Five days in the Loop

I think that, after this week, I could give Joe Edwards a run for the title of "honorary mayor"!

Emilyn and Allen both spent this week at COCA arts camp in the Delmar Loop of University City. Emilyn took part in "Own the Mic," a class about singing and stage presence. Allen -- luckily, we think -- got shut out of "Supersonic Superheroes" and ended up in "Sculpture Safari," a camp for slightly older kids about animal sculpture. His teacher, Rudy, said he thrived with the bigger kids and did a great job!

Emilyn got two great opportunities out of "Own the Mic." One, she was handed the lead-off solo for the campers' final performance, "Firework" by Katy Perry. Awesome!!! Then, because the last day of camp coincided with the dedication of a statue of Chuck Berry, Emilyn and the other singers from COCA got to perform a little impromptu "vocal flash mob," singing "Johnny B. Goode" for Chuck and all the assembled guests. What an amazing honor! It was thrilling just to be there. And boy, did I ever get close to the Father of Rock 'n' Roll!



 

Meanwhile, while the kids were in camp, I spent three hours every morning just wandering around the Loop -- and it's a great place to just wander. The only problem was this week's punishing heat... I managed a pretty long walk every day, despite coming down with some freaky summer bug. Then I ended up cooling down with a book at the Bread Co. or dozing a bit at the U. City Library. Both days I was at the library, I saw the same older woman dozing in another chair. I felt much more sorry for her... I bet she was there because she didn't have air conditioning at home. I'm glad she had a safe place to spend the hot days; many older folks have died in this unrelenting heat wave. I think the summer of 2011 will go down in the books!


Back to the Loop's treasures: We discovered Cheese-ology, an all mac-and-cheese restaurant; Ginger Bistro, home of the yummiest bowl of happiness I've eaten in a long time, bulgogi beef -- and giant forks; Fitz's root beer bottler and restaurant, where you can get the most titanic floats I have ever seen and watch the soda works go round and round; and much, much more! (P.S. Allen is now a huge proponent of the healthful benefits of Fitz's root beer!)

I think it's safe to say the Crabbes felt right at home in the Loop... and we will be back. To see all our photos and videos from this week, click here.

From Sweden, with karlek

Karlek, the Swedish word for "love"!

The feeling is apparently mutual for Allen and Månegarm, the Swedish folk metal band that Daddy introduced him to. For months, I have been posting Allen's fan pics on Månegarm's Facebook wall... Allen singing "Himmelsfursten," Allen wielding his Thor hammer, Allen with the Swedish flag he drew all by himself... The band always responds favorably, so I asked them to send Allen an autographed picture.

Well, his mail from Sweden came today, postmarked from Uppsala, with 28 kroners worth of stamps and everything! He got a patch, a keychain and an autographed picture -- with a super-cool personal message on the back! Hednatid, indeed!

Those hard-core rockers have made a little boy's day, that's for sure. I told Allen I can sew the patch on his new shark backpack, when it comes. Reasonably sure he'll be the only kindergartner with heavy metal swag on his backpack!

(P.S. Allen wants July 15th marked on the calendar every year as the day he got mail from Sweden.)

The coolest popsicle ever

Every summer, Sorrento Springs invites its students back for Popsicles with Principals, to gear up for getting back to school. This year, it had to be held outside, because inside, the classrooms are getting doors and walls and windows and all manner of stuff! (The school was built at the height of the "rooms without walls" movement. The teachers have long hated it.)

Anyway, in just a month, Allen will begin his career as a Sorrento Star. Whew. So it was his first Popsicle Day as a student, and he ended up with the coolest popsicle ever. Four-layered!

Well, it wasn't much of an introduction to school itself, but it was a great, cool treat.

Glazed and Confused again

We returned to Glazed and Confused -- the paint-your-own ceramics studio -- last week to make some new projects.

Emilyn chose a cute little cupcake dish. Allen picked a snake, which he painted with a blue face. Naturally, it became the Pennsylvania Blue-Faced Snake. I painted a tumbler for the bathroom with shells on it. A week later, and it was pickup day... Everything came out really awesome. Emilyn's dish is just beautiful!

All hail the great nation of Emallistan

Many times, when Daddy goes on an early-morning bike ride on Sundays, the rest of us end up at IHOP for pancakes. And I can't resist a kids' menu and crayons...

"If you had your very own country, what would you call it?" That's easy: Emallistan. My only two choices for colors were the red and orange crayons we got from the hostess...

Allen has been studying the flags of the world lately, and he has been reading about their symbolism. The red moon symbolizes me, and the three orange stars are my three most favorite people, around whom my world revolves! All hail the peaceful and benevolent nation of Emallistan! You can't beat our beaches, and there's free frozen yogurt for everyone.

