Our summer has started with a whirlwind of fun activities!
I had no sooner unpacked one kid (more on that later)...
when I had to begin to pack another!
We were all set to visit the Land of Oz but first...
we had to wait for Dorothy to finish her STEAM camp
(more on that later).
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| mom, Carlee, my younger sister |
As soon as Carlee graduated from camp, we headed to the mountains for an adventure and I MEAN adventure.
Before we even got to the Land of Oz, we got lost in the mountains, I lost my pocketbook, and I lost the keys to our apartment!!
Shew. We almost welcomed the Wicked Witch!!
Don't worry between Mrs. E., laughter, and magic, we found our way again.
For those of you who are not Wizard of Oz fans like my Carlee (as in watched the movie 100 times thanks to Mrs. B. who got her started on the whole thing), Land of Oz is a theme park that opened in the 1970s. It was big for fans- complete with items from the movie, character interactions, and a hot air balloon lift. Sadly it shut down in 80s and many things were destroyed by a fire and/ or stolen (possibly by many disgruntled employees).
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| 1970 |
Now they are back and working hard to renovate the entire park. There are currently two limited tours in the summer and fall (I warn you I had to get tickets three months in advance)!
Once we were settled and rested, our little Dorothy got ready to go to Kansas.
Can you stand it?
Why is a miniature Dorothy so adorable!?!
We began the tour visiting mean Ms. Gulch who was looking for ToTo (don't worry we hid our ToTo in the basket)!
We visited Dorothy's house, the barn, and even survived the tornado! (oh my!)
Our house was picked up and dropped right into.....
The Land of Oz!
(I can't live, she is soooo cute.)
Once in Munchkin Land, we followed the yellow brick road!
These are real set items from Munchkin Land (I guess the items were too big to steal or hard to sale on eBay?).
The two Dorothy's meet.
Carlee isn't one on attention but she sure did get a lot dressed as a little Dorothy.
As we continued on our journey, people from the tour were selected (or volunteered) from the audience to read parts, such as this scarecrow.
I'll be honest our speakers were a bit shy and quiet (I'm like GET INTO IT PEOPLE).
I know what you are thinking-
well duh, y'all know I volunteered right away.
Even though I was dressed as 'Glenda the Good Witch' (hello pink), they gave me the 'Wicked Witch'.
It's ok, I'm so good at being Wicked!
My Award Winning Performance can be watched here:
:)
Even Carlee laughed!
We later found the perfect shirt for me, and I would have bought it too but it looked like it might "melt" in the washer.
Once we got rid of that old, wicked witch, the Wizard opened his doors!
He gave the Scarecrow a diploma, the Lion a medal, the Tin Man a ticking watch, and he gave me a special sticker!
Carlee used her ruby sneakers to get us home and everyone lived Happily Ever After!
other great shots:
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| this little girl loved Little Dorothy |
The scenery was really gorgeous and the weather stayed a balmy 75 degrees.
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| a pair of the original ruby red slippers |
On the way home Little Dorothy fell asleep with Toto in hand (I can't take it, soooo cute).
In addition to our tour, we had a good time shopping, eating, watching TV, and relaxing.
Carlee found some new outfits and this unicorn mood choker. She adores chokers.
Did you all even know necklace chokers were back in style!?!
I use to love them as a teen but hardly think I could pull them off now.
We also did some gem mining.
This was fun and the sky opened up while we were searching for gold.
The scenery was gorgeous and the rain smelled really good.
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| our gem mining view |
In the evenings, we stayed in and had dinner.
We worked on a puzzle all three nights of our stay and the last night, we finally completed it!
E. worked most of it but we all pitched in at the end.
I nearly watched the first season of The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (I'm totally going to have to get Netflix now because I love this show) and we watched Kidnap (pretty good, who doesn't love Halle Berry kicking butt!?!).
What a wonderful weekend!
I can't wait to take this crew back next year for adventurous fun and bonding.
Lesson Learned from the Wizard of Oz:
-Always be ready for a detour.
-Life is easier when you stick together.
-All you need is right inside you.
-And there's no place like home!
