These photos were taken in the NEON District, exactly one year ago, the height of the Pokemon Go! craze. The NEON District in downtown Norfolk was (and possibly still is?) a fantastic place to hunt Pokemon. If you care about Pokemon, there are Poke stops all over, and if you don't care about Pokemon (raises hand) there are all sorts of other things to see, namely, the gorgeous murals that pop up on the side of every other building.

We love murals. And the NEON Distrct is covered with them. From little pops of color on the sidewalk to huge walls of stripes and hearts, no space is too big or too small to become art. They are diverse and eclectic and there's a story behind each one.

Coming up in August and September, you can tour the NEON District and learn the history of these murals with a local art aficionado! Check out the NEON District Facebook event page for dates and times, and tell us: what's your favorite NEON mural? (Geometric colorblock on Bob's Gun Shop is ours!)

Do you LOVE Norfolk Botanical Garden but find yourself visiting the Children's Garden, Butterfly House, and Airport Overlook over and over again? If you haven't had the chance to ramble, and making your way through the map seems a little daunting here is a quick list of five of our favorite kid-friendly places at NBG.

Baker Overlook: The coolest place in the whole of NBG, in my humble opinion. Literally and figuratively -- it's always five degrees cooler there than anywhere else. There's a two-tier deck/tree platform in a giant oak that makes you feel like Swiss Family Robinson, comfy padded porch swings, and a view of the waterway, to watch the tour boats go by. (The photos in this post were taken at Baker Overlook on a Sunday Pokemon hunt a few weeks ago.)

Hunter Savage Colonial Garden: Part ornamental garden of the 18th century, part medicinal and culinary garden. The walkways are paved in oyster stones, and each herb and plant is marked with tiny handmade markers. We love to run our hands over the herbs and name each smell. Speaking of scents...

Fragrance Garden: Located next to the main building, each plant in this garden was selected because of its scent. Each season has something to stop and smell, from Allspice in summer to Bayberry in winter. We like to do a sensory tour of the garden and find as many different things to touch, smell, and see in this spot as we can.

Tropical Display House: the Tropical Display House is a riot of color year round. It's a steamy spot (going in there always makes Anouk's hair extra curly), which is nicer in winter than in summer. BUT there is so much to see in there, palm trees, birds of paradise, strangler figs, and even that kid-friendly fave: BANANAS. A good place to practice your monkey sounds. Be careful of wet floors.

Enchanted Forest: Two easy trails wend through this secluded spot (one is paved for strollers). Among the tall trees, it's almost possible to pretend that you're somewhere else entirely. There's a picturesque footbridge, whimsical tree-stump benches, and a magnificent fountain spiraling up into the middle of Lake Whitehurts! One of the best places in the Garden to look for turtles.

Honorable mention (Anouk told me to add this, so it's straight from the horse's mouth): Fern Glade, which can be found adjacent to Baker Overlook. "It looks like there are elfs there, Mom."

Did you know that the Outer Banks has its own Paul Revere? In 1775, Betsy Dowdy of Currituck, North Carolina, rode fifty miles one cold December night to warn patriots of an impending British invasion at Great Bridge (yep, that Great Bridge). Not only was Betsy's ride several times the length of Mr. Revere's but she was only in her teens when she made it!

Anouk recently got a Felicity doll and has been super interested in Revolutionary war culture, so when I saw The Ride I snapped it up thinking at least it would offer some fun historical flavor.  But it is even more than that. I love how The Ride points out that even things that seem small can be of great importance. As Betsy tells herself over and over, all she has to do is ride, but as she stumbles and falls and tackles cold and fear you realize that it isn't so simple after all. The contributions of women -- especially young women -- are missing a lot of the time especailly from Revolutionary history (a fact Anouk laments every time we listen to Hamilton), so it's nice to see Betsy take center stage.

Kitty Griffin's writing is a pleasure to read. As the story picks up the words begin to gallop over the page like Betsy's horse, Bess. The swirling Starry-Night-esque illustrations by Marjorie Priceman give a sense of urgency. Will Betsy make it by morning? Of course she does, and you know she will, but you still breathe a sigh of relief when she finally arrives.



No one really knows whether or not Betsy's ride happened like it does in the book or who Betsy herself really was, but her story is no less inspiring for lack of detail! To read more about Betsy Dowdy and what her ride might have been like, click here. And to buy a copy of The Ride, click here.  The Kindle version is only $2.99 and the audio version is even less!

