Places to Go (Vacation) - Josh Ritter at Longwood Gardens (Kennett Square, PA)

Dan and I both love Josh Ritter's music, we've seen him in concert 4 or 5 times and he's always incredible. So when I learned that he had a concert in Longwood Gardens on Fathers Day, we decided to take the kids and make a mini-vacation out of it (does one night count as a vacation?).

The concert tickets came with full-day garden admission and we had a fantastic time exploring (especially the fountain show where the water dances along to music), though wow was it hot. And the concert was PHENOMENAL, as I knew it would be - music plus fireflies always makes for a wonderful night.

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F bought Dan the Raging Feminist Dad t-shirt. Of course.

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Dan and T saw Josh Ritter walking through the gardens and asked for a photo op. How cool is that??


Pre-concert in the gardens.



Tired children.

Places to Go (Vacation) - Longwood Gardens in the Spring (Kennett Square, PA)

Even when the girls wear matching dresses, they manage to put their own "spins" on the outfits.



One of the biggest downsides of living in the DC area is that everyone always leaves. Well, maybe not everyone, but over the years several of our friends have decided to relocate - for jobs, for a "slower" pace of life, for different climates, etc. On the upside, this means we have outstanding invitations to visit lots of wonderful destinations (Philly; Burlington, VT; Charleston, SC; Rochester, NY; etc.). So a few weekends ago, we packed up the mini-van and headed to West Chester, PA to spend a a few days with good friends.

Years ago, when I started my job as a big-law associate the firm assigned me a "buddy" (their word, not mine) to help navigate the complexities of firm life. My buddy, A, and her husband quickly became good friends of ours, we even "borrowed" their backyard for our wedding ceremony. And a few months after I gave birth to F, A gave birth to a little boy named, E, whom F calls her "first friend." Another little boy, Z, quickly followed (making their family acronym "JA ZE", pronounced like the rapper, how cool is that?). A few years ago, A took an in-house job outside Philly and the whole family moved away. Though we don't get together as often as we'd like to, when do see each other all five kids play really well together, which makes it easy for us adults to relax, catch up, and drink a bottle of wine.

On the Sunday of our weekend visit, we spent the day at Longwood Gardens. We've visited Longwood in the fall (click here for post), but this was our first spring trip. I especially loved seeing the tulips in full bloom. The gardens provide children with easy-to-read maps, so we explored waterfalls, castles, fountains, and treehouses. And, of course, the kids tumbled through several rounds of ring-around-the-rosie (T's favorite game as as of late). Several. (Sidenote - did you know that some scholars believe that ring-around-the-rosie is about dying from the great plague? How depressing is that?)

RANDOM LINKS:

*This weekend is Claude Moore Colonial's Farm Spring Market Fair (Saturday and Sunday 11 am - 4:30 pm). Great fun for the whole family, click here to read my post about last summer's fair.

*This quote made my night. Thank you Ira Glass. Thank you.

*These hand-made "wings" are beautiful. And they look like so much fun.

*Una Hunderi = WOW!!! (link via a fantastic post on The Blue Hour)

*KidFriendlyDC has the scoop on strawberry season. Click here to check it out.

*I really like these. Quite a bit.


You really can't go wrong with tulips and treehouses. A great combo.

Places to Go (Vacation)- Longwood Gardens (Kennett Square, PA)

A few weeks ago, one of my best friends celebrated her wedding in Schroon Lake, NY (close to Vermont) and she invited our whole family to attend. Of course, we were all thrilled, both that Jenny found love and that the wedding necessitated a trip to New England in the heart of fall (it's been a lifelong dream of mine to see New England's autumn foliage).

Jenny's wedding was beyond beautiful (the scenery didn't hurt) as was the house my family stayed at - friends of Jenny's parents loaned us their "cottage" on a lake - at night we cuddled under the trees, listened to the sound of the water, and gazed at every star in the sky.

On the drive back, we stopped at Longwood Gardens for the afternoon (right outside of Philadelphia). The immensity of Longwood managed to impress us all (we probably only saw about 1/4 of the property). The varied landscape includes: waterfalls, tree houses, a pumpkin patch (it's amazing how long my kids spent in the pumpkin patch, simply moving pumpkins from one spot to another), an outdoor kids' garden with fountains and a bumblebee chair (we missed the indoor children's garden, which is rumored to be wonderful), miniature trains, a castle, tons of fountains, and flowers (of course). We could have spent days there and not seen it all. The admission is somewhat pricey, but well-worth it. Check it out if you're ever in the area.


So T's becoming a blankie toddler, which is sort of like deja vu as F carried a pink version of the exact same blankie everywhere with her when she was his age.