Weekend Plans

It's been forever since we've seen a kid's concert.  Halloween, I think.   Okay, maybe that's not "forever", but for us a 6-week absence sure as heck feels like an eternity.

That all changes this weekend as Debbie & Friends roll through town.  We're seeing the Saturday 11:30am show at World Cafe Live.  It'll be our 1st time seeing the group perform.

Immediately following Debbie & Friends in Philly, we're heading in the general direction of home to see a couple of balloon artists/magicians perform at The Colonial Theatre in Phoenixville, PA.  The Mouse and I caught John Cassidy's act in late-August and she loved it (despite getting freaked out when he blew himself into a balloon leaving only his head visible).  This time, the whole gang will be in attendance.

Then, to cap off the busy day we'll drive WAY past our house, to Koziar's Christmas Village.  Never been, but this city-of-holiday-lights looks pretty sweet.

So, that's what we've got going on this weekend.  How 'bout you?

Quickie Visitors Guide to Holidays Shows in Atlantic City

We were just in A.C. for a college basketball tournament, to cheer on my MSU Spartans.  While in the East Coast gambling mecca, we hit a couple of the well-promoted family holiday events.  Here's my quick take on what we saw:

The Tropicana indoor snowfall (every 15 minutes) was underwhelming, but the kids liked it.  The Trop's holiday light show (supposedly the largest light show in the tri-state area) was, um, pretty lame.  The blinking lights on the giant tree are set to music barely audible inside the busy Tropicana Quarter.  The light action was repetitive, redudant, repeated itself and generally just keep doing the same thing.  Yeah, kinda like that.  There was also a trio of performers, singing and moving like music box figurines (kinda like that scene in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang). Other than the fact that the toy soldier on the left freaked me out in a there's-no-way-my-kid-is-standing-near-him-for-a-picture-kinda-way, it was an okay show.

It's all free at the Tropicana, so there's no real downside (expect the long walk through the smokey casino floor to get to the Quarter from the boardwalk), but I'd recommend spending more time at the sandy beach alcoves on the 3rd floor of the Pier at Caesar's then catching the impressive water show there (also free).  Hop one of the hand-pushed rickshaws and treat your kids to an enclosed ride down the boardwalk (Caesar's to the Trop is a long walk for little legs - the ride should cost you $10-12).

Yeah, the Caesar's Pier has about 15 sandy beach cutouts on the south side of the building, each complete with 6 white Adirondack chairs.  Kids (and adults) can take off their shoes and socks and sink their feet into the cool sand, all while looking out over the beach, boardwalk and Atlantic Ocean.  Very, very cool.  All the pubs and restaurants are right behind ya up there, so grab a drink and a bite to eat while relaxing in the sand.  The big, clean (and sparkly) bathrooms are nearby to clean up. 

There is also an awesome candy store, just as you walk into the Pier from the 1st floor.  Lots of crazy, not-often-seen confections in there.  Your kids will love it!

Boardwalk Hall, where the tournament was held, proved a fantastic place to watch basketball with kids because there isn't really a bad seat in the smallish place nor is there one extremely far away from the action on the court.  The venue provides an excellent chance to get close to the action.  Five years ago, the Bear was in Boardwalk Hall for a Norah Jones concert.  She was 5 months old at the time (the Bear, not Norah Jones) and the event was her 1st indoor concert...now she was back to see her 1st college basketball game.  I'd never have guessed Atlantic City would be such a memorable place in the musical and sporting life of my 1st child. 

It's sure to be the place where she losses her 1st hand of blackjack as well, but we've got a few years before that.

Squeek Party!

While the kindie music world is converging on Austin, Texas this weekend, OWTK will be rockin' out in rainy Hoboken, New Jersey.

This afternoon is the launch party for the newest WorryWoo Monster SQUEEK!

July, July!

"July, July! July, you never seemed so strange" - The Decemberists "July, July!"

