Things to Do - Happy Belated Easter

The kids and I spent most of Easter day driving back from spring break in Cleveland (more on Cleveland next week). I dreaded the drive, but between books on tape (for me) - Helen Schuman's thought-provoking novel, This Beautiful Life,had me contemplating parenting, porn, mistakes, and apologies all the way home - and DVDs for the kids things went well. We took the pictures above at a rest-stop off the highway where the kids danced, ran, and jumped until they decided they would rather watch more movies in the car.

Throughout the drive the kids kept discussing whether or not the easter bunny came to our house. Lucky for us we arrived home to a backyard full of plastic eggs (and a few Cadbury caramel eggs for me). Happiness.

How was your Easter?



So much green everywhere lately. It's a little overwhelming.



The matching shirt and easter basket were just a coincidence. A pretty cool coincidence.

Things to Make - Maggie's Pasta

Our next door neighbor, Maggie, is one of the coolest people i know. On one hand, this gives me hope as she's older than me and retired. On the other hand, Maggie never had children, thus she cannot disprove my theory that kids suck the cool out of you.

What makes Maggie cool? Well, she travels to amazing places - she spent winter in New Zealand and this summer she'll work in Arcadia National Parkas as a volunteer ranger. I'm so jealous. Furthermore, she's an optimist and a listener, Maggie has made me realize that when these two qualities combine in one person, everyone gravitates towards him/her. She's also incredibly kind. And she owns a super-cool camper.

Anyways, at a block barbeque a few weeks ago Maggie made the following pasta dish. Beware it's addictive. Really.

Here's the scoop:

* Approximately 3 cups Israeli couscous (or orzo)
* 3 large links of chicken sausage
* 1 onion
* 1 teaspoon chopped garlic
* 3 oz spinach (1/2 a bag)
* 4 oz sundried tomatoes, chopped into small pieces
* 2 tablespoons pine nuts
* Feta to taste

1. Cook orzo or couscous according to package directions
2. Cook sausage in a little bit of olive oil on the stove, add onion and garlic, cook with the sausage.
3. When the orzo finishes cooking, mix with the spinach, sundried tomatoes, and pine nuts. Cut the sausage into bite sized pieces, then add it (with the onion and garlic) to the orzo mixture.
4. Top with feta to taste (I like a lot, but everyone is different).

YUM!!!

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!!!
________________

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 - Question Jar

Lately I've been working really hard on implementing routine family dinners, probably because we're FINALLY at the point in our lives where nobody sits in a highchair and all three kids can use utensils (though they sometimes choose not to). Thus dinner has become our time to discuss the day's events. Some days the kids talk and talk and talk. So many stories. Other days are a little painful. Tired, cranky silence. So when I read about How Does She's question jar I was thrilled. Then when I clicked through and saw that How Does She? posted 5 PDFs with 30 questions each (you just need to click, print, and cut) I was ecstatic. Some meals we don't use the jar, whereas at other meals we can't stop laughing after contemplating "big issues" - like what "weird, unusual pet" we could acquire. Or what new names we would choose for ourselves. So thank you How Does She?, what a wonderful idea.

Places to Go - Gravelly Point (Arlington, VA) (i.e. "the airplane park")

Gravelly Point is one of those places that I've heard a ton of great things about, but, until last week, we never managed to visit. Maybe because I couldn't figure out how to come from the north and still head north on the GW parkway (the trick, in case you're curious, is to exit at the airport then change your direction). Anyways, this place really is quite cool. Planes fly LOW and you can watch them land and take off. As if this isn't enough, the park borders the Potomac so you can play on the rocks and throw stones into the water. Huge fields everywhere make it a great place to kick or throw a ball around. Picnic tables are scattered throughout the property along with a bike path (be cautious - they go FAST). Port a potties are on site but they look scary dirty.

A few weekends ago, while Dan worked, the kids and I brought a picnic blanket, some books, snacks, and bubbles and spent two hours just lounging around. Though if you visit beware of the grass as a tick crawled onto our blanket (I hate those little guys).



There's something about spring and bubbles. They just go together.



In the afternoon, the sun came out and the temps warmed up. T proclaimed himself "king of the table", for what that's worth.

RANDOM LINKS:

* Looking for something to do for spring break? Don't forget my list of indoor places in the DC area to go with kids, which is up to 50 places, and my outside list, which is up to 53 WONDERFUL places. If you know of somewhere I've forgotten to include, please email me and I'll add it to the list.

*James Franco.

* Slanted Mansion - another BEAUTIFUL blog about creative people and their spaces (link via Miss Moss).

* Radiohead and ballet. It works.

* Suspended together. Doves and Saudi Arabia. Powerful stuff.