Places to Go - Clark's Elioak Farm (Ellicott City, MD)

Upon arriving at Clark's Elioak Farm, my first reaction was along the lines of "????" As one of my friends phrased it, "it's sort of like an old mini-golf course but with no golf." Or, as my other friend phrased it, "this is truly bizarre." Not that our reactions matter. F (my oldest daughter) leaped out of her booster seat and immediately started hugging me while declaring "thank you, thank you so much mom, it's beautiful. the most beautiful place i've ever seen." P (my almost-4 year old daughter) asked, "mom, are we at Disney World?" When I told her no, she declared, "but how could Disney World ever be more beautiful than this?" Keep in mind, this whole exchange occurred in the parking lot.

As soon as we entered and started exploring, the kids became even more excited (if that's possible). The farm has a petting zoo, a HUGE rainbow slide, a whole "toddler" section with lots of push toys, a cow train (which costs extra), a mini wood playtrain, and more. The whole place is more or less stroller friendly, though prepare for some bumpy terrain. And I really think kids of all ages would love it.

Plus, the farm sells its own grass-fed beef (and I am a BIG fan of grass fed beef) and has a huge pumpkin patch. On weekends (we went on a weekday), the farm hosts a ton of special activities - click here for more information - http://www.clarklandfarm.com/2010%20Fall%20Events.htm

In addition to all of the above activities, the farm also has an "Enchanted Forest Maze" with gingerbread houses and various other fairy tale structures along the way. Much fun (though prepare to duck under tree branches, some of the paths are quite narrow, which really does give the feeling of being in a maze).



So where does all this stuff come from? According to the website, "Once upon a time, there was a wonderful storybook park in Ellicott City, Maryland called The Enchanted Forest. Opened in August 1955, it thrilled and delighted generations of families from far and wide throughout the next 30 years. The Harrison family created this magical land to delight children of all ages and it was an important part of many families' lives for years . . . Sadly, it closed to the
public in the early 1990s, leaving a void for all of us. In the summer of 2004, the owner of the Enchanted Forest Shopping Center,Kimco Realty Corporation, very graciously agreed to give us the items as long as we made every effort to remove all of the items from the park. So we started the process of moving the items to the petting farm and restoring them to their former glory . . . . Many Clark's Elioak Farm staff and a wonderful group of dedicated volunteers work in the cold of winter and the terrible heat of summer to restore these items. It is a massive job that has taken the talents of staff and volunteers and monetary donations."



Holding hands with boys? Seriously? They grow up so fast. At least the baby's still chasing chickens.

Things to Make Tuesday - A Painted Pumpkin

I realize most people don't paint pumpkins, they carve pumpkins. But in order to carve a pumpkin you need a knife (or a similar sharp utensil) and I have three children under the age of five. And Knives are dangerous (remember The Outsiders?). So, all things considered, one day I would love love love to carve pumpkins with my children. But that day hasn't come yet. Kudos to you who are more brave. If you want to take the easy route, however, painting is really fun. My kids loved it. We used 10 ct. 2 oz. Bottles - Assorted Color Washable Kid's Paint, which worked pretty well, but does rub off once dry, so be careful. Now we're ready for Halloween. and fall. Good times.



The finished product. I think the stripe of red really adds something special.

Places to Go - Cox Farm's Fall Festival (Centreville, VA)

First of all, my children didn't shrink (thank god), these are last year's pictures. While we have been to Cox Farms this year, the day was really hot and sunny - making me too tired to get the camera out. Plus the baby was walking/running/attacking everything in site. Luckily, Cox doesn't change very much year after year (why mess with perfection?).

For those of you that live in the DC region, Cox Farms is the best of the best when it comes to fall festivals. It's quite large - we've never managed to see the whole thing in one visit. They have rides and activities for every age group, especially slides. So so many slides. That range from super small to quite large (as pictured, the castle slide was quite the thrill for grandma and the dinosaur slide requires a "sack" to sit on and is almost like a mini-roller coaster, I could have ridden it all day long. over and over again). They also have tons of animals and a petting zoo with goats. Haystacks to climb. Lots of free apple cider and apples (along with food you can buy). Decorations as far as the eye can see. And on weekends they have a stage with live music (watching F "groove" to bluegrass was one of the highlights of my month). Seriously, this place is beyond belief.

