Winter Fun Week: Indoor Activities & Fun

Young Fan with Mrs. B at the December Tea

I have a love-hate relationship with two seasons. In the summer, I love the beach, watching my girls catch fireflies and hanging out in the evening at the pool. But then, I don’t necessarily love lounging around in my swimsuit or the fact that the humidity makes my hair resemble a lions mane. In the winter, I love warm sweaters, great scarves and boots. But I loathe not being able to play outside or take evening walks with the girls to break those bad moods kids tend to have at dinner time. So this week, because Moi Loves Moi & Moi Loves Vous, I am declaring it Winter Fun Week. I am going to bring you ideas on how to kill time indoors to beat the winter blues, or really, to help spare you from going crazy with cabin fever (Note: it’s not lost on me that I am somewhat dramatic seeing as how it’s been 60 all winter so far. But is that streak ending? Then I am making sure we are prepared and can say Moi Loves My Kids still come the end of winter). If you, too, have a fav local indoor spot, by all means, share it with us. To give you a sneak preview of the week, I will be covering: children’s tea, roller skating, Port Discovery in Baltimore, and a winter’s get-away to Deep Creek Lake. Hopefully there will be something for everyone this week!

Let’s start with tea at the Grille at Morrison House Hotel in Alexandria. Last month, my mom and I brought my eldest to their monthly tea with Mrs. B. I really didn’t know what to expect but will tell you I was happily surprised with Mrs. B. I had imagined her to be much older than she is (frankly I think she might be younger than, GASP, Moi). I also mistakenly assumed an etiquette tea would be stuffy. Turns out, Mrs B is overflowing with personality and charm. She easily captured the attention of my 6-year-old by being silly and animated as she cleverly wove in etiquette lessons without being preachy or dull. We had fun learning how to properly sip our tea and use our spoons, all the while being classy ladies.

What I didn’t expect was how the flow of the tea was designed to bring just the kids out of the restaurant and to the hotel foyer to read stories or participate in a craft project related to the theme of the tea. This gave my mom and I time to relax, enjoy the yummy finger sandwiches, chat and sip our champagne (obviously if given the option to have antiviral champagne, moi will always choose it). This added surprise of the kids going elsewhere prompted my mom to note that if others are thinking of coming to the tea, to consider coming with friends or family, to enjoy some adult time together.

The tea menu is comparable to really any tea menu and the portions are small and more than sufficient for an afternoon snack.

I am certainly not a food photographer...but here's a lovely pic of the yummy tea sandwiches

I was glad I fed my daughter lunch before heading to the tea because she is somewhat picky and was more interested in stories and crafts than eating. The one thing I found odd was they split the tea group into the two restaurant spaces in the hotel, so there were other diners mixed in amongst the tea-goers. I felt that broke up a cohesive feeling but it wasn’t something that the young tea-goers noticed.

Mrs B. exudes charm and enthusiasm and at the end of the tea, my daughter was actively begging me to bring her to the January tea. For a sense of what she’s like, check out this fun interview that ran last month on FOX 5. The Grille at Morrison House hosts children’s tea with Mrs. B every third Saturday of the month from 2-4pm. Here is a list of the upcoming teas and themes:

January 21: Fairy Tea
February 18: Valentine’s Day Tea
March 17: Sweets Tea
April 21: Easter Tea
May 19: Mother’s Day Tea

The Grille’s web site says that all ages are welcome to the tea. My impression was that it would depend on the child. Personally, it would not have been fun or relaxing for me to bring my 3-year-old because it just wouldn’t suit her personality but I did notice several children who could have easily been 3 and they were enjoying themselves. So like anything, with the little ones, I guess it’s kid-dependent. Overall, I would definitely recommend it as a fun, different and relaxing way to spend a Saturday afternoon with your child and some friends or family.  I had a lot of fun bringing my mom and noticed there were several groups that were clearly enjoying a generational outing with child, mom and Grandmom. You need to make a reservation in advance by calling 703-838-8000 or sending an email to storytime@morrisonhouse.com. The price is $38 adult/$28 child.

Log on tomorrow for my continued Winter Fun Week theme & don’t forget to “Like” the WM FB page if you want a chance to win the super delicious care package of cupcakes from Crumbs!

Disclosure: The Grille at Morrison House treated me to the Tea but my opinions here are all my own.