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Local Family Fun This Weekend: 5/13- 5/15

May 13, 2011 By Robin Strong Elton Leave a Comment

Adventures first… explanations take such a dreadful time.

-Lewis Carroll
(the Gryphon, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland)

Dover Downs is this weekend, so bear that in mind for your travels.

I’ve been told that this listing is helpful, and while I believe a large part of living green is supporting local, I want to keep simple. green. organic. happy. accessible to everybody. Sooooo for local peeps I am resurrecting Family Fun Delaware and my boys are going to shoulder most of the burden of maintaining it. It’ll be local reviews & events, plus kid reviews of movies, books, music, games, etc; also Maverick is talking about science experiments. We’ll see how it goes. At the very least, though, it’ll feature this weekly roundup of fave family friendly events.

I’ll link to it next Friday, and keep ya’ll updated when it goes live.

Drumroll please… my top picks this weekend:

ProjectMUSIC Opera! presents Through the Looking Glass, a one-act version of Alice in Wonderland

Friday (tonight!) May 13th, 7:00pm at Loudis Hall in the University of Delaware’s Amy E. DuPont Music Building. Features University of Delaware students and fourth and fifth graders from Thurgood Marshall Elementary School. Admission is free and doors open at 6:30.

Delaware Geocaching Trail

Starts May 13th 2011. The ultimate treasure hunt in a quest to discover Delaware— hunt for a cache using GPS technology & then continue on to discover the next treasure.

I honestly have no clue what geocaching is all about, it sounds interesting so I’m sharing, but I’m going to have to research it more. If you’ve knowledge or experience please share your expertise in the comments!

Cecil County GreenFest

Saturday, May 14th 10:00am- 4:00pm rain or shine at the Cecil County Fairgrounds & Ed Walls Activity Hall. Proceeds from GreenFest will support
the Fair Hill Nature Center’s environmental education programming. This year GreenFest is highlighting the Green and Healthy movement “from the ground up!” Exhibitors will be showcasing the latest consumer products for home and garden with interactive family-friendly exhibits and demonstrations. Learn easy ways to save energy, make your home safer, and garden without harming the environment. Activities include Exhibit Hall Scavenger Hunt, Environmental Midway games, “Minute to Win It” Games, Make & Take Green Cleaners, Soil Tunnel Exploration, Salad Tables and Boxes, Rain Barrel Conservation, Backyard Water Fountains, Hayrides to the Nature Center, Stream Critter Hunt, Bug Hunt, Nature Crafts, Create a Fairy House.

Italian Market Festival

May 14th & 15th 10:00am- 5:00pm rain or shine. The nation’s oldest outdoor market and Philly’s largest block party. Annual Procession of Saints, live entertainment, the first-ever half-ball tournament to benefit the Mummers Fancy Brigades, and most importantly, streets lined with food vendors, including a 100ft long stuffed sausage at Esposito’s Meats (using Grandpop Esposito’s 100yr old recipe).

Peanut Butter and Jams welcomes Joanie Leeds

Saturday, May 14th 11:30am (doors open at 11:00am) at the Queen in Wilmington. Kid music parents can enjoy! NYC singer/songwriter Joanie Leeds, already known for her pop/soul sound in the grownup world, is now making waves in the land of kids’ music. Currently teaching music at four Manhattan schools, Joanie uses her students as inspiration for her original songs.

World Fair Trade Day

Saturday, May 14th from 12:00noon- 5:00pm at Village Imports Fair Trade Store, 165 East Main Street (down Traders Alley) in Newark. There will be free Fair Trade coffee and chocolate samples and door prizes. Event is free and open to the public.

Attracting Butterflies to your Backyard

Saturday, May 14th at 1:00pm at Bellevue Park. May is Gardening for Wildlife Month! Learn a few easy ways to attract beautiful butterflies to your own backyard, no matter the size of the yard. You will make and bring home your very own butterfly feeder to get started. This program is appropriate for all ages. Register by calling (302) 761-6963 by 4 p.m. on Friday, May 13. Meet at the Arts Center. $6 per person.

Leonardo da Vinci’s Workshop: Inventor, Artist, Dreamer at the Franklin Institute.

This exhibition from Milan is in its final days (running until May 29th). Hands-on interactive models of Leonardo’s inventions and machines, as well as state-of-the-art touch screen technology that recreates da Vinci’s personal notebooks (codices). All of the models were constructed according to Leonardo’s notes, drawings and designs, and were recreated using materials and techniques that would have existed in the 15th and 16th centuries. Includes a recreation of Leonardo’s workshop.

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We’ve got double-header football tomorrow along with two soccer games, but I’m going to make it to the da Vinci exhibition if it kills me. I’m also sorting through the kids spring/summer clothes to see what needs buying (oh, my aching wallet).

Whatcha doin’ this weekend? Anything fun?

