Cadillac Ranch for Kids?

I know you might be thinking, “why is FFC featuring Cadillac Ranch, isn’t that a bar for twenty-somethings?” Before the jet-setting party crowd descends on the Cadillac Ranch for some late night fun, you can actually take the family for lunch or dinner.  Recently, I was visiting my parents who live downtown and we were debating on where to go for dinner with the kids.   Since I had a Restaurant.com gift certificate for the Cadillac Ranch I was lobbying for that.  My Mom asked, “really, you want to go to the Cadillac Ranch?”……….”uh….yes”.  So off we went.  (On  a side note, I always pull up Restaurant.com to see what local restaurant deals they have – lucky for us, the gift certificate I had was good for $25 off a $35 purchase and, even better, I only paid $3 for the gift certificate since I got it when Restaurant.com was having one of their frequent specials).

Accompanied by my Mom, brother, and my girls, we headed for Fountain Square.  Since parking under Fountain Square is $5, we opted to park under the Westin for only $1.  Since the Westin is located right across from Fountain Square it was a no-brainer.  I love saving $$.  Upon entering Cadillac Ranch, we were warmly greeted by the hostess.  Cadillac Ranch is a large restaurant/bar with an open air feeling since part of  one bar extends into the outdoor seating area.  We opted to sit inside and we were seated in a large  booth. My girls loved it since there was plenty of things to look at – they could count all the guitars above them, see the big blue Cadillac jutting out from the wall, and marvel at the riding bull and the ring. There were no bull riders on our visit, although my girls kept asking if they could hop on.

Our server greeted us with a smile while handing out our menus. I was excited when I opened it and saw that they actually offer kids’ meals.  Yes, Cadillac Ranch is family-friendly.  For $4.95, kiddos get a choice of chicken tenders, flatbread pizza, hamburgers, pasta and grilled chicken. The meal includes a a drink and a brownie for dessert.  The  only drawback is that the drinks were full-size  and if you have kids, you know how easily little hands can tip these over.  Miraculously for us, we averted any spills (I know complaining about a huge drink is sort of odd).

Our meals took a bit longer than expected but since my kids stayed entertained with all the decor it was okay.  My brother had the Cadillac Burger ($8.95) with shoe-string fires. Mom and I decided to split the Cowboy Bites appetizer (3 mini-burgers topped with onion straws for $9.95) and the Black & Blue Salmon Caesar Salad ($13.95).  My girls gave their meals high marks and the waiter was very sweet when K ordered her pasta with sauce and Parmesan cheese on the side.   S got the chicken tenders and the large tenders were accompanied by shoe-string fries.  My brother was pleased with his burger.  The sliders were okay and would have been better had the buns on the sliders been up to par (you can never beat a really good crusty roll). I liked the crusted salmon that was seasoned perfectly with just the right amount of heat but agreed with my Mom that the amount of salad for $13.95 was a bit underwhelming, which is probably why we polished it off fairly quickly.  The brownie dessert that the girls got with their meals was an added bonus for all of us since they were big enough to share and  we all got our “chocolate fix” for the day. Even with the few minor meal problems, I would definitely return to the Cadillac Ranch with the family.  Any place where my kids finish all their meals, is put on the top of my list. Plus they have some great happy hour drink specials during the week – only $2 for domestic beers and well drinks.

Our adventure continued after leaving the Cadillac Ranch.  Since we had to go through Fountain Square to get to our car, we mingled right in with the large crowd that was happily dancing to some festive latin beats.  Fountain Square has Salsa on the Square on Thursday nights.  It was wonderful to see so many different people enjoying downtown Cincinnati. My girls got right out on the dance floor – no inhibitions there. Eventually, I had to sashay onto the floor with them after their repeated attempts to get me dancing.  I just wish I had some rhythm, but since my girls were having such a good time, I just put this in the category of the things we have to do for our kids and boogied on down.

This weekend, Metro Parks of Butler County is hosting a really fun boating event – the Crazy Cardboard Regatta.  It’ll be held at the Voice of America Park in West Chester, Ohio.  The fun starts on Friday, July 16 from 5-10pm. On Friday you can enjoy live music with the Jump-n-Jive Show Band and Stormy Weather and the boat designers, builders and paddlers will be on hand to show you  their nautical masterpieces and discuss their creations.  All the boats are made out of cardboard.  There will also be hot air balloon rides for only $5/ person if the weather is okay. On Friday,  you can even vote for your favorite boat and the winner of the “People’s Choice Award” will be announced on Saturday!

On Saturday, the boat race is on.  The racers will get in their cardboard creations and paddle 200 yards to the VOA finish line.  Opening ceremonies and the race begin at Noon but the VOA opens at 10am if you want to bring some chairs and get a good viewing spot.  Which boat will sink, which one will float?  There will be prizes for fastest boats, Best Team Spirit, Best Overall Design, Most Creative and the Titanic Award for the best sinking!