I don't make it a habit of sharing our social calendar on these pages. I'm making an exception right now because next month is shaping up to be the busiest ever for OWTK.
Much of the activity is centered around kid's music, naturally.
Here's what we're looking at:

• 7/3 - Blueberry Pickin' at Solebury Orchards. New Hope, PA
• 7/4 - Tyler State Park hiking & canoe rental. Bucks County, PA
• 7/5 - Family 4th of July BBQ. Bucks County, PA
  
• 7/9 - Billy Kelly Live in XM's Rumpus Room. DC (not confirmed yet)
  
• 7/11 - Recess Monkey Live at the New York Library, Children's Center. NYC
• 7/12 - 23 Skidoo Live at The Grindstone Coffeehouse. Philly.
• 7/15 - New Harry Potter Movie!
• 7/18-7/19 - Fishing Weekend with my oldest brother (girls will be wearing out on the trampoline and zip line recently installed in their backyard). Medford Lakes, NJ.
• 7/20-7/23 - Summer Camp at new school for the Bear.
  
• 7/24 - Lunch Money Live in XM's Rumpus Room. DC.
• 7/30-8/2 - Newport Folk Festival Road Trip (no kiddie stage, for some reason, but still the greatest lineup ever for a smallish festival - Avett Brothers, Josh Ritter, Elvis Perkins, Pete Seeger, Decemberists, Neko Case, Iron & Wine...amazing)
  

I know many families have crazier itineraries on an ongoing basis but we're decidedly NOT over schedulers so this list, for us, is kinda insane. Add to all this the Bear's Tues & Thurs evening Gymnastics classes (each 2 hrs long) and...Yowzers! I need a nap.

OWTK at NYC Toy Fair 2009

In less than 2 weeks OWTK is heading to the Big Apple to experience, enjoy and share with you Toy Fair '09!

Can't yet tell you, with any certainty, what to expect from OWTK during all of this, as I'm still putting the pieces in place. You should, at a minimum, anticipate learning about some of the cool new toys, games and gadgets that our kids will soon be craving.

There will be photos, for sure, and hopefully some funny stories to divulge from the largest toy fair in the Western Hemisphere.

Check out this video from last year's Fair.
Looks awesome, no?

This is a complex year for the toy industry and thus Toy Fair 2009 should be a rather interesting event. A recession, rising unemployment and recent toy safety concerns all have to be at the forefront of the industry's collective consciousness. With any luck, OWTK will be able to glean some sort of insight into what the toy/book/video game business is going to look like going forward and how changes/regulations will eventually impact us as parents and consumers.

Junior Jazz Fest at the Please Touch

This Saturday marks the opening of the Junior Jazz Festival at the new Please Touch Museum. The new theater production will be "Scat Cat's Junior Jazz Jamboree" and on weekends there will be live jazz ensembles performing throughout the day. Sounds good to this jazz fan!

As an added bonus, the famous BIG piano comes to the Please Touch!

I'll be putting the Mouse in school on a stay at home day and taking the Bear for a little one-on-one Daddy-Daughter time, sometime next week. This is something that I'd intended to build into the budget (it costs an extra $50 for the unscheduled school day) and do on a monthly basis, yet I've not once planned such a day. A primary positive, in fact one of the main reasons I did this SAHD thing when I did, was to spend more time with the Bear before she starts the 5-day a week Kindergarten grind next Fall and from there at least 12 more years of constant schooling. I saw this school year as my last chance for mid-week bonding with the girl and I've wasted, I feel, 5 months of it. Anyway, that ends this month as the monthly getaways with the Bear will commence in February.

Check out the OWTK review of the Please Touch Museum at Memorial Hall before your family heads down to the Junior Jazz Fest. I wrote a shorter follow up review after some nice changes were made at the Museum - read that here.

So Many Toys So Little Time

Well, plenty of time actually but the too-many-toys bit is right-on. The girls and I are seemingly paralyzed by the sheer volume of new stuff to play with. Our collective attention span has diminished greatly since Christmas Day. We move from new thing to new thing at a breakneck speed, not our typically style, and I'm not enjoying it at all. We've had a more time to do this routine this week as the girls' school is closed for holiday break, a fact I didn't realize until I pulled into their empty parking lot Tuesday morning. Maybe I should pay closer attention to those school calendars we get every month.

