Rock of Ages

This afternoon we had tickets to see Rock of Ages with our friends at a local dinner theater. As always, Marina wanted to dress inspired by the show. We found a black t-shirt and a sparkly gold mini-skirt for her to wear. I curled and teased her hair up a bit. She added short high heeled boots to the outfit. She looked amazing! Her favorite part was that she was taller than me while wearing the boots!

We arrived at the theater shortly after they started seating, so we took pictures outside before going in. One of our servers was playing the lead. That was fun. We were all pretty hungry and we were happy that the food arrived quickly.

The show had mature themes and adult language, but Marina didn’t react as strongly as she has in the past. She said she recognized most of the music even though most of it was from when I was a teenager. It was a fun show and we all enjoyed it.

After the show, our server brought out the actor who had played Drew. We’d met him before, but it was fun to chat with him again. We got a photo of them both. We also took photos with several of the other actors, including the rocker Stacey Jaxx. While I was in the restroom, Marina arranged for the actor playing Franz to come out for a picture with her as well. I was impressed with that!

After we got all the photos we headed home. It was a great afternoon with our friends.

Dinoasaur Zoo

We didn’t have any specific plans today, so Marina and I decided to go to the zoo. She enjoyed the dinosaurs they had on display and so we went to see them again.

It was a hot day, but the animals were very lively. We have a usual path we usually take through the zoo, but we didn’t do that today. We went through the primate exhibit, which we don’t go through very often. At one indoor exhibit, we went into a dark room to see the nocturnal primates. After our eyes adjusted, Marina was startled by one that popped into view. She loved telling that story all day.


When we arrived at the gorilla enclosure, we saw a mother holding her baby, which was very sweet. Then we came upon a window where a huge gorilla sat right next to the window, After a bit of a wait, I got a photo of Marina sitting by the glass. Right after I took the picture, the gorilla gave her a nod. She loved that!

We stopped for lunch then we rode the carousel and checked out more dinosaurs. We spent a long time watching the Tyrannosaurus Rex. We went through the bird exhibit and the Asian animals. The otters were very playful so we watched them for a while. By the time we reached the tigers they weren’t in their enclosure, so we moved on.

As we were walked to ward the exit, we heard a noise which turned out to be a snow leopard roaring. So we watched it for a while. Before we left, we stopped by to watch the lions for a few minutes. By this time we were very hot and tired, so we decided to head home.

Frozen Friday

Lately Marina has felt too old to attend the princess events. When I got an email with their planned events this month, she wanted to attend the Fairytale Friday with Anna and Elsa today. I was surprised, but I bought the tickets.

After I picked her up from school, she got ready to go. She initially wanted to wear her Anna trekking costume, but she found it is now too small for her. So she settled for Anna’s summer dress which barely fit.

We arrived just as the doors opened. Marina chose a seat next to a little girl dressed as Elsa. Neither of them wanted to sit on the floor so they sat in their chairs together.

We knew both of the actresses playing Anna and Elsa, so it was fun to see them. Marina stayed in her chair for story time, but did stand for the music. She didn’t join in on “For the First Time in Forever,” but she did sing along with “Let It Go.”

At the end, Marina waited for her turn for pictures. She got lots of hugs and we spent a while talking with them. We gave one a photo album with picture from the past year. We all looked through it together. It was a fun evening!

For the First Time In Forever

When Disney announced last year that the new musical version of Frozen would have its pre-Broadway engagement in town, I knew we’d want to see it. Earlier this year, I received an offer to buy tickets ahead of the general public. I decided to buy tickets for opening night so we’d be in the very first audience to see it. We invited two of our friends to join us.

The girls decided to wear costumes to the show. Marina dressed as Elsa and her friend wore Anna’s coronation dress. They both looked great! We made great time to the theater. As we left the parking garage we saw a family with two little girls dressed just like Marina and her friend, so of course we stopped to get pictures!


Inside the theater there were more chances for pictures, including inside the theater) which they usually don’t allow.) We had plenty of time for the photos and we picked up drinks and snacks before finding our seats. We had a great view of the stage and we were all excited when the show started.
A few scenes into the show it was stopped for technical difficulties. We had a short wait before it started again. The rest of the show went without a hitch. The musical version had differences from the stage version and it was interesting to see how they were staged. Overall, we all loved the show.

