Moving to NoVa?

If you've just moved or are contemplating a move to Fairfax or Loudoun counties, a good resource to prepare yourself for the mundane but oh-so-important tasks such as finding a new OB/GYN, pediatrician, hair salon, etc. is the Virginia bulletin board at www.babycenter.com. It seems to be populated mostly by women, who are quite active about offering suggestions and posing comments.

Some current posts:
* pregnant & moving to NoVa
* NoVA childcare recomendations?
* Searching for OB/GYN in Loudoun
* Northern VA chiropractic recommendations?

p.s. For the unitiated, the abbreviations DH, DD, DS stand for "Dear Husband," "Dear Daughter," and "Dear Son," respectively. Don't ask me why.

Fenwick Island State Park beach

Spent the weekend at the Eastern Shore, where I took the kids to Fenwick Island State Park in Delaware, just north of Ocean City, Maryland. I chose this beach after researching on the Web which beaches had access to public showers, which they called bath houses, because we were staying in Easton, about two hours away. There were several bath houses in Ocean City near the board walk according to their municipal map, but none appeared as conveniently located as the ones at the Delaware state beaches. (There were lifeguards at both, by the way.)

Fenwick Island State Park's beach is great for older kids with boogie boards, but the younger ones (6 and under) will have a harder time as the waves break right on shore and are pretty rough. Still, my 6-year-old and 3-year-old had a great time playing in the sand and digging for "sand fleas"--Jurassic-size Crustacean versions of whatever flea I was imagining. For beach fans, the sand was medium-grain and coarse, with clam shells sprinkled throughout the beach occasionally. It was fairly crowded on Thursday, not so much on Friday; we didn't see what the weekend crowd was like.

Some tips if you go:
* Bring $8 in cash; that's the fee for out-of-staters to park in the parking lot. Yes, you have to pay but it's worth having access to the public shower if you don't have a hotel room nearby.
* Park closest to the showers; you'll appreciate the short walk back to the car after an afternoon in the sun.
* Don't forget beach umbrellas, boogie boards, beach toys, sun screen lotion, and snacks and drinks. They do have a snack bar at the shower facility, but why make the trek unless you're staying from morning to afternoon and want lunch. (We only stayed the afternoon.) For more meal options, go back south to Ocean City, where you'll find blocks and blocks of fast food franchises as well as independent restaurants. I took the easy, uninspired route and took the kids to Burger King, sorry!

Cub Run Stream Valley, Chantilly

There is tons to explore at Cub Run, which has a wonderful rec center that features a great leisure pool with a playset in the middle of the kiddie pool, and a water slide that goes out of the center and back into the main leisure pool. They also have nature programs throughout the year that are very popular; my now 10-year-old son participated in the nature summer camp last year and he loved hiking the trails and poking around the streams.

This summer, he volunteered to lead us through woodlands, and we took him up on it. We parked at the rec center and started on the trail to the right of the center. This trail is not conducive to strollers, by the way.

Although it looks quite idyllic, the chirping of the birds and crickets was interrupted about every 10 minutes by planes taking off; apparently, it's on one of the main flight paths of the Dulles Airport. Besides the roar of the airplanes, we were often reminded that we weren't very far from civilization from odd things on the trail, which started rather abruptly at the end of a paved road. In the middle of our walk, where the plants overgrew the trail, was a manhole cover, and toward the end of the walk, a rusted STOP sign hung drunkenly from a tree.

The stream, though, was full of fun finds. We wore water shoes, and the boys waded in and found clams, crawfish, minnows and best of all, baby catfish! I wasn't going to let them keep the minnows, but when I saw those cute black catfish fry, I relented and even collected rocks for the home aquarium. We ended up returning the fish, though, to the stream because they weren't used to eating fish food and just wouldn't eat it.

For more pics, see http://picasaweb.google.com/GuamTubby.

For more info on the rec center, see

http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/parks/rec/wcrec.htm

Free Movies at Fox Cinemas, Brambleton

To escape the heat or summertime boredom Tuesday through Thursday mornings, check out the free movies at Fox Cinemas at the new Brambleton town center. They show fairly recent movies (dates and showings below), ones your kids have probably already seen but perhaps not on the big screen. The shows begin at 10 a.m., and there is limited seating. They sell kiddie drinks and kiddie popcorn for $1, according to the Web site. Seating is limited, so it's probably best to get there early.