On the gift front, we had a few misses this year - or should I say that Santa did. After just one try the My Horse and Me game for the Wii, something I thought the Bear would really like, seems kinda like a dud. The reviews were almost unanimously glowing. Maybe it'll be a slow grower. The Gary Gadget Computer game for my Mac laptop is alright, but nothing great. The new Playdoh equipment reaffirmed my general hatred of plastic toys. The modestly-sized Breyer Horse set didn't hold the Bear's interest for long and the one fence for jumping keeps collapsing despite our best efforts to keep it upright. While Christmas Day itself was pretty cool, the days following have been less than stellar.

Happy New Year y'all. Until '09...

A New Day at the Please Touch Museum

The girls and I spent today at the Please Touch Museum. 'Twas our third visit to the new location but our first since opening week. A few things have changed since mid-October, one that was most necessary and that is the way members enter the museum. Yesterday, conveniently enough, a new membership card arrived complete with a bar code. This allows it to be scanned, much like an admission ticket, as you go through the new member's only line (weee!). Gone are the days of toiling in the general ticket line, member card in hand, head filled with thoughts of "why must I stand here with antsy kids wanting to play??? and why did I join only to stand in the general line with kids itching to touch stuff???

Also new at the PTM are tables and chairs in the carousel room! Wow, that sounds like a fantastic venue for some lunchtime dining, in fact I suggested just this in my official review of the museum.

At the playhouse the great Pinch Bear stage show has been retired for now, in favor of How the Sun Was Returned to the Sky. This new show lacks the comedy of Pinch Bear but is a wonderful little 20 minute show for kiddies. The Please Touch Museum theater experience continues to serve as a terrific entrance into the world of live theater for kids.

Read the complete OWTK review of the new Please Touch Museum.

Please Touch Museum Memorial Hall in Philadelphia - The OWTK Review

The official OWTK review of the new and improved Please Touch Museum in Philadelphia was written over the course of two full-day visits to the kiddie pleasure dome within it's first full week of being open to the public.

If you've never been, you should know that the old center city location of the Please Touch Museum was a stuffy, heavily-worn space that was unable to compete with other major metropolitan childrens' museums. While the exhibits there, Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are, the Septa bus, etc. showed ingenuity and used the tiny space as best it could, such cleverness couldn't help on a crowded day when the bevy of strollers, misdirected little feet and frustrated parents was more than unbearable. Additionally, parking downtown could be pricey and was at best 3-4 blocks away. Philadelphia needed something better.

The elongated, expensive project to move the museum to Fairmount Park was started years ago and just this month was officially completed when the doors swung open for the first time on October 18th. Memorial Hall, the grand old holdover from America's Centennial bash in 1876, is the site of the palatial childrens' fun house that is sure to become the crown jewel of America's kiddie museums. The venue is gargantuan, the exact opposite of the old place, and is remarkably striking inside and out. Memorial Hall lends itself very well to the new home-away-from-home to children everywhere. And the parking is only $5 (free for members and out front on the Ave. of the Republic) and the lot is right next to the massive building.

With numerous exhibits to see and touch, the best moments we experienced inside the Please Touch Museum were:

• The Please Touch Playhouse - an intimate theater seemingly carved out of 130 year old stone. The show running through December is called Pinch Bear and is absolutely terrific (shows at 11am, 1pm and 3pm daily). We saw it twice, once on each visit, performed first by Alice Gonglewski and then David Hutchmen; both actors were wonderful. The show is a perfectly enticing blend of imagination, humor and water (yes, you get just a bit wet. Your kids will love it!). David informed me that the Playhouse shows rotate about every two months so up next in December will be a Holiday show. We can't wait!
  
