Van Helsing's Daughters

Marina and I had been interested in seeing a play called Van Helsing’s Daughters. The only performance we could fit into our schedule was tonight – Halloween. I asked Marina if she wanted to go instead of trick or treating and she said yes. The website encouraged dressing in costume, so Marina picked out a Gothic looking costume to wear with her elf ears.

The show was at an inn, which is supposed to be haunted. When we arrived, we had a conversation with a man there. He was the owner of the inn and told us a story about the ghosts there. The show was on the third floor of the building. It was a beautiful room. We didn’t order dinner but I did buy a dessert for Marina. Marina chose a seat at a table where a couple was seated. The young woman was dressed in a mermaid costume, I’m sure that is why she chose to sit there.

Marina enjoyed her dessert when it was brought to her. All the people seated at our table were fun. Marina also spent time with the actress playing the Siren and the owner of the inn.

When the show began, Marina was very entertained by it. It was staged as a presentation of supernatural creatures by the immortal daughters of Abraham Van Helsing. The creature were brought out into the audience so we could get a closer look. At intermission we were invited to the garden where we were to meet “special guests.” We went outside and a few minutes later sever giant monsters came out. Marina was impressed.


After the performance ended, we took a few photos with the cast. Marina enjoyed herself and said it was worth missing trick or treating to go.

Love Never Dies

Marina loves the musical The Phantom of the Opera. It has a lesser known sequel called Love Never Dies which is not performed often. So when a touring production stopped near us I decided we would have to check it out. At first Marina wasn’t too interested. But as it got closer, she got more excited about it.

The show takes place mostly at an amusement park on New York’s Coney Island. Marina loved the circus inspired themes throughout. The sets and the costumes were amazing to see although the music wasn’t as memorable as the original. Marina really liked the young actor playing Gustav. The ending was tragic and when Gustav started to cry, so did she.

After the performance ended, the cast announced a fundraiser which meant cast members would be collecting donations in the lobby. One of them was the actor playing Gustav, so we got a picture with him as well as a few of the circus performers.

Most exciting was you could have a photo with the Phantom. Marina and I were both excited to do that! We had to wait in a line for the Phantom photo. While I was paying, the actor immediately started talking with Marina. He started by asking her name. I took photos of her with him and then we had someone else take one of all of us.

Once our photos were over, we went to the car. We’d enjoyed the evening but Marina has school tomorrow, so she needed to get to bed.

Heathers

I had plans to see the musical Heathers with Angie last weekend. Due to the content, I wasn’t sure it Marina would like it. We were supposed to go last weekend, but the weather was bad last weekend when we were supposed to go so I rescheduled for today and bought an extra ticket so Marina could come. At first she didn’t seem very excited about it but then she found the songs “Candy Store” and “Dead Girl Walking” on YouTube and really liked them. So she was looking forward to it today.

This theatre was a long drive from home, so right after church we had a quick lunch with Angie and then got on the road. Marina listened to music for most for the trip. It took us just under two hours to get to the theater. We were all pretty happy to be moving around when were got out of the car.

The theater is technically a dinner theater although a meal is not included with the ticket price. Since we ate before we left, we decided to have dessert. Marina ordered an ice cream sundae with chocolate sauce.

Once the show began Marina was completely engrossed. Some of it was on the raunchy side, but she was laughing through it all. At intermission she said she wished she had worn her plaid skirt so she would look like the Heathers in the show.

After the show was over, Marina wanted to meet the actors. She spent quite a while talking to the actresses who played the Heathers. We took a photo with them and the actor who played JD. She obviously had a good time.

Return to the West Side

One of Marina’s favorite shows is West Side Story. The performance was at a dinner theater we've never been to and it was pretty far from home.

Marina listened to music on her phone for most of the ride. We arrived in Fort Collins a bit early so we checked in a waited in the lobby. Fortunately they opened a bit early.

