Oxon Hill Farm, Take Two

Oxon Hill Park, located just a few miles from Brian's work, was the setting for another birthday morning for Eli.  We actually came here on his second birthday, and took some of my favorite photos of him and I thought why not run up for the morning on his fourth birthday as well. 

The farm is a nice little oasis near National Harbor and DC proper.  It is a little tricky to find with google maps, so be sure to get good directions if you decide to visit.  This free park lets the kids run around visiting farm animals, milking the cow (10:00 most days), and riding on a hay ride (10:30 most days).  There are some fun activities in the Visitor Barn as well, and picnic tables and bathrooms to make a stay with pre-schoolers manageable. 

Train Birthday: Burke Lake Park

We don't always have big birthday parties for the boys, but we have tended to go all out for one pre-school birthday party.  For Elijah, that meant this year when he turned 4 (since he'll turn 5 two weeks into kindergarten).

As evidenced by his Halloween costume last year, the fact that one of his first words was "caboose" and his constant requests over the summer to visit the train station, my four year old is and has always been a complete train fanatic.  With that in mind, I planned a sweet little party for him at one of the nice regional parks in our area, a county over in Fairfax.  Burke Lake Park (click here for more info) is famous in my circles around here for the great running/fitness trail that circles the lake, and the fact that it has a miniature train.  One very similar to the one at the Fort Wayne Zoo where I grew up.  It only runs during the week through the summer, so we planned an early party before school started and while the train was still running.

I basically rounded up every train item in our house, and we headed to the park.  Elijah handed each guest a train engineer hat to wear when they arrived.  I basically set up several stations, in case the main attraction-our huge set of engines and wooden tracks-got busy.  I had a whole table full of train books, a train tattoo station, and do-a-dots art station. But the kids all played beautiful with the tracks for the longest time. 

Eli's old costume made for a fun photo op:

Next up, the main event was the train ride itself.  As one of the last days in the season, it was pretty busy and we ended up having to wait in line for a while, but the kids had fun on the playground while I held our spot.

Luckily, the wait made us right in the front of the line and Elijah was able to pick the very front seat for his ride.

 After the ride, we finally ate some snacks and enjoyed cupcakes.  Train cupcakes of course.

 I love Eli's face in this picture.  He was almost a little bashful as his friends were singing to him.  It was absolutely adorable.

We ended the party with a carousel ride.  Elijah and Zack picked the stationary seats on the ride... they may have regretted it half way through.

We sent the hopefully tired out guests home with train whistles of their very own, and of course, as Elijah is made of sugar, some hugs.

It was seriously the sweetest party ever, and I was glad to bless Eli with this.  I just wish I'd taken more photos!  Oh, which reminds me that we also had a photo display.  The little boys enjoyed looking at all the trains Eli has visited over the years.  So many trains...

Summer/Before Baby Bucket List Update: Burke Lake Park

I'm feeling a bit of mommy guilt lately.  I had big plans for this summer.  Big.  But, I have really been falling off for the last few weeks and didn't end up getting a lot done.  With this being Theodore's last summer before he starts school full-time (why can't kindergarten be half-day like it used to!) and the possibility of this being our last summer in the DC area since Brian is only on a three year contract, it makes me feel even worse we didn't get to explore more.  But I know I shouldn't feel that badly since my boys really don't expect that much out of summer.  The sandbox, sprinkler, and tiny pool are enough for them at this age.  And throw in the cardboard rocket ship and castle that daddy made to play inside when it's too hot or rainy out and they are all set.  But I still like to get us out and about and make memories with them that extend past our house.  When I wrote a bucket list at the beginning of the summer their requests were as follows:

Elijah:

"Stay at playground all day."
And when pressed for more ideas, "Go to another playground."

He is awfully easy to please.  Luckily we had a bunch of play dates with MOPS and our outdoor art playgroup.  And as long as I had some shade or we went early enough, I was able to handle the heat and we got in a lot of playground time.

Theo:

"Ride the subway into DC and go to the plane and rocket museum.

