Far Away Friday: Raleigh part 2

After leaving the Children's Museum, we headed to Pullen Park. This is the coolest park I've ever been to. It was built in 1887 and covers roughly 65 acres of land. It's got a community center, carousel, kiddie boats, paddle boats, and the most popular with R... a train! We parked, walked in, bought our tickets, got on the train, and it immediately started down pouring. We were already on the train, and soaked. The kind of soaked that makes your shoes squish and your pants stick to your legs. It was a major let down. We ended up having to go back the next day though because we saw that the park was so awesome.

The play areas are separated by age. There are areas specifically for preschool age, sand diggers, things to climb on, slides, and it looks like during the summer there is some water play. The train was obviously a huge hit, but the carousel was cool too. There was also a stationary train car to climb in. We didn't do the boats, but lots of kids were on them. The day that we were there they were having a scarecrow decorating contest up on the hill. I'd love to come back on a warmer day and rent some of the paddle boats.

We had lunch at Trophy Brewing. They are a brew pub with lots of fancy pizzas. We got a few different small pizzas to share and a greek salad. To our surprise, R ate all of the tomatoes, cucumbers, and even a few onions out of the salad on top of pizza. If it hadn't been raining, we could have sat outside but the inside was nice too, with a noise level that was appropriate to bring a toddler. The boys tried a few beers, one of which Neil has been talking about since!

This is a three part Far Away Friday about Raleigh. Check part one here!
If you're interested in writing a far away Friday, please contact me!

Hampton Roads VegFest 2018

When I heard about Veg Fest, I knew immediately that I wanted to go and eat everything. Literally... one of everything. You see, when you don't eat meat, there is usually one or two things on a menu that you can pick from. But this was a place where every single thing was an option. So I quietly clicked "interested" in this festival early in 2018, and patiently waited for it to come. But on Sunday morning, there was no taming the excitement.

There were so many more vendors and people than I expected. There was live music, cooking demonstrations, lectures, a yoga zone, an adoptable avenue, a kid zone, a creator's corner, a beer garden, and so many food vendors.

The kid zone had all kinds of games and arts and crafts, but also had a different contest every thirty minutes. From banana bingo, to hot potato, and fake food fights, it rotated and stayed busy.

We spent most of our time over by the food. Tamarind had my favorite dish of the day, but we also had tacos, mac and cheese, bbq sandwiches, plantain salad, shrimp and grits, potato salad, a jerk chicken bowl and a cinnamon roll. (Split between three adults and two kids- haha!) The lines were long and there seemed to be a delay at the start, but I'm chalking that up as a win and taking it to mean that so many people are interested in vegan food that there were back ups! I would say next year, I'm not getting there right when it opens though. Several vendors were not ready, so I'll wait an hour before coming.

R was happiest running around in the sunshine with his buddy, listening to the music, and watching the trains go by between bites of food. We sat in the beer garden watched the band Static Collector from Norfolk, who were really good, and reminded me of an old school indie Death Cab.

Nice to be needed, even as just a chair. 

I love these kinds of events. Supporting local vendors, local restaurants, and listening to local music. An awesome way to spend a Sunday.

If you're looking to try vegan food, check out these places in Hampton Roads (as copied from the paperwork today, but I've tried several of these!)

• Yorgo's Bageldashery 
• Pelon's Baja Grill (best salsa ever, tacos are great, guac is awesome!)
• Pasha Mezze
• My Vegan Sweet Tooth 
• Kahiau's
• Tap House Grill
• Hell's Kitchen (bbq pizza is super good)
• Cogan's Pizza (AND they have my favorite Ace Perry cider)
• Ynot Italian 
• Le Bella
• Your Pie
• Mellow Mushroom 
• Bangkock Garden (a favorite of mine)
• Kajput Indian Cuisine (monthly vegan buffet!)
• Kotobuki (so many choices!)
• Mr. Shawarma (falafal is one of my favorite foods!)
• Fruitive
• The Green Cat 
• Although not on their list... Orapax, Tortilla West, Yard House, Sugar Shack, Pie-o-neer Pizza, Jikonia Cafe, Bodacious Bakehouse, Charlie's Cafe, California Burrito, Cilantro Bangladeshi Bistro, Brixx Pizza, just to name a few! 

