I have new and exciting adventures to report, but I realize that I haven't quite finished my account of our trip to New York. On Sunday morning (now a week and a half ago), we got an early start and walked a couple of blocks to a lovely little parish called St. Thomas More. It is a beautiful parish and we very much enjoyed Mass that morning. All the girls--including Baby Anne--were on their best behavior. Following Mass, we walked to a small bakery where we bought brioche and enjoyed a lovely breakfast. 

We returned to our hotel, finished packing and took our luggage to the lobby for it to be stored. We needed to check out of our room, but we still had one more major museum to hit before we were ready to leave town. We headed to the West side of Central Park to visit the American Museum of Natural History. 

The girls were prepared for this visit. The week before we went on our New York City trip, we watched Night at the Museum for our Friday night family movie night. Once in the museum, the girls began looking for anything they could find from the movie. The number one thing the girls wanted to find was Dexter--the menacing monkey that comes alive at night from his display in the museum. After much looking through the African animal displays (which are on two floors), we finally found Dexter and the girls were quite happy. 

The other priority was the Easter Island Moai who always asks for "gum gum" in the movie. Wow, this took some searching. After wondering from exhibit to exhibit, we finally found it. As you can see from the picture below, the girls were really over-the-top in their poses. 

After seeing "gum gum," the girls were pretty much done. We talked them into grabbing a small lunch in the cafeteria and then we said our goodbyes to Grammy who would be heading to Penn Station from the museum. The girls and I grabbed a taxi back to our hotel where we picked up our car. I had called a half hour before we arrived back at the hotel to tell them we were on our way. Not only did they have our car waiting for us, they had already put our bags in the car. I'll just say again how much we loved Hotel Wales. 

At this point we left New York, but we did have one more stop to make. Due to rain and scheduling, we had given up on seeing the Statue of Liberty from Battery Park. But the girls really wanted to see Lady Liberty. So we drove to Jersey City and made our way to Liberty State Park. When I found a good view, I pulled into a side parking lot and woke Clare up, who had rather quickly fallen asleep in the car. Meg, Clare and I stepped out of the car and enjoyed the New Jersey view of the Statue of Liberty. We then got right back into the car and began listening to Stuart Little as we drove back home. What a wonderful trip it was. 

As I mentioned before, my mother-in-law met us in New York City for our weekend adventure. Her presence there was what truly made the trip possible. I might have been able to handle the trip on my own with just Meg and Clare, but add in Baby Anne and there's no way I could have managed. When Baby Anne insisted on pushing her own stroller in circles through the New York City Public Library, Grammy (as the girls call her) gently guided her and kept her happy. When I needed to do a quick diaper change in the middle of the Museum of Modern Art, Grammy stayed with Meg and Clare while I hunted down the restroom with a changing table. When everyone was exhausted from our long Saturday of sightseeing, it was Grammy who insisted we take a taxi back to our hotel and order pizza delivered to our hotel room--totally the right call. 

Grammy's presence also gave me an unheard of opportunity. On Saturday evening, I left the girls with Grammy at the hotel (where they could watch Netflix and take baths) and I walked the six blocks or so from our hotel to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Let me be clear, I did this all by myself. I love taking my kids to museums. I love trying to find the things that will pique their interest in art, science or history. But I also love to explore a museum on my own and it has been a very long time since I've done that. 

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is open until 9 p.m. on Saturdays and it is clearly date night central. And who can blame New Yorkers. What a wonderfully romantic date that would be. While in London for our honeymoon, my husband and I explored the British Library, the British Museum, the National Gallery, the National Portrait Gallery, the National Churchill Museum and the Victoria & Albert Museum. It was fantastic couple time. Still, there is something to be said for being completely on your own. I rented the audio tour, because I could engross myself in the lecture since I didn't need to keep up a conversation with anyone. I could explore the vast collection of the museum completely at my own pace because I didn't need to take anyone else's interest into consideration. It sounds selfish, I know, but please remember how rarely I get to do anything completely on my own. 

