
Ticket Prices:
Total Access Pass – $75 All Seats
Gold Circle – $35 All Seats
SuperValue – $25 Adults / $10 Kids
Party in The Pits: Pit Party entry is FREE to all guests with a Saturday, July 9th event ticket from 2:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Ticket Information: Tickets are available at the M&T Bank Stadium Box Office, all Ticketmaster Outlets, online at www.ticketmaster.com, or charge by phone at (800) 551-SEAT.
Discounts and Promotions: $5 Adult Discount Coupons are available at participating Advance Auto Parts locations from 6/20/11 through 7/8/11 while supplies last. See coupon for details.
HOW TO WIN THE FREE FAMILY 4 PACK to MONSTER JAM on JULY 9 in BALTIMORE
- Leave a comment on this post why your family need to go crazy like a monster trucker! Be sure to login through Facebook or leave your email address so I can contact you if you win.
- Share this post on Facebook and/or Twitter. Here’s a sample update or Tweet: A Parent in Silver Spring is giving away free tix to MONSTER JAM! Details here http://bit.ly/mwGaLN.
- “Like” A Parent in Silver Spring on Facebook. Leave a comment letting me know you’re a FB fan.
- Follow me on Twitter. Leave a comment letting me know you’re a follower and leave your Twitter handle so I can follow you back.
The winner will be randomly drawn from all entries on Friday July 1 at midnight.
Disclosure: Tickets provided by Feld Entertainment, which has over the years generously provided tickets to my family and me to review local events. In lieu of attending Monster Jam ourselves due to having a newborn, I have opted for this giveaway to readers. You’ll have a GREAT time!
Face painting, grilled up food, games for kids, steel drum band and a big ol’ water balloon fight – all at the Georgetown Waterfront this Sunday!
What you USED to do on Sundays at the Georgetown Waterfront:
What you’ll be doing THIS Sunday at the Georgetown Waterfront with your kids:
Georgetown Waterfront Summer Festival
To celebrate the start of summer, head to the Waterfront Summer Celebration on Sunday, June 26th from 12 – 3 p.m. Washington Harbour restaurants will be firing up their grills and serving summertime staples including gourmet burgers, crab cake sandwiches, and fresh seafood, giving attendees the ultimate backyard BBQ on the Potomac.
The family-friendly event will include a steel drum band, face painting, balloon artist, and lots of fun and games for all ages. The event will culminate in The Great Georgetown Water Balloon Toss at 2 p.m., inviting Washingtonians to recapture their summer camp days and compete for prizes from Georgetown businesses.
- from Georgetown DC.com
Photos from boboroshi and marksurman on Flickr via a Creative Commons license
Last night the
family and I attended opening night of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus. This year’s show, Barnum’s Funundrum, is FANTASTIC! It has an old-school, retro circus theme, hearkening back to the time of circus legend P.T. Barnum. But the acts and the special effects are totally state of the art.
The live band was spectacular, scoring all of the acts, and Ringmaster Johnathan Lee Iverson is a world-famous tenor. His live performances and songs were really enjoyable, very Broadway-esque. The live music contributed to the classic circus theme.
The kids were thrilled to meet the Ringmaster before the show, and were fascinated to learn from him that his own son and daughter travel with him, attending the circus school and nursery, and that he met their mom through the circus, and that she is a performer too!
Highlights of the show for us were the motorcycling Torres family who can ride SEVEN motorcycles upside down and around the Globe of Steel, tiger tamer Daniel Raffo who has trained a team of massive Bengal tigers (including two white tigers) to perform tricks, and the tightrope walking Sky-High Ice Gliders (one woman balances on a disco ball that is on a guy’s head while he walks the tightrope hung at the highest point of the arena!).
So the circus gets the two thumbs up from the entire A Parent in Silver Spring crew. If you’re looking for something special to treat your family to this spring, I highly recommend it. 
This weekend, Friday March 25 – Sunday March 27, the show’s at The Verizon Center. DC Ticket Prices: $35.00/$30.00/$18.00/$14.00 (Circus Celebrity, Front Row and VIP available) Get DC tickets here. (It’s such an easy Metro ride there, located right at Gallery Place.)
March 30 – April 10 its at Baltimore’s 1st Mariner Arena. Baltimore Ticket Prices: $26.00/$18.00/$14.00 (Circus Celebrity, Front Row and VIP available) Get Baltimore tickets here.
April 14 – 24 the show’s happening at George Mason’s Patriot Center in Fairfax. Fairfax Ticket Prices: $15.00/$9.00/$7.00 (Circus Celebrity, Front Row and VIP available) Get Fairfax tickets here. (This location has the lowest prices.)
Check out the links above for the exact times shows are offered on each date and to purchase tickets.
Coupon code: Be sure to use the coupon code 8MOM on advance tickets to receive $8 off every ticket for your group. And if you buy tickets the day-of a show, you can get $4 off each ticket with the last minute code 4MOM!
Disclosure: My family and I were given 4 tickets and invited to a pre-show media party. However, we are long-time fans of the circus and have attended on our own, and will happily purchase tix out of pocket in the future. Heading to the circus is one of our favorite family rituals.
