Hadley's Sleepover

When I found out I was having a little girl, there were so many things I started looking forward to. One of those was sleepovers. I loved having sleepovers when I was young, so I was almost excited about Hadley’s. Hadley had slept over at her friend Kylie’s once, but this would be her first sleepover at our house.


We picked up Kylie, and headed to McDonald’s for lunch and some time at their PlayLand for our first stop. After lunch and some time playing, we were ready for our next stop.

I had told the girls there would be a surprise, but I hadn’t told them what yet. Both Hadley and Kylie love arts, so I knew they would love going to Time to Party and Paint in the mall. After carefully choosing what they wanted to paint, the little artists started working.

They each wanted to paint more, but we compromised and decided to get something at JoAnne’s to paint at home. After they finished painting we checked to see if Real Bounce was busy. It was, so we headed to the food court for Creamies.

I love that they are wearing their winter coats while eating ice cream

We headed to JoAnne’s to get more ceramic figures we could paint at home, but they only carry those during the summer. We found some paintable wood objects, so with those in hand we headed home.

The girls quickly set to painting.

After dinner and some more playing it was time for the sleeping part of the sleepover. This is where it is more fun to be the kid than the parent. Both girls have bedtimes of 8:00, but they didn’t actually fall asleep until 9:45. It took me going upstairs many times and telling them to stop talking and to lie down before they actually fell asleep.

Jumping on the bed before bedtime.  Notice the disaster of the bedroom, which only took them minutes to create.

The next morning we finished off the sleepover by making pancakes from scratch. I had 3 helpers in the kitchen this time, and I can say without a doubt that you can have too many cooks in the kitchen.

It was a lot of fun, and I know Hadley and I are looking forward to her next sleepover; Gideon not so much.

New Year's Eve Partybration

I’ve never really been one for celebrating New Year’s. Most years we have always stayed at home, relaxing and rarely do I make it to midnight. This year though I thought it might be fun to do something. Of course that meant something we could do with the girls because they are everything to me and no celebration is complete without them. Celebrating with the girls meant something we could do during the day and again meant very little chance of actually making it to midnight.


I looked at the First Night Celebrations in Montpelier and Burlington, but they were expensive and not something that I thought the girls would enjoy very much. After much online searching, I found the New Year’s Eve Partybration at Santa’s Village. I had heard positive things about Santa’s Village, so I thought it could be fun. The Partybration was designed for kids with the celebration ending at 9:00PM rather than 12:00AM. Admission was also all inclusive for rides, activities, food, drinks, and fireworks. Even though it was over an hour and a half drive, I thought we couldn’t go wrong.

Fortunately we have had a very mild winter, so temperatures were in the mid-30’s, which is positively warm for Vermont. We did bundle up though as we knew after a few hours even 30’s would be cold. The Partybration is a popular event, but Santa’s Village was ready for it. There were several rides open and the workers were all friendly and helpful.

One of the things that really attracted me to Santa’s Village is that Malia could ride many of the rides. Normally when we go to these places, Gideon and I take turns riding with Hadley and trying to keep Malia occupied without running all over the place.

She wasn't too sure about the carousel at first

Hadley loved it

After a few rides we headed for the food, and we weren’t disappointed. Not only was the food all inclusive, but it was actually good, not what you would expect for amusement park food. Throughout the evening/night we went through a whole pizza, 6 hot chocolates, 2 pretzels, popcorn, and three bags of mini donuts.

Santa Claus was also there, resting up from his big night. Once Malia got her candy cane she was off, but Hadley gladly got a picture with Santa and thanked him for all of her presents. Then we got to meet Santa’s reindeer. We found that they really like apple slices.

Playing in Santa's sleigh

She loved the reindeer

Waiting for the Ferris Wheel

The fireworks started at 8:00. We were in line for a ride and thought we would either miss the fireworks or not get to ride after waiting in line for about 35 minutes. We had great timing though as we got to watch the fireworks from the Skyway Sleigh, which does an aerial tour of the park.

We had so much fun that we bought a season pass so we can go back this summer and for next year’s Partybration. We were heading home at 9:00, and the girls fell asleep in the car almost immediately. We made it home and in bed before midnight yet again. It was one of our best New Year’s ever!

Where Vermont Comes in to Play

While kids usually look forward to Christmas break (not Hadley because she loves school), Mom’s are usually scrambling to find things to keep the kids busy. Our play group decided to have a field trip the week after Christmas.


A few of the Mom’s recommended Pizza Putt, or as a few of the kids call it Pizza Planet (from Toy Story). We had never been there, but it sounded like a fun place that the kids would love. Pizza Putt’s slogan is “Where Vermont Comes in to Play.” It is a great slogan as about 9 months of the year you need indoor activities. It is similar to Chuck E Cheese with games, but it also has an indoor play structure, indoor miniature golf, mini bowling, and surprisingly good pizza.

All of the kids loved the play structure and the games and rides. I’m sure the girls and I will be back soon and it would be a great place to visit for another play group field trip.

The ball pit was popular with all of the kids

She still loves sliding

JJ

Diving into the ball pit

Amber and Thea

Jolee