By Contributing Mama Jordana Bales

This week, I had the opportunity to check out Christmas in August at Rockefeller Center. My girls enjoyed the tour and posing with the Rockettes…

What? That’s not a Rockette?! I thought she was a little too quiet. Okay, here are the real Rockettes…

At lunch, I was all set to bribe the girls to eat with the reward of decorating cupcakes (courtesy of the yummy Magnolia bakery) but the chicken fingers and mini-burgers were so yummy that bribes were unnecessary.  My daughter Lila’s only complaint was no ketchup. That girl eats ketchup with a spoon.

After lunch, the show began outside in front of Rockefeller Center. Introduced by Santa Claus, the amazingly beautiful and talented Rockettes performed. At the end of their set, they called  all the children with Santa hats up to the front to be part of the “Million Kicks Across America.”

Ava just happened to have her Santa hat with her (either that or it was in the goodie bag) and joined. After Ava bounded over the police barrier and grabbed the Rockette nearest her, I realized that children had their own designated area and were not actually supposed to be part of the kick line.

But it made for an amazing photo.

Too bad that we’re Jewish or else that would be our Christmas Card.  Kelcey is definitely considering using it for her Christmas card.

We were invited to Nickelodeon Storytime Live at Radio City Music Hall this week. Almost immediately, we had a Kelsey Grammer sighting on 48th street which the girls strangely were not that jazzed about. It was hard to even explain the significance of Kelsey Grammer and his success as Frasier Crane to a 5 and 3 year-old because Summer kept whining, “I don’t want to see the show.” In all fairness to Dora and all her Nickelodeon friends, Summer says this before every single show and she always loves it.

This time was no different. The girls were enthralled with The Wonder Pets, The Backyardigans and Ni Hao, Kai-lan. And of course, Dora the Explorer is always a rock star. If your kids are Nickelodeon lovers, this is a great show for them. And if you’re more of a Kelsey Grammer fan, you can watch reruns of “Cheers” and “Frasier” when you get home.

Storytime Live is playing at Radio City Music Hall through April 4th.  For discount tickets (30% off) in NYC, click here and use the code DORASM.  Then Dora and her pals take their show on the road to other cities. Click here for tickets all over the country.

I was recently invited to the opening night of Sesame Street Live: When Elmo Grows up at Madison Square Garden. And by “opening night,” I mean, 11 am. This is for the toddler set after all. I was quite relieved to find out that Elmo hadn’t turned into a 46 year-old adult overnight. He’s still the same Elmo, just trying to figure out what to be when he grows up.

The show is super cute and my daughters (age 5 & 3) were completely enthralled and entertained. These Sesame Street characters are rock stars. Yes, as cool as Taylor Swift who is pretty cool in my house. We even had the chance to meet Elmo and Cookie Monster before the show. And we all got a picture with them….

Ok I realize it’s hard to see Dylan and Summer in the photo (mostly because they are hovering in the back of the room). It can be scary to meet these rock stars in person.

The show runs until Feb 15th at Madison Square Garden. I have a 50% off discount code for certain shows. Just email me at kelcey@mamabirddiaries.com and I’ll send it to you.

To me, Christmas IS the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. I spent many years of my childhood going to this show and it’s still just as festive and magical.

It’s a mesmerizing experience from The Rockettes to Santa to the 3D adventure that kicks off the show. But The Rockettes are the real stars and I could watch their wooden soldier routine a gazillion times and never get sick of it.

Did you know on the weekends there are FIVE shows a day and two teams of Rockettes just to cover all those shows?! Wow, that’s a lot of kicking.

My family was invited to see the show this weekend and my girls (5 and 3) were quite transfixed and never got sleepy despite it being way past their bedtime.  I just love this holiday tradition and I know you will too. For discounted tickets in New York, click here.

I was recently invited to see the Wintuk show of Cirque Du Soleil at Madison Square Garden. It’s a creative, mystical journey that centers around a boy’s quest to find snow.  But I often lost track of the plot line as the stage was taken over by amazingly creative costumes, mesmerizing acrobatics and incredible hoola hooping. My girls (5 and 3) were quite taken by the show and their favorite part was by far the grand finale.

Stop reading right now if you don’t want to hear about the ending. This is a spoiler alert. Just scan down for your discount code.

At the very end of the show, about a gazillion pieces of paper reign down over the audience, giving the illusion of a magical snowstorm. All the children in the audience were bursting with glee. All the adults were so grateful they didn’t have to clean it up. And all the environmentalists in the audience were hoping that the paper gets recycled. I have no idea if it does. But it was quite a breathtaking effect.

My only beef with the whole production is that cotton candy cost $12. Not because it gives you special powers to walk a tightrope but because it comes with a Wintuk jokers hat. Which was very cute but still….

A discount code (for kids 12 and under) can be found by clicking here. Enjoy!