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?

We've been on vacation for the past week! We go to the Outer Banks of North Carolina every year so you would think that we've seen everything there is to see there. But we're still making discoveries of new and cool places to visit! Flippers Arcade is one of those places. It's not in the Outer Banks but on the way, in Grandy, which is the perfect place for a pit stop on the way home to keep the fun going.

Flippers isn't huge but it is packed with arcade games. There are traditional skee ball and air hockey and a few racing games but the real highlight are the dozens of pinball machines that line the back and side walls. There are over 60 machines in all, and seeing all of them was almost as fun as playing them. There was a Metallica pinball machine, South Park, Flintstones, and Game of Thrones, among others. In the way back of the store are some vintage arcade games, including Asteroids, Cetepede,  Pac-Man and Tron.






My only complaint was that the tokens work out to be a little pricey, since almost every game requires two (to four) to play. And not many machines give tickets so the kids were a little upset when it came time to trade them in, there weren't many options for low ticket counts. Luckily there's pizza and soda and ice cream and candy available for purchase which you can distract them with.

You might not think an artist who focused a lot of his work on showgirls and courtesans would be the most kid-friendly, but the Toulouse-Lautrec exhibit going on at the Chrysler Museum now is one of the most enjoyable we've been to for a long time. Toulouse-Lautrec's world wasn't only dance halls, it was also a wonderful place where bears walked through the city on leashes, women dressed like wedding cakes with their skirts billowing around them and everything was just a little brighter and richer than it seems now.

Anouk really enjoys the kids books set in Belle Epoque Paris (Madeline series, Diva and Flea, the Family Under the Bridge) so a lot of these sights and scenes were familiar to her. But there were some unfamiliar things, too, including a wonderful exhibit of Japanese woodcut prints that were both beautiful on their own and interesting in the way they influenced Lautrec's work. A stop by the little art station let the kids put everything together in making art of their own. Another highlight was the repetitive whirling video of a can-can dancer twirling and whirling in a fascinating loop.

Right now the Lautrec exhibit is going on just next door to the amazing Infinite Possibility exhibit (more on that later!), so a visit to the Chrysler is definitely encouraged. The Paris of Toulouse-Lautrec is on exhibit until June 17, 2017.

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.

My friend and fellow local blogger Brittany introduced me to Baby Talk Cafe in the Churchland area of Portsmouth and I'm so glad she did! It's difficult sometimes to find a place where, as a parent, you can go with your child and not feel like you have to spend your whole time there wrangling your child to act like an adult. Baby Talk Cafe is a coffee house that is set up specifically to let kids and adults coexist happily in the same place, and the result is wonderfully welcoming and comfortable, the kind of place you want to go back to again and again. The cafe's motto is "more than a cafe -- a community" and it really truly is.

We met up there a week or so ago for an impromptu play date and had a great time. The kids ran around in the (generously sized) play area. The moms sat on comfy couches and talked and drank coffee (which is actually GOOD) while the owner, Tanya, chatted with us about some of the upcoming events Baby Talk has hosted (including craft nights and game nights, vendor marketplaces and story times).



I posted something on Facebook last week about feeling overwhelmed since Gus was born and I get acquainted with the task of managing two children. Since then, I've heard from people telling me that they struggle with this, too.  I appreciate places like Baby Talk that let us relax and unwind WITH our kids (since it's hard to carve out time away from them). Remember to do something nice for yourself today, everyone!