California Day 2: San Francisco -- California Academy of Sciences + de Young Museum

Every family vacation, the kids seem to come up with one or two annoying and never-ending games or activities. In Italy, it was rocks, paper, scissors and virtual hangman. Last year in Scotland and Ireland, they added staring contests and photo bombing. On our California trip, they chose to bombard us with random Presidential trivia questions (Kane is obsessed and brought three books with him on the trip—did you know that Calvin Coolidge had a pet raccoon named Rebecca!?) and their total inability to take a normal outdoor photo because they "could not look into the sun."

Between the latter and my continuing allergy/sinus issues (I finally got my dr. to call in a prescription for me the next morning and things cleared up quickly!), I just didn't get a lot of photos on our second day. Now had they brought sunglasses as I suggested, we could have avoided ridiculous photos like the one above. But what fun would that be?! Plus, I just might make that our holiday card because it's hysterical. Nevertheless, we managed to have a great second day.

We didn't want to do a big, sit-down breakfast so we walked to nearby Fillmore Bakeshop for great coffee and delicious quiche for the kiddos. After meeting up with Uncle Steve, we headed over to Golden Gate Park for some museum time. I somehow totally overlooked the fact that the enormous music festival Badlands was going on in the park that weekend, but we stuck close to the museums and didn't have a problem. It also meant though that we didn't get to explore a ton of the park itself (including missing out on the buffalo), but again, we'll just have to go back!

Our first stop was the fabulous California Academy of Sciences (included in our CityPASS), which is an aquarium, natural history museum, and planetarium all in one. It's all topped off by an amazing living roof too. We wandered around the aquarium first and took in a diver show for a while. The kids loved the hands-on area where they got to explore local sea life too. But, we were  all still adjusting a little bit to the time change and everyone was a little cranky and hungry. So we did a quick trip through the rainforest and decided to skip the planetarium this trip. I had a feeling some chips and guac would set everyone straight, so we took a quick walk to Nopalito for lunch. It was deeeelish. Food (plus a few margs for the adults who were not battling a sinus infection) helped immensely!

The de Young Museum was on my agenda for the afternoon and we walked back through a bit of the park to get there. Our CityPASS gave us general admission, but I really wanted to see The Summer of Love Experience: Art, Fashion, and Rock & Roll. So we shelled out a little extra for that. Street signs outside the museum set up some nice parallels between important issues of the 1960s and current times. And the kids played while we waited for Aunt Leslie to meet us.

We went straight to the special exhibit and had a hilarious time trying to explain all the psychedelic art to the kids. I finally stopped beating around the bush and explained what psychedelic drugs were and how they played a role in everything they were seeing. It was a pretty funny conversation. They didn't quite get that part of it, but they did seem to understand what people were protesting about. Sadly, while we've made great strides in some things, others haven't changed all that much.

Cam loved the fashion and was into the art. Kane was a little creeped out, I think. I was all in to see the rest of the museum, but I was losing everyone else. They wanted outside, they wanted to rest, they wanted to chill. So we parted ways for a bit and went back to the hotel. A little down time plus some showers got everyone back on track and we headed over to the Presidio Social Club for dinner with Steve and Leslie. Presidio is actually a National Park (we didn't have our National Park Passports with us and I was kicking myself! I made sure to carry them with us everywhere for the rest of the trip) and a former military post. Presidio has a bunch of hiking trails and scenic overlooks (Crissy Field has amazing views of the Golden Gate Bridge), but we were really there to eat. The Social Club was once part of the military barracks and has been converted into a super cute and delicious restaurant.

After dinner we strolled through the Marina district and through the Palace of Fine Arts, which is an amazing place to visit during the daytime but was beautiful lit up in the evening as well. Everyone was tired and we had hiking planned for the next day, so we called it a night!
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XYZT: Abstract Landscapes Exhibit at ARTECHOUSE

D.C.'s art museums and galleries are among my favorite city destinations, but we've never seen something quite like ARTECHOUSE -- a new, interactive digital art gallery located just off the mall. If the gallery's first exhibit, XYZT: Abstract Landscapes, is any indication of what's to come, ARTECHOUSE's large scale interactive exhibits almost guarantee an amazing art experience for families.

Baltimore Museum of Art

Visting Baltimore is a super easy day trip for us and we make the drive regularly to visit one of our favorite art museums, the American Visionary Art Museum. But for some reason, we had yet to visit the Baltimore Museum of Art. When we finally had a free weekend day, we made plans to meet my father-in-law in Baltimore for lunch and then discover the museum, including checking out its Free Family Sundays program.

We are no strangers to a good art museum, but I have to say that the Baltimore Museum of Art completely blew me away. To begin with, it's free. Those of us who visit DC museums frequently are completely spoiled, because most museums outside of the District, especially art museums, carry a hefty price of admission. So I was psyched to see we'd be getting a free peak at new art.

