Fly Away: Oak Park and Chicago, IL in "Spring"

To the best of our memory, we've had 3 days of school canceled this year for "snow." And basically didn't ever get any real white stuff. So it would only make total sense that mom would wake up the morning of the first day of our spring break -- the day on which she had to fly with both of us for the first time by herself -- to three accumulated inches of the fluff. After checking no less than 17 times that our flight to Chitown was "on," we took off for the airport. Easy peasy check-in and security walk through (well, I tried to bolt once because I didn't want to put my trail mix through the scanner, but they told me I could keep my shoes on and I had to think fast for a new excuse to act up). Once we made it through, the United Airlines messages started -- flight delayed 20 minutes, delayed an hour, delayed an hour 20 minutes. You get it.

Mom inwardly cringed, but we surprised her by being TOTAL troopers. We sat nicely and colored and played with each other at the gate for the extra time. We ate our lunch without incident (well, except when mom dropped Cami's smoothie all over all of us (and a few bysitters) while warning us that if we didn't drink it up, we were going to spill it). Finally on board we asked (!) to be buckled in, perused Sky Mall magazine in a contest to find the most ridiculous object for purchase upon a promise that mom would make daddy buy the winning item (Cam won -- she found a toilet training seat for cats. seriously), waited until we were in the air and then watched our shows for the 2 hour flight. Mom actually read a book. She was flabbergasted.

Grammie B picked us up and we spent the whole week visiting our fam in Oak Park and Chicago where the weather was surprisingly warmer than DC. We got LOTS of quality cousin time with our seriously-missed cousins Jack and Graham (who recently moved to Chicago from DC) and explored lots of new kiddo haunts in the city. AND we got to celebrate our Grandpa's birthday with every single family member on that side of the family (from grandparents to grandchildren at least). All 16 of us. A family first (cousin Graham is just a year old). Daddy even joined us for the last few days of our trip. We had a blast.

Reports on our various activities will be forthcoming, but for now, here's a few shots of how we spent most of our week.

Grammie B let me bring home mom's childhood copy of Greek & Norse legends. BEYOND PSYCHED would be putting it mildly.

arting, of course

cam mastered the spiderweb at mom's childhood park (Taylor Park)

we rolled all the way down the sledding hill because, well, we come from the land of no snow and have never been sledding

we got to play with all of mom's childhood toys left -- tinker toys, playmobil, dollhouse, dollies, etc.

hanging at cousin jackie's

scared in suburbia -- why are people so nice? they must be trying to jack our double driving cart.

singing happy b-day to Grandpa B at his Twin Anchor's rib joint dinner -- worth the hype.

cam and cousin jackie. BFFs for life. it's all aunt carrie's fault that they moved (and we hope you are reading this)

our aunt allie -- the only one who puts up with our BS for an extended period of time. in addition to my continuous banter, cami appears to have realized this past week that she can talk. sure, she's always said what she needed to, but now she won't stop. she's either talking, singing or tantrumming (and none of them quietly).

the only pic mom could get before i literally took off down the block -- grammie and grandpa and all six grandkids.

Holidaze: Happy Spring Break, Passover, Easter, etc.

(um, yea, it's snowing on our first day of spring break. but we're going to pretend we're at the beach)

We know, we know. We've been absent. Neglectful really. But, we've been busy. No big wow of a reason. Just having a busy couple of weeks and our scribe (aka mom) had to let something slide. We're going to continue our little hiatus during our spring break this week, but we promise we'll be back with some new goodies soon.

In the meantime, here are some timely activities to keep your little's hands busy:

* Make some Passover playdough (not Kosher)

* Dip a bunch of naturally dyed easter eggs

* Make a tropical sensory tub OR, even better in our opinion, jump in a tropical bath

* Pretend you're actually having a warm spring break and make some popsicles

* Use all those egg cartons for some additional fun. Make egg carton flowers or a quick color scavenger hunt

* Older kiddos not into dying eggs? Save some and do a science experiment

* None of those strike your fancy? Check out our holidaze and artworks pages for a gazillion (no lie) other ideas.

