Catching up: Another Favorite

All of last year, we intended (with our friends the Cunninghams) to visit Science City in Union Station. It's one of the few outings that we failed to follow through on. However, C and I were able to forge some new memories with our new friends, the Registers, there! First off, I was impressed by how much there really was for small children to do. I had expected the facility to cater moreso to school-age children as opposed to my little preschooler. I was wrong. The first thing the girls discovered was a huge tree, with stairs so they could "climb". Then they found the music park. Amazing. They ran on the piano, checked out light-reactive chimes, banged on a giant xylophone, played trashcan drums, and activated wind chimes. I think they spent the longest time experimenting with sound out of everything they found. They played with water flow, were mystified by the illusions, monkeyed around in the indoor playground and explored tons more! I don't think they stopped moving during the 2 hours we spent there. In fact, if they hadn't gotten hungry, I don't know that our visit would have been that short! This is definitely going on our list of "repeaters", the outings we'll go on again, and again.

Eastward bound

Our big trip for the summer of 2009 was back East to see Nana and Papa Wong. F, understandably, was a little nostalgic for New Jersey and the sights from his growing-up years. We got in some shopping, of course, as a trip with F is never without a trip to the local mall. Our best outings, however were to the New Jersey Children's museum and the Imagine That! children's museum in nearby (30-45 minute drives) townships. The NJ Children's museum is truly a hidden treasure. We spent the entire day in the facility, with a break to eat lunch. The museum is in a warehouse sized building and while open-concept with very smooth flow from section to section, is distinctly divided into a multitude of thematic learning areas. I was awed by the sheer number of things C got to experience and play at during our visit. She dressed up as a princess in the castle sector, a cowboy in the old west, went fishing in the oceanic, dug for dinosaur bones, flew a heliocoptor, interacted with virtual reality, took care of a house and babies, did a little ballet, went grocery shopping, made music, delivered mail, and served at her own little restaraunt! There was more, but I'm at a loss to remember just now. Imagine That! had just about as many exploration options, all divided by half-walls, so parents could look out over the whole room and observe whatever their children were involved in. That, I really liked.

Returning home to Nana's house after our outings, we had just as good a time just hanging out at home. F was impressed by all the changes Nana and Papa have made to his childhood home, improvements in flow as well as appearance. F's term, "updating" is appropriate, as the house seems much more contemporary to me. We brought along several of C's animal friends and ponies, so she entertained her Nana with them, making use of the ample space for running and dancing.

Build-a-Friend

Okay, our last Orlando post. One of our "breaks" from the parks was a trip to a local mall that has a Build-a-Bear Workshop. F misses so many of our family outings with being a soldier and all, that I wanted him to come along for this special moment for our girl. So, even though we have a B-a-B Wksp locally, we went to the one in Orlando. C picked out a kitty instead of a bear (after I talked her out of the turkey...just couldn't see the appeal of that lasting). At first she couldn't figure out why the kitty was so flat, then she got to the point in the line where she could see another child's bear being filled with stuffing and she felt much better about it. Her little face was so concerned as she stepped on the pump that pushed the stuffing into the animal, and so awed to see the kitty plumping up.  

It took her a minute or two to figure out what the clerk was telling her to do with the heart, but eventually she smiled and enjoyed it, but was solemn again when she put it into her kitty.

Then, of course, C had to kiss her kitty when the clerk finally handed her back. 

The next stop was the fluff-bath. This was possibly C's favorite part of assembling her kitty. She kept wanting to go back and brush her again and again. We've gotten her a brush (shhh) like this for Christmas. 

Dressing kitty was quite an event as well. First she picked out the sparkly red shoes and then found a dress to go with them...big surprise, a Snow White costume. C put it on mostly by herself, with minimal help from Mommy. Now that we're home, the Snow White outfit has taken up with C's basket of costumes, labeled a "costume" by C. Apparently kitties don't wear clothes, just costumes. However, she's been named "Snow Kitty." 

"Seaing" the World (SeaWorld)

Talk about a company that shows its support to the military--Anheuser-Busch, who owns SeaWorld. Because we're a military family, we got one day of free admission to the park. One day of admission may not seem like a lot, but when we looked at the price guide at the admission gate, we were impressed at the show of financial support that one day's admission really is. Neither F nor I drink beer, but for those who do have an occasional pint, you might want to think about supporting Busch and their support of the troops.

