I hear you gasp. Yes, the photo quality is…well…not great. But it’s scanned from a 35mm print taken five years ago and unearthed from an old scrapbook, so cut me some slack.

Meet "Big Blue." the world's largest crayon

This week, my baby started middle school, so this “Photo Friday” is about The Boy and our visit to The Crayola Experience™ in 2006 to see the world’s largest crayon.

He was just a sprite back then, and The Girl wasn’t even in our realm of contemplation. (Two kids? Crazy talk!)

When we were three.

The Crayola Experience in Easton, PA is not the real crayon manufacturing plant. It’s more like a children’s activity and discovery center, with plenty of hands-on activities. The world’s largest crayon is actually in the gift shop.  Fifteen feet long and 16 inches in circumference, “Big Blue” was created in 2003 to reflect America’s favorite color. It weighs 1,500 lbs, and is the equivalent of 123,000 blue crayons.

The gift shop, by the way, is awesome! I remember it the most, mainly because it offered such an extensive range of Crayola products you just can’t find in the stores. “Santa” had a field day stocking up in advance of Christmas that year!

It should be noted that we were in PA last week, and I floated the idea of returning to the Crayola Experience to get an updated photo. The Boy, now 11, wanted none of it. Sigh. He’s actually starting to outgrow certain travel destinations and attractions. I guess Sesame Place is also out!

See Photo Friday posts from other bloggers on DeliciousBaby.com.

We made it out alive. We went into New York City this week and stopped at the Toys R’ Us store in Times Square; the world’s largest toy store. And while my statement about making it out alive is meant sarcastically, we were in the store at the same time the 5.9 earthquake — which originated in Virginia — was felt in Manhattan.

Many buildings were evacuated after the shock was felt. All we felt were the vibrations of the 20-foot animatronic dinosaur in the Jurassic Park section of the store.

The Girl kinda freaked when he started growling and moving

It was surreal, getting frantic texts from concerned friends and family while standing in the two-story, 4,000-sq ft Barbie dollhouse, waiting for The Girl to make her selection between the fairy Barbie with pet unicorn and the mermaid Barbie with pet dolphin. (She chose the mermaid).

Decisions, decisions

"Does Barbie live here?"

We’ve been visiting Virginia this week, and I will have some great intel to share with you over the next few weeks! But for Photo Friday, I chose this image of Isabel, a 60-foot long sea serpent crafted from driftwood, with coconut shell eyes.

She lies in the front yard of a rental home right on Sandbridge Beach, which is about 15 minutes south of Virginia Beach. A local sculptor, Scott Dilatush, created her in 1999.

When we found her, it was somewhat serendipitous that we discovered a public access path to the beach just to the left of her yard. And a (free) street parking space. The four of us had a glorious day on that beautiful, uncrowded beach, wading over the sandbars, looking for shells, flying kites, building the requisite sandcastle, etc. I’ll remember it for a long time.

So, I was going to color Easter eggs with a “Go BIG or Go Home” message, similar to what I did with the Christmas cookies and the Jack O’Lanterns. I would like partial credit for the idea. The wrinkle in that plan is that the eggs would be colored on Thursday, and they would have to stay fresh until Sunday.

I’m happy and relieved to have found something MUCH better to share with you for our Easter post! A really BIG basket! This is the Lorain Easter Basket in Ohio.

Many thanks to Dominique King for sharing her photo with us! Dominique is the blogger behind Midwest Guest. A travel writer at heart, Midwest Guest allows her to share stories about the often underappreciated Heartland region of the U.S.

Dominque reports that Lorain’s big Easter Basket draws scores of visitors to the park on Ohio’s Lake Erie shore each spring to take photos of their families in their Easter finery. City parks employee David Shukait created the 7-foot-tall concrete sculpture, and the City of Lorain installed it as part of a public works project in 1941.

See more photos and get more info on her blog today.

Happy Easter!!

It’s been impossible, really, to fully comprehend what’s happening in Japan from my home thousands of miles away. We observed a moment of silence at my son’s science fair this weekend, but still, it’s incomprehensible.

I went to Japan with my family in 1981. Too long ago now to really remember much of it, except snippets immortalized in the  great photos my dad took.

More distinct is the memory of when my parents finally acquiesced to pleas from me and my brother for some familiar food. We ended up at McDonalds on the Ginza. The hamburgers cost double what they did in the U.S., and worth every yen.

— Link to AMERICAN RED CROSS —

1-800 RED CROSS

See Photo Friday posts from other bloggers on DeliciousBaby.com.

Okay, so my dirty little confession is…I scrapbook. (Sorry if you were hoping for something more sordid.) I’m not rabid or anything, and I could stop any time I wanted to. I don’t have a problem. It’s a creative outlet, and a social thing, since I only “scrap” with a bunch of girlfriends, surrounded by snacks. My enablers.

My favorite ongoing project is the 8×8 scrapbook dedicated to the world’s largest, longest, tallest sites we’ve visited. I started it before I started this blog. I think it was partly the inspiration for Go BIG or Go Home.

For Show and Tell today, I wanted to share a few of my bestest pages. Do you have great scrapbook pages from your travels posted online? Feel free to link to them below so we can take a look!

Every good scrapbook has a title page:

We just saw this apple in Winchester, VA on our road trip to FL. I got a strange thrill upon realizing that I had a Creative Memories autumn-themed pack with apple paper!

I don’t always use “real” scrapbook supplies. I save any interesting scraps of paper for layouts. On this page from our trip to Tampa, I use a zebra print paper that I saved from … get this … a box of Madagasgar-themed valentine cards! I’m also a sucker for travel-themed embellishments, and have spent more than I care to admit on products like the fun compass brad in the lower right corner. If anyone has any extra 40% coupons for A.C. Moore, please send them my way.

Read the rest of this entry »

HAPPY HALLOWEEN from…

Yes, in fact I did teach Martha everything she knows.

Read about the world’s largest Jack O’Lantern displays here.

Today is “Photo Friday,” a term you hear a lot in the blogosphere which sometimes translates into “I didn’t have time to write a real post; will this do?”

So here’s the (short) story of how a “suburban soccer mom” moved on past her minivan days, and now lives a life of regret (sort of).

I turned 40 recently, and vowed to get rid of the minivan. It was doing a disservice to my street cred. So we traded in our reliable yet aging Honda Odyssey for a sporty Mazda CX-9, and now I… sniff…miss it!

We never named our 2002 Honda Odyssey, but she served us well.  150,000 miles, and lots of sweet memories of road trips, drive-in movies, and bringing The Girl home from the hospital!

One of my all-time favorite pics of the kids, while on our way to swim at North Beach in Burlington, VT. Both of them happy…at the same time!

So here’s the new sporty roadster, also unnamed. I do look good in this car, and it drives like a dream; I just miss the roominess of the minivan! p.s. This is a stock photo; I do not live near an abandoned warehouse.

 Have you ever become emotionally attached to a car, or missed one after you’ve moved on to a new one?