The Met's collection truly is diverse. There are Egyptian relics (including an entire temple) and rooms taken from European palaces; there are Medieval armor collections and gorgeous Oriental rugs; there are numerous pieces of Chinese art as well as an unbelievable collection of European paintings. It was in the European paintings that I had one of those museum moments--a "stop in your tracks" type of moment. I was taking my time looking through the numerous Van Gogh paintings displayed at the Met. Their collection includes First Steps, which I've long loved. Hanging close to First Steps was the painting below simply entitled Cypresses. The vivid colors and the beautiful dreamy clouds simply made me smile. Several times I left the room and then returned for one more look at the painting.  

As I left the Metropolitan Museum of Art, classical music played in the Great Hall. Beauty was everywhere and I was reminded of how restorative true beauty can be. Thank you Grammy for making my solo adventure possible. 

While we planned many fun activities for our New York trip over the weekend, the actual reason we went to New York was to see Vincent Van Gogh's Starry Night. My kids love Van Gogh. I know that sounds strange. It probably began with a little book of Van Gogh paintings Meg's godmother gave her. Then we read Katie and the Starry Night by James Mayhew. Van Gogh was discussed on Meg and Clare's favorite show Creative Galaxy as well as on a kid news show the girls like to watch. At some point last summer, they became absolutely obsessed with Van Gogh and Starry Night in particular. During our travels one day, they asked me where the original Starry Night hung. I told them I didn't know but that I imagined it was in Paris or Amsterdam. Imagine my surprise when I discovered Starry Night  was in the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. "We can go there," the girls quickly deduced. And so we did. 

We have a print of Starry Night in our basement. Meg declared a week before our trip that she would not go into the basement and look at the print because she wanted to fully prepare herself for seeing the original. When we arrived at the fifth floor of MOMA, she was prepared. She pulled out a sketchbook and borrowed a pen. She gently worked her way to the front of the crowd that stood around Starry Night and then sat herself on the floor and began to sketch the masterpiece to the best of her 6-year-old ability. 

Four-year-old Clare soon joined her with pages ripped from my journal. Clare took her work seriously. She was soon stretched out on the floor attempting to capture every swirl and every star. Again, they were doing all of this in front of a huge crowd of people who were there to see Starry Night. I was not at all sure how this crowd would react to my girls and their sketches. The crowd's opinion soon became clear. With smiles, people were pointing out the girls to others. One onlooker attempting to photograph Starry Night  soon was on the floor attempting to capture a picture of Clare sketching Starry Night. Strangers made a point to tell me how precious my children were. Never doubt a crowd of art lovers will in fact fully encourage the love of art in a child.

From the New York City Public Library, we walked about fourteen blocks north to The Plaza. I'll remind you that it was raining, so once we arrived at The Plaza, we had to clean ourselves up a bit. We switched from our rainboots to our dress shoes. We brushed out wet hair, which happily for the girls, just curled back up into lovely curls. Soon we were ready for afternoon tea. 

I am sure most of you are aware of the Eloise books, which tell the story of a little girl who lives at The Plaza Hotel. While Eloise would not in actuality be the most welcomed guest at any hotel (she can be a little high maintenance), The Plaza has embraced the fictional Eloise. They offer numerous Eloise experiences, including the Eloise Tea in the Palm Court. If you look closely at the blurred image below, you'll see a special Eloise menu, which offers tea sandwiches (from egg salad to peanut butter and jelly), scones, mini-desserts (from chocolate mouse cups to pink cupcakes). For beverages, you can choose from several child-friendly teas or opt for pink lemonade. While my girls usually love tea, they couldn't resist the pink lemonade to honor Eloise.

To the girls great delight, the Eloise tea is also served with pink cotton candy. The cotton candy is made on pretzel sticks, which is an additional treat to enjoy once you finish the cotton candy.

