Creative Kids' Activities by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Creative Children's Activities by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Florence and I clapped and yelled, “We can sleep in!  We can sleep in!” when Laurent was nearing the end of mess crank shift with its 4 a.m. wake-up times.

At home, Florence joined me in the kitchen.  She put on her kid-sized apron and peeled a carrot, which I let her slice under close supervision.

Next, she washed mushrooms and cut those into slices.  She put the carrots and mushrooms together to make a starter salad.  She liked those vegetables with lots of ranch or blue cheese dressing, depending on what was available at the commissary.

I made Laurent his favorite meal – a T-bone steak; mashed potatoes with grated Parmesan cheese; chopped Italian parsley, and butter added to them; and sliced Parisian (white) mushrooms sautéed in butter to eat with the steak on the side.  We drank an inexpensive Médoc with this, but I also liked wines from Spain’s Rioja region with the steak.

My part-time work allowed me to take time off when Florence had free days at school.  On one of Florence’s free days, we went to the zoo.  We visited the farm section and laughed at the pigs lolling in the mud and at hens pecking at each other.

We said, “gross,” when we saw snakes in the reptile house and looked for animals in the nocturnal animal house, but they hid when we went up to glass windows.  That was still a great place to visit, because the dark lighting gave it a creepy air.

Curve-snouted tapirs that looked like pigs begged us for food.  Florence admired the fur on the tigers and asked if they could cross the moat separating us from them.

“I hope not,” I honestly replied.

One of the ostriches ran beside Florence and easily won the race.  The hot, muggy day wore us out.  Florence and I both became cranky.  It was time to leave and go home for dinner in an air-conditioned house.

“Why don’t you take a bath?” I suggested to Florence at home.  She liked the idea and put on her swimsuit and snorkeling gear.  I let her stay in the cold-water tub for two hours.  (Even when the sun is not out, it is humid in the South, which makes it feel hot.)

When she came out, she came and gave me a kiss, leaving a trail of water behind her.

When dad got home from his cruise, we went to Azteca for Guadalajaran chocolate-pepper, mole sauce chicken.

“I hope my favorite waiter is there,” Florence said.

“Oh, and who would that be?” mommy asked.

“The one who said I was pretty,” Florence answered.

“We’ll make sure to sit in his section and talk with him,” I said.

We got his section and talked about food.  I told him we usually went to Pizza Hut, but Azteca was going to be Florence’s fancy restaurant for learning how to eat nicely. 

We had a German etiquette consultant at work, who was also a Washington, D.C. tour guide for private schools.  She took classes to visit consulates for lunches and trade and cultural discussions. 

She told me to find Florence a fun restaurant (Pizza Hut) and a more formal one (Azteca) to practice manners she learned at home. 

We took out books by Diana Kennedy and learned what we could about Mexico as well and would question the waiter a bit after ordering. 

(No feet-on-chairs is not nonsense by the way.  At one time, ebola was thought to be a parasite that could be brought into homes on soles of shoes.  I think ringworm might be transmitted this way.)

I practiced saying a few words in Spanish and let the people at the restaurant know that St. Pius had a Spanish section in its church newsletter that I used to practice reading in Spanish.

I had fun in Norfolk-Virginia, but still feel it is a vacation destination and military town.

By Ruth Pennington Paget, Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Driving in Washington, D.C. and More Mommy Time by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Driving in Washington, D.C. and more Mommy Time by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget 

My lazy days of summer reading by myself in the air-conditioned apartment were coming to an end.  Florence was coming back from her summer vacation in France.

She stayed with her grandparents in the Nantes area at the mouth of the Loire River that opens out into the Atlantic Ocean.  Naoned is the Breton name for Nantes.  Nantes is the ancient capital of Brittany, Celtic France. 

Chrétien de Troyes wrote the first version of the King Arthur and Knights of the Round Table story here.  I told Florence she might see Sir Lancelot, King Arthur, and Queen Guenivere walking around and to be on the lookout for them when she visited her grandparents.

This region is still considered by many to be allied with the Celtic British Isles with Celts in Cornwall, Wales, parts of Scotland (the Picts), and Ireland.  Galicia in Spain is also Celtic.

The Celts all play bagpipes, write poetry, sing, dance, and eat haggis and other offal type foods to save money.  They tend to drink bad wine like vinho verde (northern Portugal is considered to be Celtic as well.) 

One of the great modern musicians from Brittany is Alain Stivell.  He is a Pied Piper when he plays a harp. 

One of my great life experiences was driving around Brittany with Laurent after we visited Carnac with Stivell’s music playing and a CD by the French navy band just being awestruck tourists. 

Florence was now coming home from her vacation in King Arthur Land and Laurent was out on a cruise, which meant I would have to pick her at Dulles National Airport in Wasington, D.C. all by myself in the blue Nova.

I have driven in Chicago from Madison (Wisconsin) after ice storms and could do it, so I knew I just had to pay attention to exits.  This was harder said than done in pre-Internet days. 

