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Character photo crusade at Six Flags

Posted on July 13, 2009 10:00 pm by TheAngelForever

Last year when we went to Six Flags NHL wanted nothing to do with the characters walking around the park. He would shut down and refuse to move if they were close. Eventually we proved to him that if he did not go to them, they were not going to approach him. When we booked our trip to Disney World in May we were a little nervous. We figured by the end of the trip NHL would either need therapy or would finally get over his fear of the big costumes.

Over the week at Disney World we slowly moved our way up to the characters. Things did not go well at our initial dinner the night we arrived. The screams at Chef Mickey coming from our table were quite loud from both of the boys. Soon after we managed to get the boys with Pocohontas and do a family photo with Lilo and Stitch. JL went into some photos (like Buzz Lightyear) with both JSL and NHL to continue the progress. By the end of the week NHL was running to Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Pluto and Goofy!

We were curious to see how NHL would do when we went back to Six Flags on Sunday. Would he gravitate to the Looney Tune characters and Wiggles favorites? He talked about seeing Henry, Dorothy, and Wags all the way up.

When we walked into the park several of the characters were waiting to meet and greet people. Daffy Duck was first. NHL was not too sure about this. As you will see JL jumped into the shot, after handing a screaming terrified JSL back to me.

Next up was Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo. JL casually moved back of of the shot and NHL was fine with it.

When we went to Wiggles World he saw Captain Feathersword and Dorothy come out and RAN to them. Victory was ours!

After the Wiggles show he finished off getting some additional photos with the rest of the Wiggles gang including the Wiggly Dancer.

Later on we caught up with Sylvester, the Tazmanian Devil and Pepe Le Pew.

Then right when we were leaving we saw the Six Flags guy from the wacky commercials. Even JSL thought he was kind of funny and did not scream.

We will see if JSL will warm up to the characters. We figure seeing his big brother happy this year should help. Season passes and more opportunities should also keep things going in the right direction, but only time will tell.

Categories:
Disney fun jl jsl looking back my boys nhl photos summer weekend

Follow the M&M Road

Posted on July 12, 2009 11:04 pm by TheAngelForever

Today was supposed to be a gorgeous day. Thanks to a little pressure from Nana, we decided to take the boys to Six Flags. In the fall, we upgraded our tickets to season passes for 2009. Prior to this, we had not gone this summer season. We arrived by Six Flags at about noon and went to a pizza place for a quick much less expensive lunch. Then we went back to the park. Thanks to our parking pass we did not have to pay almost $10 for a space. We bought nothing at the park. I had packed some snacks in our bag and lugged our Nalgene water bottles to refill.

We had a very nice time at the park. The boys loved Wiggles World, Looney Tunes kid area, and NHL had fun getting his photos taken with all of the characters. JL and NHL loved getting soaked on the Raging River and we all had a blast on the Bobsled ride. Lots more photos to come soon. Tonight I will leave you with some photos of the M&M Road that we found. As we were going over the bridge I could not help myself and think: "Follow the M&M Road. Follow the M&M Road. Follow, follow, follow, follow…follow the M&M Road!"

Here are some more photos of the very bright and colorful M&M Road over the bridge.

More photos and tales from the weekend coming soon.

Categories:
fun jl jsl my boys nhl photos summer

Enter the world of Berenstain Bears

Posted on July 10, 2009 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

Welcome to Aloha Friday! This weeks question will take you back to your childhood and make you use your imagination. Here it is:

Have you ever wished that you could jump into the world of a book you read as a child or read to your children? What book would it be and why?

As a child, parent and teacher I have often thought about this as I read amazing stories with beautiful illustrations. Of course, I never thought that it would actually happen in my life. A few weeks ago the world of the Berenstain Bears came alive when we went to visit the Strong Museum of Play. When I was growing up I read lots of the Berenstain Bear books and loved them. NHL has read a few and we now plan on many more.

When you walk up to the area you are greeted by the Berenstain Bear family. Mama, Papa, Brother and Sister are all waiting to welcome you to the amazing world that they live in.

There are seven areas to explore within the Berenstain Bear area. Here is information from the Strong Museum website and photos of the kids playing within them:

Mama Bear’s Quilt Shop: Design your own quilt or work at the counter to sell and buy quilts, just like Mama Bear! Centuries-old quilts from Strong’s collection decorate the shop.

Papa Bear’s Woodworking Shop: Put on a work apron and build your own creations with pretend tools and wooden construction toys.

Bear Family Restaurant: Be a customer or part of the restaurant staff in this pretend diner inspired by Burger Bear.

Dr. Bearson’s Dentist Office: Don a lab coat and play dentist with a giant set of teeth and oversized dental tools.