After we finished tea, we visited the Eloise store on the lower floor of the Plaza. Wow, there was a lot of pink in the store. The girls loved it of course. They picked out souvenirs. Meg found an Eloise sketchbook. Clare chose a fairy doll that looked like Eloise. Grammy bought all three girls special bows for their hair as well as early reader books for Meg and Clare. It was a glorious day for them. I tried to capture the perfect picture of all three girls in front of the Eloise painting. Rather than posing nicely, they all collapsed in a heap on the ottoman...in perfect Eloise fashion. 

We love Winnie the Pooh. From the very earliest stages of planning our trip to New York, we knew we would visit the New York City Public Library to see Christopher Robin Milne's stuffed animals upon which the Winnie the Pooh stories were based. 

The trip to the library was a bit more challenging than I'd hoped. The core of the problem was that it was raining. The subway ride had all the challenges one would expect when travelling with a baby and stroller (not to mention a kindergartner and a preschooler...oh, and two adults with little experience riding the NYC subway). Still, we managed. Bundled in our rain gear, we walked from Grand Central Station to the New York City Public Library. (On a side note, we've been reading A Cricket in Time Square which mentions Grand Central Station, so it was a bonus to visit this station). 

When we arrived at the library, we spotted those two great stone lions outside. I had hoped to get a picture of the girls with Patience and Fortitude (the names of the two stone lions), but the rain made it impossible. So, we headed inside for the real reason we were there. 

The Children's Room is on the bottom floor of the library. We went directly there and found the Winnie the Pooh display inside. What a treat to see these literary treasures. 

While we missed a photo opportunity with Patience and Fortitude outside, we were able to see the Lego version of the library lions inside the children's room. These structures are quite impressive. 

Also impressive were the stacks. All libraries should have such beautiful wooden bookshelves. Throughout the children's room, favorite children's literary characters were posted above the stacks or appeared in murals around the room. It truly is the perfect children's library. 

While practicing reading (and who wouldn't want to practice reading in such a literary setting), Meg struck up a conversation with one of the librarians. Soon we learned story time was about to begin. My girls eagerly participated in this surprise treat. There were bubbles, songs and quite a few books. Meg and Clare's favorite book was How to Be Friends with a Dragon by Valeri Gorbachev. At the end of story time they even received a dragon stamp on their hands and a scented pencil. The librarian even made sure Baby Anne received her own pencil (though I think her sisters will be using it for awhile). 

Our visit to the New York City Public Library turned out to be more fun than we had imagined. It was also the perfect prelude to our next outing...Eloise Tea at The Plaza, which I will talk about in my next post.

Friday was an early dismissal day for Meg's school. As you know by now, early dismissal days are our adventure days. This weekend we took that idea to an entirely new level. On Friday afternoon, Meg, Clare, Anne and I drove to New York City where we met my mother-in-law for a weekend of seriously great adventure. 

We stayed at the Hotel Wales. This is a charming boutique hotel on Manhattan's East Side. In fact, it sits right in the midst of New York's Museum Mile. It was listed on Mommy Poppins' Best Family Hotels in NYC and, after our stay here, we fully agree. 

Our room was a suite. The bedroom could sleep four and the pullout couch in the living room allowed for two more. There was a large closet in the bedroom where we could store all our luggage and the bathroom was spacious enough for our needs. The girls were very fond of the beautiful wooden trim throughout the room. They were particularly fond of the windowsills, which were so wide they could use them as window seats. This hotel was a great fine.


After a great sleep, my mother-in-law decided to treat us to our first New York City treat--room service for breakfast. The girls were so excited! Meg and Clare feasted on pancakes. I enjoyed a fantastically filling omelette. Baby Anne ate oatmeal with strawberries and bananas (as well as any other food she could grab from other plates). My mother-in-law had a bit of trouble getting her yogurt with granola (for some reason it took room service about three trips to get her order straight), but in the end we all had a great breakfast that put us in good stead for the busy day ahead. That day began with the New York City Public Library, which I will write about in my next post. 

The ice on Sunday completely took us by surprise. I knew it was supposed to get icy Sunday afternoon and I was adjusting our plans accordingly. But I thought Sunday morning would be okay. We all got ready for Mass and headed out the front door. That is when we realized the sidewalk leading downhill from our front door to our car was a solid sheet of ice. We had no idea how to get our kids safely from our front door to our car, so we just turned around and went back inside. 

