The Sound of Music

 It has become a tradition for us to join Melanie in Valdosta for the children's performance of the Peach State Summer Theater Series.  This year, however, there was no children's show in the line-up.  The closest thing to a children's show was The Sound of Music, so we decided to go see that.  We met up with Granny Mel for a nice lunch before the play.  We asked the kids where they wanted to eat and they all said Chic-Fil-A.  After vetoing that choice, we decided on Olive Garden.

The show was really, really good.  The actress that played Maria is going to go places- mark my word.  Even though it wasn't a "kid's show" per se, our kids loved it.  They were captivated the whole time.  The kiss between Maria and Captain Von Trapp especially got their attention.  Owen looked at me and gave me the "ewww" face when that part happened.  Judging by the choruses of  "doe, a dear, a female dear..." that I have been hearing off and on around the house this week, I'd say that the play definitely left an impression.

God's Backyard Bible Camp

Our church held its annual Bible school in early June.  The theme was "God's Backyard Bible Camp".  I really liked the program that we used this year because it stressed service.  During the week, the students made items for the local nursing home, decorated pillowcases for abused children, and created home-made detergent for a local facility for the handicapped.  They also learned a lot about people who served others in the Bible.  I helped with the games station.  I always like being at this station because it has the most energy.  The kids all seemed to like the games we played this year.  Owen, Olivia, and all of their cousins (except Julianna) had a lot of fun.  Olivia was chosen to be one of the song leaders.  That means she got to stand on the stage during song time and lead the others in the motions.  She was right in her element on stage- definitely not shy.  Here are a few pictures that I took during the week.

Air Mobility Command

It's been a few years since we've visited the Air Mobility Command Museum, so we decided to drop by while in Delaware.  This is such a neat place to spend an afternoon.  The kids enjoyed checking out the planes and exhibits.  

 The little yellow plane is always a favorite- even though Olivia is getting so big that she can barely squeeze into it anymore.

...And the kids are entering the phase where they like to strike crazy poses for pictures.  There was lots of opportunity for this here.

The Jersey Shore

 Brian, his dad, and his brothers like to spend time playing golf whenever they are together.  This year Brian's dad and brother Brandon were preparing for a tournament, so the boys hit the course a few times in the week that we were visiting.  As awesome as I'm sure golf is, it holds little interest for us girls (and Owen).  Barb had the idea for us to take a ride on the Cape May-Lewes Ferry and visit the shore of southern New Jersey while the boys were doing their thing.  I thought this was a great idea.  The kids had never been on a ferry before, and I thought that they would enjoy that.  So, we drove to Lewes, Delaware and boarded the ferry to Cape May, New Jersey.  The journey over was neat.  It was another chilly and windy day, so we got a snack and the snack bar and set by the window for most of the 85 minute trip over.

Once we reached New Jersey, we decided to have lunch and check out the town of Wildwoods.  This is apparently the "place to be" during the summer, and you could definitely tell that it gets lots of visitors.  There were not many people there when we visited, however.  This was probably due to the chilly weather and to the fact that school was still in session up there.

 I could not get over the width of the beach.  There was an enormous amount of sand between the boardwalk and the ocean.  It took us what seemed like forever to get too the water.  I think it would be a hassle to have to lug all of your gear down to the water here.

 We walked along the boardwalk.  There were numerous shops and attractions to be seen.  There were full-scale amusement parks built on to piers  here.  I have never seen anything like it.   A lot of these places were not yet opened for the season, but it was still neat to see them.

I had packed the kids' swimsuits so that they could play in the ocean.  It was so chilly, though, that I decided that the kids should not get wet.  I left there suits in the car and told them that they could just "dip their toes" in the water.  This was a poor decision.  Of course, they couldn't stay away from the ocean or sand.  They ended up getting both dirty and wet, and the only dry clothing that I had to change them into was- a bathing suit.  

And that is why they wore bathing suits and jackets on the return trip.  We made our second trip on the ferry as the sun was going down.  We sat in a lounge with forward-facing glass windows and enjoyed the view.

Sesame Place

After visiting Dutch Wonderland for two years in a row, we decided to try out a new park this year.  We drove to Sesame Place in Langhorne, PA.  This was a really nice park that had a lot of water attractions.  Unfortunately for us, we visited on a day that was quite cool and breezy- so we didn't spend a whole lot of time in the water.

