We're back! I haven't posted a blog in awhile, but we are still here, I swear. It's just taken a bit for us to get back into the swing of things. I didn't have much to share, either. But, yesterday was my 36th birthday, so we went out and about to celebrate. With Asa's schedule change earlier this year, he already had my birthday off, so that was lovely.
Usually around here we have birthday weekend extravaganzas. Mine was interrupted mid-weekend with a migraine, and Calib trying to register for his classes, and getting home school evaluations in. Plus, Calib missed the first day of the whole thing. So, I don't have much to share from the two days before my birthday. But, on Tuesday even without Calib, we had a fun day down at the lodge. We played pool, finally cooked out by the pool, and swam. (Also, shout to to everyone for being so nice to me with my migraine. Like, for real, they covered up all the light in the house, kept me company, and made me pancakes when I felt like I could/should eat something).
But Thursday was my actual birthday, Calib was back, my migraine was gone, and we were good to go. Hayden set up all his toys as if they were celebrating my birthday, and put Luminus on for me. (Fun story: He came in our room just after midnight on the 9th to wish me a happy birthday, when we told him he was about 24 hours too early he was all upset. We couldn't figure out why- but apparently he had set all this up and then had to take it down for the next night).
He also made me a card. He left it with Teddy, my bear that I got for my 5th birthday- that's kind of been adopted by Hayden. So, Happy 31st Birthday to Teddy.
I really debated on what to do for my birthday. Disney lifted blackout dates early, but the boys weren't super into it. (It has been really hot lately). So, I looked elsewhere. You might remember last year, we went to 'The Beach', the ball pit set up by the Vinik Family Foundation at Amalie Arena. This year, the Vinik's brought something new to Tampa: The Art of the Brick. Still totally free, and still totally awesome.
The official description for the Art of the Brick: THE ART OF THE BRICK is a global touring exhibition rated by CNN as one of the world’s “Must See Exhibitions.” These are the first art exhibitions to focus exclusively on the use of LEGO® bricks as an art medium and artist Nathan Sawaya has taken it to new heights. This award-winning artist has multiple unique exhibitions created solely from standard LEGO bricks often with several new sculptures created specifically for each exhibition. Each show has countless colorful LEGO pieces which Sawaya has transformed into whimsical and awe-inspiring creations.
Basically, the artist, Nathan Sawaya, makes lego art. And it is amazing.
In the first couple rooms, you'll find some of the most famous artwork, in lego form. Some of the artwork is formed from the top of the legos.
Some of it is done from the side, so it is a smooth surface.
But, it isn't limited to copies of paintings, there are lots of sculptures too.
Some are a combo, where you had the sculpture and then a background in painting form.
Every sculpture and painting came with a description, along with the scale of the lego vs. the original, and how many legos it took to complete the project. It was fun for the boys, because we had studied a lot of the artwork during Art Week.
There was a section where he took items from various paintings and made those items out of legos.
The lego artwork ranged from things like pottery to wall hangings...
To the huge Easter Island statue, and a whole life sized scene made out of legos. (That was one of my favorites- even the tables, the easel and the floor were made totally out of legos!)
Another family favorite: the hug dinosaur!
Beyond the 'copies', there was plenty of original art as well.
And at the very end, there was a display of the whole museum, all made out of legos!
We thought it was funny that there was a model of the display inside the display!
Then, you came make your own lego creations and add them to the shelves so they can be part of their own little museum. I made a '36' in honor of my birthday.
Overall, it's a cool exhibition, and if you live in Tampa, you should totally go check it out. We only waited about 5 minutes to go in, but I heard the day before it was an hour wait. I think the fact that we went on the first day of school for Hillsborough and Pinellas counties had something to do with it. Can we just take a minute to appreciate how awesome it was that Tampa was back to school for my birthday freeing up the whole city? It was amazing! (Pasco goes back on Monday, and we're super excited about that!)
Just a few blocks from the Art of the Brick is one of my favorite lunch spots, Holy Hog BBQ, so it was a perfect spot for lunch.
After lunch we made a trip to Ikea, and then we were off to Top Golf. Hayden has a 'Junior Membership', which gets us half off until the end of the August, so it didn't even bother us too much that the prices had gone up since the last time we were there.
After Top Golf, we headed over to outlet mall, where a new kiosk opened this week. You guys, they have cookie dough. Like, you can actually eat cookie dough. They serve it in little cups, and it's amazing. I know we all eat cookie dough despite the raw eggs and flour and such, but this stuff is specially treated so that it really is ok to eat.
We made a stop at Costco and then headed home and tried to go to the pool, but a storm hindered our plans. Instead, I went with Asa to pick up my cake. This week they have the gas card coupon, where if you spend $50 in groceries you can get a $50 gas card for $40. The cake got us halfway there, so Asa suggested I pick out stuff to get us to $50. He called it 'the Corinne cart', since it had all my favorite stuff in it, and I made him take my picture.
The storm cleared, and we made it to the pool. (I'm not sure what is happening in this first picture, but I think it's funny, so there you go!)
After swimming, Asa set me up in the blanket fort with Luminus while he went to pick up dinner.
And then we had cake (Publix Chantilly cake), with special guest appearances by grandma, mom and Aunt Bonnie.
About a week before my birthday I did get the BEST Birthday package in the mail. Allison sent me a whole package full of some of my favorite stuff. But the best part had to be my 'ManaTEA'! I've wanted one of those forever. It really was one of the nicest things, I've never gotten anything like it before in the mail, and it was a total surprise.
Asa and I aren't big on gifts, but I did pick up a rope hammock on 70% off summer clearance at Target, and then he got me the stand to go along with it. The hammock is awesome, and will get more use when it's not 900 million degrees out.
And with my Kohls cash, Yes to You Rewards, and a 30% off Kohls Charge purchases, I got a Ninja Blender for something like $25. We've been blender-less since before we moved, so this thing has been used almost every night since we got it- for smoothies, orange julius and strawberry daiquiris.
Other than my birthday, I don't have much to report. Calib was in Ohio for nearly two weeks, and Asa was in the office a whole bunch, so we just haven't been doing a whole lot lately. I did think it was funny one day at lunch when Hayden set the table. He was so proud of himself, but he set the table for 5- completely forgetting Calib wasn't here.
We've also been working on some projects for the fair. We are headed to Ohio a week from today for some family visits, the fair, and a trip to Cedar Point.
We've spent a lot of time up at the lodge lately. Peyton takes his bike up there multiple times a day, so it's a nice getaway for him. They added a Foosball Table, and we finally got some of the food from the Lodge to feed the fish and turtles in the lake.
Asa and I had a date afternoon and went down to Goody Goody Burger, along with our weekly shopping trip.
While Ellie dealt with Calib's absence by pouting the entire time.
Oh, and remember how Hayden left his Nintendo 2DS on the cruise ship in Hawaii, well they found it! It only cost a cool $18 to mail it back to us. I did think it was gone forever, and was already talking about getting a new one for him for Christmas, so I wasn't too upset about paying the $18.
Next Up: We're finally getting to the belated Waterstraut Olympics and the much anticipated Frozen T-Shirt Contest
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