Birthday Blessing

Our church has a tradition of saying a public birthday blessing for every member. Last week Marina wasn't there, so she got her blessing today. She was quite excited about it. She wore her birthday dress and since she had a matching American Girl dress, she brought Grace along as well.

Today was Palm Sunday. Marina enjoyed helping to hand out palm leaves to everyone. Then she joined he procession with our friend Miss Judy.

Near the end of the service, Marina beamed as she received her birthday blessing. She didn't have to be prompted at all to go to the alter for her blessing.

After church, we went out to lunch with Mr. Chuck and Miss Judy. When our server asked if we were there for an occasion, Miss Judy let him know we were celebrating Marina's birthday. She was quite pleased.

Marina ordered for herself and even had a salad to start with. We were all impressed with how much she ate. She was the only one who wanted dessert. She ordered chocolate cake and ice cream. When it arrived, our servers had added two birthday candles to it. They lit them and we all sang "Happy Birthday" to her. She graciously shared her cake with all of us.

After we finished lunch, Mr. Chuck and Miss Judy took Marina shopping for a birthday present. Marina clearly enjoyed that. Once she picked out her gift, she and I went out shopping for a bit. We bought some of our favorite lotions and a Cinderella movie inspired dress for Marina. She'd had a good day!

Ice Fairies

Marina and I are big fans of the Disney on Ice shows. The show playing this week was Worlds of Fantasy, featuring characters from Cars, The Little Mermaid, Toy Story and the Tinkerbell movies. We invited Marina's friend Ainsley. As it turned out, Ainsley's grandmother, aunt and cousin also joined us which only made it more fun.

Ainsley came over to our house a few hours early so the girls could get ready. Since the Tinkerbell stories were included they decided to dress as Tinkerbell and Silvermist. Both girls wore make up and we finished up the look with lots of glitter - gold for Ainsley and silver for Marina. The girls also brought Marina's Tinkerbell and Silvermist dolls from Disneyland.

We went out to lunch before heading to the arena. We were a bit early so we had time to get cotton candy before the show began.

We had really good seats for the show. Naturally the girls favorite part was the Tinkerbell story. The both really enjoyed helping Ainsley's much younger cousin understand the stories.

 After the show, the girls were in no hurry to leave. We took pictures near the ice and around the arena. Finally we were informed we needed to go so the arena could be prepared for the next show. I think the girls were having so much fun they just didn't want to leave.

Chef Marina

Marina is taking a cooking class this term. She's been trying many new foods and enjoyed them. A few weeks ago they made Chef's Salad. Since then. Marina has been dying to make one at home. So tonight I assembled the ingredients and let her make dinner for me.

I gave Marina the ingredients and she cut them up and put the salad together. She was so proud of the result. And the Chef Salad was delicious!

Of course, in pure Marina style, she did all this food preparation in her Red Riding Hood costume. Perhaps she wanted to take the leftovers to grandmother's house!

Birthday Grace

Marina's birthday is in a few days and she is pretty excited. However, today she had an appointment that she was a bit nervous about. So I told her after it was over we could go birthday present shopping. That cheered her up.

So, after her appointment was over, we headed to the American Girl store where Marina chose to get Grace, the doll of the year. They had a special craft available today, but Marina chose to wait until after we checked out to create the craft.

After she picked Grace up off the shelf, we spent some time looking around the store. We ended up picking up matching pink berets for them as well. A few new items caught her eye as she wandered around.

After we bought Grace Marina put on her beret and we went to a doll friendly restaurant for dinner. We were both pretty hungry by this time. While we waited, Marina put Grace's beret on her.

When our food arrived we both enjoyed it very much. We shared our meals and had a great talk. We topped it all off with an indulgent chocolate dessert. By then we were full and tired so we headed home.

Jumping With Friends

Two weeks ago, we made for plans Marina's friend Alana to come over for a play date. Unfortunately, Alana got sick and we had to reschedule. So she came over today instead.

The girls had already decided they wanted to go to the trampoline park. Shortly after she arrived, we went to the trampoline park. The girls were anxious to jump on the giant trampoline first. After a short time there, they checked out some of the smaller trampolines. No one was in the basketball area, so they tried that out.

After a bit of basketball and a game of air hockey, they returned to the giant trampoline. There they met a young lady who they played with for a while.

They were both completely exhausted when their time was up. We stopped for a snack of frozen yogurt before heading back to our house.

At home, the girls watched a bit of a movie but spent more time talking. After a while we took Alana home. I expect they both will sleep well tonight after so much jumping.

Cinderella On Screen

Marina has been looking forward to the live action movie Cinderella for some time. It didn't hurt that the movie featured a new short Frozen Fever starring Anna and Elsa.

Marina's friend Ainsley slept over at our house last night and they were both  excited to see the movie. They spent quite a while getting ready to go. Ainsley brought some of her favorite dresses over and they chose from them. Then they added a colorful stoles and tiaras to complete their royal look.

