Sculptures

Abby's second grade class was assigned art homework this fall.  The assignment was to go view an art show somewhere in the community, and the teacher even provided a lot of suggestions of places to visit -- many of which I didn't even know about even though they were within a few miles of our house.  This is the kind of homework I can really get into!  I really enjoy visiting art museums, art festivals, and being creative, and I've realized that this is one area of my life that I ignore first when things get busy.  I've missed doing this sort of thing. 

Yesterday, the whole family attended an outdoor sculpture exhibit at Jenkins Arboretum.  If you live nearby and haven't been to Jenkins, this 15-acre outdoor garden is really is a hidden gem -- and it's free to visit!  The 65 sculptures of the "Wind through the Trees" exhibit were integrated throughout the trees and gardens in Jenkins, which are all accessible with paved walkways.  None of the sculptures were created with carved stone, as you might expect.  Instead, the sculptures were created with all sorts of media -- found objects, foam, metal, piping, antique keys, etc.  All sorts of interesting creations! 

Scott, Abby, Caroline and I thoroughly enjoyed our tour.  I don't know how much Ben really appreciated the art, but he had a good time finding the markers with the numbers for each sculpture. Also, since this is an outdoor exhibit, we didn't have too to worry about being too quiet or still. We chuckled while suggesting alternate titles for each sculpture, and assigned Abby the job of telling us the official  name of each sculpture from the exhibit catalog you could take with you on on the tour.  I think we'll visit again in the spring when the flowers are blooming to see different the pieces look when there are leaves and flowers.

Here are some of our favorites:

"Captured Flight"

"Revolve"

Sculpture is suspended over the pond!

"Pando"

(Painted steel rods and aluminum to look like Quaking Aspen trees)

"Meteorite Series"

"Picnic in the Park"

 

Hersheypark Happy (mostly)

On Saturday, we took the kids to Hersheypark for some chocolate-themed amusement park fun.  The park is closed to the general public in October, but we were able to score some "friends and family" tickets through my high school friend Dina (thanks!!).  We really lucked out since the weather was perfect -- much, much better than the monsoon rains on Thursday and Friday.  It was a glorious crisp early fall day. 

Abby was ecstatic that she had graduated from Reese's Peanut butter cup size up to Hershey Bar size (ride height requirements), which allowed her to try out even more roller coasters than last year's visit, including her new favorite, the Wildcat.  Caroline graduated up to the Reese's Peanut Butter cup, so she tried out the Comet, Super Dooper Looper, and Trailblazer coasters.  Ben, now a Hershey Kiss, could even get in on the Trailblazer action.  The park seemed a lot more crowded than last year, but the lines moved quickly. In fact, Caroline, Abby, and Dad went on the Super Dooper Looper  FOUR times in a row (while I fed Ben a whole lot of kettle corn).  OK, who am I kidding.  I ate a lot more kettle corn than Ben while we were waiting.  I really do love kettle corn. Salty and sweet.

Speaking of super healthy snacks, Caroline has discovered a new favorite food:

CORN DOGS

In addition to eating a lot of popcorn, I successfully won Caroline a stuffed dog on the Whack-A-Mole game on the first try.  While I am miserable at almost all carnival games, particularly any that require throwing a ball or shooting a basket, I am exceptionally good at Whack-A-Mole.  Yes, I know I'm bragging, but it's true.  I really have a special touch with a large padded mallet. 

It was a fun day filled with lots of rides, but it was also a long day containing Ben. He was great while on the rides, but challenging during ride waits and when walking around the park. Since the park was still crowded, we spent of lot of time carrying him. Also, the discrepancy in riding levels among the three kids with two adults meant that there was a lot of coordinating and/or waiting. The kids had a great time, but I can't honestly say that I did.  I enjoyed watching them have fun, of course, but I think I played more of a fun facilitator role -- providing provisions, water, clothing, directions, driving, etc.  It was definitely not like the good 'ole days when I just went to the park and rode the rides myself all day.  The mantle of parental responsibility strikes again!!

Pirate Ship (see 4 rows from top for Abby and Caroline)

Highlights from the Big Apple

Yesterday we drove up to New York City to visit Uncle Brian and wander through the Museum of Natural History and Central Park.  Although I'm still shocked by this, I made it from our house to the parking garage in uptown Manhattan in only 2 hours and 15 minutes.  That must be some kind of record, right?  And, no, I wasn't even driving super fast!  We just didn't hit any (any!) traffic on the NJ Turnpike through the Lincoln Tunnel or even on 10th Avenue.  It was a transportation miracle! 

(This miracle was unfortunately not duplicated on drive from Manhattan to Uncle Brian's place in Queens...)

The Museum of Natural History is one of my favorite places, particularly the Halls of Mammals.  The full-size diorama displays were a huge hit with all 3 kids, as were the dinosaur fossils.  Ben walked by the Tyrannosaurus Rex and Apatosaurus displays quite a few times.  Abby's favorite part of the museum was surprisingly not the space exhibit or the animals, but the Asian peoples exhibits.  She did have a chuckle when she learned Dad would weigh more than 4000 lbs. on the sun, though. 

Caroline also liked all the animal displays, but stated that her absolute favorite part of the museum was "getting to buy my own hot dog".  Mid-way through our tour we stepped outside to grab lunch from the hot dog vendors.  Caroline inhaled her first dog and asked for a second.  So, I handed her the $2 and said that she could go ahead and buy one all by herself.  She acted like she had won the lottery (photo of her dancing in line below).  So, the rare and priceless treasures in Museum hall were no match for the independent hot dog purchase! 

