Summer Fun with the Family!

June 25, 2011

We are packing in the fun before L leaves on her annual summer trip to visit her grandparents! Since my family is in town (my parents, niece, and nephew) it was a perfect opportunity for them to meet my amazing Little. We planned a trip to the pool, dinner, and the arcade. My nephew and L are only four months apart, and after some initial shyness (on her part), they hit it off and were buddies for the day. During our first trip to the pool a week or so ago, she was afraid to go down the slide by herself and went down on my lap several times. Well, not be be outdone by her new buddy, she decided she was going to go by herself (I stood at the bottom of the slide just in case). She was soooooo excited that she did it all by herself she yelled, "That was sooo FUN!" With the exception of one break for a quick snack, she and A didn't stop swimming and sliding until it was time to go home.

After a few times I realized she didn't need me at the bottom to help her. She did so well!

Buddies playing in the pool.

One more time . . .

After dinner at Moxie's (L barely ate a thing...too many snacks beforehand), we headed to the Boomtown Fun Center. Time was flying by and there just aren't enough hours in the day when you're having so much fun. The kids had a ball at the arcade (L loves the driving games and also discovered Deal or No Deal). After an hour or so it was getting late and was time to go. She didn't spend all the money on her arcade card, so I promised her we'd have to come back to spend it. 

Boomtown "bowling"

Since this was our last adventure until she comes back from her grandparent's house in four weeks (FOUR WEEKS!!), we gave big hugs and I even promised to text her randomly to say hi while she's gone (I hope she remembers to bring her phone and keep it charged). I'll miss you sweet girl while you're away!

Until our next adventure . . .

Ven - tril - O - quist!

June 22, 2011

Tonight we went to see Sandi Sylver, storyteller, ventriloquist, and songstress, for “A Whirl Around the World” at the South Valleys Library. Sandi had a pretty big audience of kids and adults. She is from Chicago and travels to different places, mainly libraries, to perform with her puppets. Sandi started the show with an audience-participation story about a tailor in Poland who made himself a long, beautiful coat with his most favorite fabric. Over time the coat wore out and “just as he was about to throw it on the rag pile, he had an idea.” He put the coat on the table and “he measured and he cut and he sewed (repeat 3 times)” until he made himself a jacket. This went on for several rounds...jacket to vest, vest to tie, tie to button cover, then the button cover got lost so he created this story, which lasts forever.

Next she played guitar and sang a song about an alien that came to visit and she sang part of the song in alien-speak which made the kids laugh hysterically. She promised it would be the craziest song we’d ever heard, and she definitely kept her promise.

After she taught the kids the word ventriloquist -- “ven - tril - O - quist” (repeat 3 times), she then, one-by-one, introduced us to her four puppets and each of them told a story.  There was a crocodile puppet, a book puppet, the teenage puppet with the New York accent, and Toodles (the only name I can remember). The kids enjoyed it and all got to meet Toodles and take their picture with her and Sandi after the show.

 After the library, we had dinner at Heidi’s, dessert at Yogurt Beach, and then it was time to call it an evening.

Until our next adventure . . .

Reno Rodeo Parade and Kids Day

June 18, 2011

One of the longstanding traditions in Reno is the annual Reno Rodeo. In the four years I’ve lived here, I have never been, so when BBBS called and asked L and I to walk in the parade (and we were both available that day), we decided to do it. We met the BBBS van and all of the other Bigs and Littles at the staging area downtown and waited for the parade's 10:00 am start. We waited and waited and waited, and it got warmer and warmer and warmer (we all were wearing our matching BBBS t-shirts...BLACK t-shirts), and L got fidgety, and bored, and hot. But then, suddenly the parade was moving and we were marching in it! The kids had candy to pass out along the route (I think L's was gone within the first block), and we all followed behind the van while carefully stepping around and over all of the horse poop. The kids high-fived people along the route and had a blast.

Following the BBBS van on the route.

Bigs and Littles

Getting ready to walk under the arch.

After we were done marching in the parade, we sat and watched the remainder of the parade -- the Shriner's, cheerleaders, fire department, etc -- then made our way back towards the car. On the way to the car we saw L’s favorite cheerleading troupe and she wanted to take a picture with them.  A few of them obliged and she thought it was so cool to pose with “real” cheerleaders.

I had packed a picnic, so between the parade and Rodeo Kids Day we went to Idlewild Park for lunch, a little playing in the playground, and some badminton (with the $5.99 pink and purple badminton rackets I got at Walgreens), which turned into baseball/badminton – swinging the rackets like bats and seeing how far the birdie would fly.

After the park we headed to the Livestock Events Center for Kids Day. Kids Day is free and has indoor and outdoor activities. Outside was the typical carnival type stuff, rides, pony rides, junk food, midway games, etc.

Fun Slide!