Here’s the schedule of events courtesy of Metro Parks of Butler County:

Friday, July 16
2-4pm: Preregistration and arrival of boats
9am-4pm: Vendors and booth setup
5pm:  Event begins – boats available for viewing
Food and drinks (including adult) available
Voting for People’s Choice Award boat
5:30-7:30pm: Jump ‘n Jive Band
7:00-9:00pm:  Tethered hot air balloon rides (weather permitting) sponsored by
Houser Asphalt for $5/person.
7:30-9:30:  Stormy Weather Band
9:45:  Voting for People’s Choice Awards ends
10pm: Prefestivities end

Saturday, July 17 (in the event of rain, this schedule moves to Sunday, July 18 )
10am: Registration opens and technical inspections of boats
11am: Vendors open
12noon: Opening Ceremony – Racing begins (Class I, II and III)
2ish:  Racing ends & Presentation of Awards

This is a great event for families so I hope you’ll head on over.  Even though the event is free, you’ll need a valid Metro Parks parking permit to enter the park.  You can purchase this upon entering.  It’s only $10 for a yearly pass (transferable to other vehicles) and good at all the Metro Parks of Butler County or you can purchase a day pass for $5.

For more fun things to do North of Cincinnati, head on over to my personal website, MasonMetu!

Photos courtesy of Metro Parks of Butler County

If you get the chance, you should make a trip to Bonnybrook Farms.  I was lucky enough to visit this beautiful farm for my daughter’s first grade class school field trip.  We got to hop on a wagon ride, visit the barn with the friendly farm animals, and play on the playground. They have a  slide built inside Horseshoe Hill that the kids will enjoy doing over and over again plus there is a huge tunnel under the hill that the kids will love running through (wish I could bottle their energy). There’s also mini buildings just perfect for a child to enjoy and let their imaginations soar.

The large Harvest barn has plenty of picnic tables and a lots of great farm memorabilia on the walls to view. This year they have a new family-friendly activity that is perfect for city folk who’d like to enjoy a bit of the country.  On Saturday nights beginning July 10 through August 28, they have their Chuck Wagon Dinner Rides.

The Chuck Wagon Dinner Rides is something that the whole family will enjoy.  Here’s a schedule of events from their website:

“5:00 p.m. Games & Entertainment: Work up a hearty appetite before dinner by participating in our farm activities. There’s something for all ages and all activity levels. There will be time for activities after dinner as well:

• Clodhopper Golf • Petting Barn

• Farmyard Play Area • Fish Feeding

• Horseshoe Hill Tunnel & Slide

• Catch and Release Fishing  (Bring your own fishing pole and bait)

• Giant Slingshots

6:30 p.m.  The Dinner Bell Rings! Head on over to the Harvest Barn for a buffet of farm fresh delights! Join in the fun and grill your own mouth watering, juicy steak or chicken just the way you like it.  Children’s menu offers a choice of hot dog or hamburger. Drinks are included but you may BYOB if you like.

8:00 p.m.  Wagon Ride: Breathe in the fresh country air and enjoy the scenery as you head out down an authentic old wagon road to Todd Fork Creek. Pull up a log, have a seat and enjoy dessert around the campfire.”

All the fun events and dinner are included for one price.  Grill your own steak dinner is $25/ages 11 and up, chicken dinner is $22/ages 11 and up.  Kids 4-10 years are $12 and they can either have hot dogs, hamburgers, and kids 3 and under are free. They also let you BYOB if you’d like to bring some adult beverages, but regular drinks are provided.  Tip: An RSVP is needed and if you use coupon code “Tasty Adventure” you can get $2 off each reservation.

One of the things I loved most about Bonnybrook Farms is the people.  They have the most friendly staff. I  even got to meet the owner, Bonnie, and she was so hospitable.  I didn’t realize she was the owner until the end of our field trip.  She was great with all of the kids, she got one of the horses to talk (you have to see it to believe it), held the baby goats for the kids to pet and was so welcoming to our school.  I hope you’ll visit Bonnybrook Farms soon and see their wonderful hospitality first hand.  If you can’t make it this summer, definitely set some time aside in the Fall for their Fall Farm Days (Saturday & Sundays from Sept. 25-Oct. 31) with free admission and parking and lots of free events for the kids.

Bonnybrooks hospitality continues and they are giving one lucky FFC family, a family four pack of tickets to the Chuck Wagon Dinner Ride.  To register please do one of the following and if you do more than one you get an extra entry for each. You have until Tuesday, July 13 to enter and the winner will be announced on July 14.  The winner will be notified via email and will have 48 hours to claim their prize or another winner will be selected.  Good luck everyone.

