I’ve had the idea to do legitimate toy reviews from real parents here on UndefeatedDaddy.com for a long time. However, I wasn’t sure exactly how to go about it. Now, I’m going to start doing real toy reviews of the toys my own kids get, play with, and enjoy (or don’t). That way, the readers here will know that they are getting real non-fake toy reviews that are not designed to gather a 5-star rating on Amazon or whatever.

Leapster 2 Touch Screen Problem

This article is not a Leapster 2 review. That will be coming soon. However, the short version is the this. My kids love the Leapster 2. However, they do not have a Wii or Xbox or iPad or anything like that. Thus, this is the first and only kids gaming system we have, other than those aimed at younger children.

That being said, do not buy a Leapster 2. They are being phased out to make way for the Leapster Explorer. That means your Leapster 2 will be out of date in no time and there may not be any new games for the Leapster 2. We didn’t know this at the time, but we plan to take advantage of clearance sales to stock up on Leapster games from eBay and elsewhere online to make it last until we are ready for a new game system.

I bring this all up because we got a Leapster 2 game handset for Christmas that developed a bug where it would ask us to touch a flag to choose USA or Canada, but nothing happens when you touch the screen. It’s only a month old, so you can bet I was on the phone ready to be outraged.

Check out my article about whether there is a Credit Karma Scam.

It turns out that this is a rather common problem with Leapster and Leapster 2 game sets. Fortunately, there is a very easy fix.

Fix No Response Touch Screen on Leapster 2

To fix a broken Leapster 2 touch screen, you have to recalibrate it. To do so, you need to enter an undocumented (or poorly documented) configuration mode. To get into the system mode on the Leapster, hold down the ? (Help) button while turning it on.

Keep in mind that you have to already be pressing the ? button when you touch the power button and you have to keep holding it down until a configuration screen shows up.

Once you get to the config screen, press the A button to calibrate the Leapster touchscreen. The unit will display little red circles with a cross. Just touch each circle with the pen. They will appear in the four corners of the screen and then in the center.

When you’ve done that and are back at the configuration screen just press the power button or the down arrow until the unit shuts off to reset. Now, when you start the Leapster 2 and it asks you to select USA or Canada, it should actually work when you touch the American flag.

Leaptster Screen Freeze Touch Broken originally published at Undefeated Daddy

As your youngster learns how to talk, you’ll notice that there are several little things about English that don’t really make sense. The irregular verbs come to mind. Many children end up saying "go-ed" instead of went and my own frequently says will’nt in place of won’t. But, nothing prepares you for just how stupid the English language is until your child starts reading and writing.

We all know about silent letters, in particular the silent K at the front of some words, but it goes way beyond that. Some silent letters have purposes after all; for example, the silent E at the end of many words makes the preceding vowel take the long sound, which makes perfect sense. However, English is filled with nonsensical letters, words and sounds.

For starters, what exactly, is the purpose of the letter C?

The sounds it makes are already covered by other letters, namely S and K.

Cake is two K sounds. Why is one of them a C and the other a K?

Why does G need to make a j sound if there is already a letter J?

Garage has the letter G make both the g-uh sound and the j-uh sound in the SAME WORD!

Face and case make exactly the same sound except for one of them has a C for that S sound in the middle and the other has a C. How does that make any sense whatsoever? And, just for fun, that K sound in case is brought to you by a C instead of a K.

Fruit and Food have very similar "oo" sounds, and yet one is UI and one is OO. That wouldn’t be so bad except that OO sometimes makes the "oo" sound like in You (which uses OU instead of anything that makes sense. Oh, and by the way, OU usually makes an "ow" sound instead, so why in the world does it take the "oo" sound here?) Of course, OO also takes the "uyh" sound like in book and hook.

Of course, your child will eventually learn all of the inane exceptions, double sounds, nonsense lettering and more that compose the English language. However, in the meantime, good parenting requires you to remind your child that this is NOT a lack of understanding on their part, nor are they not trying hard enough. These quirks can sap the confidence of young readers, especially if they start to feel like they are doing well and the run into a pile of these bizarre spellings in a row.

