HoCo Summer Faves: Splash Pads, Berries, and Bucket Lists

Claire shares her favorite summer activities in Howard County, from splash pads and farmers markets to library programs and local memberships that help families beat the heat while creating lasting memories.

• Seven farmers markets throughout Howard County including new locations in Old Ellicott City and Merriweather District
• Free splash pads at Merriweather District, Olney, and Millard Cooper Park in Sykesville for cooling off
• Lakefront Live and Amped in the Park offer free summer concerts and entertainment
• Howard County Library Summer Reading Program provides activities for all ages
• Value memberships at Maryland Zoo, Clark's Elioak Farm, Robinson Nature Center, and Maryland Science Center
• Berry picking opportunities at Larriland Farm, Butler's Orchard, and Rock Hill Orchard
• Local hiking spots include Centennial, Lake Kittimaqundi, Elkhorn, Wild Lake, and Patapsco Valley Park
• Staycation options at Turf Valley Resort and Merriweather Lake House Hotel

Be sure to visit our website to check out all of our recent blogs, subscribe to our email list that goes out twice a month, and follow us on Instagram to stay in the know about local events and activities.

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome to MomTalk Maryland
• 2:44 Summer Already Getting Away From Us
• 8:30 Splash Pads and Cooling Off
• 14:45 Music and Entertainment Options
• 19:50 Library Programs and Family Activities
• 24:22 Memberships Worth the Investment
• 29:10 Key Takeaways and Summer Bucket List

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hey friends and welcome to MomTalk Maryland. I'm your host, claire Duarte, founder of the Columbia Mom, and this is your spot for real conversations, local love and a whole lot of community. Whether you're folding laundry, running errands or hiding in your car for some peace and quiet, let's dive in, alright. So today I'm coming to you from a new space. As you can see, this is not my home studio. I'm actually set up here at the Maryland Innovation Center off of Gateway Drive. I've actually been here for a few networking events and a friend of mine also has an office here, and when I told him that I was launching the podcast, he was like immediately, like you got to come over here and check this out, and I knew of other podcast studio places, but, needless to say, I immediately set up one at home, but I knew I was looking for another alternate location. So, no, I'm not scrapping my home studio, but I'm looking forward to giving this a trial run, see how it goes. So if my background looks different, that is why. So you may or may not see us propped up here, uh, more often. So, um, that's where I'm coming to you today. Um, but, uh, I actually submitted online. I was like help me decide what I should talk about today, because, um, hashtag, mom life hashtag, mom brain hashtag uh, trying to go through the to-do list and manage it all, and, um, I asked what you wanted me to talk about today on the podcast and Summer Faves was the winner, or at least the leader at the time that I last checked. So that's where we're going to go with today.

Speaker 1: 1:32

And since summer is here and it is hot, I mean there's a million things that I could talk about when it comes to summertime, right. But since it's also literally, or today is July 1st, and it's crazy that to me it feels like we're already midway through summer, I'm like, how did this freaking happen, you know? So it just it already has felt like a whirlwind, since I feel like my son was already home for for school for like barely 10 days. Now he's back at his summer program, my daughter's already done like two weeks of camp and the 4th of July is coming up, and it's just crazy to feel like the summer is already getting away from us. So, I mean, when it comes to my summer faves right, there's, I feel like, so many different categories within it, right, and I apologize in advance because I have.

Speaker 1: 2:22

I literally do have my computer up here, and probably another reason why I even started this business is because there's so many things to do in Howard County that I was like, you know, I love that I can also go to my own website and be like, oh my gosh, like right now I have pulled up our farmer's market blog. Did you know that there are seven farmer's markets in Howard County? Two of the new ones are in Old Ellicott City and Merriweather District. Those are the two newest, which is awesome. There are Savage Farmers Market, ellicott City Farmers Market, clarksville Commons, which is over by us, oakland Mills Farmers Market I've heard really good things about that one Um. So that's gives you, yeah, a total of seven, which is like really cool. Um anyways. Or if you want the full details on like when and where, cause they're all different times um and days of the week, um. But that's another fun thing to take advantage of during the season, cause um hashtag, like summer produce, is the absolute best, and I promise I'll stop saying hashtag, but also no promises, because I'll probably forget um. So, anyways, our blog is loaded with tons of different um options for you to kind of take a look at. So I mean, it almost serves as like a reminder for me of like oh, if I want to make my summer bucket list like, um, let me go back over here because I don't know.

