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Jurassic World : The Exhibition

December 4, 2016 by Chris 1 Comment

We spent Thanksgiving week in the Philadelphia area. During that week we toured the Franklin Institute twice. We went early in the week when there were no crowds and so the kids had the opportunity to play with everything minus the lines.

We then visited Saturday after Thanksgiving and the day after their newest exhibition, Jurassic World opened. Every child on the east coast was in the museum that day, but they did an excellent job ensuring the crowds were spaced nice evenly and the only thing that may overwhelm a child would be the monstrous lifelike T-Rex.

In total, I’d highly recommend the exhibit. Our kids were two weeks away from turning five and were much more awed than afraid. To start, you wait in a large darkened room intended to simulate a ferry heading for the mysterious island of Isla Nublar, where they a video explains, due to familiar science breakthroughs, dinosaurs again walk the earth.

Shortly after the doors open the journey begins. Once I saw the stegosaurus mother with cub (not sure if that’s the right word) we were impressed. These were not the robotic animatronics we’ve been accustomed to that used the same technology as the animated Santa on a lawn. With these, the skin looked great, the expressions real and the movement was smooth.

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In each room, they not only had a dinosaur to ogle but plenty of displays demonstrating what life was like on earth the first time they roamed. There was even an opportunity to touch dino poop. A highlight for the kids.

While, the stegosaurus was didn’t walk, there was a frighteningly realistic T-Rex who marched to a parked jeep containing the sounds of fearful goats.

While, I believe T-Rex was designed to be the highlight of the exhibition and it was, there was also human puppeted raptor and a room kids can design their own dinos using touch-screen computers that were immediately emailed to you.

A video posted by j christopher (@forever_lucky) on Nov 26, 2016 at 4:52pm PST

The scariest display was actually the one with the dinosaurs mostly hidden from view. It comes at the end and it’s one were you walk through a tunnel in a hollowed out log. What you can’t see are a group of dinosaurs in battle with the park’s keepers.It doesn’t sound like it goes well for the humans. There are small holes kids can peer through to see the dinosaurs. It was the only thing either of our kids noped.

We feared the gift shop.The kids freshly from the emotional high of the wondering if dinosaurs walked amongst them, came down with a case of the gimmies. Eventually, cooler heads prevailed and we made it though.

It’s worthwhile to check out the entire museum. It’s been our favorite since we were kids ourselves. It takes multiple trips to see it all and there is currently a robot exhibit that was equally fascinating.

Two blocks from Franklin Institute is the Museum of Natural History. We visited last year and they have plenty more for your budding paleontologists to browse. It’s worth hitting both on a weekend if you can.

 

 

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Traveling with Twins: Echo Aquarium, Burlington VT

January 16, 2016 by Karen Leave a Comment

I can’t say enough about our day at the Echo Aquarium in Burlington. It truly was a perfect day filled with memorable moments and experiences that confirmed our decision to move to the area. Chris had taken the car to work that day and it was just the boys and myself. We were staying at the Hilton, our regular choice when we visit Burlington. It is situated along Battery Street, the perfect spot to be without a car. Great views of the Lake and walking distance to the Echo Aquarium and Church Street. Literally a 5-minute walk with two 4-year olds, so without the boys you could walk there in 3!

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I overestimated the time it would take to get there and arrived to closed doors 15 minutes prior to opening. We were dressed warmly but the aquarium sits directly on the  waterfront and the wind coming off the lake can be much colder than the temperature. It really wasn’t worth walking back to the hotel and the boys needed to get some fresh air so we decided to wait it out. To my surprise, the  kind lady opened the doors early so we could come in and get warm. It was much appreciated and it was the first of many kind and thoughtful acts from Vermonters that we encountered that day and throughout our trip.

