The Golden Meatball

I try to take the boys to at least one live stage show a year.  Encouraging an interest in the arts is so important to raising a well-rounded child.  That’s why we do all sorts of extra curricular things from visiting art shows, to watching dance performances/bands, to homemade art projects, to visiting the theater.

This year I decided to take the boys to see Curious George Live.  Because the show was on a Friday night, J got to go too!  The story of The Golden Meatball was brought to life right before our very eyes.  Wildman and Cutie Pie LOVED it!  J was pleasantly surprised that he enjoyed it too 🙂

The acting was over-the-top and corny as you would expect at a kids show.  The music was quite catchy.  It made for a fun evening out.  Although The Man in the Yellow Hat’s pants were distractingly high-waisted…

My favorite part of the show was The Golden Meatball Girls (not sure if that is what their name was but it fits…)  Aren’t the spaghetti plate costumes incredible?!  My gears are turning for a possible Halloween costume…

A certain son of mine spotted a special treat as soon as we entered the UCF Arena.

So, there may have been some blue cotton candy purchased somewhere along the way as well…

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Where Overalls and Plaid Shirts Rule

We survived Monster Jam 2010 at the Florida Citrus Bowl!

I was not so sure that we would survive given where we parked…  It was pretty much in the ‘hood and a decent hike from the Citrus Bowl.  Yikes!  Luckily there were police officers and crowds of people everywhere.

We parked the car, made certain it was locked and followed the sea of rednecks people marching toward the arena like it was The Promised Land.

The event was just beginning when we found our seats.  The rain that had moved in earlier that day had thankfully dissipated by the evening.  However, my seat received an awesome steady drip, drip, drip of runoff from the tier above us.  My soggy left knee and I really appreciated how much the drip added to the arena’s ambiance.

Monster trucks are loud, let me tell you!  We had to purchase ear muffs for the kids.  Wildman refused to wear his in favor of the ear plugs that J brought along for us to wear.  I was not too proud to don the mud-tire ear muffs.  Anything to preserve my hearing!

Here are photos of all of the monster trucks that we have in Hot Wheels form:

El Toro Loco

Destroyer

Maximum Destruction

Grave Digger

Some of the highlights from the night included funnel cakes…

… watching the soccer mom democross race…

… watching Maximum Destruction smoke and roll…

… and, of course, watching Drunky the Bear from my favorite talk radio station flip a car…

He was okay…

The boys had a blast!  Wildman was completely wiped out.

Cutie Pie?  Not so much 🙂

Besides football and baseball, I cannot think of another more American event than a Monster Jam…

It was an evening we won’t soon forget.  Tickets went on sale for next year’s Orlando Monster Jam at midnight last night.  I think I might wait awhile before purchasing them.  A year in advance seems a little premature, don’t you think?

Ice, Ice, Baby! Too Cold! Too Cold!

Steph, B and I took a little-kid-mini-vaca on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week.  We removed all 6 children from school and pointed the SUVs toward Orlando.  We had a mission and that mission was ICE!

Here in Florida, where our December lows barely graze 50 degrees, we have no choice but to artificially create a Winter Wonderland.  The Gaylord Palms thoughtfully set up such a place for us to visit.  A place carved from over 2 million pounds of ice.  Thank goodness the kiddies brought their mittens (thanks to the Target $1 bin) because it was COLD!  Like 9 degrees cold.  We Floridians have thin blood, you know.

The sexy blue parkas that were provided did help to keep us quite toasty though.

Most of the ice sculptures were illuminated by colorful lights.  We entered into an Alaska-themed Eskimo fishing pond first.  Gorgeous!

There were many warning signs along the way.

Wildman, being Wildman, did not take heed when we came to the ice carousel.

I wonder how many other kids have licked that same deer’s ear…  The kids were allowed to sit on the carousel animals because they had plastic saddles.  Don’t think we were breaking all of the rules…

There was this scary Santa carving that we made 5 out of the 6 kids climb up to and strike a pose.  Only the little girl in our group refused.  Smart girl!  Talk about dead-behind-the-eyes!

We came to ice slides at the end of our tour.  They were a huge hit with the children and adults alike.  We stayed in the slide room for half an hour freezing our tails off watching the kids take turn after turn zooming down the chutes.  It was so awesome!  Although I lost feeling in my hand and feet by this point.  I should have bought some mittens…

I think it is safe to say that my boys had a wonderful time!