Hedwig and the Angry Inch

It’s been a while since we saw a show with some of our friends So, I invited them to see Hedwig and the Angry Inch with us today. I wasn’t very familiar with the show, but it was labeled a “punk rock musical.” So Marina dressed in her animal print dress.

We arrived at the theater early and settled into our seats. I wasn’t able to get four seats together, so Marina and her friend sat two seats away from her mother and I. I think they enjoyed that. We were all in the front row and we were told we’d be part of the show. That made Marina nervous.

The show was staged like a concert. It was loud and intense. There were funny moments but also sad and heartbreaking times as well. At the end of the show Marina told me she really liked it.

After the show ended, Marina wanted to meet both cast members. We’d seen both before in shows last year. The actress playing Yitzhak remembered meeting Marina and talked with us for a few minutes before meeting her family. The actor who played Hedwig we'd seen in two productions last year, but we had never met him before. He was very friendly as well.

After we got our photos, we went home. But not before making plans to hang out with our friends again.

A Mermaid's Life For Me

After seeing The Little Mermaid last night, Marina was in the mood to go swimming. Since we had no plans today, we decided to go to a nearby recreation center. Marina has grown so much that none of her swimsuits sit her anymore. She ended up wearing one of mine! And, of course, she brought her swimmable tail along.

The pool was pretty full, but we managed to find a place to sit. Marina lost no time putting her mermaid tail on and getting in the pool. There were two other girls also swimming in mermaid tails, but they weren’t very friendly to Marina so she didn’t talk with them long. After a while she drew a crowd around her. She was more than happy to show off her tail to them.

After about four hours at the pool, we went home for dinner. After we ate, we got ready to go out again. We knew Ariel and Jack Sparrow would be appearing at an ice cream store, so we decided to go. Marina wore her Ariel costume again.

We didn’t have any trouble finding the ice cream store. When we arrived, Ariel and Captain Jack were already there. We bought ice cream for ourselves and found a table not too far from them. We were pleased that we knew both performers there. Ariel greeted us with hugs and Captain Jack said, “Hello, love,” to Marina. We got photos and visited with both for a while.

After we ate our ice cream and the characters left, Marina spent some time talking to another Ariel fan, a young lady in a wheelchair and her caregiver.

The trip home went quickly. Marina clearly enjoyed her day as a mermaid!

Mermaid Music

The first musical I took Marina to was the pre-Broadway tryout of The Little Mermaid. She was three at the time.  We haven’t seen it since. So we were excited that a local theater was presenting it this month.

At first, Marina picked out an aqua colored dress to wear. Then she changed her mind and decided on her Ariel dress. As always, she looked really pretty in it.

We arrived really early for the show. Around the same time as the show, the theater was hosting a Princess Ball. Marina was disappointed that we couldn’t do both. We waited outside the ball room to see if we knew any of the actresses. As it turned out, we did! She was dressed as Ariel for the ball. We got a quick hug and photo with her before she went in. 

Marina and I ordered drinks and then we went in to find our seats. We weren’t as close as we usually are, but our seat had a very good view. We were happy to discover that our friend Brittany from was in the ensemble.

We both enjoyed the show. Marina particularly liked he song “She’s in Love,” which she performed in her Broadway class last month. She was also pleased to see Ariel wore costume similar to hers in the “Kiss the Girl” scene.

When the show was over, the entire cast came out into the lobby for photos. We quickly found Flounder and the mersisters. There were huge lines for most of the other performers, so we decided to wait for Brittany. She was happy to see us. When the lines died down, we got photos with the main characters including Ursula, Ariel and Eric. Sebastian was played by Randy, an actor we’ve met several times in the past year. We were sure to get a photo with him as well.

 

 

As we were leaving the mersisters walked by us. Marina called them all into a group hug, which they happily gathered joined her for. That was the perfect close for our evening.

Snowy Stock Show

Every year, we like to attend the Stock Show. We decided to get tickets to the Xtreme Dog Show today. This morning was snowy and icy. We slept late and left the house a little later than we planned. Marina wore a Jessie cowgirl shirt and her pink cowgirl hat with a tiara. We also took our warmest jackets. We quickly found parking and went to will call to pick up our tickets. It was a very cold walk!

We started by looking around the trade show area. Of course, Marina found lots to look at there. We also took her picture with all the rodeo queens we saw. We went up to the kids’ area but Marina wasn’t as interested in the activities there as she used to be. We stopped to eat lunch while we were there.