The aquarium opens at 10 am and closes at 5 pm. It really is a perfectly sized aquarium for a mom with twin 4-year olds. It’s not overwhelmingly big and crowded, there were other families there but I never felt that worry of losing a child as they played and explored different areas. There really was so much to offer, mostly everything was interactive learning and hands-on. They could move and balance on a snowboard exhibit and climb aboard a sailboat in the preschool area, where we spent hours making new friends and acquaintances.
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They offer a cafe at the aquarium but I was itching to get us some Skinny Pancake that day. The Skinny Pancake is right across the street from the aquarium and is one of our favorite places to visit when staying in Burlington. I ordered a much-needed coffee for myself and warm apple cider for the boys for beverages. Our crepes were the ‘Pooh Bear’ honey and cinnamon with powdered sugar and the ‘Apple and Brie’ with ham and a side salad. We sat at a table sipping our warm drinks via mugs and my sweet Julian takes a sip and looks up at me and says, “I love you mom”. Aside from great food, the skinny pancake offers a delightful restroom experience. I say experience because you need a code and have to walk down a beautifully muraled hallway that’s shared by a super cool Peace and Justice store.

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After a great lunch and more cool learning experiences, we head back to the aquarium we literally spent the rest of the day. Both boys and I, immensely enjoyed not only the aquarium itself but the people and families we interacted with throughout the day. To cap off a great day, we headed back to the hotel to jump in the pool for a quick dip to relax and warm up our muscles. The boys were so happy and tired I was able to talk them into a peanut butter and jelly dinner, and bath. Warm and comfy in our pajamas, the boys got their first glimpse of The Wizard of OZ all snuggled in the hotel bed with mom. A perfect ending to a perfect day! If you’re staying a weekend with young kids in Burlington reserve a day for the aquarium. Some other worthwhile hits during winter months would be the Vermont Teddy Bear Factory in Shelburne, Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream factory, and Stowe for the skiers!

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Traveling with Twins: NOVA Halloween and The National Air and Space Museum

November 5, 2015 by Chris Leave a Comment

image-5019Our boys’ favorite holiday is Halloween. They may not love scary things, but they love talking about them. There are scores of kids books that tackle the scary holiday without freaking out the boys, such as my favorite – By the Light of the Halloween Moon.  We don’t even own the book but every time we go to the library no matter the season this gets read. Another favorite is Arthur’s Halloween.  I enjoy Marc Brown’s books in general because he’s good a giving his characters distinctive personalities.

 This Halloween we left town. Our nephew’s birthday party fell on Halloween and the kids were bummed to not be home to trick or treat with the kids in the neighborhood.  Probably the best thing about living where we do is the dozen or so kids 8 years or under right in our block. So we invited them all  for a Halloween party on all hallow’s eve eve.

image-5032We embarked on what would be the kids “favorite Halloween ever”; celebrating a birthday and experiencing Leesburg’s wonderful Halloween events. Our kids are not shy and also not the type to talk to strangers, but on Halloween the thought of a big bowl of candy sitting behind every door motivated them to  hit every door. Because it’s not a heavily foot trafficked area, each house made sure everyone got a handful. It’s fun to see them come out of their shell in such a big way, as well as bond with their now 4 year-old-cousin.

The trick or treating led to Leesburg’s Halloween parade. Leesburg and Loudoun County, in general, is more populated than our small town, but the parade wasn’t overcrowded and had the most generous candy tossers I’ve ever seen.  Even the doctor’s office float was throwing Dots.  There’s probably still Twizzlers and tootsie rolls laying around.  Having a parade actually on Halloween is awesome because every kid is in costume and half the adults as well.

image-5023Back at my brothers we checked out the unbelievable score.  I haven’t seen a bag filled like that since the 80s and before Halloween had hours or there were lame ideas like Trunk or Treat. This getting away from Halloween being a community-based holiday is a new pet peeve  How else can we tell who are the jerks of the neighborhood. You know the ones.  Both their cars are in the driveway and they have their porch light on 364 days a year. Also we know the neighborhoods most generous.  I still remember the lady who gave out full sized candy bars when I was a kid.  She never had to worry about her leaf pile being demolished or toilet paper on mischief night. She paid for protection with sugar.

