Saige Sleepover

The American Girl store had a premier screening of the new movie Saige Paints the Sky and Marina was dying to go. We invited her best friend Madison to join us and it turned into a sleepover. Last night, Madison came to our house, the girls played and watched the movie Brave together. They slept pretty well but they woke up before 6:00 am. I tried to convince them to go back to sleep, but they wouldn't. I knew they'd be tired later.

After breakfast, we headed out the local water park. Marina hadn't been there before, so she followed Madison's lead. Most of the slide held one or two riders, so the girls rode together and I rode behind them. Madison convinced Marina to try some that scared her a bit, but she loved them all.

After lunch the lines for the slides were longer, so the girls kept themselves to the kid's playground and the wave pool. While in the wave pool, Marina got hit in the face with water. The early morning wake up was showing. So we decided it was time to go. On the way home, we picked up so cold drinks and we relaxed for a while.

The girls got ready to go out. Since the main event of the evening was the American Girl movie, both girls brought their favorite dolls. Marina has two outfits for herself and the American Girl dolls. So she and Madison wore them for the evening. Madison brought her doll, Caroline, and Marina brought McKenna.

Before we checked out the activities at the American Girl store, we had dinner. The waitress gushed over how much they looked like their dolls. That pleased both of them. They both ate well despite telling me they weren't hungry.

Our next stop was the American Girl store. Marina and Madison both hammed it up on the red carpet and they tried out several of the Saige related activities. Two of the horses used n the movie Saige Paints the Sky were also there for the girls to meet. The horses were very tame and both girls were able to pet them.

We spent some time in the store during a sudden rainstorm. Both of them are dying to get the Saige doll. While we were in there, the women in the salon offered to fix up the hair of Caroline and McKenna before the show. They were thrilled.

Once Caroline and McKenna had their hair done, we headed for our seats to watch the movie. By then it was pretty late. While both girls watched the movie, it was clear that their early wake up and busy day were taking their toll. Marina was emotionally tired and Madison was spacing out. Somehow they managed to make it through the movie and we headed home. 

Princess of the Plains

Marina’s third grade class took a field trip to the conservatory near our house in the spring. She has a great time and said we should go sometime. We decided to check it out today. We started off in the Visitor’s Center. Marina was immediately interested the incubator with baby chicks in it. We also looked at the cases with snakes and other local reptiles in them.

Next we checked out the cluster of teepees nearby. They were difficult to get into but once inside we were amazed by how much space was inside.

The area was cover with prairie dog holes. So we were able to observe them for a while as well. Marina thought they were adorable, We also saw a few small rabbits and two hawks were appeared to be hunting. By then, Marina was annoyed by all the bugs. So we went out for ice cream and then headed home for a while.

We went back to the Conservatory after dinner for a “Sunset Safari.” Marina decided to wear her Pocahontas costume for the trip.  Everyone was loaded into a wagon and we drove out into the conservatory for a tour. We stopped many times along the way to view animals. The guide was very knowledgeable about all the animals we saw.

First we saw more prairie dogs and Eastern Cottontail rabbits. A bit farther on we saw some Pronghorns in the distance. One let us get pretty close but lost interest in us quickly. We drove past a Red Tailed Hawk nest with two babies in it as well.

At one point, we stopped because there was a snake in the road. It turned out to be a dead Bull snake. The kids all got out to take a closer look at it.

When we returned to the Center, everyone gathered around a fire to toast marshmallows.  That might have been Marina’s favorite part.

Snow White Hike

 A few months ago I found out about performance at the Botanic Gardens based on Snow White. It was called a Theatre Hike. We would walk through the gardens and stop at designated spots for the telling of the story. We were both pretty excited to experience.

Naturally, Marina wore her Snow White costume for this event. We arrived a bit early for the show, so we decided to wandered through the gardens a bit first. We started in the giant greenhouse and looked at the tropical plants, Marina loves this part.

After looking through the greenhouse, we headed for the rose garden. We've never been there when the roses are in bloom. We were amazed at what we saw. I had never seen so many roses in one place. We definitely took the time to smell them!

Next we checked in for the Theatre Hike. We had a violin player who walked along with us and Marina had a nice conversation with him as we waited for the hike to start.

The story was told in four scenes in four separate location around the gardens. The story was silly and fun. There were only five actors playing all the parts. Naturally, Marina loved Snow White. Once the show was over, she got the chance to meet the cast. The actress playing Snow White gushed over Marina's costume. She also got to try on the magic mirror costume.

We wandered through the gardens a bit after the show. Marina even took a few pictures. It was a fun evening!

KidSpree

The city we live in holds an annual summer festival called KidSpree every year. It's been a few years since we've been able to attend but we made plans to go this year. It turned out to be a great decision because the festival has grown and it was bigger and better than we'd experienced before.

The face painting booth was near where we entered, so we had that done first thing. It was a good decision because a huge line formed behind us and it stayed that way much of the day. Marina got a rainbow butterfly on her face.

We checked out some of the booths near the entrance. Marina was especially interested in the "musical petting zoo." In that booth many musical instruments were out for kids to try out. Marina started with the string instruments - violin, cello, viola. She loved those! Next she moved on to woodwinds and brass. She didn't want to leave the booth until she tried every instrument, some more than once!

We moved on to a nearby parking lot where we checked out all sorts of emergency equipment. There was a police command center, SWAT vehicle, police motorcycles, park ranger boat and a fire truck. Marina checked them all out. She even got a bandage for a blister from the EMTs in their ambulance. Her favorite was easily the cherry picker. Kids got a chance to ride on them. Even from the ground, I could tell Marina loved it!


