Christmas Lights

An easy, free activity.  Get the kids ready for bed, then toss them in the car for a ride around the neighborhood to look at the lights.  Validate the time (and money on electricity) that people have spent to be festive in their holiday decorations.  There’s also a secular light show at Brookside Gardens in Wheaton but it costs $15-$20 per vehicle.  I’ve never done it but people say it’s very nice.  Open through Jan 4.

 

Pumpkin Patches and Harvest Festivals

Petting a goat

Now is the time of the pumpkin patch.  And the harvest festival.  We just went to a church harvest festival over the weekend which had a petting zoo, moonbounce, pony rides, face painting, and games.  It was fairly inexpensive and the kids got lots of fresh air.  Sure made them sleep well that night.  And the pumpkins from the patch were good too.  I used fresh pumpkin for a recipe for the first time in life.  It’s not actually that hard.  Here’s a link to a list of commercial pumpkin patches, http://dc.about.com/od/childrensactivities/a/pumpkinpatches.htm.  Some of them have hayrides and corn mazes as well as other activities.  My 1st grader recently went to Butler’s Orchard on a school field trip and had a fine time.

 

Monticello

Monticello

I admit it.  The homes of dead presidents are much more interesting to adults than to children.  And it makes for a somewhat stressful visit when you go with a rambunctious 6-year-old.  Monticello would have been even more stressful if I’d taken my younger two as well.  Many museums and historic places are “Don’t touch” so I expected that but the direction seemed a bit stronger than is often the case.  In the opening gambit by the guide for the house tour, she said not to lean against any walls or touch the doors as she would open and close them all for everyone.  As my child started showing off before we even entered, the tour guide actually took her by the hand to lead her through the tour (which my kid liked, attention-hog that she is).  I also stayed close by so as to avert destruction of any national treasures.  Before the tour, we had gone to the gift shop and scoped out later purchases.  I used the bribe/reward system to encourage good behavior on the tour.  Now, while much of the house tour was kind of boring for a 6-year-old, there were some points of interest.  In the front entrance of the house are replicas of a number of Native American artifacts brought back by Lewis & Clark.  There are also the original horns of a number of animals mounted on the wall that were acquired on the expedition. 

Included in the entry price was the house tour, plantation community tour and the garden tour.  Considering I did this as a day trip (even though that was pushing it with it being 125 miles SW of DC), we didn’t have unlimited time so I skipped the garden tour in favor of the plantation community.  This was an outside tour at the remains of a number of plantation building ruins.  It went into the personal stories of several slaves who lived at Monticello, including some of the Hemings.  Well worth the time.  My daughter probably would have liked this 45 minute tour better if we hadn’t gone right after the 30 minute house tour.  Monticello does offer children’s tours but only in the summer through mid-August so we weren’t able to take advantage of that.  She did like the gardens where there was a fish pond and a massive tree stump. 

Monticello tree stump

I may be cheap but I think Monticello is kind of expensive.  $15 for adults, $8 for children (6-11).  The gift shop is also a bit pricey.  My daughter wanted a tricorn hat (almost $22) or one of the mop caps (about $8).  I saw some wooden tongs that were $35.  I often like to collect Christmas ornaments as souvenirs but the cheapest one I saw here (of about five different ones) was almost $20.

We spent almost 5 hours there but could have spent more.  Next time, I think we’ll stay over somewhere nearby and maybe visit some other site around such as James Madison’s home, Montpelier.

 

Brookside Nature Center

Brookside Nature Center

We just went to Brookside Nature Center in Wheaton for the first time.  It was just a random Saturday, not when there was any special program going on.  Even so, there was a lot to do, see, and touch.  It started before we even got into the building with some things along the walkway.  There was a place where you could take in the smells of the forest, nothing disgusting, mostly tree scents. 

Name that Tune birdsongs

And there was “Name that Tune” where the kids could press buttons to hear the various birdsong of local birds. Right next to that were a number of bird feeders and bird baths where one could observe birds eating.  Inside the building, large windows look out onto this area and there are benches and rocking chairs that you can sit in while bird (and squirrel and chipmunk) watching.  Some reference materials are close at hand for identifying the birds that come and go. 

Goldfinch

While the building does not seem that large, it houses a number of displays.  There is a real live beehive where you can see bees making honey.  A number of creatures are housed in aquariums and terariums such as a gray tree frog, a spotted salamander, a milk snake, a king snake, a corn snake, box turtles, toads, fish (blacknose dace and mosquito fish), and the red-eared slider aquatic turtle.  There are birds’ nests from the American robin and the American goldfinch.  A rock display.  Another display shows the type of wildlife one might see in Wheaton Regional Park such as the red fox, great-horned owl, ground hog, beaver, opossum, flying squirrel, bat, rabbit, skink, copperhead, red-tailed hawk, great blue heron, snapping turtle, bullforg, muskrat, yellow-bellied sapsucker, skunk, gray tree frog, and field mice.  There was a library room that included a number of kids’ nature books as well as some wooden toys.  My 3-year-old enjoyed pulling the wooden cricket on wheels, putting together the wooden animal puzzles, and kept looking at the butterfly kite that was tacked to the ceiling.

