DC Metro Mom

Guest Blog by Ariadne Allan Autor

This past week the Washington Nationals had their home opener. They’ve started their season off with a bang and have baseball commentators speculating that this year if they stay healthy, the Nats will probably be able to be the most competitive that they’ve ever been and a real contender in the playoffs. I’m a big baseball fan and love the fact that we are so close to a pro team here in Washington. But so far this year it is even more exciting that we have a team with a record of nine wins and three losses that is in first place in the NL East!

My husband and I love baseball and we’re teaching our twin boys to do the same. We headed out to the park Friday night to see the first night game. It was a perfect night for baseball—not hot and only toward the very end did it get a little chilly. One of our boys is content to just sit and take everything in—he loves all sports, but especially baseball. He’s not even three yet and he has a favorite player! The other one spent considerable time making friends while dancing in the aisles and sliding peanuts down the seats. We had awesome seats along the right field line, which is a treat for us. We usually just get cheap seats farther up, but my husband got these seats as a birthday gift for me. We were just a few rows from the field. The game was a pitching duel. Both pitchers were right on, and it went into extra innings. Our boys were well behaved and entertained, but after the 13^th inning when it was 11pm, we headed out. The Nats won in the 14^th inning and we heard it on the radio as we drove home with sleeping kids.

TRUCK EVENTS

Over the weekend our family had one of the best days ever (or "boss-est" day, as my son put it) at the spring season opening of The Adventure Park At Sandy Springs Friends School. Designed by Swiss alpine mountaineers, The Adventure Park stretches over 5 wooded acres of the 140 acre campus of the Sandy Spring Friends School and is the largest aerial forest park in North America.  What is an aerial forest park?  Think Ewok village crossed with a circus trapeze and you'll begin to get an idea of the fun in store high-up in the trees. Each course has zip-lines (usually at the end) but is comprised mostly of various configurations of cable, wood, and rope that form bridges, tight-ropes, and climbing challenges in between over 150 unique tree platforms.

As a mother of an eleven-month-old, I am often searching for things to do that don’t require a large time span (he needs to nap), and don’t require walking (he doesn’t yet) or a lot of language (he doesn’t have much). There are a lot of kids’ activities in the DC area, but not a whole lot geared towards the tiniest of kids. So when I heard about the Tiny Tots program at The Puppet Co., I was intrigued!

My husband came home Friday exhausted and went to take a nap while one of our twin boys was still asleep. I heard his phone vibrate up on the shelf in our entryway but I didn’t pick it up. After it stopped, my phone immediately began ringing and I answered. It was my mother-in-law and she had two Washington Capitals tickets for that night’s game that a coworker was trying to give away. It was 5:00pm and the game started at 7:00pm.

I didn’t know what to expect when my friend said, “Let’s go to the farm museum!” What’s that? A farm with placards? Taxidermy cows and chickens? I had no idea. Is there manure involved? She described it as kind of a mini children’s museum. Today we went to the Heritage Farm Museum in Sterling, and I was pleasantly surprised. It’s like one big display room of a normal, adult museum that has quite a few hands-on elements for kids. It’s the perfect blend of children’s and adults’ museums. For DC moms, it’s about 40 minute drive, and of course less for most NOVA moms. We spent over an hour and a half inside and about 15 minutes on the big tractors out front with our almost-three year-olds. Here’s the lowdown:

Barn: Inside the barn, kids can not only milk a pretend cow (water comes out) and gather wooden eggs in baskets from a plastic hen house, but they can also dress the part. There are overalls and bonnets and such for children who want to look the part.

If you’re reading this, you probably know a thing or two about yoga. Yoga for adults is the norm these days, especially in big, stressed-out cities like Washington, DC. We know (or know someone who knows) how incredible yoga can make our bodies feel... but we’re just now starting to realize the boundless benefits of yoga for little bodies, too.

Not that there's a shortage of activities for kids these days. Glance at any neighborhood listserve, and you'll find an immense archive of opportunities for your son to learn to swim, your daughter to learn to dance, you to become a bonafide soccer mom. But the big truth is that yoga is exploding as a fun, go-to activity for little ones.

Explore the West Virginia mountains from an entirely new perspective — aboard any one of four unique trains. The Durbin & Greenbrier Valley Railroad offers Mountain Rail Adventures that depart from the historic depots of Elkins and Durbin, West Virginia, April through December. Trips include wilderness rides into the Monongahela National Forest and along the banks of the Greenbrier, Tygart Valley and Shaver's Fork rivers, specialty and event trains, dinner trains, and the ever-popular holiday train, THE POLAR EXPRESS™ in November and December. Schedules, event dates, and videos can be found online at www.mountainrail.com

I wanted to share with all the moms out there a look at lil omm in our new space in Tenleytown and how you don't have to be a "yogi" to enjoy the benefits of yoga.