Farmer Ben’s Farm: Visit a barn, barnyard, and fruit and vegetable stand filled with learning activities.

1. Cousin S selling produce, 2. The little guy wants some fruit, 3. Sending things up and away, 4. Ready to catch the items, 5. Time to collect eggs, 6. Are they good or bad eggs

Brother and Sister Bear’s Club Houses: Make tin-can telephone calls from club house to club house and play silly sentence spinning games.

Bear Country School Art Class: Create a Berenstain Bears-themed masterpiece to take home or plink out a familiar tune on the Bear Band xylophone.

We spent quite a lot of time in this part of the museum. My two boys and niece loved running around and exploring all of the items within. Of course, now the boys want to read more Berenstain Bear books, which is fine with me!

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Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the Mr. Linky there if you are participating.

Aloha #56

Categories:
Aloha Friday books cousins fun interesting jsl nhl photos play time road trip

Tennis time with 15-Love

Posted on July 7, 2009 9:47 am by TheAngelForever

When I was growing up the neighborhood kids used to play tennis a lot. At first we would simply hit the bouncing yellow ball around the street in front of our houses. As we got older we bought more sophisticated tennis rackets and started to play on actual tennis courts. My brother and I used to go to play for fun during the summer months and would have a great time.

Several weeks ago NHL came home from school with the paper advertising a program called 15-Love. I had heard fabulous things about 15-Love and was intrigued. They actually have a beginner programs for children that are 4-6 years old. From their website: " 15-LOVE’s mission is to serve inner-city youth, ages 4 and up. We welcome everyone, of every background and tennis ability, including summer lessons for adults." The program for kids is 30-60 minutes once a week and at a park close to where we live. It seemed like a nice option to add to NHL’s summer.

Last week we went to the first session. I was floored with how many children showed up. It was a nice sized group of 4-6 year olds, plus a lot in the next age group. Clearly 15-Love had done a great job getting the word out about their program for the kids of this area.

NHL was very excited. He has never played tennis before, unless you count using the Wii. He quickly ran onto the court to learn all about tennis. The kids did some drills where they walked the tennis ball "dog" up and down the court, dribbled the ball with their rackets and listened to the instructors.

1. Waiting for directions, 2. Walking the tennis ball, 3. Taking the "dog" down the cour, 4. Enjoying the activity, 5. Trying to bounce the ball, 6. Showing he is listening

The instructors were fabulous. They were patient with the kids, really explained things in child friendly terms and they were not afraid to work with the kids when they were frustrated with an activity.

At the end of the hour NHL declared that he loved tennis. He talked about going to buy his own tennis racket. I asked him if he was excited to come again and he said he could not wait! Of course JSL may have a different opinion. The little guy was definitely bored just watching everything going on. Eventually he got out of his stroller and found a stray tennis ball that kept him amused …along with his shadow.

1. Having fun with a tennis ball and shadow, 2. Hey Mom look at me, 3. Running near the court

This week I will definitely bring some items to keep JSL entertained more while NHL is out on the court. I do not want to see this little face pouting again.

Categories:
exercise interesting jsl milestone nhl photos summer

Red, White and Blueberry goodness

Posted on July 6, 2009 11:18 am by TheAngelForever

Happy belated 4th of July to everyone! We were lucky enough to have gorgeous weather this 4th of July. Of course after weeks of rain, we almost had forgotten what to do with sunshine. In the morning we went to the free Home Depot event where NHL was able to make and take home a project (more on this soon).

After that we went to the grocery store to pick up some cherries, fruit and a few other items. Then we went to BJ’s to buy diapers, wipes, a new toaster oven and other items. While there something else caught our eyes. Yes, we opted to splurge and buy this cheesecake for the 4th of July.

I called my father to see if he and my mother would share it with us after dinner. In the end we were invited to have dinner with Nana and Papa. We had a fun evening. Yummy hamburgers, corn on the cob (which NHL refused after Friday night), pierogies, and salad.

After dinner we went outside with the kids to run around some. We came back in to have dessert. There were grapes, watermelon and of course the cheesecake. Everything was delicious and the little guy especially loved the watermelon. He never tried the cheesecake – strange child!

After that everyone piled onto the couch to watch the 4th of July celebration from Washington DC. The boys were anxiously waiting to see the crew from Sesame Street. Of course my father had fun teasing me about my former crush on Barry Manilow when I was in preschool.Oy!

The boys loved watching Sesame Street and managed to stay awake to see the fireworks on the show. Once they were over we packed the sleepy boys up and took them home. Much to our surprise both of the boys slept until 8:20 Sunday morning! This is something that never happens. They are both usually up well before 7:00.

So what did you do for the 4th of July this year?