NOTE: From Commonwealth Parenting Facebook page: Due to the possibility of bad weather, they have postponed their Pajama Party this Friday for a date to be determined. Call their office 804-545-1272 if you have any questions. We’ll update this information as soon as the event is rescheduled! Thanks!

The Commonwealth Parenting Center will be hosting a Pajama Party Family Fun Night on Friday, January 25th from 6:00pm-7:30pm at the Canterbury Preschool.  The whole family is invited to wear your favorite pajamas for an evening of fun, pizza, cookies, and story-time with the super popular Mr. Chris from the Twin Hickory Public Library.  (Anyone who has taken their kid to see story time with Mr. Chris knows they’re in for a good time!)  There will be door prizes for kids and parents!  Tickets are $6.00 each or a family 4-pack for $20.00.  To purchase tickets, call 804-545-1272 or visit www.commonwealthparenting.org.

Family fun is guaranteed, and proceeds will help Commonwealth Parenting Center continue to deliver educational workshops and support to Richmond area families.

See www.commonwealthparenting.org for more information about the Family Fun Night and other scheduled programs and events.

Becky Bolhuis, Short Pump Manager, shows Yousef how to use the glass cutting tools

My family has been doing a lot of fun activities at All Fired Up this summer, and we’re planning on going back during the school year too. It’s a great place to unwind and get in touch with your “inner artist”.

My nine-year old daughter enjoyed two of their summer camps – Peace, Love & Pottery and Extreme Makeover – Room Edition. She was exposed to a wide variety of techniques, including clay, ceramics, mosaic, glass fusing, drawing, wheel-throwing, tie-dye and painting.

“The teachers are really nice,” Dahlia said, “and I’m really proud of all the cool things I made!”

Some of Dahlia’s creations from “Peace and Love”

Some of Dahlia’s creations from “Extreme Make-over”

Also, my teenage son and I enjoyed some wonderful mother-son time there. He really enjoys glass working, so he decided to do a fused glass project.

I decided to take on an easier project, and did some ceramic-painting. I chose a large coffee cup and saucer, which I am sure I will find good use for. (Bonus: They told me that once it is fired, it is dishwasher and microwave safe! Love it!)

“That was a really nice way to spend the morning,” Yousef said. “I can’t wait to see how my stuff turns out!”

Yousef’s glass work project

Mine Craft clay soldier mod battle motif

I asked owner Amy Tally what other programs they offer, and the list is quite extensive: in-shop classes for all ages, after-school classes at area public schools, field trips, birthday parties, ladies night out, bridal and baby showers, corporate team building, scout troop activities, kids fun night, to-go kits… you name it!

All Fired Up is open seven days a week, and has three locations: Short Pump, Carytown and Midlothian. Contact your local store for hours, specials and the monthly activity calendar.

Also, if your child wears their camp tie-dye shirt to the store, they get 10% off cost of their next project.

All Fired Up is definitely one of our favorite family places, and I highly recommend it.

Like Angry Birds? They have that too!

All Fired Up is an advertiser on Richmondmom.com

Here are my top five reasons that I love Chick-fil-A:

1. Fresh ingredients: The topic of food quality creates a lot of buzz these days. Fast food gets a pretty bad rap with a reputation for lower quality ingredients, pre-packaged delivery, and food additives like “pink slime.”  You won’t find anything like this at Chick-fil-A.  They are committed to

All you need to make that fresh Chick-fil-A lemonade

using fresh, top-quality ingredients in all of their products.  Name brands such as Nabisco Nilla wafers, Hershey’s chocolate syrup, and Sunkist lemons are used in all of their restaurants.  During our tour, we had an opportunity to make the Chick-fil-A lemonade just like every restaurant operator.  The ingredients are simple: fresh lemons, sugar (or Splenda for diet), and water.  These lemons are squeezed fresh every day at each location.  Lemonade isn’t made from a mix or syrup.

Similarly, their chicken breasts and nuggets are hand-breaded, pies and cookies are baked fresh, and  salad ingredients are chopped in each store. Nothing is “pre-made” for Chick-fil-A locations.  This commitment to freshness ensures the best quality for your family.

2. Kids meals encourage engagment: I usually cringe when we get a kids meal from another fast food restaurant.  The plastic object included with the meal may carry some interest long enough for the car ride home but it is quickly forgotten and often relegated to gathering dust or taking up valuable storage space in our already cluttered home.  This never happens at Chick-fil-A.  The prizes

One of the popular Chick-fil-A cows

in their kids meals focus on bringing families together.  If you have been to one of their restaurants recently, you may have seen the University Games educational toys or the Klutz Build-A-Book kits that allow kids to create books for mom, dad, or family (perfect for those spring holidays that celebrate the family unit).  Stay tuned later this year for gardening tools from the National Wildlife Federation, Mercer Mayer’s Little Critter books, Jim Henson puppets, and comic books featuring the popular Chick-fil-A cows.  Did you know that each kid’s meal prize comes with a guide for families that offers activities and ideas to expand engagement with your child?  I have yet to find a comparable restaurant that offers that kind of thoughtfulness with their kiddie sized fries.