• Join the FFC newsletter and leave a comment in this post so we can contact you (you can join on the FFC home page).
• Leave a comment in this post on your kids’ favorite farm animals (or your favorite).
• Tweet that @FamFriendlyCin is having a Chuck Wagon Dinner Ride give away to Bonnybrook Farms (make sure you leave us a comment that you tweeted).
• Take a look at www.bonnybrookfarms.com and tell us something you learned on their website.

Bonnybrook Farms is located in Clarksville, Ohio.  It’s about 20 minutes from Kings Island and 40 minutes northeast of Cincinnati.

Disclaimer: Bonnybrook Farms graciously offered to do a give away after I contacted them.  We have not received any compensation or tickets for personal use from Bonnybrook Farms for doing this post.

If you’d like to see some other great farms to visit, head on over to my personal website, MasonMetu.

Moms 4 Family TV (M4FTV) is a new organization that is helping to promote family-friendly movie viewing and would love to get families together for a “family movie night”. I love the idea since I fondly remember getting excited every Sunday night for “The Wonderful World of Disney”.  You know we’re all about family-friendly at FFC so I was thankful when they offered our viewers a chance to win a DVD/CD bundle pack from the last movie they supported, Secrets of the Mountain.  I didn’t get to see this movie but luckily, there is an encore performance coming soon.  It’ll be on July 10 on NBC.

The trailer for the next movie, The Jensen Project, looks great too. I’m actually looking forward to this movie and have my DVR set to record in case I don’t get to see it live on July 16th on NBC. Here’s a link to the You Tube video trailer for The Jensen Project to give you a sneak peak. We’d love to hear what your favorite family-friendly movie is so please leave a comment below (this also gets you entered in our give away).

To enter to win one of five DVD/CD bundles, please do one of the following listed below.  Contest ends July 13, 2010 at 9:00pm. We will use random.org to select our winners and you will have 48 hours to claim your prize otherwise we will select a new winner.

• Leave a comment below on your favorite family-friendly movie.
• Check out the M4FTV website and leave a comment on this post on something you liked.
• Send a tweet that @FamFriendlyCin is having a movie give away for Secrets of the Mountain.
• Join our FFC newsletter and leave a comment in this post that you did this (you can join the newsletter on the FFC home page).

Thanks for entering and best of luck. If you’d like another chance to win, enter MasonMetu’s give away on my personal blog.

Disclaimer: I have not received any bundle packs for doing the give away – just wanted to give our readers a chance to win and learn more about M4FTV.

Food, Families & Fun…..

Pizza and kids go hand in hand. There aren’t too many kiddos who don’t love pizza. No offense to Domino’s Pizza, but after a while I tend to get tired of my girls’ “go to” pizza of choice.  That’s why I’m always up for a visit to Pizza Tower. Obviously, pizza is their specialty but they also have a great selection of menu items -  salads (get the family size salad for $6.79 to share), pastas, wings, wraps & calzones.  They also have some yummy specialty pizzas and they serve adult beverages. Happy hour, here we come.

Pizza Tower is made for families.  The building is sort of shaped like a tower (thus the name) and the circular staircase winds up and up to different dining levels.  The first level is all about the kids and the pale blue covered walls are adorned with some of their favorite cartoon characters – Scooby Doo, Dora, The Peanuts gang and more. There’s also a mini television viewing area where the kids can watch a kid-friendly show while you wait for your meal.  Here you don’t have to worry about the noise level – all the families eating seem to cancel one another out.

The service is friendly and fast.  I think they’ve perfected how to serve families. When you’re seated, they provide each child with a fistful of fresh dough for them to shape and mold.  The kids’ meals ($2.79-$3.99) also include a small cup of soft serve ice cream but drinks are extra ($.99 with free refills). Our favorite night to visit is Wednesday since it’s kids’ eat free night.  Two kids can each get a free one-topping pizza with a minimum adult purchase of $5.  I also love the Pizza Tower pizza, there’s something about the crust that tickles my taste-buds and both my kids and I like the sauce (small feat in our family).