After lunch, we went to the pavilion for the Xtreme Dogs Pat and Chat. Several of the dogs from the show were there. Of course, Marina wanted to pet them all! One of the dogs was a ten month-old puppy.  Everyone wanted to pet him! As the crowds died down, the owner let Marina hold him. She was thrilled! She also loved petting a fluffy Pomeranian.

Next, we went into the stadium and looked at the show animals. We saw several bulls being judged. Then we went to the paddocks and saw bulls and pigs being prepped for competition. One of the pigs was making quite a racket while being bathed.

We made our way to the event center for the Xtreme Dog Show. Before going to our seats, we went to the lower level and looked at the baby animals – chicks, piglets, lambs, calves and even an alpaca.

Before finding our seats for the show, we took a few more photos with Royalty. Then we sat down and had a snack while waiting for the show to begin. Once it started, we both enjoyed ourselves. It began with dogs competing in a skills relay. It was fun. We also watched amazing frisbee catching, a woman with a choreographed dance with her dog, jumping contests and sheep herding.

Once the show was over, we were ready to go home. Fortunately, the walk back to the car wasn’t quite as cold as the walk in.

Red Riding Hood in the Woods

One of Marina’s favorite musicals is Into the Woods. I saw it listed at a theater we haven't been to before. Marina wanted to see it again, so I bought tickets for us to go this afternoon.

Marina wanted to wear her Red Riding Hood costume. I was surprised it still fit her. Instead of the cape that went with the costume, she wore my red Belle cape. She really likes that one – she says it’s “cozy.”

We found our way to the theater and had time to get drinks before the show started. Our seats were in the front row and Marina was pleased with that. When the lights dimmed she acted very excited.

This version of the show was much like a radio play – we could see the musicians and the special sound effects being played on percussion instruments. There was no set but the costumes and lighting effects were really good.

At intermission, the actor playing the narrator walked through the audience. He asked Marina if she was ready to join the show for Act 2. She loved that! She even approached an usher to find out where we could meet actors after the performance.

Marina loved the show. Afterwards we waited in the lobby to meet some of the actors. Many of them we saw in Company last fall. We managed to meet the actresses playing Cinderella, Red Riding Hood and the Witch. They all loved Marina’s outfit. We were also hoping to speak with Prince Charming and Jack, but those actors didn’t come into the lobby, so we decided to go home.

Siren Song

This afternoon we had tickets to see Siren Song, a pirate show at  Marina dressed in her pirate costume for the show.

It didn’t take us too long to get to the theater, so we arrived early. When they finally opened the house Marina chose seats in the front row. We were able to watch a slide show before the play began. The story is told in one chapter each month. We haven’t seen the other performances, but I suspected that wouldn’t be an issue.

When the show started Marina was happy to see a pirate. It was a silly show, but we both enjoyed it. Afterwards the actors were in the lobby, so we managed to get pictures before we left.

Winter in the Tropics

The butterfly museum was having a “Winter in the Tropics” event with Moana and we wanted to be there for it. Marina wore her tropical Mickey Mouse dress and a yellow flower in her for the occasion.

We arrived a bit before the event, so we looked around the insect area. Marina held Rosie the tarantula and got a sticker. Then we looked at the aquarium area. She always likes looking at the fish. She even decided to touch the sea stars on display.

It was time for the Moana meet and greet. It was in the butterfly exhibit – our favorite. There were more butterflies than I remembered seeing there before. Some of them were the size of small birds! We walked around the perimeter to where Moana was. She remembered us from the Christmas concert.

After spending a few minutes with her, we wandered around the exhibit. Several small butterflies landed on the flower in Marina’s hair. She was thrilled. One was so determined that a volunteer had to remove it. Another large one landed on both of our clothes. The butterflies were very friendly today!

We went into the invertebrate section where Marina refused to see the glow in the dark scorpions, which were really interesting. The other bugs there grossed her out as well.

We went back into butterfly exhibit for a Moana concert. The ground was damp, so Marina shared her jacket with two other girls to sit on. After the concert we said goodbye to Moana, went through the insect area one more time before heading home.

A Day on the Prairie

We haven’t been to the plains center in quite a while. I learned today was a free day and they were offering special activities. Marina was excited to go back. She wore the Dorothy costume from The Wizard of Oz with a pink bonnet and boots.

The center is not far from our house. When we arrived, we started by checking out the teepees while we were looking around, we saw wagons pull up by the visitor center. One was going to the homestead area and the other was headed for ride through the prairie. Since the prairie tour only went out once an hour, we decided to do that first.