• Alice in Wonderland - as if the old Alice exhibit received a shipment from BALCO and beefed up like Barry Bonds. Pardon the pun, but the new Wonderland space is a grand slam home run. It's big, beautiful and exciting for kiddies while also nostalgic for grown ups.
• Fairytale Garden - an area ideal for the littlest visitors with a gated entrance and an attendant watching over the area. Right next to Wonderland, and a nice spot to let the children roam free while watching from a distance.
• City Capers Medical Center - a cute hospital/nursery with lab coats, cribs, baby dolls, blankets and a variety of doctor's equipment allowing your child to become a mini-M.D.

There are some cool little touches all over the place inside the museum. Nooks, crannies and bookshelves full of old toys like Marvin the Martian, an original Etch-a-Sketch, Kermit the Frog and other playthings from yesteryear lurk around every corner. These blasts from the past serve as a neat tool to bridge the gap between generations and signify the dawn of a new era at the Please Touch.

The Fairytale Garden has what appears to be the entire Smurf village encased in glass at eye level for toddlers and there are two cool found-art/toy projects in Memorial Hall. One is a large elephant and the other, a towering replica of the Statue of Liberty's torch that greets visitors as they enter the Hall. The Torch was displayed here in 1876 before the Statue was completed in NYC.

There is something inside the Please Touch Museum for adults as well. The 1876 Centennial exhibit is wonderful and is everything I hoped it would be the day I read that they discovered a full scale replica of what Fairmount Park looked like in 1876 during the preparation of the space for Please Touch to move in. It's amazing to picture the city at that time with so many long-gone architectural wonders dotting the landscape. (Even in this "adult" exhibit there is hands-on stations for children to explore - cool stuff like an old telephone, school house and wooden doll house furniture).

All is not perfect however. The serpentine line to enter the museum can be foreboding and when multiple kids are in tow, can be extremely off-putting right off the bat. One of the big reasons for the long lines is that there are a mere 4 cashiers to assist with tickets/memberships and although the menu of choices, if not at all complicated, still takes some time for each museum guest to finalize their ticket purchase. And being a member doesn't have it's advantages when it comes to entering quickly. Members, too, must stand in the general line for paper tickets in order to play inside.

The other undersized area is the one where you might feel the most frustrated, especially with too-hungry little ones tugging on your pant leg. The food inside the cleverly named Please Taste Cafe is quite delicious and reasonably priced but the dining area is way too small for such an expansive new museum. They need to find more seating, I would recommend something outside during the warmer months and maybe inside the carousel house during chiller days. I imagine that enjoying lunch while watching the Dentzel carousel spin would be a lovely time. That being said, the lunch choices are quite good. We sampled the cold Grilled Chicken Sandwich with fresh mozzarella, roasted red peppers and a pesto mayo and the Pesto Pizzsand, which is a warm gyro-like sandwich with grilled chicken, sun dried tomatoes, marinated red onion and garlic mayo. It was fantastic, filling and only $5.75. The Please Taste Cafe also has a pasta station (see picture) where you can make your own pasta meal by selecting 1 of 4 types of pasta and a bevy of veggies and other mix-ins and 1 of 4 sauces. That is a mere $4.75. Very nice choices all of them. Also offered are yogurts, cereal, milk, super pretzels, drinks and a variety of snacks and frozen ice cream treats.

The Please Touch Museum Memorial Hall is a glorious place to spend a day as a family. OWTK cannot encourage you enough to come to Philly and see this marvelous place with your kids. Tickets are $15 for adults and kids over 1. A spin on the magnificently restored carousel (a pretty short ride for the price, to be honest) will cost you an extra $3 per person riding (you can stand with your child for free). Plan your visit to the Please Touch Museum today.

Stay at Home on the Road

Last Wednesday the girls and I spent our stay at home day on the road. On a whim, after playing with Harmony, one of the Bear's stuffed animals purchased from the sweetest place on Earth earlier this year, I decided to pack up the troops and head west to Hershey, PA. The Mouse was still in a Baby Bjorn snuggly-thing back then so I can only assume she didn't enjoy all that Hershey's had to offer while lassoed around her Mum's chest. Seeing as how she now loves cows and cute Moooo one of the animal sounds she can make, I figured she would fancy seeing the singing trio of bovines that guide you through the cool (and free) little "factory" tour in Chocolate World. Wednesday afternoon seems a good time to visit as there was NO ONE in line for the tour. A much different scene will greet you on a weekend, that's for sure.

