Seaworld for Christmas

We have made our way to Florida for Christmas and New Year adventures. The first stop was Seaworld. My daughter loves the rescue show and wanted to see Rudolph for the holiday. Overall I would say the experience was average and not something we would do again. She loved the manatee rescue center and learning more about how the animals will be returned to the wild:

The downside of the park where the long lines to see certain animals such as the penguins. I would of liked to see an area you could walk past to just visit the animals without waiting in a long line. The Christmas portion of the evening was well done and my daughter enjoyed meeting Rudolph:

I would say overall if you are in the are its a great day trip for little's. The rides were closed when we were there so I can not actually give any feedback. 

We have a pet tortoise!

We have a new pet tortoise-meet Lilly Sultan.

It took some time to decide what would be the perfect pet. Our daughter has been in love with turtles forever and this is the perfect pet that we can easily take on any adventure. I am surprised how friendly our little tortoise friend is and actually like to be with her people. Looking forward to all of our new pet adventures.

Thanksgiving Day Craft

It is almost time for Thanksgiving! I wanted to create something this year that we could hang in the house and display year after year.

We found a picture of a turkey and cornucopia online and water colored to add  a bit of color. We also glued on card stock and punched a hole on top so we could hang on our doorknob. My daughter's favorite part was reading the prayer before dinner and it will become a new home tradition. What is your favorite Thanksgiving tradition? 

Trunk or Treat Idea

We love to do trunk or treat! It is a great way to celebrate Halloween in a safe way and in rural areas. This year we went with a frog theme.

The "fly" is just a bucket from the dollar store that we slit on each side. The wings and eyes are poster board we cut out and  but construction paper on for color. This year we were rained out so I had to use a table. The legs and tongue are cardboard boxes cut out and covered with table clothes. To make the frog stand up I used an empty laundry basket. Overall the table cost less than $5 for each of the plastic table clothes, bucket, and poster board.

Almost time for Halloween!

That's right my favorite time of year is right around the corner! This week I am in charge of my daughter's school snack and I am going to go with an old friend-the teeth monster donuts!

I have tried this twice in the past and mine never look quite this excellent. I usually just buy donuts at the bakery and find teeth at the dollar store-we use the color vampire teeth. For eyes we have tried mm's and sixlets. The sixlets or any round ball candy seem to work much better. Overall they are a hit for each class! 

Back to school time!

Can you believe we are already in back to school mode? We are also very excited to announce that we have moved. It will be an adventure as I work to create a perfect setting for our home and find a great way to recreate our space. Stay tuned for all of our makeover efforts!

Welcome Back!

Hi! Thank you for all of your support as I took a brief break to focus on my health. I now have a clean bill of health and am ready to move on with traveling and finding you the best deals possible!

Fudpuckers

We are now in Destin, Florida for a few days and heard of a must do restaurant called Fudpucker's. The draw of the restaurant is feeding live alligators!

There is also a restaurant attached which we did eat dinner but you do not have to eat dinner to feed the alligators.  It was definitely an adventure....you go and buy pellet food and put on a fishing pool before dropping it down into the water.

It was a bit unnerving when they would latch on the pole and tug the bait from you-of course my daughter thought it was the best thing ever! We did go at night so I can imagine during the day your would be able to see the alligators coming up for the food a bit better and it may not be as suprising.

We did eat at the restaurant and it was ok- food wasn't horrible just typical "bar food". Our daughter did get a pizza and was very happy with her surprise guest:

I would say that eating at the restaurant is a fun experience for the kiddos and the drinks are good. They do have alligator on the menu but we did not try it-they may be a great time to try something new. All in all I would say don't miss feeding the alligators but the restaurant can be a miss.

Fort Walton Beach, Florida!

We have made our way down to Florida. On our hunt for something between New Orleans we came across a pamphlet for Gulfarium Marine Adventures. At first I expected an aquarium with a few large animals and a quick couple hour trip but I was wrong! Upon arrival we found that they offer animal encounters-we chose two swimming with the stingrays and training the dolphin.

I was a little skeptical at first because the encounters seem so short on paper but we had plenty of time.  My daughter and I were each able to feed, do a few commands, and play catch while learning about the body of dolphin. It was interesting to learn more about certain features and how they use the training to prep the dolphins for vet care.