Remind your child that the words they are reading don’t follow any patterns. Be sure to use their language. Tell them, "Yeah, that doesn’t make any sense, but that word is actually TOWN even though it is just the word OWN with a T on the front."

By reminding your young reader that what they are tripping up on is a glitch or quirk in the language and not something that they should be able to figure out, you save their confidence and continue to encourage their reading development. Above all, never correct harshly, especially when the error is in the language, not your child’s understanding of the sounds of letters and letter combinations.

Finally, remember that you’ll go through this again soon when your child graduates from reading letters and sounding out words and moves on to putting words together into sentences. There are dozens of grammar rules that make just as little sense as the letter C does.

Dumb English Words and Sounds

Here are just some of the idiotic words and sounds that make learning reading and sounding out words difficult for beginning readers.

• there, their, they’re and your, you’re
• town, gown, frown, down, towel BUT round, ground, loud (all "ow" sound)
• ow = "ow" BUT own = "oh-n" BUT town = "t-ow-n" (ow or oh, not both)
• book, look, hook BUT food, school, tool

There are tons more. As I remember them, or my poor kiddo runs across more, I’ll try and update this list.

Learning to Read Means Learning English is Dumb originally published at Undefeated Daddy

Every year, the Denver Zoo put up tons of Christmas lights and stays open late for visitors who follow lit paths through the zoo looking at the array of lights. This zoo event is called Zoo Lights. The 2011 Denver Zoo Lights event runs from December 9th through January 1st, 2012. Denver Zoo Lights 2011 hours are 5:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m. Regular winter zoo hours are in effect for the days before the lights which are from 10:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. However, the admissions gate closes at 4:00 p.m. so you have to already be in the zoo by 4:00.

For Denver Zoo members, there is a special Zoo Lights preview weekend November 25 – 27 with hours from 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. The member’s preview weekend includes a Santa Claus in attendance each night, fire dancers and ice carving.

Denver Zoo Christmas Lights 2011

The 2011 Denver Zoo Lights offering includes over 150 animal lighting displays. Many of these animal lights are “animated.” The animation is created by having a full lighting display of the animals in several positions, but only illuminating one part of the display at a time. The effect is seeing an empty spider web, then an insect approaching, getting caught in the web and finally, the spider moving toward it’s prey.

Other animated lighting displays include a fish shooting water at a dragon fly, a wolf chasing a deer, prancing gazelles, elephants spraying water, and a fox playing with his mother by running through a log.

The zoo puts up some special concession treats during Zoo Lights as well. There is hot cocoa, hot apple cider, caramel apples and kettle corn. Standard zoo treats like cotton candy and sodas are also on sale. This year, if you buy a 2011 Denver Zoo Lights souvenir hot chocolate cup or hot cider cut, you get unlimited refills during the entire run of zoo lights.

2011 Denver Zoo Lights Tickets

Tickets for Zoo Lights are $9 for adults (age 12 to 64), $5 for children (age 3 to 11) and $7 for seniors (65+). Zoo members, however, get a two dollar zoo lights discount on their purchases, making tickets $7, $3 and $5 respectively.

Denver Zoo Lights coupons are not available, however, there are a couple of ways to get discounted Zoo Lights tickets. First, bring a canned food donation and get $1 off of admission. Also, you can get a discount on admission for groups of 10 or larger. However, you need to purchase your tickets in advance to get the group tickets rate.

If you are hoping for a Denver Zoo free day during zoo lights, sorry, but that isn’t going to happen. All the 2011 Denver Zoo free days have passed for this year.

The lines for buying zoo lights tickets can get long, especially if you go close to Christmas or on certain weekend nights. The special smart parenting tip is to skip those long lines by buying your tickets in advance, which you can do on the Denver Zoo website. Print out your tickets and bring them to the zoo, then skip the line near the front where people are buying tickets and head straight to the gates. A ticket taker will scan your printed barcode.

