**All photos and text are property of Angela Pounders and can not be distributed without permission.
If you share one of my posts, please include a link to my page. Thanks!
Meeting Bao Bao, the National Zoo's new giant baby panda cub!! **All photos and text are property of Angela Pounders and can not be distributed without permission. If you share one of my posts, please include a link to my page. Thanks!
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Special family outing last week. **All photos and text are property of Angela Pounders and can not be distributed without permission. If you share one of my posts, please include a link to my page. Thanks! Carnival Family Date Night @ Chick-fil-a Free photo session and a picture to take home! Photo by gigOgraphy **All photos and text are property of Angela Pounders and can not be distributed without permission. If you share one of my posts, please include a link to my page. Thanks! We have been pleasantly surprised with the Toddler Thyme program at the Manassas Museum this summer. The title is a bit misleading as the classes are for children ages 3-5 years old (they said they are looking to change it for next time), but Love Bug (who is a little over 2 years old) was allowed to join since Sweet Girl was signed up for the classes. The classes cost $10 per child. The classes are being held every Monday during the summer and there's something for everyone! Themes range from railroads to life on the farm to pirates to police. Classes are offered at two different times and last one hour. One class is at 10:00 am and the other begins at 11:15 am. The class is run by two young ladies who work for the museum. Each class usually starts off with a book about the week's theme. Then, we sing songs and/or do fingerplays. Next, the children are invited to a table set up with supplies to do a craft. Sometimes, we have done two crafts in one sitting if they are "small" crafts. Other times, we have taken a break to play games or do something more active. The class typically ends with one more story and then children are given a special take-home surprise before the class ends. The children are throughly engaged for the entire hour. They are learning new things about the theme of the week, practicing their good listening skills, taking turns, standing in line and using both fine and gross motor skills with the art projects and games. I have to admit that I wasn't too sure about paying $10 per class for each child, but it is well worth it in my opinion. The young ladies that run the class remember my girls' names and they are so friendly. They work very well together and do a good job of keeping the children engaged for the full hour. I like how parts (or all) of the classes are held outside--if the weather permits it. The girls have loved the activities and proudly display their crafts at home. The girls also look forward to the special take-home surprise at the end of each class. We always leave class happy and excited about the theme of the week. There is still time to try out this wonderful program, but there are only four more classes left this summer. If you are interested in joining a class, check out the Manassas Museum website. They do recommend that you register in advance. Side note: There is a wonderful playground and picnic area that is open to the public behind the museum. It's a great place to run around if you get to class a bit early or to have a picnic after class. Check out the fun we've had at Toddler Tyme! CIRCUS Craft: Circus collage with stickers, paper and stamping Games/Activities: Circus songs, Pin the Tail on the Lion, Three-ring Beanbag Toss and Tight-rope Walking Take-home surprise: Circus animal tatoos LIFE ON THE FARM (held at Liberia Plantation) Craft: Fuzzy Lamb Games/Activities: Frog Fingerplay with frog finger puppets, Trying out a butter churn, Making real butter and Milking a pretend cow Take-home surprise: Real lamb's wool UNDER THE SEA Craft: Ocean sticker collage and Paper Plate Rainbow Fish Games/Activities: Fish Fingerplay with finger puppets, Parachute fun with Blow-up Sea Animals and Magnetic Fishing Take-home surprise: Fish tatoo and a fish or toad squeaky toy PIRATES Craft: Pirate Hats, Paper Parrots and Pirate Coloring Page Games/Activities: Fingerplay, How to talk like a pirate and a Treasure Hunt with real "treasure" at the end! Take-home surprise: A "treasure chest" filled with loot: play money, eye patch, necklace, tatoo, Manassas Bull Run Civil War patch
Disclaimer: I was not was not asked to write this post or compensated to do so. All opinions are my own. **All photos and text are property of Angela Pounders and can not be distributed without permission. If you share one of my posts, please include a link to my page. Thanks! As you probably know, my family loves Chickfila, so when Cow Apppreciation Day rolls around, you know that we are going to be there with bells on--sometimes literally! Papa Bear and I have participated in almost all of the Cow Appreciation Days since it began nine years ago. If you don't know what I'm talking about, check out this link. It has a short video at the bottom of the page that you can watch to learn more. Papa Bear and I had our costumes from the World Record event, but we had to make the girls' costumes again. They love the rope tails Papa Bear made them! Of course, the restaurant was decorated with all sorts of cow decor and there was a visit by the Chickfila cow himself. We were very thankful that the entire family got to have their meals for free. We even traded in one of the kid meals books so the girls could get an ice-cream to share. The girls also got mini plush cows and balloons to take home. This is a fun event our family looks forward to every year. It's silly, but it's great family time--both in preparing for the event and on the day itself. I hope that our family gets to celebrate many more Cow Appreciation Days together!
