When you have kids, you hear a lot about cooties. I don’t know if the expression began with the invention of the popular game in 1948, but I know it was a term I favored as a child…way…back…when. Until I turned 13, and then, mysteriously, boys didn’t seem to be afflicted with cooties anymore.

Thanks to Lucia C. for submitting our “Where is it” Wednesday” pic today!  Where can you see this colorful creature? Ten points to the first one to tell us!

Remember all the little pieces this game came with? I believe they're now called "choking hazards."

Meet Chomsky!

Up until April of this year, the world’s largest garden gnome was Chomsky, the jolly, 13’ 6” bearded fellow who welcomes you at the entrance of Kelder’s Farm in Kerhonkson, NY. Another feather in our Hudson Valley cap. I’ve learned there are two taller gnomes; one in Iowa, and the other in Poland.  I’m bummed. I have to categorize this post as “Biggish,” not “Biggest.”

Where we went, and who was coerced into going:

At the strike of midnight on September 30th, we begin the excited preparations for Halloween. It’s a long month of discussing, analyzing, and comparing costume choices; putting up decorations; watching Halloween TV specials (we own It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown) and reading our favorite books, most notably Jerry Seinfeld’s Halloween. Both kids can now recite the Halloween Three-Step Program by heart.

And of course, there’s the pumpkin picking. This year, we’re going to make Jack O’Lanterns, so inspired are we from going to the Great Jack O’Lantern Blaze.

So this year, we went to get our pumpkins about an hour away, on Kelder’s Farm in Kerhonkson, NY.

WHY did you go there, exactly?

We’ve been there to see Chomsky once before, but it was in March when the farm stand wasn’t open. We went to get a better look at the world’s second largest garden gnome, with the added benefit of getting our pumpkins and having some fun on the farm.

Okay, what was so cool about it?

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Sometimes this blog will enlighten and enrich your life with descriptions of artistic, cultural, or spiritual sites, like the large Buddha at the Chuang Yen Monastery.

Other times, we ditch all that highbrow stuff and go for the easy chuckle. This is one of those times.

Our guest post for October, graciously submitted by Julie Henning, is about the World’s Largest Toilet. Yes, you read that right!  Julie is the “Feed Me” Editor at a great site, Road Trips for Families. I met her at the BlogHer conference, and was jazzed to realize that there are other moms out there who: A) love quirky roadside attractions; and B) have no qualms about forcing them upon their defenseless children.

I can only imagine the stories these kids told their friends about this experience!

The toilet is located inside the Kids Commons Columbus’ Community Children’s Museum in Columbus, IN. Here’s Julie’s take:

Where we went, and who was coerced into going:

As a way to intentionally break up our recent 18-hour road trip from Madison, WI to Charleston, SC, we downloaded the Roadside America iPhone app to our iPhones. With a touch of a button, the app detects your physical location and returns back an interactive list of nearby unusual, interesting, and “Go BIG-worthy” places. Restless in Indiana, we gave the app a whirl.

WHY did you go there, exactly?

Truthfully, we hadn’t stopped since a rest area in Illinois and we all had to go to the bathroom! Fate intervened with the “World’s Largest Toilet” a short distance from I-65 in the heart of downtown Columbus, Indiana. Housed in the Kids Commons Columbus Community Children’s Museum, the museum gracefully allowed us to use the real bathroom and visit the big-daddy loo too. Normally, there’s a nominal admission fee.

Okay, what was so cool about it?

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I’m a sucker for “Top Ten” lists. The promising alliteration makes my pupils dilate with excited anticipation. Over the past few months, several print and online publications have embraced the road trip and presented their own lists of America’s top roadside attractions. When I read these, I’m at once enthralled at learning what’s out there, and bummed about what I haven’t seen yet.

Check these out, and tell us what you’ve seen on these lists. What’s missing from these lists?

Top 50 American Roadside Attractions from TIME magazine

15 Ways to Enjoy Your Summer / Visit an Original from Parade magazine

America’s strangest roadside attractions from msnbc.com

15 Must-See Roadside Attractions from WomansDay.com

Pull Over! 10 American Roadside Attractions Worth Stopping For from Nileguide.com

Top 10: Roadside Americana from AskMen.com

Yesterday we saw a rented RV on the road, and I said to Matt, “maybe we should rent one next summer and take a cross-country RV adventure. I need to see the world’s largest ball of twine in Kansas.”

I was hardly surprised by his smirk and raised eyebrow, because this has been an idea of his for a few years. But now that it’s MY idea, you see, it’s viable. 🙂  Actually, his version emerged two years ago, when The Girl was still a toddler. And it involved more than a week on Route 66. So naturally, it didn’t happen.

Is it too early to load a countdown clock widget for the Go BIG Summer 2011 Road Trip?!

Who needs a little levity today? Something to brighten their day?  MEEEEEE! And so, I present you with “Where is it? Wednesday.”  Yes, it’s almost Thursday. I should be nestled in bed, reading Real Simple magazine. But Go BIG fans need a hit of something big! And so, better late than never…

Who can tell me where this pink pachyderm is perched?

Thanks to Julie from Road Trips for Families, who submitted this from her home state (hint).

Where we went, and who was coerced into going:

Sometimes a little persuasion (okay, bribery) is needed to convince the kids that a day trip to see one of these sites is worth their while.  When I planned a NJ day trip to see the World’s Largest Light Bulb and the World’s Tallest Water Sphere, I told The Girl we would stop at the IKEA in Elizabeth to get her “big girl” bed.  She was nearly three, and while we loved the containment her crib offered, it was time to “Go BIG.”

WHY did you go there, exactly?

World's Largest Light Bulb

Light bulb:

It was a doable day trip to the Thomas Edison Center at Menlo Park, and the photos of the light bulb intrigued me. A monumental replica of Edison’s first practical incandescent bulb, it’s nearly 14 feet of Pyrex glass segments. It sits on top of the 117-foot concrete Memorial Tower, which was built in 1937 by Edison’s employees. It’s an homage to both the light bulb and another key Edison invention, the phonograph.

Any grade schooler can attribute the invention of the light bulb to Edison, but did you know he also invented the phonograph, motion picture camera, dictaphone, mimeograph, storage battery and much, much more? I guess I missed that day of school. Visiting the adjoining museum set me straight.

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