While we were on the prairie tour, Marina spent time playing with the little boy next to us. While we were out we could see pronghorns in the distance and the two eagles that have been nesting on the property were flying nearby. We were even able to see the eagles’ nest. During the tour we had helicopters and military jets flying overhead from a nearby air force base. That was fun to watch as well.

When we got back we saw the wagon to the homestead was waiting with people aboard. So we got onboard. It was a few minutes before we left, but we were grateful for the ride.

At the homestead we looked at the first sod house and the blacksmith shop. There we went to the second sod house which had a woman baking cookies and serving hot cider and tea. She asked Marina to help her with the cookies and she happily agreed. Then she learned hoe to play checkers with two younger children who were there. It was a long game but she ultimately won.

We looked around at the schoolhouse, then we caught the wagon back to the visitor center.

Tale As Old As Time

Marina’s winter break is winding down.  I took today off just so we could hang out today. Other than running a few errands, we had a lazy day around the house. We’ve taken plenty of time to rest over the past two weeks and it’s been great!

This evening we had tickets to see Beauty and the Beast at our favorite dinner theater. One of friends was playing Lumiere. Since the theater is so far away, we left home very early. We got caught in rush hour traffic, but we had left early enough that we arrived for the show right on time.

When we arrived at our table the family we were sharing with were already seated. It turned out they were there celebrating their daughter's birthday. She and Marina hit it off right away. In fact, all of us enjoyed each other’s company all evening. We were also pleased to find we recognized both of our servers.

Our food took quite a while but we passed the time with our new friends and the actors that came by throughout the night. Of course, we spoke with Bob for a bit. We got hugs from another friend of ours – the last time we saw him he told us he was auditioning to play Gaston.  We were happy to hear he got the part! Our food was delivered by the actor playing the Beast. While he was at our table, we gave him a photo I took when he was playing Jack in Into the Woods. He remembered singing to Marina and asked her to sign the photo.

We enjoyed dinner, Marina and I both ordered the Dijon Chicken. Just before the show started, Marina convinced me to buy her a light up rose. The performance was really amazing. At intermission we discussed it while eating our desserts. Marina got the peanut butter pie which was delicious. She also enjoyed some of my eclairs.

After the show was over we got photos with our friends in their costumes. Then we got in line for photos with Belle and the Beast onstage. We had a photo for Belle that Marina was happy to give her.

 

We were among the last to leave the theater, but we didn’t mind. We had a long drive home, but it didn’t seem to take all that much time. We’d had a wonderful night.

The King and I

We had tickets to see The King and I this evening. We went early to have dinner downtown and we got an amazing parking spot. Then we made a short walk to a diner we like. We have eaten there a few times before and really liked it. Marina ordered pancakes and bacon for dinner along with a Shirley Temple.

While we were eating, we learned our waiter have two tickets to the show that he hadn’t been able to give away. Since the seats were much better than the ones we had, he traded them with us. These seats cost more than the ones we had! We were excited.

We still had plenty of time before the show, so we stopped at a coffee shop across from the theater. Marina ordered a chocolate chai. We invited another mother and daughter to share our table while we were there. I texted our friend a friend of ours, who is performing at another theater in the complex. We got a chance to talk briefly with her before her show.

It was finally time to go into the theater. The seats we had been given were very good. Marina enjoyed talking with the woman she was seated next to about cats. Once the show started she was completely engaged. She loved the sets and costumes. We both enjoyed the actor who played the King.

After it was over, we had an easy time getting out of the garage, thanks to our great parking space. It was late when we got home, but we’d had a lovely evening downtown.

Astronauts and Airplanes

During winter break, the aviation museum has been offering a discount rate for students. I had never been there before, so I thought we could try it out today.

When we arrived, Marina recognized that her dad has brought her there before. We went inside and saw an X-Wing fighter from Star Wars. Marina was very excited to see it. Next we found a temporary exhibit called Be the Astronaut. The three steps took us through the navigation, science and flight of space missions, Marina tried several different paths. First she flew to the moon. Then she landed on Mars. Her final trip was driving on Mars. She liked that one best.

After we went through the astronaut exhibit, we looked around the rest of the museum. There were many full-size airplanes on display which we looked at. Hidden in the back we found Anakin’s pod racer from The Phantom Menace. Marina couldn’t believe it.

We looked at clothing worn by aviators and badges they earned. We even saw sample cockpits of several planes. While we were looking around, Marina told me that airplanes “aren’t her thing.” So we didn’t spent too much more time there.

When we got home I made dinner and we ate while watching Wonder Woman.