Wandering Wednesday: Snow Day

I do not know how I made my iPhone take this picture. I mean, I took the picture, obviously, but I have no idea why the snowflakes are there. 

See? It was still snowing, but no flakes here. 

I can actually like winter right after it snows. Especially when the trees look like this. 

How did I do this? I HAVE NO IDEA. Help me, internets. 

Er, I know there's no snow in this picture, but this is them all dressed up for their winter concert at school. I'm not going to get around to Christmas cards this year, so. . . 

Happy holidays! 

Wandering Wednesday: Lego Con

Okay, technically it's called "Lego Kids Fest", but really it's a Lego convention. I don't know where I heard about it, but when I discovered that one was going to be about two hours from here, all I could think was, "Road trip!"

We love our road trips. And our Legos. I thought the experience would be a great Christmas present for the kids AND it still cost much less than Hot Guy and Lovebug's coveted Lego Death Star .

Giant. Piles. Of. Bricks. 

After the initial huge piles of Duplos (which my kids never play with anymore, except for when there are HUGE piles of them), we strolled over to the Lego creations. This Lightning McQueen was pretty sweet. 

Life-sized Lego Hagrid. 

I make a point of encouraging Ironflower's Hermione obsession. 

Giant pile of regular Legos. Hugmonkey and I did this while Hot Guy and the big kids went to the Lego Master Builder Academy. The Master Builder Academy was Lovebug and Ironflower's favorite part of the whole experience. They got to meet a Master Builder and learn some building strategies. 

Hugmonkey and I also hit the Lego City area; you could build vehicles or buildings and add them to the Lego City display. 

We met up again at the monochromatic build. All the bricks were the same color (obviously) and the same size - the classic two by four. And yet the projects were amazing. 

Ironflower's. 

Hugmonkey's. 

Lovebug's. And theirs weren't even the best. 

Squee! Lego Harry Potter! 

I wonder how much it would cost to buy that whole display? 

This was where you made vehicles and raced them. 

We spent a lot of time there. 

We built buildings to add to a giant map of the United States. 

Lovebug made the Empire State Building. 

More time at the giant Lego pile. See the cool city Lovebug is adding to? Well, the only negative part of the trip happened here. A boy around 7 or so had made a giant Lego gun, and then decided to destroy the city. He knocked down every building, yanked a house out of a toddler's hands and destroyed it and just acted like a little jerk. No parent stopped him or said anything (except me and Hot Guy, not that he listened) and no one from Lego stepped in. 

Next we went over to the family build competition. We had to make things from Star Wars, to the joy of the boys in the family. 

We played Ninjago, which is actually way more fun than I thought. 

The boys did Mindstorms while Ironflower and I went to the Lego Friends area. We would like you to know that while we are technically against the idea of "girl" and "boy" Legos, we had a lot of fun building with the Lego Friends sets. We don't know why, but they seem to be addicting. 

There was an area with Lego Castle stuff. 

There was Batman. 

The whole thing was four and half hours long and we were there for every minute. We actually could have used another half hour or so - we didn't get to the Lego art area or take a picture with Lego Santa. 

Way better (and cheaper) than our trip to Legoland a few years ago. I mean, Legoland is really just an amusement park with some Lego details - there's no Master Builder Academy and only a teeny building area. Lego Kids Fest is a much better option for kids who love Legos. And Disney World is a much better option for kids who love amusement parks. 

Wandering Wednesday: Adventures in NYC

Last week the big kids and I went to Lincoln Center with my Dad. 

I am not actually drunk in this picture. 

We went to a dress rehearsal of the New York City Ballet's Nutcracker. 

It was actually more of a working rehearsal, but we got to see the whole second act. I am a huge Nutcracker nerd and I feel like this is the best classic production. (Except for the one that I was in during my youth, which sadly no longer exists.) 

This is the lobby of the New York State Theater (which I think has a different name now, but I refuse to use it, in the same spirit that I will always call Giants Stadium, Giants Stadium and not MetLife Stadium.) 

There was an interactive screen and no other kids. Heaven. 

From the balcony. If only I'd taken a few photos of them here, I wouldn't have to share the one with Ironflower's eyes closed. 

More balcony. 

View of Avery Fisher Hall. 

I made my Dad be in a picture. I swear there's about 12 pictures of him with me growing up and he has the exact same expression and stance. 

The rehearsal was definitely worth seeing, but I think next year all the kids will be ready to see the big production. I can hardly wait. 

And just a few days after that trip to the city, we went in to celebrate Ironflower's birthday at the American Girl store. I swear I've been in the city more in the last two weeks than I have in the last 6 months. 

We checked out many different areas of the store. Which was so, so, so, so crowded. Like, even more crowded than last year. 

Like, so crowded that I contemplated jumping over a baby carriage and knocking a 4 year old out of my way just so I could get to a relatively empty spot to stand in. 

And this one child? Probably 10 or so? Actually shoved past me and another little girl to get to a rack, and when I exclaimed about it, she actually PUSHED me out of the way as she walked back to her grandmother, even though there was plenty of room for her to walk around me. 

I almost said something, but I didn't want to create a huge scene on Ironflower's day. 

It was a relief to get to the cafe. 

We didn't go to it last year, but I'm glad we tried it this year.

It's not as big as one would think. 

Photobomb from Daddy. Notice Katie (that's Ironflower's Just Like Me doll, her favorite) seated AT the table with us. 

Birthday crowns for everyone! 

The meal started out with cinnamon rolls, so Ironflower was so happy. 

My chicken club was pretty good. 

Ironflower's meal came with a hot dog AND mac and cheese. 

Dessert was the biggest hit. 

Ironflower and her loot. 

Wandering Wednesday: A Walk Down Memory Lane

I have a confession to make; we did not wander anywhere especially interesting this weekend. Hugmonkey spiked a fever for us Saturday afternoon, so Hot Guy took the big kids to the environmental center. I love the center so much that I've already featured it in two wanderings. Not wanting to get repetitive, coupled with the fact that I forgot to get Hot Guy's pictures from Saturday, means that Saturday options are a bust. Sunday involved a soccer game, a birthday party and dinner at my parents' house.

I could show you the before and after photos of my desk and our breakfast nook/office. . .except that I'm too embarrassed to reveal how bad they looked before I cleaned them this weekend.

So instead I give you pictures never before seen on the internet. . .taken in the days before Facebook and Twitter and Instagram and Pinterest. They are from a road trip we took while I was pregnant with Ironflower. I think I remember all the locations. . .but I could be wrong.

Pretty sure this is Lexington, Missouri. There was a Civil War battle there. 

I think this is me at Waterloo Village, a living history area in Jersey. 

More Waterloo. 

More Waterloo. 

On Lake Michigan. Somewhere in Indiana. Not an historical site! 

Also Lake Michigan. I gained a zillion pounds while pregnant and they've never left. 

Blacksmith at Waterloo Village.