Theater Under the Sea

We arrived at the theater to see The Little Mermaid a few hours after the tea party. We were seated with a couple who are season ticket holders. We enjoyed talking with them during dinner. Marina and I both got the chicken cordon bleu for dinner and she ordered cheesecake for dessert.


Marina didn’t eat much of her dinner but she was very excited to see the show. When it finally started she was completely engrossed. During “Under the Sea” a jellyfish swooped right over her head. She was especially happy when she realized it was one of our friends who had done it.

During intermission, Marina enjoyed her cheesecake. We all loved the show and after it was over Marina wanted her picture taken with some of the mersisters as well as Scuttle, Ursula and Flounder. On the way out, we got photos with Ariel and Prince Eric.

Tea Tour

This afternoon we decided to do something we have wanted to do for a long time. We went to the Celestial Seasonings tea factory. We drink their tea all the time – Marina’s favorite is Sleepytime Vanilla. We checked in for a tour and had about half an hour to wait. So we sampled some of the teas they had there. We both liked the Emperor’s Choice blend, which is only available at the factory.

We still had more time before our tour, so we checked out the store until it was time to line up. For the tour, we had to wear hair nets. Marina and I had a tough time getting them on. The factory was not operating while we were there, but we still got to see all the equipment.

The whole factory smelled so good. Marina’s favorite part was the peppermint room. After the tour we went back to the store where we picked out several boxes of tea to take with us including Emperor’s Choice and Sleepytime Mint, which we had never seen before. .

Tea and Sweets with Ariel

When Marina and I saw The Little Mermaid on the schedule for this summer, we knew we’d want to see it. Before it opened, they also announced three dates for “Tea and Sweets” with Ariel. Our first visit to the theater was for a Cinderella tea party in 2012, so I thought it would be fun to do that again. Marina decided to wear her Ariel costume for the day.

Our trip took longer than we expected but we arrived a bit early for the tea party. We were seated with a very nice mother and daughter. We started off by choosing what kind of tea we wanted to have. Then plates of cookies and pastries were brought out for us.

 

 

While we ate, some of the performers from the show came by our table. First, we chatted with Flounder. The actor remembered meeting us at another show at BDT. Next by our table was Scuttle, being played by a friend of ours. The next character was Prince Eric. Last, Ariel came to our table. She and Marina seemed to bond over their costumes. As we exited the tea party, we stopped to have a photo taken with all the characters.

Unicorns, Fairies and Princesses

Last year we attended the first annual Unicorn Festival. It was very overcrowded and poorly organized, but we decided to give it another try, especially since some of our friends would be there!

Marina wasn’t sure what to wear this year. Last night she put together a dance costume someone gave us with one of her skirts, fairy wings and a flower wreath to be a fairy. It was a cute outfit!

We left the house fairly early because we knew a lot of people would be there for the beginning of the festival. We didn’t leave as early as we hoped but we did arrive at the park before the festival opened. We got into line to enter and talked with the people around us. While we were waiting, we saw Snow White arrive. It was one of our friends!

It only took us 15 minutes to get inside after the festival opened. So we went immediately to the Princess Palace to see Phoebe. There was no line to see her, so we took pictures and talked with her for a while. We also saw Moana.

We moved on to some of the vendor booths. Marina loves to shop and she happily looked around at everything on display. While we were looking around, we ran into Prince Charming. We’ve been running into him since Marina was six and he was amazed at how much she has grown. We also came upon a group of fairies and Captain Jack Sparrow.

The line for the mermaids looked short, so we got into it. It moved really slowly and we were roasting in line. Bur fortunately we finally got through to see the mermaids. At the end was Ariel. Marina spent quite a while visiting with her.

While we were waiting for the mermaids, we saw Anna and Elsa arrive at the Princess Palace, so we went over there. This time there was a line but it moved quickly and we got to meet with them before their sing along. By this time, Jasmine had arrived at the Agrabah Bazaar. Marina joined the kids for story time and then waited in a quick line for a photo with her.

