northern virginia – BabyCostsMoney

We Get Around.

Published on December 20, 2017December 20, 2017 by Darlene Dee1 Comment

Toddlers have a lot of energy. SO. MUCH. ENERGY. It is exhausting. How on earth did I do this with TWO kids twenty years ago?!

Oh right. I was twenty years younger.

Babystar and I go on Little Adventures all the time. We love to take picnics to playgrounds, because picnics at playgrounds are free. But sometimes we have to switch it up.

We took Babystar to National Harbor for ice cream back when it was warmer (November because wtf is wrong with the weather). I spent $23.66 at Ben & Jerry’s and it all goes on the Toddler’s Tab because we wouldn’t have even gone if Babystar didn’t need to run out some energy. Parking was $12 and the playground was $7. Yes. National Harbor charges seven freaking dollars per kid to access to the playground. It’s such bullshit. They get away with it though, because they put a really cool carousel in the fenced in playground area. And the seven dollars comes with unlimited carousel rides. But still. Jerk move, National Harbor.

We paid $1 for a ride on the tiny carousel at Potomac Mills recently. We also paid $8 on that same trip to rent a gigantic fire truck shaped two person stroller thingy. I think we could have gotten fifty cents back if we had returned it but we left it at the door to the mall because we are terrible people. No. Wait. We are JOB CREATORS. Someone must make a living collecting those things, right?

We rode the train (AGAIN) at Springfield Mall. The mall trains are all $5, but it really cost $10 because the guy in the conductor hat at Springfield Mall charges for adults too. More bullshit. Springfield Mall also has a soft play room with a bunch of bouncy houses. Babystar was a bit scared, but I think she was just too young. We basically paid $7.42 for her to sit at the table with us and watch the big kids play. Whoops.

We went to Tyson’s Corner Mall recently and rode the train there too. The train guy only charged us $5 for Babystar and let me ride free, so there is still SOME kindness in this world.

We went back to Scramble today. ($10 plus $8.75 at the snack bar.)

We paid $11 to park at the zoo (member discount) to see ZooLights. And another $7 for the carousel that night.

Are you noticing a carousel trend? Last week, Babystar stopped nursing, and looked up at me and said, “I love milk. And water. And carousels.” And then went back to her milk business.

RAISING BABYSTAR: $24,672.98

NoVa’s Hottest New (Kids) Club.

Published on December 14, 2017December 13, 2017 by Darlene Dee10 Comments

Scramble is this winter’s hottest new (indoor kid’s) club. It has everything: a coffee shop made entirely of foam, a Big Ben boxing bag, a giant waving flag slide with both stars and stripes, a replica of the Sistine Chapel ceiling, cake pops, a hidden chamber with an Egyptian Mummy, and Space Balls. What are Space Balls? Its that thing where you take up all the space in a padded room with giant painted planets and then add a bunch of kids.

YOU GUYS THIS PLACE IS SO LIT. If you live in or near Northern Virginia, spend all of your cold winter days here. Scramble is HUGE. And it’s new, which means that at least for this season, it is CLEAN. It cost $10 per kid on weekdays and $20 per kid on weekends. One adult is free per kid. Extra adults are $5 each. So I paid $15 for Babystar, the Teenager, and I to get in last week. We have already been again, but I forgot my wallet and my friend paid. I’ll pay her back eventually, but right now that second visit is free and we are a family of vagabonds.

Anyway. Scramble. Apparently it is based off cool indoor play spaces in Europe. Maybe that’s why they went with an around the world (but mostly Europe tbh) theme.

Yes. I know that Sydney is not in Europe. It’s in Austria. Duh. 😉

Just LOOK at how cool this place is.

The smaller toddler play space is awesome enough. The big one with rocket ships and space balls and a secret passage is so big that adults can climb around in there quite comfortably. Although, to be fair, that is technically not allowed. But all the adults chase their kids through there and it’s basically fine. It’s also FUN! That slide is ON POINT.

Babystar went down the slide all by herself and she tells everyone. She’s so proud. She should be — look at that thing! I went down a whole bunch of times. It’s soupy* fun.

At one point, I counted at least ten adults chasing their kids through the play structure and the thing did not feel at all crowded at all not even a little bit. Freaking. Awesome. Plus, the snack bar prices are actually reasonable prices. I spent $5.75 for two cupcakes, one banana, and three drinks.

RAISING BABYSTAR: $24,444.46

*Babystar says soupy instead of super and literally nothing in the world is cuter. PLEASE NO ONE CORRECT HER.

Dinosaur Land.

Published on November 16, 2017November 14, 2017 by Darlene Dee12 Comments

You know that Salvador Dalí painting with the melting clocks?

