Puerto Rico Day 3 - Ham, Cheese, Powdered Sugar, and Beauty in Old San Juan

Aaaaand. Getting back to the recap of our April Puerto Rico trip.

When last I left you, you were hearing about Day 1 and Day 2 of our family's travels.

After breakfast on Day 3, we jumped onto the bus near our hotel in Isla Verde to head over about six miles west to walk around Old San Juan all day. 

Beautiful colorful architecture and cobblestone streets greeted us. Jackson loved the walk from the bus stop to the famed fort El Morro, which is a can't-miss major attraction, with dramatic high walls, views of a crashing surf below, and dozens of rooms to keep exploring and adventuring kids excited to see what's in each next room (a chapel, jail cells, doctors offices, kitchens, and much more). 

We walked about 5 miles in the old part of the city (which totals an impressive 1.1 million inhabitants along its 25-mile coastline, by the way). Jackson was a real trouper, not complaining once, and Zoey slept on Rachel's back much of the time. 

We ended the trek at Cafeteria Mallorca, which served us the famous Mallorca sandwiches with ham and cheese and powdered sugar on top. 

Craving vegetables in a country that doesn't seem to focus much on them, we found a delicious place back near our hotel called Bajuice Juice Bar and got smoothies and salad for dinner. Jackson and I ended the day with a swim in the Embassy Suites colorful nighttime pool. 

It's off to the rainforest in the morning.

Guys Night Takes Us to Library for Famous Author Reading

Jackson and I enjoyed our "guys night," with Rachel and Zoey already in New Jersey for our upcoming Bat Mitzvah weekend for cousin Hannah, by going to the Takoma Park Library for a reading by Llama Llama Red Pajama author Anna Dewdney.

She entertained the kids by drawing her signature character and reading her most famous book, along with a new one. And I'm excited because Jackson and I checked out the first Harry Potter book to read for the first time.

We also played National Parks Monopoly in the basement and baseball (t-ball starts in a few weeks) in the front yard.

Guys nights are good.

Puerto Rico Day 2: Sometimes You Just Need a Lazy Day

We woke up pretty tired and decided to make Day 2 in Puerto Rico our lazy day. 

We ate free breakfast at the hotel then headed for the pool. Being the early-family types, we had no problem getting chairs and stayed poolside till the early afternoon. 

We then walked down the main avenue of Isla Verde and stopped at Pizza World, which had good people-watching and a stiff breeze (that blew napkins everywhere and even knocked Zoey back while she stood on top of our table). The pizza, rice and beans, and Medella beer hit the spot. 

Note to remember in Puerto Rico (as in almost any place): Don't eat at any resorts or hotels. Go where the locals are eating. The food, atmosphere, and price will be at least twice as good. I don't understand how so many people go on vacation and never leave their resort. Might as well stay at a hotel down the street from their own houses.

For the late afternoon, we headed for the ocean, where Jackson enjoyed jumping over the incoming waves again. We skipped dinner and headed back to the hotel to rest up for our trip into Old San Juan on Day 3.

Puerto Rico Day 1 - From Cold DC to Pina Coladas in Hours

The family has just returned from our spring-break trip to Puerto Rico. And I'll recap it here over the next several days.

If you have little kids, I can't really think of a better Caribbean vacation spot than this island to the east of Jamaica, Cuba, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic. It was cheap to get to (free actually, for us, since we had Southwest Frequent Flyer Miles), fast (a direct flight from Baltimore of three-and-a-half hours), we didn't need passports (it's a U.S. territory), and features absolutely beautiful beaches and an adventure-lover's rainforest.

On Day 1, we arrived at Embassy Suites Hotel not far from the airport (chosen because we would have two rooms to put Zoey to sleep and be able to stay up in the other room). We threw our bags in the room, overlooking a great pool area, and went straight to Isla Verde's famed El Alambique Beach two blocks away. This was a beautiful two-mile-plus stretch of parties, people playing sports, nice surfable waves, windsurfers, and jet skiers.

We grabbed burgers and piña coladas at a beachside joint then went out to work on Jackson's body surfing for a couple of hours. His promise at the sport earned him the coconut drink you see pictured. We headed back in time for Embassy's nightly happy hour and Jackson got in the pool in his full clothes. 

For our first dinner in PR, I ordered sushi but walked in a downpour to the wrong place, where they told me I was a 30-minute walk from where I initially ordered. I called and cancelled the other order and got replacement sushi from this place. Felt bad. By the time I got back with the food, Jackson and Zoey had passed out.

Tomorrow will hopefully be a little better planned, at least in the food department.

Deciding What to See? Peabody or Lego Movie?

My six-year-old Jackson and I have started our regular movie adventures recently with The Lego Movie and Mr. Peabody and Sherman. So it only makes sense that he helps me write this double review.