Speaker 1: 3:45

I feel like as a mom, you can fall into a couple of different categories of either a feeling overwhelmed of all the things to do, be not even knowing what to do, but overwhelmed by your kids at home, um, and just trying to keep them busy, right. And then there's kind of the hybrid, option number C, where you're like I want to do something fun with the kids to keep them busy. I feel overwhelmed with the options, what's kind of like a happy middle ground where I feel like we can all do something fun together. And maybe that's a little bit of where the TCM brand was born out of, of equal parts wanting to get out and equal parts overwhelmed by the kids. So I promise I probably won't make this any less overwhelming for you because, again, I'm someone that if I have too many options I will shut down, and that's exactly what I'm going to do, and so it's just kind of like information overload. So, like I said, we're not here to make your decision making any easier, but just give you lots of information and resource, and that's one thing that we're good at.

Speaker 1: 4:57

So I mean a couple easy faves, obviously, like Columbia Association pools, gotta hit the pool to like cool off. I mean that's just like to me like an absolute must. And if you have younger kids doing the splash pads are great, like the Merriweather District splash pad. Another free local one, if you go just outside Howard County is in Olney actually that's where I'm from. So I'm like, oh, they didn't have a splash pad when I was growing up but now they do. And that's cute because because where the only one is located is in a shopping center. It's not super big. There are a few tables with like picnic tables and an umbrella, but there's a pliables, there's a Panera, so you can like literally like run in and grab. I've often brought like a picnic lunch or a Harris Teeter right there, so it's just kind of like it's very easy, um. So so that's cool about the all new one. I was actually hold on where was it? In front of me. There's also here.

Speaker 1: 5:53

It is, um, the splash park and mini golf of Germantown. I grew up going to that. I'm sure it's changed since I last been. That does require tickets, but it's like a massive park. From what I remember, I remember like as a kid loving like the mini golf and it's just like, basically like kid crack. Like I said, I can't be the expert to speak on that specifically of what it's been like lately, but I know that that's a really cool option again down in montgomery county but, um, since there's not a ton of splash pads specifically in Howard County, but at least those are um Merriweather and then only, like I said, it's just kind of like just down the road, so that's another option for you too. Um, oh, oh, wait, I lied one more. One more, um is where to go.

Speaker 1: 6:39

Millard Cooper um park that's in Sykesville, um, just kind of like also just on the north top end of the county. That's a really cute one. I discovered it like two years ago and this park is really big. I think it's good for great for the littles and your bigger kids. There's also like two playgrounds, some picnic pavilions. It's really awesome, super fun. I mean we can easily spend like an hour or two there and if you wanted to make a day of it, you can also go to basically like Old Town, sykesville, which is really cute. It's kind of like their main street is smaller than Old Ellicott City but it kind of gives you that similar like historic-ish vibe and there are apparently some really cute shops. Every time I drive through I'm like, oh, I need to stop, and I um, so I, I've been meaning to for sure. Apparently there's a really cute new sandwich shop, um, and there's also another playground kind of around the corner from there as well, so you could easily make it like a morning afternoon adventure kind of thing. Um, all right.

Speaker 1: 7:43

And then of course, I'm pulling up my blog here. I'm literally have to use this as a resource because there's no way that my brain can contain all this information. Um. So this is me, literally using my own research, my own website for this Um.

Speaker 1: 7:58

Lakefront live um is just one of my absolute favorites. They do summer concerts down at Lake Kittimakundi or the lakefront right by Whole Foods. They do summer concerts, summer movies. They have a massive summer lineup. And when you go to our website, the name of this blog is Columbia, maryland's Live Performance Scene. It's packed this summer. Here's what you can't miss and the reason I. This blog is Columbia, maryland's live performance scene. It's packed this summer. Here's what you can't miss. And the reason I say that it's just because it's like listed with so many different things. Obviously, you know there's Merriweather, you know Post Pavilion, great concerts to catch there, and but, like I said, lakefront Live. We have that linked in there. You can kind of see all the dates that are listed there. I mean, basically it's running through a whole summer but we love that because we'll bring a picnic down there.

