International Pop at the Philadelphia Museum of Art

As you might have guessed by our Pop Art Portrait project yesterday, we were all a little smitten by the International Pop exhibit we visited a few weekends ago. The exhibition explores Pop Art across the world throughout the 1950s and 1970s, focusing on the changes in communication, advertising, travel, and print media. Our kids were quite familiar with American Pop artists, but it was the first time any of us had spent much time looking at the art from different countries. And we loved it.

Miscellaneous Madness: Summer Bucket List Update #1

Hard to believe, but we are four weeks into our official summer break. So we figured it was time to give an update on our summer bucket list progress. We've been hard at work, but barely made a dent. With summer camp consuming a large part of our days these past few weeks, we're really looking forward to a big August attack. That said, the bucket list has still taken some hits. Here's where we stand one month in.

1. made sand art -- we previously posted on this jewelry we made during our first week of summer break.

2. found 1 new geocache (out of 15 projected finds this summer) -- it hasn't been for lack of effort -- we've been hot on the trail of a series of difficult city nanocaches. only found 1 since the start of summer thus far, but the search has been awesome trip and we'll post on that series soon.

3. launched a beachside water balloon fight -- in an effort to give mom and dad a break from the constantly requested beach activities of "lift me over these waves," "daddy, you're a horsey," "dig me a hole," "chase me," and "help me pee without the entire beach noticing," mom came up with a target-practice like game using water balloons filled at the beach. no big surprise that it turned into "throw the water balloons at mommy and daddy."

4. family olympics -- the Green Family Olympics was a scaled-down affair this year. we still managed some egg races though.

5. checked out a new art museum -- our visit to the Philadelphia Art Museum was a big hit and we plan on returning again this summer.

6. found 1 new park (out of 3 planned new finds this summer) -- we found a wonderful waterside park in Lewes, DE this past week. more to come soon on our adventure there!

7. went boating -- part of our adventure to the park listed above was by way of the Cape May, NJ - Lewes, DE ferry. stay tuned.

8. mini golfed -- swung some clubs at DC's only outdoor mini golf range, East Potomac Park. it was fab and we'll give you all the deets in a soon-to-come post.

9. rootbeer floats -- part of our recent boating adventure. we hit up the boat's snack bar and made our own impromptu rootbeer floats. we might have overheard mom saying "we're on a boat WITH rootbeer floats. boom, bucket list."

10. found a new library -- easily one of the best results of our bucket list thus far, we've been hitting the Cleveland Park library hard. on our second trip there last week we discovered Tuesday lego afternoons AND, wait for it, chess for kids on Wednesdays. you know where we'll be on all upcoming scorchers.

11. attempted 3-D imax -- we watched Kelly Slater's "The Ultimate Wave Tahiti 3D" at the Smithsonian, which was insanely amazing. I was more into the candy mom let me have and objected to the 3D glasses' style. but Kane was captivated and kept trying to reach out and grab things as they flew by us.

12. baked rainbow cupcakes -- we made these babies to go meet brand new baby Kingston. he's gorgeous and yummy all on his own, but the cupcakes were also well received by his older sisters.

13. ran a family race -- mom and dad really wanted us to do a mud race, but Kane wasn't into it. we lucked out and found the Kazokufit obstacle challenge in Virginia at the end of June. more to come on that!

Fly Away: Philadelphia Museum of Art

On another anticipated day of bad beach weather at the shore, mom took us in to Philly to go to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The museum holds a special place in mom and dad's hearts -- they visited the museum on one of their first trips together and it's also where daddy proposed to mommy when she lived there. It has a great collection of modern art, but mom knew that I would go berserk for the hall of armor. Not to mention that the museum's symbol is a gryphon and the entire main building is adorned with Greek deities and mythological figures. You had me at gryphon, mom. You had me at gryphon.

I wanted no part of the classic "pose with Rocky statue" out front -- I was chomping at the bit to get up the stairs and see the armor. Cam and I spent a good amount of time picking out with what we would arm ourselves -- Cam went for the shiniest and bejeweled. I just couldn't make up my mind because each piece was more fabulous than the next.

After we'd sufficiently planned our defense, mom walked us over to see the room where daddy proposed. Word is that on the way to the museum back in the day, a nervous daddy asked mommy what she wanted to see first. She responded that there was a modern furniture exhibit closing soon and that she wanted to make sure and see that. He asked whether she'd like to see the Monets (which reside in a lovely fountained room where he planned to pop the question). Mom said "I *bleepin* hate Monet." Panicked, upon arrival, daddy proceeded to drag mommy throughout the museum asking her "do you like this room? how about this one?" They started to attract a little crowd as people could sense he was about to propose, so mom finally threw him a bone and said she liked a certain French cloister they were in. Oh well, we all know that it worked out in the end.

The main building is set up perfectly for a wandering walk, which of course is not at all the mood that we were in (particularly after mom tried to get us to pose and re-pose for a picture in that French cloister). Mom insisted on seeing the modern art before we headed over to the Perelman Building across the street, which was starting to set up for what appears to be a really fabulous set of family programming over the summer. The museum is transforming the Perelman Building into "Art Splash" -- a set of family programs featuring a different theme each week that will include guided tours, hands-on activities, picture books and more. We got a little view at what's on tap this summer and you can bet we'll be back to see more. Art Splash opens the weekend of June 28th and runs until September 2nd.

We rounded out our visit with a roll/climb/run through the sculpture garden and quickly attracted the attention of the museum fuzz because apparently you are not supposed to do any of those things in the sculpture garden. Little uptight there, fellas. Really. Fabulous day off of the beach (even though it never did rain)!