Month: May 2013

Summer Reading Program Rewards & Tips for Getting Your Kids to Read!

Studies repeatedly show that children who do not read during the summer demonstrate a significant loss in reading skills, and start school behind where they left off.  Luckily, libraries across the state provide summer reading programs to help prevent what is called the “summer slide.” For 85 years, the Denver Public Library has provided summer reading programs as a fun way to incorporate reading and literacy-rich activities into summer family time. The program is divided up into three age-appropriate themes: birth –preschool, kids K-5th grade, and teens 6-12th grade. Prizes are given as they reach three reading milestones including books, Elitch Garden’s tickets, bookbags and other goodies. Summer of Reading is one of the Denver Public Library’s most important programs for children and te...

At graduation, Colorado girls’ blooming friendship takes center stage

The plan calls for Kati Pietrafeso to take a seat with her Overland High School graduating class in a chair at the end of a row. Then, when it’s time for her best friend, Elena Nevel, to walk across the stage Friday and receive her diploma, Kati can quickly rise and join her. If all goes well, they will take the last steps of their high school careers together, inseparable as they’ve been all year. “It would feel really good to help her celebrate all she’s accomplished,” says 18-year-old Kati. “It’s a big day for me, but it’s also a really big day for her.” Elena, also 18, cannot express what the moment would mean for her. Diagnosed with significant developmental delays and severe autism, she is, for the most part, nonverbal except for ...

‘Boy or Girl?’ Gender a new challenge for schools

From the time they are born, we put our boys in blue beanies and our girls in pink ones. It’s a societal norm, an expectation even, that you just are what you are born—a boy or a girl. From early on, we divide toys and activities by very distinct gender lines, with superheroes and trucks and muck on one side and princesses and dolls and all things frilly on the other. Many children land, enthusiastically, on the expected side. Others dabble in both “girl” and “boy” things. But what if your kid, even from an early age, mostly showed interest in doing opposite-gender things? More importantly, what if they wanted to BE the opposite gender—or a less-defined mix of both? And what if they wanted to test those limits in public places, like school? Would you let them?

Quiz: What Color Should You Paint Your Toes?

Summer sandal season is here! Not only is it time to shave your thighs instead of just your calves, it’s time to take nail color seriously. Your tootsies can’t hide in boots or in fuzzy slippers. Let those protective layers of hardened keratin shine! But what color should you paint your toenails? This is a difficult question we must all answer. With hundreds of colors to choose from, it can be a daunting decision. Here’s help. 1. You recently dropped a frozen pork roast on your foot, resulting in severe bruising. It reminds you of: a. A sunrise over a tropical ocean b. Kermit the Frog c. A Goth’s tender smile

Pirates Cove Family Aquatic Center

**CONTEST CLOSED. CONGRATULATIONS TO LISA V. AND JACLYN F.*** Ahoy, Mateys! Mile High Mamas wants to send you to Pirates Cove Family Aquatic Center in Englewood and we have a giveaway and fantastic deal to do it! Pirates Cove offers a leisure pool with a large play structure, a 25-meter, 6-lane pool, a 35-foot slide tower with three slides, a lazy river, concessions, and more for your summer fun. They are open now through Labor Day and, in addition to the daily fun they offer, Tuesday, June 18 at 9 a.m. will be the World’s Largest Swimming Lesson (we’re talking Guinness Book of World Records!) to build awareness about the vital importance of teaching children to swim to help prevent drowning.

Denver Deal: People’s Fair, Bowling, Movies & More

Memorial Day weekend was AWESOME for me! I flew a plane over Denver! Seriously! This was something that I have wanted to do for a long time. I got hooked up with Western Air at the Broomfield airport via Cloud9Living.com. My instructor seriously let me actually fly the plane in the air – even though this was my first time in a plane! Now, I’m totally hooked and want to do it again. Is there something that you have wanted to try? Step outside your comfort zone and just do it!  My review will be posted on Cloud9Living.com shortly! Pirate’s Cove Pirates Cove Family Aquatic Center in Englewood is Open! For a LIMITED TIME ONLY: Discounted Family Four Pack to Mile High Mama readers:  4 General Admission Tickets (any combination of Adults & Children) for $20 (retail value $3...

