Knitting Zeal

The last summer hurrah!

We spent the end of last week relaxing and exploring nature on Chincoteague and Assateague Islands on the Eastern Shore of Virginia.  It was a lot of fun spending the end of summer together and playing on the beach.  We visited our friends, played in the waves (which were violent due to an offshore hurricane,) dug holes in the sand, battled the mosquitoes, watched some wild ponies, rode bikes around the National Seashore Park, watched the sunset over the bay, took a trolley ride, and ate great food!  It was a blast!

We stayed at the Refuge Inn, which is just over the bridge from Assateague Island in Chincoteague, VA.  The family-run Inn was wonderful!  Such a pretty hotel with the most gracious staff.  I fell in love with Chincoteague a few years ago when I went there on a day trip with my friends who have a summer home on the Chesapeke Bay in Maryland.  Ever since first visiting I've wanted to go back for a few days to really check it out.  It reminds me of an old-fashioned, quaint beach town, the way the beach towns of New Jersey used to be, when they weren't so overcrowded.  I loved walking around Historic Chincoteaque, a section of the island on the Chincoteague Bay that had some fun shops, good restaurants and a great little park (where those huge Adirondack chairs were!)  We ate at Woody's Eatery for lunch several times, because it's just awesome!  And we spent some time at Island Creamery, and ice cream shop that was voted as having the best ice cream in the country....we agree! 

It was a great way to wrap up our summer of fun!

My husband made the following movie of a few more highlights from our summer.  Check it out!

 

 

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Visiting the Liberty Bell and Historic Philadelphia

With summer winding down quickly, we have been packing in some last minute excursions while we have the time.  Last week was a busy week!  We managed to squeeze in a quick trip to see the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia before visiting my husband for lunch at his office.  I had wanted to take my son to see the historic part of Philadelphia for a while, but am glad I waited until this summer.  He was old enough to handle the line for the wait and a bit of a description of the history.  I promised him that when he is a little older we will go back and really read more of the history so he understands more of it.  

We started with a train ride to Market Street East and walked down Market Street towards 6th Street.  I pointed out some buildings to him, such as the Gallery, which used to be a great mall when I was a child and Litt Brothers, and old department store.  When we got to the beginning of Independence Mall, we first explored the President's House and then we headed to the Liberty Bell.  Seeing the Liberty Bell is free, no tickets required.  This made visiting easy!  We stood in line for maybe ten minutes and played the role of tourist.  We observed that the people in front of us were speaking Japanese and the people behind us were speaking German.  We talked about why the Liberty Bell was a famous touist destination and an important part of American history.  

Afterwards we walked over to Old City Hall, which is adjacent to Independence Hall.  We were able to purchase our very own mini Liberty Bell and a copy of the Declaration of Independence.  We saw where the US Supreme Court met prior to their move to Washington D.C.  On a quest for a penny smashing machine, we learned that the Independence Visitor Center had them, so we wandered over there and found a plethora of information, while also getting some smashed pennies.  My son wants to do one of those Segway tours, but I found out he has to be 14 years old to do it.  There was so much information in the center.  I think next summer we will have to head there early on to discover more about the city.

We had lunch on the 43rd floor of the Comcast Center and got a great view of the current City Hall.  It was a fun day in our #summeroffun!  

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Summer fun at Art Splash in Philadelphia

This week we had the chance to enjoy a complimentary visit to the Philadelphia Museum of Art to see Art Splash, the museum's summer event of creative play for families.  This ten week long event runs until September 1, 2014.  Each week has a different masterpiece featured with accompanying activities for kids and their parents.  This week's theme was Art in the Garden featuring Claude Monet and his garden.  Monet is one of my favorite artists and I was excited to see how the museum staff shared his art on a child-friendly level.  It was very successful!

My son started at the Splash Studio with a painting craft based upon The Japanese Footbridge and the Water Lily Pool, Giverny by Monet.  Starting with a blank piece of art paper, my son used a white pencil to draw a design of his choice on the blank paper.  He then went to a paint station and used two different colors of watercolors to paint over the entire page, making the white pencil designs pop out.  At another table he was able to add his own footbridge and some lily pads and flowers with glue and tissue paper.  Watercolor pencils were also available to add more designs.  A simple activity, but it produced a great masterpiece that he could take home.  

