STL Free For All

Okay, okay, so it’s not breaking news … but I have been craving a custard at a Ted Drewes location much closer to my house!  Not TOO close, or we’d be there every day …  They’re not sure as of today if the official “first day of summer” is Wednesday (May 7) or Thursday (May 8), so call ahead at 314.352.7376.

It’s back to lousy weather today, but I’m undeterred — I’m still going to post about two outdoor events. And if we’re all wearing parkas, oh well!

The first is the weekly Twilight Tuesdays concert series on the front lawn of the Missouri History Museum. The spring half of the season (it skips the hottest summer months) commences tomorrow (Apr. 29), with smooth jazz from the Bosman Twins from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Over the coming weeks the music will range from classic rock to disco/funk/soul to Motown to classic jazz. The spring finale on June 10 with The Smash Band will have a party feel — and by then the weather will be nice and warm, so hundreds of groups will be scattered around the lawn. Tomorrow’s show may be a little sparser, what with the daytime high predicted in the 50s — but that’s good for you and the kids, because you won’t have to arrive quite so early to find a primo spot. (In case of rain, the concert will be rescheduled; keep tabs by calling 314.746.4599 or by listening to the sponsor radio station, KEZK 102.5.)

In some ways it surprises me that so many people come to a venue where the sightlines to the stage are better from the back, but I think people come as much for the picnic and the Forest Park ambiance as for the music, as great as that music is. And although there’s food for sale from Patty Long Catering, people really do tend more toward picnics — some organizing very elaborate potluck affairs complete with wine and candles, others throwing together brown-bag sandwiches. (That’s my realm, although I usually do find a bottle of wine to bring too!)

At this week’s other outdoor sure-bet series, on Friday night (May 2), there’ll be plenty of music but no band in sight; it’s the Union Station Twilight Under the Train Shed movie series featuring a Grease sing-a-long. You might have already heard about this one — Grease is the second movie — but if not, you’ll definitely want to mark the first Friday of the month on your calendar to see some of the other well-chosen movies (The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Independence Day, Singing in the Rain). There’s a recommended age cutoff of six years, which makes sense since showtime is 8:45 p.m. And I don’t know that I’d bring the young’uns to Rocky Horror anyway! For details, visit the homepage.

Now for one final note: If you read Saturday’s post you’ll know about our crazy daisy experiment. It didn’t go so well! The flowers sucked up some of the food-colored water, but veeeeery slowly and unevenly. They made more progress once we dumped in about 20 drops more food coloring to the half cup of water in the glasses, but it’s been four days now and I think we’ve got all the tinting we’re going to get. Still, it has made for a good lesson in how flowers pull water through their veins, especially in the daisies where we slit the stems and put them into two colors of water.

Yesterday we started a new experiment that M. “read” about in a magazine: colored daisies. We filled six glasses with water and added food coloring to each of them to make all the colors of the rainbow, then we put white daisies into each one. In theory, the daisies are supposed to drink up and turn the same color as their water — and on one we split the stem so it’s drinking two colors, blue and yellow.

The catch is that it isn’t working yet, 24 hours later. We’re seeing a few veins on the underside of the petals turn red or orange or blue, but the rest of the petals are still stark white. So I think I’ll dump in a bunch more food coloring and see if that does the trick. (To do your own Crazy Daisy experiment, click here for directions.)

I wasn’t surprised M. leaped on this idea, because for the past few weeks we’ve been experimenting with colors in other ways too. The longest running of these experiments is the Smoothie Project, which entails making smoothies of every color of the rainbow and then some. We drink smoothies a couple of times a week, and it was easy to get pink and blue and yellow and orange and purple … but then we started going for colors like true red, brown, black and white. Those are challenging us in some very creative ways.

Our basic three-serving smoothie recipe is guaranteed not to fail: Take 8 ounces of yogurt (either with fruit or plain) and pour it into the blender. Add two ripe bananas (either peeled and frozen ahead of time or fresh). Let the kids run the blender a few times to get a nice thick goo — this step can go on and on in you’re working with a 22-month-old! — then add your choice of frozen fruit (about 2 cups), ice (about the same amount) and any other fresh fruit, should you so desire. Once all that’s in the blender, pour in your choice of 100% fruit juice to cover and let ‘er rip.

This basic ratio of fresh-frozen-liquid makes a satisfying smoothie. Note that there’s no added sugar — even using plain yogurt, the fruits more than compensate with sweetness — and that there are an infinite number of combinations. Green has been one of our favorites; I’d never have guessed that M. would be OK with my tossing in a couple big fresh spinach leaves in addition to kiwis, but I’d read that they get blended up completely, and guess what? It’s true! You’d never have guessed there was spinach in that smoothie.