Events: Capitol Hill People’s Fair, Theatre Hikes Colorado, Elitch Gardens’ New Additions

Capitol Hill People’s Fair. On June 1-2, the largest of Denver’s summer festivals, this fun and funky event in Civic Center Park features live music, one-of-a-kind arts and crafts, and a food bazaar with Colorado cuisine. This year the Kids Corral will include a carnival as well as free craft projects and activities for kids including spin art from KOSI 101 and crafts projects from the Girl Scouts and Home Depot. Don’t miss the bungee trampolines, bounce houses, rock climbing wall and more from the kid’s carnival! http://www.peoplesfair.com/ Theatre-Hikes Colorado. June 1 and 2, 11 a.m.; June 8 and 9 11 a.m.; June 15 and 16 10:30 a.m.; June 23, 10:30 a.m. Join Theatre-Hikes Colorado for an exciting retelling of “Snow White” by Marjorie Sokokoff where audience and actors take a ...

How to Have a Safe and Fun Family Summer

Summer vacation often means fun-filled activities for children — and, unfortunately, some hazards as well. With a few simple measures, you can help protect your children from unintentional injury and keep them smiling all summer long with these tips from Children’s Hospital Colorado How can we stay safe at parks and playgrounds? Each year, more than 200,000 children are treated in emergency rooms for playground-related injuries, most of them related to falls. Falls from any height can result in a concussion , which happens when a blow causes a jarring impact to the brain. With or without a loss of consciousness, a concussion can cause changes in behavior or alertness.

Win a Father’s Day Getaway to Embassy Suites Downtown & History Colorado Center

It’s Father’s Day and the typical thought process enters your mind . . what am I going to have the kids get him for Father’s Day? Well, maybe we here at Mile High Mamas can solve that problem thanks to our lovely friends at the Embassy Suites Downtown and History Colorado. Enter here to win a fantastic package for dad! Here’s what they’ve got for mamas to win for the family for Father’s Day. The Embassy Suites Denver Downtown Convention Center, named one of the “Top 25 U.S. Hotels” for 2013 by TripAdvisor is welcoming kids of all ages with the new Denver Family Getaway offer. This package is valued at $239 and includes one-night accommodations in a spacious suite with a separate bedroom with two queen beds, a pizza party dinner, including two 10 inch pizzas with toppings, a chicken quesadi...

Water World opens this weekend as other Denver metro area fun centers and amusement parks ready their rides

Roll out the beach blankets: Water World opens on Saturday for the summer season. The massive aquatic amusement park boasts nearly 50 splashy rides, from a family-friendly lazy river to high-speed thrillers for the big kids. Upcoming events at the park include the Belly Flop Splashdown on June 27, a contest for steel-nerved, college-aged daredevils with some sweet prizes — scholarships, concert tickets and laptop computers. The park, at 8801 Pecos St. in Federal Heights, is open 10 a.m.-6 p.m. daily starting Saturday, weather permitting. Tickets are $34.99 for kids 40-47 inches in height; $39.99 for people 48 inches tall and above; $8.99 for seniors age 60 and older. Discounted tickets are available after 1:45 p.m.; residents of Westminster and the Hyland Hills Park and Recreation District...

Learn with your kids this summer with these Denver adventures

Most of the time, as parents, we encourage our children to do things we already know how to do. We help them with homework we did ourselves many years ago. If we are baseball fans, we sign them up for a team and smile when they first put on their uniform. If we play the piano, we help them read the notes as they learn an instrument. If we are multilingual, they learn a second language at home. If we like to read, they read along with us. Our kids also discover their own unique talents as they grow up. Rarely, then, do we have the opportunity to learn something entirely new together. And it is a surprisingly amazing experience. On a recent trip to the beach, my three boys and I all went snorkeling for the first time. So we got accustomed to breathing through the apparatus at the same time. ...

Little Girl Rises above Challenges of Autism, Inspires Parents to Open Therapy Center

In 2005, Tommy and Amanda Shannon were blessed with a beautiful baby girl. They named her Lily and she was going to grow up to be anyone or anything she wanted to be. When Lily was three, their dreams of her learning to ride a bike, graduating from college and getting married were shattered when she was diagnosed with mild to moderate autism. “Nothing can prepare you for hearing this devastating news,” said Amanda. “Doctors said that she may never talk or understand what we were saying. We were numb, we were lost, we were helpless.” The doctors told the Shannon family that there was no cure and that they should not expect a cure to be found. They said that Lily would never be “normal” and that she may even have to be institutionalized at some point. “How does any parent hear this type of d...

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