Next we all headed to a Family Gallery Tour of three French artworks, including the Monet painting.  The Museum educator explained details of the art work in a great manner that was appropriate for the kids on the tour, which was geared to ages 6 to 10.  There was also a tour for kids ages 3-5.  Using an iPad to enhance the experience, the educator encourgaged discussion and questions from the kids on the tour.  

Each week the theme and activities change, so ideally a family could visit every week of the summer and experience something completely new. We attended Art Splash last summer as well and this year's activities were completely different. I liked that we were in the main musuem and had the chance to go on a hunt, using a printed guide, to find ten Art Splash masterpieces.  We found five on this visit.  At each masterpiece was an activity to do, such as find different objects in the painting or sketch details from the armour on a boogie board.  At the Staircase Group by Peale, another memorable painting at the museum, we were able to call a number on my phone and my son learned a bit more details about the painting, including that the ticket painted on the floor of the masterpiece was actually a ticket of admission to the painter's musuem, the first museum in Philadelphia!  

Art Splash levels what is usually not a child-friendly place into a wonderful creative learning experience.  From the child-sized lounge filled with building blocks and books to the cafeteria that has a tasty kids menu, the musuem has thought of everything to cater to families with young children and introducing them to our creative world.  I'm always amazed at how much my son enjoys exploring the art, considering that he isn't allowed to touch anything!  

Admission to the museum for kids ages 12 and younger is free, which is a nice feature.  Admission to the musuem is Pay What You Wish on Wednesday evenings from 5:00 until 8:45 p.m. and on the first Sunday of every month.  Regular adult admission is $20.  

The schedule for the remainder of the summer is:  

July 29–August 3: Mixed-Up Music
August 5–10: Mythological Mischief
August 12–17: Trip around the World
August 19–24: Medieval Worlds
August 26–September 1: Tea and Treasure

Museum hours are Tuesday through Sunday: 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m., Wednesdays and Fridays until 8:45 p.m.

For more details please see the Art Splash information on the Philadelphia Museum of Art's website. 

Thanks to the Philadelphia Museum of Art for providing complimentary adult admission for the purpose of this review.  No monetary compensation was received and opinons expressed here are my honest thoughts and experience.  

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Super Stars with Under Armour and Kids Headquarters

Clothing samples received were sent to be used or shared as I saw fit. No monetary compensation was received and any opinions expressed by me are honest and reflect my actual experience.

At the Spring Mom Mixer this past April, I had the chance to meet representatives from Kids Headquarters, the distributers of awesome kids clothes to different department stores.  I was most familiar with the name from shopping in the kids department at my local Macy's store, which has an incredible good selection of boys clothes.  Recently, I received some samples of clothes from Kids Headquarters to try out with my six year old son.  We recieved some great Under Armour Alter Ego T-Shirts to try out.  He has never worn that brand before and I was looking forward to seeing how he liked them. 

The shirts he received were super hero designs, Batman and Superman.  My husband is a big Batman fan, so for Father's Day I got him the matching UA Batman shirt, purchased at Macy's.  The boys got to wear their shirts together on Father's Day and had a lot of fun!

What I like about the Under Armour (UA) Alter Ego T-Shirts is that the fabric is breathable.  So while my son was sweaty after a day at the CSA farm picking berries, his shirt dried fast and wasn't sticking to him.  He found the shirts comfortable.  I also loved how nicely they have come out of the wash.  Even the white one that was stained terribly after strawberry picking came clean in one wash.  

Thanks so much Kids Headquarters for the awesome shirts, adding to our summer of fun!

Outdoor play date ideas

As a member of the Children's Claritin Mom Crew, I receive product samples and promotional items to share and use as I see fit.  No monetary compensation has taken place and any opinions expressed by me are honest and reflect my actual experience.

This summer we've spent lots of time outside playing.  In fact, most of our play dates and trips have been outdoors!  That means the kiddo stays on allergy meds to control his seasonal allergies, as per his pediatrician.  So far he has felt great and has had lots of fun!  As part of the Claritin Mom Crew I got the chance to get together with some moms and their kids to have a fun outdoor play date and to share some coupons, giveaways and ideas about our kids, and their allergies!

Summer has been busy! We have had multiple play dates with different kids and moms, all lots of fun and all outdoors.  Here are some of the fun activities we did on our most recent outdoor play date!

DIY Sponge Water Bombs!  

These were super simple to make and loads of fun.  We will be using these all summer long!  Supplies needed are very inexpensive: new kitchen sponges (I found them cheapest at Giant,) plastic zip ties, and scissors.  