Dinosaur Land in The Middle of Nowhere, Virginia is exactly like that. But with dinosaurs. Non-melting dinosaurs.

This place is amazing. I am a HUGE FAN. But it is clearly not, like, a research institution. Drive eighty miles east to the Smithsonian for that kind of dinosaur experience. Dinosaur Land’s target audience is obviously children. Or maybe Collectors of Odd Experiences. The dinosaurs are made of fiberglass that looks like paper maché. There are even little dinosaur families with dinosaur babies. But then there are BATTLE SCENES and dinosaurs eating other dinosaurs. WHAT. WHY.

Babystar said that one of the dinosaurs was sleeping. I went along with her version of events.

This place is an hour and a half away from D.C. in decent SAHM traffic. It is definitely worth a visit if you live within two hours of Dinosaur Land, because you won’t find many other places like this in your life. Admission is $5 for ages 2-10 and $6 for ages 11 and up. (I paid $22 for two adults and two toddlers. Then my friend bought the girls dinosaurs on the way out.)

Side note: my most favorite non-child-related SAHM perk is the LACK OF RUSH HOUR TRAFFIC. Highly recommend. Four stars.

Dinosaur Land is NOT worth a visit if you are simply visiting Washington D.C. for the monuments and museums. Dinosaur Land is a novel roadside attraction. Imagine that you live in the country and the old dude on the corner has a bunch of dinosaur statues in his backyard. Dinosaur Land is exactly like that. And approximately that size.

Oh, plus there is a giant King Kong and you can climb in his hand for a picture. And there is a giant shark that you can play in. BUT DON’T TOUCH ANYTHING ELSE.

If you do make the trek, take a friend. The drive is long and it helps if you can sing along to some 90s music on the way.

Also, take a picnic lunch even though you may NOT eat in Dinosaur Land. (Dinosaur Land is really big on rules.) Head west on Route 277 and there is a really cool park about five minutes away. Sherando Park has about a million picnic tables including a few shorty tables that are perfect for toddlers. There is a small playground that is toddler appropriate (but doesn’t have the baby swings). And just a short walk across the gravel road, there is a really cool FREAKING GIANT play structure that will give parents of toddlers a mini heart attack. But it DOES have baby swings. It also has a smaller toddler size play structure but why would any self-respecting two-year-old want to play on that when they can climb to the top of the world and almost fall but not fall and — oh, sorry. Everything’s ok.

Adults: make the climb and slide down the highest slide at Sherando Park. It is NO JOKE. Do it. You’re welcome.

We stopped at an adorable farmer’s stand on the way home and I bought a giant cookie for Babystar and a tomato that she poked her thumb into because toddlers love experiments. And a soda. ($4.25.)

RAISING BABYSTAR: $22,749.39

I Took the Munchkin to Oz.

Published on October 18, 2017October 15, 2017 by Darlene Dee10 Comments

You guys, Emerald City is in Maryland.

I made up a fun new game called Let’s Find a New Playground. Just kidding. It’s not fun or new and I didn’t make it up. But it is a HIT among my target audience of one specific ToddlerMonster.

We might live in the best area on earth for this particular game. I cannot be sure. I have only had a toddler in one other place. The D.C. area beats Jacksonville, Florida quite soundly at this game. Sorry, Jacksonville. It’s not personal. But, um, get more and better parks. (I know; you have the beach. Let’s call it a tie.)

OMG LOOK AT THIS AWESOME PLAYGROUND.

Not only is it pretty because it is FREAKING OZ, it is a really FUN playground. There are so many cool climbing structures and slides and swings and fun for big kids and fun for little kids and we love it. (You saw the Ruby Slipper slides, right? Look. There are totally Ruby Slipper slides right there.)

Babystar and her friend had snacks in Dorothy’s house. So cute. Thanks Auntie Em!

I totally saw one kid dressed as Dorothy and a set of twins dressed as Emerald City munchkins. Because obviously. (I might have to buy a Dorothy costume if I can find one on sale after Halloween. Does anyone have a 3T Dorothy dress? Please forward; thank you.)

This amazing Wizard of Oz playground is at Watkins Regional Park in Upper Marlboro, Maryland. If you get bored of the playground — you won’t, but just in case — you can take a short walk through the woods and visit a nature center. The nature center is pretty cool, and we met birds and turtles and snakes and a hedgehog. But I forgot to take pictures because OZ WAS RIGHT OUTSIDE. It was a lovely break, though. I highly recommend you take the short trek through the woods. If you see the Tin Man, say hello. (He’s not in the woods. He totally should be. Missed opportunity, Maryland.)