We did spend one day in Orlando at SeaWorld, and again C proved that she just likes to take pictures with characters--this time with a dolphin, whale and (while not a character persay) one of the clydesdales. We didn't intend to skip the shows, but the one we wanted to see first was full by the time we got there, so we went instead to "Shamu's Happy Harbor" to play for a little while. It was far more robust in the rides area than I expected, and we spent the majority of our day there. As we surveyed the rides, it seemed C was going to be too short to ride anything, then we found one that she was tall enough for, and we rode on it. The line was non-existent, so I had a chance to visit with the very personable young lady who was operating the ride. She said that most people didn't see that the heights are for unaccompanied riders, and that C could ride on all but one ride there, as long as she had a parent with her. Much encouraged, we were off! C wanted to make all the spinning rides spin (she had a great time making Mommy sick to her stomach) and at this park she was finally re-interested in the carousel. Her favorite was probably the miniature "space shot" ride that goes straight up and bounces up and down until finally it reaches "down". F tried to take her up on a very high (3 stories!) climbing net structure, but C (to put it mildly) freaked out and pulled on his watch, breaking it. I only mention this because after they climbed down from the thing, F managed to find all the pieces and put it back together! We probably had the most ride-time at SeaWorld, even though that wasn't necessarily the original intent in visiting the park. We did see a few marine animals though, the baby dolphins and the penguins. These days C is finding it delightful to show mommy how a penguin walks.

Up...and down...Up...and down...
Spin Mommy, spin!
If a character whale is this much bigger than C, I hate to imagine her next to the real thing!
You decide, who's more enamored with whom--the "dolphin" with C or C with the "dolphin?"

Universal Appeal

On of our other stops in Orlando was Universal Studios: both the original and Islands of Adventure. We spent two days at Islands of Adventure, mostly at Suess Landing. This led to the discovery that it didn't so much matter which characters C was posing with, as the fact that she was posing with characters. Prior to our visit, I'd read a few Dr. Suess stories to C, with something of limited interest from her. However, she wanted to get pictures with the Grinch, the Cat in the Hat, Thing 1 and Thing 2 as well as Sam-I-am and the lead from Green Eggs and Ham. I pointed them out and she eagerly climbed out of her stroller to stand in line for pictures. I expected her to be very excited about the Caro-Suessel (A Dr. Suess style carousel), but that was not the big hit. She enjoyed the Cat in the Hat storybook ride, and the train that went around the whole "island" (that she was just barely tall enough to ride). The popular attraction though, the one she clamored to ride again and again, was the One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue fish ride...probably because it had fish that sprayed water at the riders and she got to get wet. During her naps I got to ride on a few grown-up rides: the Hulk, Spiderman, and the Dueling Dragons. Fortunately for us, the days we went were light on the crowd factor, so I didn't spend the whole naptime in a line, but riding! Whee! We also wandered through the other "islands" looking at the shops and finding something for C here and there. In Toon Lagoon she spent a good hour on "Me Ship, the Olive," a playground of sorts, and in the Marvel area, she met and posed with Spiderman, who was astonished that she knew who he was.

On our last day in Orlando, we didn't have to be at the airport until 3:00 pm, so we were able to spend the morning at the regular Universal Studios. It was a good amount of time, as there was little to appeal to C there. When we arrived, we were fortunate enough to see her favorite character as we were walking in, heading for the Nickelodeon kidzone. That's right, Curious George was right there on the "main street." Again, she proved that the appeal was in posing with a character, any character and not just ones she knew, as she also posed eagerly with Woody and Winny Woodpecker, Bullwinkle and Scooby Doo. We spent an hour in Feivel's playground, filled with oversize objects that help you imagine you're the size of a mouse. She had her first experience with a ball-pit there. Then, we rode her first real roller coaster, which once again she was barely tall enough to ride: Woody Woodpecker's Funhouse Coaster. Unlike the "coaster" at Worlds of Fun, this one actually had a steep drop or two, and several rushing, sharp turns. She loved it. From there we visited another playground-style area, this one themed on Curious George. Most of this was water-play, so we weren't able to enjoy it as much as I'm sure she would have liked, but since we were flying back to Kansas that night, I told her we couldn't play in anything that would get us wet, and she obeyed my request. She did really enjoy pushing the buttons in the circus tent that made the sounds of the other animals we see on Curious George.

Ooh, ooh, what does this button do?
Did you know I'm small enough to ride a spoon?
Up fish, up fish, up, up, up! Down fish, down fish, down, down, down!
C and Daddy on the Caro-Suessel.
Now she recognizes the Cat in the Hat on books, on souvenirs, and we read Dr. Suess a whole lot more!

