DC Metro Moms: The UN-ELECTION PARTY
What do you get when you bring together SUPER COOL MOMS,
a plethora of great food and drink,
no kids,
and even a ride home?
You get the DC METRO MOMS BLOG UN-ELECTION PARTY!
…of course.
What I love about being a DC Metro Mom contributor is exactly why I loved this party-
all us women are totally different,
have different takes on everything,
but yet, we are all concerned mothers, trying our best to do what is right,
learning every day how to be a better mom, while not scarring our children in the process 
Our party was at Clyde’s of Tyson’s Corner.
We had fantastic appetizers, great entrees of pasta dishes and cheeses and a delectable dessert selection toward the end of the evening.
The people at Clyde’s couldn’t have been nicer and made the planning of this party…easy.
What was even easier was working with Chevy, the sponsor of this party.
Chevy picked up DC Metro Moms for the party and then ALSO drove us all back to our cars and homes in Chevy Traverses.
I think the candidates and their political parties should…THROW A PARTY, get some wine mixed in,
and see what happens.
I think the result would be wonderful!
Cool moms, cool place, cool transportation, cool conversation:
I can’t wait until the next cool event for DC Metro Moms Blog!
BlogHer DC ReCap
What a fun day! BlogHer DC 2008 is now history, but what a great day it was. I learned A LOT about blogging, saw online friends, and met some awesome new ones.
It’s so cool how everyone has a different story…
It’s more than cool that ‘this blogging thing’ I was just discovering this time last year has evolved into a part of my day and life. This medium is truly the future and it’s great how connected people and moms can be.
It was super cool to listen to Lesley Stahl talk about this blogging future, she’s even started a site, wowowow.com, Women On The Web, with a little help from some friends.
I want to do a shout-out to Andrea from Andrea’s Recipes and Sarah from Sarah and The Goon Squad for their great advice… They were both on panels that I attended yesterday.
The future is now. Just think, 20 years ago, no one had laptops or cell phones. What will the next 20 years bring? It’s exciting.
BLOGHER DC, 2008 !
I’m listening to the opening welcome here at BlogHer DC!
Do you realize that 43% of BlogHer Network readers report watching less TV to fit in reading online??!!
MY ODE TO DC… AND THE TRAFFIC
I always get a little misty-eyed this time of year, seeing Rolling Thunder around the beltway traffic, coming into town…
and remembering what Memorial Day is all about.
But the thousands of motorcycles (which are very cool, especially to my 4-year-old) that come into town every Memorial Day weekend also make me think of
vehicles,
driving,
… and traffic.
So here it goes –
My Ode to DC and the Traffic,
or rather,
DC– I Love You Even Though:
I love DC even though it isn’t really a grid. Numbered streets run north-south and lettered streets run east-west. This starts at the Capitol building… but there are exceptions. And you have to pay close attention to the endings on street signs- NW, SW, NE, SE or you will not end up where you wanted to be… and everyone that you’ve made late will be annoyed (long story).
Avenues run at diagonals across the city and are named after states. They are supposed to be fast cross-city short-cuts, but I’ve lived here my whole life and the thought of using Wisconsin Avenue as a ‘short-cut’ is laughable. Have you ever been on an ‘avenue’ with so many lights?
Streets start and stop… and then start up again.
And then there are the circles.
There are at least 10 major DC intersections with circles. Just one of the problems with these ‘circle intersections’ is that the street you entered the circle on- may not continue on the opposite side of the circle or may jettison off at some weird angle that you weren’t expecting… and pass.
I love DC even though some streets, and I mean major streets, change from two-way to one-way, depending on the time of day.
This is CRAZY! I used to work on 15th street, which changes to one-way for evening rush hour… and see people driving the wrong way. What was really crazy was that it didn’t phase us after a while, my co-workers and I would just shake our heads and say something like, ‘yikes, somebody didn’t read the street signs.’
I love DC even though Metro Center has about 15 different exits and if you choose the wrong one you seem to be half-a-mile from where you meant to be (another long story).
But I love that when I walk down Pennsylvania Avenue toward the Capitol,
I still catch my breath.
I love that there are SO MANY museums, and activities and sights to see and do with my son… most of which are free.
Growing up here, I’ve always thought of DC as a very small city, with a Very Big Name.
The DC area is a place where you can run into people and old neighbors, and old friends, and schoolmates… walking down the street.
There is big business here and shopping.
There are beautiful parks and trails.
The change of seasons makes me smile and stop- every single time.
And of course, there’s the government. For such a small city, DC has an incredible number of patriotic and historical sights that you can see and even stumble upon… on any given day.
And you know what? I really like that.
An abbreviated version of this can be read at DC Metro Moms Blog.
OUR FIELD TRIP TO THE NATIONAL MALL
This Blog article can also be read on DC Metro Moms. I’m a contributor… Great Site!
In keeping with suggestions from online parenting guides, and PBS, and articles in the weekend paper, and even blurbs on the sides of cereal boxes, I decided to do something fun and educational with my 3-year-old son. We take ‘field trips’ together. During the long days of August when NOTHING was going on in this town, we tried to do a field trip once a week… now it’s once a month.