Happy Everything to Everyone!

Grub It Up: (Spicy) Sesame-Soy Rice Noodles with Tofu and Edamame

As part of our effort to eat "greener," mom has been trying to make one meatless meal a week. No one besides her is particularly pleased, but we generally make do. However, mom had to reinforce the "two bites" rule for everyone (including dad) when she made this -- at least for the tofu. We loved the noodles and edamame, but the tofu did not go over well. Mom said she liked this recipe because it was easy to make a non-spicy batch for us and then add the heat for the 'rents. Give it a try, pretty tasty (well, the not-tofu part).

Sesame-Soy Rice Noodles with Tofu and Edamame: makes 4 servings
(slightly adapted from Prevention RD's recipe)

Ingredients:
- 1 package extra firm tofu, cut into cubes
- 8 oz dry Pad Thai rice noodles
- 2 tsp olive oil
- 2 tsp toasted sesame oil
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/4 cup low-sodium vegetable broth
- 3 tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
- 1tsp red pepper flakes (if you like it less spicy, try 1/2 tsp)
- 1 1/2 cups shelled, frozen edamame
- 1/3 cup cilantro, chopped

Directions:
- Preheat oven to 425 F.

- Line a baking sheet with parchment and mist with olive oil (we don't have a mister, so mom just kind of sprinkled it over the sheet with her hand). Arrange tofu on baking sheet and mist/sprinkle with olive oil to coat. Season with salt and pepper. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until lightly browned.

- Meanwhile, bring a small pot of water to boil. Add the rice noodles and cook for 6-8 minutes, until al dente. Drain, rinse with cold water and set aside.

- Heat the olive and sesame oils in a large saute pan or wok over medium-high heat. Add the garlic; saute 1-2 minutes. Add the noodles and toss for just a few seconds.

- Add the soy sauce and broth and toss. Stir in the tofu and edamame. Portion out your kids' servings. Then add the red pepper flakes and cilantro to the remaining portions for the parents (we don't like cilantro, but if your kids do, you can add that to theirs as well).

Artworks: Design Your Own Fancy Masks

Mom was making her kid art idea rounds and came across this fantastic FREE printable set of "design your own masks" from the picklebums (via The Crafty Crow) and knew we had to make them immediately. These great masks combine a lot of our current faves -- superheroes, princesses, animals, magicians ... too good to be true.

Mom printed the templates out on heavy cardstock (110 lb. weight) and we all took our watercolors to them. Once they dried, mom cut them out and we picked out the pieces for our creations. Then you know we added some bling. Mom taped them together (but will probably go back at them with glue once we take them off and likely reinforce the eye holes with packing tape on the back) and pierced holes in the side with scissors. The picklebums used yarn to hold their masks on, but we had some extra clear elastic left from my superhero party masks and we used that.

As of press time, we are working on incorporating our masks into a play where I am "King Spider King" and Cami is a "mermaid ballerina princess" (on a scooter). We've turned the corner of our living room into the "dressing and costume change area" and the couch is going to be our stage. We have a ton left and can't wait to mix and match some more. Such a smart idea for a rainy day or any type of birthday party!

Keep It Local: U.S. Naval Academy

We've been to Annapolis plenty of times, but mom and dad had yet to take us to the U.S. Naval Academy. I think they sort of forgot about it, but on a nice day, it's a great place to visit -- tons of space to run around, random weaponry on which to climb, fancy buildings to check out, and it's all right along the water. There is a nice visitor center and a museum, but the real fun is roaming about the Academy grounds. Dogs are welcome too (although only service animals are allowed in buildings and ceremonial areas) -- back in the day they used to take Vegas, but they thought all of us might be a bit to handle for our first visit.

The weather this past Saturday was too ridiculous not to take a little Annapolis roadtrip, so we headed out around lunchtime and stopped at the popular Middleton Tavern for lunch, which is very close to the water (citydock) and is smack downtown in Annapolis. Kane was a little upset that we didn't go to Cantler's for lunch, which is usually where we go on our Annapolis trips. But after chowing some shrimp, oysters and crabcakes, he seemed to get over it (they have a good old regular kids menu, too).