I cut each sponge into four equal strips, then assembled several different colors (about 8 strips) into a stack, then wrapped a plastic zip tie arround the middle and cinched it to tighten.  Then I "fluffed" the strips a bit to make more symetrical pom poms.  I filled a baby pool with water, although a big bucket would work great too, and let the kids go at it with them.  Lots of fun!

DIY Backyard Roadway!

About two years ago my son and I built a backyard roadway out of regular red bricks.  I measured the area I was going to dedicate to this roadway and bought enough bricks to fill the space, plus a few extra.  I had larger flat pathway bricks already, which we used to create a parking lot.  We used yellow and white paint to make street lines.  (My son wanted to paint the lines, so they are not exactly as I imagined it, but it's his roadway!)  I filled in the space around the bricks with rubber mulch.  This play space continues to be a favorite place for the kids when they visit our yard.  It's located in a shady spot, so even on a hot day it's nice place to play.  They use all kinds of cars to race here and my son loves to park his cars in the lot!

These are just two of the many fun ideas we had for our play dates with friends!  We've also set out our teepee,  filled the kiddie pool, and used our noodle water blasters! The kids had lots of fun!  

Claritin sent me some goodies to give out to the moms.  Thanks Claritin for the inspiration for a fun Playmaker play date! 

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Summer of fun activites, crafts and science projects for kids

So while I shared my Summer Bucket List of places to go and things to do out and about, here is a list of things to do at home using imagination, physical activity and creativity.  Most of these activities require items most people have at home already.  My son loves crafting and science projects.  I found most of these ideas on Pinterest and one of my new favorite blogs: Tinkerlab.  

Crafts and Science projects for kids

1. Elephant toothpaste 
2. Quill pen (writing or painting)  Tie this project in with a trip to Independence Hall, Ben Franklin's home and the Liberty Bell.
3. Magic scented foaming paint (for outdoor use!!) 
4. Bubble wrapped tree 
5. Homemade paint recipes 
6. Invisible ink/painting with citrus 
7. Rainbow flowers 
8. Magic Potion Spoons 
9. Salt and ice painting 
10. Soap making experiment 
11. Homemade paint
12. Plaster casting in sand This can be done in a sandbox or at the beach!
13. Make GAK!  (or slime!)

I also have picked up a few craft kits over the past year when I saw them on sale at the craft store or Target.  We have kits for:

1. Make a pop up book
2. Make bouncy balls
3. Make a hand impression in stone
4. Create a stepping stone
5. Sand art

Go outside!

And then there are activities to do outdoors that are just plain fun:

1. Have a water balloon fight with friends
2. Use water squirters with friends
3. Make "soup" in a pail with garden finds and water
4. Bury treasure in the sand box and go digging
5. Collect lightning bugs in a jar (and then let them go)
6. Have a relay race in the yard with friends
7. "Paint" with water...the house, the driveway, the playhouse
8. Chalk up the driveway with pictures
9. Blow bubbles
10. Play in the kiddie pool or with the sprinkler
11. Freeze small toys in a container.  Release frozen cube of ice into the pool.
12. Pull weeds!
13. Ride a bike or scooter
14. Practice the hula hoop
15. Play hopscotch
16. Set up the soccer goal net and practice those kicks
17. Go for a run
18. Walk around the neighborhood
19. Fly a kite! 

I'm sure we'll come up with many other activites too, but these lists give us a start on ideas to prevent boredom!

Tomorrow I'll have a post on a kid-friendly summer reading list!

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Summer Bucket List, 2014

It's Summer!  School is out and we have 76 days of summertime fun ahead of us.  (Not sure how Phineas and Ferb manage to get 104 days of summer...that's a really long summer vacation!)  Every summer we call it the "Summer of Fun" because it means we get to see friends we don't normally see that much during the school year and we go on fun adventures.  I made a list of activities to do this summer so that on days when we are struggling to find something fun, I can refer to this list for inspiration.  My son has three different weeks of mini-camps planned, but the rest of the summer is un-programed.  After discussing ideas of what he would like to do, I came up with a “bucket list” for the summer.  Some of the activities could be done multiple times, while others are one-and-done. Most of the activities are nearby (suburban Philadelphia,) but I included a few that are ones that require travel and a few overnights.

