Review of Chibis Indoor Playground (Ashburn, VA)

 

4 out of 5 Ants Rating!

Chibis Indoor Playground is an awesome place.  Located in Ashburn, VA (Get Directions Here).  Open 7 Days a Week, for children ages 0-6.  They have a few different admission prices based on age, but top tier for walkers is $10 for 90-minutes.  Beautifully clean and well managed.  They have a snack area, an infant soft play area (up to age 3), plastic slides and cars, kid-sized play kitchen and living room furniture, a train and toy area and of course the best part....a very large indoor climbing structure.

Climbing structure, holds many adults and kids - 

they encourage you play there with your children!

Chibis was nearly a 5 out of 5 ants experience; it lost one ant in the rating because of a hole with stairs on the upper level of the climbing structure.  This oddly placed hole is iffy for toddlers who will require direct adult supervision as a result (as in = I sat in the hole to keep my daughter from falling through while she was running around up there). Once kids are sure on their feet and watch where they run, it would be less of an issue, but a 2-year old could still hurt themselves in that spot.  

Infant soft playroom area, wonderful!

All-in-all a great way to spend a day indoors and we'll be back again!  Definitely worth a bit of a drive out there from the DC suburbs.

Where should Antsy Mom and Toddler go next?  Let us know!

Review of Our Special Harbor Spray Park (Franconia, VA)

5 out of 5 Ants Rating!

Our Special Harbor Sprayground is perhaps one of the coolest places to take a toddler or young child in the summer months in the DC-area.  The venue features an impressive spray feature and zero depth water play area.  Our Special Harbor really should get 6 out of 5 ants for the added touch of it being entirely handicapped accessible (including water safe wheelchairs children can borrow to participate).  

As we pulled up to the Sprayground for the first time my husband said, "are you sure this is free?"  It's that impressive.  Even when it is busy, there is still plenty of room for the kids to play.  The Sprayground is fully enclosed and heavily staffed.  There are a lot of rules, so check those out on their website before going (for instance, your child needs to wear water shoes, no exceptions).  

Miss M was just learning to walk this summer and played in the more low key areas

In addition to a seriously fun water park, there is also a stellar playground (again, handicapped accessible, which I might add is also so nice for the learning-to-walk toddlers; ramps are easier to navigate than stairs) and a "tree house" which is a beautiful decked walkway leading to an overlook in the woods.  Tip: take a picnic and spread out on a blanket or towel on the overlook.  I saw a family doing this and copied her idea my second time there; we had such a lovely time before going to play in the water.  So relaxing.  Very safe.  Very clean.

PB&J sandwiches on the tree house overlook

I dare you to be bored at Our Special Harbor.  Even if you get sick of the water park, playground and tree house, you can still head over to Lee Recc Center (this is all on the same campus) and play beach volleyball, play on two additional playgrounds, use their massive pool and hot tub, roll around in the soft playroom or workout in the gym!  Wow!  

Is it summer yet?

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Review of Cox Farms Fall Festival (Centreville, VA)

5 out of 5 Ants Rating!

Cox Farms Fall Festival is a family activity that should become an annual tradition (or in my case, we went twice this year!).  Located in Centreville, VA (Get Directions Here) and open as the Fall Festival from September - November, this is a place you cannot miss.  The highlight was the hayride, which was the best I've ever been on (it was at least a half hour long, tractor pulled, through the woods, fields and literally through the pond; live actors, music, cartoon characters, a haunted barn, real cowboys and girls on horses...the list goes on!).  The slides are definitely the second best aspect of a visit here.  There is a little something for everyone - taller slides that give a bit of a thrill on the way down for adults or teens, and smaller, more manageable slides you can take a toddler on with an adult.  

The family that slides together stays together... 

Our third favorite part of a trip to Cox Farms was playing with all of the adorable goats (especially the babies who are so itty bitty my toddler could pick them up!).  It's an up close and personal encounter with a goat.  Miss M was thrilled!

Yay, goats!