Secondly, the entire vibe of the museum was unlike any other art museum of this caliber that we'd experienced. It was sooooo laid back -- there were no guards or docents following the kids around (ahemmmm Phillips Collection and Hirshhorn). In fact, the museum ingeniously set up several works of art in the contemporary and modern sections that the kids were allowed and encouraged to touch -- smack in the middle of a room containing other off limits priceless works. The fact that they were allowed to explore some of it, made it so much easier to keep their paws off the other art.

There was also an exploratory interactive exhibit in a transitional area between exhibits that made it really easy to take a break and get the kids involved. I don't know if it was this approach or the Free Family Sundays, but there were more families with small kids walking around that museum than any other I've ever seen. Art for all, ya'll!

We also loved the adjacent Johns Hopkins University neighborhood. We had an incredibly delicious meal and the totally quirky Paper Moon Diner before our museum visit. I highly recommend a trip to the restaurant, which is within walking distance from the museum. It's a feast for the eyes as much as it is your tummy -- it reminded me of a cross between the AVAM gift store and The Beaver Island Toy Shop. I will disclose that we had a slightly disastrous wait for our food, but they did the right thing and comped our meal. Plus, the kids have never had less of a hard time occupying themselves in a restaurant -- we played I-Spy for almost an hour.

If you haven't visited the museum, add it to your list. We are absolutely going to add it in to our regular rotation!!

Wonder at the Renwick Gallery

It's been quite a while since the kids and I've been to a new art exhibit or museum. In fact, I don't think we've done any art exploring since our trip to Italy. We'd planned to head down to check out the recently re-opened Renwick Gallery over Thanksgiving weekend, but everyone was too stuffed to do much besides lounge around. So we took advantage of an early dismissal yesterday and took a buddy with us to see what we would find at the opening exhibition Wonder. It might have been the best art exhibit for kids we've ever seen.

Italy: Rome Day 4 -- Borghese Gallery + Villa Borghese Gardens

We had an easy day planned for our last day in Rome, including a little "sleeping in." And given the schedule we'd been running for our first several days there, the kids actually complied. We took our time getting ready (Cam insisted that the two of us don coordinating patterned jumpsuits), hit up a different cafe in the arcade across from our hotel for our morning cappuccino and cornetti, and then headed over to Borghese Gallery. I had made advance reservations for the 11:00 a.m. entrance -- admission to the gallery is timed and you should absolutely purchase tickets ahead of time online because they sell out far in advance. We picked up our tickets and rented two of the audio tours, thinking that the kids wouldn't be interested. So of course that meant they took the audio gadgets for themselves, but I didn't mind sharing and was just happy that they were listening intently.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Our family obsession with all things Egypt is no secret. Over the past few months, we've become totally engulfed by Rick Riordan's "The Kane Chronicles," a series of novels based on Egyptian mythology. The books follow the adventures of siblings Carter and Sadie Kane who are forced to contend with Egyptian gods and goddesses in an effort to rescue their family. At 500 pages plus each, the books probably aren't meant to be read aloud. But we all love the subject and story so much, I haven't mind slogging through the first one a bit (although we did pick up the second one on audiobook!). I mean, an Egyptologist named Dr. Kane?! In any event, several parts of the first book take place at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which houses an enormous Egyptian collection. So when we decided to spend Christmas in New York, I knew immediately that was at the top of our to do list.

Neo-Impressionism at The Phillips Collection

I love, love The Phillips Collection. Which is why it saddens me so that it persists in being one of the least kid-friendly art museums to which I've ever taken our kids. Ever. Yes, they have an amazing children's exploration activity packet. And yes kids are free. But is it entirely necessary to imply that I need to hold the hand of my incredibly well-behaved four-year-old right off the bat? Like before I even step foot on the exhibit floor? And the haughty looks and, I'm sorry, did I just see you literally recoil from my child who is quietly walking around? No lie. Cameron is most certainly better behaved than me (especially once you tick me off). She speaks more quietly and with far less curse words. She will sit and look at art carefully and she even tantrums with less fanfare than me. And guess what? It's not because you follow her around with a glaring eye. It's because she's her and she's been to 8,567 museums (exact total) and knows how to behave. She has her moments, but yesterday was not one of them. (I could kind of understand the stalking guards when she was 2 1/2, how fab was that bow shirt, btw, but this just seemed a little ridiculous).

The National Gallery of Art: Degas's Little Dancer (or I See Puppies!)

So yesterday was Cam's annual school field trip to the pumpkin patch, a trip I'm sure many of you are making right around this time as well. It's a great idea, but given that I've been spending so much time on the road in the car, I thought we'd have a more local field trip of our own. Cameron has been intermittently obsessed with ballet and even though she's not currently taking any classes, I thought a trip to see Degas's Little Dancer at the National Gallery would be a perfect girls' morning.

