Dodge Ball City

We went to Winter Wonderland tonight, which doesn't have anything to do with snow or ice.  It's the Funderful World of Music's celebration/reward for so many weeks of continued piano practice.  The kids let off some steam, and jumped around, having a good time, as you can see above.  We saw Mrs. Pam early, and once again as you see below.

But that was pretty much it!  Madison was off and running, and jumping, and riding mechanical bulls, and playing dodge ball...

Here she is calculating just who it is that she'll peg with that ball.  Her strategy tonight seemed to be a simple one, as shown here below.

Hang in the back, and wait for the front line to do it's job.  Any ball that got by she could pick up, and do a bit of sharpshooting with.  She's with some of her classmates above.  But another classmate was on the other side for much of the night.  This was her nemesis, her foe.  Her target!

Jump Street at Sugarloaf Mills was a nice place to visit, although certainly not the biggest of the trampoline places we've been to.  Apparently these places do well enough, as there is Sky Zone and Get Air out there also.  

One of the simple pleasures of kids is a ginormous area made up entirely of trampolines.  Madison and others spent quite a bit of time just jumping, running, climbing and so forth.  Although she did keep going back to the dodge ball...

Here are some more of her classmates about to rain down a volley of dodge ball punishment on their opponents.  Meanwhile, Madison is jumping for joy on the other side of the room.  She sort of looked like that girl from Japan that likes to take pictures of her self in mid-air, as if levitating:

The dodge ball is fun.  The trampolines make it easier to dramatically dive out of the way without getting injured too much.

You can see Madison's class in the picture above, united in one cause:  to bring down wrath upon the other side.  Dodge ball is one of those sports that seems guaranteed to make someone cry.

But Madison had a great time.  Here she is, just prior to our going to take a little break, getting some dipping dot ice cream.  She couldn't resist getting her favorite flavor, cotton candy.  They give you this microscopic spoon, which I think is designed to prevent brain freeze.  Anyway, it took her a while to get all the ice cream eaten due to the size of the spoon.  But soon enough, she was back to dodge ball.

And other things too.  This seemed odd, but it was just a trampoline that you jumped on, and I guess you just tried to go as high or far as you could.  And that was that.  

Madison tried it a few times.  You can see her here with a few of her classmates, just prior to launch time.  T-15 seconds and counting....

And yes, there was the mechanical bull ride.  Madison was an urban cowgirl, doing her best to stay on a wild, bucking bull.  She didn't make it too long, but she enjoyed it nonetheless. 

It's the bulls and the blood, the dust and the mud.  Okay, no blood, dust and mud.  But there were plenty of inflatable areas to hit if you got thrown off.  And that pretty much happened to everyone.

But Madison got back on a few times to try it out.  She was fearless, and that's one thing we love about her.  In fact, it wasn't long before she was back to the dodge ball area, hurling lasers and diving for cover like an action star.  Here she is, posing with her teammates, who happen to be top notch marksmen as well as fine pianists!

So all in all, it was a nice night.  We were there for two hours or so.  It was Madison's last Winter Wonderland with her piano class.  Yes, we've done five of these or so, with magicians, trampolines, pools, and roller skating too.  They've been fun, and the kids have really enjoyed them each time.  In fact, here's Madison taking another leap of faith:

In the other classes, did we mention that one of Madison's friends from ballet was here as well?  The two of them hung out for a while, jumping and climbing around.  Ballet and piano keep you busy, so you can imagine a night like this was great for them to unwind a bit.

One more picture of the two girls, and a little brother:

This was the big event of the day, although there was quite a bit of other things going on.  I completely forgot that it was a Reading Awareness Day or something like that.  Basically, they take Dr. Seuss' birthday, and turn it into a dress as "whatever book character you want" day.  Madison wanted to go to school as Princess Leia.  So she did!

Meanwhile, Mommy and Daddy were working on the new Neverland series.  Mommy was out getting costume bits together, while Daddy was busy with filming and editing for the weekend's new series.  It's going to be great... and it's only two days away...!