Crafting with Mac

Trying to avoid germs this winter, and indoor day of play and crafts!

Color Me Mine

Today's Mac and Ally day plan was to go to Color Me Mine and do some pottery painting.  Allison put her own flair on an ice cream cone, mixing the brown and pink.

 Mac did a great job on his cotton candy ice cream cone.

 Afterwards, we had lunch and Ally enjoyed sitting with Emme.

We all enjoyed the day, I'd like to try to paint something myself!

Gabriel's Third Birthday

Gabriel and family blowing out the candles for his third birthday!

Pre-Christmas trip to Great Wolf Lodge in the Pocanoes

This week we took a pre-Christmas vacation to Great Wolf Lodge in the Pocanoes in nearby Pennsyltucky.  We had told Allison we were going to go away on a vacation, but we had not quite explained to her that we were going to a giant indoor water park, and that she'd be sleeping in a bunk bed.  She was thrilled with both!  When she first walked in to the room, she was very sad that there was no bed for her... it took her a moment to realize that she had a "wolf den" room to herself, with bunk beds.  She climbed that ladder over and over, but in the end slept on the bottom bunk each night.

The lobby was all decorated up for the Christmas season, beautiful.

 
And has a gorgeous stone fireplace.

We didn't take pictures inside the actual water park, and this one really doesn't do it justice. It was really awesome, with everything from mini water slides to the great big one (which John enjoyed) and a medium sized one the whole family tried!  The first time, Allison came down face first, and immediately said she wanted to go again.  On the first day she didn't like the "ocean area" - the waves were too strong for her, but the 2nd day she enjoyed that too!  John particularly enjoyed tricking me into walking under an full bucket of water, and pulling the rope....

Santa visited the Lodge while we were there.

Each evening in the lobby, the clock tower puts on a show and all of the little ones gather round to see. 

The first night Ally was a little reserved and sat with John.

The 2nd night, she found a spot for herself in the crowd,

and even stood for a better view. (Yes, I was upstairs to take this picture, but John was just out of camera view - can you find her?)

The show ends with snow falling in the lobby, a real wonder for the little ones.

After the show, it is time for story time around the huge stone fireplace.  The story is read by one of Santa's Elves, and Rowdy the Reindeer is by her side.  Look who is by Rowdy's side on the second evening....

And a follow up picture with Rowdy.

The other thing Ally enjoyed about the Lodge was her "magic wand".  The whole Lodge is set up with an interactive game where you go on quests and collect certain things.  Ally was too young for the actual quest, but she loved waving her magic wand and seeing the treasure chests open up!

 
We really had a great time.\

Visit with Santa 2012

First Ever trip to Chuck E Cheese

Mac and Ally day was a first for Ally today, her first ever visit to Chuck E Cheese.

Thanks to my experienced Mom friend, we made the perfect plan. Get there as it opened and have the place to ourselves, followed up by lunch at Panera just before the crowd started to gather.

Kids had a great time, riding pony, cars, taking pictures.

The outing ending with another first, Ally's first ever meltdown in public.  A day I'll never forget!

Reading?

Haven't posted in a while, but Allison started to show some impressive new developments this Thanksgiving break. She can now spell/recognize 'Exit' and 'Cat'!