Fondue Fairytale

For lunch today we had reservations for Fondue Fairytales. Marina didn't want to wear a costume, so she wore a pretty floor length sundress. I put her hair in a bun but we left a little on one side which I curled into a pretty spiral. Then we pinned her favorite tiara in front of it. Then Marina put on her makeup.

One of our friends picked us up and drove us to the restaurant. The Fondue Fairytales were on the patio outside. Rapunzel came by our table with coloring pages. Prince Charming also came by and we all took pictures with him.

As we ate, the princesses sang and Prince Charming danced. He was an amazing dancer! Marina went over and danced with him and the Princesses for a while. She also got her face painted. It turned out beautifully. While she was having that done, the Princesses gathered everyone together for a group picture. I was sad Marina missed it. I mentioned it to Rapunzel and she arranged for Marina to have a photo with all of them by herself!

As each Princess left, Marina gave them a warm hug. We finished our meal with chocolate fondue. It was delicious but by then we were all stuffed. On the way home Marina asked if we could listen to Princess music. She sang along with them the whole trip back. We all agreed we want to come back next summer.

Julius Caesar

This evening, we had tickets to see Julius Caesar at the Shakespeare Festival with a friend. Marina saw it on the schedule when we saw The Taming of the Shrew and said she wanted to see it. When I asked her if she knew what happened to Caesar, she answered, “He got stabbed.” “And you still want to see it?” I asked. She said she did, so I got the tickets. She decided to dress in her toga outfit for the show. She even added a tiara with grape leaves on it..

We were in a bit of a rush to get to the show. Fortunately, we arrived just before it started. But we weren’t able to take our seat right away since there were actors using the aisles. After the first scene, we were able to go to our seats.

Marina didn’t follow this one as well as The Taming of the Shrew. So throughout I gave her brief descriptions of what was going on. That seemed to help her. Right before Caesar’s assassination, I pointed out that the senators were getting their knives out. Suddenly the show had her full attention. It was a bloody scene and she was fascinated and repulsed by it.

At intermission, I got her some candy and we talked about what happened in the first part and what was to come in the rest. She didn’t seem to follow it well either. She clearly was trying and I was so proud of how hard she tried.

We got home pretty late after the show. We got into bed quickly when we arrived home.

Polish Festival

This year, Marina and I have been exploring various cultural food festivals. And since we have Polish ancestry, we were very interested in the Polish Food Festival this weekend. We decided to go there for lunch. When we arrived, we started off by eating potato and cheese perogies. We really enjoyed them. We sampled some “Angel Wings” for dessert.

We decided to take a look inside the church. It was beautiful. Once we did that, Marina acted a bit bored. I wanted to watch some of the folk dancing, so we decided to try a potato pancake until the dancing started. As we were eating it, one of her friends from school walked by us with her family. They picked up some food and joined us in the shade of a tree.

After we ate, we watched the folk dancing. Then we all went to see the church since her friend's family hadn’t seen it yet. The girls wanted more dessert, so I gave them tickets to get some. Marina chose cheesecake!

Since it was such a hot day, we decided to head home. It had been a fun festival.

Cruising with Cars

I’ve had the same car since before Marina was born, lately it’s been having a lot of issues, so today I bought a newer one. Marina was quite excited about it, but not about waiting around for the paperwork to be completed. She did say she would miss the old car though.

When we were finally able to take the car home, we had a quick dinner and then went out again. This time we went to a nearby movie theater to see Cars 3. It’s been out for a while, but we hadn’t gotten a chance to see it yet. We arrived a little before show time and have just enough time to buy popcorn and find seats before the movie started.

We both enjoyed the movie. We stayed through all the credits to see a short extra scene at the end. As we walked back to the car I told Marina that we should name the car after one of the characters in the movie – Cruz. She loved the idea and the name stuck.

Wonder Woman Meets Marvel

About a year and a half ago, Marina and I went to a Marvel Live show.  She really like it, so when it came back to town, I got tickets for it. Marina didn’t want to wear a costume, so she wore her Wonder Woman t-shirt but she did add the tiara and cuffs to dress it up a bit.

