Bouncy Birthday

Marina was invited to our neighbor Madi’s birthday party today. It was at the trampoline park near our house. Marina has been wanting to go back there for some time, so she’s been looking forward to the party. When we arrived, Madi was already on the large trampoline. Marina was happy to show me her cartwheels and somersaults that she has been working on with her friends at school. The only time she stopped playing was when it was time for cake and presents. Then she went right back to the giant trampoline. She didn’t want to leave when the party was over, but I could tell she was pretty worn out by all of it!

Princess of Pompeii

 

A few months ago, Marina and I learned an exhibit about the city of Pompeii would be coming to the local museum. Since then, we've been learning about Pompeii and Ancient Rome. Marina often gushes,"I love Pompeii!" She even picked out an outfit to wear. She picked out her Meg from Hercules costume (yes, it's Greek, not Roman, but close enough!), a gold cape from a Cleopatra costume and a gold circlet with grape leaves on it that I'd had for years. Her outfit was a hit at the Museum!

The exhibit opened last week and Marina had the day off today. So we took a risk that it wouldn't be crowded today. It paid off. The Museum didn't have many people at all. We headed to the Pompeii exhibit first. I was thrilled to find out I was allowed to take pictures inside. The exhibit was filled with statues and household items from Pompeii. Marina quickly lost interest. Then we came across a young woman who had games the kids could try and she told us the myth of Persephone. Marina loved that part!

Later in the exhibit, we saw some of the casts of the bodies found in Pompeii. Marina was excited to see the cast of a dog we had seen in two of the books we had read. We also watched a time lapse simulation of the volcanic eruption that covered the city. Marina watched that several times.

Before we left the exhibit area, we met up with a gladiator. Marina was very excited to speak with him. She kept telling him about things she saw on TV. This confused him a bit. She just didn't understand that!

After two hours in the Pompeii exhibit, we took a break for lunch. That re-energized us. We went back into the museum to the space exhibit where we saw a play about experiments and hypotheses. Marina also had a lot of fun with the infrared camera. Next we moved on to the health exhibit. Marina and another little girl performed an experiment on DNA extraction and she tried many of the health stations. Near the end of the day, her favorite show, The Superfood Heroes, started. Once again, she managed to be selected as Spinachiever. That always makes her happy.

We spent all day at the Museum. It was a lot of fun!

Playing at the Amusement Park

It's hard to believe, but Marina and I didn't make it to the amusement park until this weekend. She's been wanting to go, but we've had such a busy summer that we couldn't fit it in. Today was such a beautiful day that if felt like the beginning of summer.

When we arrived at the park, I could see this trip would be different from last year. Our first stop was the observation tower. Marina had never expressed any interest in that before. We got a great view of the entire park and pointed out the rides we wanted to go on before going back down and getting on them.

We started off in the Kid's section.  Two rides had been added since last year, so Marina tried those first. She really liked them. She spent time on her old favorites too - bumper cars, airplanes and, of course, the roller coaster. I noticed that Marina is only two inches shorter than the maximum height for the kid's rides. There's a good chance she will be too tall to ride them next year!

On our way to the ball play area, we saw the face painting station. As usual, Marina wanted that. She asked for a rainbow butterfly. The young woman who designed it was an art student. She was quite detailed and added a ton of glitter. Marina loved that!

We get a turkey leg to split for lunch. Then we headed into the rest of the park. We went on some of Marina's favorites as well as some new one. I told Marina that I can't do a lot of spinning anyone, so she was quite concerned that I didn't get sick. Still, she convinced me to get on the Spider - one that made me sick as a kid! I did all right, Marina loved it!

We went on the river raft ride that we loved last year. We got completely drenched. Apparently some additional water spouts had been added. Marina was not happy. Then it was my turn to challenge Marina. We had never tried Ghost Blasters, a sort of haunted house with guns to shoot at the ghosts. She was a bit nervous, but agreed to try it. Once it was over, she had more point than I did and she said, "Let's do it again!" We ended up riding it five times today!

We headed back to the kids section. The lines were very short so Marina got the chance to ride everything she wanted many times. She often found a new friend to ride each one with. By this time, it was getting dark. So we made our way to the exit. Before we left we took a ride on the carousel. We were both pretty tired after all that fun.

Finding Nemo - Again

Marina and I went to see the 3D re-release of Finding Nemo. I'd never seen this movie in the theaters and Marina loves to see anything in 3D. She took along her mermaid LaLaLoopsey doll, Coral Sea Shells.


Marina got special orange Nemo glasses which she got to keep. We both enjoyed the movie. (The 3D effects were very good.) After it was over, she wanted to stay for all the credits. She even helped the staff clean the theater. I think they'll want us to see all our movies there!

Flower Girl

Two of our friends from church got married today. When our invitation came, she immediately asked me, "Do they need a flower girl?" The bride decided she did. Marina took the offer in stride, but to me she showed how excited she was. This week she drew pictures of being a flower girl at school and told everyone who would listen that she was going to be the flower girl.

Marina's dress was ivory with a dark pink sash, very similar to the bride. She slept in curlers last night, so her hair had lots of curls. At this wedding, she had real rose petals to drop. She loved that. She also enjoyed holding the bouquets of the bridesmaids.

During the ceremony, Marina was very patient at times when she had to stand at the alter with the bridal party and sat quietly during the service. She and one of the bridesmaids created quite a bond in the short time they spent together.

At the reception, Marina sat with the bridal party and not with me. She got her own food from the buffet and sat with all her new friends. She came running when it was time for the bride to toss her bouquet. She didn't catch it, but a rose fell off which she was happy to pick up. Marina had so much fun at this wedding!