I wasn’t sure if he liked Peabody and Sherman more than The Lego Movie simply because I liked it more, but he genuinely said he appreciated that “they went to all the places around the world” and he likes learning about history.

The general manic level is much lower with Peabody, which my adult brain appreciated. And the humor is wittier, with a deadpan Ty Burrell from Modern Family in the voice role of Mr. Peabody the dog.

About the only thing that’s changed since the skit’s origination on one of my favorite cartoons of all time, Rocky and Bullwinkle, can be summed up in the first thing Jackson looked up and said to me when the movie ended:

Jackson:  "How come Mr. Peabody didn't have that cigarette?"
Me: "You mean his pipe?"
Jackson: "Yeah."
Me: "Pipes used to be good back then, but they're bad now."

That led to a discussion that will hopefully keep him away from smoking for many if not all his years. Between the after-movie discussion and the actual content of the movie, Peabody is certainly far more educational than Lego.

The Lego story revolves around Emmet, an ordinary Lego construction worker who lives by the everyday credo of “Everything is Awesome,” the earwig soundtrack tune by Teganand Sara. Punk girl (and girlfriend of a jerky Batman) Wildstyle mistakes Emmet for someone who can help her save the world from Lord Business’ plan to freeze the world. The movie is enjoyable enough as an action flick with lots of appearances from Star Wars and Superhero characters.

But the treks to hilarious scenes involving the Trojan War, Leonardo da Vinci’s painting process with Mona Lisa, the cake-marauding Marie Antoinette, and King Tut’s unnecessarily violent wedding vows highlight the time-traveling detours towards understanding Peabody’s motivations for adopting a boy and Sherman’s coming-of-age exploits with the barely-likable Penny.

The Lego Movie: *** out of ***** stars

Mr. Peabody and Sherman: **** out of ***** stars

Thanks to Jackson for helping me with his first blog post.

Dutch Wonderland Dominates Our Amish Country Weekend

Growing up with four Quaker grandparents, it's a little strange I've never been to Amish country.

That kind of changed this weekend with a family trip to Lancaster, Pennsylvania. We stayed at the Comfort Suites with a dozen or so other families from Jackson's school.

Unfortunately, we didn't get to explore the countryside, didn't see many horses on the road, and missed out on the Amish bakeries, furniture stores, and other things that will require a second trip some time.

Instead ... it was Dutch Wonderland on Saturday night and all day Sunday. Not that I'm complaining. The rollercoasters, kiddie rides, and water park were all a blast. And it was fun getting to spend more time with our excellent and down-to-earth school friends.

Here's a sampling of photos.

The Pre-School Take on Why Bikes Are Good Things

Today I was honored to present a session at my son's pre-school on "Why Bikes are Good Things."

Jackson and I drew the above poster last night. We brainstormed all the benefits of riding bikes. They are really broken into the categories of healthy, fun, transportation, economic, and environmental.

So it was fun to see his classmates today say what things they thought in regards to why bikes are good.

I was surprised nobody mentioned "fun" and few mentioned things related to health. Many said they were fast for getting around town and most said something related to the environment. I guess "you don't run over animals" would fall under the "environmental" category, along with "not getting stuck in traffic jams," "no pollution" and "no noise."

I tried to tell them that mommies and daddies spend a huge chunk of their paychecks on housing and transportation. They seemed to get it that using a bike more could save money to buy more toys.

The kids enthusiastically said they would go home and tell their parents that they want to ride bikes this weekend, so it seems my job was completed.

Minneapolis Treats Me Well Again, From the Mall of America to Westerberg

The family just returned from a kid-focused weekend in Minneapolis to visit our old friends/cousins/drummers Paula and Harlan, and their 2-year-old Davis.

I had never been to the Mall of America, and we headed straight there from the airport. If you have a 5-year-old, and it's snowy with not much else to do, it's really tough to beat the low prices of the rides in the amusement park at the famous shopping center. The park is mammoth, and the mall itself supposedly is big enough to hold seven Yankee Stadiums.

Jackson takes after me in loving the log flume the most of any amusement park rides.

Then, except for one night out at a tasty restaurant and local-character-filled tavern, it was mostly more of a kids weekend. As these photos display, there was snow on the ground when we arrived and more fell while we were there. It made for some of the most perfect sledding and snowman-making I've experienced in decades.

And, along with going to look at many of the haunts from my mom's childhood growing up in Edina (just southwest of downtown Minneapolis), I got this photo outside of legendary rocker Paul Westerberg's house. He lives about a mile from Paula and Harlan. 

And I'm pretty sure it was his wife, author Laurie Lindeen, who looked out the window right after I snapped this photo. I felt a little bit like a stalker and feel that way even more after reading her blog about some teenage girls who once violated her privacy to see her rock star husband. But c'mon, this guy is one of the top 10 rock stars of all time, I had to get a picture of his house.

