Philadelphia Moms

Reading Terminal Market Harvest Festival

Well, the weather's supposed to be crappy this weekend and these rainy days always leave me wondering what to do with my toddler.  Sometimes we head to the Please Touch Museum, sometimes Adventure Aquarium, but if it's not raining too hard I'm going to make a trip to the Reading Terminal Market at 12th and Filbert Streets. 

Tomorrow, from 10 a.m. to 4p.m., is the Reading Terminal Market Harvest Festival.  The plan is for Filbert Street to be closed to traffic and transformed into a farm-like environment, with hay, a pumpkin "patch" and food stands. Inside, there will be face painting and arts and crafts.  Plus, of course, there will be all of the awesomeness that Reading Terminal Market always offers: great food, fresh flowers and seasonal goodies. 

Even if the outside farm idea is a wash-out, you might want to come on down and give the kids a little taste of the harvest in the city.

Fourth Annual Fall Festival in Midtown Village

Do you know what Midtown Village is?  I didn't either until this time last year, when Midtown Village hosted last fall's festival.  At any rate, it's an organization of businesses either on or clustered around 13th Street.  Now when I first moved to Philly 12 years ago, 13th Street was not necessarily an area where you'd want to hang out.  But over the years, it's been transformed, with many lovely restaurants and boutiques.  Among my personal favorites are Open House and Duross and Langel. 

At any rate, Midtown Village is hosting its annual fall festival this Saturday, October 3rd, from 12p.m.-8p.m. at 13th and Sansom Streets.  The event is rain or shine, and unfortunately, the weather forecast is calling for rain at the time of this post, but let's hope it holds out for awhile.  There will be music, food and a "little villagers" area that I believe will involve a moonbounce.  Because what party is complete without a moonbounce?

So let's do an anti-rain dance and head on over on Saturday.  Turns out you don't have to leave the city to get in a little fall fun after all.

Fall Is In The Air

I know this is a site about Philadelphia and things to do IN Philadelphia, but I can't help but think of Fall as a great time to sneak out of the city for a bit.  What, with apple- and pumpkin-picking, hayrides, festivals and whatnot, there are a lot of good reasons to take a little day trip.  Here are some of interest.

Brandywine Harvest Festival, September 26 & 27 and October 3 & 4. If wine is your thing and you've got a child who is easily portable, check out these wineries for tours, tastings and music.

Peddler's Village Scarecrow Competition, through October 25th. Get some shopping done and let the kids decide which scarecrow they think takes the cake!

Linvilla Orchards Apple Festival, September 26 & 27.  Includes music, children's games and pie eating contests.  Plus Linvilla has apple picking every day and Pumpkin land is open.  Hayrides through mid-November.

Pumpkin Days at Tyler Arboretum, October 17 & 18. Pumpkins, a haunted barn and scarecrow-making.  Fun for all!

Monster Pumpkins at Longwood Gardens, October 2-31.  Check out some truly unusual pumpkins, plus visit the new Indoor Children's Garden.

Pumpkin picking--Looking for a place in NJ to pick your own pumpkins?  Here's a link to some pick your own farms.

IHOP

Okay, so one of my guilty little secrets is that I very much enjoy some chain restaurants.  I know, it's awful.  One of them is IHOP. 

When I heard that an IHOP was opening on Walnut Street, between 13th and Broad, I was skeptical (aren't I always?).  But I finally went this weekend, and I was pleasantly surprised.  The waitstaff was pleasant and the restaurant was super-clean. I know these are things one would expect at a restaurant, but with a chain restaurant in the city...it's not usually the case.

They are, of course, stroller friendly, have high chairs, changing tables in the rest room.  There are two versions of the kid's menu: one in the regular menu that's given to adults and one on a coloring sheet given to kids with crayons.  On the latter are several (relatively) healthy options for kids, which I was happy to see.

So, it's no specialty breakfast place.  But it's good and kids are expected. 

Bean Exchange Coffee House

Admittedly, I have a coffee addiction.  Which is well-evidenced when we walk past a Starbucks and my two-year old yells "Mama, let's get coffee!" (for the record, no, I do not actually give him coffee.  He prefers the strawberry banana smoothies with soy milk, aka, "his coffee").

