Places to Go - Out and About in Early Spring

Warm Afternoons at Penrose Playground (Arlington, VA) - I have such mixed feelings about this place. One one hand, the fact that they have two separate fenced-in playgrounds, one for toddlers and one for "big" kids makes life so much easier. And all my kids love a sandbox. On the other hand, the lack of shade and bathrooms can make for a long, whiny afternoon.



Interactive Art at the Hirshhorn & ImagiNATIONs at the American Indian Museum (Washington DC) - The Hirshhorn's newest exhibit, Suprasensorial: Experiments in Light, Color and Space, is both interactive and toddler friendly (and really fun for adults as well). KidFriendly DC wrote a fantastic review, detailing all the artwork. My kids LOVED running through the "blue forest" (though they weren't really supposed to run, thank you kind guard for not throwing us out) and "kicking back" on mattresses and pillows in the hippified lounge-type space. Wearing special "shoe covers" to walk through an odd-lighted "house" also made for some interesting conversations.

After playing with the art, we checked out the new ImagiNATIONS playspace at the American Indian Museum, I wouldn't necessarily give it five stars (the giant teepee could use some toys inside) but my kids had a pretty good time. P's pictured here listening to the sounds of the wetlands.





A rainy day at Longbranch Nature Center (Arlington, VA) - Sometimes you just need to walk in the rain for awhile. Amazing what you discover along the way.



Dulles Air and Space Museum - People often list this as a great location with little kids, but I'm more ambivalent. At first all the airplanes make quite an impression, but after awhile my kids lose interest. Though Dan had the time of his life. We saw Enola Gay, the plane that dropped the BOMB. the big bomb. creepy. And we watched the Imax film, Hubble, all about fixing the giant telescope in space. I learned that I'm WAY too claustrophobic to ever be an astronaut. Another career crossed off the list. And, of course, McDonald's ice cream at the end (McDonalds must make a fortune off their contract with the Air & Space museums. A fortune I tell you.)



After Preschool Picnics at Alcova Heights Playground (Arlington, VA) - A lot of parents avoid this park due to the circular paths and lack of a fence, which make keeping track of children a challenge. Plus, kids always want to play by the incredibly dirty stream. On the upside, it's really pretty for a playground (and I consider this a HUGE plus) - huge trees everywhere make my day. Plus it has bathrooms. Though T only wants to pee on trees (which is driving me crazy).



Climbing Trees after School - Sometimes the best adventures are just around the corner.

What have you been up to lately? I'd love to hear!!!
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I'm taking a few days off for spring break, so have some fun and I'll see you soon!!

WEDNESDAY LINKS:

*Have you seen the blog Advanced Style? It's time for me to get my act together, aging is not an excuse to look sloppy. These women are amazing. Though my favorite style icon of all time is probably Iris Apfel. So inspiring. I hope when I'm 90 MAC gives me my own lipstick line.

*How fun would it be to walk down the street and come across one of these?

*Lorrie Moore on Lena Dunham's new HBO show.

*Life on Sundays - it just gets better and better.

*15 places your kid should see before age 15. AND 15 more places your kid should see before age 15.

Things to Make - Spring Ornaments with Baking Soda Clay

A few weeks ago, P's preschool class made "fossils" out of baking soda clay. The teacher brought in plastic dinosaurs and seashells so the kids could mark tracks in the clay. After I grilled P's teacher about making the clay, she gave me a bag of the leftovers and our family had the best time making spring ornaments.

Baking soda clay is awesome in that it feels like playdough, so you can bend and mold it as you please. But it dries hard, allowing you to create long lasting heirlooms. It's really the perfect project for kids of different ages because T could just play with it while the girls created ornaments.

To make the ornaments we rolled the clay into balls and then flattened the balls with our palms. I gave the kids a bunch of stamps to create with, then I used a pen to make sure each "ornament" had a hole for hanging.

After the ornaments dried, I used string to attach them to tree branches. I thought the whole thing came out pretty classy looking for a kids' art project (living room worthy), but the kids came home from school horrified that I planned on leaving their ornaments "plain and white." So we spent the afternoon painting and now the whole thing looks much "louder" than anticipated. Oh well, color is good.