We were there early and it was a good thing. There was a bit of confusion because there were people in our seats! We got it sorted out before the show started. I went to the restroom and when I came out, Marina was posing for a photo with a little girl. Apparently the girl thought she was Wonder Woman! Marina and I got nachos to snack on – she picked that because she knew I like them. While we waited for the show to begin, Marina admired the costumes of the kids around us.

The show was fun, filled with lots of action and stunts. Marina was particularly taken with the villain Black Cat. At intermission, she wanted something for dessert. I gave her money to buy donuts. When she came back she was very excited. Apparently while she waited in line, she helped the woman in front of her with her young son. So, as a thank you, the woman bought her donuts. She was stunned by the offer, but she made sure to thank her.

We enjoyed the show and talked briefly with the kids around us after it was over. Marina certainly got the super hero treatment this evening!

The Slipper and the Rose

We had tickets to see The Slipper and the Rose at a dinner theater. Marina decided to wear a Cinderella inspired dress. She asked me to put her hair in a bun. We added sparkly jewelry and one of her ballet tiaras. Marina did her own makeup including eyeliner. She was pleased with how she looked.

We picked up her cousin Michelle and got on our way. The playhouse is a long way from home and it was rush hour, so we had a much longer drive than we expected. We arrived at the theater half an hour after dinner started.

When we got to our table we met the two young ladies we were sharing a table with. They were very nice and we all enjoyed talking to each other. Despite arriving late, we had plenty of time to eat and settle in for the show. Marina ordered the stuffed chicken breast which she really liked.

The show was a different spin on the Cinderella story. We all enjoyed it. A friend of ours was playing Cinderella which made it more fun. And the fairy godmother had a dog which Marina loved.

At intermission, Marina and Michelle had flourless chocolate cake with ice cream. Both of them cleared their plates so it must have been good. I went to the front to see if we could arrange a photo with the actor playing the prince. We had met him once before and we hoped to catch up with him again. The hostess was able to talk to him and he agreed.

After the show was over, we looked around and found the actor who played the prince. He remembered meeting us and gracious posed for photos with all of us. Then we got into the line to have a picture with Cinderella onstage. Marina hugged her and talked to her for a few minutes.

Once our photos were taken, we got back into the car for our ride home. It was a faster trip than the one to the theater, but it was late and we were all really tired. Marina tried to sleep in the car but only managed to doze off. Once we got home it didn’t take long for her to get into bed.

Carmen

One of our summer traditions is participating in the Take A Child to the Opera event. Last year when Marina learned that Carmen was the featured opera this year she immediately wanted to go. She decided she wanted to wear a sparkly red dress, after all, red is the color most commonly associated with the main character.

We didn’t get as early a start as I had hoped. It was a long drive to the mountain town, but Marina passed much of the trip by admiring the scenery. She even took pictures with her phone.

We were a bit late, but fortunately they hadn’t started yet. Each child was given a list of clues for a scavenger hunt and a bag of supplies. With these they went from place to place and had their gold ore weighed and got candy in payment for it, created a souvenir coin and wrote down important dates from plaques. When they completed the scavenger hunt, they were given a pair of sunglasses as a prize.

We took a break for lunch. Marina and I had a picnic in our usual spot, the garden on the west side of the opera house. After lunch we went back to the stables where we had a special speaker, the actress who plays Carmen in the regular production of the opera. She sang a bit and demonstrated how she uses the castanets in a dance. Each child got a set of plastic castanets to practice with.

Before the opera we lined the streets to watch the usher march. As usual, it was fun to see. Then we lined up at the opera house to take our seats. We had a good view of the stage and Marina was anxious for the show to begin. When the lights went down she was audibly excited.

The opera is a long one, but it was very well done. The young artists in the lead roles were very talented and fun to watch. Marina particularly enjoyed the “Toreador” song. At intermission we went out to the patio to stretch our legs. While we were outside we saw many of the musicians enjoying their break.

 When the show was over, we went to the patio for the meet and greet. Of course, Marina wanted to meet them all. It was quite a lot of people, so we waited for the crowd to die down before we got in for pictures. That gave Marina a bit of time to talk to them as well.

After the meet and greet we went back to the car for the long trip back home. Marina still enjoyed looking at the mountains. She had a snack while we drove home after a fun but tiring day.