I really love Minneapolis and think it's one of the few cities where I would want to live in the U.S. besides D.C.

Things to do next time I visit? Perhaps see more of little Davis' future school. It's incredibly the same one that my mom attended years ago. And also see Prince's house, although that's a long shot since it's way out in the 'burbs.

And, according to this list of my favorite things about Minneapolis (Westerberg's former band The Replacements ranks as #1), there are a lot of other things I still need to check off my list.

U City's Walk of Fame is a Must-See St. Louis Highlight

It's always good to be back in St. Louis for the holidays. And we took a break from my mom and dad's festivities in Edwardsville, Illinois to head across the Mississippi River yesterday and visit Rachel's college friend Rachel Korenblatt.

After eating lunch with her family (eating has of course been a theme for the past few days), we strolled along my favorite St. Louis neighborhood, the University City Loop.

This used to be home of Cicero's, where my old band Birmingham Squadron once got kicked out for Dewey screaming at the soundman and my punctuation of jumping into Matt Beatty's drumset. I think our behavior led to us being one of the few bands not to get Cicero's complimentary pizza for performers.

Cicero's is no more, but Vintage Vinyl, one of the country's finest remaining record stores, remains. So does a book store, the Tivoli independent movie theater, and several clothes stores and coffee shops. Not to mention Blueberry Hill and Fitz's.

One of the most impressive elements of U City is the walk of fame. The amount of homegrown St. Louis talent is amazing and includes Vincent Price, Stan Musial, Harry Caray, Bob Costas, Robert Duvall, Miles Davis, Rogers Hornsby, T.S. Eliot, Tennessee Williams, and many more.

And a new feature since the last time I was in U City is the Chuck Berry statue (pictured). Jackson and I did a little duck walkin'.

Vacationing at Wintergreen Ski Resort Without Snow

Emmet, Jackson, and Frances check out a snake on one of Wintergreen's trails.

I've been skiing a bunch of times out west, but only once in the east. That running total held with a trip to Wintergreen Resort in western Virginia that Rachel, Jackson, Tony, Terry, Emmet, Frances, and I won at last year's Takoma Children's School silent auction.

There was no snow and not many other tourists, which made the weekend a little odd but pretty relaxing. Or as relaxing as a weekend with three 5-ish-year-olds can be.

We took two decent-length hikes through the leafy, mountainous trails and mostly just explored the resort. There was also a kids' area that was pretty run-down and a miniature golf course that was probably the junkiest I've ever seen.

That said, it was a great place to take kids for a getaway from the Washington DC rat race.

Rachel wonders why the ball refuses to bounce off any of the walls at the Wintergreen miniature golf course.

Now I'm ready for a real ski trip, probably out west.

Jackson at the playground.

Emmet and Jackson get philosophical with each other at the playground.

Jackson's First Tall-Buildings Themed Weekend in New York City

I forgot to write about my spring trip to New York City with my buddy Peter, when we stayed at a hotel overlooking the World Trade Center and took in a bunch of comedy, including a 1:30 a.m. show at the Comedy Cellar with Al Madrigal and a taping of two John Oliver specials. 

Reasonable hotel options appear to be a theme these days in the Big Apple. Jackson and I took the Amtrak up to meet Rachel this weekend, who is working there for the week. At $125 a night on Priceline, we found the fun Hudson Hotel, in which our room was the size of a cruise-ship bedroom but we had access to a beautiful, funky, and trendy 15th-floor roofdeck, another garden bar and lounge, and a great location on West 58th and 9th Avenue.

This was billed as a "tall buildings weekend" and Jackson, at nearly five-years-old, is the perfect age to have his first NYC experience. I think it really made an impression on him. He asked several times on the train ride home when we would next return there.

Things went as planned and the little guy did not complain about walking all over the place. 

Friday night consisted of walking from Penn Station through Times Square and to our hotel. Saturday was fun in the wonderful Central Park water play area before heading to Rachel's work in East River Park in the Lower East Side. Jackson and I took a bike ride for about six miles along the extensive trails between the Manhattan Bridge and 25th Street. Then we had delicious Indian food with our friend Lori (she's a Jackson fave). Sunday was an easy trip up 30 Rock (thanks co-worker Elizabeth for the recommendation) with no wait and easily a much better use of time than waiting in the always-long lines at the Empire State Building.

And we're back in DC. Why I'm not already asleep, I'm not sure. Goodnight.

Willy Wonka Would Be Proud of Our Chocolate Tour Today

Jackson doesn't watch a lot of TV, but when he does, the thing he requests most often for the past few months has been Willy Wonka. And why wouldn't he? A four-and-a-half-year-old's obsession probably should be chocolate. And nobody could play understated and outrageous like Gene Wilder.