Far Away Friday: Raleigh, NC

My long time friend Jessica recently moved to Raleigh, NC. When I say long time, I mean we were best friends at six months old. We went to the same babysitter, preschool, middle, and high school, attended the same summer camps, and spent many, many, mannnny nights at sleepovers together. The ride to Raleigh should have only taken three hours, but my advice is to leave earlier than 5:00 and don't take the Portsmouth tunnel. We knew we wanted to check out the Raleigh Children's Museum, Marbles. Unlike the Richmond Children's Museum, this one is FREE if you're a member of the Virginia Children's Museum, and they let all five of us in.

Marbles is two floors, and huge. Downstairs exhibits include:

• Toddler's Hollow: Ages 3 and under 
• Around Town: Firetruck, ambulance, helicopter, bus, and R's favorite huge train tables
• Splash!: Water play, jellyfish cove, the science sub, and a big pirate ship to climb on, there were even real fish 
• Tree Tunes: outdoor area with a large sand pit and things to dig with plus musical instruments all around 
• Seedlings: pretend gardens 
• Sun Sprouts: also outdoors, tractors, things to climb on, and shady areas
• Campout room: This was a traveling exhibit 

The stairs to get from the first floor to the second are a large light up piano. 

Upstairs Exhibits: 

• Art Loft: All kinds of art, so much art, R wanted no art. 
• Idea Works:  Kids can make cars and race them down a track 
• Money Palooza: Indoor play area and lots to climb on 
• Power2Play: Indoor hockey rink, gymnastics, dance, basketball, balance boards 
• Stemosphere: Huge legos (to make towers and knock them over)
• Kid Grid: electricity exhibit 

We happened to come on Operation Pumpkin day, where local doctors came to help kids carve their pumpkins. What this meant for us was that Jessica and I carved a pumpkin while R ignored us and went back to the train table.

The museum offers several ongoing weekly classes for toddlers and preschool aged children and has regular events for kids of all ages. (Even mamas apparently as we carved the pumpkins!) They have an Imax theatre. They are open every day from 9-5, even Sunday, and on the first Thursday and Friday of the month stay open until 7. Mondays are group free, which I love. We parked on the street a block away for free.

Special thanks to the kids around us for letting us sit at the table and carve our pumpkin with them, and the staff for not giving us the side eye while we did it. I think it came out pretty good!

This is part one of this series. Check back for parts 2 and 3!

Lakewood Park

The struggle to get out of the house and burn some of the energy continues, and so we took our first visit to an old favorite of mine, Lakewood Park. This park is one that my grandma took me to tons of times as a kid. What I remember most is that is had these two huge bugs that kids would climb up and down and usually fell off. The park was one of those old school types with monkey bars and stand alone slides that everyone broke their arms at. Exactly the type of thing that isn't allowed anymore.

The older parts have mostly been taken out, but the park still has tons of huge old trees which give it lots of shade. The park is well maintained, has parking, basketball courts, picnic shelters and grills, bathrooms, baseball fields, football fields, a small dance studio where they have classes, and a tennis court. As a kid I played soccer on one of the fields for several years, and Neil and I took a ballroom dance class together at the studio. ODU has its rowing center in the back of the park too.

The playground is made up of a few different sections. The first are these American Ninja Warrior looking structures where older kids are challenged with getting from point A to point B.  The next is your typical play structure with bridges and slides which is the best for toddlers. The third is made up of some of the old school climbing structures. There are also toddler and regular swings around the outside.

We found this little guy too, who kept popping up to say hello! 

Fall Adoption Event

I've posted about one of Care A Lot's events before, and last weekend we attended another one. They really have been including kids more in their events, which is great. The main Care A Lot store is located on Diamond Springs Road in Virginia Beach. They have their events across the street in the parking lot of their warehouse. Every event that I've been to has had vendors offering free samples of dog food and dog treats.

Once you arrive you set up your "passport" and spin the prize wheel. Then you travel to each booth to get it punched. Once you're done you put it in the raffle of your choice. This particular event was an adoption event, so lots of local pet adoption agencies were there. Most brought adoptable pets. All had places for you to make donations.

They had costume contests, look alike contests, and other events going on. There is usually a kid zone at their events where kids can do different art projects for a dollar donation. There is also a "Puppy Picasso" station where dogs can participate in the art too! There are kiddie pools set up with balls for dogs too! 

We were even able to catch the end of the ODU game after a nap! They lost, it wasn't pretty, but we had a good time!