New York Fashion Week just wrapped up (not that I was there or would be allowed in…I just read gossip sites and style sections when I should be concerning myself with foreign policy).
Don’t the words “Fashion Week” sound so deliciously decadent?
They remind me of watching Style with Elsa Klensch or MTV’s House of Style and reading Vogue back in the early ’90s as a kid, when I believed that by the time I was 35 I would of course wear Azzedine Alaia dresses and Calvin Klein suits every day.
(I’d hate to break it to that idealistic teen girl that the Esprit ensembles that her parents bought her at the outlets were probably way more fashion-forward than the simple trousers and tees she’d someday sport…but I digress.)
Anyways, wouldn’t it be a hoot, just once, to head to fashion shows, guzzle champagne, teeter around on stilettos, take a break from the kids and career and real world obligations and instead ponder whether these new wide-legged pants are flattering or fattening for the thighs?
Well, next weekend we can. FOR FREE. Right here in the DC area!
On Saturday February 26 at 2pm,
Macy’s at Pentagon City Mall is hosting this awesome fashion show featuring clothing for spring. Macy’s by Appointment experts (aka their personal shoppers, a free service at the store), along with Washingtonian.com style and shopping editor
Sarah Zlotnick, will be on hand for free wardrobe advice to help you choose the looks for the season that work best for you.
The decadent, fashion week VIPish details include light refreshments and a live DJ. And at the event they’ll be giving away a cool business card holder as a special gift with any $75 Macy’s purchase (while supplies last).
So grab some pals and head to the 2nd floor women’s department at the Pentagon City Macy’s next Saturday. Let me know what cute stuff you find! Until this baby arrives I’m going to be shopping for spring vicariously through you!
Macy’s Pentagon City Spring Fashion Event
February 26, 2pm
2nd Floor Women’s Department
1000 South Hayes Street
Arlington, VA
Disclosure: This is a Macy’s sponsored post. I guess my former 14 year old self would concede that working as a writer in partnership with Macy’s *was* pretty cool, even if she would prefer that I were BFF with Todd Oldham.
Alternative title: How APISS got its groove back.
Finally, I’m back with a good local round-up of lots of fun things for you and your families to do this weekend! Sorry I was not able to provide this over the summer. Because until I am able to afford a hot assistant who looks like Troy Bolton, a housekeeper like Tony Micelli or a nanny who gives me jolly holidays, I’m much more dependable during the school year. Enjoy!
SATURDAY
Kennedy Center Annual Open House Arts Festival and Multicultural Children’s Book Festival 12-4pm. This fun, free family day has a theme that celebrates Mexico, and will feature for kids an instrument petting zoo, Rocknoceros!, a humongous chalk art interactive activity, ballet dances by the Dance Theatre of Harlem Residency, performances by the National Symphony Orchestra and other world-renowned musicians and more! There will also be also be tons of children’s authors on hand performing readings for the kids as part of the Multicultural Children’s Book Festival on the rooftop level. Of special interest at the Open House is the Washinton National Opera’s special children’s performances at 3pm and 5pm.
Virginia Indian Festival in Fairfax 10am-4pm, Riverbend Visitor Center, 703-759-9018. “The Rappahannock dancers and drummers plus seven other area tribes will do live demonstrations, dance, and show and sell Indian crafts, pottery, and music. Help build a dug-out canoe, throw a spear, and shoot a bow and arrow. No reservations required. $8/adult, $5/child.”
Silver Spring Jazz Fest, full post here.
SUNDAY
Adams Morgan Day Festival
Noon-7pm. Revisit the playground of your DC youth and 20-something years…with your kid. Live music on six stages (including a new DJ Pavillion this year where your tikes can shake their thang), cheap eats, art, shopping and an introduction to the funkiest ‘hood in the District. (OK, I should be totally banned from using any more dated slang. I sound about 65 years old.)
Takoma Park Folk Festival 11am-6:30pm at Takoma Park Middle School, 7611 Piney Branch Road.
Family friendly folksiness is the vibe of this legendary event. There’s two entire stages devoted to musical and dance performances for kids and oodles of fun activities. A huge performance schedule, miles of good grub and crafts to admire and acquire.
Anacostia Community Boat House Youth River Day Free, 11am-3pm. “Learn how rowing and paddling build healthy bodies and a healthy river at a fun, free event for youth, adults, families, and kids of all ages!”
Patuxent National Wildlife Center Family Hunting and Fishing Day , Free, 1-4pm. “See how dogs help hunters retrieve wildlife, explore wildlife habitats with a guide, learn about wildlife conservation and hunting and fishing opportunities. Tie Flies to attract fish, view archery demonstrations, engage in craft activities for young children. Patuxent Research Refuge North Tract is located 1.4 miles east of the Baltimore-
Washington Parkway, off Route 198 east of Laurel. Call 301-776-3090 for more information or visit http://patuxent.fws.gov. Accommodations for individuals with special needs are available with a two week advance notice.” THANKS KIM FOR THE RECOMMENDATION!
Yes, the Troy Bolton link goes to 17 Again and not High School Musical. He looked waaaay too young in those other pics. Even for a dirty old lady like me. Hi Chris! xoxo