Speaker 1: 8:53

The kids just find so much fun and I don't know, that's just like such Columbia nostalgia for me. I mean, again, I'm from Olney, so we would come up to Columbia every now and then and I feel like I remember coming up here once or twice and I just remember this like it'd be one of those like core summer family memories. You know you would come up and hang out and the water's right there. We now have, you know, the, the playground that we didn't have when I was growing up, but so the kids always love being able to go on the playground. Um, so it's just like a fun, like just different way to get out of the house and, uh, you know, do something with the family. So that's just like near and dear to my heart, which I love.

Speaker 1: 9:35

Um, oh, there's also the amped in the park series over a color burst park. Um, those have select dates as well, so they're not necessary. A lot of. They're usually run on Thursdays, but it's not every single Thursday. Again, we have it linked in our in our website so you can also check out their site to double check the actual dates and the upcoming ones. But those are really fun.

Speaker 1: 9:58

Other ones that I've taken advantage of, not just music wise, but in Color Burst Park, like this past weekend there was something called Kidizen and that was a really fun kid event. So you can check their website too to see some of their upcoming events if they have any more kid ones specifically. But they also do like a fit series of like summer workout classes and I remember I did they've done boxing yoga. F45, which is no longer, uh did a bunch of fun classes, so that was really fun, um, and I remember I there was one summer I did like a ton of them and it was a great way to bring a girlfriend. It was hot, you know, but we would have a great time um, great way for you to try another class, just fun to like be outside in the park. You know what I mean. I feel like anything outside is great, oh.

Speaker 1: 10:54

And the other one is, oh, where did it go? Not, oh, toby's Dinner Theater, the Little Mermaid, is showing all summer. I'm like, oh, this is reminding myself I need to like get tickets because that would also be a really good, um like way to escape the heat. You know what I mean. Obviously you need to buy tickets, but you know a good, uh way to get out with the family, especially if you, if their kids haven't gone, um, if you've never been to toby's theater, um, so, um, actually that's a perfect note to myself to put that on my bucket list. I keep meaning to um, so that's kind of on like the music front of things, we talked through some of the splash pads and getting out to be like to cool off.

Speaker 1: 11:42

And if you didn't see, howard County Library is also doing their summer reading program and, to be honest, in full transparency, I have actually not been to all the Howard County Library. So it's kind of love that this is happening because it's kind of forcing me to go try out some of the other libraries we are. We go to Glenwood a lot because I love the Builders Barn that they have in there. But I recently checked out the Howard County Central Library, which is also again close to kind of downtown Columbia, but they have celebrations throughout the whole summer. They literally have summer reading programs for basically all ages, like you know pre-K to elementary, to your older kids, slash tweens, and then teens and adults and even individuals with academic or learning disabilities. There's literally something for everybody and there's fun ways to get involved with prizes and raffles and just it's a great way to encourage not only kids reading but I think as parents too, when we're like how do we keep these kids, you know, off the devices and technology and how do we balance that? Some of us already have our own summer reading programs from school in addition. So obviously this is the Power County Library balance that Some of us already have our own summer reading programs from school in addition. So obviously this is the Power County Library program is not required.

Speaker 1: 13:01

But you know, I know that we love going to the library during the summer because it's again another great way to beat the heat. You can do it for free, especially on those days where I'm like I want to get out of the house and I don't want to go to a cuz, it's too hot. Perfect way to, like you know, go to a library that you haven't been to before. Right, and check out these, basically these game boards, and have your kids work on some of these challenges by reading some of these different books. Do it together, do it as a family.

Speaker 1: 13:27

I know, when I was there, I picked up a few books myself. Granted, it's anyway, it's not exactly leisure reading for me. I picked up some books on um, you know, thyroid stuff. Again, not the, the sexy stuff, as you may, um, because, uh, I want to read it more than that, and actually I was trying to find, um, a thyroid cookbook, so I wanted to learn how to make more like meals, um, but the location I was at was out of it. So I'm going to keep looking for the other locations, see if they have it.

