Monday, October 12, 2009

Rainy Day Fun - Making Crayons!

After a long, hot summer of complaining about the lack of rain, I'm now on the verge of complaining about too much rain!! Boy, we sure have had a lot of it lately! But then I drive past Lake Travis, and see all the "islands" that are still there, and remember that rain is good. Especially when you have fun things to do with the kids on those rainy days - like this idea that I got from my friend Jenn! We turned Carter's old broken crayons into funky new round crayons!! Here's how:

Step 1: Remove papers from the crayons and break into small pieces. Carter was such a great helper!!Step 2: Fill a mini muffin pan, sprayed well with Pam, with the crayon pieces. Fill each cup all the way to the top.Step 3: Bake in a 400 degree oven for 5 minutes. This is how they looked when I first pulled them out - VERY melty!Step 4: After cooling completely on the counter, pop them into the freezer for a few minutes so they come out of the muffin pan easily. Voila! Funky new round crayons!! :-)

Sunday, October 11, 2009

A Day Out with Thomas!!

So you all know that Carter is a little Thomas the Tank Engine fanatic, right? Well today we did something very exciting - we drove up to Burnet, TX for a DAY OUT WITH THOMAS!!! The weather did not cooperate, it was fairly miserable - cold and rainy - but that didn't spoil the fun! And as long as nobody ends up with pneumonia (!!) it was all worth it. :-) Here's the photos...

First stop was waiting in line in the rain......to meet Sir Topham Hat!Next we headed down to Imagination Station - a tent filled with fun activities for the kids. Once Carter saw this great big train table, there was no getting him to move for a while!But Courtney tried some of the other activities, including coloring......and the Lego table!Finally it was time to ride the train!! Courtney saw Thomas coming down the line...Here he comes!Carter had his ticket ready to he could board the train!Carter was so excited to be riding on Thomas' passenger coach! He did, however, point out that the coaches didn't really look like Annie or Clarabel - but, he was ok with that. :-)Carter enjoyed a snack as he rode on the train.Grandma was happy to be out of the cold and rain for a little while!!After the train ride, Carter got his photo taken with Thomas himself!And Emily...And Murdoch!There was a pen of sweet little farm animals.And a maze, although Carter was more interested in walking on the "walls".Carter watched a Thomas video for a little while - because, you know, we can't do that at home (HA!).Our last stop was listening to Cowboy Sue sing and play her guitar for a bit - Carter and Courtney both had so much fun "dancing" to the music (aka running around in circles!).When I bought the tickets, I assumed you needed them to get into all of the activities. But it turns out, they were only really needed to ride the train. But as we drove home, I asked Carter what his favorite part was, and he said "RIDING ON THOMAS!!!". So, I'm glad I bought the tickets. Fun day!! :-)