Hope you had a great weekend! But now I know what’s going through many RMT’ers minds this morning: “Eww, Monday morning… argh.” I know, I get it, too. Weekend hangover. Well, I may have the cure right here…

Every Monday during the summer months, and every first Monday throughout the rest of the year, T and I spend our mornings out at a wonderful and FREE event called Bella Terra Kids’ Club. This is an organized event put on by the wonderful marketing team (led up by the friendly efforts of Mr. Ron, AKA “Ticket Man,” and Marketing Director Pat Rogers) at the Bella Terra mall in Huntington Beach, CA. Each week offers rotating talent, from the musical melodies of local musical acts to the magical mystics of a local Russian circus duo, with puppet shows and dance troupes sprinkled in for good measure.

Kids’ Club shows begin at 10:30am and usually wrap up at 11ish with a nice raffle (again FREE) of prizes donated by about a half-dozen mall tenants, from restaurants to the local dentist (the dental gift card is usually wrapped nicely in the latest trendy toy, the latest being a Cars 2 GeoTrax mini-set, which we actually went home with!). Each person gets one free raffle ticket just for coming to the show; as Mr. Ron says, one ticket for every adult, every child, so make sure you get yours.

In addition to the entertainment, many of the mall restaurants offer “kids eat free” Mondays all day. There are some that only offer this perk from 4-9 pm, but that doesn’t help when you and your play date crew are looking to splurge for a special lunch out now, does it, so we just avoid those places (I’m looking at you, Johnny Rockets). Or, if lunch out isn’t an option, you’re more than welcome to bring in snacks and/or a picnic lunch to enjoy in the amphitheater.

Here’s how our Monday usually rolls… we park around 10am, grab a Jamba Juice (a 16 oz. size split into two 8 oz. portions, FYI in case you never thought to ask Jamba to do this, they are more than happy to), and head into the amphitheater and find a nice spot for us and our friends. Moms usually sit on the benches and supervise while the kids run about pre- and post-show, with the tots finding a nice patch of Astroturf down front to enjoy the show. It’s amazing how attentively and calmly kids can sit for 30 minutes when allowed to burn off energy beforehand and have the promise that they can continue such energy burn-off afterward. Thank goodness the Bella Terra staff understands that fact as well.

You can find out more information about Bella Terra’s Kids’ Club, including an updated schedule of Monday events as well as special event and other holiday announcements, at http://www.bellaterra-hb.com/kidsclub.php. Hope to see you out there one of these Mondays, maybe even this morning!