Musical Cats

Marina has wanted to see the musical Cats for a long time. She has enjoyed every Andrew Lloyd Webber musical she has seen – and then there is her fascination with our pets. When it was announced this season I bought tickets early. It was a good thing too because the short run sold out quickly. Marina decided to dress as a black cat. So she wore a black dress, her black cat ears and cat paw gloves.

For some reason, they didn’t allow anyone go to their seats until 15 minutes before the show. So it was a bit chaotic. At least we had time to take a few pictures before it started. We also saw plenty of other people wearing cat ears.

At the very beginning, we had actors dressed as cats roaming up and down the aisles. Marina loved that! She was completely absorbed in the show, only looking at me when I was pointing out a nearby actor. The cast of the show was really good. The dancing was amazing and the music was beautiful.

When the show was over, she said she liked it. Her favorite part was “Magical Mr. Mistoffeles.” That song was pretty spectacular. We were all impressed with the performance of “Memory.”

Unicorn Princess Party

We’ve been attending character meals quite a lot lately – so much so that the staff and owner know us now! Our friends were particularly interested in the Unicorn Princess Party, so I made reservations for the four of us tonight.

Our friends started buzzing about the dinner early this morning. She dressed in her unicorn t-shirt and had her unicorn purse in hand. However, when they showed up, she had added a pink princess dress on top of the shirt. Marina didn’t want to dress up. I managed to get to wear a silver sweater and she brought her unicorn horn headband, although she said she wouldn’t wear it.

As we were eating, the Unicorn Princess stopped by our table. Our friend was completely taken with her. Even Marina put on her unicorn headband for some photos.

We were seated on the patio, so when the stories, singing and dancing started, we were right in the middle of it. Our friend sat in for the story and song. When the dancing started, she got up and danced along. Clearly she was having a good time.

Despite Marina’s misgivings about attending these events, she agrees she wants to come to their next one in two weeks. So we all agreed we’ll meet again for that one too.

Painting Party

Marina’s birthday was over a month ago but it was during Spring Break. Since many of her friends go out of town, we usually wait to have her party. Since our April schedule has been crazy we weren’t able to have the party until today.

We’ve been enjoying painting classes and the instructor we’ve had. So we decided to have a painting party. She chose a painting called “A Girl With Her Dragon.”  We were all excited.

I showed up early and set up some snacks alongside the cake. The cake was actually a group of cupcakes made to look like a blue dragon. Everyone showed up early, so they had time to socialize, have a snack and get their smocks on. Some of the girls wanted to change up the colors of the painting, including Marina. She wanted hers to be an “ice dragon.”

We spent the next two hours working on our paintings. We took a break to let our paintings dry and had cupcakes. Then it was time to paint again. All the pictures looked different but clearly they had a fun time making them. Marina customized hers and it came out looking great.

As soon as everyone else was picked up, we headed out.

Dinner with the Easter Bunny

Marina and I have been enjoying the character dinners at Oblio's Pizzeria. And even though our friends couldn’t join us today, she wanted to attend the Easter Bunny Dinner. She especially wanted to see Fawn, the animal fairy who was there as well. She didn’t really have any ideas for a costume, so she didn’t wear one. I suggested she wear bunny ears, but she didn’t like that idea.

We arrived a little bit after the event started. The Easter Bunny and Fawn were already there, so Marina gave each a hug and we took some photos. Then we were shown to our seats. They were on the patio near where the Easter Bunny and Fawn were set up, so we had plenty of interactions with them while we were there.

Our server was the same one we've had every time we eat at Oblio’s. We debated about getting chicken wings but ultimately decided on pizza instead.

After she ate, she spent time playing with a two year-old who was there with his parents. She even took him to get a glitter stamp on his hand.  Marina didn’t participate in the singing and dancing, but we could see it all from where we were sitting.

Tea with Queen Elsa

Marina and I  we were looking forward to the Disney Tea this afternoon. I found out ahead of time that Queen Elsa would be the special guest. Marina and I invited one of her friends to join us. She’s still unsure about having tea, so we thought we’d try again.

Marina came down with a stomach virus yesterday and she still wasn’t feeling well today. But she wanted to try to go to the tea anyway. At first, the girls didn’t want to dress up, but I talked them into it. So Marina wore the Elsa coronation gown and her friend wore the green Anna dress. They each added a sparkly tiara.

We arrived right on time. I was surprised that none of the other attendees wore costumes – not even the kids. At first, the girls were self-conscious about that. We went on a tour of the castle again before sitting down to tea. The tour was a bit dull and Marina had to sit down and rest often.

When we sat down to tea, we had the same table we had the last time we came. We also noticed the Alice in Wonderland decorations. But as we looked around we saw that each table had a different Disney theme – Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, The Princess and the Frog and Aladdin.

We were welcomed by Queen Elsa and she made regular rounds to all the tables. She called us “my people” when she saw how the girls were dressed.

We were served peppermint tea followed by the first course, tomato soup. Marina tried it, but her stomach wasn’t having it. For the second course we had four mini sandwiches and a broccoli cheese quiche. We felt bad that Marina was so sick.

