More Fun at Bergey's Breadbasket

We made our annual fall pilgrimage to Bergey's Breadbasket a few weeks ago to pick a peck of perfect pumpkins. Click over to My Active Child to read more!

Trail Center and Bald Cypress Trail at First Landing State Park

Fall is one of my favorite times to get outdoors, so it's been a bummer that so many of the HRVA area national parks and sites are closed due to the government shutdown. Luckily, First Landing is a state park and is still open! And it's at its absolute prettiest right now.

Our playgroup met up there last week for the express purpose of visiting the new Discovery Room at the Trail Center. Unfortunately, the room was off-limits while staff cleaned and fed the animals, but luckily again, the trail center features some other great stuff to hold the little ones' attention, including a cool little exhibit on local flora and fauna, complete with a "please touch" area where we could stroke fur pelts and listen to seashells.



After we'd done a few turns around the exhibit, we went back outside to set off down the Bald Cypress trail, a mile-and-a-half-long boardwalk trail through a marshy wooded area. We didn't make it through the whole loop -- the kids stopped several times, to peer at a frog, climb a hill, and eat some trail mix. And pose for lots of pictures.

First Landing is beautiful in every season, but it really shines in late summer/fall, so much so that I'm adding it to our Fall Fun List as a must-see autumnal destination. What are your favorite spots/trails in the park? Have you made it to the Discovery Room? I'm determined to check it out, so I know we'll be back soon.

Lakewood Park

I've been meaning to post about Lakewood Park for a long time now, but haven't because until recently, I never had the opportunity to take photos to go along with it -- every time I would whip my camera out, Anouk would try to strangle herself on the monkey bars or eat a handful of mulch. But with the challenges of Two also come a few added benefits, one being that she is now much more confident and sensible about appropriate park behavior, and I don't have to hover like a hawk like I used to.

So, finally, here is Lakewood Park. It's across the street from a nice library and also around the corner from Naa's Bakery, hooray! After our trip there a few weeks ago, Anne and I met up with our friends for a playdate under the twisted live oaks, to give the kids a chance to run off some sugar. There are some seriously old trees at Lakewood, gnarled and twisted and providing copious amounts of shade, which means that there is always a cool spot to sit, even on hot and humid summer days. Add in a picnic area and some age-appropriate playground equipment and you've got yourself a practically perfect park.

Did you know that Lakewood Park is also home to Norfolk's Dance and Music Center? Anouk has been asking for dance lessons a lot lately, so we're going to look into the Creative Movement classes for toddlers this winter and spring. If you've ever taken a class at Lakewood I would love to know -- or if you have a recommendation for elsewhere in the #HRVA area that offers toddler tap or ballet.

Hope you had a good weekend. Now get out there and enjoy this gorgeous weather before it's gone!

Fall Fun List

Since summer is officially over, I thought it would be a good time to share some of our favorite fall places, crafts, and treats from last year. If you have any suggestions you'd like to share, from your own blog or around the web, please link in the comments! Also, if you do any of these, please write and let us know how you enjoyed it. :)

I'm cuddled up under a wool blanket as I type this and I love love it. Welcome, fall!

GO:

-Bergey's Breadbasket: Quite possibly the best petting zoo in the area, with a PYO pumpkin patch and a delectable bakery attached. Bergey's inspired our apple dumpling recipe (below).

-Hunt Club Farm: The photos at the bottom of this post is from our visit last October (look how small my Nou was!). Their fall harvest fair runs through Nov. 1 this year and you can bet we'll be there again.

-Apple Picking at Martin Vineyard & Orchard: A recent trip that's going to become a family tradition. Apple season ends in November, but I would call ahead to make sure they're still open (their website doesn't seem to be updated frequently).

-New Earth Farm: A beautiful farmer's market in Virginia Beach, with probably the most interesting and delicious organic and seasonal produce in the area.

-First Landing State Park: So gorgeous this time of year. Try the Bald Cypress Trail, an easy hike for little legs.

-Big Woods State Forest: Some "real wilderness" hiking just about an hour away in Sussex County.

-Bennett's Creek Farm Market: Bennett's Creek is a treat in any season but fall makes us hungry and when the weather turns cool, we crave their she-crab soup.


MAKE: 

-Pumpkin pie playdough: Adding pumpkin-pie spice makes everything feel more festive.

-Gravestone rubbing: A spooky craft to get older kids interested in family history.

-Pinecone prints: This is a great time of year for nature painting.


COOK:

-Maple cinnamon marshmallows: Dresses up hot cocoa; a lot easier than you'd think.

