Summer Vacation, Day 3

I'm in the planning stages of our Disney vacation, so I spent the morning booking our air travel and chatting with out travel agent.  It's a surprise trip for my son's fifth birthday, so trying to discuss it discreetly on the phone was a challenge.  Luckily he didn't catch on and I was successful in booking our flights.  It will be his first time on a plane and I am already nervous!  He will love it.

 

Once that was settled we headed out to my sister's for a play date with the cousins.  There are four cousins there, two big ones in elementary school and twins who are in preschool and just about nine months younger than my kiddo.  The four cousins had a blast together playing.  It's days like this that makes me wish we had more than one child so that my son had a constant play mate and companion, but he'll have to make due with his awesome cousins. They held a costume parade today!  There's my little soldier.

We brought my son's little bike along today for him to ride with the kids and discovered that he is too big for it! He has been riding his scooter this year and today was his first time on his bike.  He had so much trouble because his knees were all crunched up high.  I can't believe how much he's grown in a year!  He took a ride on his cousin's taller bike and it was perfect.  It looks like we'll be in the market for a bigger bike now!  

Summer Vacation, day 2

On our second day of summer vacation, we checked out the Morris Arboretum.  This June so far has been unseasonably cool.  It was a bit of an overcast day, perfect for exploring outside.  The Arboretum has a new summer exhibit featuring hand painted and designed Adirondack chairs scattered throughout the property. We found a few of them on our explorations, but my son big goal was to discover hideouts.

We took a new path this visit to a section of the property we rarely visit.  We discovered a groundhog family's home, including at least three holes, around the base of a huge evergreen tree.  Nearby was what my son declared to be our hideout, a huge weeping evergreen tree that we could actually stand under it's canopy of branches.  We found a pretty little waterfall and fountain too.

Next we checked out the railway gardens.  The new addition to the buildings this year are all based on storybooks.  We saw Humpty Dumpty, Rapunzel's tower and many other buildings.  James and Percy were even out on the tracks.  My son discovered Thomas was in the train "shed" or storage area, along with an Amtrak train that fascinated him.

At one point my son decided that he had to use the potty "right now!" We were no where near a bathroom.  I asked a gardener if he could direct us to the closest bathroom and he did better, he drove us in his cart to the nearest one!  That was possibly the most exciting thing to happen, getting a ride in the cart!

We finished our exploring with a visit to the Out on a Limb area for a climb on the nets and taking a rest in a kid-sized chair! It was a fun day!

First day of summer vacation!

My son's last day of preschool for the year was on June 1st.  He was sad that he won't get to play in his fun classroom anymore or see his teachers. I assured him that we would see his friends over the summer and that come September he'll be back at school.  In the meantime, I have three full months to plan activities for him to keep him busy and entertained.  I have lots of things planned!

Over the weekend my son told me several times that he was sad about no more school.  To ease into the summer transition, I scheduled a play date for him with one of his school buddies, who met us at the Please Touch Museum.  The boys had a blast playing while the moms had a chance to catch up and chat. I love going to the Please Touch Museum on Mondays, as there are no scheduled school groups and it is usually not too busy.  We could have spent hours there, and we always leave there wanting more, but that just means we get to return.

I am always impressed with how the museum operates.  Exhibits are always being refreshed, so when a part wears out it is replaced or fixed.  The new train exhibit downstairs kept the boys busy for a good half hour.  Something about shoveling pretend coal is fascinating to four year olds. We discovered a new trolley in the transportation area that my son just loved.  We visited it twice that day because it was that much fun!  (My son is obsessed with SEPTA and trains, so this really fit in with his interests!)

My son got injured there, again, and the museum staff handled it great.  He cut his finger on a switch.  After I got him cleaned up and bandaged, I went back to the room where he got hurt and told the staff person on duty about it, as I was concerned that maybe there was blood on the switch and it should be cleaned.  It was not at all the museum's fault, I think he just got his finger tip pinched.  Two more staff members approached me to make sure he was ok and talked to my son too.  The last time we visited, he got a splinter.  That time I asked about getting a band aid and was equally impressed with how helpful the staff were.  I just love that place.  Membership has really paid off for us, as we can go as often as we want. We will be visiting there often this summer!

Transit Museum for the little conductors

Did you know Philadelphia had a Transit Museum?  My son is obsessed with SEPTA and regional rail.  One rainy Saturday we rode the train into Philadelphia's Market Street East station and headed over to the SEPTA Transit Museum to check it out.  Admission was free and the "museum" is the lobby and sub lobby/basement of the office building that hosts the SEPTA offices.  There was a full sized, real old trolley on display that could be boarded, "driven" and explored.  There were some model trains in cases to watch as well as many old photographs from the history of transportation in Philadelphia.  Topping the morning was a visit to the Transit Store, where my son wanted to buy a real SEPTA uniform for dress up.  They don't sell them there, but we were able to purchase a hat, some logo buttons and a patch which I sewed to a sweatshirt jacket for him to use as his dress up outfit. They also sell lots of Thomas and Chuggington items, as they know what appeals to the little ones!  It was a great activity that my son really enjoyed!  I think we will be back in the future for another visit.

The SEPTA Transit gift shop and museum is located in the lobby of 1234 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA  19107.

Morris Arboretum, a little explorers paradise

One of the most beautiful places to visit with kids in Philadelphia is the Morris Arboretum of the University of Pennsylvania. Formerly an estate home and now an official arbortetum of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the Morris Arborteum offers many opportunities to kids and families to explore and learn about nature. 

We have a family membership to the arboretum so that we can visit frequently.  Today, the week before the official start of spring, was absolutely beautiful and a perfect day for a trip to the arborteum.  We met our favorite family of girls and had a little picnic on the "Rapunzel" gazebo.  The kids had a blast running around and creating thier own little games of fun.  They enjoyed exploring the Log Cabin and the bird's nest on Out on a Limb, an incredible exhibit!

Because it is still technically winter, the fountains, water features, and some of the rest rooms were still not operational.  The train exhibit was also closed, but is set to reopen Memorial Day weekend and we can hardly wait!  The model trains in the garden railway are just amazing.  Each year they are set to a different theme and at Christmas time they open for a few weeks to celebrate the winter holidays.  My son LOVES the trains!  They even have several Thomas trains and special Thomas weekends during the summer.

We are looking forward to many more visits to the arboretum now that the flowers are blooming and sunny days are ahead!