Book Worm

Who is that behind that very big book?

Nick loves reading and this summer he has spent a lot of time enjoying his books. He has now finished the third book in the Harry Potter series and is now starting the fourth. He is a little behind in this series since they weren't age or reading level appropriate until this past year. He is however quickly catching up to the recently released book.

Abby's Home

Today the boys and I went to Shaffer's to pick up Abby after our weekend out of town. When we picked her up she was so excited to see us that she piddled on the floor, that's Abby... little dog, little bladder. While we were waiting for her Ashe was sitting in his stroller patting his hand on his knee calling all the other puppies to come see him, he thought that was great.

We missed her so much while we were away. When we got back she was all clean and groomed... we should go out of town more often.

Wannado Weekend

This is the entrance of Wannado City...




This past weekend we headed to South FL for a totally fun kids weekend. We stayed down south with Steven's Aunt Margaretanne and Uncle Steve. Thank you so much for the invitation we had a great time. Wannado City is an indoor air conditioned kid version of a city. Inside this city they have many different jobs that kids can do. When you first enter the park you get a $250 paycheck and you have to stop at the bank and cash your check. Then they go out and do jobs, for their jobs they can get paid wangas (Wannado money) then they can go places through out the park that they can spend their wangas. http://www.wannadocity.com/index.php

The kids can be a cashier at Publix or shop at Publix. They can be an actress, pilot, hairdresser/nail technician, work at the hospital as a surgeon in the nursery, as an EMT or in the blood pathology lab. They can be a police officer, firefighter, model, archaeologist, paleontology, diamond miner. There is so much to do you can't get it all done in one day. They can spend their money in the Wonka factory (where they decorate their candy), the jewelry store where they can make a piece of their jewelry, the bakery or pizza company (they make or decorate real food and enjoy a snack), rock climbing, or they can ride rides at the Wannado Fair. I know there is so much I missed, but there is so much to do while you are there. The best part is you at not dragging along outside in the hot Fl sun, it is all indoors.

From left to right... Baby Ashe, Steven, Diane, Aunt Margaretanne, Cousin Kayla, Grandma Herod, Nicholas, and Grandpa Herod

Wonka Factory

Here is Nick in front of the Wonka factory door with his cousin Kayla.

He had to stop here first because he loves Willy Wonka everything. He has read the books, is a big fan of the candy, and when he saw that Wonka had a new factory in Wannado city he was there!!!

The kids paid 40 wangas to go to the factory the then went in and learned about candy, but best of all they decorated there own candy bar with other Wonka candy and were able to take it with them.

He made is very own Wonka bar.

Publix

Wannado City has there own kid version of Publix. They only let kidizens (like citizens, but kids only into the events so parents aren't in the way. We waited outside of the events and he did what he wanted.) In the first picture and the first thing he put into his cart was Coke-A- Cola, this was because we hardly ever let him have soda and rarely it is Coke. He didn't even buy one veggie. I had a glimpse into what college food shopping will look like, it's very scary. In the second picture he is at the register. It was so cute kids can either pick to shop or check out the groceries. Last time he worked the register so this time he wanted to shop. The little boy checked him out after the food rode down a real kid size conveyor belt.

Police Officer Herod

This is the outside sign for the Wannado police station.

Nick wanted to be a police officer. First he had to go to police training school. Some of the kids were crooks and some were cops. The crook kids broke out of kid jail (it was cute the bars are metal and two are rubber so you can bend them and break out.) Nick was then given a police jacket to wear and a walkie-talkie, he was then sent out to patrol the Wannado streets looking for them.

Emergency Crew

Nicholas was able to work as an EMT and help save a fellow kidizen. One of the kids were picked to be an injured victim (only if they wanted to). Then the emergency crew went out in the ambulance to save this kid. They brought the kid back to the hospital and fixed him all up. If you check the second picture you can see the kid on the stretcher.

Fighting Fires

Being a Firefighter was one of the coolest jobs at Wannado City. Nick first went through training, then suited up in his gear, rode on the kid size fire truck, and went off to fight a fire at the Fireworks factory. When the kids got to the pretend fire it was a brick building and it had windows that they had lights in to simulate a real fire, there was even some kind of mist that looked like smoke. The kids jumped off the truck and use real powerful fire hoses to spray the building. The bottom picture was the factory after they had put out the fire before that is was so smokey and hard to get a picture of. It was so realistic, but safe

Wannado Fair

Nick and Kayla took a break from their many jobs to have some fun at the Wannado World's Fair. This was another place where they could spend their money and enjoy some rides.