We were on our way home from a weekend in Farmville when we saw a sign for the Crewe Railroad Museum off the highway. The little town of Crewe is in south-central Virginia, about two-and-a-half hours away from the Hampton Roads region, maybe a little far for a day trip but worth it for the look of joy on your tiny train lover's face when you arrive. And it's definitely worth a pit stop if you find yourself traveling out that way. 

The tour of the place starts with a look at old fashioned artifacts from the town's railroad days. Anouk had NO idea what the typewriter was, which was hilarious. Also hilarious: watching her try to dial an old school rotary phone. (The telegraph machine seemed completely obvious to her, "It's how people sent texts in the olden days.") From there, you move into the model train room, which was Gus's dream come true.

But the real amazing thing about the place are the train cars outside. You can climb up and go in them, sit in old passenger car seats, pretend to shovel coal in the engine, tour the caboose. The kids had so much fun looking at and touching everything and I have to admit that J. and I did, too.





It doesn't take long to see everything but after we had finished the official tour we found a shady place and let the kids play. I wish we'd had a picnic basket and maybe a stack of train books to complete the trip. I also kind of wish that I'd gotten a Norfolk & Western coffee mug from the tiny but well-stocked gift shop.

Did I mention that admission to the Crewe Railroad Museum is FREE? And that they do a huge holiday display every December?

Picking the perfect peach is not as easy as you might think. When we arrived at Greenbrier Farms ready to pick, we were given a handout listing all the things to look for: perfect color, firmness, smell, and how easy it will be to pick from the branch. Our big kids took it pretty seriously. On the hayride out to the orchard they studied their notes like they were cramming for a test and each peach they pulled off the tree had to be JUST. RIGHT.

Even given this level of perfectionism, it didn't take too long to fill our bags. But luckily there is more to do at Greenbrier Farms than pick peaches, which justified the long drive from Norfolk. The kids visited the petting zoo, fed cheerios to a pair of puddle ducks and a hen named Oprah, swung on giant tire swings, jumped off the stairs at the old farmhouse, and played on the playground in the middle of it all. By the time we got back to the cars, tired and sweaty, they were more than ready to nap the whole way back, which left me free to daydream about all the goodies I'd bake with our haul.

Greenbrier Farms has something to look forward to year round. After peaches come nectarines, then pumpkins in the fall, and cut-your-own Christmas trees in December. In the spring, there will be strawberries, then peaches again.

The staff at Greenbrier are super accommodating and want to do everything they can to make your visit enjoyable (the handout should be a tip-off). They encouraged us and our littles to look around at everything, let them roam through the still-producing strawberry patch, told us about all the different plants growing around their greenhouses. If you're too busy to come and pick your own peaches, they will even pick them for you and have them ready to go when you come and pick them up!

As for those peaches ... we made cobbler. YUM.

Pro-tip: Bring sunscreen (there's not much shade at the play area) and bug spray (mosquitoes are terrible this year).

Say hello to our latest "pets!" We picked them up in their cage from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation's Brock Environmental Center at the beginning of last month. Our oysters are tiny -- spat on shells, which basically is a technical way of saying baby oysters. Or oyster larvae, but I like baby oysters better.

Over the course of the next year, Anouk and I will be growing these oysters into bigger oysters that look more like the ones you are accustomed to seeing. At the end of that year, they will be transplanted back into the Chesapeake Bay, to help purify the water and rebuild dwindling local oyster populations. The CBF Oyster Gardening Program is open to the public, and training (you have to register and take a seminar) is held at the start of each summer.

So far, our oysters are doing really well. I think. It's kind of hard to tell with oysters. In any event, they look exactly like they did when we got them, maybe slightly bigger. They also have been given names -- Anouk named them Moana and Maui (Moana are on the left side and Maui the right).

As far as pets go, oysters are pretty chill. Every week, we head down to the marina where their cage hangs off of the dock into the water. We tumble their cage and hose the oysters down to remove silt (too much can smother them). This week, we also had to remove a small crab that had scuttled in through the bars, molted, and gotten to big to get out on its own.



We are going to blog our oyster adventures over the next year, and hope this will bring awareness to the CBF's awesome program and encourage others to get involved! To read more about the CBF Oyster Gardening program, click here.  For more information on Chesapeake Bay oysters in general, click here.

These oysters are not for eating! --> Anouk wanted me to add that. You are destined for greater things, Maui/Moana. Looking forward to seeing how far you'll go!