Disney Delight

In November, we got to take a little vacation. We met up with F's parents (Hi Nana and Papa!) in Orlando and visited DisneyWorld. If you ask C where we went, she'll tell you we went to Disneytown. She'll also tell you all about the characters we saw and the rides and seeing Playhouse Disney Live! (twice).  We didn't tell her where we were going until we were actually headed to the park in the morning. She was so excited when she saw the Minnie and Mickey on the sides of the entrance gate. If she could have bounced in her carseat, I'm pretty sure she would have. She enjoyed the rides, but she was truly delighted to meet the characters. Her favorite rides were It's a Small World  and the Magic Carpets from Aladdin. I was really impressed that C stood in line so well to see the characters (50 minutes for Tigger and Pooh). Mostly she just wanted to hug them, feeling like they were her friends; she knew them so well from the shows she watches. Of course, we didn't spend all our time meeting characters. I think she played for an hour in the "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" playground and another hour in the "Hundred Acre Wood" playground. We spent three days visiting Disney parks, and at the end, when when we were leaving to go to the airport, of course she said she didn't want to go home. She "wanted to ride more rides!" (specifically Dumbo.)

Posing (so grown up) with Tigger and Pooh.

I know she's tiny, but this is ridiculous...(at the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids playground).
Meeting the Little Einsteins, so excited to see her "favorites!" (Everything is her favorite.)
Such amazement, seeing her Playhouse Disney characters Live! on stage. 
Who's got the goofier grin? She was so happy to see Goofy.

In more detail #5: Red Barn Farm

Earlier this month we went to the Weston Red Barn Farm, north of Leavenworth. When I told C we were going to the farm, she got so excited. "We're going to see pumpkins?" yes. "We're going to see goats?" yes. "We're going to see cows?" yes. "We're going to the farm!" She was ready to go and at the door in seconds, no dawdling. She is fascinated with farms and all the animals on them, and enamored with pumpkins. She shouts and points at any pumpkin or jack-o-lantern she sees. All the way to the farm C babbled about all the things that would be at the farm. When we got to the ponies, it was all I could do to keep her waiting in line and not shoving forward. She held her own tickets and was so grown up when she handed her ride pass to the pony handlers. When we went to pick our pumpkin, I thought I'd have to talk her out of a big giant one. Not so. She went straight to the bins of small pumpkins and went through them, obviously searching for her ideal. It turns out she was hunting for the smallest one. Too cute. Outside the pony corral, a small haystack pile was set up for children to climb, slide and jump on. C joined in with the other children who were playing. We left, to get a snack, and C kept wanting to go back for more jumping and sliding on they hay pile.

In more detail #4: Renaissance Festival

South of Leavenworth in Bonner Springs, technically a suburb of Kansas City, is the site of theKansas City Renaissance Festival . This is an incredibly huge event with vendors, crafters, games, performers and experiences all set in the renaissance period. I've been to a renaissance festival before, and I was impressed that this one didn't just use "Renaissance (generic) Europe" as its setting. There was a bandit's den, a more "orient" area and the other areas each had a different geography from Europe as its theme. C got to feed some goats, which were quite feisty about getting to their treats, getting a tad intimidating for her (they tried to nibble a bit on her dress!) We also got to ride on a giant swinging boat that was literally man-powered...by two men pushing it. Unfortunately I didn't get pictures of that. C played one of the games, in which she had to try to throw rings on bottles. Now, they didn't have pony rides available, but we took advantage of another option--a camel and elephant! C giggled as both of them began. I found out that the elephant's backbone was surprisingly prominent. Oh, and we also had to get her a princess outfit. Not exactly authentic, but she oohed and ahed over it, so I indulged. Check us out!

In more detail #3: AppleFest

Honestly, I wrote the most interesting thing about Applefest on my previous post: that C was chugging the apple cider. I mean, seriously, I asked her if she wanted a sip of mine, and she took the cup and handed it back to me, empty, about a minute later! However, we also got to go on another pony ride. Here's the pix. 