Our server was playing Riff. Our salads were already on the table when we sat down and our meals came out very quickly. Marina ordered the honey fried chicken which she liked but also was happy eating the mashed potatoes and cauliflower on her plate. We were done with dinner early, so we had a long wait before the show started.

Once the music started, Marina paid close attention. We were both impressed by Riff and the actress playing Anita. “America” was her favorite song in the show.

During the announcements before the show they wished a woman named Marina a happy birthday. We were both amazed by that. So at intermission we made our way to her table to speak with her. She was a very nice lady and was thrilled we had come over to speak with her. When we went back to our table Marina’s pumpkin cheesecake was there. She shared some with me.

The end of the show was intense. It seemed everyone was crying, including Marina. When we got to the lobby we saw the cast lined up. We got a photo with Riff and Anita, the Jets and Maria. Marina spent a few minutes talking with her. She even got a bit teary as we talked about the end of the show.

We went to the car for the long drive home. We were both tired after a long day. Marina dozed off a bit in the car but didn’t actually fall asleep. When we finally arrived at home she went right to bed.

Another Boo at the Zoo

Boo at the Zoo has been a Halloween tradition for us since Marina was a baby. Today was the only day we could go this year, so despite the fact that we were at the zoo last night, we came back again this morning. When we arrived parking was already crazy. I found a spot but it was pretty far away from the zoo so we had a long walk before we got there.

The set up was different this year and the trick or treat stations were smaller and easier to miss. We didn’t see any character meet and greets this year either. When we reached our favorite restaurant Marina was ready to eat lunch. After I ordered we were lucky to find a table in the shade to sit at. We both enjoyed our lunch.

We looked at more animals after lunch. We walked along some of the bird paths we usually don’t follow and went through the Asian animals. All the elephant were outside and the tapir was running around it’s enclosure and making noises. Inside we saw five otters playing and chattering at each other. Marina was thrilled that the fisher cat was inside a log in its exhibit.

We went through the rest of the zoo and stopped at all the treat stations. On our way out we saw two lionesses in Predator Ridge, so we stopped to look at them for a while before making the long journey back to the car.

Enchanted Hollows

This year the Zoo has a new nighttime event for Halloween. Marina and I were interested in checking it out. She wore her Sayori costume, We arrived early and found that it wasn’t crowded at all.

The zoo was decorated with pumpkins, sculptures and some of the scary animals from zoo lights. We saw a few lions in their enclosure. We moved on to look at the hyenas when we heard an animal roaring. We went back to the lions and saw one standing on a log roaring. It was fun to see.
As we moved through the zoo, we stopped to speak with a volunteer who told us that many of the zoo animals are “crepuscular” meaning they are most active at dawn and twilight. We walked by the flamingos and saw them all sleeping very close to the fence. We’d never seen them that close before.


In Asian exhibit we went inside and saw three otters playing. After we finished watching them, Marina turned around and we saw one of the elusive fisher cats looking at us. It quickly turned around and hid again. One of the tigers was also very active and roaring, so we watched it for a while.

Marina wanted to go into the tropical exhibit. She was particularly interested in the snakes tonight. Once we made the walk through the entire zoo we were ready to go home.

Glowing Gardens

Marina and I have attended Glow at the Gardens every year since it started. She wanted to wear her costume Sayori from Doki Doki Literature Club today, so this afternoon we put a temporary maroon dye in her hair. She was very excited about that!

This year we were fortunate to have great weather. We had to wait in line to get into the botanic gardens, but it moved fairly quickly.

Once inside, we bought chai lattes to drink as we walked around. I was surprised at how much light there was at the start. We could see all the pumpkin carvings, but they weren’t glowing. It wasn’t until we were about halfway through that it was dark enough to really see the jack o’lanterns. So we decided to go through again to see everything in the dark.

As we were leaving, we saw performers wearing light up costumes which we watched for a while. After that we were ready to go home.

Mindbender Mansion

Marina is on Fall Break this week. We made plans to go to the nature and science museum today. However, she asked if she could hang out with her boyfriend instead. I suggested that he join us at the museum. Marina loved that idea!