Stuck inside yet again, the girls were stir crazy by late afternoon. I could either keep telling them to quiet down and stop tackling each other or I could give them something productive to do. I pulled out the flour, yeast and other ingredients and we made pretzels in honor of Lent. 

Pretzels were created for Lent. The story is that a monk made them as a simple Lenten bread that used only the ingredients allowed under the strictest rules of Lent fasting. He then rolled the dough out into long ropes and shaped the rope so it looked like arms crossing over each other in the fashion that monks would pray. 

I am not sure if making pretzels is the best Lenten exercise for us. The girls get very frustrated trying to shape the pretzels because the dough inevitably breaks at some point. Then I get frustrated with their whining. But then again, part of Lent is accepting our trials, right? 

We enjoyed our pretzels with a pot of tea. It was a nice treat on an icy afternoon. 

On Saturday I needed an all day outing for the girls. My husband was working at home that day and we needed to be out of the house. My solution was the Fredericksburg location of the Children's Museum of Richmond. This was our first visit there and I am glad to say that it did not disappoint. 

Fredericksburg is just over an hour's drive from Arlington (our home). I, however, had a planned stop along the way. The girls' very favorite restaurant is Cracker Barrel. There are no Cracker Barrel restaurants located near our house, but there is one in Dumfries, Virginia, which is approximately the halfway point between Arlington and Fredericksburg. The girls and I enjoyed a late breakfast at Cracker Barrel as well as the roaring fire in the Cracker Barrel fireplace. Clare ate pancakes. Meg ate eggs and biscuit. Baby Anne ate eggs and sausage. Everyone was very happy. Usually at Cracker Barrel we stop by the front porch to rock in the rocking chairs and play checkers, but Saturday was far too cold for that, so we headed to Fredericksburg. 

I've been to Fredericksburg twice and both time I was fooled by the Route 1 split just before you get to the downtown area. On Friday, I dropped and broke my phone, so I did not have my Waze app to guide me out of my confusion. (My dead phone is also the reason no pictures accompany this post.) Eventually, I found the Children's Museum.

The Children's Museum is located in a storefront and is not much to look at from the outside. Happily inside is a very different story. The museum is one huge room divided into many play areas. There is a dress up area that includes a lighted stage. There is a bank, a diner, a dentist office. There is a mountain of tires for the kids to climb. There is a real car that the kids can climb through and explore. 

Baby Anne's favorite play area was the grocery store. In addition to attempting to eat the plastic bananas, she loved the grocery carts. As I mentioned recently, Baby Anne is not yet walking, but she is an excellent cruiser. Once she steadied herself behind the mini grocery cart, she pushed it all over the museum. I let her do this for a ridiculous amount of time, but finally decided I needed to distract her so others could use the cart. My attempts at distraction failed and she threw a huge fit. Whenever she would see another child pushing one of the carts, she would chase after them and try to steal the cart away. One three-year-old girl was terrified of our 15-month-old Baby Anne due to this manoeuvre. I realize the third child in the family must be tough and all, but that was kind of ridiculous. 

Meg and Clare's favorite play area--by far--was the art studio. I must say it was the best kids art studio we've run across. In addition to preset stations, there were bins of craft supplies for the kids to choose from and use. There were fabric squares, pieces of scrap paper (of all colors and patterns), pipe cleaners, egg cartons, CD cases and those fluffy little balls. The kids were free to glue, paint, color and create...and create Meg and Clare did. I have no idea how many craft projects we came home with. At one point in the afternoon an announcement was made that there would be an art class. The interested children gathered around a table and made a green eggs and ham craft in honor of Dr. Seuss's birthday. 

With the drive to and from Fredericksburg, the stop at Cracker Barrel and three hours of play at the Children's Museum, this was a full day activity. Not only were the kids occupied, they had a wonderful time. This is definitely an outing I will keep in mind when the need for a long outing arises in the future.