During a recent trip to the nation's capital, we stopped by Dumbarton Oaks, a spot that is right in the middle of it all but often overlooked. When we lived in the district we walked by this walled mansion several times but never really noticed it was there!

In the 1920s - 40s, Dumbarton Oaks was a family home (which is hard to imagine) but today is a museum known for its art collection and beautiful gardens, and research library. The museum was closed when we went but there was so much to do in the grounds that we didn't really notice.

The house features a total Great Gatbsy glamor. Did people really used to live this way? The gardens, the jewel in the crown, are a showcase of architecture and gardening and landscape design and what happens when they are put together in a thoughtful way. It feels a little bit like an enchanted castle from a Disney movie come to life.  At every turn fun spots to poke around: a delicious smelling orangerie, tiered gardens, a shimmering art deco swimming pool, and paved mosaics to trace with toes. In the sound garden, each of the chairs played a different sound, so just sitting with your friends made a symphony!





For those of you who are babywearers, the gardens at Dumbarton Oaks were designed by Beatrix Farrand, whose art was immortalized in the Pavo Textiles Farrand series of woven wraps. It's one of my favorite pieces of textile art and favorite carriers, so it was a fun aspect of the trip for me!

The museum will open on April 25 but the gardens are closing on July 17 and won't open back up until Spring 2018, so if you happen to be in DC, or are thinking of going, now is the time to plan a trip!

P.S.: Eat at the nearby Simply Banh Mi in Georgetown when you go! It's kid-friendly and delicious and the staff is completely wonderful. <3

Woof! That's Gus's latest word. And Woof to Wolf is the latest of the changing exhibits at the Virginia Living Museum. So of course we had to spend some time there when we stopped in last week.

Wolf to Woof is based on a book of the same name, which explores why dogs of all the animals became man's best friend? The exhibit follows the evolution of the wolf from wild animal into man's best friend, and gives information on other canines (foxes, coyotes), as well as dogs depictions throughout history, from ancient times to modern pop culture. There are stations in which you can explore the way a dog's senses are different from a humans by seeing an image sharpen when seen through a dogs eye, or tracing scent molecules as they make their way through a human nose versus a dog's nose.







Part of the exhibit features dog skeletons and taxidermy animals, which lead to some interesting conversations with the three-year-old in our group ("Why aren't those dogs...MOVING?") But it didn't seem to matter to our just walking toddlers who loved testing out their dog-spotting skills. They also enjoyed climbing around the "avalanche" like a search and rescue dog.

Admission to the VLM is pricey, at $20 per adult and $15 per child. Considering this, is Wolf to Woof worth a visit for its own sake? After some thought I'd say no -- unless you really have a dog-loving little one or a budding scientist on your hands. But if you're already a member, or if you already have a visit planned, I'd be sure to stop in.

Wolf to Woof runs through May 14. On April 8, the VLM will feature an Extraordinary Dogs day, with service animals and K9 units on hand to give demonstrations. Read more about that here!

Halloween at the Chrysler Museum is one of my favorite things about the holiday. Each year, the staff dress up as works of art and wander the museum so visitors can find them. The costumes are always so creative and this year was no different, with staff dressing as works of contemporary and classical painting, sculpture, even glasswork! Each staff member gets to pick their art piece, and talking to them about how they came up with the concept of their costume is definitely part of the fun (this year's fave: the woman who covered herself in straw and roamed around as one of Monet's haystacks from the Agrarian Ideal exhibit going on now.)

The kids definitely enjoyed the special Halloween hunt, and marking off their finds on the scavenger hunt map (prize: candy) But they also enjoyed just spending time at the expanded play area at the back of the museum, and shuffling through the books, games, and toys there. Note to self: keep this in mind for blustery days this winter.

The Chrysler has some exciting programs for kids and families coming up this month, including Tickle My Ears, on Friday, November 3, and a wild-West themed Free Family Day on Saturday, November 12. More info here.

When it comes to an exhibit about dinosaurs, I think "too real" might be a compliment? This wasn't for Nou, but some little dinosaur lover out there will be very happy, I think, with what the Virginia Aquarium's got going on right now. Eight animatronic dinosaur species, surrounded by their own particular habitats, a Paleo dig and fossil discovery station, not to mention a behind the scenes look at how the amazing robot dinosaurs were built! What more could you ask for?


Sure thing, little buddy.



Dinosaurs! will be at the aquarium until January 3, 2016, so there's plenty of time to go see them for yourself. More details here. And for what it's worth, we did find dinosaurs in the gift shop. Everybody's happy!

We visited the Wright Brothers National Memorial on our vacation a few weeks ago -- nobody in our group had ever been, and I had just days before listened to David McCullough talk about his new Wright Brothers book on NPR, so I was really excited to go. Most people associate the Wrights with Dayton, Ohio, were they were born and began their work, but the actual first flight that put them on the map happened in the Outer Banks in 1903 -- right where the memorial and museum are located now, in fact.

It was about a hundred degrees (literally) but that didn't stop the kids from zooming around on Wilbur and Orville's original flight path pretending to be airplanes (with the help of a glider from the gift shop Anne got to try a little flight of her own). When it got too hot for that, we went back inside to look at all of the portraits lining the walls of the main room, of important figures in aeronautics history (so cool).

But by far the best part was the talk the park guide gave, on the Wright Brothers, their lives, their work, and the history of the Outer Banks and what it was like when they worked there. It was about a half hour long, all together, and our speaker was so knowledgeable and passionate about the topic that his words made me tear up. There is something about the "death of impossibility" that the Wright Brothers made come about that is inspiring even all these years later. It was also pretty shocking to put it all together and realize that only 66 years after that first 12-second flight man walked on the moon. Crazy!

Anyway, that was MY favorite part of the visit, the four and one year olds we brought were not so into it and got tired pretty quickly. But for older kids, especially aviation buffs, this is an OBX must-see.

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.