#artsplash our Grand Adventures: Philadelphia Museum of Art

i'm starting in the middle/end of our summer Grand Adventures, because this program actually ends on September 7, so you can still make it if you rush!

you know how sometimes places advertise a Kid's Program! then when you get there it's lame, understaffed, out of paper, broken crayons, empty stands where demonstrations should be...that kind of thing. you feel me, right?

well, rest assured--Art Splash at the Philadelphia Museum of Art is NONE of those things. it is absolutely awesome.

let's break it down.

please excuse the crookedness of this photo. i'm blogging, you can't expect photo editing, too...#babysteps

TRANSPORTATION: two moms, one grandmom, 10 kids ranging from 15 to 3. we caught the train (septa regional rail), which is a 5 minute drive from our house, and a 45 minute ride to the city. you can get a Family Independence Pass for $29. it covers 2 adults and up to 5 children on rail, bus and subway for one whole day. plus you don't have to fight the traffic and construction on 95. #ugh

it's about a mile to a mile and a half from Suburban Station to the Art Museum. (you're much closer to the Drexel University Academy of Natural Science, the Franklin Institute, the Free Library, etc.) not really a terrible walk, so long as it's not 200% humidity. but what it lacks in physical coolness is made up for in the idiomatic coolness of culture and experiences (like the homeless town just past the Rodin Museum)

checking out the GIGANTIC screens in the comcast building

real talk: regional rail is relatively clean and safe. mostly commuters headed into or home from work, or college students. if you miss rush hours there's a good chance you'll have plenty of room. and once you get past the hairy parts of making sure your kiddos don't fall onto the tracks (not gonna lie, that gives me all sorts of heart palpitations. even standing 10 feet away and holding on to them for dear life) and making sure you don't miss your train, it's basically stress-free. you can drink your DD and laugh at all the fools stuck on 95.

THE MUSEUM: admission is $20/adult, kids under 12 are free. your ticket is valid for 2 consecutive days, and also gets you admission to the Rodin Museum and the Perelman Building. (plus you get that sweet little metal button with a foldover tab to clip on your shirt, and i'm instantly in 3rd grade again)

there are a lot of discounts if you keep your eyes open. we actually grabbed Groupons for this trip, so we paid a little less. you can check the museum website for more info.

real talk: the museum is obviously an experience in and of itself, but honestly the thought of taking children under the age of 10 into echo-y marble halls filled with priceless works gives me the cold sweats. they. don't. whisper. they don't understand that yes it's a chair but NO DON'T SIT IN THAT CHAIR IT'S NOT ACTUALLY FOR SITTING and no, this ISN'T the museum where you can touch things. but this program helps with that. i'd go so far as to say that Art Splash made us feel welcome, and made the museum feel more accessible.

Art Splash starts in their studio. there's a new "theme" every 2 weeks, and we hit S is for Shadow. the staff (who are super nice) demonstrate an art project, hand out supplies, and let you have at it. no time limits, no pressure.

the studio also has a little reading area with comfy chairs and some toys for smaller siblings who quickly lose interest.

once you're done there, hand over your license and get an Ipad mini. it's all set up with their scavenger hunt type program, based on the book "A is for Art Museum". letter by letter the Ipad leads you around the museum, tracking your progress and congratulating you when you find the next work. At each stop the program gives you a little more: arrange your adult in the same position as the statue, watch a video about how this was made, listen to the  sounds the birds in this tapestry make, use the flashlights to find more details, etc.

it gives them a PURPOSE. there's something for them to DO now, besides walk and walk and NOT TOUCH, and something to look for besides boobies and pee-pees. (you know it's true and don't lie)

you also have access to the closest bathroom location, on demand. thumbs up.

along the way we ran into another art stop, where the kids made and played with shadow puppets. we have big plans of recreating this activity at home.

it took us about 3 hours to do the whole alphabet, with a break for lunch.

the museum seems to be trying hard to involve you in the experience. there's touch screens to explain smaller exhibits, we translated our names into Korean and printed them out, and we only had one run in with security...when the 3 and 4 year olds decided to climb on an ancient column capital. oops.

after we finished and returned our Ipad, we spent some time in the Art Splash Gallery, which is right outside the studio. more artwork on display, including some hands on exhibits. like this magnetic leaf tree, which we rainbowtized for them. you're welcome.

so in case it's not obvious, we had a blast. i highly recommend this activity, and fully plan on doing it again next summer if they have it.