Next, we checked out a petting farm with "unicorns,” goats and a bunny. Marina loved that! We also met a large white “unicorn” who was a bit restless. Then we stopped in a shady spot to eat lunch. We made our way over to the Princess Palace again to meet Merida. She had a bow that Marina tried out and they posed with them.

We wanted to walk around the rest of the festival and ran into Tinkerbell who remembered us from the Princess Partea last month. We looked around a some of the other activities and then went to make sure we got to meet Belle, who was another of our friends. We had a bit of a wait, but we were thrilled to see her.

We decided to look at the Creation Station to see what crafts they had set up. Marina decided to make a wand. We had to scavenge around for the pieces but she ended up with one she was happy with. Marina wanted “something sweet,” so we looked around the various food trucks and she decide she wanted a snow cone. We sat for a while as she ate it. The line to sit on a “unicorn” was as short as we had seen it, so we got in it. It took a while but it was worth it. Marina got to sit on a white unicorn and pet a baby one. The foal tried to eat part of her costume!

By the “unicorns” was a Harry Potter sorting hat. We both tried it out and were surprised we were put into the Slytherin House. Rapunzel was the last visiting princess and we could see it was another friend of ours. Even though the line was long, we wanted to say hello to her. We were both tired so we decided this would be our last stop. We got some really cute photos and then we decided to go back to the car. It was a fun day but we were both exhausted.

Jurassic Movie

Marina has been a fan of the Jurassic Park franchise for a while. So, of course, she was looking forward to the newest movie in the series, Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom. Today was the opening day, so I got tickets to see it at our favorite movie theater this evening.

Naturally, Marina wore her Jurassic Park t-shirt. We arrived early for the show and found a dinosaur greeting us at the door, we loved that! We got to our seats and ordered food and popcorn. There were quite a few previews before the movie. Marina was excited when it finally started.

This movie was more intense than the previous ones. Marina seemed a bit more scared of this one than the other ones we have seen. Near the end she got up to use the restroom. She admitted later she was a bit freaked out! After the movie was over, Marina said she really liked it despite being scared by it.

The Book of Mormon

We had tickets to see The Book of Mormon this evening. It’s a popular show with very raunchy adult humor. I knew some of it might be questionable for Marina, but I decided we’d go ahead and try it.

We arrived very early, so we got drinks and settled into our seats. The couple sitting next to us was very nice and interested in theatre, so we all talked while we waited for the show to start.

Once the performance started it seemed to fly by. It was very funny, Marina was laughing throughout. At intermission I explained to her a few topics that I thought might be over her head. But clearly, she enjoyed the show. After it ended I asked her about the more mature themes in it, Marina responded “I can handle it.”

Robin Hood Hike

We made an early start today for our annual tradition – a theatre hike. They are presenting two plays this summer. Today was The Commedia of Robin Hood. Marina wore her green felt hat that she received at another Robin Hood show we saw years ago.

We had an easy drive and then caught the shuttle to the Park. We arrived early and talked with the organizers for a while. There was a large group who arrived late, so we didn’t leave on time.

The show was fun and the hike wore us out. As the performance ended, we heard thunder and it began to rain. As we walked back to the picnic shelter, the rain got harder and harder. Marina used our blanket to cover her head. A couple we met on the hike shared their cover with me. By the time we got to the shelter, we were both soaked.

We waited for the rain to let up before catching the shuttle back to the car. We picked up lunch before driving back home.

Little Shop of Horrors

Marina has had an interest in the musical Little Shop of Horrors since last year when I told her about how it takes place after a total eclipse of the sun. Fortunately I bought tickets in April – the show has been a big hit, selling out most nights.

In the advertising, I noticed that an actor we know was playing Seymore in the show. That made us even more excited to see it. We arrived early to the theater to make sure we got a good seat. As usual, Marina wanted to sit in the front row. The show started a bit late, which made her a bit restless.

Once it got started though, Marina was all in. At one point, Seymore was sitting right in front of us and the plant took a snap at me. Marina loved that! We both loved the show. Afterwards we waited to talk to the cast. The actors we know talked with us for quite a while afterwards.