Speaker 1: 13:53

But that's my challenge for myself, right, while also helping reinforce that with my kids, because I know already, like they, you know, the cycle of I'm bored or they just want to watch TV and they just want to do that. So it's, it's hard when it feels like the burden is on us and the reality is, you know, I think the majority of us aren't teachers, or aren't? You know educators and great at pre planning your day, especially if you've got older kids, like you know, tweens or teens that kind of want to be independent, do their own thing. Or if you're also like me, like a working mom, working parent, you know it's hard to like. How do I pre plan their day and manage mine Like it's? The answer is it's challenging. My goal is not to overwhelm you or make you feel like, oh my God, there's so much I should do and feel guilty that you don't get to do it. If you think for a minute that I get to do all this stuff, there's times that I'm better at it than others, you know, and there's plenty of things that I've tried the past but haven't been able to make it to this year, because that's just life, you know and you do what you can. I'm also saying that as an affirmation for myself to hear it too, because please know that I am very much on that journey with you.

Speaker 1: 15:08

All right, so we talked about farmer's markets, splash pads. What did I say? Live music events pads um, what did I say? Live music events? Um, and you know there's plenty of other places too that are to have really fun, like music, like reckless shepherd has really cool band lineups, um, you know, I mean, there's lots of other places you can check that out. Oh, but I was mentioning the, the summer reading program, um, yeah, um, so that'll be a fantastic way to check out other things.

Speaker 1: 15:35

I really, by the time this podcast drops, we'll probably be past 4th of July, so, um, I probably won't go into it too heavy, but obviously the lakefront is coming up, um, which is obviously Howard County's pivotal spot to see. Um, let's see. Oh, there's a sparkle and swim at the Pearl this Friday at 5 PM. Ooh, oh, wait, that sounds so cute. Catonsville, 4th of July, if you know. You know, catonsville is pretty darn epic and they go hard and I love that for them. Confession I have actually never taken my kids to see fireworks yet. My daughter is six and will be seven later this year and I think the reality is is like Fourth of July I mean this year's on a Friday, right, so we like could, but they like they don't start till 930.

Speaker 1: 16:25

And to be honest, you know it, anywhere going to a large crowd of people with little kids for me is a little bit overwhelming. It's like, oh, my gosh, like you know where am I going to find parking if I don't get down there like early enough? And are we going to be safe? And I mean, first of all, howard County is immensely safe and I'm not worried about that. It's just the sheer mass of crowds. So for us, we've often just like stayed home because my kids are little and it's like way past their bedtime, so it's been hard to kind of juggle. We've been considering it a little bit. We're like, well, we couldn't have them stay up late and blah, blah, blah. But you know, it also kind of depend on how the weather shakes out. I think the weather looks good, but, um, so, yeah, confession, we haven't actually taken them to see the fireworks yet.

Speaker 1: 17:16

I love fireworks, I really really do. They're like one of my favorite things, but I do, as the older we've gotten, we do hate the insane crowds, the parking, the trying to find your seed, and so those are the hashtag adulting logistics that you get into when you're older. So, but, anyways, the Cat Catonsville, one epic, epic, even if all you do is also go to the parade, that's pretty darn amazing. So, um, where is hold on? I'm trying to find my other. Oh, yes, there's also, we have a cute one, um that was shared earlier this year on um parks and hiking. Um, again, might not be the your top thing if the weather's super hot, but just again, just a fun way to kind of get out and explore.

Speaker 1: 18:04

Um great way to do like, do like nature trails, nature walks with the kids. Um, you know, I feel like, uh, a couple years ago we'd never taken the kids to wild lake and I was like, how have we never been there? You know what I mean. It's not one that we go to all all the time, it's not like always. I feel like the hits are like centennial, um, and like kid mccundy, are kind of, at least for us, like the top, like two, and then elkhorn. I like going to that one a lot because I like to go running there, um, but I don't take the kids there as often, so it's like, oh, like I should take them there and um, what's it called? Uh, and wildlife, a little bit, just just a little bit different, right and um, uh, and there's also patapsco valley park, um, which I in my 20, would go there a lot, and I don't know that I've actually brought the kids there. So that will also be a cool option to do.

