Look for ChiIL Mama this weekend: hangin' out downtown with giant insects, rockin' out at Sheffield Garden Walk, and checkin' out China Town

We came back from vacation and hit the ground running.   For those following along on our Sweden 2010 Adventure, I do promise to get back to the recap.   Sweden was so amazing, we want to include lots of photos and do the trip justice. It'll be worth the wait.   But time sensitive matters have to come first.


Special Deals:  

In this heat wave, with temps and humidity that feel like 100 degrees, we highly recommend taking a trip down under--down under Chicago and down under raging waves of chill water, to our favorite, local, Australian themed water park. 


Next week we'll posting a full photo feature on Sagezilla and Du-Jay's adventures at Raging Waves.   


In the mean time, they have some fun special events and deals going down right now.

Making Waves with Backpacks

July 11th - 18th Blessings in a Backpack Week You can make a difference in a child's life simply by bringing in new or slightly used backpacks and receive a discount on your daily admission price all week long. This unique program is designed to feed elementary school children whose families qualify for the federal free and reduced meal program, and may not have any or enough food on the weekends. The program is administered through schools and a local grocer partners with the program to provide food in the backpacks. Every Friday, students receive their backpacks with food staples and they return their backpacks on Monday. For every new or gently used backpack that is donated, you will receive $5 off the regular price of a full-day pass. Helping others and enjoying big family fun at Raging Waves makes it a perfect day! Jordin Sparks Ticket Give-Away and Meet & Greet with Radio Disney Road Crew Join the Radio Disney Road Crew at Raging Waves on, Friday, July 16th, from 3 to 4 pm for your chance to win a pair of tickets AND meet and greet passes to the Jordin Sparks concert the next day, Saturday, July 17th at the House of Blues in Chicago! The first 100 kids get a free Coin purse Keepsake while supplies last. We'll have music, dancing and more cool prizes!

Check out their web site for details at Raging Waves .

Raging Waves Waterpark
4000 N. Bridge St.
Yorkville, IL 60560
630.882.6575

Raging Waves, Chicagoland’s newest and largest waterpark, is located in suburban Yorkville, Illinois, on Highway 47 - just 45 minutes west of the Chicago Loop.

Kenazworks 2010

Cirque Shanghai

This week, ChiIL Mama will be posting a full blown slide show and feature on Sagezilla and Du-Jay's adventures at Cirque Shanghai.

If you're ready for your own cirque experience, here's the deal.

“CIRQUE SHANGHAI: CLOUD 9” PARTNERS WITH NAVY PIER FAVORITES
TO OFFER THE NAVY PIER ALL-DAY FUN PACKAGE

Activities Abound for the Entire Day at Navy Pier – All for One Low Price

CHICAGO – “Cirque Shanghai: Cloud 9” has joined several other Navy Pier favorites to offer patrons the Navy Pier All-Day Fun Package.  The package includes exclusive Gold Circle seating to “Cirque Shanghai: Cloud 9,” vouchers for the Ferris Wheel, the Shoreline Sightseeing Skyline Lake Tour and a coupon for 20% off food purchase at RIVA Restaurant.  This value package cannot be beat at $35.75 for an entire day of entertainment at Navy Pier.  The Navy Pier All-Day Fun Package can be purchased at www.ticketmaster.com/shanghai.

In its only U.S. engagement, Cirque Shanghai delights and astonishes audiences of all ages for a fifth straight summer season with a new world premiere production, “Cirque Shanghai: Cloud 9” at Chicago’s Navy Pier.  Embraced by Chicagoans and visitors alike as “Chicago’s Summer Circus,” “Cirque Shanghai: Cloud 9” will perform through Sep. 6, 2010 (Labor Day), rain or shine, at the Navy Pier^® Pepsi^® Skyline Stage, the 1,500-seat, canopied, open-air theater on Navy Pier, 600 E. Grand Ave.

Daring spectacle, breathtaking artistry and the sheer joy of its dazzling young cast make “Cirque Shanghai: Cloud 9” a brand new theatrical experience for audiences of all ages, with acrobats careening from sway poles suspending high above the stage, gravity-defying ladder balances, a unicyclist riding atop a spinning umbrella, the fun and skill of “hat juggling,” and featuring “Imperial Thunder,” China’s finest daredevil motorcycle troupe riding precariously in a steel globe center stage at Pepsi Skyline Stage.     

Click here for show times and ticket info for “Cirque Shanghai: Cloud 9”.         

This Weekend:  

Millennium Park is once again the place to be.   Check out great, free music, theatre and dance at our favorite metal "pirate ship"  (AKA:  Jay Pritzker Pavilion).

Upcoming Featured Events

Grant Park Music Festival: The Magic Toy Shop

July 16 at 6:30PM

Family Fun Festival Presented by Target: Sarruga: Insects

July 16 at 9:00PM

July 17 at 10:00PM

July 18 at 3:00PM

Edible Audible Picnic: High Places

July 19 at Noon

Downtown Sound: Kid Sister + Konono No. 1

July 19 at 6:30PM

You've only got 3 days to see these amazing insects in Millennium Park.

• Date07.16.2010
• Time(s)Fri, 9:00pm - 10:00pm
• LocationChase Promenade Central
• NoteFriday at 9:00 PM, Saturday at 10:00 PM, Sunday at 3:00 PM

In a U.S. premiere, the spectacular Catalan street theater company, Sarruga, transforms the Chase Promenade into a fantasy world, bringing their giant ants, spiders and praying mantises to interact with the public in a larger-than-life show full of light, music and movement. In Insects, Spain's Sarruga turns these normally minuscule animals into giants, inverting roles and making humans ten times smaller than the insects. 

Performance times are as follows:

Friday, July 16 at 9:00pm

Saturday, July 17 at 10:00pm

Sunday, July 18 at 3:00pm

Presented in association with Goodman Theatre's 5th Biennial Latino Theatre Festival, July 7-25, with generous support from Institut Ramon Llull and the Tourist Office of Spain; additional support from Instituto Cervantes of Chicago. Sarruga is a part of the Family Fun Festival presented by Target.

Sat & Sun--The annual Sheffield Garden Walk features a kids' area and great national bands.   Some of our top pixs are New Orleans Favorites, Cowboy Mouth and Ivan Neville's Dumpstaphunk.

Sunday--Chinatown's Summer Fair Get that international flavor without leaving town.   We recommend tracking down chocolate fortune cookies, bubble tea with tapioca balls and wacky English mistranslations on asian t-shirts (sometimes known as Engrish or Japanglish). July 18, 2010, Sunday McDonald's Chinatown Summer Fair 10:00 a.m. - 8 p.m. Wentworth Avenue (Cermak Road - 24th Place) A FREE EVENT Experience a day of food, fun and tradition at the McDonald's Chinatown Summer Fair. Enjoy cultural entertainment on the hour, shopping and Chinese arts and crafts. Stop by McDonald's Family Pavilion tent for exciting giveaways! Don't miss the world famous Ronald McDonald as he leads the lion dance procession to kick off the festival and performs live on stage. We have a friend who travels the world and makes a point of eating in McDonalds in every country she visits, to see how they compare.   We prefer the little local places with ethnic fare.   At least you have a fall back plan if your littles won't touch the dim sum. Stay cool and we'll see ya out there.