Dr. Nick

Nick went into to surgery today to help a patient suffering from kidney stones at Plantation General Hospital. First he went through training, then had to wash his hands, and get on his rubber gloves. As you can see from the last picture the operating room is so life like. Nick wants to be a heart surgeon someday so he really loved being able to cut into this guy.

Pathology Lab

After operating today Nick headed off to the pathology lab to learn about blood, as can tell we spent a lot of time working at the hospital.

Rock Climbing

I was shocked that Nick wanted to spend 60 wangas today to rock climb. This is just not like him. I was very excited that he tried something new and unlike himself. He got all suited in safety gear and did it. He didn't get all the way to the top because he looked down and we were all yelling from below. If he would have taken two more steps he would have reached the bell at the top. He got so close, he is kicking himself because he didn't make it to the top, so you can only imagine this is now something he just wants to do again. He hates not to conquer something he sets his mind to.

Goodbye Wannado City

We had so much fun at Wannado City we hated to leave. This will be something that we will definitely do again. Before we left we put all Nick's wangas in his Wannado bank account. He has an ATM card with a pin number for when he comes back. He worked hard and earned lots of money, he now has over $600 wangas in his account. Next time he comes he will get another paycheck at the door and he will still have his money from the bank.

Wannado City is connected to the Saw Grass outlets. This is the fun parent part. This outlet mall is bigger than anyone I have ever seen. Steven and I walked what seem like forever and we didn't even get through half of it. People rent what looks like mesh shopping carts to hold all their purchases, there is even a seat of the cart, so you have some where to sit and take a rest. I saw people pulling their cart with their spouse sitting on the seat because the mall is so big.

Nick's Wannado Gold ATM card, never leave home without it.

Conquered Fears

Today we went to Sea World to see animals, walk around, and do a few shows. Nicholas however went with a mission. He told himself that he was going to ride Shamu Express (a children's roller coaster). He went to get on, but changed his mind again. I really thought that we were going to leave today and he was still going to be wishing he rode it. Finally with some gentle nudging he finally rode it. I was so happy and proud that Nick faced his fear and rode it because in his heart that is what he really wanted to do.
I know he is very proud of himself as well.

Monkey Joe's

Today we went to Monkey Joe's with my friend Tracey and her son Trenton. Monkey Joe's is a kids dream. It is a large indoor air conditioned room with many different types of inflatable slides and jump areas. It didn't take long until Nick found a few kids his age to hang out with. The kids had fun running wild and jumping on everything. I guess it was better that Nick jumped there rather than on my sofa.

Fun with Grandpa

While mom was at her class for National Boards Nick spent a few days at the shop with grandpa. As you can tell he is really dirty and having a great time.

They are working on a hot rod tractor for one of Grandpa's friends.

Swimming

This Sunday we went to Grandma and Grandpa Herod's house swimming. The boys had a great time splashing around in the pool. I ended up having to take a bunch of group pictures of the boys because Ashe kept splashing them and they couldn't see with him doing that.
That Ashe is a little Stinker.


Ashe loved the water, we thought he would have so much fun floating around in the inflatable turtle. This turtle has where you put the child's legs through to hold them up, not just a ring. The only thing that Ashe didn't like about the turtle was that he couldn't reach the water. So Steven just held him and got splashed.

I have to say that Nicholas is getting more confident about swimming. He is now swimming under water. I never pushed him to try it, I wanted him to do it when he was ready and now he really likes going under. He wears the goggles that Aunt Lisa and Uncle Tim got him, this makes him feel better about the whole under water experience.

What would a day of swimming be without a rowdy game of squirting each other. Nick had a water cannon shaped like one of those water noodles. Steven, the big kid, was squirting him back with another water cannon. Even Ashe had a water gun, he couldn't work it, but boy did he have fun.

Busy Reading

Today the new and final Harry Potter book came out in stores. I know I am a big kid but I am excited to read the final book. I actually starting reading these books many years ago when a class of my students were discussing the books. I was interested in knowing more about the books back then and got hooked. Unfortunately, this book could have come out earlier this summer because now I am trying to get 759 pages read in the next two weeks before school starts.

Yum!

You never forget your first ice cream cone.

Thanks cousin Sarah!

This was a picture from vacation I found on Steve's phone and I just had to share with you.

Kiss, Kiss

This Hershey Kiss was something my chocolate lover, Nicholas just had to have. He is quite excited to dig into this huge solid milk chocolate Hershey Kiss. I had him hold it so you can tell just how big it is, it nearly filled his whole hand. Then I put the huge Hershey Kiss right next to real one so you could see the difference. The Kiss weighs almost a half pound, and is a tummy ache waiting to happen.

WOW that thing is big!