We got in the car and went down to the Mall. My son loves cars… and trucks… and planes… and rockets, really any mode of transportation. So I’m thinking, ‘What could be better than The Air and Space Museum ?’ Nothing… or so I thought.
I don’t know when you last parked down at the Mall, but parking is surprisingly easy. They added parking all along the service road that borders the Mall, the entire length of it. And if you want to take Metro- you’ve got the stop right there.
I pulled into a space only about a block away from The Air and Space Museum. No meters and ‘rock star parking’…cool! We walked across the little service road to the sidewalk and immediately saw a beautiful fountain in front of the National Museum of the American Indian. It had many levels and an edge big enough for a 3-year-old to walk along. He loved it (at this point I knew, maybe he’s not going to be as excited as I thought to see Wilbur and Orville Wright’s plane).
I finally coaxed him away from the super cool climbing fountain and we went into the Air and Space museum. As you all know – it is gigantic. It’s cool for adults and maybe 6–year-olds, but my son couldn’t really grasp that the huge cylinder which must have looked like a cylindrical building to him, was part of a rocket. He did however, like the models of rockets that were smaller.
We walked around a little more. I think we stayed a little over an hour and that included a trip to the Air and Space museum McDonald’s. The happy meal toy was a NASA rocket – nice touch McDonald’s and NASA.
We then started to leave; he told me he was ready to go. But wait, he was so impressed with the purse/bag x-ray machine that the guards showed him how it worked.
We made another stop at the fountain, crossed the street and my son yelled, “Mommy, look!” It was literally a bus and truck put together, I’m sure to haul artifacts around the Smithsonian. I believe it was a government vehicle.
“It’s a… BusTruck! I’ve never seen one of those before!” And he just stared.
When my husband got home from work and asked what we had seen and learned on our ‘field trip’ my son immediately started in with a description of the ‘BusTruck’… no planes, no rockets… the BusTruck.
So once again, I tried to give my son an educational experience, and he gave me the education.
But he’s a fun teacher!
THE NO-STRESS PUMPKIN PATCH
I’m into no-stress endeavors. I’m into Halloween. I’m into pumpkins…
So I’m delighted to tell you- I’m into Homestead Farm.
It’s a real, working farm with apples to pick, animals to look at, hayrides to take and plenty of pumpkins.
The best part is the location. It’s just out at the end of River Road, about 8 miles past Potomac Village.
Go anytime, look at farm animals and pick out a pumpkin. My son was especially psyched when the roosters answered his calls of ‘Cock a Doodle Do’ for about 5 minutes straight- back and forth. It was a great moment (why didn’t I have the camcorder?!).
It’s pretty laid back. Plus, they have a huge assortment of pumpkins and gourds for Halloween porch decorations.
And I want to give a shout out to new ‘Fairy Tale’ pumpkins. I saw them at Homestead Farm yesterday and then later in the day at a roadside stand on River Road down in Bethesda. They look like the pumpkin coach from Cinderella- wide and plump. They are a must-have for the porch, but no carving, please.
So check out Homestead Farm for a close-in, no-stress pumpkin patch outing. For details and hours go to www.Homestead-farm.net.
Happy Pumpkin Picking!
ROOKIE MISTAKE
Note to self: make sure your child is really excited about something before you travel 2 hours for it.
Last summer I learned that Thomas the Tank Engine was coming to Cumberland, Maryland. Conor loves Thomas and I was excited that a full-size Thomas existed. I read that it makes stops all over the country to historical railroad stations. So, wanting to give my child a wonderful experience, I bought tickets online… and then looked at a map. Cumberland is FAR from Bethesda where we live, as in about 2 hours and 15 minutes… and that’s without stopping. Still I thought, Conor will love this, he deserves this.
We talked about it with Conor who was 2 ½ at the time and he seemed to like the idea.
We set out that Saturday and after driving for a full hour out I- 270 Conor announced to us, “I do not want to ride the train”.
My throat closed up. I couldn’t breathe. My husband gripped the steering wheel. We didn’t look back at Conor, we just looked at each other. John took a deep breath, and mouthed, ‘relax’. I took a moment and looked back at Conor and cheerily said, “We’re just going to take a look at it, I think it will be fun!”
Another hour and 15 minutes later we were in Cumberland. The railroad was great, but we were holding our breath. We walked without saying much up to Thomas and waited in line to board. I brought a small Thomas along with us that Conor played with while we waited in line. As he played with the mini version of what stood beside us, John and I just kept looking at each other and crossing our fingers.
We boarded the train, Conor was a little fidgety, but cool. The train started, “We’re on!” I thought. Thomas the Tank Engine then went about 10 minutes down the track, then stopped and then went in reverse back to the station. Honestly, Conor liked running around the little hay-bale maze afterwards much better.
FAST FORWARD TO LAST MONTH-
I got an email that a movie theater was doing a special debut of a few new Thomas episodes at 10am on a Saturday in Gaithersburg.
So, I looked at a map… THEN I bought the tickets. We went, NO traffic since it was Saturday morning. We bought popcorn, watched Thomas on the big screen and had a great time.
I learned from my rookie mistake and didn’t repeat it… Yey- Victory!
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