Discounts for Local Attractions: Northern Delaware

Now that we're not paying for daycare, I feel the need to take the toddler out as much as possible for enrichment activities and to spend time with other kids.  I'm trying to find all the possible discounts and best days to go to the local attractions.  This is what I've found:

Discounts in Delaware

The Brandywine Zoo (Story Time Thursdays:  10:30 or 11:30) (Aug. 16^th, Family Fun Night $1)

DE Children’s Museum (June 20^th, July 11th, Aug. 15^th are the $2 nights from 5-7)

Nearby in Philly

Please Touch Museum:  Has a “First Wednesday” program where those nights, from 5-7 you can pay just $2!  July 11^th, Aug 1^st, Sept 4^th

Franklin Institute:  “Third Wednesday” program where there is FREE Admission from 5-8.

Philadelphia Zoo:  Teachers get free admission when registered by the end of June.  (Parking and rides will still be expensive.)

Brandywine Treasure Trail Passport-good through September 5^th

$35 for individually, $75 for a family pass.  I’m considering just getting the individually pass for myself, since 2 year olds are free at most of these places. 

Works at:
Delaware Art Museum (6 and under free)  Stroller Tours monthly, and story times.
Delaware Museum of Natural History (under 3 free)  Great Nature Nook for the little ones (see previous blog post).  Some classes for little ones.  May have $1 Tuesdays in August.
Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library (Under 2 free)  Terrific Tuesdays in July/Aug

These first three are part of BOA’s free first weekend for cardholders.

Delaware History Museum & Read House (under 3 free)

Brandywine River Museum (under 6 free)  Has some classes for older kids.

Delaware Center for Contemporary Arts  (Free Admission)
Hagley Museum and Library (under 6 free)
Longwood Gardens (4 and under free) Firework & Fountains displays, July 3, 21, Aug 11, Sept 1, 29; Light Nights July 13, Aug 10, Sept 14  They also have story times for older kids.
Mt. Cuba Center (tours must be scheduled-has some classes for older kids)
Nemours Mansion & Gardens (Children under 12 not permitted!)
Rockwood Museum (6 and under free)  Ice Cream Social July 7^th and 8^th

Nation Wide

On the first full weekend of every month, Bank of America cardholders can get free admission at museums!  July 7-8; Aug 4-5; Sept 1-2

A Philly Fourth

This year we headed up to Philadelphia for their big July 4th celebration. Wanting to avoid traffic, we "park and rode" up there from the outskirts of the city (Marcus Hook). Had it been a weekday, we could have just rode from Wilmington or Newark, but those trains don't run on Saturday. Theodore just loved watching everything go by on the train, and I laughed as his eyes moved back and forth tracking passing objects. We have not really spent a lot of time in that part of Philly, so it was a bit of an adventure for us. 30th St. Station was our destination, which is a classic train station that is actually listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was built in the 30s, back when beauty and details in architecture was considered a necessity in public buildings. Check out the columns in the picture linked above.

Once we got down to the "Party on the Parkway" (after just a few mistaken streets) we scoped out the place and got down to business getting dinner. We had some pretty good gyros and humus, something I would never pick out on my own but Brian suggested we try it. I always forget that I really like Mediterranean/Greek food, and it reminded me of the place in Arizona that we infrequently got to enjoy, The Phoenicia Cafe.

The Benjamin Franklin Parkway leads right up to the steps of the Philadelphia Art Museum (think Rocky Balboa) and looked beautiful lit up in the evening.

(We were about half way down the street in this picture... and it actually goes a lot further.)

(Theodore in full patriotic regalia.)

We found a decent place to set down our blanket in the shade, and we relaxed and enjoyed the music. Theodore napped through most of his first official concert, but did wake-up and enjoy dancing with mama for some of it. Green River Ordinance were a pretty good start to the show, and then The Roots helped put us in a decidedly Philadelphian state of mind. The Goo Goo Dolls finished off the night. Unfortunately, by the time they were over, we had to start heading back to the station for our 11:50 (!) train back (the last train of the night). Apparently, there was some miscommunication about the start time of the fireworks, and they didn't start until way too late in our opinion. We had to watch them as we walked. Had they shortened all the music a bit and started the fireworks sooner, it would definitely have been a perfect July 4th.

Last Birthday before the baby...

Brian took me out to Ole Tapas for my birthday. We haven't been here since our anniversary when I told Brian we were expecting, but we had the same waitress and table, and just as good a time. I always like taking pictures of the food here. The menu had a lot of new things and we tried a few new tapas. Our entire dinner included:

• Chefs Complement: an eggplant tapa
• A trio of cheeses including: Valdeon, Queso Jerezano (seared Miti Caña goat cheese with Sherry reduction), and Curado Pimenton

• The Empanada of the day
• Chiluetas Cordero (baby lamb chop)

• Higos Cabrales (bacon wrapped figs with Cabrales)

• Serrano Croquetas (ham croquettes)
• Fish N Chips (the only one we don't recommend.... we're not big fans of smelt apparently)
• Bread Pudding & Espresso (with cinnamon ice cream)

We had a little more ice cream at home, so I could make my birthday wish.

We also hit up the Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia on Saturday afternoon. It is a pretty cool marketplace, you see a glimpse of it in National Treasure (when the girl is hiding from the bald guy). We ate a gold old fashioned meal served by Amish women at the rib place, and browsed the many cheese and meat counters. We bought a few spices at the Spice Terminal, and some more seeds for Brian to plant our own herbs. We also took part in the Unforgotten Food festival, mostly so Brian could have some Teaberry ice cream. Apparently, teaberry is a local thing, it grows on the mountains in PA. Brian loves it. We tried a few other things, including another local specialty:  Pepper Pot Soup. I'm now looking for a recipe for this tasty dish, preferably one that doesn't include tripe.

Girls Trip

So on the last day of school I met my mother, girlfriends, and their mothers up in Philadelphia for a quick weekend trip around the cities around here.

I'm not going to give the whole play-by-play, because Ashley does such a good job recapping the trip in her own blog, but I do want to post a few of my favorite pictures.

Visit from the Alaskans

My older sister and our nephew flew down from Alaska in February. We haven't seen them in over a year, so it was awesome getting to spend some time with them!

She started her trip at her father's house a couple hours from here in Maryland. Brian and I headed down there and spend a very relaxing weekend with them, enjoying playing the WII with the 2-year old (he beat us in bowling), exploring the outdoors with the 2-year old, having a cookout, and shopping. It was a beautiful weekend, and was more like early fall than late winter.

Then, the next weekend, our grandparents, mom, and the rest of our siblings came to Delaware and we got to enjoy a carriage ride around old Philadelphia, taking the nephew to his very first zoo (The Smithsonian), showing both my younger sisters and Matthew D.C. for the very first time, and enjoying time together.

This was the first time we were all together since my wedding over 2 1/2 years ago.

At the Smithsonian Zoo.

Aydan loved playing "The Baseball", and always required anyone playing to put on a Diamondbacks helmet.

Uncle Brian was his favorite. Again.


Grandma got us these awesome sweatshirts.

Aydan's Second Favorite Game.... Locking Brian in the room, and then throwing the ball at Brian and making him fall. He got to the point where he didn't allow us to catch the ball, we had to let it hit us. He is going to be shocked in dodge ball once people dock out of the way, or don't automatically fall over.