Dinosaurs Alive!

Remember my friend, Wall-E?? The cutie-patootie J and I went camping with last summer? Here are my two favorite recent pictures of him to refresh your memory.

Well, in approximately one month from today, J and I will be traveling to Yakima with Wall-E and his parents to go see Dinosaurs Alive at the SunDome! We are pretty excited about it. Several weeks ago I saw a commercial for it on television and thought it would be something Wall-E would get a big kick out of, but then promptly forgot about it. I meant to tell his mom, but didn't.

About a week after I saw the first commercial, Wall-E's mom called me and asked if J and I wanted to join them. She apparently saw the same commercial I saw, and immediately looked it up. We accepted the invite, we bought the tickets, and now we are committed!

It looks really cool. We aren't sure if Wall-E will really like it in person because he is only three after all (he'll be four a little less than a week after the show), and the dinosaurs are enormous. I'm guessing they are loud, too, but it is billed as a family show. And Wall-E is obsessed with dinosaurs. He has been for as long as I can remember.

For Christmas last year he got Kota the Triceratops. Here's the commercial. This toy is pretty unreal. And he loves it.




His third birthday party was a dinosaur theme. I helped his mom and grandma paint some pictures of dinosaurs that were used as decorations. Plus, his mom made a bunch of artifacts from homemade play-doh that got buried in the sand box. She also made a volcano, and I got a bubble machine so it erupted bubbles rather than lava. (Lava is kind of dangerous, and this was a kids' party...safety first!)

It was so much fun! Here are some pictures from preparations and the party. J and I went, and had a blast being photographers. Moms and dads always want to get pictures, but they are always busy with the kids and their guests, so they don't always get pics. J and I volunteered to shoot photos because, other than Wall-E, we don't know many three year olds. We figured we would just be making small talk with parents, and though we're sure they're nice, we thought it would be more fun to take pictures.

Wall-E's mom used her overhead projector at school to project dinosaurs on the wall, then traced them on butcher paper. We hung them up at Wall-E's grandma's house and painted them. Then we cut them out and hung them on the wall at Wall-E's house for the party.

Here I am...artist wannabe.

Wall-E's grandma. She's fixing the stuff Wall-E's mom and I messed up. We suck at painting apparently.

The finished products on the wall at the party!

Wall-E in the blue hoodie, and his mom, in the denim jacket, in the sandbox with other party guests hunting for dinosaur goodies.

Wall-E loves the movie The Land Before Time, and doesn't go anywhere without his "Sharptooth" and "Cera" plastic dinosaurs. I was at JoAnn's fabric store recently and I was looking for Star Wars fabric (Wall-E's newest obsession). I came up empty handed on the Star Wars front, but found a great fleece panel with dinosaurs on it. I thought Wall-E would like that, so I got it. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it, though, at first.

Then, I was inspired.

I made him a blanket! This was the easiest blanket I ever made (even easier than rag quilts!) because I just sewed a solid color fleece to the back and trimmed the edges. Wall-E's older sister was going to come to my house to borrow some crafting supplies for a science project she's working on, and I requested that Wall-E come with her to pick the stuff up. I originally intended for the blanket to be a birthday present or a gift on the morning we go see Dinosaurs Alive, but just couldn't wait.

When he got to the house, Wall-E ran through the rooms, just checking to make sure everything was okay. Once he got that chore out of the way, I invited him to the living room to see the present I had for him. I unfolded it and held it up, and his exact words were, "Oh, 'Stina!! It's beautiful!!"

I'm not so sure I would go so far as to say it's beautiful, but I'm glad to know it was a hit! (Excuse J's forehead...I tried to crop it out, but was unsuccessful...) If everyone I knew was that easy to please, I'd make a heck of a lot more stuff!

When Wall-E delightedly told me the blanket was beautiful, I just about died from the sweetness! Then, when I got a hug and a kiss, that pretty much pushed me over the edge.

I thought I loved the kid before, but now? Now I'm positive.

I'll let you know how Dinosaurs Alive goes. Oh, and if anyone knows of any cool Star Wars toys that are appropriate for a four year old, let me know, okay? Because now that I gave him the blanket, I need to figure out something else for his birthday!