One thing that was very nice about this place is that the kids could touch many of the items or get up close to see the animals.  They also got to dress up as bees, butterflies and turtles.  There was even a computer game they could play called Sammy’s Science House.  After we left the Nature Center, we walked a short way along a trail outside to go to a greenhouse that’s part of Brookside Gardens.  My eldest read the trail sign that pointed out the way to the playground (at Wheaton Regional Park) so she wanted to go there.  But since it was 3/4 mile away and it was hot, I thought we could do it another time.

 

Libraries

Libraries are a wonderful thing.  A place to get books, videos, DVDs, CDs, magazines.  A place to check e-mail or surf the Net.  A place to take the kids just because you feel like leaving the house.  A place where there are storytimes and special programs for kids.  And all for free.  My kids are currently participating in Montgomery County’s summer reading program.  We attended the program launch during community day at the Davis branch where they had a pirate (with tattoos), a clown (with balloons) as well as the mascot and team members from Bethesda Big Train (with free tickets).  Weeks later, when the kids took their reading lists in to receive their first prize, they had difficulty choosing the best thing from the treasure chest.  A paddle ball?  A googly-eyed stretchy ball?  Or maybe tattoos? 

We frequent a number of different branches in the system.  We often go to Wheaton Regional, partly because it’s a larger library and also because it has a very large Friends of the Library used bookstore.  Great as it is to check out books for free, sometimes you want to buy some too.  And although every branch has a children’s section, there is also a children’s library.  On a recent trip to the Kensington Park branch, the kids got to pet chickens during a program about the Montgomery County Agricultural Fair.  Note:  the chickens were actually outside.

 

Vacation Bible School

Vacation Bible School seems much cooler these days than when I was a kid.  There are some very involved, cohesive programs where all the components work around the theme, even to the level of the snacks.  My church used Power Lab.  Small groups go to different stations including crafts, drama, music, Bible time, games, video, and snacks.  Crafts included such things as slime and test tube keychains.  The music was also chosen to match the theme, including original songs as well as some pumped up modernizations of classics like “Power in the Blood.”  Each child received a Power Lab t-shirt that they wore each day and on Sunday to perform the songs they learned.  CDs of the music are also available for purchase.  We still listen to the one from last year’s Avalanche Ranch. 

My six-year-old is doing a second VBS with the theme Surfin’ With the Holy Spirit.  And a friend’s child did Friendship Trek at their church.    I highly recommend taking your kids if you have the opportunity.  Most programs seem to be fairly low cost (or even free) for participants, about $20-25 for 2-3 hours a day for a week.  Some churches do morning programs while others have it in the evening.

 

Camping

I grew up going camping every summer, in great part because it was a fairly cheap way of going on vacation.  Sadly, I haven’t gone camping much in recent years.  The idea of going with three small kids seemed a bit intimidating so I deserted my younger two and took just my six-year-old to go camping with friends.  I saw no reason to drive any great distance away since the idea was to enjoy the camping itself.  So we went to Little Bennett Campground in Clarksburg, MD.  It’s run by Montgomery County Department of Parks.

The campground is very nice.  It is fairly inexpensive at $21/night and there is no minimum 2-night stay that some campgrounds have.  We reserved a site near the bathroom since it’s annoying to have to trek a 1/4 mile to go the bathroom in the middle of the night.  The bathrooms were clean and the shower area and individual showers were curtained off to allow privacy.  The campsite had a large, flat tent pad, a fire ring with a metal grill you could flip over the fire to cook, a separate barbecue, a lantern post, and a picnic table, as well as space for two vehicles to park.  And there was a decent amount of space between campsites.

We were only camping overnight, arriving on a Saturday afternoon, checking out on Sunday.  It took us about an hour to set up the tent, including a little time wasted by doing things in the wrong order since we hadn’t found the instructions yet.  Afterwards we went to the Nature Room in the Activity Center where the kids got to play with some snake skins and turtle shells.  It was also nice to go into the air conditioning for a few minutes.  There are some special events  and activities that take place there.  But considering we were only camping overnight, we figured the kids could skip watching a movie since they can do that anytime.

For dinner, we roasted hot dogs over the open fire and later on roasted marshmallows and had those wonderful things known as s’mores.  My child actually skipped the marshmallows in favor of straight chocolate but hey, that’s good stuff too.  All that sugar kept the kids up late while we told stories and sang songs around the fire.  The morning started early which it always seems to do when camping.  We made a breakfast of pancakes and bacon over the propane camping stove.  I love mine.  I remember the kerosene stove we had when I was growing up.  You had to pressurize the gas so you’d have to keep pumping for what seemed like forever before you could actually start cooking.  With the propane, you just hook it up and you’re good to go.