There are lots of other activities to explore, including: a toddler play area (with "corn crib" instead of sandbox), many animals to see, pumpkin games, a corn maze and more.  Free cider and apples for all and the really decent infant/toddler changing station and nursing area (as nice as it can get in an outdoor farm environment!) are a great touch.  I recommend buying tickets in advance online, print them out and bypass the lines through the e-ticket booth.  It would also be wise to show up right at opening before the crowds get heavy and parking is tight.  I see that Cox Farms has some winter/Christmas activities as well; we'll have to check those out!  Have you been?

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Review of the National (Baltimore) Aquarium (Baltimore, MD)

3 out of 5 Ants Rating!

The National Aquarium in Baltimore, or Baltimore Aquarium, as I hear most people around here call it, is a great collection of fish that is worth a visit at least once.  That said, there are some aspects of this venue that are quite a challenge with the younger crowd.  The admission fees are steep ($30/adult).  Even with under 2's free, this is not a cheap outing.  Strollers are not allowed in the exhibits (they have a stroller check).  That is a guaranteed backache with a toddler that will not be able to walk the entire place.  

On a fairly empty day, the aquarium is a lot of fun.  What kid doesn't enjoy flashy colored fish (especially those that look exactly like Nemo and friends), sharks (chomp, chomp Miss M says) and other cool creatures?  

The jellyfish exhibit is particularly cool

On a busy day, you will be sweating, pushing people out of the way and trying to figure out how to get your child close enough to enjoy the tanks.  It can get really crowded with visitors and school groups.  In busy sections of the aquarium I was not comfortable putting Miss M down to walk.  Enter backache.

The Australian exhibit tucked away somewhere upstairs was actually the best for visiting with a child.  It was a more modernized open space with exhibit glass at toddler eye level.  This area was also staffed and had a little demonstration of a crocodile's jaw going on, which we enjoyed.

Those are some big teeth, mom, I bet he was fussy teething!

I want to like the Baltimore Aquarium for toddlers/young kids more than I actually do in practice.  I hope they continue to upgrade the facilities and make it larger with a better flow and more 0-4 friendly.  So much potential.

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Review of a Day at the Sculpture Garden and Natural History Museum (Washington, DC)

4 out of 5 Ants Rating!

The National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden and Natural Museum of Natural History (located next door to each other, Get Directions Here) make for a wonderful outing with a child!  We spend much of the summer visiting both together, over and over again.  Tip: If you drive in, park on 7th Street, NW.  We always find street parking there.  Saves a lot of money avoiding a parking garage and the Sculpture Garden will be right outside your car door.  Makes for easy loading/unloading of child(ren) and stroller(s).  Parking will be even quicker if you signup for ParkMobile for your smart phone (you can pull up to a parking meter and pay via phone before even leaving your car - no change to mess with and no juggling a toddler while trying to figure it out - not to mention you can add more time while you are in the museum!).

Miss M running around the fountains at the Sculpture Garden

We start our day of fun around the fountains at the Sculpture Garden, the ideal place for a toddler to run in circles (with an audience).  The paths around the sculptures are like a maze and are fun for lots of wandering and burning off energy.  After we work up an appetite, we always stop at the Pavilion Cafe (part of the Sculpture Garden) for breakfast, a snack or lunch (which can be eaten easily on their patio or back over by the fountains).  Afterwards, we head over to the National Museum of Natural History, just a block away on the same side of the National Mall.

Miss M is always excited to see the animals on display at the museum

The National Museum of Natural History is just awesome of course - from the amazing array of animals on display, the dinosaur exhibit hall and so on.   The display cases of animals section (mammals) is the most toddler friendly part of the museum, being on the first floor near the entrance and also ramped for easy walking.  We gave this overall combo activity of the gardens and museum a 4 ants rating instead of 5 for three reasons: 1) some exhibit halls of the museum are hard to navigate with a toddler because of stairs, cramped quarters, etc., 2) the front side of the museum building is not stroller or handicapped accessible (be prepared to carry your stroller and child up the steps, or go all the way around to the backside of the building up through the basement) and 3) the awesome Butterfly Pavilion at the museum requires timed tickets, at a price.  The butterflies are worth it (as Miss M would say, she wants to see some "boooofffyyyyss!"), but it's a bit of a pain to be on a clock with a young child.  And there is something a little off about paying for an exhibit in a museum that is part of the Smithsonian Institution.  Overall, this is a wonderful way to spend a day and I highly recommend checking it out.  

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