By far, one of my favorite coffee houses to visit when I'm out and about with my son is the Bean Exchange Coffee House, located at the corner of 7th and Bainbridge.  It's a charming mom-n-pop shop with floor to ceiling doors they open in the summer.  There's a good amount of seating both inside and along the sidewalk.  They have the usual assortment of coffees, teas and pastries.  It's all pretty good. 

The best part, at least in my mind, is that they have high chairs AND a changing table in the rest room.  Finding these two items in a coffee house is rare, at least in my experience.  Plus, it's easy to roll a stroller in the back door (even the front door only has one step so it's pretty easy to manage). 

Also?  The place is totally dog-friendly.  I don't have a dog, but you may and you could bring him/her here.

Right now, I'm loving their iced vanilla lattes.  You should go there.  Right now.

Square Burger at Franklin Square

I've written before that I have much love for Franklin Square.  We're there nearly every weekend.  And now, Square Burger, the permanent mini-restaurant by Stephen Starr, is finally open.  While there had been a tented food hut in the park up until now, the food options were fairly limited.  Unfortunately, the PDF link to the new menu on the Franklin Square website doesn't seem to be working at the time of this post.  Bummer. 

I took a quick peek this weekend when I was at the park but someone was having a bit of a meltdown, so I didn't really absorb what I was reading.  Hot dogs and hamburgers for sure, along with ice cream and milkshakes.  I noted there was also a "healthy" section of the menu that I believe consisted of salads, but I'm not sure what else (if anything).  I promise I go back soon and try to get a better look at that menu!

At any rate, I'm vaguely excited that there's a real food option at that park, because once we're there, we usually stay for a couple of hours.  And Mama likes a good burger.

I'll follow up with the menu and a review soon!

Best of Main Line

Short and sweet today:

Main Line Today just came out with their "Best Of" list. Find the best places to shop, eat and play in the Main Line here.

Yum, TastyBabies

Do you have a Philadelphia friend who is having a baby?  Then I've found the perfect (albeit quirky) gift.  I stumbled upon the BabyKake Collection on Facebook.  It's available in both in both pink and blue.  How cute is that?

Everyone in Philly knows it doesn't get much more "Philadelphia" than TastyKake. And as someone who survived the first couple of weeks of parenthood on Peanut Butter Kandy Kakes, I can say with some degree of certainty that this care package would be most welcome.

I Scream, You Scream

So, many folks are off this Friday for a long holiday weekend, and day care centers are closed.  For those of us stuck (and I do mean that affectionately) in the city for the weekend, there's lots of family-friendly activities courtesy of Welcome America as mentioned in my last post.

This Friday, July 3rd is the Ice Cream Festival, which starts at 12p.m. at Penn's Landing.  Count me in.  That evening at the same location is Peter Nero and the Philly Pops giving a free concert.

I love me a long weekend.

Taste of Philadelphia

We're approaching one of my favorite times of year in Philadelphia: 4th of July.  Because where better to be than Philly on the nation's birthday?  They do it right here and have over a week of fun, free, family-friendly events to celebrate.

Sunoco's Welcome America begins tomorrow with a weekend-long event: Taste of Philadelphia.  Restaurants from all over the Philadelphiaarea will be at Penn's Landing selling delectable goodies for, rumor has it, no more than $5 a pop.  Taste of Philadelphia begins tomorrow, Friday, June 26th at 5pm and starts back up again Saturday and Sunday at 11a.m.  Admission is free, you just pay for whatever food you'd like!

In addition, Angie Stone is performing at Penn's Landing at 7:30p.m., Saturday, June 27th and there is a fireworks display following the concert.  Again, it's all free.  Do I expect it to be crowded?  Of course.  But at least those of us who live in Center City  don't have to sit in traffic trying to  get to  these events.

Also, next week brings a series of educational events for kids.  The "Go 4th and Learn" events (as well as the entire roster for Welcome America)  can be found here.

So get out there, people, and go ahead, don your red, white and blue!