 By — Liz

Come one, come all to the lil omm Holiday Party this Sunday, January 8 from 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm! Connect with other lil omm students, teachers, family and friends!

A $5 donation is suggested to benefit our after-school yoga program at Wilson High School.

Drop-ins welcome or you can RSVP here: https://clients.mindbodyonline.com/ASP/home.asp?studioid=8811

Rockville Town Square is hosting its 4^th Annual Kids Night this summer. Kids Night provides free, fun, and educational entertainment that the whole family can enjoy. This event occurs every Tuesday from June 21^st to August 23^rd.

By - Amy

If you haven't visited Baltimore lately, now is perfect time to take your children to visit Port Discovery. Ranked 4^th among the Top 10 Children's Museums by Child Magazine,  Port Discovery Children's Museum continues to grow as one of the leading family destinations in the Mid-Atlantic region.

In 2011, Port Discovery's newest permanent exhibit, Tot Trails, opened as an exciting and whimsical soft playspace designed exclusively for infants and toddlers up to 3 years old.  While exploring the landscapes of Maryland, babies can wiggle and roll in mirrored "tidal pools" and crawl through the "dune walk."  Toddlers can dig for fossils, climb through Mountain Trail and Paw Paw Tunnel.  There are also puppets to play with and daily programs led by museum educators such as Mother Goose on the Loose story time and Jingle Jangle Music Time.

Over the last couple of months, I have been looking for ways to entertain my little ones while sharing my love for food and cooking while not feeling like I've been sucked into the Kiddie-ville land of random ball shaped foods.

Recently, we received a copy of Kitchen Playdates by Lauren Deen (Chronicle Books). It's a beautiful book with bright, detailed pictures and clear, detailed instructions. As a cookbook aficionado, I loved it, but after trying it realized that some of the recipes are a tad expensive and a touch too-exotic and "adult" for my little ones, 2 year old and 10 months. So I tried the recipes out on some of my favorite mamas and papas and they were hits!

Kitchen Playdates is a great starting point for some rockin ideas and fun way to entertain in a family-friendly way.

Available for purchae at http://www.amazon.com or http://www.chroniclebooks.com/

Let me tell you about a fabulous product created by local Rockville mamas that I love for my Zenora, The Kids Busy Box - Deluxe Edition. It is a craft box with instructions and everything (and I mean everything) that your little artist needs to be able to create fun stuff.

The first thing we made was the little royalty crown. It occupied my daughter for 45 minutes as she put little stars on a crown and watched the glue dry. It was crazy easy and a very precious gift to a busy mama -- time. We laughed, took pics and watched her talk about colors and shapes while building another great memory.

I recommend that every house have at least one of these kits; it's a lifesafer and a great present for grampies and nanas too.

Happy crafting. To get yours visit, http://kidsbusybox.com/

This is too fun! Watson Adventures has been hosting scavenger hunts in the DC Metro area for nearly a decade. If you have out-of-town guests, check out the "The Secrets of Georgetown Tour". See the best of Georgetown while uncovering amazing tales and nooks. One of the best things about the G-town hunt is its variety, covering parts of the neighborhood with three distinct personalities. Highlights include a 19th-century canal, chic shops in historic buildings on M Street, JFK's first Washington home and the neighbor honored by reporters for providing coffee in the cold, the birthplace of the computer, a former prison that Lincoln visited, the Old Stone House and its tranquil garden, "sunken" houses, magnificent mansions, movie locations, hidden alleys, a tavern where Founding Fathers tippled, and a bar that was the birthplace of a famous cheesy song.

Want something for the whole family, drop in for The American Museum Madness Family Scavenger Hunt for ages 7 and up. Go on a crazy romp through the Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery. Kids and adults work together to find presidents, the real Pocahontas, a map made of TVs, a crazy dollhouse, wacky whirlybirds and much more. Kids must be accompanied by adults and vice versa. Ticket prices vary. For more scavenger hunts and ticket information click here. Information courtesy of Watson Adventures.

So did I tell you I'm in a Rock Band?

Seriously, I'm learning to play the drums.  And that's kind of difficult given I have a 7 month pregnant belly that sticks out.

Greg plays the guitar.

At night after Emily goes to sleep we practice in the basement and play gigs around the country.

So since we now have a porch and a nice big deck, I bought the kids this great book for birdwatching. It is called "Bird Songs: 250 North American Birds in Song" and has full color pictures of birds along with a device to play their calls. It is a little pricey, but oh so cool.

A few weeks ago, after a brief rain storm, a bunch of birds were in the back yard pulling up all the worms the rain had brought out. Most of them were Mourning Doves, but there was a Robin and a Cardinal as well. K had a great time tormenting the Robin by playing his call over and over. The bird kept looking up and trying to find the other Robin. He finally flew over and landed on the roof just over our heads.

I like it because it gets the kids interested in the outdoors. And its fun to mark how many birds we have been able to identify.

Cross posted on http://www.threetimemommy.blogspot.com/.