We picked her boyfriend up at his house shortly after lunch. Then we headed to the museum. We found a parking space up front right away. Once inside, we went to the third floor to see the temporary exhibit Mindbender Mansion. It was a series of puzzles arranged in “rooms.” They were pretty tough and the three of us worked together to solve as many as we could.

Once we went through most of the rooms, we moved on to the dinosaur exhibit. He hasn’t been to the museum for a long time, so he took his time looking at everything. Marina was very patient with him as he read the signs.

Next, Marina wanted to go through the space exhibit. There weren’t many people there, so they were able do whatever they wanted to. They played a game about the birth and death of stars, docked Space Shuttle models, looked through telescopes and experimented with the heat sensing equipment.

Before we left, we looked at the mineral hall. He seemed to enjoy looking at all the displays. Of course, Marina liked all the jewels and gold. After we looked at the minerals the Museum was getting ready to close. It was time to go home.

The Sleeping Beauty

Marina and I have seen The Sleeping Beauty ballet several times before. But since we love it so much, we wanted to go to the performance this season. Since Angie loves the ballet, we invited her to join us.

We all met downtown in front of the theater. We bought drinks and went to our seats. Marina and Angie had fun talking before the show.

The show was beautiful as we expected. The people sitting next to Marina were bothering her in Act One so she sat on the other side of Angie for the rest of the show. That helped her enjoy the show more. Act Three was her favorite since it contained Puss in Boots.

After the show the performing arts complex was packed again. Marina was impatient waiting for the elevator for the parking garage so she was actually willing to take the stairs. She was tired and wanted to get home to play with the cats.

Rodgers and Hammerstein Celebration

Given our love of musical theatre, the Rodgers and Hammerstein Celebration concert at the symphony sounded like one we would enjoy. It was a busy evening downtown so we took the light rail to the performing arts complex.

When we arrived I picked up a drink for Marina and we found our seats. Marian was a bit self-conscious when she saw that most of the audience were much older adults. I saw that the song list included quite a few from South Pacific and The Sound of Music. Since those are two shows she likes I knew she’d enjoy the concert.

The concert began with our favorite conductor leading the symphony in the overture from The Sound of Music. Then the three soloists came out to perform. They were all very talented and we enjoyed their performances. Marina especially enjoyed the female singer’s costume changes – she wore four different evening gowns over the course of the night.

After the show was over, Marina said she enjoyed the concert more than she expected to. We were pretty tired by the end of this fun day.

Super Hero Saturday

Last year, Marina and I attended Fairytale Day at a corn maze. This year, she was more interested in going to their Superhero Day. So we decided to go after a late breakfast. Marina wanted to go with a Harley Quinn Look. She wore her new “Daddy’s Little Monster” shirt with jeans and her Puddin choker. Then I sprayed her hair pink and blue. She was happy with the look.

We arrived a few minutes before the event started. Marina mingled with the younger kids and made a pumpkin super hero craft. A short while later, Spiderman, Super Girl and Bat Girl arrived for the event. Marina graciously allowed the younger kids to speak first and helped the super heroes with their activities.

After the event, we decided to go through the corn maze. We used the trick we used last year with worked. We kept running into a couple of groups of people. It was funny. We completed the maze fairly quickly, collected our mini pumpkins as prizes and then decided it was time to go home.

One Singular Sensation

We saw A Chorus Line last fall. Despite that, Marina still wanted to see it again when another theatre announced they would be presenting the show this fall. Aunt Ann wanted to see the show, so she decided to join us.

We all met about half an hour before the show started. Marina ordered a Shirley Temple to drink and got a snack since it seems like she is always hungry! She even spent some time looking over her program before the show started.

A Chorus Line has many mature themes. I think Marina was able to understand many of them better this time. She still enjoyed the performance, especially the song “Dance Ten, Looks Three” which is still her favorite

After the show Marina said she didn’t want to wait to meet the cast. We didn’t know any of the actors and Marina said she was tired, so we headed home.