The Great Allentown Fair

Every year, I take my daughter to at least one concert. Over the past few years we've seen Miranda Cosgrove perform. This year, we went to The Great Allentown Fair to see Victoria Justice. (Chances are, if you don't watch Disney Channel or Nickelodeon, you don't know who these people are. That is OK.) For some reason, I expected the fair to be on the smaller side. Boy, was I wrong. There were tons of rides, even more food stands, and even a bunch of sideshow attractions. (My sister paid $1.00 for my daughter and I to see the "world's smallest horse." It was a Shetland Pony.) Both my sister and my daughter got wristbands so they could ride all the rides they wanted to. Unfortunately, spinning rides tend to make me nauseous so I didn't get to ride anything. To be honest, I'm not all that upset about it.

The concert itself was just OK. Max Schneider was the opening act. While he is a very competent singer, he was doing this jump/dance thing that looked weird. It kinda looked like he took dance lessons from some boy bands. Boy band dancing is OK when there is a group dancing. When it's just one guy, it looks goofy. Victoria Justice was a bit more entertaining but she doesn't have the same stage presence that Selena Gomez does. Her part of the concert seemed like a big commercial for her television show (almost every song was from the show) or her new movie (her tour bus was plastered with it) or her charities (there was actually a real commercial for this on the screen while she was changing clothes).

I know that you are probably saying "Hey, this is a concert aimed at pre-teens. What did you expect?" I have now sat through enough of these concerts to know that these performers are capable of more. Selena Gomez's concerts are engaging and fun. Both of the Victoria Justice and Miranda Cosgrove concerts felt like they were just singing at us. (For what it's worth - Gomez is a Disney kid while Justice and Cosgrove are Nickelodeon.) I know that a lot of people write off kids (tween/pre-teen/younger) but there's no reason to treat them like mindless bags of cash. Yes, they will still scream and cheer for their favorite singers either way but try to make it fun for them. They are the next concert-going generation. We don't want to scare them off with bland, boring shows.

Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire

Every Labor Day weekend is Children's Weekend at the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire. We try to go every year and this year was no different. The cast members at the PA Ren Faire are awesome. Not only are they super friendly but they seem to genuinely love playing with the children. While my daughter and her friend were in line to get their Pirate Booty prizes from the treasure hunt, the actor playing Richard Burbage (Richard Furin) had a mini-marshmallow fight with some of the children. The kids loved it and he did as well. (Though he did have to run away when the children started to seriously outnumber him.) At the "Cake with the Queen" event, the children not only get cupcakes, they also get a chance to talk with Queen Elizabeth herself! (Well, as played by Jess Eppler, anyway.) She sits under a tree with a few members of her court and gives the children as much individual time as she can. She is a very busy Queen, after all.

But my favorite part of the Faire are the entertainers. Fool Hearty are our favorites. They perform three different shows - Fool School, a magic show, and an untrained dog show. Absolutely all of them are worth watching as often as possible. Giacomo the Jester was also very funny. Unfortunately, we didn't get a chance to see his knife show as it was scheduled against the end of the treasure hunt. We also didn't get a chance to see the big joust this year but it is usually very good.

And, if enjoying a Ren Faire isn't good enough for you, there is also a winery and brew pub on-site. They even have a wine tasting weekend, if that is your thing.

I heartily recommend that you check out the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire if you happen to be in the area during the show season. You absolutely will not regret it. As proof, here is a picture of my husband with Fool Hearty during their Fool School show.

Sheeder Mill Farm

With summer winding down, my family celebrated with one last trip. My mom, my aunt, my uncle, my cousin, my cousin's boyfriend, my husband, my daughter, and I all took a trail ride on horseback. About half of our group took a 30-minute riding lesson before the trail ride began, which my daughter appreciated. The trail ride itself was awesome. A majority of the ride took place in the woods so we were never in direct sunlight. Even though parts of the trail were really muddy, the beauty of the woods shone through. We all had a really great time and hope do to it again in the near future.

I'd also like to note that Sheeder Mill Farm was the best stable I have been to in a very long time. They were super friendly and the horses were all well behaved. Our group ranged from riders that have never been on a horse before to intermediate riders. None of us had any problems with our horses. (Sometimes horses will fight their riders so they can get back to the stable faster. That didn't happen here.) I highly recommend them for both riding lessons and trail rides.

Schuylkill River Outdoors

I really thought I wrote about this already. Apparently I have lost my marbles.