The first thing that we did upon entering the park was to ride the lone roller coaster.  Both kids met the height requirement, so there was no drama about one having to sit out while the other rode.

We were excited to get to meet various characters from Sesame Street.  I think I might have been the most excited of all.  When we were growing up, we didn't have cable- only PBS.  The only "kids" show that we really got was Sesame Street, so these characters made up a large part of my entertainment.  

The vast maze of cargo nets was one of the favorite attractions.  I tried to follow the kids on the nets at first- but that got ugly real fast.  It got even uglier when they went through the cargo-net tunnel.  I gave up after that and resigned to stay on the ground and just keep an eye on them from below.

Despite the chilly weather, the kids did enjoy several of the water attractions.  The family-sized raft waterslide was a favorite.

And here are the kids on Sesame Street.  The last thing that we did before leaving was to watch the parade.  We were able to see all of the characters this way.  At one point, the parade stopped in front of us and some kids were recruited to come out and join the parade.  The kids were given hula hoops.  Owen doesn't hula hoop well, so he decided not to participate.  Olivia, on the other hand, was glad to show off her skills (see video).  Overall, we had a great day at Sesame Place.  This is a nice place for young children.

Where a Kid Can Be a Kid

 Dear Chuck E. Cheese,
 You are an evil genius.  Not only do you advertise frequently on the Disney Channel, but it also appears that you sponsor every single show on public broadcasting.  We cannot escape you. Even when I insist that my kids watch the educational shows, there you are- sponsoring them.  We don't even have a Chuck E. Cheese within 100 miles of our town, yet my kids instantly recognize your restaurant whenever they happen upon one.  Last week, for example, we were visiting my in-laws in Delaware.  They saw the sign and the large mouse and begged me to take them inside.  I caved.  Now I must admit, we all had a good time.  The kids especially enjoyed playing the hands-on games like skee-ball and whack-a-mole.  And they liked getting to pick a prize with the tickets that they won.  Overall the experience was nice- except the food.  It was pretty bad.  Nevertheless, I feel that you need to tone down the advertising a bit.  Upon leaving your establishment, my kids immediately began asking me if I'd bring them back the next day.  I said something like "Don't you want to do something else?  Why would you want to go back to the same place two days in a row?"  To which my five-year-old replied "Mom, but this is where a kid can be a kid".  Really?  He's quoting your tagline?  Well played, Chuck.  Well played.

Washington D.C.

While we were in Delaware last week we made a day trip to Washington D.C.  The reason for our visit was to pick up Brian's brother, and to meet his fianceé (who is awesome- by the way).  As we weren't set to meet up with them until the afternoon, we decided to spend some time in D.C. checking out the various sites.  My cousin Pam is currently deployed in D.C., so she was able to meet up with us as well.  I am amazed with the number to things to see and do in our nation's capital.  We could probably spend a week there and not see it all.  Last year we saw the National Zoo and the Natural History Museum.  This year we focused on seeing the various monuments.  We also visited the Freer Gallery of Art and the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.  We had a very busy day.

One of the Kindergarten history standards is that students recognize major monuments and sites.  Olivia aced the quiz over that standard last year.  According to her she knew all of the answers because she had visited / seen many of the monuments the summer before when we had visited D.C.  So, we made sure to take pictures of Owen in front of the places on the quiz so that we can use them as flash cards next year.

















Pam visited the Air and Space Museum with us.  It was fun to see all of the air and spacecraft.  Some of my favorite things were the Spirit of St. Louis plane, the Wright Brothers plane, and the "things that went into space" exhibit.  The kids liked checking out the airplanes as well.  They seemed to enjoy watching the simulation of planes taking off / landing from an aircraft carrier.

 As we were making the LONG trek back to our car, Olivia made an all-too-familiar statement.  Of course I'm talking about the common refrain of  "I have to potty".  The nearest public building was the American History Museum.  We ran in just to use the restroom, but soon realized that one very special artifact was just around the corner.  So, we got to see the ruby slippers.  Olivia was thrilled.  The brief glimpse that I caught of the American History Museum looked awesome.  I'm going to have to put it on the itinerary for the next visit.