Cheekwood Part 2

The second display was of "The Sword and the Stone". I had never thought of the story as a fairy tale before. Maybe because it was never included in any of my fairy tale books I had growing up but it is a fictional story all the same. Despite that this was a pretty cool display. I loved that they had the sword in the stone for anyone to play with and Declan seemed interested enough in it. Across from the walkway was King Arthur's castle which somewhat explains the story, but not really. I didn't go inside but I'm assuming there is no details of the story on the wall. Otherwise, any display with a play house is a plus in my book. BThe next two displays lack pictures because they just didn't turn out that good.

Thirdly we have "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves". This display consisted of a structure with mirrored outer walls and a "secret" entrance covered by a tapestry. The inside of the structure had treasures and sand covering the floor. The sand added a nice touch but mixing it with muddy shoes was unappealing. Luckily we had a lot of walking left to do. It had been a long time since I had read the story and I think I have only read it once because it was pretty long if I remember correctly so I was kind of fuzzy on the story and the display didn't really explain much. The only explanation was a plaque that mentioned the famous line "open sesame". Declan liked going into the house and Brett and I walked away puzzled about the details of the story. C

The fourth display was "Rumpelstiltskin". Luckily I remember this story so I was able to explain it to Brett. This was one of the more fun ones because there were three separate structures. First was a structure depicting a castle and the straw room and inside were portraits of the characters painted on the walls. Just outside of that was the spinning wheel. Follow a stone trail and you will see a camp fire set up with a fire painted on wood surrounded by tree stumps. Follow another stone trail, each with a letter from Rumplestilskin's name(very cleaver) and you will find his little house in the woods. Through out the structures are quotes from the story which really helped piece the story together. The only weird part was inside Rumplestitskin's house was furniture that looked very out of place. For example the chair had faux leather upholstery and the table looked like a coffee table. This would have been better with a simple wood table and chair. A+

Cheekwood Part 3

The fifth display was of "The Princess and the Pea". This one would have been a lot better had it not just rained. Luckily this is about as close as Declan got to the display. It doesn't explain the story or offer any literary quotes but it might have been fun just to play on. I refrained from touching it to see if there was anything under the mattress to represent the pea. I'm assuming there had to be because otherwise this display but be nearly as good. C-

Cheekwood Part 4

The sixth display was of "Little Red Riding Hood". It basically was several boards mounted together like a folding book with artwork depicting several points of the story. Although the artwork was very impressive and beautiful, I thought this display was the worst due to a lack of interactive play. Sure to an older child or an adult this is probably one of the better ones in telling the story and for the visuals. For a toddler, however, this wasn't very interesting although Declan liked the wolf. D

Cheekwood Part 5

The seventh display was of the story of Rapunzel. It featured Rapunzel in her famous tower and a portrait of the witch on the back. Also on the back were some different mirrors that distorts the viewer's image. I'm not really sure what that was about but otherwise I thought the tower was creative and fun. Inside Rapunzel's room are different pictures of worldly sights that she is dreaming of escaping to which I thought added a nice touch to show her feeling of isolation. My favorite part was the hair climbing rope which made this display and the alternative climbing ramp, allowing any child to act out the story. Declan opted to climb the ramp. A-

Cheekwood Part 6

The eighth and last display was of The Three Little Pigs. It consisted of a very large and rather strange looking wolf, three randomly placed three little pigs, and a somewhat abstract mobile depicting the three houses in the story. The wolf was made of two large pieces of wood with, surprise, a slide hiding in between. I suppose that makes the slider represent the wolf's heavy blows which is pretty cute. Definitely one of Declan's favorites. He slid down the slide 3 times. Wasn't much to stand and look at for long and I almost missed the mobile in the tree. Also, not much an explanation of the story but then again I guess everyone knows this one. B-










Well I hope you enjoyed my little series. We had a great time looking at all of this and it was fun to get back to Cheekwood again. It was fun just to remember Jill's wedding as it was the last time we had been. Or the time before when we went with Suzanne and the kids. Luckily we had enough time to walk the sculpture trail and we even saw three deer.

Well Well

I honestly thought I'd be posting sooner than this. I guess the only excuse I have is that Declan demands a lot of my time. That is proven to me just now when, as I'm writing that last sentence, Declan ran up to me drag me away to his room. Anyways, I'm not here to make excuses or apologize, just to try to stay connected. I don't have too much happening right now other than the norm. I didn't get to the Y as much this week as I would have liked. I couldn't help that much since Declan has a little cold which is a big no no for the nursery there. Declan, some of our friends, and I went to the zoo this week. It was so great to go because it was actually a pretty cool day weather-wise. I did get a job this week which was pretty awesome. I am going to start babysitting a friend's child a few days every week. This job looks to be pretty permanent so it is great to feel like I am contributing again. It is kind of ironic though because I had just gotten to the point where I no longer felt guilty or less of a person because I wasn't bringing money into the house and now I have that opportunity to do so. I already told Brett that we are not counting it into our normal budget though because I won't aways have the job and there is no telling if I'll be needed one week and not the next. So hopefully any money I make can go into the fun or remodeling fund with no worries. I hope everyone has a great labor day weekend! Enjoy the picture of Declan at the balloon festival.

Absent

Yikes! It's embarrassing to see how long it has been since I have last posted. I wish I could say that all this time has been filled with adventure, fun, and gained life experience but unfortunately most of my time was spent gaining weight, being depressed about said weight, and working up the motivation to get out of the house. That is not to say there hasn't been a few wonderful moments in the past three months. For starters, Declan, my MIL, and I visited family in Florida. We went to the beach, an awesome vegan restaurant, and a balloon festival! It was great visiting with everyone there and I only wished Brett could have come along. Declan and I also visited with other family members in Colorado, more on that later. You might ask where Brett was, well he was very busy at work. One of the few pitfalls of his job is that summer is their crunch time. No trips, no vacation time, nothing but unpaid overtime for him during this season. It makes summer family vacations pretty much impossible. Hum...Another reason to home school maybe? Anyways everything is back on track. I have a weight loss plan(30min-2 hour workouts at the YMCA almost everyday), Brett's less busy at work, and Declan and I are getting out a lot more often. So check back often because I will be posting more in the coming weeks. I have several pictures and memories to share from Pagosa Springs. Also, I'm going to start a series on our bathroom remodel. Exciting stuff!