The next section had a petting zoo and pony rides. Of course, Marina had to try both of those out. She tried out the maze as well, however, she came out the same door she went in!

We stopped for lunch and Marina got a chance to meet the Colorado Rapids mascot. She loves any chance to be photographed with a mascot. We went back to a lot of her favorite booths after that. Before we left, Marina had to try out the stilts that we set up on the lawn. She discovered that is pretty difficult.

We spent most of the day at the KidSpree and we were both tired when we left. We'll definitely be marking our calendars for next year!

Puppy Pokerface

Marina and her ballet classmates have been working very hard on their recital routine this year. The theme this year was "Art Comes to Life," each dance was to be based on a work of art. Her teacher decided to choreograph a dance after Dogs Playing Poker. Each girl chose what kind of dog she wanted to be. Marina wanted to be a husky. Her teacher made all the costumes herself and they were adorable.

The girls knew their routine very well and their performance went off without a hitch.They were late in the program, but that didn't seem to bother them at all. In fact, they even looked like they were having fun!

The Start of Summer

Marina finished third grade earlier this week. So to celebrate, we went to the amusement park. Naturally, Marina was very excited to go.

When we arrived, she wanted to start with the kids' rides. I was worried she might be too tall for them, be we found out right away she's still half an inch under the maximum height. So she happily rode many of her favorites. Of course, she also wanted her face painted while we were there. She got a very pretty rainbow around her eyes.
We split a turkey leg for lunch and then we went out into the rest of the park, Marina paid attention to the height requirements at each ride. Since she is now tall enough to ride them herself, that is what she wants to do. She really wanted to ride the Spider which makes me feel sick, so she rode it herself.

It was a warmer day than we had expected and Marina complained she was sweating, so we went on one of the water rides. We got drenched on it, but Marina loved it so much we rode a second time. I didn't think it was possible for us to get wetter than we had on the first ride, I was wrong! We were both soaked, so we found a sunny spot and shared a funnel cake while we dried off.

She also wanted to try other rides she'd never seen before.We went on the Tower of Doom, which she's never seemed interested in before. It was a crazy drop, but she liked it. She draws the line at rides that go upside down. She said she'll never do those. (We'll see about that!)

We went on the Ghost Blasters many times, it's one of Marina's favorites. However, since I usually have a higher score than she does, she started asking if she could ride with someone else. So she was thrileld on our last ride to outscore me. (I didn't do it on purpose - honest!)

On the way out, we rode most of her favorites and finished it all off with a carousel ride. We'd had a fun day to start off her summer vacation.

Silly Symphony

Marina and I have been fans of the performing arts for a long time, but one type we'd never tried was the symphony orchestra. Today they had a special concert, Bugs Bunny at the Symphony. I thought it would be a great way to introduce her to this art form. She chose her fanciest dress to wear and she brought McKenna with her. She told me that this was McKenna's weekend.

We arrived just minutes before the performance began. Our seats were very close to the stage, right near the harpist. Marina was excited by that, she thought the harp was cool.

Once the show started, Marina was completely drawn in. Most of the music was accompanied by Warner Brothers cartoons. She laughed loudly and clapped after each one. During intermission, she walked up to the stage and looked closely at the instruments.

The second act included additional cartoons: Tom and Jerry, The Flintstones and Scooby Doo. She loved those as well.

Once the performance was over, Marina lingered by the stage again. She definitely liked being so close!

Sports Saturday

This morning, the Broncos Bunch had their annual Summer Kickoff. We'd had such a great time last year that both Marina and I were looking forward to going again. We got a Bronco jersey that fit her American Girl dolls, so McKenna went with us today.

We arrived early, so there was a line outside the stadium to get in. Once the event started, most of the people went to the inside, so we decided to check out the outside activities. The inflatables from last year were all there. Marina literally ran from one to the next. She was excited to meet two cheerleaders who were there. She ran a few of the football drills, but she was much more interested in the inflatable equipment.

I finally talked her into going inside. We looked at the Lombardi trophies again. She met two more cheerleaders and two retired Bronco players. She really wanted to go into the face painting line which was really long and very slow. But she was insistent, so we spent the rest of our time there waiting in line for that. She got a blue and white mermaid on her arm.

We had a quick lunch and then headed for our next stop, the Rockies and Dodgers game. McKenna exchanged her Bronco jersey for Rockies pinstripes. Today was Photo Day. We weren't sure what that meant. It turned out that fans were allowed to line the warning track around the field and the players walked around and let the fans take pictures with them. It was crowded, but were were able to get a few.

First off, we met Walt Weiss, the Rockies' manager. Marina chatted with him about McKenna for a bit before we got a picture. We also photographed third baseman Nolan Arenado and pitcher Wilton Lopez. We were nearby the Rockies star, Carlos Gonzales. There was quite a crush of people, but we managed to get a picture just before Photo Day ended.

Marina hadn't enjoyed Photo Day much, so I bribed her with cotton candy. She was happy with that arrangement. We had a while to wait for the game to start, but Marina did pretty well during that time.

Once the game started, Marina paid more attention to the multimedia presentations and the crowd than the actual game. Part way through, we left our seats to have her picture taken with Dinger, the mascot. We also picked up a snack on our way back to our seats.

By the seventh inning, Marina was tired. The game was tied and I convinced her to stay. She wasn't happy when it went into extra innings although she did create her own rally cap. I had decided if it went past the tenth inning we'd leave. However, the Rockies pulled out a win with two outs at the bottom of the tenth inning. She was cheering loudly and high fiving people near us.

After the exciting finish, we were ready to head home. We covered enough sports for one day!