On Saturday afternoon (after we were sure any impending storms had passed), I went tubing down the Schuylkill River with my family and one of my daughter's friends. For anyone that really knows me, I'm not a fan of water. I can swim - I would rather avoid it though. Luckily, tubing doesn't really require going into the water much.

Basically, tubing (on any river) is where a person sits on an inner tube or raft and lazily floats down the river. Until fairly recently, the only place to do this in my area was on the Delaware River in Point Pleasant. It was a little exciting to know that we didn't have to drive so far anymore. The Schuylkill River isn't usually as deep as the Delaware. However, it is still deep enough for the kids to splash and have fun.

It's also a fairly cheap activity. For a 4-6 hour trip on a one person tube, it only costs $20. If you pay attention to Groupon or Living Social, you can usually pick up a good deal around the beginning of summer. We managed to get a trip for 4 people for less than $30. An awesome deal, if you ask me.

So, if you need something to do on a sunny day and don't feel like getting mobbed at the pool, I'd definitely recommend going tubing. A fun time will be had by all.

Camelbeach

My family didn't get a chance to really go on vacation this year. Instead, we took the day off yesterday and went to Camelbeach, the water park at Camelback Resort. Since it is only a two-hour drive from our house to the park, it was absolutely perfect for a one-day summer getaway. Luckily, the weather cooperated with us. For the most part, anyway. The park itself isn't huge. There are around 10 slides, varying between mat slides, tube slides, and family tube slides. My daughter's favorite slide was Spin Cycle. One or two people ride tubes through a shoot before swirling around a bowl only to be spit out at the end. It was tons of fun. My favorite ride was Sandstorm. A family tube, that fits up to 4 people, splashes through two funnels that throw the occupants into complete darkness. The best part about the park is that we managed to go on a majority of the water slides (there were a few none of us wanted to hit) before a thunderstorm rolled in around 4:30PM.

Price-wise, the park is pretty reasonable. General admission (purchased online) is $33. However, you can buy a 4-pack of passes for only $100. The catch is that all 4 tickets must be used at the same time. I think the park was way more fun with four people anyway.

If you are in the Pocono Mountain area in the summertime, this is definitely a must-visit place. And I recommend reserving a cabana. Not only do you receive a complimentary fruit basket in the morning, you also receive a complimentary dessert basket in the afternoon AND there is a waitstaff that will bring you whatever else you need. Very worth the money.

Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses

Last night, my husband, my daughter, and I went to the symphony at The Mann Center in Philadelphia. The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra performed The Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses. The orchestra performed 4 movements featuring music from a variety of the Legend of Zelda video games.

My husband is the true gamer in the family. He has played most, if not all, of the Zelda games. Both my daughter and I watch him play but we're not as familiar with the series as he is. However, we all enjoyed the concert. There is a large video screen above the orchestra that shows videos, both game play and cut scenes, from the games. The music was beautiful and even I recognized a few of the tunes. I also thought the video screen was a nice addition. I don't always know which game is which just by the title. Having the video helped me identify each game.

The downside of the concert was the crowd. Since this is obviously aimed at gamers and not normal symphony-goers, the crowd didn't know the appropriate behavior for a symphony. While I will forgive those that wore jeans (to the SYMPHONY!), it was extremely annoying that people would cheer and scream when fan-favorite characters showed up on the screen. Yes, I understand that Epona is awesome. But I paid a lot of money to listen to the music, not you screaming your head off for a video game horse.

If the concert is coming to your neck of the woods, I would recommend checking it out. Just keep in mind that the audience will be full of people with no knowledge of social etiquette.

JDorama review: Hito ni Yasashiku

Title: Hito ni Yasashiku Also known as: Be Nice to People Broadcast dates: 1/7/02 - 3/18/02 Number of episodes: 11 Genre: Drama Cast: Katori Shingo, Matsuoka Mitsuru, Kato Koji, Suga Kenta Plot: Three men with no "real" family live together. One day a boy appears on their doorstep with a note from his mother asking them to care for the boy. Maeda Zen (Katori) takes it upon himself to care for the boy until his family returns. What is good: The interaction between the men and Akira (Suga) What is bad: The storyline drags at the end. Letter rating: C

I am a fan of Katori Shingo and there were references to this show in an episode of SMAP X SMAP so I knew I had to watch it. As you should know by now, it took me a long time to get through this series, even though it's only 11 episodes. There just wasn't anything to make me want to watch it. Yes, I loved the playful teachings of Zen (Katori, Taro (Matsuoka), and Ken (Kato) but it wasn't enough. I'm glad I watched it. I think it would have been better if it was a little longer.

