Fairyland

Mirror Mirror on the wall who's the fairest of them all? Why little miss Holly playing at Fairyland of course! Isn't she such a cutie? She was sleepy on this day, we met friends at Fairyland after therapy so she was already worn out, but not "Tired"So for a good part of the afternoon she was in her stroller looking and watching everything. She enjoyed it and had fun, but wasn't eager to run around - yet. We strolled around the park and checked out all the attractions.What she was excited about was taking a train ride, and since she was being so well behaved and laid back we decided to take her on one. Since it was early afternoon on a weekday it wasn't very busy.So we didn't have to wait in a long line to hop on the train and they were giving everyone double rides. Even so, she liked it so much, every time we would stop at the cross walk or station she would start signing "more, more"We went on a few times during the day, and we went twice in a row too. Holly was very happy about it. She looked at all the scenery as we rode past. I think it was really just a mid-day lull and she was starting to spark up.I think the snack we had also helped. Kat and I shared chicken Nuggets ad a Chicken Sandwich, which of course Holly ate parts of. Then she ate an entire baby food and some puffs. the food I think really helped.She finally started to run around and explore a little, which Tanta Kat was happy about. First she ran up to this boat, but she decided that it would be more fun to try and jump into the water then to hang out on the deck.After all the encouragement of getting her to run and play we had to snatch her up and carry her around, at least until we got away from the water, which she is always drawn to.We decided to walk her through some gardens. Each of the little attraction areas had these miniature set-up for the various fairy tales and there were little listening boxes you could use by twisting a magic key.Usually you would hear a story or a song or a rhyme. It was our first visit where holly showed any interest in these boxes. Mostly she liked when there were songs, these made her smile.What she liked even more were the Ducks. There were a lot of animals in Fairyland, but Holly was so drawn to the ducks, she was giggling with glee. She quacked at them and said duck and reached for them.We let her sit on the border and watch. She got upset when they jumped in the water, I think she was worried about them but when there little heads popped up she was happy and excited.We sat with the ducks for a while listening to stories and fairy tales that I wasn't really familiar with but they were fun to hear. Then she was ready to go. She always finds a place to climb and crawl around in, isn't she adorable.Here is the little rascal crawling through the tube. I am not sure what section of the park it was in but she was playing peek-a-boo with us, looking out through the holes, this is one of her favorite games.Tanta Kat tried to crawl into the tube after her. She thought it was so funny and scooted backwards to try and escape. She would laugh and laugh. She was having a blast.But it didn't take long for her to move on and find some more water. This was a cute little water mill that spun around and around and she liked watching the water pour and fall.There was this really cool tall skinny tower, and Holly was drawn to the stairs she zoomed up them faster then the speed of light with Tanta Kat in Hot Pursuit. The top was actually a slide and she was thrilled with the discovery.Twisting and turning they spun down the slide together, I could hear her glee the whole way down. She hopped right off Tanta Kat's lap and raced back around to go up the stairs to do it again.Fairyland we decided is really designed for three to four year olds, but there were still lots of places for Holly to crawl, walk and explore. But it was fun to imagine what it might be like when she is older.There were lots of neat bridges and pathways and slopes and hills for her to walk on which is really good PT practice and though she was a little tired she was enjoying the opportunity to stretch her legs.This is one of the little fairytale houses, you can see Holly stretching and reaching high up to put the key into the little story box and hear what it has to say. She didn't always stay to listen to the story once it start though.There were lots of fun flowers and little fences all around the grounds, buildings for her to peek into and go inside, fences for her to try and climb, flowers to smell. I was happy that the day wasn't to hot, though at the time I thought it was.It was sunny and warm, but the air was dry, if we stayed in the shade there was a nice cool breeze so it was bearable. The last few days it has been rainy and then warm, so the humidity has been atrocious.Holly loved wandering around and having such a wide open space. It was nice to let her run and we just followed her wherever she wanted to go, for the most part. As long as she stayed off the tracks, and didn't go up too many stairs.Here Holly is being a little trouble maker. We are waiting to take another train ride and she ran over to the little snack shack to play with the other kids there. She took it upon herself to climb up the little kid chairs and onto the counter. Of course Tanta Kat was right behind her to make sure that she was safe and didn't fall. She is pretty fast though. So by the time she chased her down there she was half way up the chair already.This big clock signifies Alice and the looking glass. Holly was late, very late for a very important date! So we went down, down down, the Rabbit whole. Weeeee! In fact, we went down several times.Then we explored all the cool underground tunnels, they had these neat carnival mirrors, and as you walked on deeper into wonderland you could meet all of your favorite characters.Here is the Mad Hatter's Tea Party, and all of our friends were in attendance, the White Rabbit, and the Mouse, and even the Hatter. We even met the Cheshire Cat, who had such a smile.Later we had to find our way through the card maze to get out of wonderland and back into the real world. She had fun in the card maze and conquering the red queen!Kat barely escaped with her head. But survived just in time to teleport onto the next world. We really enjoyed wonderland, especially sliding down into it. Climbing back up was pretty fun too.It was time for another snack break. Holly gobbled down a bottle and took a rest from chasing the white rabbit. It was getting late in the day, but we could tell she wasn't ready to actually fall asleep yet so we stayed a bit longer.We took another train ride. You can see the concern here on Holly's face when the engine pulls to a stop, she signs more, she wants it to "go, go, go" She didn't like the idea of it stopping one bit.She is so adorable when she is worried, There were people actually crossing this time, so the stop was longer then usual, but once we started to move again she was happy.You can see here how articulate and demanding she is telling the train more, or really, telling Mommy more. As if I had the power to make the train go, but I suppose in her eyes Mommy is all powerful.And in fact, the train did go just after she asked for it. She took several rides, she was so demanding. We had to switch cars once before taking another ride, but she didn't mind the change in scenery.I think this may have been one of her favorite areas. We went here twice as well, earlier when she was hanging in the stroller and later when she was up for playing. She loved making music with all the fairy instruments.There were flutes to clang and bells to ring and vines to shake and strings to pluck. The room is a semi circle hall way and all along the walls are various types of ways to make music.These were one of her favorite, as they were easy and very effective. it was neat how they will vibrate and ring and echo through the room, and they sounded different base don if you clanged the big or the small tubes.This is the Fairy circle in the center. She had to of course be a part of that. All around was a little organic garden, there were fresh tomatoes growing and many different types of flowers.These games were one of the many entrances into the hall, there was a way in and out on either end as well and little windows you could look through to thee the gardens outside.This spinner had beads and balls inside and made a cool sandy, wavey, type of sound, very soothing when you spun it round and round. She ran back and forth from one item to the next, a little harp, some tall bells, she loved them all.Just around the corner was a ship wrecked boat on a beach, with crockadiles. She wasn;t one bit afraid of them though and came right over to make friends... What big teeth you have, my my.She tried to climb up the net to the birds nest too look all around, perhaps there was rescue in the distance, or civilization just beyong the jungle, you had to climb high to see what was out there.But she didn;t get very far and ended up playing int he sand, I mean everyone knows thats what you do when the water isn;t available, its the next best thing.She was determined to be safe from walking the plank, and gingerly scalled the boat walls, balancing herself just along the ships edge, the other pirates were bailing and jumping to the depths of the sea, but she sayed on board.Except of course when she was hanging with the Crockadile. She thought that perhaps he had swallowed a hidden map to the treasure and if she fed him coconuts he would revel the secret location.But in the end even though she had many fun adventures with Mommy and Tanta Kat, she realized that whether she was in wonderland, traveling the high seas, or visiting oz , there was "No Place Like Home" and home was where she was ready to go.