In more detail #2: Ciderfest

South of Kansas City is a little town called Louisburg, "famous" for it's apple cider and the mill that makes it. During apple season they offer tours of the mill. There's also a quaint little country store where they make quite tasty cider donuts. The first weekend in October it's the site for the Louisburg Ciderfest; we went on Saturday, the 4th. There's a corn maze, and a big ol' pile of pumpkins to choose from. The crowd was crazy that day, and the craft vendors were plentiful. Along with the craft fair, a vendor offered pony rides. Of course, that was something C had to do. She sat that little pony so confidently that the man running it asked if she'd ridden before. Maybe horseback riding is in her future? (Every time I think something like that, I imagine all the number of things that could be in her future...how wonderful to have so many possibilities!) We got to taste the Louisburg Cider on Sunday at the Weston Applefest. C loved it. She guzzled down a full cup and a half of it. I'm thinking that sometime soon we'll have to get down there and buy some. 

in more detail #1: Raggs

Now that things have begun to slow again, I wanted to share about some of our adventures in more detail and post some pictures. 

Relatively recently C discovered the Raggs show on PBS, as it was on when I turned on the television one day. Shortly thereafter, my friend Kimberly told us about taking her daughter Sophie to a Raggs concert out in Virginia--so I knew that a live-show/concert existed. The last 

weekend in September, I was reading the newspaper and came across a very small blurb about a Raggs concert in Liberty, Missouri...not too far for us to go. I don't know that I would have noticed it if I hadn't known the event existed. On the 3rd of October then, I skipped the gym and we were off to the concert. We got a third row seat and bought a paw for C to

 wear during the concert (imagine one of those big foam fingers that fits over your hand at a football game, only shaped like a pawprint). We also picked up a new "friend" at the concert, a beanie-baby sized version of Trilbie, one of the Raggs band members. C bopped and wiggled through the concert. She did a pretty good job of following the storyline of the performance, and she tried to do the dance moves that the dogs did. Her face lit up when they threw the bucket of "water" confetti on the audience; they got us! Of course, that meant  she asked (excuse the hyperbole) another 42 times when they were going to do it again. Here she is, rockin' it out. 

Oh, how the days go by...

Well, I wanted to make sure that C and I had plenty to keep us busy with F gone. I have succeeded far beyond my wildest imaginings. Our ability to "go and do" at this post is so far beyond our ability to "go and do" at Irwin, it astounds me. Let's see, lately we've been to gymnastics class, dance class, a Raggs concert (visit www.pbskids.org for who Raggs is.) the Louisburg Cider Festival, the Weston Apple Festival, the Weston Red Barn Farm and pumpkin patch, a production of Richard Scarry's "Busy Town" by Theatre for Young America, the KC Renaissance Festival and KC chocolate festival, and that's only in the month of October! Of course, there's still more on our calendar to get us to the end of the month, then even more to get us to Thanksgiving and I think we get to breathe a little before Christmas...oh yeah, then we get to get ready for Christmas! If I have a chance later, I'll give some of the details of our outings, but right now, I just wanted to let y'all know what we're up to. 

Daddy Time is a Zoo

This past week gives new meaning to "it's been a zoo." Zoos have been the theme of this (a bit more than a) week long leave period. C's so interested in animals, we decided to go to the zoo out by Salina where we used to live. I told her a day or so beforehand that "we're going to go to a zoo," and she didn't stop talking about it until we got there. She told anyone who would listen that "I'm going to see giraffes! and Monkeys!" She wasn't disappointed either. As soon as we arrived at Rolling Hills Zoo, we headed straight to the giraffes. I think she could have sat and watched them for the few hours we'd allotted for the zoo. Then she discovered that there were more than giraffes at a zoo. We walked the rest of the zoo, and she looked excitedly at each one, and quickly said "let's see another one!" She tried valiantly to stay awake to see more and more, but with the heat of the day she tuckered out by the time we had lunch. After seeing what a hit the zoo was, we decided to take a trip up to Omaha to the Henry Doorly Zoo where we spent the day with our friends Tom and Jen, experienced zoo-goers. They go so often that they knew about the bridge where you can feed the fish, so they brought bread for us. I think that was the hit of the day for C. She got to throw bits of almost a half a loaf of bread out to the fish and she laughed the whole time. The zoo has had several facility improvements since the last time F and I were out there. I was very impressed, but the hills still wore me out. C walked a good portion of the zoo, and decided to do her impression of the monkeys while we were in the big-cat house. We only got to see half the zoo before C and I were both "done." After two zoos, you'd think we were done, but no, we finished off the week with a trip to the Kansas City Zoo. After the wild animal carousel, which we saw right away ("let's go ride Mommy!") this time, the lions were the big hit. C wanted to see the giraffes, but was insistent on seeing the lions. There was a lioness up next to the viewing glass and C had to compare her "paw" with the lioness's. I'm thinking a season pass to the zoo may not be a bad idea.