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Local Family Fun This Weekend: 5/6- 5/8

May 6, 2011 By Robin Strong Elton Leave a Comment

The world is big and I want to have a good look at it before it gets dark.
— John Muir

There’s TONS of good stuff happening this weekend, on top of the obvious Mother’s Day festivities. My top picks:

National Public Gardens Day

TODAY, May 6th FREE admission to participating area gardens, but to be honest, I suspect they will be quite crowded as a result. By all means print out the coupon and get a free preview (allows for up to 10 in your party), but go back and dilly-dally to your heart’s content some other day! Public gardens are good for the soul and need your (monetary) support!

Morris Arboretum at UPenn
Scott Arboretum at Swarthmore
Shofuso Japanese House & Garden (Philly)
Bartram’s Garden (Philly)
Tyler Arbortetum (Media) Wilmington Flower Market at Rockford Park

Wilmington Flower Market

Today and Saturday May 7th 10:00am- 7:00pm each day The Flower Market is in its 91st year! In addition to the carnival rides and food, there are crafts, vendor booths, entertainment, and plants & flowers for last-minutes Mother’s Day gifts. On Saturday the Wilmington School of Hard Rock performs at 10am, and undersung Eagles kicker David Akers will be signing autographs from 11:30-12:30. If Facebook is to be believed, this year you can climb the Rockford Tower steps as well (I’ve always wanted to do this). The Flower Market benefits over 50 children’s charities in DE.

Dover Days 78th Anniversary

May 6, 7 & 8 on The Green & Legislative Mall “Get a glimpse of Delaware’s enriching history, through huge parades, traditional Maypole dancing with children in Colonial attire, walking tours, major Civil War Encampment, free admission to numerous museums, and more. Immerse yourself in the ages through costumed reenactments of the Renaissance, the Civil War and WWII. You can see the Governor’s mansion first-hand. And enjoy all the excitement of the festival, with more than 200 arts and crafts vendors, delicious foods, live entertainment, children’s activities, a hot classic car show, and more.” There’s a whole mess of stuff going on- you’ll want to check out the full schedule here. Admission is FREE.

Free Museum Admission for Bank of America cardholders

First Saturday & Sunday of every month The way this works is that the B of A cardholder gets free admission. If you and your spouse both have your own cards (I believe debit counts too) you both get in free, but you still gotta pony up for the kids. Got it? Area participating museums:

Delaware Art Museum (site says No Sundays, but as far as I know Sundays are ALWAYS free!)
Delaware Museum of Natural History
Winterthur
Phila Museum of Art
National Constitution Center
PA Academy of the Fine Arts
Please Touch Museum
Phila African American Museum
Garden State Discovery Museum (Cherry Hill NJ)

National Train Day at 30th Street Station in Philly

Saturday May 7th 11:00am- 4:00pm Railroad exhibits, high-speed rail display, model train displays, exhibitor booths, train equipment tours, culinary demos, K-9 safety unit performances, entertainment by Radio Disney and more. You can reserve times to tour the Amtrak equipment, freight and commuter trains, and “notable private railroad cars” online; I would probably suggest you do so. I’ve never made it to this event but I bet it gets busy. Did I mention it’s FREE?

Spring Greening at the Phila Zoo: $7 admission

Saturday May 7th 1:00- 5:00pm Cradles to Crayons’ 1st Annual Spring Greening Fundraiser for local kids & the planet. Bring new and/or gently used kids’ items to sort & pack for distribution to needy kids in the area. Zoo admission with donation is $7, includes snacks, beverages, & entry to energy fair. Entry fee is donated to “Return the Call of the Wild” program: the Phila Zoo Docent Council’s effort to raise awareness of the environmental effects of cell phone & to offer a solution. If you’ve got old cell phones lying around bring those to recycle too!

See full event flyer and reserve tickets here.

NBC 10 Day at the Adventure Aquarium

Sunday May 8th 9:30am- 5:00pm $10 admission all day at the aquarium! This is a good deal, admission generally runs $22.95 for adults and $17.95 for kids. All moms receive a complimentary flower courtesy of Blossoms of Cherry Hill (while supplies last), and the NBC 10 news team will be greeting visitors & signing autographs from 10-2. The first 500 to say “I tune to 10” will receive a free family photo.

Ride the Ducks: Moms ride free on Mother’s Day (with coupon).

First tour leaves at 10:00am, last one at 6:00pm. Explore Philly’s historic streets and splashdown into the Delaware River for a great view of the city, the Battleship New Jersey and more. Mom rides for free with the purchase of one child or adult regular priced ticket ($27 savings), but you need to print out this coupon first.

This isn’t actually until next week, but:

Kristin van Ogtrop at the Delaware Children’s Museum

Wednesday May 11th 6:00-8:00pm The editor of Real Simple magazine and author of Just Let Me Lie Down: Necessary Terms for the Half-Insane Working Mom gives a talk and reading as part of the DCM’s Mom’s Night Out Speaker Series. I love Real Simple and I rather enjoyed the book; I may try to make it out to hear the secrets to “keeping my cool & sense of humor” as a working parent. But mostly just to get out for a night 🙂

Tickets are $15 for members and $20 for non-members and can be purchased online.

And what’s happening in your neck of the woods? Let me know!