We arrived at our favorite restaurant theater early and ordered lunch. Then we settled in to watch the previews. Our food arrived before the movie started, so we were happy about that.

First came Frozen Fever. The girls clearly enjoyed it. Both are such fans of the original movie it wasn't a surprise.

Next came Cinderella. The film was beautifully made. Both girls admired Cinderella's ball gown and wedding dress. They immediately talked about a display at the Disney Store. So we decided to go and browse the store.

When we arrived they both immediately checked out all the Cinderella items. Ainsley fell in love with the glass slippers. Marina meanwhile was drawn to new Frozen plush dolls designed from the costumes in Frozen Fever.

Once we finished our shopping, we stopped for a snack. It had been a lovely Disney day.

Winter Garden

Marina had the day off from school today. It was unseasonably warm so it seemed ideal to find something to do outside. We haven't been to the botanic gardens in a while, so we decided to see what was going on there.

Much of the grounds was covered with recent snowfall, but it was still very pretty. The Chihuly exhibit was no longer there, but a new piece has been installed on a permanent basis since we last visited. So we went to see that first.

We walked through some the other gardens we have been to many times. But they all looked very different in the snow. We paid more attention to the artwork and structures than we normally do.

Next we went into the new Science Pyramid. It opened after our last visit and Marina was excited to finally see inside. When we walked in, she spoke with a scientist who showed her slides of plant leaves under a huge magnifying glass. She also enjoyed exploring many exhibits which allowed her to view different ecosystems.

Her favorite part was a huge globe where she could choose to look at anything from flight patterns to hurricane activity. One had weather patterns from the year she was born. It took her a while, but she was able to get the dial to land on the day she was born.

After we explored the Science Pyramid, we looked at the Japanese garden. She was surprised to see fish in the icy water. She also started drawing happy faces in the snow banks she saw.

We went into the greenhouse and found many spring flowers already in bloom. Marina wasn't able to smell as many as she wanted because there were bees all over them. I'm sure the bees don't have many other options right now! We went on to the tropical conservatory. We were both shocked by the heat and humidity. But the tropical plants were clearly thriving.

After a couple hours we decided to leave. We'd had a nice walk, even if we hadn't seen many flowers. But we know we'll be back for the spring flowers.

Hairspray

Last year, Marina sang the song "You Can't Stop the Beat" from Hairspray in choir. At a performance of Peter Pan last summer, she saw the same theater was performing Hairspray and she really wanted to see it. The timing was difficult and the theater is far from home, but since Marina doesn't have school tomorrow we decided to go this evening. She brought her Mulan plush doll for the ride.

The traffic made us later than we wanted, but we arrived with an hour before showtime to have dinner. A nice family of three was already at the table and we enjoyed socializing with them during dinner. To add to the fun, the actor playing Corny Collins was our waiter.

Marina was thrilled when the show started. She found the man playing Tracy's mother hilarious. She really loved all the singing and dancing in the show.

At intermission she has a huge dish of ice cream for dessert. But I had to remind her to eat it. She and the young lady sitting next to her were pouring over the program, looking for actors who had appeared in Peter Pan. She was excited to learn that the actress playing Penny had also been Tiger Lily.

Marina was a bit sleepy through the second act, but her eyes never left the stage. When "You Can't Stop the Beat" started she perked up. I could see her singing along quietly.

Once the show was over, Marina went in search of cast members. We quickly located Penny, who was clearly pleased Marina remembered her performance as Tiger Lily. We also caught up with the actors playing Edna, Amber and Motormouth Maybelle. Marina particularly admired Motormouth Maybelle's gold shiny dress. The actress kindly placed a kiss on her cheek.

The one actor we couldn't locate had played Tracy. We were about to leave when a hostess heard us discussing that. She took us to the balcony and asked us to wait there. Moments later she arrived with Tracy. Marina was delighted.The actress was very gracious and spoke with us for a few minutes before hugging us both. We felt so lucky!

Our excitement helped us on the long ride home. Marina and I talked for much of the ride, but eventually she fell asleep.

Sunday Spring

Marina invited one of her friends from school over for a play date today but unfortunately her friend was sick and couldn't come. So to make up for it, I took her to the trampoline park for a little fun.

When we arrived this afternoon, the place was full. Quite a few birthday parties were scheduled for today. Marina didn't seem to mind at all, it meant she had more kids she could make friends with!

Marina had two hours of jumping time. She stayed on the giant trampoline the entire time. She met quite a few new "friends" and told me about them when she stopped for water breaks.

After her time was up, she wanted to try the hurricane simulator. As she was getting in, she found a little girl hanging around. Marina invited her to join her inside. They both seemed to enjoy the ride!

After the simulator was over, we went home. Marina was pretty tired by that point!