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Exploring “Eye of the Collector” at the Perot Museum
My daughter is a bit of a magpie – a collector of things, some shiny, some not. If you open any small purse or pouch in her room, you’ll likely find a collection: plastic butterflies, acorns, pressed flowers, feathers, rubber bouncy balls. (I’m sure there is a fine line between her kind of “collecting” and hoarding, but for the sake of my sanity and the story, we’ll just call it collecting.) The newest special exhibition at the Perot Museum of Nature and Science focuses on the hobby of collecting – and why people (and museums) do it. After all, that’s what a museum does: they conserve and collect the world as we…
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Sea World, Texas Style
We traveled to San Antonio for our Spring Break vacation. One of the top things on our to-do list was Sea World San Antonio. The morning had started out overcast and chilly, but we didn’t let it deter us! With confidence in the weatherman’s forecast, we headed out to the park. We found the best deal online at the SeaWorld website; we printed our tickets at home (including pre-paying the parking – you save $2) and we headed straight for the security check at the entrance. It appeared not everyone was as brave as us, and crowds were light and manageable. The best part about the cooler weather: there was no wait on…
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Urban Adventure Questing in San Antonio
Every city has its big attractions and in the rush to see everything you might miss out on some of the hidden gems. We recently discovered a great number of interesting details as we explored San Antonio via Urban Adventure Quest. An Urban Adventure Quest is a bit like a small-scale version of “The Amazing Race” – without the dangerous bits and the questionable foods. It is a smart-phone based scavenger hunt through one of more than 30 popular cities. It is timed, but that’s ok – the only price to win is bragging rights and a wonderful day out exploring (and brainstorming) with family, so you can complete it at any…
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Saying “Hi” to Granddad (or, Waking the Dead)
My kidlings have never met their paternal grandfather. Sadly, he passed away long before they were ever the proverbial twinkle in their father’s eye. The Hubs tells stories about Granddad Fred, of course – anecdotes particularly – but whenever we visit Colonial Williamsburg, where my husband lived as a child, the stories tend to flow as he reminisces. We spent the Easter holiday back in the US, and the latter half of the trip with the Hubs’ side of the family. On our way home from a day exploring Colonial Williamsburg, I knew we’d be passing by the cemetery where Fred was buried and suggested we stop in. It had…
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Silent Sunday
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Colors of La Boqueria
I dragged a reluctant husband and one tired child (Boo) and one surprisingly bouncy child (Pea) down Las Ramblas in Barcelona yesterday because I wanted to see La Boqueria. It was completely worth the long, crowded walk ( although I’m ultimately pleased with our hotel choice in the less crowded L’Eixample neighborhood.) The market was energetic and colorful – I wanted to take in (and take home one of) everything! While I don’t think the Hubs much liked the crowds, I loved the colors and flavors of the market (and the kids loved the fresh juices). And this is my gratuitous photo post for myself.
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A Morning in Barcelona, or How I Nearly Missed The Big Picture
We started our day with a visit to what must be Barcelona’s most famous building, the Sagrada Familia. Work on this Roman Catholic church began in 1883 and is still ongoing – a point with which Boo was extraordinarily impressed (but any building surrounded by tower cranes is a sight to behold, at least in his eyes…) We all had audio guides, and the kidlings had a version just for them. Which sounds like a good idea… …until you are stopped 11 times with “Mommy, where is the ____?”. Which you cannot answer, as you have a completely different version and so the questions Pea was asking made no sense.…
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And Away We Go….
Earlier this week, I wrote a post about travel. I love to travel. I also love to plan trips. I’m very good at the planning bit. Typically, there are lists involved. Lots of them. I like lists. What I don’t like is packing. Once upon a time, in a time long before nappies, schedules and car seats, I could throw things into a bag and go. (My favorite kind of trip is still the last-minute kind, I will admit.) Somewhere along the line, however, (quite possibly after I had been vomited upon during a flight, where I remembered to bring a change of baby clothes, but not mommy clothes) I…
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She Sure Looks Yummy
Travelling to Vienna and being without a proper Wi-Fi connection for nearly a week (I say proper because, theoretically, the hotel had one – it simply did NOT like my Macbook), I somewhat lost my blogging mojo. I am ever-so-determined to get back on track, as I have lovely photos and fun stories to recount. Oh, behave – I’m not asking you to look at our vacation slideshow, now am I??? Anyhoo…. On our recent trip to Vienna, we treated the kids to a horse-and-carriage ride around the city. It was lovely – the kidlings were captivated, they were happy, and we all had fun. At the end of the…
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And Then My Heart Stopped
Its been a shaky start to half-term hols. This morning, I loaded up the rental van (who names a car brand a “Seat”, anyway?) with my parents, Boo and Pea (the Hubs stayed home to puppy-sit and work) and headed south-west to Pembrokeshire. Let me start by saying that travelling is a challenge when your son has the bladder capacity of a shot glass. The challenge is compounded when you are travelling in what I would consider a pretty rural country. We made two pit stops in the course of a two-hour drive, one being, so proud to say, out the side of the minivan at the side of the…