As great as all of the above is, I think anyone who has visited Cox will agree that the absolute highlight is the hayride. The pictures below do not do it justice (last year T was only four months old when we went and it's hard to carry a baby and take pictures on a hayride). The hayride has every common children's character you can imagine - the Cat in the Hat, Beauty and the Beast, rugrats, etc. Plus, a haunted barn, alien attackers, and other live action fun. I literally spend the whole year looking forward to this (yes, I'm that dorky).

Has anyone else been this year? Any other "favorites" you'd like to share? I'm sure I'm leaving tons of stuff out.

Click here for all the details - http://www.coxfarms.com/

Places to Go - Roanoke Island Festival Park (Outer Banks, NC)

Since we finished with the beach by mid-morning (after arriving in the early am), we had a lot of free time in the afternoons (the incredibly pale can only spend so much time in the sun). So we spent the latter half of the day exploring local attractions. First, we visited Kitty Hawk, which, for the flying fanatic or history buff may be a great tourist attraction, but there IS NOT very much for children to do there. Then we checked out the Bodie Island Lighthouse, which was very cool. But my favorite adventure of all was, hands-down Roanoke Island Festival Park.

We first read about the park in a tourist brochure, so we were all a little hesitant of the possible kitsch factor. Thus, wow, what a lovely, surprise to visit such a well-done, kitsch-less destination. The park hosts an American Indian village, a 1585 settlement site (complete with actors in period costume), Roanoke Adventure Museum, a film on native americans, a 16th Century representative ship (which, sadly, was not there while we were there), and a short lovely trail around the sound.

Upon arriving, we first toured the indian village and settlement site. Both of which managed to entertain the children and adults. In the indian village, the children loved walking through the Long House and marveling at the animal skins and the bowls made of gourds. At the settlement site, the actors were incredible (F's still talking about the nice man who didn't know what a train or car was - "isn't that crazy mom?"). Despite not understanding what a reenactment is, the girls had a great time playing skittles (16th century bowling) and working the lathe. F even tried on a suit of armor. In the meantime, my dad spent over thirty minutes bonding with the blacksmith and receiving many nails as presents. Although the settlement site is small, they do a great job entertaining the whole family. We loved it. We even returned on Friday for the pirate festival, hence the man in striped tights pictured above.



From the settlement site, we made our way to the Adventure Museum, which is probably the best blending of a kid place and an adult place I've ever witnessed. Almost every exhibit has something for children to try on or play with - pirate hats, civil war uniforms (grey or blue, you get to choose), old fashioned dresses, a sailboat to play in, an old-time shop with fake fruit to shop for and weigh, etc. In the meantime, adults can learn all about the history of the island - from native americans to Freedmen's Colony for former slaves to hunting and lighthouses. Lots of information. A lovely lovely space for the whole family. And next door to the museum is a 45 minute fictional historical film about the island's indians. F (my oldest daughter) has been asking a lot of questions about cowboys and indians lately, many of which are tricky to answer due to the brutal history involved. The historical film answered many of her questions through the coming of age story of a teenage indian boy.




Finally, the park has a short trail with views of the sound. It was positively beautiful to walk on close to dusk. (check out F's "jangly" bracelet in the bottom picture).

Have a great weekend everyone! I'll be back on Monday with various "fall" posts (which seems somewhat incongruous following the beach posts, but I suppose this is the downside to vacationing off-season). Oh, and if you're in the DC area, don't forget Crafty Bastards is this weekend, which always has amazing stuff - http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/craftybastards/

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Things to Read Thursday - Beach Books (for Grown-Ups & Kids)

Beach Reads for Grown-Ups

At the beach, I finally finished Nicole Krauss's The History of Love: A Novel, despite having the cheesiest title ever, this was an amazing read. Not that Nicole Krauss needs any props from me, the New Yorker magazine chose her as one of the top 20 writers under 40 (she also published this wonderful story in the New Yorker) and Granta magazine included her as one of the "Best Young American Novelists". Plus she's married to Jonathan Safran Foer, so I'm sure they'll have genius offspring someday. All that being said, The History of Love is an easy read (though somewhat depressing, the main character is a Holocaust surviver) and just a lovely story (though somewhat hard to summarize as it has three intersecting plots). But you will cry. Luckily, if you read it at the beach, everyone will just think you have sand in your eyes.

