Funville: Chesapeake

We have visited the Virginia Beach Funville many times, but we recently ventured out to the Chesapeake location. The Chesapeake location is bigger, and in my opinion better. When you put the address in the GPS, it brings you to a shopping center. Funville is around the side, directly behind the Red Robin, which is kind of a perfect pairing.

This location has a jungle theme and does have a toddler playground for crawlers, sitters, and toddlers. There is a special $7.00 price for this area.

The large play area is $13.50 and includes things to climb on, over, up, and around in addition to slides, ropes, tubes, nets, and a ball pit. 

For an additional price kids can do the ropes obstacle course or bumper cars. This location is open daily every day from 11-7, opening an hour earlier on Saturdays at 10.

As always, use lots of hand sanitizer in indoor play areas and shared spaces like this one. Lots of kids, lots of germs, lots of fun.

She Works Hard for the Mommy v. 12

Hi! I’m Missy, a pediatric physical therapist. I absolutely love my job because I help babies, toddlers, and young children learn to crawl, walk, and play. As a kid I wore a back brace for scoliosis. I went to the therapist but they were not kid friendly. So at 13 years old I knew this is what I wanted to do and I’d work with kids and make it fun and less scary.

It was very hard when my kids were little. Once my son was born I needed to work part-time because he was premature. I felt terribly guilty that I went into labor early because I was busy taking care of someone else’s baby instead of my own. Working part-time helped me find the balance between being a good mom and being a good PT. I feel it’s made me a better physical therapist because I wanted my baby in the NICU and I know how scary it is that your perfect baby needs help from someone other than his mother and father. So I feel like I don’t only treat the baby I work with closely with but work closely with family members so they can help build their child’s confidence!

Now I mainly work with babies from birth to age three doing early intervention. I go to the child’s house and work with baby and the whole family! I really love my job because early intervention helps them develop typical movement patterns so they can lead a full and typical life! I work with the company Select Kids, based out of Virginia Beach, and can be reached at mcrose@selectmedical.com.

Thanks Missy! I have some exciting news. Missy will be joining us in the near future for an Ask Me Anything type post! Get your questions ready!

World's Greatest Hobby on Tour

Until I had kids, I didn't truly know that railroading was as huge as it is. This show introduces the general public to this beloved hobby with tons of model train set ups, trains for sale, Thomas rides, and more. In fact, 50,000 square feet of operating model railroads were set up at the Hampton Roads Convention Center this weekend for this non-profit educational program. The show featured national and local organizations including Atlas Model Railroad Company, Kato, Modelaer's Choice Model Railroad Products, Walthers, Kalmbach Publishing, Jaeger Ho, Augusta Track, Bachmann Trains, Caboose Industries, Digitrax, and Gyro-Cut.

One thing I love about this is that all kids under 16 are free, and there were tons of them! For kids there was a big Thomas to ride on in addition to two small ones, train tables, legos, and all of the displays. We somehow walked out buying more trains, but easily could have spent hundreds of dollars in there with all of the cool stuff they had. 

The World's Greatest Hobby On Tour comes around every few years, but is part of a larger organization which includes the Grain Train Show, Greenberg Shows, and the Great Midwest Train Show. Visit www.trainshow.com for details. 

7 months

This one is really image heavy, but I'm using these to document all the things that happen. This month brought more changes. More talking, more mobility, more smiles, and more eating! The big news is- the first tooth! This boy is eating any and everything that he can get his hands on. This month brought visits from Uncle G Bus, smiles to all the ladies, snuggles from the pups, and visits with Uncle Christian to see superheros. It also brought the end of our latest swimming session with Katie's Kickers, which we love, a few warm days for playing outside, and hangout sessions with friends!  

We celebrated Valentine's Day this month too, went to birthday parties, attended Ronnie's first Babygarten class, and are loving lazy weekends. It also brought more excitement with Open Your Ears Records taking preorders for their first vinyl press. 

This sweet onesie was a gift from Ms. Janet who volunteers in my classroom regularly, and I couldn't be more thankful for! 

Check out this pup who couldn't keep those kisses away long enough to take a picture.

Toddler Tuesday Tech Edition: Novel Effect

I found out about this program from school, and immediately downloaded it because I was so excited because I knew I wanted to use it at home. Literally that night I went home to try it out and was hooked. This.is.so.cool! So the app takes traditional read alouds to another level by adding layers of media. It works with books that you already have, and it is free to download. (This is not a sponsored post. I am really this excited!) Search for your book and read it like normal. The voice recognition will pick up on where you are in the story and add music, sound effect, and character voices. You can bookmark your favorites, and request the books that you want added. Check it out, we are super into it!