Places to Go (Vacation) - The long drive home on 1-80, Part 2 - The Pittsburgh Zoo (Pittsburgh, PA)

On the last day of our trip home from Chicago, temperatures dropped to the mid-70s while the skies stayed blue and cloudless, so it seemed criminal not to spend some time outside. Thus, we decided to spend the day at the Pittsburgh Zoo. Apparently we weren't the only people who wanted to appreciate the flawless weather, as crowds filled every nook and cranny of the zoo's space. Luckily, most of the exhibits had large viewing areas with close-up animals, so even with hoards of people, we still managed to see quite a variety of wildlife. P had a blast running through the waterpark area, over and over again. And, when he wasn't crying, T loved playing in all the old animal traveling enclosures, located throughout the zoo. F studied the maps and signs and tried to learn as much as possible, overwhelming us with facts on the way home.

All in all a great place to visit, though after three hours, we all expressed a need to be home with dad/Dan, after a good, but long week away.

If you're interested, admission is $14 for adults and $12 for children ages 2-12. Click here for more information.



Sometimes you have to peak between shoulders to see a lion.

HAPPY FRIDAY EVERYONE!!

Places to Go (Vacation) - The long drive home on 1-80, Part 1 - The Historic Sauder Village (Archbold, OH)

Once or twice a year we pack up the minivan and drive 730 miles to visit my mother in the Chicago suburbs. Usually we divide the trip into two days. The first day is actually pretty fun, we stop in Pittsburgh and visit either the Carnegie Science Center or the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh before stopping in Cleveland for the night. But the second day consists of a long, boring drive through miles and miles of cornfields. I've been trying to find a good half-way stop for awhile, but haven't had much luck.

This trip, however, I discovered the Historic Sauder Village, through a pamphlet at a rest stop. Sauder is located right outside Toledo, OH, making it the perfect stop between Cleveland and Chicago. In addition to its ideal location, Sauder is a wonderful place to visit with kids. We spent three hours there and would have stayed later if the grounds weren't closing.

The village consists of several historic houses and shops where volunteers talk about daily life (similar to Colonial Williamsburg, though on a much smaller scale). The quality of the volunteers varied, most were older and some looked downright annoyed to have us visit, whereas others told interesting stories about the "old days" and about their own childhoods. Further, no offense to the south, but, as a midwesterner, it felt nice to visit a pioneer village where slavery was never part of the equation.

The village also includes a pioneer settlement and a "native and newcomers" section - with indian teeppes and a trading post. But, by far, the biggest hit with my children was the Little Pioneers Village, where kids can milk a "cow", "drive" a carriage, and play in a house full of toys and a children's kitchen.

If you're ever traveling on the OH Turnpike and need a place to stop, I highly recommend spending some time at the Historic Sauder Village. Admission is $15 for adults and $8 for children 6-16. Younger children are free. Click here for more information and for hours of operation (which change with season).

RANDOM LINKS:

*A sneak peak of the new Iris Apfel documentary. This looks awesome.

*A giant tree made by pedestrians.

*Some new pics of our daily life are up over here.



T spent the summer wearing pajamas everywhere. I can only fight so many battles. The train ride was a huge hit. HUGE!!!



The girls made new friends at the Little Pioneers Village and hosted a humongous feast full of fake food. Very yummy fake food, if I do say so myself.

Places to Go (Vacation) - Lake Katherine (Palos Heights, IL)

A walk around the lake followed by huge ice cream cones = not a bad way to spend a morning, especially when the dog walks T and P plays Katy Perry on my iphone. Oh, the joys of nature.

Happy weekend everyone!! See you next week!!

*I love this "book art" (for lack of a better term).

*I want to make this. It looks yummy (if you like bananas).

*Albert Einstein in fuzzy slippers. Seriously.

*For local folks, KidFriendly DC has a great post about a rope course adventure for kids. Check it out here.

Places to Go (Vacation) - Millennium Park (Chicago, IL)

While visiting my mom in the southwest suburbs, we decided to spend an afternoon at downtown Chicago' newish Millennium Park (the park is almost ten years old, but since I no longer live in the Windy City, it still feels new to me). Apparently toddlers love the bean. T could have spent hours playing with his reflection. Hours.



Once we manged to pull T away from the bean, we visited Target's Family Fun tent, where F hoola hooped, P played with blocks, and T took it all in. Eventually all of us starting dancing to tunes sung by a woman named Miss Lori. F has some MOVES!



Finally, at the end of the afternoon, we checked out Millennium Park's gigantic, crowded, dangerously slippery spray park. I thought the kids would love it but they couldn't adjust to the "really really cold water" (outside temps were below 80 degrees). So we packed up and headed back to suburbia. A good day.

Places to Go (Vacation) - 5 Kid Road Trip - Chicago or Bust!

A few weeks ago, one of my best friends from high school flew from Denver to visit us, bringing along her incredibly chill 2 month old baby and her super nice 8 year old son. We brought then to a few of our favorite DC places - Mt Vernon, The Jefferson Memorial, The Uvar-Hazey Air and Space Museum, Spaworld, and (of course) The Arlington County Fair (not so surprisingly, the fair seemed to underwhelm them). And we drank lots of diet cube libres with peach rum (my newest beverage of choice), while the kids slip and slided and created matchbox race tracks throughout our house.

After a few days of touristing, Allison and I packed up all 5 kids (aged 2 months, 3, 5, 6, and 8) and loaded up the minivan to drive 730 miles to our hometown to visit our folks. We're brave like that (or naive).



Day 1, Mile 32 - Picking raspberries and digging for potatoes at Butler's Orchard. These kids need to work.



Day 1, Mile 72 - The C&O Canal Visitor Center in Hancock, MD. T pulled the curtains off the window and cried after the park ranger called him out for misbehavior. Good times. We then let them all loose to run. And somersault.



Day 1, Mile 262 - A hotel with a swimming pool and a much needed bottle of wine. F wrote love notes to Ryan Lochte. Apparently, 8 hours in a car with a real boy made her decide to start crushing on celebrities. Or maybe she just wanted to make A jealous (I don't think it worked).



Day 2, Mile 282 - Great Lakes Science Center (Cleveland, OH). A pirate ship on an outside deck made T's morning. Eight year old A seemed more impressed by the flight simulators in the science section.



Day 2, Mile 730 - Grandma's House with Murphy the dog and a backyard with room to run. And run. And run.

All in all, a good trip! Though A may never sit in a middle seat again. As for my car, it looks like a tornado tore through the inside, leaving lots of sticky surfaces in its wake.