I'm not a huge fan of chick lit, but if you want an incredibly easy, somewhat trashy novel for the beach (and sometimes we all want trash, admit it) then you can't go wrong with Valley of the Dolls. The novel (which was originally published in the 1960s and sold millions of copies) centers around three friends all of who become fabulously famous and, yet, unhappy. It's a page-turning soap opera. You won't be able to put it down, even for a second.

My third beach pick is Ruth Reichl's memoir, Tender at the Bone: Growing Up at the Table (Random House Reader's Circle). Reichel chronicles her life (starting with childhood) by using food as a catalyst for memory (every chapter ends in a recipe, all of which I've been too lazy to make). The writing is quite good and the stories are poignant, but nothing incredibly depressing happens (which was nice, as sometimes I feel that for a book to be published it has to describe something horrific).

My final beach pick is Kate Walbert's A Short History of Women: A Novel, a fictional look at the lives of five generations of women. The narrative switches between women and is not in chronological order, which at times makes it a little tricky to follow. All the women in the novel make drastically different choices in life and the book tries to deal in some form with the "struggles" of women throughout the last hundred years - from the matriarch who starves herself for women's suffrage to her great-granddaughter's drunken playdate with another mom in NYC. It is one of the best books I've read in the last year, I highly recommend it.

By the way, if you live in DC area, I own all these books, except for Valley of Dolls, and you're welcome to borrow any of them - just email me.


Children's Books About the Ocean - Ages 3.5 - 7 (Approximately)

Does Anyone Know Where A Hermit Crab Goes? This book is a simple story, a very fast, easy read (which rhymes, as the easiest reads tend to do), all about a hermit crab looking for a new home. Lots of pictures. The kids really like it.

Clam-I-Am!: All About the Beach (Cat in the Hat's Learning Library) I'm a big fan of the Cat in the Hat's Learning Library. It's fun to read books with clever rhymes and learn something at the same time. Both for children and for adults. This one is very good, though somewhat longer than other books in the series. It describes various sea creatures and then goes on to answer questions, such as "why is the ocean blue?" and "why is seawater salty?" very informative.

Tammy Turtle: A Tale of Saving Sea Turtles
This book was at the house we rented. The girls found it on the bookshelf and made us read it to them every night. It's nice in that it shows how people can help sea turtles, so for about three days my children dreamed of being "sea turtle rescuers." Plus, it has an environmental message - one of the turtles becomes sick after eating a plastic bag that she mistook for a jellyfish.

Science in Seconds at the Beach: Exciting Experiments You Can Do in Ten Minutes or Less
I was nervous that the kids would run out of ways to self-entertain at the beach (of all my fears this ended up being the most ridiculous), so I wanted to bring along a book on kids' activities. The Science Museum of Virginia suggested Science in Seconds. We didn't use it as much as expected, because the kids seemed to be having so much fun on their own, but I'm glad we purchased it as the experiments are versatile enough that we'll be able to reference it for many years to come. The experiments are incredibly simple, yet very informative - such as using lettuce leaves to show how oxygen is made in oceans and lakes and/or using an egg and a drinking glass to test whether it is easier to float in the ocean or a swimming pool.

On the Seashore (Picture Books)
We actually don't own this book, but I plan on buying it for our next trip to the beach. A good friend recommended it and said that it's one of her children's favorite books. We do have Milbourne's Snowy Day (Picture Books) and we read it over and over again during the winter.

There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Trout Anyone who knows me understands why this book is a family favorite. There are a TON of "old lady who swallowed x" books out there (why is this? does anyone know? what's the big deal about old ladies who swallow impossible things?), but this our favorite. IF only for the phrase "that splished and splashed and thrashed about. It wanted out!" For some odd reason, I find myself saying this over and over throughout the day.

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By the way, in case you're wondering, "what does a baby walking on a beach have to do with reading?" The answer is - absolutely nothing. I just have so many cute beach pictures I figured I'd add some to this post. So be it.