Pacific Place Mall Snow and Santa

Pacific Place Mall has snow every night starting at 6:00 p.m.on November 29, 2013 through December 31, 2013.  Santa will be there as early as 10:00 a.m from November 29, 2013 through December 24, 2013. Go to the Concierge Desk on Level 1 and get a sparking memento for $2.00 which is donated to Seattle Children's Hospital.

Seattle Schedule for November 29th, 2013

Downtown Seattle has a page showing the activities scheduled for November 29, 2013.

Let the Holidays Begin! The Day After Thanksgiving is Full of Festive Fun

Make sure to head Downtown the day after Thanksgiving—November 29—for a full day of festive fun to kick off the holiday season. There is a diverse array of festivities featuring beloved traditions like Macy’s Holiday Parade, the opening of the PANDORA Jewelry Holiday Carousel Presented by KING5 in Westlake Park, and so many more wonderful events for any age. The action begins at 9am and continues into the evening with the Westlake Center Tree Lighting Celebration, so don’t miss out on the fun!

Morning Events

Macy’s Holiday Parade – 9-10am

PANDORA Jewelry Holiday Carousel benefiting Treehouse presented by KING5 at Westlake Park – 10am

SnowGlobe Live! at Westlake Park – 10am

Festival of Light: Hanukkah at Seattle Children’s Museum– 10am

Winter Train & Village at Seattle Center – 10am-6pm

Teddy Bear Suite at Fairmont Olympic Hotel – 10am-7pm

Seattle’s Coolest Santa and His Out-of-this-World Workshop at the Space Needle – 11am-5pm

Winterfest Ice Rink at Seattle Center – 11am-10pm

Afternoon Events

Westlake Center’s Tree Lighting Celebration & Macy’s Star Lighting – 5pm

Pacific Place Winter Wonderland – 6pm

Evening Events

Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol at ACT Theatre – 7pm

Oliver! At The 5th Avenue Theatre – 8pm

The Paperboys 7th Annual Thanksgiving Weekend Meltdown at the Triple Door– 8pm

Dina Martina Christmas Show at Re-Bar – 8pm

Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony at Benaroya Hall – 8pm

Bellevue Ice Rink Opens Friday!

I wanted to share another website for Winter Season activities in Bellevue.  Check out the Bellevue Magic Season page.  I am most excited to try-out the icing skating rink sponsored by Chaplin's Subaru, Bank of America, and several other sponsors.  It will be open from November 29, 2013 through January 12, 2014. Hope to see you there!

Marie

Don't Miss Out On...(2)

Don't Miss Out On Events Happening in...

Seattle

(Source: Holidays in Seattle)

• Magic in the Market

        November 30 1:00PM-5:00PM

        Pike Place Market
        85 Pike Street, Seattle

• PANDORA Jewelry Holiday Carousel benefiting Treehouse presented by KING5

  November 29 -January 1 2014

  Westlake Park
  4th and Pine Streets, Seattle

• Christmas Carnival

  December 2 12:00PM-8:00PM

  The Westin Seattle
  1900 5th Ave, Seattle

• The Great Figgy Pudding Street Corner Caroling Competition

  December 6 6:00PM-8:30PM

  Westlake Center
  400 Pine St., Seattle

• Macy’s Holiday Parade & Star Lighting

  November 29 9:00AM-10:00AM

  Macy's
  4th and Pine Streets, Seattle

• Festival of Trees Celebration

  November 23 -December 4 2013

  Fairmont Olympic Hotel
  411 University St., Seattle

• Seattle Center Winterfest

  November 29 -December 31 2013

  Seattle Center
  305 Harrison St., Seattle

• Argosy Christmas Ship™ Festival

  November 29 -December 23 2013

  Argosy Cruises
  1201 Alaskan Way, Seattle

• Nutcracker Brunch

  December 7 9:30AM-12:00PM

  Marion Oliver McCaw Hall, Seattle Center
  321 Mercer St., Seattle

• Gingerbread Village

  November 26 -January 1 2014

  Sheraton Seattle Hotel
  1400 Sixth Ave, Seattle

And many more....

Don't Miss Out On...

Since there are a lot of events and attractions during the Holiday season, we realized that we can't possible visit them all, which means we can't review everything. So we decided instead of limiting your choices to what we decide on going to, we are going to write posts that would list all the activities that family friendly, so that you get to choose which ones YOU want to go to.

First we're going to start with

 Bellevue

Bellevue has a lot of attractions and events, some we've talked about on this blog and others we didn't so here they are:

• Garden d'Lights

  Bellevue Botanical Garden
  November 30 - January 4 2014 
• 
  

  Snowflake Lane and Celebration Lane

  Bellevue Square
  November 29 - December 24; December 26 - 31, 2013

• Bellevue Ice Skating

  Bellevue Downtown Park
  November 29 2013 - January 12 2014
• 
  

  Bellevue Gingerbread Lane

  Hilton Bellevue Hotel
  December 7 - 20 2013

• Santa's Workshop

         Bellevue Square at The Bellevue Collection

         November 29 - December 24 2013

• Holiday Entertainment at Bellevue Square

        Bellevue Square at The Bellevue Collection
        December 2 - 20 2013



For more info click here

Gymboree Play & Music

Since before I had my daughter I've always heard of "Mommy and Me" classes and always thought that it must be an interesting thing to do with your little one. That is why when I first found out about Gymboree Play & Learn I wanted to sign myself and my daughter up right away! I used to see their place on the 3rd floor at Bellevue Square, but never knew that it offered those kind of classes. Even though, they don't call them "Mommy and Me", they still have a similar concept.