Speaker 1: 18:55

So great way to you know whether you want to do bikes or just walking. We were trying to encourage the kids to ride their bikes. My daughter just learned how to ride a bike this week and I'm like a little emotional about it, but I'm so proud of her. Um, but next we'll be working on my son. So, um, you know, great way to kind of get like some exercise out there. Again, there's a zillion playgrounds, um, I'm sure you know, and that can be a fun way to kind of like you know you could make a playground bucket list almost and just kind of of check them off as you go, maybe make that a fun activity for the kids of once we visit all these parks and playgrounds, you get whatever or you can earn a prize, or you can earn a treat, or you can earn an extra hour of device time. I don't know, I am not the parenting expert, so don't don't ask me about all of that. Those are just some off the top suggestions.

Speaker 1: 19:54

Other things that I love we always get a Maryland Zoo membership every single year. Same with Clark's Iliok Farm. That's like right down the road from us. My kids still love it there. They are five and six um, my kids still love it. They're. They are five and six um, and they still literally get to the farm and run around like crazy.

Speaker 1: 20:13

Um, like I said, my son will be going into kindergarten, my daughter will be going to first grade um, and we can spend easily hours there. We'll often, um, you know, I'll still even pack a lunch and that way we can just like chill in one of the pavilion areas. But Clark's is great um, the zoo I love. I usually can plan that on days when it's not going to be super, super hot, but again, I can easily spend hours there. And when we go to the zoo um, we almost always do the um carousel right, that's what it's called, carousel um, I feel like we always like walk around, get lunch or, sorry, eat lunch, and then we do a carousel before we head home. So, and I always go, usually go in the morning, because that way we can get head home and it not be too crazy hot.

Speaker 1: 20:59

The other membership, so the three memberships that I always get zoo oh, I lied for hold on zoo Clark, sealy Oak, robinson Nature Center or hold on zoo Clarks, hillioke, robinson Nature Center and Maryland Science Center. So Robinson Nature Center I love, and if you live in Howard County I believe it's 50 bucks for the year you have to show proof of address, but you can also be a non-resident. You just pay like a little bit more, whatever. But, um, they have a really cute um nature like playground um outside, and there are some other trails around there too. Um, inside I feel like, uh, you, I mean, we can spend an hour or two, depending on how, like what the weather's like, um, because inside is a little smaller and they do camps there, so you can't like use all the like. You know a lot of the rooms downstairs are used for activities, but that's where, like, the outdoor play area is really cute. They have a great room inside where you can see some like reptiles and animals and have some interactive exhibits, so it's really cool um, so, and that's again super cheap um, great option. And they also do have some cool um family events you can check their events calendar for as well.

Speaker 1: 22:16

So robinson nature center and then maryland science center. Um, they run a group on um every year I just keep forgetting it. I spend like 80 90 bucks for a family of four, and we just went recently and, oh my gosh, it's, that's again a great heat day escape. You know, obviously you gotta drive up to Baltimore, but it's only like what, 20, 30 minutes and again, we can also spend hours there, hours there. They love it.

Speaker 1: 22:43

Our favorite is the I'm forgetting, forgetting if you've been there, you know, I'm just complaining. If you go to the top floor and kind of walk to the left of the back, it's like their kids room, right, and it's a monitored door and they have like a counter so they only allow a certain number of people in. So it's very like, safe and regulated, but only kids up to a certain age. Like, I don't even know if the limit is like 10 or maybe it's younger than that, but something like that. And great for if you have babies, infants, toddlers. Again, my kids are five and six and we can still spend so much time in there. They have the biggest water table. It's so cool, um, so many interactive toys, um, I mean again, there's just really, every time I go to the science center, there's no way that we even scratch the surface of getting everything done. But, um, awesome, awesome, awesome option. Um, so I mean for our summer bucket list, for sure, we'll always include the zoo I love going there a couple times Clark's Robinson Nature Center, science Center and basically everything else I listed off here. You know, like doing movie night, summer concerts, you know, I mean, those are to me some of like the quintessential Columbia things that you just have to do, and, of course, you know, cooling off and the splash pads, going to the pool, oh, oh my gosh, and I know we have a blog on this somewhere.

