Mother's Day 2007

This year was my 2nd official Mother's Day and what a nice time I had. It started off in an unconventional way, for me at least, albeit a great start to my day - I participated in Philadelphia's 17th Annual Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure this year. This is a 5km (3.1 mile) run through Philadelphia to raise funds for breast cancer research and education. Recently, a young women in my church - only a few years older than I - lost her battle to cancer, leaving behind her husband and one young child. A team was organized to run in her memory.

I was up at 6AM and driving down the Schuylkill Expressway at 7AM this morning for the Philadelphia Art Museum, where the run commenced. We had perfect weather and I carpooled with two wonderful ladies who are both survivors and had great stories to tell, so it was a nice way to start my day. I even found parking on the street and didn't get too lost on my way home (I was by myself for the ride home). What more could I ask for? :).

Over 46,000 people ran or walked in the race and over $3 million was raised. I did run the entire race and my finish time was 33 minutes 40 seconds, not too bad for someone who doesn't run as often as she used to.


I was home from the race and showered by 11AM so we just waited for Ben to take a nap and then headed out for the afternoon so that I could celebrate Mother's Day with Andrew and my little guy. We decided to take him to the Please Touch Museum of Philadelphia, a hands-on children's museum that we would recommend to anyone. It's adorable!

The museum has several different "exhibits," all of which are geared towards younsters. There is a supermarket, a construction zone, a water table, among many others. Here are some photos of Ben in his favorite areas:

The Supermarket
When you enter the supermarket, you feel like you have stepped into a miniature version of the real thing. There are cart returns where the miniature shopping carts are kept, "real" food, and even a stockcart and a cash register.

Picking up a cart from the return and entering the market.

Filling his cart. "I'll take some tomato paste, some fruit...."

"Some green beans and some peanut butter..."

"...some graham crackers for my afternoon snack..."

"Oh, and I better pick up some Tastykakes for mom. I know how she loves her sweets!"

"Got my baguette and I'm off to the check-out counter. I hope they have one of those Self Serve aisles."

"Phew, they do!" Exploring the cash register and scanner.

Sendak: Where the Wild Things Are
They have an entire exhibit devoted to one of my favorite childhood books, Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. If you're not familiar with the story, it's about a little boy who dreams that he goes, via boat, to a magical land full of "wild things."

Here's Andrew taking Ben in the famous boat. He liked the steering wheel but when we discovered that the boat sways and makes nautical sounds, Ben got scared!

Some of the "wild things."


Playing the drums. He really liked this!

Exploring the mirror and the doorway in "wild thing" land.

Move It

The transportation exhibit. This ones entails a long, winding water-filled table with boats, a train table, and an actual SEPTA (Southeastern PA Transportation Authority) bus and a train to explore and "drive." For some reason - we suspect the stiff smocks that they have available when the kids play with the water table - Ben did not want to get wet today. We thought he would love this exhibit since he loves his bath and his sand and water table at home. Oh well, it saved us from having to bring a sopping wet child out for dinner after our trip to the museum!

We did try out the train but he wasn't too excited about it either. We didn't even try the SEPTA bus. We'll stick with his hand trucks at home for now and let him try these activities when we return to the museum when he's a little older.

Here he is in the train, sitting on the tall driver's seat...not too impressed and then looking like a deer in headlights!

Barnyard Babies

One of the exhibits for the youngest toddlers is a farm set-up, equipped with a rubber garden, tactile animals, scarecrows, and a chicken coop.

Fun with the sheep.

Exploring the garden.

In the chicken coop with Dad, checking out the chicks.

Kids Construct

This was probably Andrew's favorite section. It focused on woodworking and building. Here are the two boys playing with the stackable pieces of wood. Ben loves to stack just about anything lately so he liked this exhibit a lot.

There was also a house that had a kitchen, table and chairs, and a laundry room. Here's Ben doing the laundry and vacuuming.

Next was Andrew's favorite exhibit, a do-it-yourself area where the kids could lay a tile floor, hang wallpaper and paneling and install chair rail, all with Velcro!

Daddy taught him to tile today. Benjamin can maybe help out the next time we decide to install a tile backsplash in our kitchen.

Breaking out the pneumatic nailgun (or the Velcro) to install some chair rail.

Ben peers out the window of the little house to see what he's missing on the outside while Daddy continues playing alone!

Alice's Wonderland

The last section we went to was set up like Wonderland in Lewis Carroll's book Alice in Wonderland. It had miniature doors and magical windows, and also an array of mirrors that gave off a "fun house" feeling. Ben was getting tired at this point so he's a little dazed...

After the museum, getting a ride back to the car on Daddy's shoulders, his favorite set of wheels these days, and all smiles!