West Ghent is a quiet area of town but can be the perfect place to spend a morning or afternoon. We found our way there with friends a week or two ago and visited some of our favorite Ghent spots and sights -- and found some new ones to explore as well. Our walk started off on Redgate Avenue, looped down to the Chelsea neighborhood, and back. All in all, we spend about three hours exploring, and saw some really amazing things.

The first was the Wishing Tree on the median on Redgate. You can't miss it, with the rectangles of bright paper fluttering from its branches. Feel free to write and leave your wish, and then spend a little time reading and reflecting on others. (NOTE: there were pencils and paper provided when we went but you might want to put some markers or crayons in your bag to bring along if you want something brighter and more colorful).

If you keep walking down Redgate to Langley, you'll reach the Elizabeth River Trail, which runs by the river for over nine miles. If you head one way you'll reach Norfolk State University; the other and you'll eventually get to Harbor Park. But in the meantime you can experience the river ecosystem and stretch your legs on this walking and bicycle trail.

If you head north on the trail, one of the sights you can see is the Weyanoke Bird and Wildflower Sanctuary, which we wrote about years ago for My Active Child. We love this sleepy, simply, but beautiful spot. The park is maintained by the Cape Henry Audubon Society and open to the public on Saturdays and Sundays (though you can call ahead to arrange a visit).

On your way back, stop for coffee and a scone at the Bakehouse at Chelsea. We LOVE their wood-fired pizza!

Hello, everyone! Today we're going to kick off our return to regular blogging with a recap of the 28th Annual Virginia Children's Festival in Town Point Park that we went to early in October. The festival is not only a wonderful experience in itself but a great way to sample the many kid-friendly vendors and programs around the HRVA area. We have really added to our to-do list after making our way around the many vendor booths and displays that were set up for us to visit.

Some favorites that we're still talking about weeks later: Mad Science and their demonstrations (friction! gravity! hypotheses!), Symphonicity and their instrument petting zoo, and the Hurrah Players singing hits from The School of Rock. We also painted pumpkin ornaments at the Color Me Mine table, crafted with SensoryAbled Kids, and arrrrr-ed with Pirates from the Moody Crewe. We toured the ODU Physics department's real-life science lab, visited the Norfolk Public Library's book mobile, and listened to the Virginia Opera performing Grimm's Fairy Tales.

Sometimes it takes seeing everything your home has to offer all together to make you realize how lucky you are to get to experience it all. We're looking forward to new explorations and adventures.

What have you discovered around these parts lately?

This weekend is Memorial Day weekend, so we are sharing one of our favorite summertime treats today. The Ringo sundae at Doumar's has literally been voted the best in the area and here is why: vanilla ice cream, topped with hot fudge, topped with real whipped cream and cherry and Doumar's famous ice cream cones (they make them in-house) crushed up and sprinkled on top. They don't scrimp on the hot fudge either, the ice cream is really swimming in it.



^^ You haven't really seen everything in Norfolk until you've spent a summer afternoon watching them make cones on the world's first cone machine ^^

Like I said, it is one of our favorite summertime treats but we stopped in for one last week thanks to the string of summertime-temperature days we had. Oh who am I kidding, when you're a pregnant lady you don't need an excuse for ice cream.

Happy weekend!

Part II of our Chrysler Museum visit was my favorite: seeing the paintings by Henri Matisse on display as part of a loan program with the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. Matisse might be one of my favorite artists, if not THE favorite, so this was a big deal for me, and I was excited to introduce Anne to his work. In preparation for the visit, I checked two picture books on Matisse out of the library: The Iridescence of Birds, which covers Matisse's childhood inspiration and the way it influenced his use of color, and Henri's Scissors, about his famous cutouts. Warning, that last one might make you cry if you are even remotely hormonal.



Our own Fauves were a little worn out by the time we reached the Matisses, thanks to the awesome video game exhibit we visited first, but they listened patiently as we read to them and looked at the paintings (Anne particularly loved the one with the sailboats and pink water). There are so many great ideas for Matisse-inspired kid art projects, I kind of can't wait to start on that.

The Matisse exhibit will be at the Chrysler through the end of June.

More spring break adventures! Can you tell that Molly and Co. are our partners in crime this week? This chilly gray afternoon took us to the Chrysler Museum to see two current exhibits -- I'm splitting our visit into two posts because both were so great they deserve their own.

The first exhibit we saw was the much-anticipated Art of Video Games (at the Chrysler through May 10) -- basically, a complete history of video games from the very beginning to the current day. Around the room were stations where you could see each gaming system and listen to a bit about it, and in between were little stands where you could try out some of the games (Super Mario Brothers, still got it). This was maybe the most fun part of the whole thing, except for the vintage arcade games at the end (seeing A. play "Pac-Girl" as she calls it was maybe the highlight of the year so far for me).