You do not have to exchange your online ticket print outs for admission tickets at the ticket sales booths.

Looking for other fun things to do with kids in Denver?

Zoo Lights Tips

1. Buy your tickets online. Skipping the buying lines means less waiting and more seeing.
2. It gets cold after the sun goes down. Come prepared for a chilly night and possible winds, even if the daytime was sunny and warm. Gloves are a must and hats will be appreciated on many nights.
3. There are bathrooms by the entrance, but also in the Giraffe House. Don’t count on using the bathrooms back by the monkeys, the trail usually ends before you get there.
4. In years past, the Zoo has had the train and carrousel rides open during zoo lights. The train ride is not long, so don’t wait in a huge line. The carrousel holds more people than it looks like, so the line moves quickly.

Come dressed warmly and with some snacks and hot drinks and you’ll have a great time at zoo lights with the whole family.

Denver Zoo Lights 2011 originally published at Undefeated Daddy

Yet another study suggests that BPA is dangerous for kids and pregnant mothers.

The plastics industry is quick to roll out the same arguments that the tabacco industry used for years. This study doesn’t count for some reason. The results are inconclusive. Blah, blah, blah.

What they are desperately hoping to distract everyone from is that this is NOT the first study to suggest health problems arising from using BPA in food and drink containers. In fact, this is yet another study in a long line of studies that have shown a potential link to health issues, including cancer, from using BPA in plastics. These studies have led most other first world countries to ban the use of BPA in food and drink containers.

Parents should avoid using baby bottles, sippy cups and dishes that have BPA. Since the government won’t require manufacturers to disclose when BPA is used in manufacturing plastics, customers have no choice but to refuse to purchase any plastics not clearly marked BPA Free.

BPA Dangers for Pregnant Women originally published at Undefeated Daddy

So, a new dad to be is chatting with some guys who are already dads, some newer dads and some older dads when he brings up the idea of a baby monitor with built-in intercom instead of a high-quality video baby monitor. As he sees it, he can talk to the baby and provide some reassurance from another part of the house, thus making the baby feel better, and maybe even fall back asleep.

The conversation goes from the older dads saying that they never had anything like that when their kids were infants, to newer dads saying debating whether or not they could or would use such a thing.

Finally, I brought up a point that I think was getting overlooked.

“Do you think that your child is more or less likely to get escalated and insist on seeing you and being held when he hears your voice but can’t find you?”

The conversation turned around quickly with all the dads concluding that a baby that hears your voice will insist on seeing you and the intercom thing might actually scare an infant who doesn’t understand how Mom or Dad can be there, without being there.

The dad to be wasn’t so sure. In his mind a soothing, albeit electronic sounding, lullaby from afar might be just the thing to soothe an infant back to sleep or relaxation.

As any dad will tell you, the key to keeping a baby by themselves, whether in a crib or just playing in a room is to keep them from seeing you, because as soon as they notice you, they will notice you leaving or notice that you are not holding them or otherwise being with them. This goes true for hearing you as well.

Before you buy an intercom baby monitor, test out the concept. Say a few words to your baby from outside the room and see if your toddler calms down or insists on an appearance. Then, save yourself the money and by a one-way baby monitor with a video screen instead.

Baby Intercom Good Idea? originally published at Undefeated Daddy

Like most parents, we have tons of used baby clothing and used toddler clothes that are in excellent condition. Since babies and toddlers grow so fast, unless the clothing gets stained, it almost always ends up in good condition since they outgrow them before they can wear them out.

Tax Deduction for Donating Baby Clothes

There are a lot of ways to get some money for used children’s clothing. The simplest is to donate clothing to a charitable organization. Any IRS 503(c)(b) non-profit organization will do. Unless you have your deduction limited for some reason, you can deduct the "value" of donated clothing from your income taxes.