The Academy is just about a 2 block walk from Middleton's and we got to steppin'. Despite having chowed a gigantic lunch, we were both a little whiney for the ice cream we'd been promised. The plan was to spend some time at walking off lunch and then head back downtown for ice cream from Storm Bros. Ice Cream Factory. But we aren't fans of delayed gratification. So instead we stopped in for a quick treat to the Drydock Restaurant located in Dahlgren Hall and open to the public (even if you aren't eating, Dahlgren Hall is a neat building to check out -- it used to house the Academy's ice rink).

Fueled by sugar we spent the next several hours booking it all over Academy grounds. Mom and I checked out a bit of the museum in Preble Hall (mostly because mom knew I'd love the Cinderellasness of the ballroom) and met up with the boys on the track field for some serious wrestling and racing. After running all around, I discovered while in the museum that I'd grown too big for my shoes. I kept taking them off to check and, back outside, finally decided to just leave them off. I raced like a mad woman in bare feetsies to the cheers of many hanging out around the field. It was pretty awesome.

We watched regatta team practice and even checked out some of the classrooms. Out plans were to check out the Chapel before heading back to our car (which we'd parked in one of the public parking lots right downtown by citydock), but I wasn't interested in putting my shoes back on or walking, so we just hit the bricks and headed out.

The U.S.N.A. visitor center is open every day of the week, except for certain holidays. You can check out the schedule here. Access to the grounds depends on what's going on -- we like weekends better, but you can watch noon formation during the academic year during the week. Anyone over 16 needs a photo ID to enter the Academy.

The Academy offers public walking tours and we saw a private tour led by a guide dressed in colonial attire that looked pretty awesome, too. If your kids are a little older and really into it, there are kid-friendly bootcamps for littles as young as 6. For additional visitor tips and ideas on Academy activities, click here.

One last thing -- the Academy is participating in the upcoming "Maryland Day Celebration" March 22nd - 24th and will have special activities for kids. You can check out what's going on by clicking here.

Artworks: Body Tracing

If there is one art supply that we use almost every day, it's our gigantic roll of kraft butcher paper. A few weeks ago, mom was rolling it over the table for some project and I asked if she'd trace my body on the floor. Why not?

It took us a few times because I kept laughing and squirming, but eventually we got a shape that sort of looked like me (wearing bellbottoms). Mom handed over washable markers and let me draw in what I wanted. The first go around I drew in my "bones." On another I drew random shapes. And another I drew a design. Cami drew purple everything on what appears to be a sasquatch or fist-pumping Cher rendering of her actual body shape.

Then, being the scissors aficionado I am, I wanted to cut out my body shape. There were several missteps on the following lines situation and, eventually, I just decided to cut the whole thing up -- a little gruesome, mom thought, but, whatevs. We spent an entire afternoon coloring in our body shapes and the rest of the afternoon cutting them up (before mom could photograph all of them, though). Winner winner chicken dinner.

Miscellaneous Madness: Snowquestered

this is what snow looks like in D.C. -- wait, isn't it just raining?

So, in case you haven't heard, it's snowing. No, really. Promise. Snowing so much that the federal government and all schools are closed. Really. What? You can't see the snow? That's what we call a "your problem," not an "our problem."

OK, ok. So maybe the weather is less than ideal to be out and about today. And maybe it will really actually snow. That means you are gonna be inside. All damn day. What to do?!? Don't panic. First consult our handy insanely-inclement-weather list of favorite minimal supply art projects.

Or, given that it's snowing outside, the temperature must be prime for freezing ice for ice play. Then you should check out one of our ice play projects. Wait, it's not freezing outside? Then how is it snowing? It's not snowing? Wait, whaaaaauuut? Well, maybe try fake snow?

We give up. We suggest you check out the projects on our Artworks, Light Play, Miscellaneous Madness, Your Dough is My Dough, and Weird Science pages. We're going to go attempt to build a slushperson on our deck.