Our next stop was swimming with the stingrays and I would say this is a must do!

We given wet suites and flippers before meeting up with our guide. She showed us the baby stingray pool and taught us more about each of the species and sharks. Next it was time to feed the stingrays:

We were given a smiley face because the stingrays had learned to eat from their target. I was amazed at how the guide recognized each stingray and knew who should eat what. It was an incredible feeling as they swam over you to get the food.  This was an experience we will treasure forever.

After drying off we went on to explore the other exhibits and learn more about each animal. We even got to see the amazing touch pool! We ended our day with a snack  and a smile-so far this is has been the highlight of all our state travels.

Where will our next adventure be?

We are on next adventure! Be on the look out for posts next week.

Final Stop Mardi Gras World

So I saved my favorite for last- Mardi Gras World! We were not really sure what to expect pulling up to a large warehouse in an industrial side of town but were ready for another adventure. Upon entering you go into the gift shop and get your ticket (which is a fun necklace) for the tour.  When it is time you are met by your guide and escorted into a room where you learn the history of Mardi Gras, try on some great costumes, and try some king cake.  After a few minutes it time to visit the warehouse:

Who knew so much went into making the floats for the many parades! We were able to go each station and watch how a drawing really comes to life. I liked seeing how they are able to reuse and recycle some of the pieces each year for other floats. The amount of dedication we say and lifelike designs was incredible. This was my favorite piece:

We continued our warehouse tour and saw the many floats the different groups use during the parades. It was interesting to learn how much time, money, and thought goes into each float. My daughter found it crazy the floats even have bathrooms since you can be on there for 7 hours!

The detail was beyond incredible. If you are traveling to New Orleans with your children this is my top pick of things to do and not miss!

Next Stop Creole Queen

Our next stop was of course to explore a local river boat dinner cruise. My daughter was in love with the whole design of the boat and wanted to sing the down the river like Tiana from the princess and frog.

After doing a bit of research we settled on the Creole Queen.  The food served on the cruise was going to be just the right amount of spice and authentic cuisine while serving things we knew our daughter would eat as well. Upon boarding the boat we were greeted with jazz music and dancing: it did not take long for my daughter to drag my husband out to the upper deck to dance-

We had so much good food to eat and the view of the city at night was breathtaking. It was definitely a different spin on the streets we had explored during the day. I would say if you have the time to do one of the dinner cruises on the river. It really gives you the feel what New Orleans is like and the overall history of the city.

Welcome to New Orleans!

We will spend the next few days in New Orleans.....hopefully eating beignets and creating wonderful memories. Our first stop of course was the hotel-look at the view:

The tree outside of our window was covered in necklaces like most trees in the area. It have a whimsical care free feeling to the entire trip-so much so that we went out for treats well after 11 with our child in tow!

She did not mind the late night adventure and even found a great mask to keep "fancy" during our late night stroll. The next morning we spend exploring some of the historic sights and parks in the area.

Everything is so bright and colorful. Each building just oozes history and southern charm. Later this week we will be going on a creole cruise and exploring the mardi gras factory. I believe this will be a vacation full of color and wonder!

12 states down!

I cannot believe we have been to 12 states in just 3 years. This month we will continue to work on visiting Mississippi, Louisianan, Minnesota, and maybe West Virginia.  It is hard to imagine that we have 10 summers left with our little girl and such a big goal-here is to another adventure next week!

Great busy tool for the car

We spend a crazy amount of time in the car which means I am always looking for ways to keep the little busy.  I recently saw a fun puzzle project idea-you hot glue magnets on the back of puzzle pieces and use a cookie tray to keep all the pieces in one place in the car like this:

We tried it this last trip and it did not work out so well. I tried it with the thin puzzle pieces and they seemed to curl and crack. I think this is a wonderful idea if you had thicker pieces and maybe used something other than hot glue. Have any of you tried it? We will try it one more time as I think having puzzles in the car would be time well spent!

Battleship USS Alabama

As we continue our journey to all 50 states we decided to visit Alabama this week. The top stop on our trip was the USS Alabama . During each trip we try to pick something not only fun but educational. This was going to be our history portion of the trip. We began at the monument at the beginning of the park to prep our daughter about what we use the ships for and the importance of each room.