Keep It Local: Third Floor at the National Portrait Gallery + American Art Museum

I'm not sure how we've been to the National Portrait Gallery and the American Art Museum as many times as we have and missed the wonderful 20th century and contemporary art collections on the third floor, but last week we finally accidentally discovered them. We were actually trying to get over to American Cool, but were detoured by the installation of another exhibit. And thank goodness because the art on the third floor is awesome! It's big, it's loud, it's right up my alley. Cam was on the verge of a meltdown, so we didn't get to spend as much time as we wanted up there, but I'm guessing we'll be making a special trip back soon just for that. Don't miss out!

p.s. don't forget to enter our Thinkfun Giveaway -- it ends Sunday!!!

Keep It Local: Gravity's Edge at the Hirshhorn Museum

Back on a snow day in February, we took a trip down to one of our favorite museums to check out the Gravity's Edge exhibit at the Hirshhorn. Part of the museum's series of exhibitions drawn from it's own collection, Gravity's Edge does just as it suggests: it explores the force of gravity in artwork. Since we'd done drip paintings before, mom thought we would find it interesting. But neither of us were really in the mood -- even for the really fabulous installation "Corner Piece, 1969" by Lynda Benglis, which reminded mom so much of our sidewalk chalk art from a few years back. Mom, on the other had, loved the exhibit and made us sit and observe for a while even though we just wanted to get out in that snow. We got out there and tested gravity ourselves. Remember snow? Don't worry -- it's only April, surely it will be back.

Gravity's Edge will be at the Hirshhorn until June 15th -- mom says it's worth the trip.

Keep It Local: Portrait Story Days at the National Portrait Gallery and DC Youth Poetry Slam

We have a knack for accidentally discovering the coolest (and often free) events and programs in DC. It happens all the time, which is likely an indicator that the city is just teeming with awesome opportunities for kids, but we like to think we have a particular affinity for finding them just the same. Mom has been waiting to take us to Portrait Story Days at the National Portrait Gallery for a while. We're no strangers to art museums, but she wanted to make sure we were both old enough to really get the program. Turns out it is super laid back and we would have been just fine ages ago, but regardless, it was awesome.

While we waited for the Story Days to begin, we checked out the Gallery's fabulous exhibit "Dancing the Dream," which is filled with multimedia art of all kinds of dance styles. Cam loved the ballet and I loved that I was able to pick out Beyonce's "All the Single Ladies" video. The exhibit is at the Gallery until July and we definitely recommend checking it out.

When it was storytime, we listened to a fabulous book about Julia Child and then made self-portraits from fruits and veggies while video of Julia played on the wall. It was such a cool activity! After we finished our mugs, we got to check out discovery kits, too. Each kit comes with a doll of someone whose portrait is in the museum, along with lots of ideas for prompting kids to look and examine the artwork. I was pretty psyched to pull Abe Lincoln (one of my top two favorite presidents, along with GW) and Cam was thrilled to get Jacqueline Kennedy. We went on a search throughout the Gallery for portraits of our peeps and then spent a good amount of time comparing our doll to the portrait. Cam was a little antsy to get to the Kogod Courtyard snack bar, so she and daddy went ahead, but I spent a lot of time discussing Lincoln's portrait with mom, describing it using the great set of notepads in the kits, and drawing my own portrait of him, too (they let us keep the notepads, which are awesome and will be used on lots of future museum trips).

We finally met up with Cam and daddy in the courtyard only to find that the Gallery was setting up for the semi-finals of the DC Youth Poetry Slam team -- the competition was going to determine the team to represent DC nationally and internationally. Mom and I were PSYCHED. Cam was tired. So Cam and daddy headed home and mom and I poked around the Gallery a bit more until the slam started and then we made sure we had front row seats. Mom talked to me a bit about what slam poetry is and told me that even though these were kids, they would likely be talking about sort of adult subjects. I insisted that I wanted to stay, so we did. I thought it was neat that kids got up to perform and that a lot of the poetry sounded like music to me. I even volunteered to be a judge (random audience members just the competition), but mom said I was too young. I kept my own scores anyway. And mom was blown away. Seriously, blown away. She thought the kids were super brave and talented and inspiring. I might have caught her crying a bit. Maybe.

The National Portrait Gallery hosts Portrait Story Days on select Saturdays and Sundays each month. You can check the events calendar right here. We HIGHLY recommend both the storytime and the discovery kits.

If you get a chance and feel that your kids are old enough or are comfortable with your younger ones being exposed to some more mature issues, you should definitely check out DC's youth slam poets at an open mic night, which they hold the 3rd Saturday of each month at Busboys & Poets. Amazing.