Not everyone had websites, but our ship ombudsman obtained the exit I needed to take on the Beltline around DC and the three exits in front of it.  

I needed to know the three exits, so I could move into position to take the Dulles exit and not have to go around DC to get back to the exit again, if I missed it.

When Florence was due home, I made it to the airport with lots of time to spare.  I parked in the expensive parking lot, so I would not have too far to walk with a purse, child, and suitcase.  This parking lot is well lit, had video surveillance, and human attendants at the pay station.  (Safety first with children is my motto.)

I finished reading The Art and Architecture of Japan by Robert Treat and Alexander Soper while waiting.  (The Japanese have messes, too, but put them all behind sliding doors until they can organize things.  Everything looks neat and orderly on the outside.)

Florence ran out to see me from her Air France flight when she got off the plane.  I picked up her bag, carried it to the parking lot, put it in the trunk, and played Speed Racer a bit to deal with Beltline until I could get on the slower highway down to Hampton Roads.

It started to pour rain.  I had blankets and snacks for Florence to eat.  She fell asleep, so I could fret about buying new windshield wipers all the way home in the rain.  We did make it home and tree branches were everywhere from the wind.

Florence tumbled into her bed and slept until the next day.  I checked for nor’easter warnings – fall or winter hurricanes. 

If one were coming, we were going through the Great Dismal Swamp to Georgia to my sister’s or Up North from there to Wisconsin and grandma.  I think my family had property where Hurricane Hazel hit and learned as a small child to just leave and not look back when hurricanes rolled in.

When we woke up the next day, I made croissants (Pillsbury Dough Boys after the drive to DC) for breakfast and hot chocolate.

Florence did theatre skits for me about things she did in France for summer vacation.  We played theatre for an hour until the swimming pool opened.

Florence ran to the pool in the 90 degree heat at 9 am in the morning.  She dove right in and stayed in for 2 hours. 

When the lifeguards announce, “Adult Swim,” the kids scowl and say they don’t want necking in the pool to give them cooties.

I was hungry and did not want to stay at the pool for 6 hours after a DC drive.  We went to Pizza Hut where I ordered my usual order: a medium meat pizza, a medium vegetarian pizza, the salad bar (it was unlimited, but I usually only went twice for coleslaw and potato or macaroni salad), and diet soda.  We took home leftovers for dinner.

After our pizza outing, we went home, so I could unpack Florence’s suitcase and wash and dry her clothes.

While the clothes were washing, we went to the library and took out books about gardens.  Her grandparents had vegetable, fruit, and herb gardens as well as topiary bushes and “the lawn” for croquet and badminton games.  We hid Florence’s Easter eggs in the bushes around the lawn and gave her basket to go looking for them.

We stayed home during the next few rainy days.  We went and got daddy and went to Applebee’s for steak and shrimp for completing a mission.  I told Florence that steak and shrimp is called “surf and turf” in English or “mar et montaña” in Spanish.  (Many Mexican restaurants also serve this dish when you do not have a chain around.)

Laurent and Florence watched Mission Impossible and James Bond, so Florence would know what dad was up to at work. 

I preferred Stephen Segall for his East Asian philosophical pronouncements in corrupt police situations, Jackie Chan for humor, Jean-Claude Van Damme for his lithe moves despite girth, and Miami Vice for the music, pastel-colored clothes, and sunglasses.

If I needed pop culture explications of these pop culture shows, I would go to the Boathouse and eat crab legs and dunk hushpuppies in melted butter.  I was starting to realize that you can make a lot of money in pop culture.

By Ruth Pennington Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Touring the Chrysler Museum (Norfolk - Virginia) by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Touring the Chrysler Museum (Norfolk – Virginia) by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Norfolk (Virginia) has a gem museum called the Chrysler Museum.  It has free days for families to visit, which I made use of.  I put in a few dollars, though, when I could as admission fee.

Laurent, Florence, and I went to this darling place as often as we could.  On one of our visits the museum had Impressionist paintings on loan from the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and Dutch paintings from the National Gallery of Art.

The Impressionist paintings came from Boston and showed scenes of merry-go-rounds by terrace cafes in Paris.  Florence liked those. 

I took her out for walks and field trips in Paris and always paid for her to go on the merry-go-rounds, called ménèges, at La Défense in Puteaux, Ménilmontant, and at the medieval theme park at Puy du Fou (near Les Sables d’Olonne in the Vendée on the Atlantic Ocean).

The Rembrandt portrait sitters’ identities were unknown.  Neither of the sitters with their rigid lips struck me as very interesting people despite their ruffled finery, showing their wealth.

Looking at those portraits did make me want to check out some books about Rembrandt, Franz Hals, and Vermeer at the library, though.  I paid for some to be obtained from a university through inter-library loan on Vermeer. 

I eventually took out Simon Schama’s book about Rembrandt and thought that was the last the word on the subject for several centuries.  Maybe I would indulge in books about Dutch and Flemish painting while Florence was in France for the summer.