In my list I inclueded sunny day fun, rainy day fun, at home fun, mini adventures, and trips.  We have memberships to several area family friendly places, so to me those are freebie trips, since I won't have to pay admission.  Those include the Franklin Institute, The Elmwood Park Zoo,  Sesame Place, The Morris Arboretum, and Longwood Gardens. (Family membership is really a great deal for places you think you will visit several times a year.  I have found great discounts offered on some memberships via coupon sites.  Another way to save on a membership is to share it with a friend by registering the two friends together as a family.) I also discovered that our local library has a number of family passes to local establishments that can be borrowed!

 

Summer Bucket List

1. Pick Strawberries
2. Climb to the top of the Barnegat Lighthouse
3. Watch the sunset and sunrise at the beach
4. Play mini-golf
5. Visit the Liberty Bell
6. Visit the US Mint
7. Visit the SEPTA museum
8. Visit the Franklin Institute
9. Visit Longwood Gardens
10. Visit the Morris Arboretum
11. Visit the Elmwood Park Zoo and feed the giraffes
12. Visit the Philadelphia Zoo 
13. Bounce at Jumping Jacks 
14. Go bowling with kids bowl free and parent’s pass (multiple times)
15. Visit Sesame Place
16. See the Imagination Movers at Sesame Place
17. Visit the library and complete:
18. Pick blueberries at Solebury Orchards
19. Visit the Lavender Farm
20. Visit Penn’s Landing
21. Visit Kids Castle in Doylestown
22. Go for a hike at Pennypack Ecological Preserve
23. Visit the Crayola Factory
24. Go see the Phillies play
25. Visit a Peach Farm (Solly Brothers or ??)
26. Explore Valley Forge Park (meet the cousins there!)
27. Paint Pottery  
28. Visit Steamtown in Scranton 
29. Visit the Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway
30. Regal $1 movies! Check the schedule.
31. Visit Chincoteague and Assenteague Island
32. Garden at the CSA 
33. Help out at the Garden at school
34. Visit the Bucks County Children’s Museum 
35. Visit the American Helicopter Museum (library has admission pass)
36. Visit the National Liberty Museum (Library has admission pass)

This is a huge list.  We most likely will not do all of them, but it's nice to dream...right?  

Tomorrow I'll post a list of activities I have planned to do at home...science experiments to water shooter fights in the yard.  Stay tuned!

 

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Happy Earth Day!

To celebrate Earth Day, we attended a butterfly release at a new Pollinator Garden at our local Whole Foods Market.  My son got to "unwrap" the sleeping Painted Lady Butterfly and release her into the garden.  There was plenty of fruit out for the new baby butterflies to enjoy their first meal. "Our" butterfly immediately flew over to a piece of mango and began to chow down on the nectar.  The Market is working in conjunction with a local nursery to build the Pollinator Garden to encourage bees, butterflies and birds to flock there in a safe atmosphere.  There were free popsicles too, which delighted my little guy!

At home we planted some seeds in egg cartons to get started for replanting in our garden in mid May after the danger of frost.  We'll hopefully have some sunflowers, basil, poppies, strawberries and coleus growing.  I have many more seed packets to plant, but they will have to be sowed directly into the ground in May.  

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Spring into consignment sales for summer wardrobes: Update!

Spring consignment sale time is now!  With the warmer weather promising to stay more now I've been going through my son's clothing figuring out what still fits and what needs to be replaced. Lately it seems as if he is growing fast out of his pants, so thankfully it's almost time for shorts weather.  And just in time is my chance to shop for great deals at the Just Between Friends Philly sale!

This week I'll be shopping at a preview sale at the Just Between Friends consignment sale in Oaks, PA.  It's a HUGE sale held twice a year and I've had the chance to attend the preview sale several times now.  I've been going to local consignment sales since my son was a baby and in need of those things like jumpers and baby toys that are used briefly and then discarded.  Not only have I been able to buy items at deep discounts, but I've even sold a number of things too. What I love about the JBFPhilly sale is that is is huge with a great variety of brands.  I've found that the items for sale are of higher quality than other sales I've attended.  I think that's because they have a good system for quality control at the JBFPhilly sales.  

Some of my best finds at the JBFPhilly sale has been bathing suits (for $3!) and Legos!  Last spring I purchased ziplock bags filled with a variety of Legos.  I used them to fill Easter eggs for my son, instead of candy.  It was a hit and at a huge savings.  I've also had luck finding dress-up costumes and play clothes.  