If you are in the 30 percent tax bracket, for example, your taxes are basically reduced by $3 for every $10 of clothing you donate. (This is overly simplified, but it works to give an approximate idea.) When it comes to valuing the clothes for a tax deduction, there are a lot of rules, but the one most people use is to deduct the "thrift-shop value" of the clothing, which is essentially what you would pay to buy the same item from a thrift shop. Some charitable organizations like Goodwill and Salvation Army have approximate values for common items posted on their websites. TurboTax also includes an estimated value if you do your income taxes with TurboTax.

It might not sound like much, but figure if you count every shirt you donate at just $2, and you donate 50 shirts, that works out to $100 and a savings of $30 on your taxes. Not bad for putting everything in a box and hauling it down to the donation center.

Selling Baby and Toddler Clothes as Garage Sale

Another way to get money for your used kids’ clothing is to hold a garage sale. In this case, if you sold 50 shirts for $1 each, you would get $50. If you could get $2 a piece, you would get $100.

The catch is that there are a lot of people selling a lot of children’s clothing at a lot of garage sales. In other words, how much baby clothing you can sell depends on how many buyers show up willing and able to buy. Generally to attract much traffic to a garage sale, you need more than just a pile of baby clothes, so unless you have other stuff to round out your garage sale, this might not be the way to go.

Children’s Clothing Consignment Shops and Once Upon a Child

Generally, a consignment shop takes your stuff and tries to sell it. They keep a percentage, often half, and you get the rest. Since a consignment shop doesn’t want merchandise piling up, and only makes a profit when items sell within a reasonable time, many of them mark items down as time goes by. Your percentage remains the same, but the selling value drops.

This model does not necessarily lend itself to clothing since the items aren’t sold for a high enough dollar amount to warrant all of the tracking necessary. Thus, used clothing consignment stores will often just buy the clothes directly from you.

Once Upon a Child is one such children’s second hand store. You take in your children’s clothing, and other items, and they make you an offer. Is Once Upon a Child worth it?

Here is the deal. Used clothing is one thing. Quality used clothing is another. While it is obvious that clothes such be in good condition and without stains or tears, they also need to be brand name. Clothing from Carter’s and Jumping Beans, for example, may draw an offer. Anything from a department store or off-brand catalog or whatever, will not.

I took several boxes of neatly folded clothing, totaling well over 100 pieces, and my Once Upon a Child store offered to buy only 22 of them for a grand total of just over $27.

If you are going to sell your clothes to Once Upon a Child or other child second-hand clothing store, here are some tips.

1. Take Small Amounts – Don’t take a huge lot all at once. This isn’t a good way to clean out your basement, it is a good way to clean out your drawers.  It takes a while to go through and you lose count of what you are selling and at what price. In my example above, I got just over $1 for each piece. Is that a good deal? Considering I already tried a garage sale and plan to donate the rest, it’s better than nothing, but with such a huge load, I lost control over saying yes or no to specific pieces.
2. Separate Your Brand Names - The Once Upon a Child website list their "preferred" brand names. Start by taking in just the clothing you have that matches that list. This maximizes the chances of you getting an offer on most of it. If you want to throw in a few extra pieces just to see what happens, go ahead.
3. Don’t Expect Much – A dollar for a piece of baby clothes or for toddler clothes isn’t a lot. Of course, you won’t get much more donating or selling on your own, either. The good news is you can always say no.
4. Check What Is For Sale First – You get a 20 percent bonus on the amount offered if you take store credit instead of a check. That is only a good deal if you already want to buy. Forcing yourself to buy things just to take advantage of store credit doesn’t make sense when you can get cash. Only take the store credit if you know there are things to buy.
5. Don’t Bother Without Brand Names - The way the OUC business works is that they buy brand name clothing that they can resell for used, but brand name prices. I saw long sleeve Jumping Beans shirts on sale for $7.50. That comes out to just under half the typical online retail price of $16 and even less than what you would pay at full-price in a store. That math doesn’t work for baby clothes that you bought for $3.50 on sale at Target.

Is It Worth Selling Kid’s Clothes to Once Upon a Child?

