It’s Time for the Old West Festival (Giveaway)

Being the mother of boys, I am all two familiar with the wild, wild west… I practically live there. So imagine my surprise when a friend of mine told me he ran the Old West Festival here in Cincinnati.

The festival, just a few weeks away, replicates an entire old west town (how cool is that!!) and is hosted just 15 minutes outside of 1-275, east of Cincinnati.

Since I haven’t had a chance to attend yet, here’s a bit about the Old West Festival, courtesy of the organizers:

The old west and a good ole’ fashioned gun fight go hand-in-hand. So, back by popular demand, four times daily starting at High Noon, the Big Irons Rangers return with their gun fight re-enactments. When the smoke settles and calm returns to the historic town, the Rangers will demonstrate trick shooting. Oh, don’t forget to come dressed in your best western garb as there will be a costume contest daily at 1:00 sharp.

The town will also be abuzz with period music on several stages. You’ll enjoy the sounds of the 1800’s with Changing Tymes and Gunpowder Creek, as well as Raison d’Etre, a trio mixing traditional folk songs with acapella swing tunes and Shaker hymns. Bob Ford and the Ragamuffins will get patrons stomping their feet daily.

Professor Faris’ Magic show will amaze, bewilder and astonish you. While enjoying a beer, sarsaparilla or root beer at the Long Branch Saloon, folks will no doubt get a “kick” out of Madam Gigi’s Outrageous French Cancan Dancers. Patrons will can also sit back and enjoy a good old fashioned melodrama – The Villain’s Deception.

After whetting your whistle, venture out into the prairie, where you can find talented artisans and period settlers selling their wares. Or, head into town to the pool and dance hall, western clothing store, vintage photo emporium and old-fashioned candy store.

The Old West Festival’s a grand time for the youngin’s, too. At 10:15 a.m. each day, the kiddies can get sworn in as town deputies. They will also enjoy old-timey puppet shows, storytelling and sing-a-longs. The youngsters can also participate in games, pan for gold, take a ride on the train, ride horses or ponies and cross the frontier in a covered wagon.

The Old West Festival runs Saturdays and Sundays, September 11 to October 10, 10 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.  Cost is $10 general admission; $6 for children ages 6 to 12; and children under 5 are free. Parking is FREE.  The Festival is located at 1449 Greenbush Cobb Rd between Mt. Orab and Williamsburg, Ohio just off St. Rt. 32.

To give you a better feel for the Old West Festival, check out this video I found on YouTube. It gives a great overview of the event. You’ll see that they reall go all out to make it feel like you are back in western days.

* * * * * GIVEAWAY TIME * * * * *

One lucky Mommy Bits reader will win four passes to the Old West Festival!

There are several ways to enter, you can do one or all of them for additional chances:

1. Check out the complete entertainment lineup HERE, and leave a comment sharing what Old West Festival activity you are most looking forward to.
2. Follow the Mommy Bits blog on Facebook’s Networked blogs (left side bar, click follow this blog) and leave a comment letting me know you did so.
3. Visit my other site, Family Friendly Cincinnati, and enter the Old West Festival giveaway posted there. Leave a comment here saying you did so.
4. Tweet  about this giveaway (include @mommybits) and leave a comment letting me know you did so.
5. Follow Old West Festival on Twitter: @OldWestFestival

Contest is open until  10pm Saturday, September 4th. Winner will be selected using a random number generator. Contest open to greater Cincinnati residents only. Winners will have 48 hours to respond.

DISCLAIMER: The organizer of the Old West Festival is a friend of mine. He gave me four tickets to giveaway on my blog ’cause he rocks!

Wordless Wednesday – New York, New York

For more Wordless Wednesday entries, visit:

Wordless Wednesday or 5 Minutes for Mom

My BlogHer “Celebrity” Challenge

Sure BlogHer is about blogging and catching up with old friends but it’s also a chance to have a little fun. This year I set out on a mission… to meet and have my photo taken with all of the ‘BIG’ celebrities in attendance.  You may have heard that several attended, but the ones I’m talking about didn’t quite get as much hype…..

More to come…..

Taking New York by Storm – Bloggy Style

It’s that time of year again. The time when I pack up my laptop, grab my good camera and head to BlogHer, an annual blogging conference for women.

Can I tell you how much I need this trip?  If you haven’t been able to tell by the tumbleweeds on the blog this last month, with starting a new job, and working on Family Friendly Cincinnati, Mommy Bits has been slightly neglected.  Have no fear though, while the posts have been few… the family adventures offline have not.