So it was an easy call to make a little boy happy today with a Saturday trip to Hershey, Pennsylvania, which is a little more than two hours away from DC. It's clearly not as cool as the tour Charlie, Veruca Salt, and the others got in Wonkaland, but it was a pretty decent blowing-of-$80 for the whole family.

For that total, we took a 15-minute tram ride through the story of chocolate, a 45-minute trolley ride through the town of Hershey (which included some history and group singalongs), and a 45-minute lab experience creating our own chocolate bars.

It was well worth the trip, making for a pretty long day. We'll definitely head back in a couple of years when Jackson is old enough to hit the amusement park part of Hershey, which is said to include more than 100 rides, a dozen or so rollercoaters, and a several water rides.

And, just for the record, people truly need to be able to visit an exact replica of the Wonka chocolate factory set from 1971. This trip would have been perfect with a river of chocolate.

Pricey Air and Space Museum Gets Our Stamp of Approval

Jackson and I decided to take advantage of the nice weather today and finally make our first visit to the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center (named after the guy who paid for it) Dulles Airport annex of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.

It was well worth it, even though the place is not cheap, especially by our Washington DC standards of free museums. But after $15 for parking, $14 to take a simulation space flight, $25 for toys (that arguable work) and candy in the gift shop, and $10 at the in-museum McDonald's, it felt a little like we should have just gone to Six Flags instead.

Complaining aside, our visit was super fun. On the space flight, we got into a tube and watched a movie with 3-D glasses on our faces while the thing bounced around for a bit. It worked. Towards the end, Jackson looked up and me and asked, "Daddy, are we in space?" I assured him we were, for what it's worth. He wanted to take some of the other rides, but he wasn't tall enough, saving my pocketbook just a tad.

We loved all the spacemen, the "shark plane," the elevators, and the high walkways. But the really awe-inspiring highlights were the Enola Gay, famed for dropping the first bomb on Hiroshima, and the newly-arrived and massive Space Shuttle Discovery, which flew over our home just a month ago en route from Florida.

And the whole experience was aided by Jackson's steady stream of super-happy goofiness, and the monkey stamp he gave himself right on the forehead.

This museum is a must-see for all kids.

NPR Covers Same Story as Me at My New Job at Mobility Lab

This blog was originally published at MobilityLab.org.


Since my 4-year-old son recently got a new bicycle and he usually rides back and forth to school on our trailer bike, my wife and I didn’t know if he would be all that excited about National Bike to School Day this morning.

But it didn’t take long for Jackson, tagging along behind Rachel, to get into the act. As we rode, he … loudly … informed everyone we saw walking, driving, or biking that it is Bike to School Day. He may have even told a few squirrels.


Our ride each day goes from Silver Spring, Maryland just over into Takoma Park, in Washington D.C. It’s about a mile-and-a-half through some pretty busy streets, so teaching Jackson all the rules of the road and all about safety is extremely important.


Several of the parents of Jackson’s school, called Takoma Children’s School, brought along their sons and daughters in trailers, on bike seats, and some of the little ones even rode their own bikes. And all the children walked or rode down the street from the school to their playground area, where we all gathered to have our pictures taken and get bike pins and stickers.

There was even a special treat, as Armando Trull from the local National Public Radio affiliate, WAMU-FM 88.5, was there to do a story (listen here) about the health and environmental benefits of biking to school. He did a live segment, interviewing my wife and one of the students, and talking to them about safety. The kids especially liked the part when he asked them to make noise and ring the bells on their bicycles.

Today is the first National Bike to School Day. Through yesterday, more than 700 Bike to School Day events in 49 states and Washington D.C. were registered at www.walkbiketoschool.org. And even if you missed one of today’s events, there are still plenty of options for helping your school children get to enjoy the outdoors and learn about bike safety throughout May, which is National Bike Month.

 

Roller Derby in DC: We Be Jammin'

Check one more thing off my list of things to do.

I recently attended a Sunday-evening edition of roller derby at the DC Armory. This is a fun punk, feminist, dramatic-leaning sport to watch, and the people-watching is great too. There are hardcore fans for this Will Ferrell-esque sport. It's almost enough to make me want to watch the Drew Barrymore roller-derby movie, Whip It.

My son Jackson was pretty excited to get his picture taken with Scare Force One's dominating MVP Lenore Gore.

Something I wouldn't mind doing again, since there is much more to learn. "Jamming" is the key term and I still don't fully get all its intricacies.

Another interesting tidbit: Roller Derby Worldwide claims there are more than 1,200 amateur leagues throughout the six inhabited continents. Perhaps another reason why nobody could explain how the competition I watched fit into the national or global context of roller derby. Like I said, still lots more to learn.