The kids picked five of their favorites candies and traded in the rest for lego sets. We’re pretty strict (compared to most) about candy apart from Halloween and Easter, so were a little surprised they went for the idea.

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The next day we spent at the National Air and Space Museum in Chantilly. It’s super impressive and worth the trip, kids or no kids.  It’s probably even better with no kids to be honest.  I don’t think I was able to read one description but watching the kids move around in awe of the giant aircrafts and spaceships was my highlight.

The Air and Space Museum in DC is limited by size but the one in Virginia isn’t.  It has a full-sized Space Shuttle, Concord jet, and even the notorious Enola Gay, which lead to one of those tricky conversations with the boys.

The museum is free, the parking isn’t, but $15 is a small price to pay. I’m sure it’s not easy to keep the museum free, but one of the downsides is the only restaurant in the entire Museum as far as I can tell was a McDonald’s. It marked my first trip to McD’s since 2004. I’m sure the next time I’ll be there is likely at the same museum. Don’t let that sour you though, the museum is completely worth a couple of Happy Meals.

 

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Traveling With Twins – Traditions in Maine

July 30, 2015 by Chris Leave a Comment

image-2-2My wife and I often call the gym a reset button. No matter what stress has it’s grip on you, the weights don’t care.  You return home ready to start fresh. However, there’s only so many times you can hit that reset. Sometimes you need to power down and unplug. The only way to do that is with a take-off-from-work, overpack-the-car vacation.

I’m not talking about a staycation.  That word should be banished from the dictionary.  The idea of taking off from a job to work around the house is silly. That means you’re probably working too many hours.  You don’t need to go to Disney World and spend a fortune.  Your family and friends invite you all the time.  May as well take up their offer. Just make sure you go far enough that people talk a little funny.

image-1-3We’ve done numerous long weekends, but we finally embarked on our first vacation as a family, a rental house with family on a lake in Maine. Despite visits from the police and a trip to the health clinics, it was both fun and relaxing.  Sharing costs and having a full-size kitchen cut down costs.  We enjoyed a private beach, rowed the canoe and spent a lot of time by the fire both of the grill and pit variety.  Milo, our intrepid border collie, a waterbug enjoyed herding waves as much as he could.

There were some stressful moments made possible by the attendance of three-year-olds. On the afternoon of day one, our two boys were having a heated discussion about a turtle egg toy.  Fortunately, I broke up the argument before it turned physical. The little ones went their separate ways.  A little later, we noticed one of them hadn’t returned.  We called image-1-2calmly.  No answer. We called not-so-calmly and still no answer.  There were ten people in the house at the time and we checked every room, calling out with increasing panic.  We searched the water and asked the neighbors for help. For twenty minutes, we yelled his name a hundred times. Billboards on the drive up said call authorities immediately if your child is lost, so my wife did.

I went back to search the house for the tenth time.  This time when I looked under the bed and happened to notice a toe hanging down from under the box spring.  Boy found.  Crisis over.  Why he didn’t answer his the panicked cries is another story.  The police did come, mostly due to the fact my brother-in-law had a little too much Jersey in his responses over the phone, but all was well.  This reminds me I need to throw out a turtle egg toy.

image-12I was going to say Maine is a great place to let your child explore their independence, but in light of the above event I’ll only go as far to say Maine is a great place to let your child explore.  Here’s a tip. If you happen upon a caterpillar that looks like a porcupine don’t touch it and don’t let your kids touch it.  If they do touch it.  Don’t google it. If you do google it don’t tell them what it says.

The kids tried lobster and didn’t really go for it. No surprise. They look like aliens and the texture is quite alien as well. The meat is not like chicken, sweet potatoes or cereal.  The bowl of butter was very inviting to the kids however and one dipped everything in it and the other thought it was soup.