I don’t mean to single out Once Upon a Child here. It just happens to be the place I went. I assume that most other kid’s consignment shops work similarly. However, I think the key is to determine whether you would get more value out of the tax deduction than out of the second hand sale.

For example, if you are in the 30 percent tax bracket, and a nice sweater provides a $5.00 deduction, then you are netting $1.50 off your income taxes. If OUC or whoever is only offering a dollar, then you are losing money.

On the other hand, they cut you a check immediately, whereas you’ll have to wait until you file your taxes to reap the benefit of the donation.

If you want cash now, Once Upon a Child is a decent alternative.

If you can never rack up enough tax deductions, consider donating the clothing and taking the tax deduction instead.

Is Once Upon a Child Worth It? originally published at Undefeated Daddy

One of the most difficult things for parents is getting enough sleep. Newborn babies cry at all hours of the night to be fed, to get affection, or because they are cold or wet. At this stage, most parents are aware that when a baby cries, day or night, it is because they need something. After several months, parents develop new concerns. First, is the need to ensure that baby is getting enough sleep, and second is the need to regain some sort of semblance of schedule so that Mom and Dad can start getting enough sleep as well.

Best Baby Sleep Books

A baby who doesn’t get enough sleep can be a nightmare. A baby who isn’t sleeping enough is more likely to be cranky and irritable. In addition, a baby who isn’t getting enough sleep is very likely keeping one or both parents awake as well, and just like babies, a Mom or Dad who isn’t getting enough sleep will also be cranky and irritable.

It is no surprise that there are hundreds or even thousands of books out there about how to get babies to fall asleep and to sleep through the night. They all have their little "tricks" but in the end, there really isn’t too much they can tell you because every baby and every toddler is different.

One school of thought suggests just letting the baby cry it out. The idea is that the baby will eventually figure out how to fall asleep, if from nothing else than pure exhaustion, on their own. Obviously, this strikes many parents as cold hearted and goes against the natural instinct to provide love and care for a distressed child. For parents not willing to just let the baby cry, there are plenty of other suggestions, not all of which are any good.

The best book about getting babies to sleep I have read is called The Happiest Baby on the Block. The main premise of the book is that babies are not ready to sleep on their own when they are born. Actually, the author goes so far as to suggest that developmentally, babies would be better off with another month or two in the womb, but that is impossible due to the increasing size of the infant.

Whether you buy into that logic or not, there author does describe an actual methodology that worked very well for our children. Ironically, the author’s method for helping babies fall asleep and stay asleep can be described in just a few paragraphs. In order to fill out a book, there is plenty of theory and stories from other parents.

Basically, there are the five S’s. You can break it down to actually two Ss. The first is to Swaddle the baby and the second is to make the "Shhh" sound. This works for two reasons very simple reasons, although the author expounds in great detail in order to fill out the book.

Swaddling the infant eliminates two major causes of babies waking up. The first is that when putting an infant to sleep you have to put them on their back to minimize the risk of SIDS. Doing so means there is a point where the baby transitions from being held to being laid down where their arm may fall backward due to gravity. This action often wakes a baby up just as they were ready to fall asleep and Mom or Dad have to start over. The second is similar to the first. Infants are very prone to have movements in their sleep. Some of these movements are sudden and jerky. They may wake the infant on their own, or they may cause the infant to be awoken when she accidentally hits herself with her hand, or she accidentally kicks out and hits the side of the crib. Swaddling effectively pins the limbs in such a way that they can neither fall out nor lash out, thus improving the amount of sleep.

The "Shh" sound is really nothing more than being your own walking white-noise machine. It’s a soothing reminder that you are there without being too loud or too distinct to keep the baby stimulated and awake.

This was all we needed to get our daughter sleeping through the night. Our son, unfortunately, had some stomach issues and was too strong and determined to be kept in a swaddle before he started sleeping through the night which led to me reading some spectacularly terrible baby sleep advice, much of which is widely repeated.

