From our Shelf: Harry and Horsie

We found this little book at a bookstore in San Francisco about a year ago. The illustrations were what attracted me to it, but even when a book looks this awesome, I'll still give it a quick read before I'll buy. This story is so cute. To this day it remains one of my favorites. It was written by Katie Van Camp (Harry's au pair) and Illustrated by Lincoln Agnew. This was the first picture book either one of them made. We think they did a truly amazing job. Oh, and guess who the real Harry is? Well, his dad happens to be David Letterman. I saw the book at the local Pottery Barn Kids a long time ago, but it's also available on Amazon.

Images via here, and here

Improv Picnic

 
How awesome was the weather this weekend? I hope everyone got to enjoy it. We had a lot of fun — the egg hunts, egg decorating, a birthday party, and finally our little improv picnic Sunday afternoon. It's been really hot the past couple of weeks, so the nice weather couldn't keep us inside this weekend. After we were done with our Easter fun, we decided to go to Park Avenue, grab lunch at Panera, and eat at the the park. Baby Kellan happily snoozed in his carrier the whole time. Owen enjoyed the passing of the train, the airplanes flying by, and the houses under those big funky trees (the one at the end of the park, if you're walking towards Fairbanks, is bigger and better). Before we left, Will and Owen walked over to Kilwin's and brought some delicious ice cream back to our spot. Sooo good!

Easter Egg Hunts + Art

I can't believe Easter is here already. This year is going really fast. Anyway, Owen has always loved the Easter egg hunts. I know some neighborhoods do their own, but there are some great, and free public ones also. Here's some info:

Winter Garden Lions Club Annual Egg Hunt:
Saturday, April 7 at 1:00pm
Newton Park, 29 West Garden Avenue

Winter Park 58th annual Easter Egg Hunt
Saturday, April 7 at 9:30am
Central Park in downtown Winter Park

Also worth checking out:

Eggs-cellent Easter Adventure at the Orlando Science Center
Saturday, April 7, 10am-2pm

There are a lot of cute Easter egg decorating ideas out there. I personally love these Eggheads on the picture above – via Sweet Paul.

Happy Easter!

From our shelf: Henri's Walk to Paris

I came across this book a few months ago while browsing the Grain Edit. When the designer in me saw the beautiful illustrations by Saul Bass I knew I had to have it. I mean, I knew the kids had to have it. oops. Anyway, I'm glad I bought it. Every page is of course perfect, and the story is really cute too. If you're interested in purchasing a copy it is available on Amazon.

Images via Grain Edit

SeaWorld

We had a great time at SeaWorld yesterday. We got there a little after 10 a.m. and it was about as crowded as I've ever seen it. We were not surprised, being that it is spring break and easter. Still, I think we are theme park pros because we did pretty much all we wanted without dealing with the crowds. The easiest way to do this at SeaWorld is to turn right when at the start. Most people turn left, towards the dolphins. By turning right you get a clear path through the Water Front and across the bridge all the way to the Wild Artic. If you keep going that way you'll find Shamu's Happy Harbor — the playground, rides for kids, and most importantly, the baby care center. At lunch, we headed to the Seafire Inn Restaurant, and once again avoided the crowds by ordering at the front booth, instead of getting in line to browse and pick an item. We sat on the outside porch, which is open but has a system to keep big hungry birds away from your food. It was nice. We also found out yesterday that they're redoing the whole penguin area. Antarctica is scheduled to open in Spring 2013. I'm excited to see what it'll be like.

Storybook Circus at the Magic Kingdom

So, the first phase of the new Fantasyland at the Magic Kingdom is now open. I still don't feel very at ease with the fact that Mickey's and Minnie's houses are no longer there, however, I really do like the way everything is looking so far. We were there about a week ago and encountered some big lines – it's spring break! That didn't stop Owen and Will from flying over the water aboard the new Dumbo though. They loved it. The Barnstormer looks fun too.

LEGO Ads

 
How cool are these minimalist LEGO ads by German agency Jung von Matt? I'm planning on quizing my 4 year old when he wakes up from his nap!

