The 90's and preemies

This is a weird little combo of topics, but it's the summary of the weekend, so whatever. 

After we went to Candytopia on Saturday we went to a party at John and Maryellen's house.  John and two of his co-worker friends started a 90's cover band and this party was their debut performance. 

Michael and I got 90's appropriate shirts.

There was dinner for everyone before the show started.  Drinks too. 

Maryellen, Michael and I sat up in the "balcony".  We felt privileged, but, you know, it was Maryellen's house after all.  Elliott watched a lot of the show from the stairs as he climbed up and down them. 

Shireen came a little later, so we had to re-do the Sisterhood picture.

This was staged so the grey shirts were together and the blue shirts were together. 

And this was staged so the grey shirts were bookends. 

We brought a bottle of wine and a cinnamon babka to share, because Michael was wearing the Seinfeld shirt. 

Before we left I made Maryellen pose with her turkey pillow because I loved it. 

I think Elliott took this.  

Sunday was World Preemie Day and Wear Purple for Preemies Day.  We staged a photo of us wearing purple and then all changed after. 

Candytopia

I got an ad for Candytopia on Facebook last week.  I had never heard of it, but it was intriguing so I thought, "what the heck" and bought tickets for us to go on Saturday afternoon.

We loaded the kids up and forced them to run some errands with us first.

Stop #1- Pier One to buy the sloth I had not bought the day before.  This time I had a coupon!

I wanted Spencer to take our picture with the sloth like it was our newly adopted child, but it was a series of failures.

Not looking

Too much back lighting

Still too much back lighting

Too bright, and no tree

OK, this is acceptable. 

We also went to Costco, Chompies, and World Market.  Then it was on to Candytopia!

This is the description from the website:

What if an eccentric chocolatier and a daredevil pop star had a whirlwind romance, got married while skydiving, and had a glamorous, glittering love child who grew up to rule a small nation?  Welcome to Candytopia, where colossal candyfloss constructions meld with a tantalizing taffy twistedness!

Explore our sprawling sanctuary of confectionary bliss, tastefully curated by Hollywood Candy Queen Jackie Sorkin, realized by master fabricator Zac Hartog, and brought to life by life-long retailer, John Goodman. This four-month interactive art installation celebrates the vibrant colors and flavors of our favorite sugary delights across over a dozen environments, from flying unicorn pigs to a marshmallow tsunami. Bring your family, your friends, and your sweet tooth for an experience like none other!

If you ever dreamed of nibbling your way through Candyland or scoring a Golden Ticket, you’ve come to the right place. Treat yourself to Candytopia, and let your tastebuds and your imagination soar!

Candytopia is now open in Philadelphia and Phoenix, and is coming soon to Miami. Stay tuned for our next location!

We really didn't know what to expect, but the entrance door was impressive!

So, Candytopia.  I'll be honest, we didn't love it.  It was way too expensive for what we got, which was basically some cool displays made out of candy.  If it had been half the price I would recommend it.  They did hand out samples, but 90% of the candy was candy I don't like (suckers, gummy bears, pixie sticks, etc).  I ate one piece of taffy and one truffle, and both were brands I could have bought at a drug store. 

Mostly Candytopia is set up to take cool pictures.  So, I did.  Here's a selection. 

This was the inside entrance.  Once we were inside we moved from room to room, and each room had a theme. 

Every display had a plaque telling you how many pieces of candy were used to make it and how long it took. 

The flying unicorn pig was the theme of the entire place.  Yeah, that was pretty awesome. 

This is also Elliott's 7 year 11 month photo.   I had to beg him to wear the shirt he just begged me to buy him in September because now he doesn't like white shirts. 

I thought about stealing the pig, but I think they would have noticed. 

Spencer took our picture.  I asked him to compare it to his and to take it again. 

Better

Thought about stealing this one too. 

The last room of the exhibit was the marshmallow pit.  NOT real marshmallows, but very soft marshmallow shaped balls. 

This was in the gift shop.

There was an app you could download and then cameras set up to take pictures that would get emailed to you through the app.  There were four "official" pictures. 

This one in the marshmallow pit. 

I tried to edit it to make it more marshmallowy.  You can tell though. 

This was allllllllllll digital.  The walls and floor looked nothing like this in real life. 

This was all digital too.  We were standing in front of a green screen. 

And this was the last one.  We were standing on a spinning floor while getting confetti bombed. 

Part two of the day is up next!