Bad Baby Sleep Advice

Some advice is bad because it is wrong or harmful. Other advice is bad because it is not helpful. Much baby advice and many baby books fall squarely in the second category.

The number one bit of advice to help babies sleep involves a routine. That is a good idea, but no matter what any author tells you, it isn’t enough. Even if it were, the routines suggested are laughable.

Almost every baby book suggests a nighttime routine that includes a warm bath and then a song in a darkened room.

That’s just great. That covers exactly ONE time of putting the baby to sleep. Even if it worked perfectly, you are still stuck for six to twelve more times of putting your baby to sleep. Are you going to give them a bath before every nap? Are you going to give them a bath every time they wake up in the middle of the night?

In other words, the whole "routine" thing is useful only for babies or toddlers that are already sleeping well enough that the only real problem is getting them to fall asleep for the night. Any parent will tell you that getting a baby to sleep once per day is a cakewalk. Keeping them asleep and making sure they get to sleep every time they need is the challenge.

The other worthless idea that is constantly prattled on about is the idea of letting the baby "fuss for a little bit."

Really?

If the only issue with getting babies to take their naps was "letting them fuss" for a few minutes, there would be no need for sleep books. We all try that or get told that pretty quickly, What these books are silent on is what to do if the baby screams bloody murder for 45 minutes straight. What about the baby who falls asleep then wakes up screaming hysterically?

My advice is to quickly return any book that makes more than a passing mention of letting a baby fuss and to return any book whose only advice revolves around getting a baby to sleep ONCE, at night, with no inclusion of how to put a baby down for a nap or back to sleep in the middle of the night.

Best Sleep Advice for Babies originally published at Undefeated Daddy

As a father of a two-year old it is distressing that the designers of toddler boys t-shirts are all addle brained monkeys packing a cliché thesaurus. "Daddy’s Little All Star," "Mommy’s Little Angel." Ugh! Are you kidding me.

When your child is first born, all of those tiny shirts that reference other family members are cute. The little sayings like, "Here comes trouble," are adorable. But, now that my son is two-years old, I’d like to dress him like real boy. Is that so much to ask?

Here are the Undefeated Daddy rules for toddler t-shirts.

1. Do not use other family members to make cutesy t-shirts. Guess what, he’s his own person now, he isn’t "Daddy’s Little" anything.
2. Not every shirt needs a big line graphic on it. Sure, a car shirt or a guitar shirt is a cool PART of a wardrobe, but your shirt lineup should have two or three of those and then some that just have cool patterns or graphics.
3. Not every shirt has to have a number on it. Guess what? My kid is two. He doesn’t play any sports, and he sure as hell doesn’t play team sports. And, why in the world would their be a number on a shirt with dinosaurs on it? Am I supposed to buy this shirt because it makes him seem more like My Little All Star?
4. Make your fake sports shirts realistic. We don’t want to pay $20 for a t-shirt that he’ll outgrow in six months. So, I understand not buying a license to print a real NFL team logo on a shirt, but for the love of all that is holy, at least make your fake team name shirts realistic. I doesn’t have to say Denver Broncos on it, but why in the world does it say, "Big City All Stars Football Team Superstar," with a big number in the middle? What the heck is that supposed to be? Big City All Stars with a number is good enough. We get it, it’s a generic sports shirt, don’t beat it into the ground.
5. "Older" sayings and words on a t-shirt for toddlers isn’t funny. A t-shirt that says, "I’m kind of a big deal," could be funny. (Of course, you monkeys would insist on a giant Ron Burgundy picture to ruin any hope of coolness.) However, shirts that say things like, "Girls have cooties," or "When is my curfew," are just stupid. Again, a TWO-YEAR old. It isn’t funny now, and won’t be funny when he’s three or when he’s four.
6. Class – Seriously, can you just make one shirt per lineup that has some class to it. Guess what? It will sell out while your, "Daddy’s Awesome Girl Cootie Inspector 24" shirt sits on the shelf at the discount store.
7. Oh, and those "Property Of" t-shirts? They are funny, clever and cool ONLY if they say Something Athletic Department. If they say a person (or Grandma!) they are both insulting and dumb. Please stop it.