Each girl received a chocolate frog and Marina couldn’t help herself, she ate part of that. Then we had scones. Marina managed to eat half of hers. The last course was dessert. We each had a mini Snow White apple pie, a Cinderella pumpkin cake and a Briar Rose berry tart. We were pretty full by this time.

Marina was still not feeling well, so after getting photos with Elsa, I got the car and picked the girls.

Spring Fairy Night

Marina and I have been enjoying the princess parties at  local pizzeria. The one today was a bit different. It was “Spring Fairy Night.” We had reservations with our friends. We got caught in traffic on our way and when we arrived they were already seated. As we went to meet them we ran into the two fairies – Clarion and Sapphire. Clarion recognized us and gave us each a big hug.

It’s been a while since we saw our friends so we had fun being with them again. They were even more excited when the fairies came by. We took some photos and then waited to order. They seemed to be a bit understaffed so we had to wait quite a while to order. When the breadsticks arrived we ate them quickly we were so hungry. 

Marina and I decided to order chicken wings this time. They arrived just as the fairy entertainment started. After the entertainment, we all enjoyed our food and talked for a while before we left. We’d all had a fun evening together.

Mount Olympus

Last month when we saw Xanadu we were looking forward to seeing our friend in the lead role. Unfortunately, he was sick that day. So we decided to see it again – this time with him it. So I bought tickets for another show. We wanted a different viewpoint so I worked with a ticket agent to see what seats we could come up with. We were able to get seats on “Mount Olympus” a section of six seats on one side of the stage. Since we had already seen the show we knew that we were be asked to participate in parts of the show. Marina was thrilled!

When we arrived we ordered drinks in the lobby and sat at the bar until the house opened. When we went in, we were called “demi goddesses” because of our seats. Marina loved that!A short while later, the other four people sitting on Mount Olympus arrived. Two of them had seen the show already and knew what was coming. They wanted to surprise the other two. We were all excited about it.

When the point in the show came to identify those sitting on Mount Olympus as muses Marina was thrilled to be chosen as Thalia, goddess of comedy. She was even given a crown of laurel leaves to wear.  Several times during the show she was asked to read a line of a card. As goddess of comedy, it was always a joke.

We had a great time seeing the show again. We both agreed it was more fun this time. While the cast was taking their bows they actually acknowledged us on Mount Olympus as well.  After the show was over, we waited in the lobby to see our friend. He came out fairly quickly and gave us each a warm hug. We brought flowers for him and chatted for a while.

Before we left we talked with the women in the cast as well. After talking with for a few minutes we headed to the car. It had a been a fun day, but a very long one!

Family Enchantment

Marina and I have been going to Disney on Ice shows for years. This year, her aunt and cousin wanted to join us. So we arranged to go together this afternoon.

Marina is not allowed to dress up for the shows anymore, so she wore her Alice in Wonderland dress. We left early to avoid the crowds. We got a good parking spot and easily got into the building. We picked up drinks and went to our seats.

When the show started, both girls were drawn in by the show. We saw a long Toy Story segment followed by The Little Mermaid. The second part started with a short scene from Cars and ended with Frozen. When the show was over, we took a few photos near the ice before walking out to the parking lot.

Musical Heathers

Last fall I took Marina to see the musical Heathers. She loved it. Another theater is performing it this month and she was excited to see it again. We arranged to see it with some of our friends. Marina wanted to wear a plaid skirt since the main characters wore them in the last version we saw. So I found one of my old black and white plaid skirts and she matched it up with a black shirt.

We had dinner at a restaurant near the theater. After we ate we walked to the theater. Marina was very excited about seeing the show again. As she often does, she got restless when it didn’t start on time. But when the lights went down, we was happy.

The show is still a provocative one. We noticed that one of the raunchiest songs had been replaced with a different one. Despite all the dark comedy, Marina enjoyed the show. As we were leaving the theatre, the actress playing Heather McNamara came out in her costume. Marina immediately went over to talk with her. We also ran into Veronica before we left. Marina was happy about that!

Titanic Tea

Marina and I have enjoyed attending tea parties over the years. We invited our friends to the Molly Brown House for a Titanic Tea.  Marina and her friend decided to wear period costumes.

When we arrived at the Molly Brown House, I dropped everyone off in front and parked the car. We all met at the carriage house in the back. We were early, so we looked around the gift shop until it was time to meet on the porch for tea. They were excited to see a group of ladies who had also dressed in period costume for the tea.

We took a brief tour of the house. At the end of the tour we went up to the third floor for tea. The tea was set up with a Titanic theme. As we ate, we had four actresses portraying Margaret Brown and other first class ladies on the Titanic join us. Each told us a bit about her character and why she was on the ship.

After tea, I took a picture of the girls with the actresses before we headed out to finish the tour.

Before the Parade Passes By

Three years ago, Marina and I saw Hello Dolly at a local theater. Marina loved it then. I thought she might enjoy the national tour when it came, so I bought tickets. We invited her best friend to join us.

After school, Marina changed her clothes for the show. It had talented performers, gorgeous costumes and incredible choreography. Both girls really enjoyed it. After the show we had a chance to take photos with some of the members of the ensemble. The girls were excited about that. By the time it was over, we were all very tired.