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Wildwood NJ and Morey’s Pier: Revisiting and Creating Memories

April 21, 2011 By Robin Strong Elton 3 Comments

Wildwood Boardwalk, early 80s. Yes, I'm adorb.

Leftovers in their less visible form are called memories.

Stored in the refrigerator of the mind and the cupboard of the heart.

-Thomas Fuller

To take that analogy one step further: memories nourish and sustain the soul (and potentially poison it too, but that’s a different blog post).

When I was young summers were a vast wasteland. I hated summer vacation. The hours and days seemed to last forever. We never really went anywhere or did anything much that I can remember, except for one week in late August, when we rented a room at the Pan-a-Lu in Wildwood NJ.

This week would be marked in red on my calendar, and I would count down the days until I could escape the boring day-to-day of summertime home life, which generally consisted of soap operas, walks to the grocery store (we had no car), rereading Sweet Valley High books, cooking dinner and waiting for the bus bringing my dad home from work.

Wildwood meant the ocean, and shell-collecting, and sand-castle building. It meant feeding french fries to sea gulls and petting rays and sharks. It meant salt-water taffy and cotton candy and Douglass Fudge, trips to the movies and skee-ball at the arcade, early morning bike rides on the boardwalk and “Watch the tram-car, please.”

Summer concerts with Al Alberts singing “On the Way to Cape May,” cheesy souvenir clothing and “things made with shells.” Oh, god, and hermit crabs.

And for one glorious day, it meant a wristband (unlimited rides) at Morey’s Pier.

Last summer, on the last day of the season, the kids and I got to participate in a Blogger’s Day at the Beach, and I took a stroll down memory lane at Morey’s Pier. With my children.

Now, my kids have it way different than I did (glory, in so many ways it’s not even funny). I take them on field trips as often as I can, and my in-laws have a beach house on Long Beach Island that we visit often. But a boardwalk was a new adventure for them, as was an amusement park where 90% of your day is NOT spent waiting in lines.

They had a great time creating new memories, and I spent the day in a weird duality, remembering what it was like to be a child in that space while reveling in my children’s unabashed enjoyment.

Pink elephants

carousel

Kite Flyer

Wave Swinger

: Morey’s Pier Rock and Roll- this used to be one of my faves but man, just makes me sick now

: Morey’s Pier Moby Dick. I get sick on these too- new appreciation for my dad, going on all these rides with me

: Morey’s Piers Convoy

Quick story about the Convoy: once I was waiting for my brother to get off this ride and another (little, maybe 3 or 4yo) kid tripped on the track and busted his face wide open. I know now that face wounds bleed a lot, but at the time I was very severely freaked out and scared and not only did I not go on any more rides for a loooooong time, but I had horrible nightmares about the whole ordeal.

And? I never told anyone about it until I went back to Wildwood and my memory was jogged. It’s a strange relief to put that whole episode in perspective, and to rest.

As a kid I found the FREAKING ENORMOUS Ferris Wheel terrifying. As an adult I still find it somewhat unnerving.

But I felt better seeing that my kids, thrill-seekers that they are, also gripped the sides a bit tightly when the wheel was moving at full steam. It’s REALLY REALLY BIG, ya’ll.

On this trip I also learned that my kids are not natural born drivers. (This was their first time ever manning the bumper car themselves, usually Jeff or I drive. I had to swing past the boys and tell them to hit the gas pedal.)

Bumper Cars

Mini Scooters

Then we had Jumbo’s pizza and Curley’s fries and that brought me back to childhood more than anything. But only because the tram-car wasn’t running.

As the sun set we got some cotton candy for the road (the fried Oreos, alas, had sold out) and Kohr’s Bros. orange-and-vanilla-twist ice cream cones. Not the most nutritious of days, which I don’t mind a few days a year on occasions such as this. That infrequent extravagence helps contribute to the creation of the memory, the nourishment of the soul.

The kids have already asked if they can go back this summer, and I’m happy to comply, since we didn’t get to the second pier’s worth of rides or to the waterparks. There are also some adults-only “extreme” rides I’m wanting to check out.

Best of all— this is relatively new— you can have “Breakfast in the Sky,” a fancy-shmancy chef-created meal on the Ferris Wheel, complete with white linens and china. I’m not exactly sure why this appeals to me so much BUT IT DOES.

It was so much fun, then and now. I know we all have “our” beach; Wildwood will always be “my” beach even though my summers are now spent elsewhere. But if you’re willing to try out a new beach, a new adventure to stand out in your kids’ memories: give Wildwood a whirl. Up until April 29th you can save up to 35% on the purchase of Morey’s Pier admission tickets.

Where did you vacay as a kid? Do you go to the same place now?

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Disclosure time! I attended the Blogger’s Day at the Beach last summer, receiving ride wristbands and snack vouchers for me & the kids, but was under no obligation to blog about it. I obviously really wanted to anyway, but opted to wait until now in the hopes of nudging people to visit this summer.

Because Morey’s Piers are JUST THAT AWESOME.

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