Look for rocks to add to my rock collection.

Visit Indiana."

Not sure we rode the subway recently, but otherwise I did get his requests accomplished as well.  He also amassed a large stick collection.

My list was a little longer, with new museums and beaches and library programs and picking fresh fruit and splash parks and zoo visits... and in the end we did get a little bit done off my list (especially eating lots of corn-on-the-cob and strawberry shortcake), but not nearly as much as I would have liked.  One thing we did accomplish yesterday, while celebrating Elijah's-last-week-as-the-youngest was a visit to Burke Lake Park in Fairfax County.

I can't believe it has taken us this long to visit Burke Lake Park.  This county park is located fairly close to us and packed with activities, from mini-golf to riding a miniature train.  And as much as my boys have been obsessed with trains (side note-you can get the Caldecott award winning book "Locomotive" on DVD once you are over reading the very long story nightly), I can't believe we haven't been here before!  And I've got a feeling we're going to end up here again on Elijah's birthday in just a few weeks.

Details:
Admission:  $10 per car for out-of-county on summer weekends, free on weekdays
Train ride:  $2.75 each for anyone 2 and over.  The ride lasted a good 10 minutes and was worth it.

 They stayed around and asked the conductor all sorts of questions afterwards.  The engine was aptly named the same as my home county, the Huntington.

Carousel:  $2.00 each for anyone 2 and over.

 

*I could have saved $2 and let them ride the carousel by themselves.  Elijah chose one of the stationary tiny horses and did not need my help staying on.  And Theodore climbed up his horse all on his own.  First carousel they haven't needed help on.

Ice Cream Parlor:  check website for hours, about $3 for a large one-scoop cone of Hershey ice cream (I could have just grabbed another cone from home and had the boys share, it was a lot of ice cream!)

Other activities:  disk golf, trail walking, miniature golf, camping, playgrounds, boat rentals, fishing orienteering, and a 4.7 mile fitness course (my goal is to be able to run it in a few months)

And, of course we played on one of the three playgrounds as well.  A pretty perfect morning for my two little guys.  I wished they would stay this easy to please forever!

Frying Pan Farm Park, Finally

Since it's cold and rainy-ish here this weekend, we're delaying our trip to the flower fields we grew to love last year (see link) and reflecting on some much nicer days we've had this Spring.

One such beautiful day was a recent trip to Frying Pan Farm Park.  This park has been on my radar for quite a while now, as it is always a frequent recommendation by moms in the area.  Like so many of our outings, it is a great agri-tourist activity for when you're trapped in the suburbs like us.  Supposedly, the only working farm left in Fairfax County, Frying Pan Farm Park draws its inspiration from the 1920s-1950s era.  We very much enjoyed visiting the farm, including:

The Tractor Patch:  There were four, kid-sized, kid-safe tractors to climb all over.  Of course Theo had to try out all four.  They would play here for an hour if there weren't other kids waiting for a turn.

Wagon ride ($3 a person, buy tickets in the country store):  This ride circled the farm, with the tour guide making stops to talk about different aspects of the farm.  Theo's hand immediately shot up whenever she asked for questions, and he would think of one (asking about the horse shows, the bull's lack of horns...).  It ran almost half an hour.  Probably shorter if you have less extroverted/curious kids on the ride.

Kidwell Farm:  Where all the animals are, including all the new spring babies.  They've got large pastures so you've got plenty of room to walk.  We didn't have one, but I'd guess the paths were stroller friendly (there are several bathrooms on the property too).

Carousel and playground:  After the drive to get there, the playground let the kids run off some energy right away before hitting up the more educational and interesting aspects of the farm. 

And we didn't even get down to the Visitor Center, so I can't comment on that.  But, we'll probably be back, maybe even for a class as they offer various classes, camps, and other events.

Other Nearby Attractions:  Dulles Airport (perhaps a great last stop before a long flight with kids?) and the Udvar-Hazy National Air and Space Museum (explore indoors a bit and then pair that with the farm outing perhaps) is only 3 miles away.