**All photos and text are property of Angela Pounders and can not be distributed without permission. If you share one of my posts, please include a link to my page. Thanks! The excitement was building as we drove to George Mason University for the ChickfilA Break the Record Event because WGTS 91.9 was talking about it on the radio. They were actually at the event and were inviting people to come out. We were greeted by a huge inflatable cow as we neared the parking lot of GMU. People of all sizes dressed like cows were making their way into the Field House. The fun had begun! As we got closer to the doors, another inflatable cow and several ChickfilA employees greeted us. When we entered the building, employees checked to see if the girls' costumes had all of the required parts. Before we officially entered, we headed to the bathrooms on the other side of the building. We had to pass the costume repair booth on the way. They actually had entire costumes for people who needed them. Then, Papa Bear and I put on our costumes and we headed back to the front of the building to officially enter and be counted for the record. As we entered we were checked again for "proper" costumes and each of us was given a raffle ticket for the numerous prizes being raffled off that morning. I had missed the box collecting the canned goods for the Washington Food Bank, so the woman at the raffle table took them for us. As we entered onto the floor of the "official" area, we were all given a bottle of water and a piping hot ChickfilA sandwhich. It was so neat to see ChickfilA operators and employees there that we knew. We put our sandwiches in a bag for later and just took in the sites. The girls were also given mini stuffed ChickfilA cows. There were so many actual ChickfilA cows there it was unbelievable! The George Mason mascot also made an appearance. And let me me tell you--those guys can dance. One cow even did the splits! One of the employees from ChickfilA Sudley Manor was DJing the event and he kept the place rocking! As the music played, we made our way around the room. Fit for Christ and The Little Gym had tables set-up. The Little Gym also had a prize wheel and a tumbling area set up for children with mats, hula hoops, a balance beam and such. The staff were there helping children tumble. Sweet Girl thought about doing it, but changed her mind. Love Bug was all about the balance beam. There was also a booth where you could get the cow's autograph stamped on the back of your raffle card. After that, we just hung out with all of the other cows and danced to the music. My girls love to dance! Papa Bear had some good moves, too. Out of the 400+ people in attendance, Sweet Girl and Love Bug were two of only a handful of black cows that were there. People were very creative with their costumes. I saw crocheted cow ears, a cow-printed dress, t-shirts with felt spots and udders and of course, hundreds and hundreds of decorated hazmat suits!! Through out the morning, there were raffles for a variety of ChickfilA merchandise. They told us that if we broke the record, they would raffle off ten prizes for ChickfilA for a year!! They had us all gather under the American flag for the official announcement. The operators were called to the front of the crowd. TV crews were up on the balcony filming and taking photos. We all had to make sure that we were properly suited up and stay that way for five minutes. Then, a gentleman from the Guinness Book of World Records made the official announcement. The suspense was building as he mentioned that a number of people had left (some re-entered) during the event and that one person left during the official five minutes, BUT he announced that we beat Canada's record of 298 people dressed as cows in one place! We had 470 people gathered there and BROKE THE RECORD!! Of course, everyone was very excited! This is the second world record that our family has participated in and broke a record--this year no less! Since we broke the record, they started calling numbers for the ChickfilA for a year raffle. Sweet Girl said she had to use the bathroom, but I really wanted to hear the winners. I mean, if we won, I wanted to be there! She said she could wait a minute and I listened very carefully as the numbers were called. To my surprise, they called one of our numbers!! I screamed so loud and headed up to the front with our winning ticket!! I was given a ChickfilA box wrapped in a pretty bow full of cards for free ChickfilA sandwiches! Wow! What a way to end the morning!! We all went to the bathroom and Papa Bear and I took off our costumes. Those hazmat suits are hot! I think I lost a couple of pounds just walking around in that thing! As we left, everyone got a coupon for helping break the world record. Then, we headed outside and had a picnic lunch with our ChickfilA sandwiches under a shady tree. I called my mom and shared the exciting news. It was the perfect way to end our exciting, fun-filled morning. Group shot! Picture posted on ChickfilA