Look no further than the Del Mar Fairgrounds and the fabulous KOOZA by Cirque du Soleil. Tickets are still available for this is amazingly entertaining show (it runs until March 28, 2010).

My husband and I recently went to a special screening of the show and we were blown away by the talent of the performers and the hospitality of the Tapis Rouge VIP lounge. The food was delicious! Here we are enjoying the Tapis Rouge.

KOOZA has a few (spoken) parts that are at least PG so I’d be careful about taking your littles, but all in all, be prepared for potential audience participation (very amusing!) and a very entertaining evening.

Check out a sneak peak by viewing the trailer (it won’t quite do it justice– the acrobatics, dancing and clowning are, of course, even better in person!).

We even brought home an affordable souvenir for our little clown…

Follow Cirque du Soleil on Twitter!

You know when your kid hands you a book and asks, “Can I read this?” and you have no idea what the book is about? You flip through it, hoping to find an age-range or anything that will tell you if the content is right for your child.

Yeah, that’s where I was one day when my (then) 8 year-old came staggering toward me with a pile of books taller than she was—books I knew nothing about. Knowing how sensitive she is to some scary stuff, I just didn’t know if she should read them.  And she was reading them faster then I was.

I got online to find a resource for parents that would give me the scoop on children’s books. Not just a Cliff Notes description of the synopsis or a review, but one that would warn me that the Junie B. Jones books use the word “stupid” a lot. They’re really funny books, I just would’ve liked to have known that before I read them to my 4 year-old. Or that the content of many Young Adult books is pretty mature–sometimes shockingly so.  Even if you have a precocious reader, you may not want them reading Twilight at age 10, just sayin’.

Even after a lot of clicking, I couldn’t find a website that had parent reviews of children’s books that had the info I wanted.  I figured that other parents might be looking for the same info, and Bookalachi was born. Well, after many long nights, piles of toys/laundry/dishes ignored, trips to the library, and conversations with lots of parents.  And yay! for frozen pizza.

Oh, and I do have a special category of books that aren’t a good pick right before bedtime, since I am pro-sleep.

Bookalachi–pronounced just like it’s spelled: book-ah-LA-chee

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Melissa Caddell is the co-founder of Bookalachi.com. A writer who loves (quality) coffee, she has been known to hide in the closet to get work done. She lives in the Denver area with her daughters (ages 10, 7, and 3) and her husband, Casey. Click on over to melisscaddell.com

There are a variety of locations throughout San Diego County that will be hosting cleanups on the morning of September 19, 2009, sponsored by I Love a Clean San Diego and San Diego Coastkeeper.

I’ll be at the Swami’s, Encinitas location, ready to do my part!

Click here to see the list of all SD County locations and to register.

This is also a great way to introduce your children to caring for the environment in practical ways. I love the quote on the California Coastal Cleanup Day website that says, “Coastal Cleanup Day coordinators encourage youth participation, as it instills environmental stewardship and volunteerism at an early age.”

Let’s get our beaches cleaned up so that we can continue to enjoy them!

Here are some posts from about the blogosphere celebrating and supporting Earth Day.

• Celebrating Earth Day~ Plant With Purpose {about a San Diego-based initiative and organization}: Gidget Goes Home
• Ten Ways To Save The World Without Losing Your Mind: Healthy Bliss
• Earth Day 2009: Green & Clean Mom
• Sigg Water Bottle Giveaway: The Ohana Mama
• Earth Day Giveaway: Joy’s Hope
• Ed Begley Jr. joins non-profit start-up Green Wish for its Official Launch!
• Earth Day Twitter Giveaway: Geek Mommy

Just for fun, check out the Google Earth Day logos throughout the years!

Also, Walgreens has a special Earth Day discount and a free reusable bag! Thanks to @sdbargainmama for the tip!

Please share your Earth Day posts, tips or links in the comments!

Nicole/Gidget, Mel & Sugar

It’s always fun when online friends become real friends. That’s one of the goals of San Diego Mommy Spot– bringing together moms and mommy bloggers online and in “real life.”

Here are a few things I loved about Ryan Bros Coffee, right off the bat:

• The yummy tea latte I had
• The beautiful painted floor, which features products by Lifedeck of San Diego
• The chalkboard menu- I love these colorful chalk signs!
• The company’s motto: “Life’s too short to be bitter” ~ what a great statement to make about coffee and life in general!
• The nice atmosphere and barista
• Free Wi-Fi!

Ryan Bros is indeed owned by the three brothers, who lived in Jakarta, Indonesia as children and expand on their motto by saying that it “represents years of living and appreciating quality experiences that make life rich.”

I’ll be getting my free Tea at this Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf in La Costa tomorrow afternoon after my daughter’s nap! Shoot me an email (nicole[at]sandiegomommyspot[dot]com) or an @ reply on Twitter (@NicoleakaGidget) if you want to meet up with me!

I’m really excited to be letting you know about a great campaign coming up, in the San Diego area called The Tap Project, that will provide an easy way to help out a little bit with the water situation in Africa. Basically what it’s all about is, from March 22-28 various restaurants around San Diego County will charge 1 dollar for tap water. That 1 dollar will give 1 child in Africa clean and safe drinking water for 40 days. It’s an easy way for people to help.

Here’s how the project is described on Tap Project’s website:

From March 22-28, 2009, restaurants and volunteers across the country will join together to raise awareness about the critical role water plays in a child’s survival. With the support of thousands of friends like you, we are confident that we can achieve this goal of reaching zero preventable deaths in our lifetime.

Get Involved

If you go to the San Diego area page on Tap Project’s website, there is an easy-to-use map to help you find participating restaurants. If you don’t see your favorite restaurant listed, you can talk to them and then submit their information to help get more restaurants listed!

You can also volunteer for the campaign, and specifically, you can even volunteer in your workplace. You can even join the San Diego Facebook group and follow them on Twitter to stay up-to-date.

Stay Tuned

San Diego Mommy Spot will try to provide you with a list of participating restaurants on Sunday, March 21st, the first day of the campaign, so let’s get started and help get even more restaurants to participate in the awesome event.

Do you know a young person between the ages of 7 and 18 years old, doing extraordinary things in his/her community or around the world to better the lives of others?

Now through February 27, you can enter these young leaders in the 2009 search for Build-A-Bear Workshop® Huggable Heroes®. Twelve Huggable Heroes will be selected and each will be awarded with a $7,500 educational scholarship and $2,500 in the form of a donation to the 501(c)(3) charity of his/her choice. Entry forms are available at all North American Build-A-Bear Workshop stores and online at http://www.buildabear.com/huggableheroes.

Visit buildabear.com/huggableheroes for more information, full contest rules or to enter someone you know for the Huggable Heroes program. To brighten your day, check out the gallery of past Huggable Heroes to see how young people can truly make a difference!

Vote For Mel!

Our very own San Diego Mommy, Melanie, is trying to win a free trip to Blogher 09! If you’ve ever been to a blog conference, you know how exciting and beneficial it is. I just got back from BlissDom 09 a week ago, and I had an amazing time.

You can help by voting for Melanie in the Mabel’s Labels contest- she’s one of 10 finalists!