3. Challenging conventional wisdom:

Me & Dan Cathy at the original Dwarf House restaurant, the "First Chick-fil-A"

When Truett Cathy started his Dwarf House restaurant in 1947, he served meals 24 hours a day to the blue collar employees who worked in the industrial area of Atlanta where he set up shop.  The exception was that he always closed on Sunday.  Sixty-six years ago, this was not uncommon, but the Cathy family has kept to their commitment of giving all of their employees a day of rest.  It certainly hasn’t hurt their business.  Their commitment to quality ingredients also bucks the fast food standard.  Truett’s son Dan Cathy shared their family formula for success during our tour: success happens when you “get the food right, create the right employee atmosphere, and get people coming back over and over again.”  This commitment is seen not just in the three generations of the Cathy family who now run the business but the thousands of employees who work in all aspects of the corporation, from owners and operators to dishwashers and cashiers.

4. Commitment to the community: You have probably participated in a Chick-fil-A Spirit Night recently.  The individual locations are proud to be an active part of their communities. Not only do they offer creative opportunities for local organizations to raise funds, they also offer special evenings that help families reconnect and engage.  In the past year, some Chick-fil-A locations have hosted special family nights such as father-daughter and mother-son date nights, girls night out (for mothers and daughters) and football nights (for fathers and sons).  These events are usually more than just an opportunity to eat out.  The restaurants offer extras such as tablecloths, table-side entertainment, themed games, and  more! In the next year, stay tuned to your local Chick-fil-A locations for more opportunities like this.  For the cost of a meal, you can get an engaging evening out with one (or more) of your children.

5. Standing by their values: The Cathy family does not shy away from their commitment to being a family centered company. Many people know that they are a Christian family and it is evident through some of their kid’s meal programs as well as their charitable activities that their business model and employee training are centered around Christian ideals.  Regardless of your personal ideology, it is difficulty to argue with a business that is clearly family centered, focused on engagement, and also focused on balance.  I respect that commitment to the Golden Rule as well as the investment they put into both their business and the community.

Do you love Chick-fil-A?  Comment on this post, telling us what you like best about their restaurants, and you could win some great prizes brought straight to you from Chick-fil-A headquarters in Atlanta.  Comments must be made by May 28th to qualify.

Disclaimer: Chick-fil-A provided my food, airfare, and lodging during the Backstage Tour. The opinions expressed are entirely those of the author.  

The advertising-skeptical and exaggeration-sensitive no doubt interpret the familiar tag line as hyperbole; but based upon our family’s experience opening night at the Richmond Colisseum, the description’s accurate.

Setting the tone for the evening’s main events, the All-Access Pre-show (included in ticket price!) the hour preceding the show is not to be missed.

Where else can you fraternize freely with clowns?

Shake your booty with a show girl?

Assume the role of ringmaster?

Sit astride a cycle that a mere two hours later will be racing at breakneck speed along with seven others inside a seemingly way-too-small steel sphere?

Observe an elephant artist in action?

The pre-show hour passes all-too-quickly, and seats are rapidly taken.

In truly circus-suitable fashion, the national anthem is sung…

…and the spectacle begins.

During the show, our son whisper-asked, “Wouldn’t it be great to ride an elephant?”

Our daughter gazed upward appreciatively at the grace and daring of the sphere-contained “sirens.”

After 2+ hours of awe-inspiring entertainment (not including the pre-show!), as we were leaving the arena, a small girl clutching a new plastic elephant tugged my coat and asked excitedly, “What was your favorite part?” With enthusiasm, I shared mine. She shared hers.

Traveling home with my own family in the car, we each animatedly shared what thrilled us, what amazed us, what amused us, what we loved…and what we won’t soon forget.

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages, the Greatest Show on Earth is in Richmond. Please don’t miss it.

This photo really doesn't do the lights at King's Dominion justice--it was pretty amazing to walk through it with the kids.

I had forgotten just how fun it is to ride the swings at night.

We were invited recently to the kick-off of the Snoopy Starlight Spectacular at Kings Dominion. It did not disappoint.

The evening light show for families runs 6/18-8/14 and features over 1.2 million enchanting lights and an illuminated Eiffel tower, all set to music. My kids donned their “special viewing glasses” and were amazed.

My little gal with Snoopy at King's Dominion. Is this nostalgic or what?

Designed using a dazzling mixture of low energy and high efficiency LED lighting, this immersive light and sound spectacular is found along the park’s center walkway, from the Eiffel Tower to The Grove area.

Here’s some other cool stuff I didn’t realize about Kings Dominion:

• -Fireworks every night through August 14th.
• -Intimidator 305 is back and better than ever.
• -Through July 24th you can get a low $41.99 price when you buy two or more tickets for Kings Dominion and WaterWorks!

Ages 2-and-under are free, and there are twilight passes (after 4pm) for $36.99, which is perfect if your kiddos can’t last the whole day into the night.

Even our little girl, who is four, lasted well into the evening until the loudspeaker announced the park was closing, a sound at which all the kids were disappointed. I reassured them we’d be back again this summer.

Kings Dominion is an advertiser of Richmondmom.com.

So much fun!

If you haven’t already visited Great Wolf Lodge, you’re in for a treat. If you have, then you know it’s time to go back. Use your Savvy Saver card to save money too.

Did you know you get 20% off the lowest room rate and Scoops Spa with the Savvy Saver card?

Read one of the cool articles our writer Rhonda Day shared in Richmond Grandparents about a friend’s visit to Great Wolf Lodge Williamsburg. When you go, tell us about your trip! We want to hear all about it.

Great Wolf Lodge is a site sponsor of Richmondmom.com.