Signal Hill's Facebook page. **All photos and text are property of Angela Pounders and can not be distributed without permission. If you share one of my posts, please include a link to my page. Thanks! Despite the heat, we had a lot of fun at the Railway Festival this year. We had a different game plan due to the weather since the girls and I do not do well in the heat. We focused mainly on the static train displays and less on the vendors. If it weren't for taking the train ride and eating lunch in Subway (read: air condition!) we would not have been able to stay as long as we did. Our adventures included having to use the bathroom in the train when we had an unexpected delay on the way back and both girls rode in little crank train cars after lunch. Sweet Girl made it all the way around on her own, but Love Bug needed a little help. :) **All photos and text are property of Angela Pounders and can not be distributed without permission. If you share one of my posts, please include a link to my page. Thanks! The Manassas Heritage Railway Festival is one of the first big events we went to when we moved to Prince William County and is something that we look forward to every year. This is a very well attended event and it is definitely one the entire family can enjoy! The festival is free and offers a variety of live entertainment and elaborate model train displays. There is even a kid stage. The Boy Scouts sponsor and run a carnival with games to play for prizes, cotton candy and popcorn. There are also a variety of vendors there selling food. You can even buy tickets to take a train ride to Clifton and back. We enjoy ourselves every year we go! We enjoy looking at the different model train displays and taking in the sights. Last year there was a kid train table set up where the children could actually touch and interact with the set-up. My girls loved it! Check out some pictures from last year's fun! **All photos and text are property of Angela Pounders and can not be distributed without permission. If you share one of my posts, please include a link to my page. Thanks! This was the "ad" I saw for the Greater Manassas Volunteer Rescue Squad (GMVRS) Open House this past Saturday. It looked like it was going to be a lot of fun, but since I had never been before, I wasn't sure what to expect. Well......let me say that this event was WAY above and beyond what I could have imagined. We participated in everything listed above except the one about strokes. We had such a great time that the girls and I are going to write the squad a thank you letter! I thought this would be a great event to take the girls to so they could get a closer look at what our local community heroes do on a daily basis. Now that Sweet Girl is older, she has a lot of questions--good questions--to ask when we are out and about. Love Bug is an observer and mostly just takes everything in. Check out the fun we had! RESCUE VEHICLES There's nothing like a shiny fire truck! EXTRICATION DEMONSTRATION I was told by an onlooker that it took the squad over half an hour to use the Jaws of Life on the car on the right to "rescue" the "victim" inside. The top was already off when we got there. It was a great show of team work and we applauded as they took the "victim" away from the accident scene. TEDDY BEAR CLINIC
HANDS-ONLY CPR DEMONSTRATION This demonstration was set up in a room in the station. I heard "Staying Alive" playing and saw several "Harvey" and "Little Harvey" dummies on the floor and I just had to pop in. The chest compressions are done to the beat of "Staying Alive" and it was fun to watch one young boy getting down to the music while saving Harvey's life. It was good for the girls to see and we talked about why CPR would have to be done on someone. Sweet Girl was not interested in getting near the dummies though. AMBULANCE TOUR Before we got ready to go, I thought I would ask Sweet Girl one more time if she wanted to get in the ambulance. She had declined my previous offers. Well, she said yes and was actually eager to get on board! Love Bug, who was past her nap time, kept communicating that she was not interested, but once she saw Sweet Girl in there, she wanted out of the stroller! The girls looked so cute sitting next to each other on the bench. I was standing on the bumper step watching the girls when Love Bug taps on the bench next to her for me to join them. Too cute! OTHER FUN We were excited that we got the moonbounce all to ourselves for a little bit since the majority of the people in attendance were busy eating lunch and doing the indoor activities. Another pair of girls joined us, but it stayed calm. I can't say the same about later in the day! There was a demonstration to show how the squad dresses when fighting fires. Did you know that when a firefighter is all suited up (including the air take which weighs almost 40 pounds) that the firefighter is carrying an extra 100 pounds of equipment on them? I like how the presenter pointed out that the firefighter was the same