There are also cool little spinny toys (poppy flowers) or riding toys (farm animals) and this cool running track/slash/treadmill/slash/toddler hamster wheel. I have been to a lot of playgrounds and I have never seen any playground equipment like this. The toddlers LOVED it. And if I’m being one hundred percent here, the adults loved it too.

This park also has tons of clean restrooms both in the parking lot and right next to Dorothy’s house at the playground. Parking is really easy and you get to FOLLOW THE YELLOW BRICK ROAD to the park. (Ok, technically the Yellow Brick Road starts in the playground at the spiral and goes out to the parking lot which I just realized is a GENIUS way to get your kid to leave if your kid doesn’t want to leave.)

Five stars. Out of four. Seriously — go here.

Oh, and it’s FREE!!

Cousins.

Published on July 17, 2017July 16, 2017 by Darlene Dee9 Comments

Babystar has an older brother and and older sister both of whom she adores, but they are SO MUCH OLDER that they may as well be extra grandparents. (Age gaps of eighteen and sixteen years, LOL, my life!)

Luckily for Babystar, my younger brother and sister each had a kid fairly recently so she has a 3yo nephew and a 4yo niece to play with (and imitate). These are the ‘big kids’ in her life. My nephew lives far far away in the land of Florida and my niece lives fairly close in the far away land of Fairfax. The nephew visited recently, so all three toddlers/preschoolers were together for about two weeks, having a lot of fun and fighting over a lot of toys.

We scheduled a lot of outings just for the Little Kids. The coolest new place I discovered was the Club Run RECenter. It was a bit of a drive (about 45 minutes, almost at Dulles airport) but TOTALLY WORTH IT! (If you are ever staying near Dulles airport, you should absolutely go here.) I paid the non-resident rate of $12.50 and Babystar was ‘free’ with me. She LOVED the water park and keeps asking to go back. The zero entry pool has a few fountains and a twisty slide (which she totally went down a few times before declaring it too scary). Her older cousins crushed that slide over and over again. The toddler area is walled off from the bigger pool and never got deeper than my little shortie’s chest. The RECenter has life vests and water wings available for use so you don’t even have to bring your own. There are also lockers for a quarter or free open cubbies inside the water play area. And there is a bigger pool, cool current river, larger water slide, and neat water cyclone area for bigger kids, and a hot tub for the grandparents. (I’m sure the hot tub for everyone but it seemed sparsely populated by blissful older people with no small children to look after, on this particular day.)

The Club Run RECenter also has tables both indoors and out, so we packed a picnic lunch. (The only food to purchase there was from a vending machine.) After about two hours, we packed up and drove about ten minutes to the often overlooked Air and Space Museum right by Dulles Airport. All three of our littles are huge fans of airplanes, and this is just an airplane hanger full of planes and helicopters, and the Space Shuttle Discover, which is pretty freaking cool. The museum is free but parking is $15/vehicle. (My brother was in my car and paid for us, though, in case you are checking my math. Please do check my math, btw.)

We had fun Toddler Adventures at our tried and true Busy Bees in Falls Church. Tuesdays in July are 2-for-1 admission and I paid for our three toddlers plus a surprised stranger behind us in line ($30) and bought another 3-pass for Babystar while I was there ($36). We also ordered Chick-fil-A snacks (conveniently located next door) on their awesome app ($18.36). And then we went back AGAIN the following Tuesday (it was a looooong visit, y’all), and again I paid for Babystar and a random stranger behind us ($15) plus Chick-fil-A for me and Babystar ($13.59).

At Springfield Mall, we played at the fruit-themed indoor play space and rode the train. The train costs $5/person so it was $10 for me and Babystar. (I got to be the designated adult rider and it was super awesome. Mostly because my sister and sister-in-law bought me a Starbucks drink while I rode. <3.)

Finally, My Gym Alexandria threw a Moana party ($25 for non-members, which we are) that seemed like a slam-dunk toddler fun grand finale for the last day of their visit. In reality, it was a chaotic mess, but the kids did have a good time. My 4yo niece was front and center during the hula lessons and all three of the kids liked spinning the poi balls which is something I would NEVER let them do with toys at home. (I almost can’t believe that no one was hurt. I am GLAD no one was hurt, but totally surprised.) But during the Moana story time and the lines for tattoos and pictures, the kids just played on the super cool equipment at My Gym. Their favorite was the rope swing into the ball pit. Even little Babystar tried it, though she didn’t really swing on the rope. She sort of held onto the rope and jumped into the ball pit and laughed and laughed and laughed. My Gym offers a free introductory class so I think we will be back soon.

(In my pre-SAHM life I planned travel for groups and meeting and it was WAY EASIER than these two weeks of preschool event planning! I’ll post some ready made ‘super cool fun auntie days’ shortly to save you some sanity. XOXO!)

RAISING BABYSTAR: $19,509.86