Speaker 1: 24:09

Hold on, I was going to say berry picking is another one of my like summer faves that I have to do. Of course, like July is great because, um, it's peak berry season, um, strawberries are done, strawberries are May, um, but, but I'm trying to pull this up here. So one of my other favorite things to do during the summer is berry picking, and there's a couple of different farms, a couple of different places that you can check out, but now is definitely the season for blackberries, blueberries and even peaches, if they're available, you know, at some of their local places, if they're available, you know, at some of their local places. I think Boggers is a big one, but it's like close to like 50 minutes away. Laerland is another great option for us local in Howard County and then there's Butler's kind of on that um, uh, montgomery County line. There's also Rock Hill Orchard that I love too. Rock Hill is also on that, like Howard County MoCo line, um, but those are some of my favorites.

Speaker 1: 25:17

I mean, the reality is like it's also very hot and I feel like, cause you're like you're in the fields and you know it might be harder with like little kids and I feel like, like the times I've done it, the kids were exhausted and I brought them probably every year and I still do it. My daughter probably likes it more than my son like. So this year when I went strawberry picking, I brought my daughter. She loved helping me, but my son could probably care less. Um, but I love when I can go. I try to wait where I can go get the blueberries and blackberries at the same time, and then again if the, if the farm has peaches, ideally I'd love to do all three. So that's definitely on my bucket list for sure, because I'm a fiend for all things berries, especially in this economy, right? So yeah, I mean those are definitely what I would consider the hits, if you may, some of my summer faves.

Speaker 1: 26:04

I mean, of course, if you're into some local staycations, staying at places like Turf Valley is an awesome option. It's just like a gorgeous resort, just like nestled right up in Ellicott City there is Merriweather Lake House Hotel. It's beautiful, right on the lakefront. One year we did our anniversary there. It was great because they have the rooftop pool Absolutely gorgeous. And, of course, when we go into the eastern shore we go to Rehoboth every year. And then there's some great spots in Kent Island that I visited last year, and Hershey Park is another which that is also on our list this year to do a day trip to Hershey Park. So, yeah, I hope I gave you more than enough options, but that's some of my take on some of my summer faves.

Speaker 1: 26:53

The reality is again, as a working, working mom, I'm still just like you, juggling the chaos of the kids being home. You know, shuffling work when I can, when I have the child care. So I feel like again this this year, specifically because my business is busier, definitely doing probably less activities during the week than I used to, which hurts my mama heart a little bit. But it's hard when it's like I love this business so much and I'm throwing myself so much into it because trying to make it grow, you know, comes with sacrifices and things like that. But it also makes me really grateful that I did have the time when I was more of a stay-at-home mom or in those early years of building the business, to dedicate to being with them and spending lots of time with them, to go on all these adventures, because now I get to share them with you possible.

Speaker 1: 27:49

Be sure to visit our website to check out all of our recent blogs, because it's like the most annoying, like call to action for myself, but like literally because, again, my brain is this big, this big and it can only hold so much information. This is why we have the website with our events calendar and the blog, so you can, we have all the information, so you don't have to worry about it, right? And, of course, you know, on Instagram you'll see some of our latest posts where we try to highlight and share some of those things, share some of our adventures, and you can always see some possible events that pop up on Hoco Happenings we can line up. And if you're hearing this and you're not on our email list, be sure to subscribe to our email list. That goes out twice a month, so we will try to keep you, just like I said, in the know. So, thank you so much.

Speaker 1: 28:31

If you have any suggestions that I you're like oh my god, this is an absolute fave, you have to do this Girl, let me know. I don't care if it's ho-co or not. Like, that's the whole point. Like I need to know and even if I can't get to it right away, like I will go on the list, right? You know we all have the ever running list. So anyways, as I say, like, subscribe, share and cheers to summer. Thanks for tuning into this episode of Mom Talk, maryland. If you loved it, leave a review, share it with a friend or tag me at thecolumbiamom on Instagram. I'd love to hear what you think and don't forget to follow the show so you never miss an episode. Until next time, keep showing up, keep supporting local and keep being the incredible mom, woman, human that you are.