RATINGS:
mom: ☻☻☻☻☺
"ha! made you learn in summer!"

guinevere (age 15) ☻☻☻☻☻
"the art museum is amazing"

harrison (age 13): ☻☻☻☻☺
"it was fun."

ava (age 11) ☻☻☻☻☻/☺ (that's 4.5 happy faces)
"there was a lot of beautiful art"

gigi (age 6) ☻☻☻☻☻
"i number it 10 happy faces"

elliot (age 4) ☻☻☻☻☻
"i liked it super super super much"

BONUSES: obviously, there's letting your kids do the Rocky run up the front steps, even if they have absolutely no idea who or what he is.
Rocky himself is no longer on the top of the steps, he's relocated to an area at the bottom right in the trees.

also, i highly recommend sister cities park, especially if it's hot. it's about a 10 minute walk back towards city hall. they've created an oasis in the heart of the city. kids can explore and splash and burn off the energy built up by all that NOT TOUCHING.

she could have danced all night…

this child was waiting—rather impatiently—for the day she could finally be on a stage. and dance. that’s just the kind of kid she is—no problem with the spotlight, this one.

pre-mandatory garish red lips. when she still had some semblance of a little girl ;)

that’s not to say she’s never nervous--when we went to the dress rehearsal she was. i tried to explain what was going to happen to her—but i think the brain of a 4 year old just couldn’t quite process it.

Stage Makeup: freaking out fathers everywhere since the dawn of time.

so when the teenaged “helpers” led her away to go backstage i ran out to the auditorium pretty unsure of what i was going to see. was she going to freeze up in the lights of the stage?

no way dudes.

she absolutely. loved. it. and when i reminded her that this was just ‘practice’—that in 2 weeks mom-mom and pop and other mom-mom and mommy and daddy and her sisters and brother and aunt kate were ALLLLL coming to see her dance on the stage…oh yeah. good stuff.

the night of the recital i waited with her until the show started and the moms went to sit.
“are you nervous, gigi?”
she turned those giant blue eyeballs on me. “why would i be nervous?”
like it was the most foreign concept. who would be nervous about dancing on a stage in front of a couple hundred people? this is the stuff dreams are made of.

shakin’ that tail feather (they danced to Rockin’ Robin)

i’m fairly certain photographing a lit stage from a dark auditorium is a special kind of photography magic i just don’t have. blurry pics aside, i think you can tell just how much she loved it.

one last kiss for the audience

post-recital review with another dancer ;)

and the clincher? the preschool classes do their dance and then their tumbles. she’s struggled with the tumbling all year. and the night of the recital? sister brought the house down.
for your enjoyment: a small video. you’ll know which one is gigi. (or maybe you won’t…she’s the one right in the center of the screen)

gigi tumbles from Shannon Kline on Vimeo.

the water house

do you get that fear, just before leaving for a well-anticipated vacation, that it’s not going to be what you hoped? that the weather will disappoint, the kids will bicker too much, the location will be a bust?

i’m sure i’m not the only one. and as we packed up to leave for our long weekend at the house in the woods i told jeremy how scared i was that this trip wasn’t going to be the relaxing, family-building excursion i had built up in my head.

boy was i wrong.

it was everything we hoped.

sure, the kids fought some. but not too much. and the dishwasher on the house broke and leaked all over the kitchen floor, but whatever. and harrison had four ticks on him, but we found them all.

the plus column just kept racking up more and more. so the minuses didn’t bother us quite so much.

the kids woke up every morning and headed outside. they spent the days exploring the stream—mostly in their underwear. that’s how secluded it was. their inner jungle babies awoke, and for four days it was the epitome of every childhood fantasy and children’s book ever written.

the house is set all by itself back in the woods. it was the cabin i had dreamed of finding—not a house in a Lakeside Community (rec center! pool! neighbors on both sides!) of which there are many in the pocono mountain area. this was steps from water—and ages from everyone else.

you know it’s gonna be good when this is your driveway.

no hipster-decor faux deer head  here. the real stuffed and furry deal hanging in our little cabin.

you park on one side of the stream then cross a footbridge to the other bank where the house is. no electronics was the rule—the ipods/pads/tablets/tvs all were banned, and even any cell phone usage was relegated to the far end of the footbridge—the only place you could really pick up much of a signal.

the stream itself was perfection. little “rapids” right under the bridge were like a constant song. the large calm area in front of us ranged from ankle deep to about 2’…just right for exploring with no fear.

they canoed and laughed and skipped rocks and laughed and fished and laughed.

by the end of the day we were hungry and tired—but the good kind of hungry and tired that comes from long days in the sunshine and fresh air. we hit the food store our first day, list in hand, and overpaid for 4 days worth of meals. gotta love little grocery stores in little towns. half pound of butter? that’ll be $5 thankyouverymuch. whatever.