person inside the suit that we saw when the demonstration started. Then, they came around and gave high fives to everyone. I can see why children may be frightened if they saw a firefighter coming towards them. You can't see their faces and they sound like Darth Vader with their oxygen masks on. Sweet Girl was really excited to see a girl firefighter and wanted her picture with her. :) There was also a canine demonstration outside. We didn't get to see the demonstration, but we got to hear the officer talk about working with the dog and answer questions. Did you know that the officers only use male German Shepherds and that the dogs are taught commands in English and German? FREE FOOD AND TREATS There were tables and chairs set up inside the station where visitors could eat. All of the lunch food was free. There was a table with ice and drink and a food table. We had grilled hot dogs cooked by the squad with all the fixings plus several different kinds of chili as well as pasta. There was also a table selling treats such as cookies, mini pies and homemade jams and apple butter. The proceeds from the sales went to the squad. We ended up buying some cookies and a yummy jar of apple butter. This is one of the best events I have attended in some time. Not only was it fun, but we learned a lot, too. I am so thankful for all of the volunteer and career firefighters and EMTs that risk their lives every day to save those in their community! **All photos and text are property of Angela Pounders and can not be distributed without permission. If you share one of my posts, please include a link to my page. Thanks! After our family helped set a world record in the Red Light/Green Light game (a few Saturdays ago), we headed over to Marshall Elementary School for the Carnival of Hope to support Joshua Jurack and his family and their organization, Joshua's Hope. We were a few of the first people to arrive, but it didn't take long before things were in full swing! Sweet Girl was excited about the dunk tank. Love Bug was a bit shy as we went around to see what kinds of games they had. Both girls were excited to see the big playground there and wanted to play there first. Before playing any of the games, we had a family picture taken with Joshua under one of the tents. They printed out the picture and put it on a card with the event name and date. It was nice to get to talk with Joshua some. I also got to meet his parents. Sweet Girl was so cute because any time she saw Joshua wheeling around, she would say, "There's Joshua!" There were a variety of carnival games to play. They had your traditional games like tic-tac-toe with whiffle balls and a balloon popping game and some more original games like Tip-a-Troll and Wrecking Ball. I did pretty good at the dunking booth and dunked Joshua's dad two out of three throws! Papa Bear said think of the ball as a dirty diaper you're trying to toss in the trash can. It worked! The food concession stand had a cotton candy machine and you can't go to a carnival without having cotton candy! They also had hot dogs, chips, soda, candy and cake pops! There were two Zumba sessions for people to participate in. Sweet Girl liked watching everyone from atop Papa Bear's shoulders, but Love Bug decided to join in! She was the youngest Zumba dancer there! In the picture below, they are moving to "Thriller" by Michael Jackson. There was also a glitter tatoo tent and face painting tent. Sweet Girl picked out a fun cupcake glitter tatoo and got her face painted as.....can you guess? A blue elephant! Pastor Mark from McLean Bible Church Prince William Campus (MBC PW) was on hand to help with the face painting. There were quite a few church staff and members there helping out. It was nice to see how everyone rallied together for this event. We hadn't planned on staying for the entire event, but we did. The weather was nice, the girls were having fun and it was nice to just relax with the family. They brought out a cake for Joshua so everyone could sing Happy Birthday to him. It was a very nice cake. It was windy, so it was hard to keep the candles lit, but Joshua did get a few candles to blow out. The girls were excited to sing to Joshua. Then, they cut the cake and shared it with everyone there. We passed because we had just eaten our cake pops, but it was fun just being there. The girls played on the playground a little while longer and then we headed home. It was a great day supporting Joshua's cause, seeing friends and hanging out with our family. **All photos and text are property of Angela Pounders and can not be distributed without permission. If you share one of my posts, please include a link to my page. Thanks! |
AuthorThe Master's Daughter, Angela Pounders, loves teaching and sharing her ideas with others. After working various teaching-type jobs, she now uses her God-given gifts with her children at home. Categories
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February 2014
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