Rained out at the pool

Yay! Thursday night at the pool! And the threat of rain should keep most people away! (Those were some smart people!)

We were in the lazy river for about 10 minutes before the rain started... and then the lightning, and the lifeguards cleared the pool. Then came the blinding downpour. Daddy was not happy. But this duck certainly was happy... he wasted no time in claiming the pool after the people had run for cover.

Well, eventually they closed the pool for the day and sent us home... with rain checks! Yay! Free swimming later!

Crabbes' day with the rays - and sharks !

The next big item on the Crabbes' summer agenda... petting sharks at the zoo!

As you can imagine, Allen was excited about meeting a real shark friend. Well, he got his wish in spades, and it was a nice rainy Monday, so no crowds at the zoo! Nice for all of us to have a little "staycation"! (Did I mention our zoo is free? OK, we did have to pay to pet the stingrays, but still...)

Last year, Allen was not interested in touching the rays. This year was a different story. He was in that tank up to his elbows -- and beyond! He got so wet that he needed a new shirt. Luckily, that's what the gift shop is for!

Emilyn had a blast too... "This is the coolest thing ever," she was quoted as saying. heeheehee Big praise from a 12-year-old, and not soon to be forgotten!

Steve even paid a buck to feed them... he said the worst part was sticking half a fish between your fingers.


We saw a lot of other great animals too... Emilyn fell in love with the prairie dogs, and Daddy and Allen traded insults at the "Opice House." I got to take an excellent picture of the sifaka lemur -- inspiration for PBS's "Zoboomafoo" -- and he seemed to practically pose for me. It was amazing! Mangatsika! And such awesome feet!


For all the pictures from our trip to the zoo, click here.

Short hop to Dayton

We had some very long days in the car... but this was not one of them!

About an hour and a half's ride to Dayton from Columbus was a refreshing change from our nine-hour endurance tests. We dropped Daddy and Allen off at the Air Force Museum, checked our stuff into the hotel and then Emilyn and I headed off to the mall... an experience made more interesting by miles and miles of traffic and construction!

We made it back, by a different leg of the pants (ask Emilyn about her first experience as navigator), and we noticed that there was some big event taking place at the Air Force base. Turns out, there was a "tattoo" -- Air Force talk for a big carnival that includes music, flyovers and fireworks for the folks on the base and in the surrounding towns. We were lucky enough to have a front-row seat for everything, right outside the door of our hotel.

Meanwhile, at the museum, Daddy and Allen had adventures of their own... The National 9/11 Flag has been on tour and was stopped at the museum -- and Steve got a chance to put a stitch in! Very, very cool!

He and Allen saw the Hubble movie in Imax and downed a bunch of freeze-dried astronaut apples. Yum!

After dinner at the Amber Rose and the little impromptu air show and truly wonderful fireworks, it was time to call it a day -- and a trip. Ahhhh. Heading home.

Fort Rapids fun

The thing Allen was most looking forward to at Fort Rapids -- the chance to pan for gems in the sluiceway outside the gift shop! So, we crossed that one off our list right away... He was very entranced by the gems, though, so guess who did most of his panning!

Setting aside the cheesy old West stuff, though, Fort Rapids is really all... about... the water.


Oh, yeah. And they have waterslides, too. Several. They have two that are big enough to go in sitting up on an inner tube. Heck, I figured. I could do that! And I did! I even kept my glasses on. I really wanted to go down carrying the camera and make a video, but I didn't see how I could possibly keep the thing dry!


My vacationers spent a bunch of time in the lazy river. But it was tough to be lazy on the last day, when at least two busloads of kids came to swim. We were getting spoiled by our nighttime visits to the water park! Now we know better. After dinner is the best time to go! Thanks, though, Fort Rapids... for the bunk beds, the free pizza, free ice cream, free warm cookies and milk, and story time by the fireplace every night.

Vacation Steve

Vacation Steve has two weeks' worth of beard and has become completely indiscriminate in his eating habits! heeheehee

COSI: Big museum, big fun

Boy, when we're on the road, we surely begin to appreciate St. Louis' lovely AND FREE family attractions!

Even with the Fort Rapids coupon, our admission to Columbus' Center of Science and Industry, or COSI, was an astronomical 35 bucks. Did I mention that the St. Louis Science Center is, umm, FREE??!

But, I digress. COSI is beyond cool. It is amazing. And huge. And we probably only did half the stuff you can do there. When you walk up to the amazingly long building in downtown Columbus, you're struck by a beautiful wind sculpture -- a tree made of dozens of holographic half-cubes, spinning in the wind.

