Abilene CALF 2013 Day 2
We started off day 2 of the CALF by getting some breakfast from The Bistro in the hotel and JT opening another present.
Then we headed downtown to our first reading. We ended up parking right in front of The Grace Museum so we decided to do that reading first. When we went into the museum and were asked if we needed our passports stamped. We got them stamped while we tried to find Seymour so that we could get stickers for our passport as well.
We then went upstairs for the reading. We received our pins and then sat down at one of the tables. There were markers on the tables so everyone drew on the tables while we waited for the reading to start.
Finally it was time for the reading. The Walter Wick theme here was Trucks and Cars and the book being read was If I Built a Car by Chris Van Dusen. The book was projected up on a screen so that everyone could see the pages as it was being read. After the reading all the kids were given little wooden cars to color.
Once we were done we had some time before the next reading so we decided to head over to the Storybook Sculpture Garden and ride the Seymour Express. Once we got there we were told we needed to get tickets for a later time so we got tickets for 11am. The boys took some pictures under some of the CALF street signs and I took a picture of the Grace Museum and CALF banner.
After we were done taking pictures we decided to go over to the NCCIL (National Center for Children’s Illustrated Literature) to buy some Walter Wick books. Once we entered we were again asked for our passports and told to find Seymour.
Once we found him and got our stickers and stamps we went into the store and the boys bought a couple of Can You See What I See? books. There was about 10-15 minutes now before the next reading started so we decided to stay for the one there. At this point a bunny had entered the NCCIL so the boys took a picture with her.
Then we walked around the exhibit. I really enjoyed the exhibit this year. There were blown up pictures of some of the pages from the Can You See What I See? books and also some sets. Walter Wick creates sets and then takes pictures of them and these are what he uses in his books and I personally thought that they were really cool and I’m glad we got to see some of them. Here are some pictures:
Right outside of where the reading was taking place there was a table set up to make an illusion craft. They had everyone pick which illusion they wanted…both boys picked the parrot in the cage, I don’t remember what the others were. Then they folded it in half and taped it on a straw. When they twirled it really fast it looked like the bird was in the cage.
The reading theme here was Seymour Makes New Friends and the book read was Enemy Pie by Derek Munson. When the reading was over there was a Parrot waiting to take pictures with the kids.
Now it was just about time to ride on the Seymour Express. So we walked over to the Storybook Sculpture Garden and waited for our time.
Once it was our turn we got in one of the cars and the engineer handed us a sheet of paper with all the things we were supposed to find while on the ride. The list included all of the big sculptures and then 20 mini Seymour sculptures.
After our ride on the Seymour Express we took a break for lunch. We went to the Hickory Street Cafe. I had read that this place made really good Chicken Salad. Once again, I will give Hickory Street Cafe it’s own review so I will just leave it at that.
From the Hickory Street Cafe we drove to Frontier Texas!. The theme here was Animals and outside they had a kind of petting zoo. You could go visit Mini Moo (he was giving out his own pins), next to Mini Moo was a bison, then there was a bunch of other animals that you could feed, and one cute miniature pig.
Once we were done there we went inside and we had to find Seymour again…I thought that I took a picture of this one but apparently I didn’t. Once we got our passports stamped we followed the chicken to the room for the reading. The boys did not want to take a picture with the chicken. The reading here was Llama Llama Time to Share by Dewdney. I really enjoyed this reading, the lady that read the book made it really fun.
Once the reading was over we went to McKay’s Bakery to decorate cookies. Last year they were giving the cookies to the kids to decorate for free after the reading. This year there was no reading here and the cookies were a dollar. This worked out so much better because it wasn’t so crowded. The choices of cookies to decorate were butterflies, flowers, or trains. I would have picked a butterfly myself but both boys picked the train. If you read my blog about this last year you will know that Connor dropped his cookie…well, he dropped it again…but this time we were able to just buy him a new cookie.
The last thing we did was go to The Magical World of Lonnie Chevrie. Connor loved this, he is really into magic tricks. JT however did not. Not because he doesn’t like magic tricks but just because he couldn’t really see. He tried to watch at first but then he gave up and he was mad so he wanted to leave. Here is a picture of Connor with the magician after the show:
We ended the day by picking up chopped brisket sandwiches from Betty Rose’s Little Brisket. I didn’t really take any pictures but I will go ahead and do a separate review of this as well.