BlogHer is probably my favorite blogging conference of all (This is my 3rd year going) and this year it’s taking place in my FAVORITE city- New York!  This year I’m heading up with Susan from Working Moms Against Guilt and Tricia from Once a Month Mom (NOTE: AMY, this trip will NOT be the same without you). For three days we’ll be talking about blogs and social media, learning how to better writers and just as important — how to be better members of the blogging community.

While I do love the conference, probably my favorite reason for going is to reunite with many of my blogging friends who are scattered all over the country.  I feel lucky – I’ve been writing this little blog since 2006, and during that time I’ve made some amazing friendships.  While we chat regularly online, it’s not often that we have a chance to be together in the same room.

Where Has The Time Gone?

Happy 8th Birthday SM!

Wordless Wednesday ~ No Reservations

For more Wordless Wednesday entries, visit:

Wordless Wednesday or 5 Minutes for Mom

Qdoba Giveaway!

It’s giveaway time here on Mommy Bits and have we got a good one for you! In celebration of its new Mango Salad entree, Qdoba has given me FIVE gift cards, each good for 4 Mango Salad entrees and chips and salsa!

So what is Qdoba’s Mango salad? It’s fresh mango salsa, fire grilled chicken and crisp romaine lettuce with a zesty cilantro-lime vinagrette and served in a taco bowl.

WIN IT

Five lucky Mommy Bits readers will win a gift card good for 4 Mango Salad entrees & chips & salsa.

There are several ways to enter, you can do one or all of them for additional chances:

1. Leave a comment sharing one of your favorite Qdoba menu items.
2. Follow the Mommy Bits blog on Facebook’s Networked blogs (left side bar, click follow this blog) and leave a comment letting me know you did so.
3. Subscribe to my blog, and leave a comment letting me know you did so.
4. Tweet  about this giveaway (include @mommybits) and leave a comment letting me know you did so.

Contest is open until  10pm on Monday, July 5th, 2010. 5 winners will be selected using a random number generator. Contest open to greater Cincinnati residents only. Winners will have 48 hours to respond.

DISCLAIMER: Qdoba provided me with a gift card for 2 complimentary Mango Salad entrees so that I could try them for myself.

Getting Away

This weekend we packed up the car and headed down to Burnside, KY for a little relaxing on Lake Cumberland. Like many weekends before it, we had an amazing time boating and swimming, just having some good quality family time.

Here are some pics I snapped over the course of the weekend. I’ll be writing more about our trip soon over on Family Friendly Cincinnati, if any of you are considering a trip down. We’ve been coming down for 5 years and I can’t say enough great things about it.

SM rides up front as we head out on the Lake Friday morning.

Marty let’s BMan help drive the boat through a no wake zone.

Everyone loves to ride on the tube! SM gears up for his first ride of the season.

Just because he’s little, doesn’t mean he’s not fierce! The BMan gets ready to tear it up on the Lake.

After a long day on the boat, the boys settling in to watch movies and play Angry Birds on the iPad (we borrowed one for the weekend… One word= Amazing)

The REAL Karate Kid

This weekend SM achieved another amazing milestone.  He tested and received his blue belt in Karate!

SM’s been taking Karate at Nishime Karate since October and it’s been one of the best things to happen to him. In addition to him just having fun doing it, it’s done wonders for his self esteem and his confidence.   If you are considering enrolling your son or daughter in Karate I would highly recommend it. Here in Cincinnati Nishime has four locations across Cincinnati including locations in NKY & Indiana.

Here’s a quick picture of SM with Shihan after receiving his belt.

If you are curious as to what karate is like, here’s a video I shot of him testing for his belt.  I could not have been more proud.

Finding my Inner Artist…..

I will be the first to tell you I am not an artist. This morning though I decided to give it a try, and rather than go out and buy art for my son’s room, I decided I was going to try and make it.

Knowing that my son is wanting to do his room in a “rocket” theme, I headed out to Google to find inspiration.

After finding a few images that seemed do-able, I invited the B-man to weigh in. We agreed upon a rocket picture that both he liked and that I felt I could replicate.

I grabbed some acrylic paint and a canvas we had in the basement from some previous art adventures and Voila!

Well how did I do? I think OK. Check it out:

My Rocket Ship “Masterpiece”….

I did the whole thing freehand, drawing the images in pencil, then covering them with paint.  When I asked the Bman what he thought, he loved it. Unfortunately now he wants me to make a painting for each of his walls (augh!).  Not sure there’s that much “artist” in me!