Isaiah, Elizabeth & Me with the Big Doll's HouseFinally a good chance to write about W5!! Today, thankfully, we continue to improve & Tim continues not to get sick!! Although Elizabeth was up a lot last night, and very fussy this morning.
So... onto W5. We met the other homeschoolers (about 60 people I'd say) in the Odyssey building at 10:00. It was great to see friends I hadn't seen for ages, and also to meet new women throughout the day. I was so glad to have Tim there as well meeting people. We soon went into W5 as a "homeschool group." I was immediately impressed at how big it was - a big entrance area and then stairs leading up to many other levels.
On levels 2 and 4 were the activities we were interested in. We first went to "Start" on Level 2, a huge room with loads of activities for 2-8 year olds. There was a mini grocery store with plastic food and checkout, a mini cafe with plastic food, a real Mini Cooper car to sit in, a big house to climb in and build, a knight's castle to climb in, displays about the senses, a ball & water-chute play area (which seemed to be the most popular), a big train set, a big dolls house with lots of wooden furniture... and more!! We spent most of the time till lunch in there, and once we realised there were 3 other places to go, we decided to return after lunch!!
Lunch was in the Odyssey's Pizza Hut at 1:00. I got a bit dizzy waiting a long time for my specially-ordered plate of pizza toppings (including melted cheese) but it was certainly yummy! We had fun chatting to & meeting new people.
There was a big Wallace & Gromit exhibition room that was only there till Feb. 4th - I'm so glad we didn't miss it, because it was fascinating! Many of the real sets that they used in the Curse of the Were Rabbit were there, and the actual plasticine figures as well. The detail and realism and beauty of the sets were amazing! I particularly liked Lady Tottington's grand hall & living room!
There were also hands-on activities like making your own mini-film with stop-start animation & plastic dinosaurs (the boys loved this) and making your own sound sequences for a clip from the film.
The other two huge activity areas were geared towards all ages, including lots for older kids (and adults!). These included making your own weather forecast and acting it out for a camera, monitoring your heart beat, pulling your own weight by a pulley, testing your reflexes, and a stunning panoramic view over the River Lagan and Belfast harbour. Tim and I had just as much fun as the kids! :)
All in all, a wonderful day out. Peter's favorite activity was the balls & chutes; Isaiah's favorites were building the big house & also working on different computers in the other activity areas. Elizabeth? Probably the big house and the balls & chutes... although she was afraid of the water at first (particularly the pool at the bottom) and kept saying anxiously, "Bibby no have bath, Mommy?" She hates baths!
More pictures:
Balls, Chutes & Water... What a Combination!
Balls, Chutes & Water... What a Combination!
Bibby Building the Big House
Lady Tottington's Entrance Hall
Wallace & Gromit Using the Mind-Manipulation Machine
Strong Peter!
Bibby and Me Overlooking the Harbour
5 comments:
Hey Mary!
How are you doing? I've been pretty good. Paul will be heading to India soon for work. Maybe in March. They told him a few days ago that he will have to get some vaccine. By the way, we will both be getting webcams so we can chat. I will have to get a msn account then too. Were going to wait on the webcams until we know for sure he'll be going over there. I'm going to be using his computer, and he'll take my laptop so I hope I can get all my info from here to his computer before then. ;)
W5 looks like a lot of fun. I love the little doll houses. Those are soo cool! =)
Sorry to hear grandad laing isn't doing very well. =( He is such an amazing person. I'm very glad that I have gotten to know him better since Paul and I got married.
Well, I've gotta get some dinner ready. I'm sorry this is so short. I'm taking a lot of hours this semester, so I had 4 test this week. I'm finally getting to relax some. Maybe I'll post on xanga soon.
I'm glad you all are feeling better! =) I will talk to you soon.
Love,
Holly
I was only a little jealous of you going to the W5 until I saw the Wallace and Gromit exhibit! That's so cool! Glad you had a fun day!
Hey, Holly! Really good to hear from you. Wow!! India?? Why are they sending him there? How long with he be gone? Oh, I hope you do get a webcam soon (not that I'm hoping Paul goes to India of course ;) - I would love to chat with you all on it!! It's sooo cool!
The doll houses were great. You could choose different slot-in floors and walls for each room too.
I know, Granddad really is a wonderful guy. I'm glad he is so close to God. He seems to be going downhill really quickly now. :(
I hope you get a bit more time to yourself soon! I'd love to hear how things are going with school when you can!
Lots of love,
Mary
Hey, Danielle, Ha, ha, I know, the Wallace & Gromit exhibition was amazing! It made us watch the movie all over again, to have a better look at the backgrounds! Such detail! Really a work of art. I love the humor in the movie too!
The bird I saw was a Northern Yellow Shafted Flicker. It actually is a kind of woodpecker, but it's the only brown woodpecker we have around here.
http://www.wbu.com/chipperwoods/photos/nflicker.htm
People are claiming to be sick again, but I'm treating it with a grain of salt. I bet they'll all be up by the afternoon if they aren't allowed to use the computer or watch movies.
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