Daniel & Annabel's Adventures

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Monster Truck Show!!!

It all started when the kids had a Lowe's workshop a couple weekends ago. They'd made monster trucks for their project and had a lot of fun. We went to gymnastics afterwards and as we were driving home, Daniel asked, "Mommy, when am I going to see a real monster truck?"

Ironically, Ben and I had already been talking about taking Daniel to see a show since we'd known of two shows locally that we could go to, and man, we debated and debated, and kind of ended up with a let's just see...

So when Daniel's question came up and his interest was piqued, we decided to bite the bullet and go for an adventure! I'd kind of pictured it as a boys' night out, but Daniel really wanted it to be a family adventure and Annabel was interested, too, especially once promised head gear to drown out the noise she was so (rightfully!) concerned about. So, a family affair it was! And you know what, we all had a GREAT time. It was definitely an experience.

This show was great because not only was it the show with all the car crushing tricks and donuts, but we were also able to see the trucks up close before the show during a meet & greet kind of thing- which I think really made it fun and real. (The other show we'd considered was more expensive, did fewer tricks, and no meet & greet- clearly we picked the better show!) Daniel had said during the day that he'd hoped we'd see a monster truck bus- I was rather skeptical of this particular wish, but you know what? He got his wish! There was indeed a monster truck bus and you could even ride it (for a very pretty penny, mind you!)- the kids of course really wanted to ride it, so we did, and we all LOVED it! That added a lot of fun and whimsy to the night.

We were a tiny bit concerned that the show started at 7:30 PM, but then we remembered what we know about our kids- they can totally be night owls and staying up late is not hard for them at all, so we knew the late hour wouldn't be too much of a problem. Daniel did end up getting a little tired about a half hour or so before the show was over, but then he got a second wind and was fine. Annabel was a ball of fire the entire time- she was all over eating popcorn, watching the show with her binoculars, helping me take pictures, and even helping the crowd roar with excitement and waving arms like crazy when the mood struck her- she knows how to have a good time! Daniel did not like these crazy displays when Annabel, or I, did them- I think he felt self-conscious and that we were rather silly, which we were, but for Annabel, permission to scream and be crazy like that was pretty awesome- she loved it. She was only disappointed that she wasn't the winner (the black one was, though we're not entirely sure how or why??)- "I wanted to be the winner!" We said she was the winner of our hearts! At some point during the show, Annabel also stated that she wanted to be a monster truck driver when she grows up- which was cute. We moved from garbage truck driver to monster truck driver (we've also heard librarian from Annabel lately, too)...interesting career choices these kids come up with!

Fun side note: At various points throughout the night, Daniel would turn to me and say he'd heard music from this and that, like Blue Man Group or music from the Planes: Fire & Rescue movie. Of course I'm not sure that really was the music, but in any case, it was cute the way the music playing reminded him of music he listens to at home and I loved that he would share his thoughts with me.

Our night at the Monster Truck show was a big success! Definitely a once in a lifetime thing- been there done that now, at least for me. But really, it was a fun, unique experience. We're glad we went!

It all started at Lowe's...

Let's go to the Monster Truck show!

Up close and personal at the Meet & Greet...so cool!

Daniel got his wish for a Monster Truck Bus! We even got to ride it!

Popcorn in hand...let the show begin!!

Annabel joins the crowd in waving arms wildly!

The winner!!

We totally thought the kids would both be out cold in the car on the way home, and then, as we neared home more and more, we weren't sure because, man, they can put up a fight with themselves and staaaayyyy up like you wouldn't believe...

but then this happened...five minutes before we got home! Phew. Straight into bed for that little girl. (Daniel wasn't really asleep! He was soon after though!)

A few videos of the action we got to see! It was a fun, noisy night!

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

In This Spot...

One afternoon Annabel was sitting in this little spot in the family room working hard on a Curious George block puzzle- it was just so sweet to watch her figure out each side of this block puzzle, turning the blocks this way and that, working independently, her favorite little panda hoodie sweatshirt on...and I was struck with all these memories of Annabel in that VERY same spot, first as a newborn, then as a sitter looking into toy bins, and so on. Really, I was inundated with all these memories and images of my sweet little girl over the years.

I was reminded of this super cool book that I'd checked out of the library titled Here (my mom had given it to my sister for Christmas and from my quick glimpse of it, it was so cool I had to check it out for myself...of course I loved it, I'm entirely jealous; I may just have to pick up a copy of it for myself!). It's this collection of pictures (it's sort of a graphic novel, here's another glimpse of it, you can even Google images for this book, too- but that's cheating, just get the book!) of things that have happened in this one spot, this one room, over the years, recent, looooong ago, and even futuristic, kids dancing and playing, family portraits year to year, trees growing, houses being built, people losing things, hugs, ancient animals roaming the land in this spot, and so on. It's hard to describe, but looking at Annabel on this one afternoon, I was reminded of this book and inspired to do my own collection of pictures for this little spot...

This book, these pictures, opened my eyes. Because this is how I think. This guy nailed it. This is how I feel. So very introspective. So very wistful and yet eager for the future. Eager to find more spots for our little family to grow, to play, to have fun, to connect, to live life.

Pirate Night at Gymnastics!

Wow- I have a lot to catch up on! Gonna start with this fun night we had way back in February, exactly a month ago...

The kids loved the last Family Fun Night at Gymnastics so much, they couldn't wait for the next one to come up and you can bet the minute they got that flier advertising Pirate Night we didn't waste a second signing ourselves up for some more fun!

Daniel graciously shared one of his many pirate shirts with Annabel, and they both rounded up their pirate gear- eye patches, pirate-themed bandannas, pirate hats, and of course we couldn't forget treasure maps, which the kids made themselves! These kids were well prepared for a night of fun, starting early that morning with their pirate shirts on and ready for regular gymnastics, followed by making their own maps which prompted them to turn my couch into a pirate ship complete with a skull and cannons (their marshmallow poppers)...they really couldn't wait for 5:00 to roll around!

This time, the Family Night was run far better than last time, though I really had no complaints last time. But this time- it was even better, which was great. They had staff at every single station, it was organized much better than last time complete with a warm up and cool down, and even colored wrist bands for dinner times (dinner was pizza- yum! and this time, Daniel could eat it, too!). We were impressed with how organized the night was. The kids had a GREAT time! And wore themselves out while they were at it! Daniel liked the "walk the plank" station best. Annabel liked that too, but she loved the bars because she just loves that she's getting so much stronger at doing tricks on them. And they both had the most fun running and jumping into somersaults. I think Annabel could have stayed waaaay later than the event ran- she was having the most fun. Daniel got a bit tired about a half hour before it was all over, but he sure kept himself busy. Anyway, you can see for yourselves all the fun the kids had! And you can bet we'll be signing up for future Family Nights- they are apparently going to try to do four of them this year...the kids are already guessing at the next theme and can hardly stand to wait to find out when the next one is!

Getting ready for Pirate Night...making maps! The maps turned out super cute!