It’s hard to go completely wrong, although we’ve made a couple false steps: Mandarin oranges, for example, just aren’t meant for smoothies, although plain old orange juice tastes fine. And we can’t find a way to get a black smoothie, even using blackberries, black currant juice, blueberries and blue food coloring. It’s that yogurt lightening it up. We’ve recently moved on to a quest for white, using white grape juice, apples, bananas, plain yogurt and ice.  Very yummy, if I do say so myself!

This weekend, many ceremonies and lectures will reflect on Martin Luther King Jr. and on the history of African-Americans in general. But it’s hard to bring those alive for kids — youngsters who don’t recognize what to do with a rotary-dial phone are not going to easily connect to someone whose death was a loooong time ago, no matter how worthy he was. In addition, most children need to be introduced to the concepts of fairness and equality in many different ways before they start to sink in.

A very visual way to do that is to visit the Black World History Museum. It’s pretty vivid — a scale-model slave ship that kids can go inside starts things off — but the exhibits also focus a lot on wax figures of people who made a difference by persevering through hardship. Some, like Martin Luther King Jr., are easily recognized. Others are not, including the most recent addition from November of last year, local activity Percy Green II. The private museum continues to grow — another local person, housing advocate Macler Shepard, will be added next year — but slowly, as money for the $15,000 wax characters doesn’t grow on trees.

Still, admission is very reasonable: $3.50 for elders; $5, adults; $4, teens; $2.50 for those under 14. The museum is located at 2505 St. Louis Ave. and hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. For more information, call 314.241.7057.

And it’s not far from Crown Candy Kitchen, 1401 St. Louise Ave., where S. was just introduced to milkshakes by his dad and grandpa. The throwback diner is a good way to get kids in the mood to look at history. For hours, call 314.621.9650.

The bald eagle is all over the news these days thanks to its wintertime presence across Missouri. Whenever I hear about the eagle-watching events, like the one this coming weekend at the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge, I feel like I should go — after all, good friends of ours travel the country each spring on massive bird-watching expeditions. We, on the other hand, have special birds here for most of the winter, and I can’t even drive across town?

I wish I were more of a bird person. However, I am a man-made-wonder person, and I can really appreciate the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge. My family’s been going there since M. was a toddler, and the recent upgrades (potties, yay!) have only made the experience better. Do your best to ignore the hassles you might get in the Missouri-side parking lot, pay the fee (or park on the Illinois side for free, or, during the Eagle Days events Jan. 19, 20 and 21, take the free shuttle from North Riverfront Park) and climb aboard. It really feels as if you’re taking a voyage just by walking onto the span; within minutes you’re above the treetops and over the rolling water.

Don’t worry about kids falling off, but do keep them off the chain link fence for your own peace of mind. We’ve never encountered anyone who was scared of the height — and I say that as someone who hates driving over bridges across water. I think the freedom of walking on the bridge actually helps keep me calm. And the structure itself is more like a building than a walkway; it’s been on the National Register of Historic Places for more than a year now.

S o there are two good excuses to visit the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge during the next five weekends: the eagles and the bridge. Eagle Days’ educational programs run 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Jan. 19 and 20, but the bridge is open longer. For complete hours, see the homepage of Trailnet, an organization that promotes active living (although you may know it best as a bicycling advocacy group). It manages the bridge and has been working with a host of partners to upgrade it into a true visitors’ destination.

And now, a photo from our first visit back in 2004 …

As promised yesterday (but being published a little later than I intended!), here’s a rundown of what’s happening at some local institutions. These are all worth showing off to out-of-town relatives and friends anyway; the family-friendly activities are sort of a bonus.

• Saint Louis Art Museum’s holiday family break, tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m. Kids can make “beautiful artwork” in the main Sculpture Hall each of the days, but Sunday has the extra attraction of being the weekly demo day. There are also half-hour family tours that afternoon at 2:30 p.m. Call 314.721.0072 or visit the Web site.
• The “Magic of the Holidays” exhibit is still on at Grant’s Farm until Sunday, 5 to 10 p.m. nightly. (Admission is free, parking is $20.) Santa’s probably no longer hanging around, but there will still be lights and shows and penguins and all the rest. Call 314.843.1700 or visit the Web site.
• The Missouri History Museum has a slate of events between now and New Year’s Day. Some — the 30-minute gallery talks (Saturday’s is at 2 p.m.) and the storytelling, for example — are year-round but have special themes for the season. The storytelling program’s focus is on the Kwanzaa principle of Ujima (solving problems and working together). It’s at 10:30 a.m. on Friday and 1 p.m. on Saturday. The gallery talks’ theme is early holiday traditions in St. Louis. Also note that admission to the special exhibits is free on New Year’s Day, with special hours from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Call 314.746.4599 or visit the Web site.