Friday, July 18, 2008
Building Candy Land
This year, Molly's 3rd Birthday party is a Candy Land theme. I figured it would be fun to have all of the colors and try to decorate the yard like parts of the game.
A couple of months ago, I began collecting items for treat bags and searching for decorating ideas. I decided on the invitation style (cutting out gumdrops and placing them in a clear "candy bag") and got those out in plenty of time. Then, apparently time slipped away from me as I realized this week that her party is 2 weeks away! We had no Candy Land "land" decorations and no menu, but that's beside the point. So, frantically, the girls and I began to piece together a pseudo-life-sized game on Tuesday. Lots of fun with Sean out of town until Saturday and Norah deciding that naps are overrated.
So, here's what we've done. The girls have enjoyed painting and watching me spread glitter glue around (OK, so they would have preferred to do that themselves, but we are under time constraints and still had to make it to swim lessons, ideally without their fingers glued together). They helped me put the patterns for the game "trail" together and put the special pink squares in the right spots according to the game.
I think, barring rain and wind, the outdoor party will be really cute. I'm going to fill jars with licorice, gumdrops and candy canes for additional decorations, along with the traditional Fox streamers and balloons. The lollipops we made will go around our Birch trees, the gumdrops will sit around the base of a Maple (or will hang from the branches, not sure yet). I found 26-inch plastic candy canes to place around/hang in our Pine trees, and I'm going to make the playhouse into Gramma Nuts house (with giant peanuts somehow). If I can pull it off, I'm going to add the pink square with the ice cream cone to the last "trail" and have a special pit-stop for Princess Frostine, possibly with ice cream for the kids. I may put like candies in each area for the kids to add to their treat bags (bags of gumdrops, candy canes and unicorn lollipops), or I'll just already have them in the bags - not sure yet.
Wish us luck as the party draws near!
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Wolf Lake, MI for 4th of July
Last Thursday, July 3, we decided at 2:00 PM to drive to Aunt Georgia and Uncle Jon's cottage at Wolf Lake in Michigan. It's a 5 hour drive, and by the time we ran to the store for supplies, packed, ate and got out the door it was 8:00 PM. This wasn't so bad, because the girls could sleep on the way, right?? Right, until it took us 3 hours, yes, I said 3, to go a mere 100 miles. The construction traffic through Indiana was ridiculous! So, needless to say, we arrived in Michigan at 3:00 AM, only to discover that there is a 1 hour time difference - it was 4:00 AM. Ah, who needs sleep!
Despite the ordeal to get there, we had a WONDERFUL time. The cottage was great and the lake was beautiful. We had purchased fireworks on our way back from the Dells in Wisconsin, so Sean (my little firebug) was in heaven setting them off from the dock.
We all rode the jet ski (the girls LOVED that), as well as used the paddle boat. We went out on the "party barge" the night of the fireworks and watched everyone setting them off around the lake. We had a great time and will probably go back in mid-August for another get-away. Two family weekends with no errands, no phones, no TV. What a thought!
Trip to Wisconsin Dells
As some of you may know, Sean's 40th birthday gift from the girls and I was a family vacation to the Wisconsin Dells. This area is, apparently, world renowned for its waterparks, supposedly home to many of the "world's largest" parks and slides.
We stayed at the Great Wolf Lodge which has an indoor and outdoor waterpark for year-round fun (yes, even in the freezing cold winter, the indoor waterpark maintains a warm 85 degree atmosphere). We especially enjoyed the indoor park, as it contains great activities for children 5 and younger with a 0-depth wave pool and several small waterslides plus a water-spout activity area. In addition, indoors means NO SUNBLOCK!!
We did take a break from the waterpark to go on an Original Wisconsin Duck tour. The Ducks were used in WWII and the Korean conflict. They are amphibious - drive on land right into the water. Some of the river scenery pictures are from that tour, as well as another Duck riding by us on the water. Also, Amelya and I took a go-cart ride, and then so did Amelya and Daddy. She loved it, as did we.
We had a wonderful, no stress, family get-away weekend. We plan to go again next year (maybe even in the winter!).
First Attempt at Blogging
OK, since several people have been after us to start up a blog and share photos of the girls, I've decided to give it a try.
Anyway, we'll give this a shot and practice with a picture. If successful, I will share pictures of our recent family trips to Wisconsin and Michigan.
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