Nobody else in our group seemed to really love it but for me another highlight was the screen set up to show peoples' faces as they played different video games -- I found it fascinating and could have sat and watched it for hours. Why do so many people look so grim when they're playing? It was very intense.

I'm an advocate of less-screen-time-is-more (in theory at least) but this exhibit really made me want to break out some of our old gaming systems to introduce to Anne. Dad, do you still have that Atari???
Matisse next week, happy weekend!

 ^^ Molly should go on the road as a professional Pac-Man player. That's a career, right? ^^

The grand opening at the brand new Slover Memorial Library in downtown Norfolk was this past weekend. We probably should have waited until the crowds died down a little to check it out, but couldn't resist the chance to participate in all of the opening day festivities so we fought our way in. As I said, the crowds were intense, but we were still able to see enough of the place to realize that the Slover is going to be an awesome destination for kid-friendly activities.

I think the thing I liked the best about the new library was the space itself -- Slover takes up the old 1897 Seaboard building, with a beautiful new modern addition melded on. There were lots of beautiful archways and plaster details melded with abstract sculptures on the inside and outside of the building. And then there were the books -- in addition to a stash of over 160,000 books, Slover offers a technology center, cafe, ebook station, and is home to the Sargent Memorial Collection, a collection of books, photographs, documents and other materials relating to Norfolk history. A huge youth library takes up a wing of the second floor.

We browsed in the new book section and upstairs in the youth library, but the lines were too long to tempt us to take any of them home that day. Anouk did test out the play area and the tumble area, with lots of soft foam shapes to climb on. We also met with Slover's mascot, posed with the Cat in the Hat, who was in attendance, and watched a dance group perform in the atrium. We can't wait to go back and see more.

To read more about upcoming storytimes and events at Slover Library, click here.

Thanks to the giant duck, you probably know by now that the Chrysler Museum has reopened. We were really missing it in the year and a half that it was closed -- it's such a great free place to go with kids and their programs are really top notch. A few weeks ago, our playgroup met up to revisit this old favorite and see the changes that were made. The Chrysler has such a nicely curated collection of things to see, it's really a treasure box of a place.

The main thing that impressed us was that the museum is a lot more interactive for kids and adults alike, now. There are plenty of places to sit and reflect and some special ways to share your thoughts and some of your own art, if you are so inclined. We also liked the community gallery, which allowed locals to vote on and assemble their favorite pieces of art all in one place. The kids were extremely taken in by some of the exhibits, namely the modern art wing and the exhibit on mummies including, strangely, the kind of gross video that plays on a loop there. Sadly, they didn't seem to want to spend much time in the photography exhibit, which I was looking forward to, so we'll have to plan an adults-only visit soon. We all loved the new courtyard, with the fountains and trees and gravel paths, it was a great place to hang out for a while and run off some steam (depending which age group you belong to).




There were a few kinks -- some of the display cases in the artifact rooms are too far above the kids' heads which meant there was a lot of hefting them up to see, over and over again, and the children's art room (drawing supplies, giant beanbags!) is situated in probably the most echo-y spot in the whole place which was awkward at times. But overall we are really loving the new and improved Chrysler and looking forward to our next trip.

Have you been inside the Chrysler since it reopened?

With our renovations and home stuff going on, I've been too busy to blog much lately, on one hand -- but on the other, we've been having so much fun that it's hard not to share a little of it (even if it is with blurry iPhone photos, apologies). So here's the quick and dirty, three new-to-us places that we're glad we discovered. We think you might like them, too -- so if you're in the HRVA area, stop by!


East Beach Sandwich Company: Located right by our favorite beach, the East Beach Sandwich Company is the perfect place to stop for lunch on a beach day (or any other). Not only do they have some of the best sandwiches and salads in the area, but they have a great selection of baked goods, craft beer, and handmade ice cream. AND they'll even deliver to the beach if you get hungry while you're there but don't want to give up your spot. Our picks: the Front Porch (curried chicken salad) and the Windjammer (turkey with onion jam!) Anouk loves their PB&honey.



Paradise Ocean Club: A private beach club on the grounds of decommissioned Fort Monroe -- it used to be the officers beach. Admission is $10 per adult ($5 per child) but it's worth it for the amenities -- beach and pool and cabana boys to bring your food and drinks out to the sand. There's almost always some music going on, and the waves can be pretty active for a bay beach, which is nice. Crowded on weekends, so if you're going on Saturday or Sunday, plan to get there early.

Paradise Donuts: My dad, who works in downtown Norfolk, has been telling us about Paradise Donuts for a while, so we decided to check it out last weekend. The verdict: YUM! Paradise offers both yeast and cake donuts in some creative combinations (Creamsicle and Blue Raspberry were two of the ones we tried). They also have old classics done well.


Have you discovered any new-to-you places around town lately?