Willow Bend Mall Summer Fun Thursdays

The Shops at Willow Bend Presents Summer Fun Thursdays in June & July
The Shops at Willow Bend

Children and parents / caregivers are invited inside the cool, out-of-the-sun environment at the center to participate in free activities. The Shops at Willow Bend has filled eight afternoons with fun performances; each one is unique, inventive and sure to capture a child's imagination. The schedule includes:

All Summer Fun Thursdays begin at 1:00 PM and will be held in Grand Court (lower level near Neiman Marcus).

•Thursday, June 9: Vocal Trash. A Stomping Sensation. Back by popular demand, this high-octane stage group provides an afternoon of music, dance, comedy and audience participation just for kids. Like a variety show with Broadway flair, Vocal Trash will present Street Show, an electrifying show for children and adults that features acapella harmonies and industrial ‘Stomp-style’ drumming.
•Thursday, June 16: Wacky World of Professor Brainius. Two parts brainy and one part zany, Professor Brainius fills an hour with laughs and learning. The afternoon with Professor Brainius includes: Experiments, sing-a-longs and activities that require audience participation and hands-on fun.
•Thursday, June 23: Interactive Kids Exstravaganza. The fun begins right from the start with a live show starring a party host who from the opening of the show will lead the audience in exciting and interactive songs and activities from their favorite television shows. Followed by an appearance by one of your child’s favorite costume characters.
•Thursday, June 30: James Wand Secret Agent Magic Show. James will tell kids all about his exciting adventures as a secret agent magician. Along the way, they hear about his evil enemy, Dr. No-No and join James on an adventure around the world! With wonderful magic tricks, hilarious comedy and interactive entertainment, James Wand keeps the kids laughing and cheering throughout this high energy show.
•Thursday, July 7: David Chicken Live Show Spectacular. A heart-pounding, floor-stomping, jump-out-of-your-seat event that’s fun and healthy. David Chicken, a talented singer-songwriter will lead the audience through a high-energy, interactive performance filled with creative movement, motivational messages and general hilarity. Named ‘Best of Big D’ by D Magazine, the singer invites members of the audience on stage to sing, play musical instruments and be a star. Everyone’s invited to join the fun and learn to scackle!
•Thursday, July 14: Comedy Magic Show by Todd McKinney. Todd McKinney is one of the best magicians for kids in the Central Texas area. His high energy magic shows offer original and amazing magic, join-in-fun and audience participation for children of all ages.
•Thursday, July 21: Barnum 200 Birthday Bash, presented by Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey®. Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey® is hosting a birthday party and the guest list includes you! Join Ambassadors of Laughter, Slappy and Monday, as they celebrate the birthday of P.T. Barnum, the founder of the Greatest Show On Earth®, at the Barnum 200 Birthday Bash. Step right up, test your circus skills, and laugh at the hilarious antics of the clowns prior to the circus coming to American Airlines Center at the end of July.
•Thursday, July 28: Safari Sam is Calling All Planet Protectors. Join Safari Sam for a day of singing and dancing as we learn how to be “GREEN”. This show will teach all of us how we can help to save our environment. Children of all ages will find themselves dancing to funky music, and singing songs. This is a HIGH ENERGY family fun event. Followed by an appearance from the Berenstain Bear characters, Brother Bear & Sister Bear.

Meeting Meteorologist Dan Henry

This is one of the things I enjoy most about homeschooling. I have been blessed to be able to set up several really fun activities for our group, but so far this one has been my favorite! Today we had an enrichment class with Fox 4's local Meteorologist Dan Henry!! Ok, so I'm not sure if he counts as a celebrity, but I am telling you that I was star struck enough to be very giddy over getting to meet him!



Dan told us all about how he predicts the weather to what to do if you are caught in severe weather. He even took some questions (and we now know that miss O knows that 3+3=6!). The kids had so much fun, as did the adults and I have listened to the girls talk about the weather all day! Brianna has even requested watching the news so that she can see Dan on TV. I think she is a bit "star struck" Hehe. She has no idea what she is talking about, or maybe she does, but she needs to know if there are any upper level lows coming to Texas!