Here's the scoop:

BAKING SODA CLAY:

1. Mix 1 cup corn starch, 2 cups baking soda, and 1.25 cups cold water in a non-stick pot, stir until smooth.

2. Cook over medium-low heat until the mixture becomes somewhat "gunky" and thick.

3. Remove from the heat and let cool while covered. Once dry, the clay stores well for a few days in sealed ziplock bags.

4. After you finish creating your ornaments, you can let them air dry to hardness at room temperature over 2-3 days OR speed up the process in a 350 degree oven with the heat turned off.

HAPPY FIRST DAY OF SPRING!!!

Things to Do - Grow

Every spring I plant a container garden full of herbs and tomatoes, sometimes peppers. In the past I never bought seeds because our old house didn't have enough light for plants to grow. But now we have quite a bit. I asked Dan to go to the store for seeds and he came home with cantaloupe, squash, sunflowers, beans, etc. So I guess our garden will be a little more ambitious this year. Ideally, we'd love raised beds in the yard, but we never find the time to put some together (I know the time exists, we just need to figure out where it goes and reroute it a little).

Every year, I try to interest the kids in our small garden, some years more successfully than others. This year, I bought garden pot craft kits from Oriental Trading Company hoping that "crafting" would pique their interest in gardening. Unfortunately, when I purchased the kit I didn't notice that the foam shapes weren't stickers, so we had to glue everything on, which became a messy failed task. Oh well, at least I succeeded in involving the kids in planting. Now they can't get enough. Right after waking up, F runs to the window and waters everything, then we discuss what has grown and how fast. And how many plants we'll soon have. Too many maybe.

Happy last day of winter everyone.

MONDAY LINKS:

*Love this house. especially the reds everywhere.

*Canstruction - what a cool charity idea (plus the pictures are so fun to look at).

*These underwater sculptures are breathtaking. Especially the man watching tv.

*10 photos of Singapore.

*Collect moments, not things.

Places to Go - Huntley Meadows in Spring (Alexandria, VA)

I've already posted about Huntley Meadows in the fall (click here for my previous post), but this place is so beautiful and kid-friendly that we try to make it once each season (at a minimum). My kids love the number signs/maps that show where you are on the trail (#5 is pictured above), they like to race from one sign to the next. Huntley especially rocks in the spring (yes, I just used "rocks" as a verb, I'm tired today) as all the green starts to peak through the blankets of dead leaves (soon, if not already, the wildflowers will bloom). On the day that we went, all three kids ran and ran with F proclaiming "wow, mom, I never realized it was THIS pretty here." So we'll be back. Of course. We didn't spot any major wildlife but we ran into a family who saw two turtles and a bunch of frogs, so I guess we just didn't look closely enough. Maybe next time.





By the way, the girls decided to buy and wear matching dresses, I had nothing to do with it.

Things to Do - Bubbles in the Backyard (Happy Spring)!!

HAPPY SPRING EVERYONE!!! If you ask me, nothing says spring like kids and bubbles. I bought the kids a large bubble wand (similar to this one - Tangent Mega Bubbles) and now after T wakes up he stands by the door saying "bubba! bubba! bubba!" Have a great Monday! I hope you had a chance to see the supermoon on Saturday, seriously breathtaking, check out some photos here.

MONDAY LINKS:

*School kids in South America take a zip line to school, which is not as cool as it sounds. Check it out here.

*A tree-house bed - I know it's for kids, but I want to sleep here.

*If you're trying to make your kids' lunch more fun, check out this blog. The creations are seriously beautiful (and edible) (link courtesy of Modern Parents, Messy Kids).

*I love Sleep Time Gal's bare books idea, how wonderful (and cheap).

*This recipe looks so yummy and the website is the coolest cooking blog I've ever seen (link via Creature Comforts). This one looks good too (or maybe it's just the pretty illustrations).

*This post on print-making using contact paper has me inspired. Now if only I had a babysitter . . .

*I heart this painting, big time.

*The Cherry Blossom Festival is coming!! KidFriendly DC has the scoop here.