on our way back from melbourne, florida, we were able to swing through jacksonville and go on a brewery tour of intuition ale works! my old buddy willy, who i used to homebrew with, is the brewmaster there.

it was a very nice brewery! it was way bigger than i expected and although it was super hot, it was really fun to check out. they had various wood casks up front with special beers fermenting and then a ton of stainless steel kettles with their rotating beers being brewed. we also saw the canning process, which was cool, and their room of empty cans, which i don’t think i had ever seen before.

next to the brewery was a tap room featuring about 15 intuition beers on draft. they had a huge variety on tap, including: ipa, double ipa, saison, stout, black ale, pale ale, black lager, belgian tripel, farmhouse ale and even a strong ale aged in a tequila barrel with blood orange puree! i was very impressed to say the least! i think my favorite was the ra saison, although they were all very tasty. the tap room had a very cozy atmosphere and a bunch of board games to play while you drink. they also offered a mug club for the locals.

if you are ever in the jacksonville area, be sure to visit intuition ale works! the tap room is open tuesday through friday from 3pm to 11pm and on saturday from 1pm until 11pm. they also have brewery tours by appointment tuesday through friday at 3pm. it is highly recommended!

intuition also released a cookbook featuring over 80 recipes made from their beer. it’s a nice hardback with some cool ideas of things to make with beer. you can order one here.

– ryan

intuition ale works

720 king street
jacksonville, florida 32204
904.683.7720

tuesday to friday from 3:00pm to 11:00pm
saturday from 1:00pm to 11:00pm

we were able to find this amazing vintage sesame street record player for clementine! she likes when her papa plays records in the kitchen, especially charley brown, so we thought it would be fun for her to have her own player.

this one was under $10 after shipping, so even it gets broken it’s not the worst thing in the world. we also grabbed some sweet sesame street book & record singles from the early 70s. you can find sets of them on ebay for around $7-$8. they are perfect for kids to scratch up and learn how to use a record player. clementine loves taking her records in and out of their sleeves and also dancing to the 70s intro song.

– ryan

clementine’s favorite book these days is a little book of sloth by lucy cooke. it’s the cutest book ever! it’s filled with photos of sloths hugging stuffed animals, as well as other sloths, and details on their daily lives. clem has learned a lot from the book and now wants to visit the sloths at the atlanta zoo anytime we head there. if you’re looking for a new book for your children or need a great gift, this book will definitely bring a smile to anyones face. visit slothville for more information and other adorable videos.

by the way, the atlanta zoo recently partnered with animal planet to create a live sloth cam!!! we can now watch these slow-moving animals from the comfort of our laptop.

we were able to find a little book of sloth at the little shop of stories in downtown decatur! this adorable independent children’s bookstore is in the decatur square right next to starbucks. it’s filled with great books and toys for kids of all ages. they also offer story readings, summer camps, book groups and more, so be sure to visit and help keep such independent stores alive!

– ryan

little shop of stories

133 east court square #a,
decatur, ga 30030
404-373-6300

i recently discovered this great blog by australian illustrator james gulliver hancock. hancock set out on the ambitious goal of hand-drawing every building in new york in 2010. he still has a lot of buildings to go, however you can now purchase a book featuring every drawing he’s done so far.

here is a new york times interview with james from a few months ago.

– ryan

clementine and grey recently had a cute reading session! hop on pop by dr. seuss was their book of choice, which also happens to be one of clementine’s favorite.

here are some photos from clementine reading around the same age!

– ryan & gub

check out the amazing sneaker coloring book by designers henrik klingel & daniel jarosch of pknts! it’s fun for both adults and children!

– ryan & gub

acclaimed children’s author and illustrator maurice sendak passed away today. he was best known for where the wild things are & in the night kitchen, classics that most children of our generation grew up with.

for an amazing remembrance of sendak, albeit super sad, head to npr’s fresh air. the program looks back at various interviews terry gross had with sendak over the years along with links to the original interviews.

maurice will be missed, but at least his stories live on.

– ryan & gub

we’ve had lots of reading time with clementine recently! dr. seuss and home for a bunny, gub’s old favorite, have been in heavy rotation.

do you remember this psa!

– ryan & gub