Having eaten in the cafeteria last time, I knew I wanted to stop and have a real meal with the little ladies so with the help of my Garmin Nuvi I located the Chocolate Ave. Grill in downtown Hershey. They served the Mouse one of the best grilled cheese sandwiches I've ever tasted...she devoured it! The Bear enjoyed a huge plate of yummy spaghetti and meatballs (both meals were under $5). The kids got to play with crayons and twisty wax strings that can be made into any number of things. Very, very cool place that caters nicely to kids of all ages. I would return in a heartbeat the next time we're in town. If you're heading to Hershey for the Chocolate World Experience, stop at the Chocolate Ave. Grill for a great meal at a reasonable price thus avoiding the disappointing food court.

After buying three bags of fancy Kisses (Pumpkin Spice, Candy Cane and the best Hershey flavor ever - Mint Truffle) we headed over to the lovely Hershey Gardens. We got in free thanks to Winterthur's reciprical program (love those!) Even though their butterfly house was closed we three still had a good time for well over an hour in the Children's Garden where the kids can kinda roam free.

Next Monday we will spend another stay at home day out and about as the new Please Touch Museum opens in Fairmount Park. We joined during the summer and have been eagerly awaiting this day. Our membership gets our girls free and unlimited Carousel rides for a year! Yeah!!!

Check out Philly.com's interactive Please Touch Museum website.

Night in New York, Day at the Museum

On a whim, we drove up to New York City on Sunday afternoon for an overnight stay at The Manhattan Club and a day at the American Museum of Natural History. My brother owns a timeshare up there (more on that later) and couldn't make his Sunday night reservation work so he offered the place to my gang. Since only one of us actually works for a living, we decided to go.

Sunday was already scheduled to be jammed packed as we took a stroll around Villanova stadium during the 2008 Buddy Walk in the morning then could be found strolling the streets of Malvern, PA for the annual Fall Festival. After all that, we drive 2 hours to the Big Apple. The girls and I were pretty bushed yet we still managed to enjoy a great, late-night dinner at Beacon on West 56th. We didn't leave the place until 10pm. Needless to say, we all sleep well that night!

I'd eaten at Beacon once before and loved it. I made a quick same-day 1000 point reservation on OpenTable.com then we called ahead to make sure it's "kid-friendly". We we're assured that it was and boy, they weren't lying! The kiddies get their own little menus, a coloring book filled with a mix of popular characters (from Elmo to Spongebob...something for most everyone) and the best part? Kid's under 4 eat free!
It being a Sunday, it was Beacon's Sunday Supper Pre-Fixe dinner for $44 per adult. The appetizers were a set of 4 served family style, including Pumpkin Apple soup which the Bear and Mouse both devoured (they shared the Mrs' and mine as the kids did not get the individual servings of soup). I tried Oysters for the first time and enjoyed very much the wood roasted with shallots and herbs preparation that Beacon prides itself on.

If you're looking for a great upscale place in Midtown for a dinner with children don't hesitate to consider making a reservation at Beacon. The booster and high chair were clean and while no changing table in either bathroom there is a space for swapping diapers easily.

On Monday we finally became members of the always amazing American Museum of Natural History. For me, that place is like heaven on Earth. I could spend an eternity inside those walls yet constantly find myself rushing through and out because my visits continue to occur on traveling days. Our visit this time unfortunately comes just 5 days BEFORE the beautiful Butterfly Conservatory reopens for the season! The upside? I have another excuse to visit again real soon!

