Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Question of the Week - Oh, The Places You'll Go

I had so much fun at the May Meet Up 2010! Two other lovely women (Raia and eep) made it with their sons, and I brought both of mine with me. As always with the kids along and in a kid-friendly place, we were able to chat only a little. But the ladies were great, the kids adorable and the place was awesome!

We went to the Be With Me Children's Playseum in Bethesda. I have to admit, I'm very confused as to why places like this call themselves "playseums." I don't think they are anything like museums at all. If I could name them, I would call them "play cities," or at least that's what I'd call this one since I've not been to any others.

It wasn't what I was expecting. I thought it would be some big room with lots of areas and lots of gym equipment, like a McD's Playland thingy. It wasn't that at all!

This place had a lot of little rooms, all open without doors (except the bathroom). Each room was like a "store," such as the grocery store filled with pretend food or the pet store with real animals (bunnies! frogs! lizards! hamster!) that they were allowed to pet or the diner with a play kitchen and table off of a bakery where they could take a little "class" and make real pies! Of course, my daughter LOVED the art studio and the construction site with it's sand box.

I could go on and on about how neat it was. I will definitely be going back, and I could plan to spend all day there!

This week's question of the week is:

Where is your favorite place to go with your kid(s)?

I'm sure my husband's answer is our backyard. We have a lot of room, a glider, a little slide and other fun things back there. Our daughter LOVES to go out back and play, as does Londo.

Though I really enjoy going in our backyard, it's not my absolute favorite place to go with the kids. I like the pool and the playseum, but that's not it either. And although the zoo and petting farm are really close to the top, I think my favorite place to go with the kiddos is to a friend's house for a playdate. I like the low-key-ness of being in a house, but I like to get out of my own house. I especially like sitting around and chatting with friends and/or family while the kids play.

How about you? Do you like big adventures with the kids or low-key hanging out? Do you have a favorite place to go, or do you simply like staying home?

7 comments:

mom2boy said...

Currently my favorite place to take him is the beach. He will sit (still!!!) and play in the sand for hours. And I love being at the beach myself so it's doubly good. I don't think he's quite old enough for play dates or I just need more practice because play dates, even with good friends, make me nervous like I have to be constantly on guard. Not relaxing just yet.

paola said...

I like going on walks with my kids and the Old Man on Sundays. It is really the only day we get to spend together as a family. Although Noah loves walking, Zoe isn't much of a walker, which calls for ingenuity and fantasy on our part. Often we take a kid's bike along with us and the kids take it in turns to walk and ride. That usually tires them out too, which is an added bonus.

We have a lot of places for walking arond here. Our town is surrounded by park land and fields and that is my favourite place to go walking when it isn't allergy season.

Jac said...

I really dislike staying at home with DS. Our place is too small, and we don't have a lot of toys for him (because we have no where to store them). When the weather is good, I love going to the park/playground. There are about 5 million of them in Vancouver so it never gets old, and we're always trying out new parks. When the weather is lousy, there are two great coffee/breakfast joints here that have kids play areas in them. Great for me to sit and have a coffee and read the paper, and great for DS to have new toys to play with. We can easily spend an entire morning at one of these places.

eep said...

My oldest is almost 3, and so is a wiggly ball of energy. Sometimes it seems he vibrates. So I like to get him outside where he can't do much damage. My favorite place du jour is a little farm around the corner that the county runs as a park for kids. There are the usual farm animals to pet, kid sized tractors to sit on, and a playground. The oldest loves it and asks almost every day to go to the farm.

For the littlest, who is only 7 weeks old, my favorite place to put him is the sling. He is warm and snuggly and squishy and I love carrying him.

Melba said...

There's an indoor amusement park where I live, and kids 2 and under are free... we went there recently and Rosie had so much fun, and I had a great time watching her. It's a bit of a drive and a big "event" type day, so we don't go often. But its fun. :)

I also really like spending time with the kids at my parents cabin at the lake. Beach, walking trails, playground nearby. Family, relaxation... its really great. Annie's never been there (we only go in the summer and she was born in January) but Rosie has so much fun there. We're going in two weeks and I'm so looking forward to it!

hush said...

I actually like going to the park with DS because it is good exercise for both of us. But these days DS throws such an annoying fit about getting in and out of the car it is almost not worth the effort!

MommyEm said...

Strangely enough, I have enjoyed taking Dorothy to the grocery store. We bring her kid-sized plastic shopping cart and she gets to zoom around the aisles while helping me put things in the cart. Last time she went in her princess costume dress and so many people smiled and laughed that it lifted lots of spirits.

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