Review: Katy Perry: Part of Me 3D

Since I am a super-nice mom, I took my 10-year old daughter to see the Katy Perry: Part of Me 3D movie on Friday night. Even though it was a Friday night, our area was smack dab in the middle of a massive heat wave so I was expecting the theater to be rather full. On the contrary, besides the two of us, there were about 9 other people there. I kept expecting more people to pour in but it just never happened. Though I will admit that I was happy that I didn't have to be squashed by over-enthusiastic Katy Perry fans.

The movie itself was not awful but it seemed to gloss over absolutely everything. The backdrop of the movie is Perry's California Dreams Tour, which began on February 20, 2011 and ended on January 22, 2012. Despite the fact that this gives the documentarians almost an entire year worth of material to use, the film itself runs only 97 minutes. As a result, you only get blips and soundbites about her life. I would have loved to have an extra hour of footage to see more about the girl behind the Katy Perry persona.

If they didn't want to talk about her personal life (poor Russell Brand is shown giving a few kisses then it's nothing but text messages...I'm sure there was more to their relationship), they should have gone the Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus route and just filmed the concert with a few background rehearsal snippets. It would have been infinitely more interesting since her concert looks like it was a ball of fun.

Sadly, I can't recommend this movie to anyone. I think even die hard Perry fans would be disappointed. Wait for the Blu Ray. From what I hear, there will be additional footage in the extras. Maybe there will be something good in there.

The Avengers

I can't believe I completely forgot to post my review of The Avengers. I am a bad geek.

For those of you that live under a rock, The Avengers is a team of superheroes consisting of Iron Man, The Hulk, Captain America, Black Widow, Hawkeye, and Thor. Most of these characters have had stand-alone movies on their background. Poor Black Widow and Hawkeye are the exceptions. (Though Black Widow is quite important in Iron Man 2 and Hawkeye makes a cameo in Thor.) If you are going to see The Avengers, you need to see the previous movies to understand everything. The main villain comes from Thor while the major 'artifact' comes from Captain America.

First, let me say that this movie is awesome. I almost didn't want it to end. One of the reasons that I liked the movie is that it did require you to watch the previous background movies. That means that there wasn't time wasted on questions like "Who is this Thor guy and why does he carry around a hammer?" The movie was able to get right into gathering the heroes together and establishing why they couldn't fight this battle separately. Since we already know that they are powerful on their own, it is very important to show why they need to work as a team.

That said, there are a few little nitpicks I had. I always have a problem when they have a character on the screen for long periods of time without naming them. Nick Fury had this female 'sidekick' in S.H.I.E.L.D. that they don't name. My husband claims that they said her name once in the very beginning of the movie but I don't remember it. She goes through the entire movie as 'that chick that is the second in command or something.' Things like that don't detract from my enjoyment of movie. I would just like someone on screen to say her name more than once so I can remember who she is.

So, in the end, if you enjoy superhero action movies, you'll love this. There is a reason that the movie has been a blockbuster hit. I'm just sad that it'll take a long time before we see another Avengers movie.

Seafood Shanty

This probably doesn't matter to anyone outside the Philadelphia area but I want to get it off my chest. Back when I was a kid, Seafood Shanty was the restaurant to get seafood. It was awesome. For whatever reason (hey, I was a kid), the franchise went out of business and disappeared. Recently, a local guy decided to bring it back. He bought some of the original recipes from the old Shanty and opened a store not far from my house. We finally got to try it out last night. I was disappointed.

First, service was pretty slow. I used to be a waitress so I tend to be fairly lenient on wait times. However, none of our food should have taken particularly long to cook. The most 'complicated' food was my husband's lobster rigatoni, which didn't even have rigatoni noodles. I had a steampot, which ended up way too spicy and didn't have a whole lot in it. My daughter ordered a "bucket of dungeness crab," which contained an entire half of a crab. To top it off, everything took so long that we didn't get home until way past my daughter's bed time.

This brings me to my second point. For the amount of food we received, the price was way too high. A few months ago, the three of us visited Joe's Crab Shack. We ordered similar food and the cost was the same. BUT there was twice as much food at Joe's. The bucket of crab I had there had one and a half crabs in it.

So, if you are in the Reading, PA area and are thinking about trying the new Seafood Shanty, skip it. Drive the extra hour and go to Joe's Crab Shack in King of Prussia. You won't regret it.