2 playdates - but not at the same time :)

I finally had my play date with Max. He actually wanted to go to Disneyland and cried when I said "that ain't happen'n". I didn't realize he wasn't aware of what Disneyland IS. Mean Grandma!!! Anyway, Mom smoothed things over for me and we went bowling instead. He was most excited about the cool shoes he got to wear.

 

So, we began by having him push the ball from the floor.

 

Here he is encouraging the ball:

 

It's still moving down the center - slowly:

But, in the end - gutter ball. Grandma threw a LOT of those!!!

 


So then I got smart and we used a ramp. He felt much better about it if he got a good run and then pushed it as hard as he could, down the ramp.

One small problem with the running - sometimes the ball left without him. :)

After one game of bowling we moved on to the arcade games.

Yea - it wasn't really this fast - I'm just not a good motion picture taker.

 

 A lot of crashing going on here - but fun crashing!

 

He came so close, so many times - I'm sure that is the point. Close but no reward.

Very intent on what he is doing!

 

 
I finally convinced him we needed to go to lunch - I was STARVING!! We went to In-n-Out. We had to sit on the stools up at the counter.

 Isn't he SO cute!!! I love my Max.

 

We actually tried to go miniature golfing after lunch, but winter hours start at 3:00 pm. He was disappointed. Maybe next time, Max!

Second playdate - Skylar. About a month after Max. Skylar started the day off by losing a tooth!

Then we played games and ate creamies.

Farm Country at Thanksgiving point was her choice for the day.

She wasn't really sure she wanted to stand too close to the horse. But, doesn't she look cute in her Sheriff hat?

I wasn't fast enough on this one. There was a big fat sheep standing up over the top of the fence when I started taking the picture. Ah, well!!!

 

 She was a little nervous at first but loved riding the horse.

 

 

This was a new attraction since I was there last. They took us on a wagon ride - pulled by a tractor. I think that was the favorite part for both of us. We did it twice. :)

 



I  had to send her to jail for a time-out! See how upset she is:

NOW she's getting into it. :) I think it occurred to her that the Sheriff shouldn't be BEHIND the bars. 

She would have stayed in this part for hours. Again, my stomach said "It's past time for lunch!"

Her goal before we could leave: Gather up every plant card in the room, put them on the conveyor belt and let them gather in the bin at the end. I think she did it!

Lunch at Taco Bell - she ate it all!!

Love you tons, Skylar!!!!

 

Okay so this was back in February - better late than never I always say!!! :) On Saturday, February 15th I hosted a Valentines Tea Party for my daughters and grand daughters. Sadly, Sarah, Jade, and Emilee couldn't be there but we had everyone else!

 

Several weeks before I sent them an email invitation asking them to reserve the date. Then the week of, I mailed them each their own invitation.

Here is the table before they arrived:

I served heart-shaped grilled cheese sandwiches:

Home made, heart-shaped cheese crackers:

Fresh raspberries and sparkling cider:

The settings belonged to my mom - perfect for a ladies' tea! :) The gift bags contained an assortment of candies and small gifts.

Here are my lovely ladies: going from my left: Ashley, Becky, Aspen, Haley, Lexi, Skylar, Jenny

 

 Lovely ladies number 2:

 

After our meal, we cleared the table and made one of these:

Fun was had by all. Lovely creations were made and what's a little  glue gun burn among family??

And here are the finished projects:

 

 

Last activity - decorating and eating heart-shaped cookies! For some it was more of "have a little cookie with your frosting." Yikes.

 Thank you ladies for a wonderful day!!

Color Me Mine

I had a very fun play date with my 12-year old granddaughter, Aspen. AND I FORGOT TO TAKE PICTURES!!! That is such a grandma sin. :( The only pictures I have are the ones taken the day we picked up our projects. But, here is what we did.

I picked her up from school around noon and we went to her favorite place for lunch -- Café Rio [don't tell Uncle Dave!]

After lunch we went to a place called Color Me Mine.

 

This is what you do there. They have dozens of selections of unfinished pottery to choose from. Tiny knick knacks all the way up to large platters. You pick your item and then they have paint brushes, endless colors of paint, stickers, and numerous other helps to make your project your own. Aspen and I each chose a mug to paint. Then we spent the next hour or so painting. It was really fun! When you are finished with your project you leave it with the store and they fire it for you. We went on a Friday and they said they could be picked up the following Wednesday.

 

So, this past Wednesday I picked Aspen up from school and we went to pick up our mugs. Here is the result:

 

Such a fun time, with such a sweet grand daughter!! Thanks for thinking of it, Aspen!

Pajama Gramma day

Friday, January 10, Crash and I had a play date. I picked him up from school and we went to lunch. It was pajama day at school so he wore his pajamas on our date.

 

He took a piece of pepperoni pizza because he knew he couldn't just go straight for the dessert!

 

 As you can see, he took a few bites of said pizza and then went for the Oreo pizza! His favorite. :)

 

Next stop was Nickel City.

 

His first game - slice the fruit:

He did really well on this one.

 

See how intent he is?

 

 He is trying to shoot these giant spiders - yikes!!!

 

I think this was his favorite. And he was really good at the motorcycle game. Guess its in the blood! Here he was on a track in Moab.

 

 Here he is in outer space . . . .

 

 . . . going through a worm hole.

After such success on the cycle he decided to try driving a car. Not quite as good. He pretty much drove everywhere BUT the road and was flattening light posts, garbage cans, etc. His comment - "This is way more fun 'cause I can crash into lots of stuff!"

This one was pretty much a bust. It is supposed to simulate a roller coaster ride. But after Disneyland - BORING!!!

 

 

We did play air hockey together, which I didn't take pictures of. I must say I did rather well but he won 7 to 6. :)

 

 

Final nickels were spent on dancing. He removed his boots and coat for this one!!!

For those of you who don't know how these arcades work. Each game rewards the player with a certain number of tickets, depending on how well they did. The tickets can then be redeemed for prizes.

This is what he got for 85 tickets: This "elaborate" pirate's hat and one tootsie roll, which he is eating.

Final stop before home - Arctic Circle for a Butterfinger milk shake. Crash said to me, "Grandma, you know how today was pajama day? Well, I've been calling it pajama gramma day. And if we hadn't gone to Pizza Pie Café, I would have picked Chuck-a-rama. Then it would have been pajama gramma Chuck-a-rama day!!!"  I love this boy. :)