mud shack, baby, mud shack

playdates with the bean's dance class friends are so few and far between, but they're always so much fun because not only does she have a great time, but i get to chat and catch up with the girls' moms, too.  we're all on facebook and see each other's pictures and things all the time, but it's always way more fun to hang out in person.  since the girls stopped dancing together, the weekly GTGs came to a screeching halt.  i miss those days.

blondie's mom came up with the idea of taking the girls to a session at the mud shack, a local pottery painting shop that offers kids' sessions every month.  the july date worked for sassy and me, but rocky had to bow out since they'd be off on vacay.  yay!/boo.

i'd never actually been to one of these places, although the bean and the teen have both done this kind of painting before with MIL.  the shop was super cute and stuffed to the gills with all sorts of different things for painting.

the session was kicked off with storytime.  the kids sat patiently and listened to dr. seuss' red fish blue fish before getting started with the painting.

to go with the theme, they each received a tile with fish and coral already stamped on it in pastels.  they learned how to do bubble painting - a bowl full of soapy water was mixed with paint, and then they used straws to blow bubbles in the bowl.  then they carefully placed their tile on top of the paint-filled bubbles, creating a fun effect on the surface of the tile.

then they got to do a little painting to finish the design.

and...voila!  all finished and ready to be baked in the kiln.

it looked like so much fun.  i kind of want to go back to try it for myself, although i'm not sure if i'm any good at art without a bag of frosting in my hand.  the studio fees and prices for the clay pieces are really reasonable though, and they don't require reservations.  i may have to add it to the to-do list that the bean has going for the last few weeks of summer vacay.