i’m pretty sure she spent the better part of all four days like this—tossing rocks into the water.

we walked out the door and hiked. left or right—didn’t matter. the scenery was gorgeous in either direction. we were having An Adventure. an adventure in forest that almost looked like it was created by walt disney.

we did breakfast in jammies, lunch in panties, dinner in sweats out by the stream. roasting marshmallows, playing game after game of movie charades and 20 questions that had us all laughing hard.

dinner cooked over an open fire, s’mores until we were ready to burst, rock skipping contests until your arms were sore and your belly hurt from laughing.

“FWOG!”

i’m learning how much i’m enjoying older children—the kind that you can have a conversation with, and play games with—beyond candy land and memory.

elliot is not a fan of the group photo.

we learned elliot is a born boater. no fear, she sat still and content on the little canoe. “ma boat, mommy! ma boat!”

we learned guinevere has lots of her mother’s and opa’s genetics—and can spent hoouuuurrrrrs reading.

we learned ava is perfectly content to strip down to nothing and be free in the forest. “panties ON!” became our war cry. you’ve gotta draw the line somewhere, right?

we learned gigi…well, she’s gigi. and there’s no learning gigi because she’s constantly surprising you. did you pee your pants? she asked jeremy as they played, because i heard something squirting.

we learned harrison has a terrible fear of ticks, no matter how much i tried downplaying how very much they FREAK ME OUT. kids pick up on that sort of thing, you know.
 

he is clearly not afraid of dead crawdads

the very first day he was the only one to venture to what later became known as Tick Island. it rightly became a no-man’s-land for the rest of the weekend.

the smaller island in our stream was christened Hava Island, claimed by harrison and ava—replete with leaf and stick flag planted proudly.

Hava Island. not much to explore.

i can add other things here, pedantic thoughts like how the weather was perfect and there were virtually no bugs (the benefits of going in early may). or i can be more poetic and say how i couldn’t get enough of the sound of the twigs and pine needles crackling under my feet as i walked, and how the moss on the rocks was like a springy cushion we couldn’t get enough of poking.

but i’m sure you can fill in the blanks. just know we were sad—so, so sad—to leave. but our weekend in the woods did it’s job, and we returned home reinvigorated.

they showed me how sad they were to be leaving. elliot just wanted to comfort their sad faces.

reinvigorated, and full of memories and bumps and scraped up knees.

a more perfect start to summer i don’t think we’ll ever have.

it’s 2012. shouldn’t rosie be real by now?

t minus 21 hours, and the summer is, to all intents and purposes, unofficially OVER.

school starts tomorrow, ya’ll, and the drinks are on me.
and by drinks, obviously i mean a celebratory cup of coffee and possibly a bagel. cause that’s the way i roll. (get it? bagel? roll? whomp whomp)

this year’s a bit different though—only harrison and ava will be headed off bright and early tomorrow morning. guinevere is starting cyberschool this year, and her first day isn’t until the 4th. so for the first time in quite a few years i’ll actually have more home with me than headed off to school.

(field day, last year)

but even still—the return to schedules and predictability is welcome all around.

i struggle every year with the start of school. i said once that i never pictured myself being one of those mothers counting down the days until the first bell…but here i am. (t minus 20 hours, 57 minutes now) don’t get me wrong—by the end of the school year i’m counting the days and hours until my kiddos are home with me full time. i ache to have them back in my clutches--to erase the bad habits nine months of associations that i can’t control has created in them, to reinforce and reinstill the values we want in them 24/7. i love lazy days and lazy nights, sprinkler play and library trips, midweek sleepovers, day trips…to a certain extent i even enjoy the looks when i head out to the stores with my herd in tow. yup, all mine thankyouverymuch.

but it’s been a long and busy summer, and we are pretty much fully in the throws of FIVE KIDS. meaning: days are a whirlwind of diaper changes, fight refereeing, boredom busting, chore assigning…you get the drift. we run the gamut right now—baby, preschooler, school-age, tween—bordering on teen. the needs are many and varied and there’s always someone requiring attention.