That's all we did, a dinner, a night stay and the museum. The night stay was enjoyable at the Manhattan Club but geez is it hard on an owner of that timeshare high rise. My brother has been extremely frustrated with the availability, or lack thereof, of rooms since buying his share a couple years ago. He has been emailing and calling months in advance looking for regular non-holiday nights scattered throughout the rest of the year and the 1st 1/2 of next year and keeps striking out. Our Sunday night was chosen only because it was one of only 2 nights left available in 2008 (he booked this in August!). That's nuts.

Seems like it would have been easier to set aside a wad of cash and just book fancy hotels whenever you decide to visit NYC instead of paying a steep price upfront for this timeshare and constantly being told the place can't accommodate you. Terrible.

Justin Roberts Show Review

OutWithTheKids.com was fortunate enough to be part of the crowd at World Cafe Live this past weekend for a rare Sunday morning kid's show. The famed Peanut Butter and Jams series is usually held on Saturdays at WCL but when Justin Roberts needs a Sunday gig, accommodations can (and should) be made. The show, surprisingly enough, was not completely sold out. Roberts (and Liam Davis) filled the place last Autumn and with the full band in tow this time around I was certain they'd be turning sad little children away at the door. It was, after all, the band's (known as the Not Ready For Naptime Players) first ever gig in Philly. Maybe the Pro Football Sunday slot kept some folks away (even though the Eagles were in Roberts' hometown of Chicago for a Sunday night game).

The band played 12 songs spanning 5 different records (see set list below) lasting for a touch over 50 minutes which is standard at these kiddie shows. I personally think the tots can handle a bit more of the rock, say an hour and 15 minutes or so, but nonetheless they all seem to halt at the 45-50 minute mark.

The band sounded tight, as always, and Justin's vocals stellar. I have only one complaint and it's the same beef I always have at JR shows. My problem? The over-use of audience instructions (dance moves, hand motions, etc). It takes a lot of the spontaneity out of the experience and it's rare that the thing itself holds the attention of the kids for the entire song (or even through the end of the first chorus). If it makes sense for the song, like on "Imaginary Rhino" or "Willy Was A Whale" then OK but not every song needs it's own scripted movement.

Justin Roberts and the Not Ready for Naptime Players Set List from Philadelphia, PA on Sunday September 28th, 2008:

Old Pajamas

Pop Fly

Our Imaginary Rhino

She's a Yellow Reflector

Henrietta's Hair

Willy Was A Whale

My Brother Did It

Giant Sized Butterflies

Way Out

Stay At Home Dad

The Backyard Superkid

I Chalk

If you don't remember how much we love "Pop Fly", go ahead and re-read the OWTK review of The Greatest Children's Record Ever Made.

If you have the chance to catch JR on tour don't even think twice about plopping down the cash for tickets. Whether as a duo with Liam or with the full band, it's a show you will not want to miss seeing with (or without!) your kids. Roberts is simply the best thing going on the kiddie circuit right now (yes, better than Dan Zanes, better than They Might Be Giants, better than any other children's act playing live today).

Justin Roberts' 20% off shop sale ends today! Buy stuff and support great independent kid's music!

Money Well Spent, but Spent None-the-Less

In the span of 10 days we've spent $300 on a more-complex-than-expected dryer duct cleaning, $140 on Maytag fridge service and $150 on a new tire for our little car because I got a flat on Monday night. There's nearly $600 we didn't have...a nice start to living on one income! It's because of these expenses, along with an uncomfortable monetary feeling I had since I saw it advertised at $100 per person, that we did not attend the NFL Films event last night at the Bryn Mawr Film Institute. They were honoring Steve Sabol of NFL Films and the event was hosted by voice of the Eagles Merrill Reese and one of my personal favorites Ray Didinger (one of the smartest football people I've ever heard talk). I'm sure it was fantastic.

It was the first time since becoming professionally unemployed that I've had a big financial decision to make - the whole "but I really want to go" balanced with the unavoidable "but we don't have [fill in large dollar amount here] to go to it". It sucks but that was and is the known trade off when I left my job last month.

