Cherkauskas Family Blog: Books & Buddies

Last weekend as we were reading through the Sunday paper from Tucson, Bill found a huge insert on the upcoming Festival of Books at the University of Arizona in Tucson. As we skimmed through the insert we discovered they would have a special children's area with a few of Drew's favorite literary characters roaming around: Curious George, Clifford the Big Red Dog, Skippyjon Jones, and Maisy. Then upon closer examination I found on the children's schedule of events that there would be a special character breakfast on Saturday morning. So, if there had been any doubt in our mind about whether we were going before then, it was erased once we saw that. When we were at Sea World in San Diego last year we did a Sesame Street character breakfast and Drew LOVED it. When we asked Drew whether he'd like to have breakfast with George he answered with a very emphatic "yes". And so our tickets were booked.

The only wrinkle in the mix was that the breakfast started at 8:00 am, which would make for an early morning if we were driving up from Sierra Vista. So, we improvised. Bill and I were supposed to have date night at the Melting Pot (a very yummy fondue restaurant if you are unfamiliar) last Saturday while he had a sleepover at his friend's house, but that morning he woke up and threw up. He seemed fine immediately after and sported a regular temperature, so we thought maybe it was just a random fluke. He even insisted on accompanying Daddy to the commissary a couple hours later. But when he vomited all over himself and Daddy at the store, forcing Bill to leave a cart of items at the store, we said bye bye to the Melting Pot.

So in making plans for the book festival this weekend we decided we would make it family night at the Melting Pot and then stay at a hotel in Tucson for the night before the breakfast. Drew got quite a kick out of the Melting Pot, particularly the very long "forks" that we used to dip stuff in the cheese and chocolate. And Bill and I were very happy with our yummy dinner and dessert as well. We made it to our hotel around 8:15 in time to watch the end of a couple of college basketball games and get in pajamas not too long after normal bed time.

Saturday morning we woke up bright and early to head out for our very special breakfast. Drew could hardly contain his excitement.

Here, he shows off the new Skippyjon Jones book that he was given at the breakfast check-in.

George & Clifford were the first ones in the ballroom and Drew excitedly waved and waved at them from across the room, but Skippyjon Jones was the first character to wander over to our area of the ballroom (see below).

After finishing our food we lined up to wait our turns with Clifford and Curious George.

Then, as we made our way back to our table, it seemed as if there was a new character everywhere we turned.

Drew & Poky the Puppy

Drew & Maisy

As you might have guessed, Drew liked having his picture taken with the characters so much that he was interested in posing with all of the available characters, even though there were a few he had little familiarity with: Corduroy the Bear, Madeline, Winnie the Pooh.

Here he is with Pat the Bunny from the Touch & Feel book. Drew outgrew this book quite a while ago, but he was still enthralled by the very tall bunny.

And finally, Drew and the ice sculpture of the Very Hungry Caterpillar.

After we had highfived and photographed every character in sight, we walked over to the children's activity area. Thanks to a generous donor there was a free children's book giveaway and we were able to redeem a newspaper coupon for a free book. After perusing the table quickly there was no question in my mind which book Drew would select. As soon as he saw "Let's Explore Animals with Elmo" he said "Elmo!" What he hadn't even realized yet was that in addition to Elmo and animals there were also stickers! When we pointed that out he was even happier with his choice.

We also ran into Clifford and George again and snapped a couple more pictures of Drew's favorite buddies.

At the various vendor tables in the children's area we were given an assortment of new coloring books. Can never have enough of those! But Drew's favorite station was one where he was able to make his very own bookmark. The first stickers he noticed were those with the letters on them and he quickly set about finding all the letters we would need for his name. Then we found the sports and school related stickers which you can see in the pictures. When we headed over to get the ribbon for the finishing touch, Drew discovered more stickers. In particular he wanted to put several stars on the bookmark, but we were out of room. One of the volunteers cleverly suggested Drew could decorate BOTH sides of the bookmark, and that was all Drew needed to hear as he grabbed for the various colored stars. He was so proud of his creation he refused to put it in the backpack Daddy was carrying with our purchases and other give aways. He carried it with him for the rest of the time we walked around the festival.

Just as we were getting ready to head to the car one of the volunteers asked Drew if he'd like to read a book, and he sat right down to read with her. They picked up The Three Little Pigs and the nice lady helped Drew draw a picture of one of the pigs from the story.

This was the first time we had really walked around on the University of Arizona's campus. We'd driven by sections of it before and been to a basketball game at the McKale Center, but we were pleasantly surprised by how nice the campus was for being smack dab in the middle of the city. Here Drew poses with some of the desert landscaping on the U of A's mall.