-Apple dumplings: A quick and easy version of the famous ones at Bergey's Breadbasket.

-Pumpkin quinoa: The perfect breakfast for fall mornings.

-Sugar cookies: Not our recipe, but one we use constantly. These cookies are tasty and don't spread!

Pokey Smokey II at Portsmouth City Park

Last year, around Christmas, I posted that Anne was going through a phase in which she was excessively fond of trains. Update, this phase shows no signs of being over anytime soon. At this point, I don't ever expect it to be, I fully believe that one day I'll be driving in the car with 45-year-old Anouk and she will flip out when she hears a train whistle. Mom, a train! Can you see it, Mom? Can you?

Norfolk is a good city for trains (we were stopped by three while we were out driving last week), but sometimes you just have to get a little more up close and personal with one, and when that happens, you visit Portsmouth City Park, to ride the Pokey Smokey II, a miniature red train that chugs around the park on a 3/4-mile loop. The original Pokey Smokey began operating in 1964, but closed in 2005 due to safety concerns. The track was fixed, a new train was commissioned, and the second Pokey Smokey was put back in service in 2011 (and parents everywhere rejoiced).


Anouk loved riding on the train, especially the little stretch of the track that creeps along by the Elizabeth River and waving like crazy at the kids playing on the playground, adjacent. And there were a lot of them this sunny Saturday afternoon. The Portsmouth City Park is really a stellar park, with incredibly well-kept playground equipment, lots of shady trees to relax under, a snack bar, a friendship garden, and even a golf course with a driving range and putting green.

Did you know there's a word for love of trains and rail travel? There is: siderodromophilia. I am raising a siderodromophiliac child, how about you?

Tides are In

 A couple of weekends ago, my sister came into town from DC, and my uncle noticed that the Norfolk Tides, our local minor baseball league team, were offering a deal for Buy 5 tickets, Get 5 tickets free. Put them together and what do you have? Family baseball night. Hooray!

We set out to Harbor Park on a drizzly Saturday night hoping that the rain would hold off so that we could see the Tides play the Rochester Red Wings. It also happened to be Navy Appreciation Night, which meant that we got to listen to the Navy band, see a group of young men and women be inducted into the service, and cheer for a few military men and women (and military spouses) who were being recognized that evening. I feel like nothing says Norfolk like the Navy, and so I was extra proud of my hometown when I saw the crowd that had turned out that night.

Our seats were fantastic -- right behind home plate, which meant that A. got to see most of the action unfold only a few feet away. She was entranced by everything that was going on -- she kept up a pretty steady stream of commentary that could give the official Tides announcer a run for his money ("That man goes up there. He hits the ball. He running! Wow, he run!") For all that, I still think that she was more into the games in-between innings than she was the actual baseball game -- she cheered harder for the teams racing to build a giant hamburger than she did any time one of our players got a hit. (Although the hamburger race was very exciting that night, with one team running the wrong way and another forgetting the cheese).

We also introduced Anouk to cotton candy while we were at Harbor Park that fateful Saturday. She was definitely a fan of that, eating almost one whole bag by herself and then crashing hard from the sugar high. This coincided with the point at which the rain started in earnest, so we left at the top of the 7th inning. But we still felt like we got a good amount of excitement out of the evening -- we couldn't have asked for more.*

*Except maybe the Tides to not get shut out, but that's a small thing, right?

Go team! Have you ever been to a Tides game? What's your local minor league team called? (I still think Richmond has the best with the Flying Squirrels).

Bacon's Castle

Another day trip with Molly and the kids -- this time to Bacon's Castle in Surry. Seems like we do a lot of stuff in Surry these days -- probably because it's a really good distance away. Just a little over an hour -- short enough so that the kids don't revolt in the car but long enough so that it feels like you're really going somewhere. Surry might as well be another world compared to the HRVA metro area -- there are gravel roads, fields of soybeans and tobacco, picturesque white farmhouses, the works.

Bacon's Castle is a 17th century Jacobean-style home, one of the only surviving examples of Jacobean architecture in the Western Hemisphere and the oldest house in Virginia, built in 1665. The house has a long and storied history, was home to a prosperous planter and his family, and a landmark during Bacon's Rebellion (which gave the house its name). The house has been expanded over the years, and underwent extensive renovations in the 1980s, but the past still feels very close when you're inside it. It was mind-boggling to peek into rooms and imagine the people who had lived in them, to touch a hundreds-year-old wooden banister and think about all of the hands that had touched it over the years.