Winslow Homer painted my favorite piece in the museum called The Song of the Lark.  In this painting, a man holds a scythe and looks off in the distance at the sunset.  I stopped and put a hand up to my ear and asked, “Do you hear the lark?”

Laurent’s favorite works in the museum were the dainty, Tiffany glass lamps, especially the ones that looked like individual flowers with a bulb inside where the stamen would have been.

The art nouveau furniture collection from the late 19^th century made me wish I were rich enough to buy some of it.

Two artists from Nancy (France) had works in the museum’s decorative arts section – the French artists Majorelle and Gallé.  My favorite piece used two kinds of wood to show inlaid ducks on a bombé chest.  The burnished polish made it look soft as silk.

It is unfortunate that Art Nouveau faded away.  It was expensive to make and hard to industrialize, which may explain why it is gone.  (Laurent and I later visited the Art Nouveau Museum in Nancy – France and both agreed that Art Nouveau is lovely and almost a sedative to look at for its undulating beauty.)

I planned to come back to the Chrysler Museum and make a safari art game with items to look for like:

-mummies

-ducks

-pretty plates

-glass bottles (there is a large collection of glass at the Chrysler Museum from ancient Roman times to the present)

-porcelain

The mid-sized collection at the Chrysler Museum meant that styles varied from room to room, giving visitors a complete picture of art through the ages.

After a visit to an art museum, I always asked Florence to make art projects.  I made an art box for her, which included starter items such as:

-tape

-sidewalk chalk

-crayons

-pastels

-colored pencils

-different-colored paper

-glue

-scissors – used with supervision if the child is small

-simple drawing books using geometric shapes for flowers, insects, faces, and human figures

-origami instruction book and origami paper

The ship family association raised money to purchase art kits for children at our holiday party at the end of the year.  These are nice gifts, but you have to do some planning to put them together, because you have to order merchandise that has to produced in some cases.  

If suppliers know you have an order for 300 children and you are paying in advance with cash, you can get your supplies and have them all wrapped without a huge fuss.

In Monterey County (California), Michael’s and JoAnn Fabrics carry all of those items above.  I bought a portable file cabinet at Office Depot to store these items in using different kinds of plastic bags.  I use this kit now and stashed some magic trick kits in there, too.

Savvy Moms are actually kind of Peter Pans for buying stuff for grandkids.  J

By Ruth Pennington Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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USS Austin Cruise (For Spouses) - Part 2 - by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

USS Austin (Dependents’ Cruise) by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

After learning about charts versus maps, we went into a dark, secretive room where they have all the gadgets to detect any menace to the ship.  Weapons control happened there.

Outside on the deck, we looked at the laser-operated guns.  Mild-mannered Ruth just had to try on one of the vests attached to the guns just to see what looking through the scope was like.

I checked out the grenade launchers, M-14-, and M-16-rifles while everyone was eating barbecue elsewhere on the ship.  The weapons look heavy, but they are actually lightweight.  An officer came and said, “We have a demonstration that’s going to take place” and all the seamen ran to see it giggling. 

The day’s show was a helicopter crash simulation on the deck.  This show was even better than a NASCAR accident.  (Yes, it was that hideous.)  Five teams in silver suits approached the burning helicopter from two sides to put out the flames.

Once the flames were out, the firefighters held up the hoses to make a water screen for the men in the heat-resistant suits to enter the fire to rescue casualties and disable the helicopter batteries.

The casualties pulled out of the fire during the mock presentation were treated by the medical team and were walked off by a stretcher team.

We ate grilled hamburgers, hot dogs, and chicken.  The barbecue sauce tasted of catsup and brown sugar and pleased my sweet tooth.

One of the sailors brought out juggling equipment and entertained us all.  He looked like a cute Pulchinella character from Venice’s Commedia dell’Arte.  Laurent learned how to toss three juggling balls into the air and catch one from his shipmate.

I helped Laurent prepare the Officers’ Wardroom (dining room) for dinner.

We threw away garbage, vacuumed, wiped tables and counters, put tablecloths on tables, folded cloth napkins, set the table, and put condiments out on the tables.

One of Laurent’s shipmates took photos of us with our chefs’ hats on for the ship’s newsletter.

The sun came out for our ride back into port and warmed us up.  My face reddened with a sunburn, but I did not care.  I was having fun.

Who would have thought that visiting a Navy ship could be like visiting a state fair.

We picked up Florence, who talked non-stop about how much fun it was to sing to Lee Anne Rimes and went to Pizza Hut.  I fed the jukebox quarters and sang along with Florence to Lee Anne Rimes, Madonna, and the Spice Girls. 

The USS Austin spouses and kids went roller skating and made the Spice Girls song “Wannabe” our song.  We all think Ginger made a good choice marrying Beckham and like how soccer promotes all-around fitness and stamina.  Roller skating and dancing to songs is hard and our ship could do it.

Even though I did not like mess crank, I loved being a US Navy spouse for on-the-ground war games with Army. 

We were so war-ready, that Navy could have fun and promote peace through fun.

By Ruth Pennington Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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