Life as a Yowler

Yesterday I was torn with a hard decision. Do I, along with all the kids, want to get up at 5:30 am? Or would I rather sleep in and miss the Crayola factory tour. You can see from the picture what I chose. I was rational enough to trade my love of sleep for a cool experience for everyone. It was awesome. Brandon reaearched online and found an even better deal on tickets than the coupons we had.

We woke up brigh and early and went with Brandon to his store training. We were only 4 minutes late leaving, so we set the early morning record. I found a park across the street from where Brandon was training to take the kids while he worked. The park had a huge hill and bleachers. They ran up and down the hill and were playing house under the bleachers while I walked along the walking path with Isla in the stroller. I made sure to push this time as there was a body of water near. 😂 We all got some great exercise and fresh air.

We were the only ones there, which was really nice. I don’t usually like people. It’s the Gascho in me. We had the whole place to ourself. Plus there was a bathroom as an added bonus. We used it about 12 times between all of us.

After Brandon was done, he gave me a call and we went and picked him up. We drove over to the Mall of America where Crayola was. The mall was only 25 minutes from Brandon’s training, rather than 2 hours from the campground. That’s the reason we had to go with him that morning.

The really good deal on tickets didn’t count until 5pm, so we had some time to kill. We walked around and saw some characters.

The kids were so excited to see the Bubba Gunp Shrimp walking around, because that’s where Joah chose to eat dinner a couple nights before.

We saw a very informative show on how they make crayons. After the show we walked over and created our own crayon and designed our own labels.

The finished product.

They were able to create pictures of themselves to color. They were all upset with me because I wouldn’t let them color them yet. I want to make a bunch of copies first.

We colored cardboard butterflies, then the kids watched them come to life and  dance on the stage. Really cool stuff! Brielle danced along. The boys were too cool.

The melted wax station was really cool. The kids got to create a picture with melted wax from old crayons.

There was only one rule…..hold the pen straight and don’t tip it(very hot wax was inside). Brielle needed a few reminders. She got carried away a couple times and forgot.

Joah did a really good job. It was harder than it looks to make.something. He made a guitar then signed his name.

The drip art station was one of my favorites. The hot wax dripped on the paper while it was spinning, creating really beautiful art.

Brielle’s drip art

Joah’s drip art. Caed wasn’t feeling cooperative at the moment to show his.

The kids favorite was the molding station. Each kid was given a crayon to melt and mold into the shape of their choice. Brandon, aka Mr. bold, noticed that we were one of the last families to leave Crayola that day. He very boldly walked up to the crayons(which the workers had put down on a table) and had the kids melt and mold as many crayons as they wanted. None of the  workers stopped him. No one else was waiting behind us, so I let this carry on. Each kid got a ton of molded crayons that they are treasuring like crazy.

One of Caed’s bulls he molded. He made a bull in every color.

It was a really fun day. The kids held up really well because they were having so much fun. I love good, educational fun. The kids have a renewed love for coloring. I gave them a huge cardboard box the next morning and let them go crazy coloring and creating. The older two have always loved coloring and crafts. Caed is my one who has had no interest. He became inspired yesterday, and for that I’m excited!