After dinner, we’ll give the girls some quarters for the upstairs game room.  This is the only area I’d improve on.  The game room is a bit cramped and I think the games all need to meet my friend, Clorox.  But since the eating areas are clean, I just make sure I bring some hand sanitizer after our gaming fun. The upper levels of the Pizza Tower has plenty of seating and this is a great place for a Mom’s group or a sports team to meet for a pizza party or special event.   If you visit, check out some of the local savings magazines since there’s usually a coupon for Pizza Tower or just click on their website for coupon specials.  During the week, they have their ongoing daily specials:

• Monday – All-You-Can Eat Spaghetti Night – 4-9pm – $5.99
• Tuesday -  Timed Tuesday – starting at 4pm – if you go at 4, a medium one-item pizza is only $4
• Wednesday – Kid’s Eat Free Pizza Night (my personal favorite – 2 kids get a free one-item pizza with every $5 adult purchase)
• Thursday – All-You-Can-Eat Wings – 4-9pm for only $7.99

If I give the girls a choice on where they’d like to go to dinner, they happily chant, “Pizza Tower, Pizza Tower”. It’s a win-win for all of us. If you’d like to visit, Pizza Tower is located at 8945 Governors Way, Cincinnati, Ohio 45249. They also do carry out or delivery within a five mile radius. Call (513) 683-8400.

Yes, you and your family can enjoy the outstanding Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Gardens for only $1 on July 21 from 9am-6pm. Learning Through Art is hosting their 5th annual, Kids Cultures, Critters & Crafts Festival at the Zoo.  Yea for all of us.  This event is jam packed with fun things to do for kids. Of course, top on the list is seeing all the animals, but you’ll also enjoy lots of cultural entertainment, musical guests, dancing, face-painting, crafts and more. The Amazing Portable Circus will be there and you can also see Zak Morgan perform.  They have so much packed into one day, that you won’t want to miss this fun event.

As an added bonus, if you live near any of the bus routes, you can hop aboard The Art Bus Route with Metro for only $1 round/trip and there will be entertainment on the bus to keep you smiling.  You can visit Metro to find out where to hop aboard Route 1.

LTA says it best on their website, “Join Learning Through Art as we build bridges, break down barriers to bring neighbors and neighborhoods together to celebrate the mosaic beauty of our region.” Thanks to Macy’s for sponsoring this event and to the Cincinnati Zoo for hosting the venue. There are many other wonderful organizations that help make this all possible, and if you click here, you can read more.

A little piece of Americana is waiting for you in Sharonville, Ohio.  The Root Beer Stand hasn’t changed much since 1957 but it’s surroundings have.  What once was a main thoroughfare has now been replaced by industrial buildings.  Don’t let this deter you since once you pull into the lot, the industrial buildings seem to fade away and you are transported to an earlier time and, if you’re lucky, you may hear the thundering of a train as it passes by.  Our family always enjoys making a pit stop there over the  summer.  Since it’s only open seasonally, you’ll want to put this on your summer to do list.  We like to make a day of it and we’ll visit Sharon Woods first then head over for a late lunch.

If you visit  The Root Beer Stand, you’ll want to try some of their delicious root beer.  It is handmade and an ice cold mug of root beer will definitely put a smile on your face.  Originally it was known as the A&W Root Beer Stand but when the A&W franchise dissolved in 1982, The Root Beer Stand was renamed and has carried on ever since.  I love that it is still a family-owned business.

If you visit, remember that the place is small so you may have to wait for a spot at the counter. But your kiddos will be happy if you do since mine love sitting at the counter and ordering their hot dogs or hamburgers and drinks.  They also have little games they can play to keep them occupied until their food comes and they will also be entertained by the amount of ball caps hanging from the ceiling. They won’t have to sit for too long since the service is not only friendly but fast.  Their menu consists of hot dogs, hamburgers, and sandwiches. Their specialty is their famous footlongs and they are yummy (plain/$2.50, with chili or chesse/$3.25 and my favorite with chili and cheese/$3.75).  You can also get either a mug of root beer or you can order by the jug – a gallon is $5 and ½ gallon is $3.  If your whole family is going to have root beer, this might be the way to go. They also serve orange soda by the jug.

If root beer is on the menu, then you know that ice-cream should be too.  So, if you want a delicious root beer float, then this is the place to be. All the floats come with two dips of hand dipped Velvet ice cream and they are a root beer lovers dream (small/$2.50, large/$3.50, quart, 3 dips/$4.50 – they also have a smaller junior size for the little ones).   You can also enjoy other hand dipped ice cream flavors and ice cream novelty treats.  After we eat, we like to take our ice cream outside; behind The Root Beer Stand is a nice outdoor seating area complete with picnic tables, trees, and some umbrellas for shade.  There is also a small playground for the kids to enjoy.   On our visit, there were quite a few people enjoying the day out back.  There was an older couple, a family with a young baby and a couple with a dog.  In fact, I’d say The Root Beer Stand is dog friendly since I saw at least three dogs stopping by with their owners (they stayed outside of course).

One final thing to note is that The Root Beer Stand only accepts cash so make sure you visit an ATM before you get there since you’ll be so disappointed if you aren’t able to enjoy a frosty mug of root beer. You can dine in or call in advance for take out (513) 769-4349.  If you have any suggestions on other unique places to eat, please leave a comment below.  We’re always excited to hear from our FFC viewers on places they love.