We are splurging this weekend though, as the Mrs. and I celebrate our 6th wedding anniversary in Woodstock, NY. We're staying at a beautiful looking bed and breakfast, having dinner streamside at the Bear Cafe and attending Levon Helm's Midnight Ramble on Saturday night. The weather up there is to be in the high 30's at night!

'Tis going to be an amazing weekend with my lovely bride.

Bronze Medal Parenting

The OWTK household has caught Olympic fever. We got it bad. I was cheering hard for the pre-recorded Norwegian female handball team on Sunday afternoon. The Mrs, like the rest of the free world, has been spellbound by Michael Phelps. Yep, she's a Phelps Phan phrom now on. The Bear is loving the girl's and boy's gymnastics, as I thought (and feared) she would.

As a result of all this Olympic spirit we've had the TV on about 500% more than usual, including every single evening. I'm trying to justify all this by telling myself that it only happens every four years and the Bear will be eight when the London Games kick off in 2012. So it's special for that reason and it's also cool to show her all the nation's flags and colors then look at the globe/atlas to spot where those countries are in relation to us and France (the Bear's European familiarity). So there is a slight geographical lesson buried in there as well.

In all honestly, the games have been great. I usual much prefer the winter games - loving the luge, ski jump and of course ice hockey but the summer games have been impressive. I love that we can tune in at 8pm Eastern and see live events from the other side of the world. It's all been very cool.

And to think that all this Olympic TV viewing will bleed right football season when the television is guaranteed to be on quite a bit.

Dr. Dog - Tonight in Philly!

The OWTK 4 will be hangin' in Rittenhouse Square tonight for the free outdoor Dr. Dog show.

Whoa, can't wait to hear "America's Next Great Band" again.

I know what you did last weekend

Alright, I have no idea what YOU did this past weekend but here's what we did:


Made our 1st trip back to Winterthur since becoming a member during the Jane Yolen weekend in the Spring. I had no intention of joining back then but the regular admission lines were so long that I gleefully forked over a wad of cash to get in right away (and again whenever I want for the next 12 months). I did the same thing at the Franklin Institute last year during the wildly popular King Tut exhibit. Those lines were almost out the door yet the membership desk was totally clear.

Winterthur and their Enchanted Woods is a beautiful place to spend a day. On this trip we got to experience the indoor portion of the grounds and discovered the K is for Kids exhibit (neat), the very comfy Jane Yolen reading room complete with over sized floor pillows (wonderful) and the kiddie Touch-It room which is set up like a old fashion house with china tea set, wooden toys and antique dolls (pretty cool) - the kids are encouraged to play with everything in there.

The gem of Winterthur though are gardens and, for anyone with tiny tots, the Enchanted Woods. The mystical Woods are filled with a troll house, a labyrinth, a frog pond, a giant bird's nest and a faerie cottage. You're kids will love it. And for any child who loves to ascend a great oak, there is an ideal climbing-tree just behind the Enchanted Woods...right in front of a big open area perfect for a picnic. It's an idyllic spot on a beautiful blue-sky-day.


Working backwards...On Friday the Mrs. and I had an appointment at the Apple Store. My iPhone crapped out on me after getting wet during the Newport Folk Fest. They swapped it out for a new one, no questions asked, but dummy me didn't yet sync my photos from the Mystic Aquarium and the Festival, my contacts or my notepad notes with dozens and dozens of t-shirt design ideas! Ack! They're all gone forever. The good news is that I once again have a fully functioning iPhone thanks to the great people at the Apple Store's Genius Bar.

Also on Friday my notice from COBRA arrived alerting me of my right to continue my health insurance coverage once I leave my job next Friday...all for the fabulous rate of $1265 per month! Yay, where do I sign for that affordable deal! The Mrs. is remaining employed for various reasons, that dollar amount being a large one.