We had thought that we would probably be allowed to roam the house, as we did when we visited the Moses Myers House a few weeks ago, but actually, the folks at Bacon's Castle prefer to take groups on a tour of the premises. Older kids will enjoy it, thanks to the interesting and very knowledgeable tour guides, but our little ones were antsy and wanted to run, which was a bit awkward at times. However, once the tour was over and we turned them loose on the grounds of the 17th century garden and the nearby slave quarters, they were able to whoop and holler to their hearts' content. Add in a picnic lunch under the trees on the house's wide lawn, and you've got a wonderful way to spend a summer afternoon.

Bacon's Castle is open from Friday to Sunday, March through November. Block admission can be purchased with Smith's Fort Plantation, another Preservation Virginia site that stands just across the James River. In addition to seasonal events, Bacon's Castle also offers group tours and has one of the best gift shops we've seen in a long while. Click here for more info.

5 Places to Have a Picnic (in Norfolk)

Did you know that July was National Picnic Month? Neither did I -- until July was almost over. (National Picnic People, make sure you publicize this a little better next year!) However, we did manage to have two picnics in the last week of July -- one with friends at Bacon's Castle in Surry (post on that forthcoming) and one in our very own backyard.

There are so many wonderful parks and beaches around the area that are ideal picnic destinations, but I thought I would share five of our favorite off-the-beaten-path places around town that are just perfect to visit with a blanket and a basket of goodies.

1. Pagoda and Oriental Garden: This spot is so secluded (usually) that it's easy to pretend you're all by yourself right in the middle of the downtown waterfront. There's also a lot to do -- from watching the ships on the river to making friends with the fish in the carp ponds and a million places nearby to walk to. A really convenient place to stop for lunch if you're out and about of an afternoon.

2. Norfolk International Airport Overlook: There are so many other wonderful things to see at the Norfolk Botanical Gardens that the airport overlook (where you can watch planes take off and land and listen to chatter from the control towers) is often overlooked (see what I did there?) You'll have to pay admission to the garden for the chance to climb the hill but for an airplane-obsessed kid, this is pretty much heaven.

3. St. Paul's Church: For this spot, you'll need to be able to disassociate yourself from the whole graveyard thing a little, but if you can, the churchyard is the perfect place for lunch, beauty and history wrapped up in one (free) package.

4. Moses Myers House: We reviewed the MM house last week. While there, I couldn't help noticing the wide sweeping lawn to the side of the house and imaging a blanket spread out there, under the trees.

5. The Hague: A lot of people in Norfolk don't know about the Hague as anything other than the body of water they pass as they drive over the Brambleton Avenue bridge west of downtown, but around the Hague are extensive areas for running, biking, or just plain lounging and taking in some of the best architecture in the city (we love looking at the Queen Anne homes that line the seawall). Our favorite picnic spot is the crescent-shaped memorial pavilion near the Chrysler Museum (which might be closed off due to construction right now) but there are luckily plenty of other spots to choose from.

What's your favorite thing to pack in your picnic basket? Our family isn't really into sandwiches but we can whip up a mean pasta salad quick as a wink. ;) This also gives us the chance to use the dishes and silverware that came with our picnic basket -- somehow things always taste better when you're eating it off of miniature plates.

Happy weekend!

Elizabethan Gardens (Manteo, NC)

It seems like we can't get enough of the Outer Banks this summer. A few weeks ago, James, Anne and I went back -- this time, to Roanoke Island, to explore the little town of Manteo, which is one of the most charming spots I've ever visited. There was so much to see and do, but our favorite part of the day was spending time at the Elizabethan Gardens on the grounds of old Fort Raleigh.

Roanoke Island is the site of the first English colony in America. It was founded by Sir Walter Raleigh in 1587; by the time he returned from a voyage to England in 1590, all of the 115 Roanoke colonists had disappeared without a trace.

The Elizabethan Gardens were designed as a living memorial to this Lost Colony. Spanning 10 acres, the gardens were laid out to resemble a traditional 17th century English pleasure garden but also includes native plants and a few modern-day flourishes. There's a rhododendron garden, a tobacco walk, and rose and herb gardens, all extending from the Gate House, which houses a mysterious portrait of Queen Elizabeth I.

We enjoyed so much about the day, but I think Anne's favorite part of the gardens was the larger-than-life statue of Queen Elizabeth I. We had a hard time explaining to her that what she was seeing was a princess, since she's used to them being a little more sparkly. But I think Elizabeth serves as a better role model than any of those Disney waifs, for sure.

We're having a ridiculous week, thanks to some unexpected home repairs (long story), so things might be a little slower around here than usual. We'll be back in full force ASAP. Happy Monday!