beyond that—there’s the simple logistics of it. there are seven people in this house who need to be clothed and fed and washed every day, multiple times a day. there are seven people in this house creating messes, and i simply can not keep up. believe me—the kids have chores. they certainly do. i parked myself on the couch yesterday and supervised family room clean-up while crocheting, and did so unapologetically. i barked orders like a boss, yo. it wasn’t my mess, and they’re well old enough to clean up after themselves.
i wage a constant internal battle between wanting them to create and explore and make messes. i want them to have free access to the tools for that and the desire to do so.
and then there’s the other part of me that just wants my house to look clean and pretty for 15 minutes. i’m typing this now sitting in the bathroom while gigi soaks off the purple paint covering her head to toe from this morning’s bird house decorating.
and ava and harrison are on the their 2nd day of making a batman costume—involving cardboard, paper, glue, paint, fabric, sewing and cutting. the mess is spectacular—in both the dining room and harrison’s room. but how can i stop them? they’re coming up with ideas and solutions and creating and working together happily—laughing and talking all the while.

i can’t.

i’m going to grumble and complain when it’s cleanup time, because they’ll never get it all. they’re going to miss spots of paint and glue. and we all know the floor DOESN’T EXIST when mom says “clean up”.

the fact is that the onus of the work falls to MOM. and it’s a big job. we do at least 2 loads of dishes everyday. we do at least 2 loads of laundry everyday. the mess of daily life, x7, is great. and i’m very, VERRRRY ready to have the odds flipped a little in my favor.

i’m looking forward to days of daddy headed out to work, middle two headed off to school, the biggest hard at work in her school area, and the little two—more easily controlled. i’m looking forward to doing the dishes—and having the sink empty for more than 3.2 seconds. heading out to the store, only 2 googies in tow. (and i still get the “wow you sure have your hands full” comments even with just the two little girls. and i just chuckle and say yup. you have no idea)

and don’t hate me—because we all rise to the challenges we’re given—but when i hear or read about people who say ugh! i just had my 2nd/3rd baby and i simply can NOT get anything done! yeah, i’m laughing at you. just a bit. it’s cute. in the same way i’m certain the moms out there with 8 or 9 kiddos are chuckling at my whining right now. yup, it’s cute.

so today i’m enjoying this last day before school starts. these idyllic days where i can pretend that starting tomorrow my life will somehow magically be easier and that torturous hour between home-from-school and dinner time doesn’t exist.

oh man…maybe i’m not so ready for this after all.

okay, let’s discuss. do you let your kids have free access to craft supplies? or would they not recognize a tube of paint if it hit them in the face?
and what about school? are you ready? or are you holding on to these summer days as long as possible?
let me know in the comments…

a cheater post

***********************************************
normally when i blog about something i've sewn i post pics of the final product and the instructions all in one big post. generally made even bigger than truly necessary because of my inherent wordiness. oops.

but i just don’t have it in me today to edit all the photos and type all the instructions for these dresses…even though they’re really easy.
how easy?

easy enough that i made all 4 start to finish in one day while sick with the flu and running a fever. that easy.
and when you score this cool venice-print fabric for $2/yard (!) and the navy and white trim for 10 cents a yard (!) and so you can dress all four of your girls and your son gets a matching bowtie and the whole shebang cost you about $15, well, i’d say that pretty much deserves a post of it’s own.

i know! it’s amazing! $15!

of course, as i mentioned before, trying to photograph my five children wearing their outfits is basically like trying to line up five angry squirrels and get them to all stand still, smile and look at the camera at the same time.

try #1: size order

which is to say: virtually impossible.



although, come to think of it, squirrels might be a little easier. i mean—no one would question if you had them on tiny leashes. and if i had some peanuts to get their attention…

fail.

regroup for try #2: monkey in the middle.

and fail.

so it’s settled then. my next sewn garments will be photographed on squirrels.

in the meantime, here is what i made for my human models.



simple empire waist sundresses. i used the trim across the top and as straps. guinevere’s had a regular bodice…



and the three little girls had gathered or ruched bodices.



i added two navy blue buttons on the front just for a little sompin’ sompin’, and because i liked the additional nautical touch.


my little man got a coordinating bowtie, and happened to have this blue and white striped dress shirt i got him at the thrift store. in the words of tim gunn—it’s a lot of look. but it goes, right?



and here’s a little secret…shhh…come closer…when the hubs was ironing this shirt for harrison to put on she said, shannon—is this a woman’s shirt? and lo and behold, it was (the buttons, if you’re into this sort of thing, button in the opposite direction on a woman’s shirt) i solemnly swear it was in the boy’s section at the thrift shop. what he doesn’t know won’t hurt him. and yes, he did notice the buttons weren’t right. and yes, i did act quite innocent. you think i’m telling him he’s wearing a ladies shirt? bah!

so tutorial on the dress forthcoming. and on a related note, does anyone know where i can buy a couple of cheap squirrel traps?