Inside, they have themed exhibit rooms... Space, Ocean, Life, Progress, Gadgets. We spent quite a bit of time in Space, of course, where Allen tried the space station's potty, Daddy tried to land the shuttle and Emilyn learned to master the controls of a Mars rover!


Next came Ocean, where water jets spray constantly in Neptune's lair, and plastic balls can float on fountains!


Upstairs, my two biggest kids had the most fun in KidSpace, which is designed for babies and preschoolers. Imagine that! (OK, the little one had a ball, too!)


Next we went to Life, probably the neatest room in the place. You enter under a giant chicken-wire skeleton that's suspended from the ceiling. Daddy took a strength and fitness test to see how he measured up against other museum visitors. Allen played the Body Noises Piano. Emilyn studied some very odd X-rays. And Daddy and Mommy tested their communication skills on a two-sided table with a one-way mirror -- where I had to use one-word computer commands to tell him how to put together a group of Lego blocks. Fun! (We did great, of course!)


Later came Progress, where the same townscape is shown in 1892 and 1962 -- Emilyn's favorite exhibit! And then Gadgets, where you can shoot balls into a Rube Goldberg-esque machine with an air cannon. Steve also had fun there, hoisting himself up with rope and pulleys.

We spent some time outside in Big Science Park, then the gift shop, and bid farewell to COSI -- which the kids like to pronounce "cozy." Big museum, big fun, big day!

Wagons ho ! to Fort Rapids

Our time in greater Binghamton drawn to a close, we fortified ourselves yet again with M&M pancakes and loaded up our prairie schooner for the trek west to Fort Rapids indoor water park and conference center in Columbus, Ohio.

Before we left the comfy Owego Treadway, there was a bonus for Allen: Scads of mayflies on the door! Ick! Though they are much quieter than cicadas... The Treadway has a gorgeous river view that we are going to for sure take better advantage of next time.

Allen asked me to plot our route, so I obliged, with a little "Crabbe GPS" ... heeheehee...


Allen has declared his undying love for Pennsylvania... but Daddy and I agree: It's much less frustrating to drive the length of New York state instead. Don't ask us why: Our "tree mountains" look pretty much exactly the same as theirs. It still is a haul though, so thank goodness the Cuba Cheese Shoppe was there when we needed it! Free samples galore! We loaded up on squeaky curds and double Gloucester -- and peanut butter cups... and chocolate rocks... Trying to put a glorious flourish on two weeks of terrible eating.


Around dinnertime we finally rolled into our destination... and were able to spend a few excellent hours in the pool... plus, we got free pizza and drinks! Wahooo!

Rambling around the wilds of NEPA

Well, Caurie had to go home early Tuesday... Sigh. But, fortified with Aunt Laurie's famous M&M pancakes, the rest of us headed off, in three cars, to see some highly rock-oriented sites in northeastern Pennsylvania -- which, for real, is called NEPA by the locals. Go figure!

First stop was the Starrucca Viaduct, a true and amazing place that is very hard to capture in one photograph! Unless you're in a helicopter or something, I guess! The huge stone bridge was built in 1847 by the Erie Railroad and is 1,200 feet long and 110 feet high. Really. Big. Bridge.

Then, we drove around for a long while, over hill and dale, looking for Steve's mythical Internet hobby store. Surprisingly, it does exist! As he likes to say, he drove over 1,000 miles for a $30 refund! After the shopkeeper expressed his disblelief, Steve said, "Well, you don't answer your e-mails!"


Next up, the incredible backyard castle Valhalla in New Milford, Pa. This guy built a huge castle in his yard, by hand, with rocks, and absolutely no mortar! It even has a moat and a wall and everything!


There are stairs and turrets and bridges -- even a suit of armor, which I hear that Allen loved! Whenever someone other than Mommy took his picture, he smiled really nicely!


We saw a lot of the back end of Derek's and Laurie's cars... And when our next journey took us on several dirt roads, we could almost hear Derek cackling at the front of the pack! But somehow, we made it to Salt Springs State Park, home of some beautiful waterfalls -- and treacherous rocks, for people who have not worn the correct footwear! And that was pretty much everyone! But Steve was prepared... and he even carried my pocketbook -- like the wonderful husband he is -- so that I could use both hands to clamber up and over rocks and roots.


Ashley turned out to be the biggest little mountain goat... She went hiking all the way with Steve, even after her daddy went kerploosh! into the water. (Wish there was a good picture of that!)

Because Steve had my bag, and my camera, I grabbed Larry's for a few shots...


A very pretty place... and home of what's gotta be the world's longest tap root!


All of these sites get the unequivocal Critchlow Seal of Approval! Great job, Laurie!

The rest of our photos from Tuesday are here. All the pictures from Larry's and Caroline's cameras are here.