Here's the listing:
JULY 17-19 OVER THE HEDGE
JULY 24-26 BARNYARD
JULY 31-AUG 2 ANT BULLY
AUG 7-9 CLIFFORD'S REALLY BIG MOVIE

For more info, check out p://www.consolidatedmovies.com/kids_movie.asp?theatre_id=34

Tips for Viewing at Udvar Hazy IMAX

Just watched Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix at the IMAX theater at the Udvar-Hazy center, and had some good tips if you're planning to go:
* First, don't bother buying your tickets online, unless it gives you an option to print out your tickets from your computer. On arriving at the theater, we had to stand in line with everyone else, whether they were buying or picking up tickets, so it doesn't save you any time at all. Plus you won't have to pay the online payment fees.
* Don't bring any bags or purses, that will delay your entry into the museum to get to the theater because you have to go through security to get your bags checked.
* If you want to save yourself the $12 parking fee by arriving after 4 p.m., be prepared to sit pretty far down the theater unless you're going by yourself or just one other person. Our party of five couldn't get seats together above the first five levels (which are super close to the screen), and we had to split up. We got into the theater at 4:17 p.m.
* If your party does have to split up and you have little ones, have the adults sit on the lower levels--it's pretty loud down there.
* Don't be tempted to sit in the handicapped seating at the very top, even if the movie is sold out. You'll get kicked out. Yup, we tried.

All in all, though, a very enjoyable experience, although this latest installment in the theatrical series pales in comparison to the others. But all Harry Potter movies should be watched on IMAX, I think.

Harry Potter tickets on sale at Udvar Hazy Imax!

Just bought tickets online to the July 15 showing of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix at the Udvar Hazy IMAX theater in Chantilly! You can't buy opening day tickets online, but you can purchase any days thereafter. Tickets are $10, what you'd pay for at a regular movie theater; they charge you $1.50 per ticket for buying online, plus a $2 order processing fee. You won't have to pay for their normal $12 parking fee because movie times are for 4:30, 7 and 9:30 p.m., although there are special viewing times at midnight and 9:30 a.m. and 7 p.m. on certain days.
To buy tickets, go to
http://www.nasm.si.edu/visit/theaters/uhc/

Huntley Meadows Park, Alexandria

I had been planning to blog about the trip we took to this wetlands in Alexandria, then the Washington Post went and ran a story about it. (Read it here http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/13/AR2007061301427.html) In any case, I knew my kids would love the boardwalk through the wetlands because they like wading in streams to catch tadpoles and that sort of thing. Here are my tips for your trip:

* Don't be daunted by the prospect of navigating 495 and its awful traffic/construction mess. It's worth the drive. Just be prepared for detours along the way.

* Plan to spend at least a couple of hours at the park, so bring drinks and snacks. There's a good-sized playground at the entrance, where you can begin or end your visit. Be sure to stop in the nature center, where you can pick up brochures about the park and get directions as to exactly where to start the trail leading to the boardwalk. You'll also want to have the kids go potty inside the center before you start the trail.

* Don't forget the bug spray. While we weren't bothered by bugs while on the boardwalk, we were waving our hands in our faces during the trail walk through the woods.

* If you have toddlers, bring a stroller or wagon. The entire circuit of trail and boardwalk is quite long, and you'll be glad not to have to carry the little ones all the way back. The trail is hard-packed ground, so even regular strollers won't have a problem. You can rest along the way rather frequently because they thoughtfully provided benches along the trail, but you can also eat your lunch or snacks on picnic tables outside of the nature center.

For pictures, go to http://picasaweb.google.com/GuamTubby

For more information about the park, go to http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/parks/huntley/

About This Blog

After moving to Herndon from out West two years ago, I quickly discovered a number of resources that offered information on places I could take my family and things I could do with them in the Washington metropolitan region. But there was no one source that concentrated on family-friendly activities solely in Northern Virginia, and by Northern Virginia I mean Fairfax and Loudoun counties.

I don't mean for this blog to be comprehensive, but rather to discuss activities, events and trends that my family has participated in or would like to. I have a 10-year-old son, soon to be 6-year-old son, and a 3-year-old daughter, and our activities tend to be non gender-specific.

Please feel free to send me questions, comments or suggestions, but please know I may address them in the blog. If I plan to, I'll let you know first.

Thanks!