At the sale this week I'm looking for bathing suits and rash guards, Keen sandals, and outdoor toys for the summer of fun.  Since my son is now starting to enjoy reading chapter books, I'll be checking out the book section, as well as the DVDs to see if I can find anything for our family movie night features.   What I love about shopping at a consignment sale is that often times items are brand new or like new condition but at a fraction of their retail price.  

To be ready to shop, I plan to wear comfortable shoes, have my list of my son's sizes and needs on my phone, and to bring a huge bag for stashing my finds.  I'll share my finds later in the week!  

The Just Between Friends Philly sale will be open this week from April 24 to 26th.  Check out the official schedule for times and location details.  Thanks to Real Mom Media and JBFPhilly for providing me with entry to the presale so I can share the fun with my readers! 

Update!

I had a blast at this spring's sale!  I found almost everything I was looking for, and then some.  The best find for me was a swim shirt/rash guard shirt that was not only brand new with tags at $8, but was a lifeguard design, which delighted my Jr. Lifeguard!  I found three great bathing suits, all for $3 each, some PJs, tee shirts and shorts, along with a few books.  It was a great sale!  Check it out this fall for the next sale in Oaks. 

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Exploring Pompeii at the Franklin

My son was off from school for President's Day on Monday, so we took a family trip into Philadelphia to the Franklin Institute.  We purchased a membership last February, so we had just another week to enjoy the membership benefits.  We had not visited since the snowpocolypse hit, so we were due for another visit.  

The Franklin Institute has an exhibit area that features special visiting programs.  They seem to change about twice a year.  The last ones  that we enjoyed were Titanic and a Spy Exhibit.  The current program is "One Day in Pompeii" and exhibit featuring artifacts and reproductions from Pompeii.  My son really wanted to see it, so despite concerns that it might be a bit boring, we decided to buy the add on tickets.  Membership gives a nice discount to the special exhibits. It was a lot of reading, but my son was patient and curious about the different things we saw.

The exhibit was well designed and despite being crowded, we were able to see everything we wanted to see.  There were recreations of homes in Pompeii and examples of the way of life back in 79 AD.  We discussed how long ago 79 AD was, since my son has a slight fascination with calendars at age six.  

The last two parts of the exhibit features potentially frightening displays for young kids.  The first part was a small room that visitors stood in with a large movie screen in front.  A film demonstrating a time line of the two day eruption of Mount Vesuvius was shown, along with a loud soundtrack and fake smoke pouring into the room to simulate the volcanic ash.  The end of the movie soundtrack was very loud as the volcano erupted and destroyed the city.  This apparently frightened my son badly.  He didn't let on much while there, but did say he didn't like it and did not want to see it again.  Which is fine, since once you go through the exhibit you are unable to return to see things before the film room.  (My son was up for at least two hours later that night with bad dreams.  I didn't realize how scared he was until he couldn't sleep.)

The last room of the Pompeii exhibit was filled with plaster casts of people who perished in Pompeii.  This was the room that fascinated me the most.  We did move through this room quickly because I wasn't sure how it would affect my son.  Apparently he was ok with the "dead people."  What we learned about Pompeii was that when Mount Vesuvius erupted over the course of two days, it wasn't lava that covered and destroyed the city, but layers and layers of burning hot ash.  It was so hot, that most people probably died immediately.  

Following the exhibit, we visited a room that had two examples related to Mount Vesuvius.  One display featured different types of rock, includig lava rocks of different consistencies.  The other display was an example of what occured to the life on Pompeii and how archeologists were able to create casts of the deceased, using a plastic frog as the example.  It was really interesting.  I was always fascinating with Pompeii as a child but never knew much about it.  The exhibit at the Franklin Institute was worth the trip!  

After Pompeii, we visited some of our favortie parts of the museum, including the heart.  I even got to see a partial disection of a sheep heart! After a year of fairly regular visits to the FI we acutally discovered three new areas that we had not explored before.  The first was the observatory, where we were able to view sun spots via the Zeiss telescope.  

We also explored Sir Issac's Loft, a great display of science and art with hands on activities, some of which I recall trying when I visited the FI as a child.  The other new room we found was Kid Science, the Island of Elements.  This was a room that reminded me of the Please Touch Museum, but with a science flare.  It was designed for little kids under age 8, so it was perfect for my six year old.  

We will most likely renew our membership this year, since there are several cool new exhibits opening this summer, including one on brains!  It is definitely a good value for us and my son clearly is learning from his explorations there.  One Day in Pompeii is on exhibit until April 27, 2014.  If you have a chance it is a great exhibit to see!