Fall Fun

The weather was beautiful today and since our local amusement park is still open on weekends, we decided to go. It has been a few months since our last visit, but we still started our day as we always have – in the kid's area and face painting. This time, Marina wanted to be made up like a cat. Once she had that done, we headed to other parts of the park.

Marina and I rode some of the rides we've done before: the Teacups, the river rapids and several rides that spin. We both got pretty wet on river rapids and Marina claimed to be “freaking out” about it. But that didn't stop her from getting on it again. We devoured a funnel cake before going back on some rides. We tried a few rides we'd not been on before but Marina seemed to prefer the old favorites.

We went back into the kid's area after dinner. Marina rode all the rides she didn't hit on our first trip through. I didn't mind – it gave me a chance to rest! Once she was done there, it was dark and the lights were on. We were pretty tired so we headed home.

On the way home, we picked up some ice cream at the grocery store. Marina chose Phish Food, her favorite. We relaxed and watched a movie before bed. It was a good way to end the day.

Birthday and the Ballpark

Today was my birthday. Marina woke up and the first thing she said was, "Happy Birthday, Mommy!" So sweet!

We relaxed around the house all morning. Then after lunch we went out to see The Lion King in 3D, Marina had seen the movie on DVD, but never in the theater, so it was fun for her to see it that way.

We had a quick dinner and then headed out for another Rockies game. My company organized a night at the ballpark. We led a group over to meet with Dinger early in the game. The kids played together while we waited. Then after that, her buddy Jayden came over and sat next to her. They were a bit rambunctious, but they had fun together. Once he left, Marina was bored. She really wanted to go home after that.

It was an entertaining game, but the Rockies lost again. We were out pretty late and Marina was tired. Despite that, she held up pretty well.

Carnival

Marina's school had a Back to School Carnival this evening. She was very excited to go. There was a flat fee to get in and that included face painting and unlimited games. Of course, Marina wanted to get her face painted first. From there she played a few games. At each game, the kids earned a certain number of points which they could redeem for prizes. At one game, the young lady punching the cards was quite generous. Marina was so excited to fill up her card.

After trying all the games, she spent a while in the bounce house. It took me a while to get her away from there. Then she went back to playing games. As she saw teachers and classmates that she knew, she'd run over and hug them. It's great to see how much she loves the people at her school - and how much she is loved!

Marina started to get tired as it got dark. So we headed into the prize room to redeem her points. She was able to get two stuffed animals. She left the carnival very happy!

Play Ball!

We had tickets for tonight's Rockies game. We arrived as the first inning was ending. Since we were walking by, we decided to wait to see Dinger before going to our seats. We were first in line when he showed up at the beginning of the third inning. Marina gave him a big hug and had him sign her cap. Marina wanted to play on the playground for a while, so we stopped so she could do that. It was the fourth inning before we finally made it to our seats. Marina had fun cheering on the Rockies even though she really didn’t understand what was going on. She yelled, “Bad throw!” a few times. The Rockies weren’t playing very well and Marina’s stomach was upset in the later innings. So we left after the seventh inning.

I was surprised she didn’t fall asleep in the car on the way home. Her stomach seemed to be better by then. It took a little while to get her settled down to sleep. We’d been busy today!

Princess Moment

Disney Channel is having a Princess Moment contest. To enter, you have to submit a 45 second video of your daughter performing a 30 second clip of a princess song. Marina immediately wanted to do it - especially when she heard that first prize was a trip to London to see Rapunzel's coronation at Westminster Abbey.

One of my coworkers, Luke, offered to film it for us. He was a film major is college and he has professional experience and equipment. Marina had a great time recording the video and even more meeting their pets. She chose the Rapunzel song to perform.

After the filming, Luke did some editing. Here's the result:



Marina says she thinks she's going to win the contest. Even if she doesn't, we had fun making it and a nice video as a memory!