Even Luke had some questions!

Be sure to check out my post about weather unit studies. There are alot of great resources there, including some freebies! And of course watch Dan Henry on Fox 4 News!

Disney World Here We Come!!

A little off topic today, but figured I needed a bit of light conversation.

We have booked and put down the deposit on our September 2011 Disney World vacation!!

We don't get to do this often so we splurge when we do. This year we took part in the free dining plan option and upgraded it to the deluxe plan. Call me crazy, but tonight I started planning our dining experiences!

Actually, this does take a bit of coordination. Because the parks have extended hours on certain days, we like to be sure to be in the specific days they are extended. This means that we have to plan where we are going to eat so that we are in the correct park on the correct day. Did you get that? Me either. Anyways, they don't actually release the extended hours until 180 days in advance, but because reservations for certain experiences book up fast you have to know what you need to book so that you don't miss out.

We are staying 7 nights 8 days (including our arrival and departure day) I have planned for 6 full days and left a few extra credits for whatever we need to do on the arrival and departure days. So here is my tentative plan for this trip!

Magic Kingdom- I planned for 3 days here so that we can take the park at a more leisurely pace. I have three kids ya know!

Day 1:
Breakfast-Chef Mickey
Lunch-The Plaza
Dinner: Tony's

Day 2:
Breakfast-Ohana with Lilo and Stitch
Lunch-Liberty Tree
Dinner-Cinderella's Castle (requires 2 credits)

Day 3:
Breakfast: Snack
Lunch:Mid-morning meal at Crystal Palace with the Princesses
Dinner: California Grill (may try to sneak this one with just the hubs. Requires 2 credits)

Epcot-We actually went home early last time so I am assuming we will have more time to eat since most of the rides are geared towards teens and adults.

Breakfast-Akershus with the Princesses
Lunch- The Garden Grill with Chip and Dale
Dinner-Rose and Crown

Hollywood-The eating here was slim

Breakfast-Supercalifragalistic Breakfast
Lunch- Hollywood and Vine
Dinner-Hollywood and Vine with Fantasmic

Animal Kingdom-Im having two of our TS meals swapped for quick service here.

Breakfast-Tusker House
Lunch-Resturauntasaurus
Dinner-Flame Tree

That leaves everyone 2 snack credits per day plus 2 table services to use either on our arrival day or departure day.

I am so excited. Can you tell?!

A Cowboy's Chuckwagon

I love homeschooling (you didn't already know that did you?). It has given us so many opportunities to do unique things. From our Japanese class to this one A Cowboy's Chuck wagon, we are truly blessed to be able to take advantage of all of the learning opportunities presented to us! For this one we headed over to The Hall of State at Fair Park for an interactive look at how cowboys, fur trappers, women and other pioneers would have lived life in Texas' younger days. The kids got to play with period toys and of course we put them to work doing chores like grinding corn for corn bread and washing the laundry by hand!

Brianna playing with a toy that children from that era would have played with.

The next time I start to complain about doing laundry, I will have a peek back at this photo! Could you imagine the time it would have taken?!

Freshly churned butter, YUM!

Grinding some corn for some corn bread for that butter!

Mary of Puddin Hill Field Trip

A few months ago while we were working on our Chocolate Lapbooks, I did some searching around and found out about a neat chocolate factory tour at Mary of Puddin Hill in Greenville. We were so blessed to be able to not only tour the factory, but we got to make our very own chocolate bars! The factory tour itself is completely free and to make the chocolate bar (which in my opinion is an absolute must!) is $5 and is something they only run in the off season so be sure to call ahead to make sure they are doing it during the time you are touring. The employees were so nice, the tour was conducted by a very enthusiastic manager who was very knowledgeable about the factory, from its history to the chocolate making process, and after we were done we got to try out some yummy samples.

If you are looking for a great lapbook that is fun and easy I definitely suggest the Chocolate Lapbook. I did have to modify it a bit to suit my younger ones, but that was easy enough and between the chocolate factory tour and all of the great chocolate recipes that we tried it was definitely in our top 5 favorite lapbooks.