Shout out to the Walk-In Clinic in North Conway NH.  We had a kid with conjunctivitis and they fixed him and got it back in the game.  That said, administrating eye drops to a three-year-old is like making a souffle on a fishing boat during a noreaster.

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Our house was on Moose Pond, situated in the Sebago Lake region about 45 minutes from Portland.  The town of Bridgton is a cool little town that serves a dual purpose of being a ski town as well.  We found an awesome Gastropub that’s located quite fittingly in a gas station.  With imaginative menu and an incredible lineup of beer, I’d say the Standard Gastropub is the must eat if you’re in the area or are sick of lobster rolls. They only have five or six indoor picnic benches but the food is served fast and good.  Plus, they don’t forget about the little ones with a delicious kids menu.  

image-8-2Maine is a tradition in Karen’s family, started by folks who are unfortunately no longer with us.  Judging from our own children’s excitement and curiosity it will likely outlive us as well.  While there will be plenty of times we vacation alone, making the time to keep traditions important too.  My family spent much of our youth going to the Jersey Shore and civil war sites.  The problem with Jersey, most of what I enjoyed about it is no longer there. It’s been turned to a condo.  What’s nice about places such as Sebago Lake, it changes slower than traditions.

 

 

 

 

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Traveling with Twins – Lancaster, PA

April 17, 2015 by Chris 2 Comments

Getting ready to board.

Getting ready to board.

 

All Aboard

All Aboard

Summer’s coming. We live in an area where people come with overstuffed cars prepared to wait in long lines. Lines that don’t exist for the rest of the year. We like the beach but avoid the tourists. That’s why we head out of town on nice weekends. Last weekend we ended up in Lancaster PA.

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Lancaster, known for it’s Amish residents, who spurn material things and it’s outlet stores that sell materials. Go figure. It also sports beautiful backroads and hundreds of picturesque farms. None of these things are of any interest to three year olds.

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Kids like trains, incredible gluttonous meals and kid friendly resorts.  This area has this in spades. It also has a bunch of chocolate factories.  More on that later.

We hit up the Rail Road Museum on day one. If your child is a train lover and you live in the Northeast, add this to their bucket list right now. It includes an incredible collection of full-sized trains, model and lego versions in the museum. Almost everything is hands on. Make sure you get there early to allow enough time. I was particularly in love with their gigantic train warehouse.

Across the street at the Strasburg Rail Road they have a real working steam engine built in 1914. You can take a 45 minute ride into the Pennsylvania countryside. The conductor will give you some info on the train, this history of the area and the even some insight on the Amish lifestyle. It’s a bit of history worth the price of the ticket. You can bundle the ride and museum together and save a couple dollars.

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Certain times of the year they have a Thomas the Train that kids can see and ride. You could be classified as crazy if you go on the weekend when Thomas is there.  Take a day off and go on a Tuesday if you have a extreme Thomas fan in your home.

We ended up spending most of the day at the museum. That night we went to Good ‘n Plenty, a down home dining restaurant between Strasburg and Lancaster.  It is an AAA top ten down home dining restaurant and worth the experience.  You can choose regular menu ordering or family style.  We opted for family style or as I like to think of it – the Michael Phelps 10,000 calorie option.

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We had twelve at our party and we sat down to a loaf of white and wheat bread.  The topping options were turkey salad, butter, apple butter and something called chow chow.  I tried a bit of everything and was already pretty full.

Then came dinner.  That evening it meant a table full of fried chicken, ham and meatloaf.  It’s been about a decade since I had fried chicken and ham.  I enjoyed the chicken especially as the skin was not greasy in the least and was simply prepared.  The ham was okay and the meat loaf was good. There was gravy, veggies and some other items I can’t remember due to a caloric coma.

Desert was like the movie Boogie Nights, but instead of sex and drugs it was pies and cakes. There were cheesecake with and without cherries. Cracker pudding, likely invented during the great rice shortage of 1962.  It was much better than my taste buds expected.  Shoofly pie which is some sort of fruitless pie with sugar in different forms.  Apple pie, which is pretty explanatory and ice cream.

