Feb 27, 2015 - Who should come first, your spouse or your kids? A number of years ago, ... marketing for Port Discovery,
new & notable editor's letter
It’s tough to make time for romantic getaways
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ho should come first, your spouse or your kids? A number of years ago, I assigned a story on this topic. I’ve always been of the mindset that your spouse should come first, but the freelancer thought otherwise. The story didn’t turn out quite what I expected and, I don’t know if it’s a coincidence, but the freelancer’s marriage didn’t last. Kids take up a ton of time, and it’s hard to find the time to devote to your marriage, but most experts agree that it’s imperative. I’ve found that the older my kids get, however, the harder it is to find the time to spend with my husband. When they were little, we tried to get away at least once a year for a weekend. We had a special babysitter who could handle spending a whole weekend with the kids, and we would reserve her months in advance. Our favorite destination was a B&B in the Shenandoah Mountains. We would sleep in, go for long hikes and have romantic dinners. But most of all, we would talk uninterrupted. It was heavenly. The last time we went away together was in 2010 — four long years ago. These days, we have trouble finding time to go out to dinner much less spend a whole weekend away. I thought that once the kids were older and didn’t need constant
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Chesapeake Family | February 2015 | ChesapeakeFamily.com
supervision, it would be easier. But that’s not the case at all. Our weekends are booked with their activities year round. We’d need a whole army of driving babysitters to be able to break away for a weekend. I miss those special weekends with Chris tremendously. There was something rejuvenating about the alone time. It reminded us of what life was like before kids — when we first fell in love. We could just relax and enjoy each other and when we came home, we were better parents for it. On page 41 we have a story on one-night romantic getaways for moms and dads. Oh how wonderful each place sounds! There is an inn on a lake, one in the mountains, one in the countryside and one right in the city of Baltimore. I wish my husband and I could spend a night at each! Maybe this year we can break away for just one night. It might be possible once our oldest gets her license in July. You should too!
Betsy Stein, editor
[email protected]
family fun!
Educational family fun for a limited time only 8 temporary exhibits at Maryland/D.C. museums
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his month Port Discovery gets something that has been on its wish list for quite awhile and local kids will be thrilled. LEGO Castle Adventure is coming as the museum’s newest temporary exhibit. A huge LEGO castle, colorful LEGO dragon and bricks both large and small will fill up the museum’s third floor and give kids of all ages a chance to build to their heart’s content — until it leaves in September. “I can imagine it will be a huge draw,” says Kris Harrison, a Columbia mom who has taken her kids to Port Discovery for years.
BY KAREN STYSLEY Traveling exhibits are bread and butter for many local museums. It keeps them fresh and keeps visitors coming back again and again. Michelle Winner, vice president of marketing for Port Discovery, says that the museum changes its temporary exhibit two to three times a year, trying to have at least one blockbuster in at a time. Having such exhibits can draw new people to the museum, and give repeat customers like Harrison, the “opportunity to experience something fresh and new,” Winner explains. “When there’s a new exhibit, it definitely lures us back as an activity to do with the
kids on the weekends,” Harrison agrees. Winner says that Port Discovery looks for traveling exhibits that will be engaging for kids as well as educational. It also helps if the exhibit has a popular brand like LEGO associated with it, she says. Port Discovery has been on the waiting list three to four years for the LEGO exhibit, which is on loan from the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis. Temporary exhibits can be developed by other museums and shared or develop by a local museum to display for a set period of time, like an exhibit coming to Port Discovery in the fall of 2015 called “Here
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February 2015 | Chesapeake Family
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