Colorado History Project

For the past few months, Marina's class has been studying Colorado history. Each student was assigned an important person to profile. Today they had their "wax museum," where they dressed as their historical figure and spoke as them. In addition, each created their own PowerPoint presentation about them as well.

Marina's subject was Josephine Aspinwall Roche. She was the first female policewoman in Denver. Later, she inherited her father's mine and campaigned for safely and better wages for miners. She worked for President Franklin D. Roosevelt in Washington DC.

Marina was hesitant to let me see her presentation. Her teacher let me know she had done very well earlier n the day. Finally, she let me see it. I was impressed with the knowledge she had. I also got to see some of her classmate's presentations as well.

After the "wax museum," the students performed four Colorado themed songs. Marina even had a solo in one of them! It was clear the kids had fun with their projects.

Memorial Day Flowers

Today was a beautiful day, so we decided to go to the Botanic Gardens to see what is blooming. Since it was Memorial Day, Marina wore her American Flag t-shirt.

We started our day at the Children's Garden. The big draw was the wading stream. Most of the children were there. Marina spent quite a while climbing around and playing in the water. Once she was done with that, we moved on. She found a general store to play in. She spent a long time sweeping it out. She said, "I feel like Cinderella, only in a Mexican grill." (It was sponsored by a local restaurant!)

We headed over to the main gardens. Marina wanted to see the sundial, so we stopped by there, but the time didn't seem to be quite right. Our next stop was the lilac garden. We missed the full blossoming of the lilac trees, but there were still some left for us to smell.

By this time the heat was slowing us down. We went through the tropical gardens, Marina's favorite, before we left.

Archery Adventure

It's been nearly a year since our last archery class, so I thought it was time for us to go again. Marina decided to bring her American Girl doll Kaya, since she is a Native American and they used bows and arrows.

The class was taught in a format that was slightly different than the last one we took. For one thing the class was smaller, so we had much more time to practice.

Marina and I were both a bit rusty. She was much more patient than last year, so she had to focus more on the little things - mostly her stance and making sure to pull her arm all the way back. But she had some really good shots which suggests she is learning. At the end of class there was time for fun. Marina wanted to try shooting in her Merida costume to see how it went. That didn't seem to bother her at all. We were aiming at balloons. Since she wasn't able to pop hers on the target she took them down and stomped on them to break them.

Once the class was over, we had lunch in the Museum cafe and then headed into the Globology exhibit. Marina has been through it many times and she stopped at all her favorite spots. In the Coral Reef section she met some little girls and played with them for a while.

Next we headed to the Discovery Center where Marina made more new friends and played with them. While they were there, we learned of a live animal demonstration featuring a bull python. The kids were all anxious to see that. First we got a lesson about snakes, what and how they eat, their skin and their environment. Then the snake came out for a visit. Marina was happy to pet it a few times.

Next we checked out the temporary exhibit on the music of nature. It was fun to take the many sounds and hear them in a musical context.Marina really enjoyed visiting all the different stations.


Once we had seen everything in the Museum we headed home. It was a fun day!

Fantasia in Concert

Last year, I introduced Marina to the Symphony by taking her to see Bugs Bunny in Concert. She really enjoyed that, so when the schedule had Disney's Fantasia on it, I knew we'd have to see that as well.

Marina debated on wearing a costume to this show, but there really isn't a princess connected to Fantasia at all. Since Mickey Mouse does appear in The Sorcerer's Apprentice, she decided to wear her Minnie Mouse ears. She wore a black velvet dress with pink flowers embroidered on it. The Minnie headband had black ears and a pink bow that perfectly matched the flowers. And for good measure, she brought along her Minnie plush doll.

We arrived a bit early. Marina was pleased with our seats, we were overlooking the orchestra with two movie screens which were easy to see.

Since we own both Fantasia movies, the music and animation were not new to us. The orchestra played along to selections from both movies. Most of our favorites were included in the concert. Marina commented about it all to me throughout the concert.

