Local Treks
Fran W.
Monday, 15 February 2010
Snow Days
We didn't go anywhere during Snowpocalypse '10. Like, not even to the back yard. The snow is over M's head in places. We attempting some sledding, but no go.
So here's my tip for Not Traveling with a child, and yet not just plugging that child into the TV for 10 straight days of stir-craziness: Prezzies!
At Christmas, as usual, M received far more gifts than he could play with, let alone remember. So we confiscated about 1/3 of them, and stored them away for a rainy day. This counted. Some were small (Matchbox cars, new Thomas-the-Tank-engine vehicles), some were big (a kid-sized art table and easel), and some were of course electronic (a plug-and-play set of Star-Wars-themed video games). We doled them out with little fanfare, and in no apparent pattern; after all, we don't want him to start believing that every day should start with the gift of a new toy, but when he'd hit the absolute depths of boredom, or when we needed a few minutes of sanity-repairing adult time, hey, new stuff to play with!
We also
[...]More Sunday, 07 February 2010
How To Ride Out A Winter Storm in Style
We had a family getaway planned; it was going to snow at home, as well as at the getaway location (the veritable Congress Hall [we wrote about their sister motel, the Star, two years ago].); the room was prepaid. So we kept our reservation. We arrived late Thursday evening and settled in to our cozy room on the fourth floor of the Victorian-era hotel, anticipating our view of the ocean the next morning. We may have thought smugly, "What could possibly go wrong?"
So glad you
[...]More Sunday, 06 December 2009
Park Ranger - Junior Division
"Oh I've seen the Liberty Bell. A lot of times." We're driving to school; I've just told her that her Grandma is taking her to see the Liberty Bell and the Betsy Ross House in downtown Philadelphia. I don't need to turn around to guess that my daughter, who is nearing five, has perfected the "boRing face".
"Yeah? What does it look like?" Yes, I like to argue with people who spend their time perfecting useless tools like "boRing face."
"It's a bell. Can we get ice cream?"
< [...]More
"Yeah? What does it look like?" Yes, I like to argue with people who spend their time perfecting useless tools like "boRing face."
"It's a bell. Can we get ice cream?"
< [...]More
Wednesday, 18 November 2009
Emergency Room Tourist
I guess the lessons here for traveling with children are:
1) You can never be too prepared. I have a first aid kit in my car, but we weren't near my car.
2) Kindness of strangers. The bakers who gave us their first aid kit and lots of paper towels, the staff at Johns Hopkins, the pirate crew…all lovely people.
3) Friends. Especially the kind that are resourceful and forgiving (and know where the local ER is)
4) No plan survives first contact with the enemy. But kids
[...]MoreMonday, 09 November 2009
Arrr! Baltimore Avast!
I have to give huge props to Urban Pirates in Baltimore. HUGE.
For starters: This is a mom-driven enterprise. No, not my mom - the phylum of moms that I belong to… the ones who might possibly take a small crafting project and turn it, say, into a Giant Pirate Ship that actually sails, and has cannons (water-cannons) and Real Pirates and stuff… and is huge gobs of fun.
There's a long story and a short story to this trip. I'm going to stake out the short story, and leave [...]More
For starters: This is a mom-driven enterprise. No, not my mom - the phylum of moms that I belong to… the ones who might possibly take a small crafting project and turn it, say, into a Giant Pirate Ship that actually sails, and has cannons (water-cannons) and Real Pirates and stuff… and is huge gobs of fun.
There's a long story and a short story to this trip. I'm going to stake out the short story, and leave [...]More
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