Central Park is always fun and we always stumble upon things we have never seen before.  This time, Abby and Caroline took in a street dancing performance with lots of handstands, breakdancing, and gymnastics.  When the performers passed the hat after the performance to collect some money, Abby donated some of her very own money.  I was a little worried about how much she might have given them, but later learned that she gave them "two whole dimes!"

Amazingly the kids still had energy, so we all played in the 72nd St. Playground (very cool with a play pyamid and rope tower) and also rambled through the "Ramble" area of the park, which is a paved woodland hiking trail.  I can't believe such a natural treasure exists in the middle of New York City!  It was a very beautiful hike since all the cherry trees and tulips and other spring flowers were in full bloom.

We wrapped the evening up with a quick visit to Queens and our favorite Astoria Bakery.  Mmmm....  Quite a fun day!

A Nice Log and a (Not-So) Gran Rodeo

Abby, Caroline, Scott and I went to Longwood Gardens on Sunday since I thought the daffodils and magnolias might be blooming.  It turns out that we were a little early for those flowers, but we did get to enjoy the Orchid Extragavanza event they were having instead.  (Ben was busy exhausting playing with Grandma and Grandad at their house for the day.)

Of all the beautiful and varied exhibits at Longwood, I think the girls' favorite part was running/dancing across this large 'balance beam' that was nearby one of the treehouses. A close second favorite was the scavenger hunt cards in the children's garden in the Conservatory. By the way, if you have a chance to visit Longwood, the Conservatory is especially spectacular right now. Scads of bright blue delphiniums are an especially welcome site after dark gray rainy skies.

Since the cafeteria at Longwood closed early (and we had promised to take the girls out for dinner), I thought it would be fun to try the Mexican restaurant, El Gran Rodeo, located at the intersection of Rts. 202 and 1.  I'll give it a mixed review.  The chips and guacamole were delicious.  The dinners were kind of....um.... ploppy.  My dinner also had a nice piece of plastic embedded in the lettuce (the lettuce bag wrapper), which wasn't so great.  The waiter looked horrified when I told him and then ran to get me about 20 napkins.  I don't know exactly what the napkins were for, but it was a nice thought.  I sort of figured he'd take my dinner of the bill, but instead he discounted my dinner by $3.75.  I was wondering if they have a set discount for dinner mishaps?  Fortunately, the margerita I ordered was very, very tasty, so no harm done!  (I would probably recommend trying a different restaurant if you're in the mood for Mexican food.)

It was very strange to be without Ben for a whole day.  We really missed the little guy.  Ok, we didn't miss the diapers or the unpredictable running around or safeguarding the toothpaste, but I missed all my hugs and kisses and all his lovin' (his word).

Flower Show 2010

Yesterday I made my annual pilgrimage to the Philadelphia Flower Show with my mom.  I really enjoy looking through all the exhibits, but my very favorite part is to stand near a large display of hyacinths and just inhale the smell of spring.  Ahhh....

This year's Flower Show was delightful as usual.  There were impressive large exhibits (including a stand of bamboo that nearly reached the convention center's ceiling), creative smaller exhibits, beautiful orchids, and (my favorite) lots of crazy cactus and succulent specimens.   Overall, loads of fun and a lovely 6-hour parenting break and some much-needed "quality" time with mom.  You know, you never get too old to need quality time with mom. 

This year's theme was "International" so the larger exhibits featured different countries:

INDIA

CHINA

NEW ZEALAND

SOUTH AFRICA

 

And a few other things that caught my eye:

Arrangement Suspended from Ceiling

Rainy Day Flowers

Crown Made from Dried Plants and Nuts

Modern Arragement 

Pressed Flower Postcard

Grand Entrance

Fun Succulent

Specimen Displays

Snowbound Vacation

Believe it or not, this past weekend we went on vacation.  At least it felt like it. While the rest of the Philadelphia region was in the grips of the second largest snowfall to hit the area ever, we ate an impromptu prime rib dinner, made chocolate cookies, drank hot chocolate, played with lots of friends, went sledding, and even relaxed a little.

I don't think I've ever gotten over that school-aged thrill of hearing the snow delays announced on the radio.  I used to turn on WBAL and crossed my fingers to hear, "Baltimore County School: 2 hours late."  Or the ultimate thrill, "Baltimore County Schools: Closed!!!"  Of course, since this was Saturday, there was no school to worry about. But, I was hoping that all the snow would mean that we would have to postpone the regular weekend errands and give me a legitimate reason to lounge around in my pajamas.  Wish granted! Although I never saw a final "official" total, I think we received about 24" to 26" of snow. As Scott dramatically declared, "We were on LOCKDOWN."

Although kids make almost everything more difficult, they are absolutely fabulous for bonding with the neighbors and total complete strangers.  As a matter of fact, one of my friends met her best friend in the baby aisle at Kmart discussing the relative merits of various diaper brands (true story).  So when the kids started bouncing off the walls a little, we bundled them up and sent them outside to play in the blizzard with all the other neighborhood kids bouncing off their respective walls. The kids bounced around from house to house to house, inside and out.  We completely lucked into a delicious prime rib dinner at and couple of rounds of pool dinner at another neighbor's house.   Lots of unexpected fun!

I thought Sunday would bring us back to reality, and it did in a way since we got back to business with the chores (cooking, laundry, etc.) but the fun happily continued with more impromptu playdates and even a few hours of world-class sledding on the local hills.  Ben even got into the sledding action.  All in all a very pleasant weekend!  It felt like a vacation without having to pack.  Perhaps a lot of the spirit of vacation lies in breaking up the routine and in the mindset, and not so much about the locale.