Once the show was over, Marina was anxious to leave. That didn't work out very well.  First we ran into one of her ballet teachers from a few years ago. After visiting with her, we left the concert hall. Another show at a nearby theater was letting out at the same time, so exiting the parking garage was a mess. We ended up looking around the area downtown for a while until the congestion eased up.

Legends of Oz

We've been seeing advertising for the new movie Legends of Oz and Marina has been anxious to see it. So after school, we headed to our favorite theater and restaurant to see it. Of course, before we did that, Marina had to change into her Dorothy costume, complete with red sparkle shoes and a basket with a stuffed dog in it.

We arrived a little early for the show, so we had plenty of time to order our dinner. Marina spent some time chatting with the little girl behind us while we waited.

Our food arrived just as the previews started. So we settled in to watch. Marina really got into it, often making comments about the story as it went on. Once it was over, she said she really liked it.

Muffins for Mom

Every year, Marina's school schedules a breakfast the Friday before Mother's Day. We haven't made it there in a few years but Marina wanted to go this morning.

Just as we arrived, we heard someone calling Marina's name. It turned out to be her best friend with her mom. So there was no question of who we'd be sitting next to!

We were welcomed in and got to pick from a huge table of large muffins. Of course, Marina went right for the chocolate muffin. She was quite happy with that. We had a nice time eating our muffins and talking with our friends.

After eating our muffins, I walked the girls to their playground so they could go to class. After such a fun start to the day, I think they forgot they still had to go to school!

Eureka!

 Marina has been studying Colorado history this year at school. Today her class went on a field trip to a former gold mine and mill. Marina asked me to attend as a chaperone. Only five parents were allowed to come and I was fortunate to be one.

Marina was a bit disappointed that her good friends were all assigned to the first bus to the mountain town while she and I were on the second one. So I actually got to sit next to her on the ride. We saw some beautiful scenery on the way!

Once we arrived, Marina was happy to be reunited with her friends. The mine was incredible. It was built into the side of the mountain. We had to take a smaller bus to the entrance.We started by going into a small mine. We all wore hard hats inside and there was a small vein of gold still in the rock that we could see.

Next we saw a tunnel which was built for other mines to send their rocks to the mill so the gold could be extracted. Then we went into the mill. We saw where the rocks were smashed. We learned how cyanide and mercury were used in the process. Marina is researching Josephine Aspinwall Roche, a Colorado woman who worked for safer conditions for miners. I'm sure this experience will help her with that!


At the end of the tour, the kids all got to pan for gold. They found pieces of pyrite and small flecks of real Colorado gold. They were all encouraged to shout out "Eureka!" when they found it. That was by far the favorite part of the tour for all the kids.

At the end of the tour, everyone retrieved their lunches and we sat down to eat. The kids were pretty hungry by then. Once everyone had eaten, we all got back onto the buses for the ride back to school.

Into the Woods

After seeing Oliver! at a small theater last year, Marina was excited to see their production of Into the Woods this spring. She had seen part of the film of the Broadway production at school and liked it. I knew this was a more mature twist on fairy tales, but I felt she could handle it at her age.

Marina wanted to dress as Little Red Riding Hood, but we didn't have a costume for her. So, she wore the Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz costume that was mine when I was a teenager and we added the cape from her Anna costume. She was happy with that.

The drive took a bit longer than we expected and the location had changed. But we managed to arrived just minutes before the show started, albeit a bit out of breath. Marina had a bit of time to look through the program before the lights dimmed.

Marina enjoyed the first Act of the show. It was funny and whimsical. Marina particularly enjoyed the parts featuring Cinderella and Rapunzel. But it was pretty long and she was restless toward the end.

At intermission we had a drink and a cookie, then we settled in for Act 2. The second Act was darker and more mature in theme than the first. Marina found it tougher to sit through.

Once the show was over, the cast lined up near the exit. Marina said, "I want to meet them!" She was really only interested in talking to the actors playing Cinderella, Rapunzel and Red Riding Hood. They were all nice enough to pose for pictures. We talked the actor who played the Witch for a few minutes, but Marina refused to have her picture taken with her. Too bad, she was a nice lady.