Who has a good idea where to get cool toddler t-shirts without big stupid graphics or big stupid sayings? I’d love to hear about it.

Cool T-Shirts for Toddler Boys originally published at Undefeated Daddy

There are some nice fireworks shows for the 4th of July around Denver each year. The 2011 Denver fireworks show calendar is no exception.

Rockies 4th of July Fireworks Games

The Colorado Rockies fireworks games are popular sellouts each year, but you don’t have to be in the stadium to see the fireworks display at Coors Field. The fireworks get shot off from outside the stadium on the west side, so if you can see the western wall of the stadium, or the sky above it, you can see the Rockies fireworks from outside Coors Field. The 2011 Rockies fireworks games are on Friday July 1 and Saturday July 2 this year. (The Rockies are away on both the Fourth of July and the 5th.)

Concerned about taking young kids to fireworks? The Rockies shows are good fireworks to take kids to see, especially if you spring for tickets. You get bathrooms, assigned seats, and concession stands if needed. A great parenting tip for dads with youngsters who love baseball or who just appreciate a rare scenic opportunity is to get tickets on the west side of stadium in the bleacher seats beneath the scoreboard. Fans are not allowed to stay in those seats due to safety concerns, so they move everyone from there down onto the field to watch the game! It may be the only chance your children have to actually be on the baseball field at Coors Field.

If you are wondering what time do the Rockies fireworks show start, that is a little tricky. The fireworks are scheduled for after the Rockies game ends, but there is a significant delay for all the usual post-game stuff, plus they clear the stands nearest the fireworks launch location. In all, the Rockies fireworks usually start around 20 to 30 minutes after the game ends. Listen to the game on the radio or watch the Rockies on TV to follow along and get an idea of when the game will end. Don’t forget that the fireworks games fill the stands, so parking will be full near the stadium. Plan ahead to be sure you have plenty of time to walk to your favorite fireworks watching spot.

Rockies Fireworks End of Season Game

The Rockies also have a fireworks game at the end of the season as a fan appreciation celebration. The 2011 Rockies fan appreciation day fireworks game is Friday September 16th this year. Like the Fourth of July Rockies fireworks displays, the Fall Rockies fireworks game starts at 6:10 p.m. and the fireworks start after the game ends. Again, expect a delay between when the game ends and when the Rockies fireworks show starts.

Unlike the 4th of July fireworks from the Colorado Rockies, the September fireworks are not as popular with outsiders. The game still fills the stands with local families that want to watch the fireworks from inside Coors Field, but the areas surrounding the stadium are less crowded, mostly because fewer people are tuned into the possibility of a fireworks show downtown during September.

Fireworks Around Denver 2011

There are plenty of other fireworks shows around Denver in 2011.

Here are some of the usual 2011 Denver Fireworks displays to watch for:

• Fourth of July Fireworks at Mile High Stadium after the Colorado Rapids Game
• 4th of July Fireworks show at Dick’s Sporting Goods Stadium in Commerce City
• City of Glendale fireworks on July 2nd
• July 4th Fireworks at Folsom Field football stadium at CU Boulder

Don’t forget. In Colorado most fireworks shows are scheduled to start “at dark” which in the middle of summer is usually sometime after 9:30 p.m. Many 4th of July displays begin at around 9:40 p.m. and are timed to end before 10:00 p.m. which is a key time for noise ordinances and zoning restrictions in many Colorado cities and towns.

Happy 4th of July everyone!

Colorado Rockies Fireworks Games 2011 originally published at Undefeated Daddy

Dads, “jumper” means “has built-in shorts”.

You put it on by pulling up from the feet, NOT by pulling it down over the head.

Friendly tip from a still undefeated, but partially humbled Daddy.

Dad Dressing Daughters originally published at Undefeated Daddy