Lions, Tigers and Bears - Oh Yeah!

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey is THE name in circus entertainment. Billed as "The Greatest Show on Earth" since the company began entertaining families over 100 years ago, the company returns to the spotlight with its latest show - "Zing, Zang, Zoom" - a fun family entertainment spectacle that is sure to put perceptions about the circus to bed and keep your kids up all night!

Lions, tigers and bears - okay, and a few clowns - will be in Southern California between July 8 - August 2nd with shows in Anaheim, Los Angeles (Staples Center) and Ontario. Proudtobeapoppa has his tickets and will send a complete recap of opening night, but rather than read about it here, we've teamed up with Mom Central and Feld Entertainment so that we can offer our readers a special coupon code for you and your family to enjoy. Here's how it works:

Purchase tickets by logging onto http://www.ticketmaster.com/ and entering the coupon code: MOM.**

Use promo code MOM when purchasing tickets at Arena Box Offices, Ticketmaster.com or by calling 1-800-745-3000. Enter code in the “MC Promotion Box” on Ticketmaster. Minimum purchase of 4 tickets required;additional tickets above 4 can be purchased at $11 each. Not valid on VIP, Front Row and Circus Celebrity seats or combinable with other offers. Service charge, facility fee and handling fees may apply.

Show Dates:
Anaheim
July 15: 7:30pm
July 16: 1:00pm, 7:30pm
July 17: 10:30am, 7:30pm
July 18: 11:30am, 3:30pm, 7:30pm
July 19: 1:30pm, 5:30pm
July 20: 1:00pm
July 21: 7:30pm
July 22: 1:00pm, 7:30pm
July 23: 10:30am, 7:30pm
July 24: 1:00pm, 7:30pm
July 25: 11:30am, 3:30pm, 7:30pm
July 26: 1:30pm, 5:30pm
Los Angeles
July 8: 7:30pm
July 9: 7:30pm
July 10: 12:00pm, 7:30pm
July 11: 11:30am, 3:30pm, 7:30pm
July 12: 11:30am, 3:30pm, 7:30pm
Ontario
July 29: 7:30pm
July 30: 7:30pm
July 31: 7:30pm
Aug. 1: 11:30am, 3:30pm, 7:30pm
Aug. 2: 11:30am, 3:30pm, 7:30pm

A toddler vacation in Las Vegas?

Yes, although hard to believe, it may be possible. If you need or want to head to Las Vegas for any reason, I’d like to recommend the Loews Hotel at Lake Las Vegas.

The Loews is known as a child-friendly hotel so I am sure you are thinking what I was thinking – a “used and abused” hotel that we parents just have to deal with for the weekend so that our children can have a good time. However, I am happy to report this was not at all the case with this property. The hotel was sophisticated enough to allow me and my wife to feel as if I were on vacation (amenities from Lather, a store my wife frequents in Pasadena), but kid-friendly enough that our toddler had a great time, too. Here were some amazing child friendly amenities we got to experience that are regularly part of the hotel’s offerings:

- Upon arrival, kids are greeted with magna doodles

- The kid pool is huge, elegant, clean and heated. It comes with a fun water slide that is fast enough for older kids to enjoy, but slow enough for a parent to descend with their toddler. They offer noodles, floatation devices, etc. for anyone to play with throughout the day.
- There is a small beach area with toys for building sand castles, next to paddle boats and kayaks.
- At night they have a beach bonfire and sell smores kits complete with sticks, graham crackers, chocolate and marshmallows.
- Throughout the summer, they show kids movies in the pool area as well. They were showing Monsters Inc. when we were there.

I should mention that we got a great rate at hotels.com - cheaper than what the hotel was offering.

Las Vegas is the last place I’d think about taking my toddler, but we had to go this past weekend to meet a former colleague of mine and ended up having a great time.