anyway, it so happened that during the period that we have registered in they had a promotion, which consisted of no registration fees, they call it "New member initiation fee", the registration fee is usually a one time payment of $50. Also instead of paying the full amount for the class which was $90 I only paid $65 for the first month, which in my opinion was a great deal. If you register for another class or enroll a sibling you get a %50 discount on that second class. which means you'll only pay $45. The also offer a $10 discount out of your monthly subscription when you go to Tell Gymbo and take the survey.The Art, Sports, and School Skills classes have a duration of either 60 or 120 minutes.While the Play & Learn, and the Music classes are for 45 minutes.Of course each age group has a certain level that they can attend. Finally, the membership includes a free Open PlayGym time, which basically provides a safe and fun place for the kids to play in, which is great. Especially if you've been to the kids play area at Bellevue Square during the weekends, let's just say that unless your kid was strapped to you, you wouldn't be able to keep an eye on them all the time!

Now after getting all the technicals covered, let me talk about my own experience with Gymboree Play & Learn. We've joined two classes, the Play & Learn3, and the Music I class. the first two weeks my daughter was a little bit shy, even though she goes to the Adventure Kids Playcare three times a week and sees other kids, but I guess that the atmosphere was a little bit different. That being said, the teachers do try and give each kid a little bit of attention so that they can have some interaction together. They do their best to remember my daughter's name, even though it is not a common name in the US. Whenever we go there for a class or for Open Gym, We get greeted with such enthusiasm that makes us feel special even though that is their way of greeting everyone! The little efforts that the teachers try to do really make a huge difference to our experience their.

In the Music I class the number of children is a lot smaller than that in the Play & Learn class, which I think is appropriate since I would assume that in the music class my daughter and I would be in a more intimate and cozy mood. Rather than at the Play & Learn class where we would be operating on full "capacity" running, climbing, and sliding. The music class has themes every month, which usually include music from all around the world. We start with a "Hello" song, where we say "Hello" to each child, and then move to singing, tapping, and even dancing. We end the class with a lullaby, bubbles -which our teacher says is not something that happens in other music classes, and we're glad that it's happening in our class- and finally a "bye bye" song, where we say and wave "bye bye " to every child.

The Play & Learn class starts with a "Welcome song on the play mat. and then Gymbo the clowns joins the group in a bouncing and swaying song. Then the teacher starts explaining the activities that we are going to do today, and then the parents are invited to move between the activity areas and see what their kids will enjoy the most. However, my daughter doesn't seem to be interested in doing those activities as much as she enjoys walking around and playing with the small balls. After playing for a while, a song calls everyone to come back to the play mat for some motor skills building activities. Then the bubble time and the bubble song starts and finally the kids are asked to go under the parachute - which is my daughter's favorite-.

However, I do warn you that as soon as you join, you'll probably be singing their songs all day long because your kid will keep asking you to do so! My daughter has her own "Gymboree Dictionary" which includes: 

1- UP UP = It could be used for Gymbo, or for "Gymbo the clown" song

2- pop pop = The bubbles song

3- esss esss= The hello and bye bye song in the music class

4- clapping her hands in a certain way = The we;come song in the Play & Learn class

And many more...

Santa Shopping

For the first 18 months of my child's  life I took her to an expensive photographer every three months to have her photos taken.  In the month of December I agreed to have the same photographer shoot her Santa photos.  It was a nice arrangement, but the Santa was 30 years old.  He was naturally plump, but wore a fake beard and looked 30 years old.  As much as I liked that photographer for the first year series, I decided that I would take my daughter somewhere else for Santa photos the next year. 

We happen to go to the MDB (also known as the Medical Dental Building) for our dentistry.  I live on the Eastside, but continue to go there since I love our dentist and he pays for my parking at Pacific Place Mall.  While my daughter and I were walking through Pacific Place Mall in November 2012, I noticed that Arthur & Associates was setting up the Santa photo area.  The guys setting up the booth recommended that we come back the first part of December, it is best to be there first thing on a Monday morning, and have my daughter's Santa photos taken.  

Arthur & Associates have a website:  Santa Photos.  When logging into the website I recommend going directly to the Shopping Centers tab.  You will be given the option of looking for the mall where you want to meet Santa, or the Santa you want for the photo.  I have checked with Arthur & Associates and the Santa photos are up!  Go ahead, take a look!

My quest was easy when locating the perfect Santa for my daughter.  It just so happened that Santa Doug was at Pacific Place Mall and he was awesome.  That is not to say that the other Santas are not awesome too, but in using Santa Doug we were very pleased.  He was very relaxed.  We had the option of doing the inaugural crying baby photo, but that is not what I wanted.  My daughter found lap-sitting to be upsetting. The photographer found a stool, and I sat my daughter on the stool in front of Santa.  Santa Doug leaned over and placed his arm in the photo as if he had his hand on her shoulder.  It was a great shot! 

I have to confess, while looking at some Santas on the web, I thought some did not look like they are taking their blood pressure medicine, or were about to move on to the next world.  The rosy Saint Nick maybe charming in nursery rhymes, but he does not look so healthy in my child's Santa photo.  I recommend checking-out this site.  I know that Macy's and other stores have Santa's too, but since I have already made-up my mind that I am going back to see Santa Doug I have stopped shopping. 

  

Pasted from <http://www.santaphotos.com/santas/santa-doug-m/>

Marie