Need a cheat meal?  Go to Good ‘N Plenty.

We stayed at the Eden Resort at Best Western.  The hotel has huge rooms available and is dog friendly.  We left the Milo at Victory Farm and stayed in their smallest room but still managed a great time. Sunday, the kids played at the resort’s Pirate playground.  They have basketball, bocce, outdoor pool tables and shuffle board for older kids.  In the next week or so they’ll be opening their outdoor pool as well.

The weather was killer so we headed to Litiz, PA for lunch at Appalachian Brewing Co. I love to hit up craft brew joints on the road with or without kids in tow.  They almost always have the best food and are kid friendly.  They make their own birch beer, root beer and diet root bear so you don’t even to drink.  Just buy a growler of beer to drink back at the hotel like we did.

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Appalachian gives the kids some cheese, crackers and orange slices to hold them over till the food comes.  That’s a big plus.  Excellent food.  I had the Jalapeno Blue Cheese Burger and the Honey Wheat Ale.

We walked around the quint little town of Lititz and spent a few hours at their beautiful park.  The park abuts a chocolate factory all though we skipped that tour. Lititz has coffee shops, lots of restaurants, ice cream shops and boutiques.  That killed another day.

The hotel restaurant, Garfield’s, is pretty decent. It’s clear they’re used to kids.  We had people coming and going, the kids were on sugar high’s and they put up with us.  Looking for a healthy meal, get the Monterey Chicken. Chicken breast with broccoli and baked potato.   I made the “mistake” of ordering the strawberry shortcake.  Best value on the menu.  For 4.50 you get a desert served in a bowl the size of a basketball.

Huge downside to the hotel.  The fitness center was lacking. I did get to travel through the German mountainside on their elliptical machine, but no free weights. A bench and free weights(go up to 70lbs) would be a huge plus.  Next time we’ll have to find a local gym to work off the ridiculous meals I ate.

The next day, we took a dip in the pool before heading out to Hershey.  The park was closed, but the tours go all year and are free.  A lot has changed since the last time we where there to milk out a few bucks.  They have a lot of other add on’s such as a 4D movie and a chocolate tasting experience.  We skipped those.

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I have to say, in the last decade or so Hershey’s quality has suffered.  The chocolate contains too much artificial crap to be actual food. I’m glad the kids got to take the tour as that’s fun, but I had wish we took the tour of Wilbur’s Chocolate in Lititz while we where there.

In the town of Hershey’s we ate at The Chocolate Avenue Grill.  We sat outside with the roller coasters in full view.  Super creative menu with a coconut breaded chicken salad.  As well as a steak salad that replaces croutons with French fries.  That is an upgrade.

Great weekend.  Though, I wouldn’t drive more than four hours to visit Lancaster, unless you have a train or Amish fanatic in your house.

 

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About Us

All our Boys

Karen Rodgers is a mother of twin boys, wife, and speech language pathologist for the Champlain Valley School District in Vermont and New England Speech & Feeding. She knows her way around a weight room and here on the GoodFitFam blog Karen and her husband Chris will share their wisdom, experience and contagious passion for kids, fun and fitness.

Speech + Feeding

Why Picky Eaters LOVE McDonalds

Kid’s Who Say, “I can’t”.

Be flexible and other Social Dynamics

Address the Social and Emotional Impact of Food for you and your Kids

Getting Your Kids to Eat New Foods.

Workouts

Rounding out your PECs

Hammering my hamstrings, quick and not so easy

30-40 minute shoulder and back routines

30-minute Leg & Glute

More than 30 Minute to Muscle : Shoulder Day!

Parenting

Everyone needs some Small Town Living

10 Supercharged Sites to Bookmark Right Now!

Traveling with Twins: Echo Aquarium, Burlington VT

All the Hardest Things Combined

Thirty Six Words for Butt – Lessons in Storytelling.

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