Little Bennett Regional Park has a number of trails, some of which lead to historic sites.  One thing we saw was the Hyattstown Mill which displayed information on a number of mills that used to operate all over Montgomery County.  From there, we walked on with our destination being the Montgomery Chapel Cemetery.  Somehow we never saw it although we would swear we followed the map correctly.  Oh well.  At least we got our exercise and saw a little wildlife (a deer) and some not so wildlife (horses along the trail).

If we go again, I think we’ll stay two nights.  It was quite a bit of prep work for just one night but it was fun.

One slight drawback is that there isn’t any swimming in the campground.  No pool or lake or anything.  But other than that…

 

Swimming

I like to go to the Montgomery Aquatic Center (MAC) since it’s a year-round indoor pool.  There is a large pool for doing laps, shallow or deep.  There is also the teaching pool which only gets about 3 1/2 feet deep at most.  It has beach entry as well as stairs.  There’s a long water slide for older kids and adults.  There’s also this thing that looks like a mushroom with water cascading down from it.  I like it even in summer since then I don’t have to worry about kids and sunscreen. 

A couple years ago, when the summer swim lessons were already full at the MAC, I registered my kids for lessons at the Wheaton/Glenmont outdoor pool.  It’s very nice.  It’s a lot bigger than the MAC, probably just because it can be.  There are a number of different slides, a “crocodile” pool, kiddie pool, and a snack bar.  Since I have small kids, I love that there is a large area that is shallow so I don’t end up having to carry a kid around all the time.  They can explore their independence a bit without drowning. 

On Saturday, I took the kids to the Wheaton pool and couldn’t find a parking space.  I ended up parking at Wheaton High School and walking down to find out that the pool was so crowded, they weren’t letting anyone else in.  Today, since it was just as hot, I decided to just go to the MAC.  People with summer memberships aren’t going to go there since that membership is just for the outdoor pools.

Montgomery County Recreation Department has a number of indoor and outdoor pools.  They all offer swim lessons and recreational swimming times, and it’s all fairly inexpensive as these things go.  You can pay for a one-session entrance, a multi-session pass, an individual annual membership, family membership, summer membership.  There’s differing fees for county residents versus out of county.

 

Washingtonian Center

Some people refer to this same place as the RIO but it may be more correct to call it the Washingtonian Center as that seems to be the more inclusive name.  Anyway, this is a great place to go in warm weather even if it’s only for an hour.  There is a walking path that encircles a man-made lake.  In the lake are many geese and ducks and a fountain.  Lots of people are out with their kids.  Especially on warm evenings, you find any number of people walking, pushing strollers, riding scooters, even bikes (although that is kind of terrifying when the kids don’t have full control yet).    In the summer, they also have paddle boats and free live concerts on Friday and Saturday evenings (6-9 pm).  So you get to have some cool music to dance your toddler to.  There are a number of stores and restaurants as well as a movie theater and fitness center. 

I tend to park over by the Target and walk down their main street to get to the path.  Sadly, when we went the other night, I noted that the ice cream shop (I think it was a Swenson’s) is gone.  So we settled for really good chocolate and cream cheese brownies from the Corner Bakery before walking counter-clockwise around the path.  If you go clockwise, you end up at the playground very quickly but I wanted to get a little exercise in before the kids headed to the slides and mushrooms.  The playground is nice.  It’s surrounded all the way around by fencing except for the entrance which makes it simpler for keeping a watch on the kiddies.  The play equipment is different sizes to accommodate different sized kids.  My 6 year old seemed to like the mushrooms the best, just jumping from one to another to another and hopefully not stepping on anyone. 

My husband and I recently ate at the California Pizza Kitchen (pretty good) without the kids.  We’ve also eaten at Hamburger Hamlet (good), Joe’s Crab Shack (good), and Rio Grande (okay) in the past.  Many of the restaurants have outdoor seating so one can enjoy the fresh air. 

Some momentary drawbacks are that there continues to be some construction so parts of the path or even the bridge may be temporarily blocked. One can spend as much or as little money as they want and as much or as little time.  It’s up to you.

 

Play area at Westfield Wheaton

Sometimes it’s good to take the kids out to play, even if it’s only for a little while.  One place we like to go is the play area at the mall in Wheaton.  It’s pretty simple really.  A kangaroo indicating the height restrictions welcomes them into the play area.  Kids take off their shoes and climb over a bunch of padded play equipment, including a frog, ladybug, bridge, car, and log tunnel.  There are also spinning funny people/apes and mirrors.

The kids have a great time, from the babies barely walking to the elementary aged ones.  What could be better than driving and jumping off the head of a frog?