It was nice to see all of the flags and explain a bit about our history in a way she could appreciate the "big boat" we were about to board.  My favorite part of the tour of the ship was the clearly labeled color lines. We could pick our path and work at our own leisure instead of being rushed on a group tour.  We were there on a rainy, cold day so there were only two families on the entire ship which made for a nice family experience.

Each room was very detailed and really brought the ship to life. We were not only able to explain in words what it was like but our daughter was able to get a picture of what it actually looked like on the ship. She was surprised by the lack of space especially since the ship seemed so big on the outside.  All in all I would say it is a great place to stop for a day with the family. If you work at your child's pace you should easily be able to get through the entire ship. There are many levels to climb which may be difficult for some but there is plenty to see on the main floor.

Easter in the Gardens

We are just a few short days away from Easter in the Gardens! Each year I take my daughter to explore the gardens, meet spring animal babies, and of course see the Easter bunny! The gardens are full of great things to do including an Easter egg hunt (each child can pick a certain number of eggs), games, potting your own plant, and a scavenger hunt. We have gone every year for the past 7 years and have never been disappointment. I would arrive early and wait in line a bit as it does get crowded quickly. Looking forward to seeing some of you on Friday!

Easter is on its way!

We are a few short weeks away from Easter which means egg hunts! I found a great idea this year of putting glow sticks in and around the yard for a nighttime hunt.  We are also going to get the solar paint and make a small mark of some of the eggs to light up the eggs a bit more. I would love to hear what interesting ways you have done egg hunts!

Mini vacation weekend-Atlanta, Georgia

This weekend we are in Atlanta, Georgia at the World of Coca-Cola!

I was not sure that it would be great for our six year old but we took the chance and could not have been happier. After watching a short film you are released into the rest of the building to explore on your own path. Our first stop was to see the Coca-Cola polar bear-he was so realistic and spent time with each child...it was the highlight of my trip watching my daughter interact with the life like bear.

After a short visit it was time to visit another area to see how things are bottled and prepared-my daughter had a ton of questions and was very intrigued to see how things were done in the past. In another room we also were able to hold the Olympic torch which is such a special treat! My husbands favorite room by far was the vault:

We were able to explore and learn more about the trusted secret along with an art room and many other rooms filled with facts and information-who knew a soda factory could be so fun!  After a day of exploring it was time for our final stop-the tasting room. It is a large room of soda from around the world that you can try along with the new free style machine.

We had so much fun comparing sodas from all over the world and picking our favorite! It was such a fun family day full of interesting facts and memories. My daughter still talks about my husband "setting off the coke alarm" in the fault room-if you visit be sure to stay off the yellow line! 

Valentine's Weekend

Can you believe we are only a few days away from Valentine's Day! I know some of you are still looking for a few last minute crafts. My daughter and I decided to create this adorable and simple craft. If you do have any puzzle pieces laying around you can always trace some on cardboard. Have a wonderful Valentines Day!

Disney on Ice-Let's Celebrate is coming to town!

Can you believe it is that magical time of year when we can step into Disney without leaving our very own town?

This year Disney on Ice is presenting Let's Celebrate- here is what they have to say about the show:

"It’s one colossal party on ice, with all your favorite Disney friends at Disney On Ice presents Let’s Celebrate! Presented by YoKids Organic Yogurt. Join Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald and Goofy as they celebrate a Very Merry Unbirthday Party with Alice and the Mad Hatter; a Royal Valentine’s Day Ball with your favorite Disney Princesses, including Cinderella, Ariel, Belle and Tiana; a Hawaiian luau with Lilo & Stitch; a whole new world with Jasmine and Aladdin; a winter wonderland with Woody, Jessie and Buzz Lightyear; a Halloween haunt with the Disney villains and more in a magical medley of holidays, celebrations and festivities from around the globe. Come join the celebration you’ve been waiting for when Disney On Ice presents Let’s Celebrate! skates into your hometown!"

I am most excited for the vilians!

 

It is not to late to get your tickets online or at the box office-see you at the show!