The exact same Funhouse John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John
danced in in Grease (okay, maybe not the exact same, but one JUST like it)!

Inside there were many exhibits and activities for the kids (the Nevada Highway Patrol “Convincer,” volunteer firefighters fire safety house, roping, karaoke, crafts, etc.). We made it through the arena and checked everything out:

Practicing her roping.

Bucket racing with a stick pony.

NHP's The Convincer - simulates a car crash and  "convinces"
 you how important it is to wear your seat belt.

After the indoor stuff, we headed back outside to see if we missed anything. We stumbled upon the entrance to the main rodeo arena and there were some people inside watching an event, but I wasn’t sure what. L made her way to the tippy top of the grandstands to sit and then I realized the event was calf roping. Ugh! I don’t understand the point of rodeo to begin with, and then you watch calf roping and it all just seems so cruel. I can see having to rope a calf in real life so it doesn’t run away (is that why cowboys rope calves?), but for fun and for sport???? I don’t get it. Anyway, I told L I didn’t want to watch the roping (she agreed it was sad), so we headed out. She begged, begged, begged for Yogurt Beach before I took her home (on top of the popcorn and lemonade she had at the carnival), and after telling her no a couple of times, I caved. After a little frozen yogurt (her, not me), I dropped her at home. Whew!!  What a long, tiring, exhausting, but FUN day!

Until our next adventure . . .

Swimming!

June 13, 2011

Today was another beautiful day – a must-do-something-outside day. I decided we were going to go to the pool but we had things to do before swimming, namely eating. We were both very hungry and instead of going out to eat, I thought I would cook dinner at home. On the way home, we picked up last week’s projects at Clay Canvas, which came out very cute. I forgot to take a photo of the mug I made for her, but she loved it. Here is the dish she made for me. I love it!!

The top - My name and the year are in there. Cute, huh?

Can you read it? "You are the best." Awwwww.

To keep her busy while I made dinner, she painted a rock for our garden. Our courtyard is full of drab gray rocks and to add a bit of color, we have painted a few of them. I thought it would be fun for L to have one too. I only have five paint colors, the primary colors, black, and white, so we had a little lesson in color-mixing too. I wonder what happens if you add red and yellow, and blue, and black, and white? The result was some shade of purple.

After our spaghetti dinner we finished her rock, and the rock she wanted me to paint, and headed to the pool. Our community pool is very kid-friendly with a great slide and waterfalls. We had a lot of fun swimming around, diving for rings, and going down the slide. After about an hour, we dried off, changed, played in the mini-playground for a few minutes and headed out.

Until our next adventure . . .

Clay Canvas, Dinner, and Ducks

June 7, 2011

Finally we have a nice day. We must, must, must do something outdoors! I brought along some stale bread and thought we’d head to the park to feed the ducks and play in the playground. On the way to the park; however, L asked when we could go to Clay Canvas. She’s asked a few times about going there, so I gave them a call and they happened to be open late. So, I thought what the heck, let’s do it. She had been there before with her previous Big so she showed me the ropes. She picked a flower-shaped dish and I picked a mug with a peace sign on it.

L: “Who are you making yours for?”

Me: “I dunno, I might keep it for myself.”

L: “Oh. I’m making mine for you.”

Me: “Awwww, that’s so sweet of you. Thank you!”

A little while later . . .

L: “Are you going to keep yours for yourself?”

Me: “Uh, why do you think I’m painting it purple?”

L: Through her BIG smile (purple is her favorite color). "It's for me?"

Clay Canvas is a fun place where you can let your creativity flow. We painted, decorated, and watched others paint their stuff (most interesting was a young guy painting a large garden gnome he had to special order). We finished and left our masterpieces for the kiln...they won’t be ready for a week.

Now...where to eat, where to eat? We got in the car and realized that Napa-Sonoma is just a few doors down. I suggested we go there. It was crowded with lots of people eating, drinking, chatting, and watching the basketball game. There was even a live saxophone player. I wasn't sure it was a kid-type place when we walked in, but they were very welcoming and friendly. L got a high-five from the waiter before he showed us to our table. The food was good, the staff was super nice, and I’d definitely go back.

It was still light out after we finished eating so we headed to Idlewild Park (my original plan), played in the playground for a bit, then went to the pond to see and feed the ducks. There were Canada geese, mallards, common mergansers, and Brewer’s blackbirds. I taught L the proper bird names and tried to explain the differences between the species, and between the males and females, while she fed them. I wasn't sure how much was sinking in until I heard her call the goose “Canada Goose” at one point. And, as she threw the bread to a specific bird she would say, “Here girlie!” or “Here boy!” Cute, I guess the male/female lesson sunk in too. I’ll have binoculars in her hands soon enough. When all the bread was gone, she ran back to the park, "Please, just five more minutes?!?!" and then we headed home.

Until our next adventure . . .