 

It was late when we left the theater but we agreed it had been a great night.

Incredible Movie

The movie The Incredibles came out the year Marina was born. When she was two, it was her one of her favorites to watch. She dressed as Violet that year for Halloween. Despite all that time, we were both excited to see the sequel. Tonight was the preview night, so I got tickets to take Marina to see it this evening. She wore her Incredibles skater dress for the occasion.

We were to our favorite theater and arrived early to order dinner. It arrived before the previews started so we were pretty much finished when the movie started. The move was very funny and full of action. Marina loved it. I think she also liked that she is right around Violet’s age now!

A Comedy of Errors

 

Marina's best friend expressed some interedt in seeing a play by Shakespeare earlier this year. Since Marina and I had tickets for Shakespeare in the Park we invited her to join us.

The show was a long drive for us. So we all talked on the drive. We hit lots of bad traffic, so the trip took much longer than we expected. Fortunately, we arrived half an hour before the show began.

We set up close to the stage and got our food out for a picnic. Marina wasn’t very hungry so she just nibbled at what we had. We were all excited to see the show. This show, A Comedy of Errors, was a slapstick comedy with two sets of identical twins and mistaken identities.

We were all excited when the show started. The girls had a bit of trouble with the language at first, but I could tell by their reactions they were enjoying the performance. After the show ended, the cast members came out in their costumes. We were able to get photos with both sets of twins.

We packed up the car for a long drive home. At first the girls sang along to a Disney Princess cd I had in the car. But eventually they both fell asleep. When we arrived back at our house, I expected them both to go to sleep quickly. Instead they ended up talking late into the night.

The Dead Sea Scrolls

Marina and I have been interested in seeing the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit at the museum of nature and science since they announced it last year. I was hoping if we waited a few months we might avoid crowds, however, this exhibit has been so popular that was not an option. I took the day off today so we could check it out.

We had trouble finding parking, so we had to park pretty far away and walk to the Museum. Fortunately we made it there in time for our scheduled entrance.

As we entered, we were told the story of how the scrolls were found and saw jars similar of different eras. Also on display was one of the actual jars where the scrolls had been found. As we filed into the exhibit, we took a good look at that jar.

Since there were so many people, we had to wait in a series of lines to see everything. We started off by seeing various artifacts from Jerusalem through the ages. Marina was especially interested in the jewelry and coins. We both noticed that the older the coins were, the smaller they got.

Next we saw many examples for pottery and architecture. I was surprised at how interesting Marina found the pottery. We spent a while looking at some of the ruins from the temple in Jerusalem. There was even one block we could touch.

Marina liked the mosaics on display and listened to me talk about the ossuaries or bone boxes. When we finally got to see some of the scroll fragments, she looked at them as well as the translations. Waiting in line was tough for her, so she would leave to look at something else and then rejoin me later. After we went through everything, we looked at the gift shop.

Marina wanted to looked through the space exhibit, particularly a new virtual reality experience. There was an added cost for it, but I could see how badly she wanted to try it, so I agreed to get tickets for both of us to try it. We had a short wait before it was our turn.

The experience turned out to be a spacewalk on the International Space Station. We flew from part to part which different elements exploded and were damaged. It was quite a thrilling ride. Marina loved it!

After the ride we decided to go home. It was a long walk to the car on a hot afternoon.

School of Rock

Marina has been a fan of the works of Andrew Lloyd Webber for most of her life. So, when I learned his musical School of Rock was coming to town, I knew we had to see it. I invited some of our friends to join us. At first they didn’t think they could, so I bought our tickets. When they decided they could see the show, they bought tickets as well. We all decided to meet at the theater.

Marina decided to wear a plaid skirt, similar to the school uniforms the kids wore in the show. Shortly after we arrived we ran into our friends. It turned out their seats were two rows behind the ones I bought. Another surprise was that one of my coworkers was seated behind them. So Marina talked with her a bit before the show as well.

The show was funny and filled with rock music. I could hear the girls reacting to the show throughout. Clearly they had a good time.