Summer - Week 1

School's out for summer...school's out FOREVER...OK, not forever. Only about 10 weeks for us this time. Which will probably completely fly by. The first one is whizzing past at an amazing pace.

The kids had to go into school on Monday for 2 1/2 hours to get their report cards and watch movies. Don't even get me started on how ridiculous that is - since they got out 2 hours early on Friday... Right, not starting on that.

So we went out for a celebratory lunch at McDonald's and ice cream at DQ on Monday and then spent the afternoon at a pool party our lovely neighbor threw for all of the kids in town. Yay!

Yesterday we went to the Philadelphia Zoo and had a great time. The weather was just right and the kids were extremely cheerful and cooperative. Amazing!

We saved our lunch money by packing sandwiches and redirected the budget to rides! All three of us pedaled a Swan Boat (and only ended up in a bush once!) and Sprout rode a camel. Tater was going to ride a pony, but changed his mind at the last minute. He decided he was too big and was afraid he was going to crush a pony. Much as we tried to convince him that he wasn't that huge, he wouldn't do it. Oh well.

A treat of Dippin' Dots and all was well. Not even any begging for face painting. Unbelievable! We sprung for the family membership so we'll be going back again sometime this summer, and in the fall, and the winter...to get our money's worth! I'll do a post later in the week with zoo pictures. I took lots!

Today (Wednesday) we met my mom at Hank's Place in Chadds Ford for a late breakfast.

Then we accompanied her to the Dansko Company Store in West Grove, PA. Sprout was very excited about shoe shopping until she realized there were limited choices for kids. Like, apparently only Amish children can get shoes there.

They actually wanted these. Um, no.

Sprout then got her heart set on these - which are more reasonable from a fashion standpoint, but were too big and not summer-appropriate. So she is thinking maybe they could be school shoes in the fall.

After Nana found her new shoes for her trip to Paris, it was still fairly early so we decided to go check out the Eldreth Pottery shop/factory in Oxford. What a great idea!

Their Oxford location is back in farm country, and we put great faith in the directions that the nice ladies at Dansko had printed out for us and finally found it. The front of the shop was surrounded by painted pottery birdhouses and birdfeeders - so cute!

We were looking around in the shop when we were directed toward the back to go see how they make the pottery and got a full tour of the production facilities.

This guy showed us how to make a bowl on the pottery wheel (in about 2 minutes).

See how fascinated my children are?

Then this nice lady showed us how she does the hand painting.

And no, I don't know why Sprout is doing that with her arms.

Here is a close-up of the painting - which turns blue when it is fired. Weird, right?

Then we also saw where they do molded pieces and where they paint the more colorful redware - which I love and covet. Didn't know I did until I saw this big display of it. But I think we look good in front of it, and therefore must have a house full of it. It's only logical.

So this was one of those days that I am sure didn't sound all that fun to the kids (shoe shopping? pottery?). But it turned out to be super cool and interesting.

Tomorrow we are headed to a kid's session at Super Suppers. The kids get to make a dinner, a snack and a dessert. They love to cook, so I think they will enjoy the chance to do so without their neurotic mother freaking out about sharp knives and hot stoves.

After they "cook" we are going to meet friends at the Crayola Factory in Easton.

This week is not indicative of the pace that we will be taking for the rest of the summer. We are really going at more of a breakneck pace than we will be maintaining from here on out, hopefully with lots of time hanging out at the pool and playing.

But it's been fun so far!

The Zoo

Yesterday, while our friends from Florida were in town, we went to the Philadelphia Zoo for the day. We met other friends there, so we had a group of 5 grown-ups and 6 kids. The kids (an almost 9 year-old, 2 six-year olds, and 3 three-year olds) had a good time, as would be expected.

I mean, the Philadelphia Zoo. Fun. Not a lot to add to that.

The only drama was that I, mean and terrible mother that I am, denied my children the joy of having their faces painted. And while you may gasp in horror at how very, very deprived my children are, let me clarify.

1) $6 PER CHILD...seriously.

2) Face painting, in my personal experience has a life-span of approximately 10 minutes, before either:

a) It starts to itch...and the child wants it removed.
b) The child decides to hug someone (usually someone wearing something
white and dry-clean-only), leaving half of their face on the huggee.
c) The child begins to cry (either because of the itchy face, or for some
unrelated reason) and the paint begins to run.
OR
d) The child eats or drinks something and rubs the lower half of the paint
off and ingests it.

So, no face-painting. And that's final. And if you say the words "face painting" to me one more time, we are going to the car.

I don't know what else to say about the zoo. The elephants are back (for those who don't know, they took the elephants somewhere to rebuild their habitat). The habitat looks exactly like it did before, as far as I can tell. But wow - elephants are BIG.

Giant river otters are very fun to watch. So are polar bears - if they will get in the water. We watched the polar bear think about going in the water for about 10 minutes...he kept inching toward the edge...but no, nothing. The polar bear psych-out.

Monkeys are cute. Even gorillas look cuddly, until you remember that they would utterly shred you if you got anywhere near them.

Bears - ditto.

Hmmm...I have nothing witty to add here.
Giraffes, tall. Zebras, stripy. Turtles, slow. Snakes, gross. Lizards, gross.

Anyway - if you are around Philadelphia, willing to deal with traffic on the Schuylkill Expressway (and no, don't fool yourself that it is better on a Sunday afternoon, it's not), and haven't already been to the zoo a kajillion times. You should go. Kids love it.

If you don't want to deal with the traffic, and can live without the elephants, try the Elmwood Park Zoo.

I mean, who doesn't like a zoo?