Sehr, sehr geil...

Via Design Taxi

Winter Park Art Festival 2012

I'm glad we had a chance to go to the Winter Park Art Festival this year. The Children's Workshop Village was a lot of fun. I would love to have some of those big wooden easels in our backyard...

St. Patrick's Pasta

This is a dish I learned from my mom and I make quite often. Owen loves it, it's healthy, and it's the easiest thing to make. It's green, so I thought it'd be appropriate for St. Patrick's Day.

How to make it:
Cook some pasta and add some extra virgin olive oil. Fill up your blender with spinach (Yes, don't be scared — raw spinach barely tastes like anything) Add about 10 fresh basil leaves, about 3/4 of a cup of milk, and a touch of salt. Mix and toss over pasta. Sprinkle some Feta cheese on top and you're done!

* You could use butter instead of olive oil, and you could also toss shredded Gouda or Fontina cheese into the pot and let it melt with the pasta.

Weekend Happenings

I was looking for things to do this weekend and found out that quite a bit is going on in the Orlando area. I collected some of the things that looked interesting to me and decided to do a post about it. Maybe I should do this every Thursday...

Click on the titles to find out specific information on each event:

1. Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival. Through May 20th. We havent been this year, but we really enjoyed it last year.

2. Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival. Friday through Sunday. I love the idea of the Children's Workshop Village.

3. Cruz-N-Car Show. Every third Saturday. It says 6PM-9PM, but we went there once at around 4PM and the cars were already there. If you or your kids are into cars, you'll like this.

4. Orlando Science Center. A few things at the Science Center this weekend: Bob the Builder exhibit, St. Patrick's Day Workshop, and Fossil Fest

5. St. Patrick's Day Storytime. Saturday at the Winter Garden Village Barnes and Noble.

6. Lyle the Crocodile. Saturday and Sunday. Orlando Repertory Theatre. (Image via Victor Davila)

Enjoy!

The Best Frozen Yogurt

Well, we've been hard at work and our search for the best frozen yogurt in the Orlando area is over. Here's what we've come up with:

1. Red Mango: The family loved Red Mango — the vote was unanimous. Located in the Winter Garden Village shopping plaza (by Panera). A very clean and nicely designed space with great tasting yogurt, and a very friendly staff. It also claims to be the healthiest. We like that. My only complain is no toffee/heath topping, which is my personal favorite. Their almonds are the best though, so I'll forgive them.

2. Menchies: Menchies also has a nicely design space and branding, great tasting yogurt, and a great choice of toppings. (I wasn't allowed to take pictures here)

3. Mochi: This was the first frozen yogurt place we tried, and we really liked it. Their decor is very modern and has sort of a surreal feel. A good fit for a frozen yogurt shop in my opinion.

We also visited Jojo in Downtown Winter Garden and Cold Stone Creamery across from the Winter Garden Village. Jojo's yogurt was good, and I think a better decor/atmosphere would make this place really great. As far as Cold Stone, we think their ice cream is great and they should probably stick to that.

This time, we limited our search to self-serve stores; where you pick your yogurt flavour(s), and toppings, and then proceed to the scale and pay by the weight. It's a great system I think, and it's fun too. Now, if you know of another shop, self-serve or not, that's worth our efforts, let me know in the comments. I'll try and drag my family out for more tasting. So hard to do... ;)

*These results were based solely on my family's opinions. No professional tasters here, just having fun. 

A fine lunch

Even though I don't find Winter Park restaurants overly kid friendly (I know I'm generalizing), I still like the atmosphere around there, so I visit the area from time to time. Last week we grabbed the 2 boys, and went to Hillstone Restaurant (former Houston) for lunch. We grabbed a table outside (a must if the weather is nice) and enjoyed fancy burgers and a great view. I just love the back area at Hillstone – the lake, and the trees. After we were done with our meal we 'explored' the outdoors with Owen as the lead. We ended up at their little herb garden, where for some reason we were on a mission to find basil.