Newport Folk Take Two

Boy o boy was Sunday a better day for us in Rhode Island. We decided to spend the afternoon in town, walking the streets, hopping in and out of stores and having a delicious lunch (lobster pizza with roasted red peppers, green onions and a lobster sherry sauce in place of tomato sauce - yum!). We knew we would miss some terrific music, Calexico specifically, but we wanted to give the kids a break and see something else up there. What a great idea! The girls, which for this weekend included my 10 year old niece, had a very enjoyable day. My niece asked to come along for the ride while at my parents on Friday night, battling with her parents for the right to go away with her uncle, aunt and two cousins. I couldn't say no, figuring it was a cool chance to expose her to some different music and a new kind of traveling experience.

We arrived at the Festival at 4:10 exactly, just in time for the start of Levon Helm's set. Then we headed over to the medium-size Harbor stage for The Avett Brothers who have just launched themselves into my top 5 favorite bands. Holy crap what a great show! They played a song that, as it turns out, has been around for a while in their live shows but just recently made it on to a record, their new, quieter affair called The Second Gleam. It's called "Murder in the City" and it's amazing. Check out the brothers performing it a few months ago in Atlanta.



We then headed back to the main Fort stage for a full-fledged Parrothead event as Jimmy Buffet closed out the 2008 Newport Folk Festival. My niece finally got to hear some stuff she actually heard before, as her parents are big-Buffet fans.

Back at the hotel, we ordered a pizza and the mouse wore the bear's underwear on her head. That's it.

And the rains came!

Day 1 of the Newport Folk Festival was a washout. About three songs into She & Him's set the floodgates opened and it began to pour. This continued for over an hour. Not fun to have a 14 month old baby is a cold driving rain. We bailed and missed Jim James and Felice Brothers. None to pleased. The car is drenched inside too since we sat for an hour, in ungodly traffic, trying along with thousands of other festival-goers to escape Newport. In looked liked we had jumped into a swimming pool completely dressed and then went for a ride.

A crappy day, all in all.

Recess Monkey Live!

The Bear and I will be at a rare Monday afternoon kiddie rock show in Philly. Recess Monkey is in town and we're going down via the train. It should be a treat for the Bear as it's the same regional rail line her mom-mom takes to our hood from the city. It's that line that earned her the funny "Train Mom-mom" name. I'm also going to try and work in the Franklin Institute as our membership expires at the end of July and it would feel good to get one more use out of it.

Still getting my bearings back and when I do...watch out! Tons of great kids music to review including the new Terrible Twos record due out next week.

Out Without The Kids

Despite the Fleet Foxes show eluding us the Mrs. and I still got the chance to enjoy a night out of the house without the Bear and Mouse. We grabbed a couple salads, and the best French Onion Soup ever, from a little place across from the hospital where both our kiddies were hatched. It was in that very place that I had my first meal as a father.

I ate alone that night as I watched my MSU Spartans drop yet another big game to Wisconsin in the finale of the Big Ten regular season. I was completely self-aware and more than a little self absorbed that evening. I looked around at the other patrons, certain they could all tell I'd just became a daddy and quietly, on the inside, they were congratulating me and thinking to themselves "He is going to be one hell of a dad". Not that I had my newborn Bear strapped to my hip or anything. I like to think that my situation was given away by the unable-to-be-removed-by-human-hands bracelet that dangled with an epic coolness from my right wrist. The kind of coolness only a new dad possesses. The kind of coolness that tells everyone "I just laid witness to my wife's vagina being stretched to unthinkable extremes as a slimy wet crying baby emerged from said vagina yet here I sit, calmly enjoying a juicy burger and an ice cold root beer while watching a basketball game". Ain't no cool like new daddy cool.

If the bracelet didn't give me away the heavy bags under my eyes definitely did. They came courtesy of a restless "sleep" on a god-awful cot with a pillow that didn't deserve to be called a pillow for it amounted to nothing more than a pillow case inside of another pillow case.

Oh, where was I? Yes, our night out without the kids...after dinner we saw Mongol, the beautifully filmed and superbly acted 1st film in a Genghis Khan trilogy. Check out the clip below. I can't recommend this movie enough. Go see it and you'll be very cool, even if you don't get to wear a hospital-issued bracelet.