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Explore Montrose with Kids – Our Scavenger Hunt

by Jill Jarvis Leave a Comment

My kids and I love Downtown Houston. We’ve been making up lists and heading out on urban scavenger hunts. You can see the last couple of hunts HERE and HERE. For Mother’s Day last weekend, my kids were sure that we needed to celebrate with another scavenger hunt. Flattered that they like the outings with mom, I decided to explore another part of Houston.

This time we decided to explore Montrose. Our list of items to find or do was:

  • Find a big grey building.
  • Find one red swing.
  • Take a picture of water.
  • Go to school.
  • Eat a picnic snack.
  • Read a book in a park.
  • Look at photographs.
  • Eat lunch at a restaurant.
  • Drink a lot of iced tea.

We printed out our lists, got our clipboards, pens, backpacks and were off. Our first stop was “lunch at a restaurant”. There are a lot of options in the area, but we decided to try something new and head to Firkin and Phoenix. I was a little concerned about taking my kids to a pub, but since it was my Mother’s Day, I decided to try it out. To my surprise, the pub had high chairs and kids menus and was very welcoming. The English style pub was perfect for all of us.

After lunch, and “drinking lots of iced tea” (my favorite), we drove over to the Menil Campus. Here there is a lot of free parking and we were able to park and walk for the rest of our adventure.

Our first stop was the Menil Collection, housed in a “big grey building”. In fact, every house and building in the campus is the trademark grey color. We did not go inside, but we could have. The Menil is free to the public.

Instead, we went across the street to the Menil Park. Here we found one lone “red swing” hanging from a huge oak tree. We found a spot and “ate a picnic snack” and “read a book”. After climbing some trees, we went in search of some water.

Right next to the park is the Rothko Chapel. In front of the Chapel is a reflecting pond were Joe “took a picture”. We took a quick trip into the Chapel, which is also free, before making our final two stops.

Just beyond the Rothko Chapel is St. Thomas University. The small campus is very well kept and has a lot of green space. My kids ran through the grass in the center of the campus while I sat in the shade and checked off “go to school”.

The last item on our list was “look at photographs”. Lucky for us, just one block north of the Menil is Houston Center for Photography. We went into this free gallery, looked at the pictures and enjoyed the air conditioning. We made a small donation and crossed the last item off our list.

At each stop, my kids were very serious about checking the list, finding the right words and checking the items off. Our little tour through Montrose made for a perfect Sunday afternoon.

Filed Under: All, Montrose, Scavenger Hunts, Things to do May 17, 2012

About Jill Jarvis

Jill Jarvis is the owner of JillBJarvis.com, a BigKidSmallCity.com and Things to Do in Houston, with Kids, blog!

She is the mom of 4 and started the website years ago... when she was tired of constantly cleaning up the same mess in the family room.

Another mom showed her that you could just go do fun things in Houston, without hours of planning.

This inspired the blog and changed everything about how she enjoyed life in Houston, with kids!

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jill-jarvis-bigkidsmallcity-circle-300 Welcome!  JillBJarvis.com is the go-to blog for things to do in Houston with kids!  It is upbeat and dedicated to making our big city feel small.   START HERE!    

On this website you will find a full list of Houston weekly events, things to do around the city, travel ideas and resources for parents.

I know just what it’s like to be overwhelmed by work, life and family. I spent a lot of years traveling for work, missing big milestones for my kids and feeling bad about everything.

I started this website to make a list of all the events happening around Houston and then pick one to enjoy with my kids. And instead of thinking of all the things I was missing, I started to enjoy the things we were doing together.

If you are a parent that is feeling overwhelmed by all the things you could be doing in Houston… please just use our weekly lists and daily posts as suggestions. Pick one thing to do with your family and intentionally ignore the rest!

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