Painting Hogwarts

Since Marina has been so into Harry Potter, I signed us up for a class at Painting With a Twist for a Hogwarts picture. Marina was excited and wore one of her Hufflepuff outfits. We arrived a bit early and bought drinks. Marina quickly befriended the young woman sitting opposite her.

The painting was more difficult than it appeared. This time it was me that got frustrated. Marina was very supportive and helped me catch up when I fell behind. When she was almost finished, she added the flags of each of the houses to her pictures. She was quite happy with it.

This class started at 8:00 pm, so it was pretty late when we came home.

Puffs

Over the past year, Marina has become a huge Harry Potter fan. She’s especially enthusiastic about the house she was sorted into on Pottermore – Hufflepuff. When I learned about a Harry Potter play called Puffs, I told Marina about it. She asked “Puffs, as in Hufflepuffs?” When I said yes, she insisted we see it.

Since today was Valentine’s Day, I gave her a present of two Hufflepuff dresses. As I expected, she wore one of the dresses with a Hufflepuff sweater and scarf to the show tonight. She was very excited to see it.

We arrived early and a friend of ours was at the box office. She was excited to see us. When the theater opened, we picked seats in the front row. There was a bit of a delay in starting the show, so Marina used that time to talk Hufflepuff with everyone around us.

When the performance finally started, Marina was completely involved. Although the story covered Harry Potter storyline that she hasn’t read about yet, she still got a lot out of it. Because we were in the front row, we were given M&Ms at one point in the show and Kleenex when Cedric died.

The show was funny and we both enjoyed it. After it was over, the cast were in the lobby. Marina wanted to talk to all the lead actors. They loved her outfit. We took some pictures with them before heading home.

Dinner With Harry Potter

Marina has been obsessed with Harry Potter lately. So she was very excited when our favorite pizza place scheduled a Dinner with Harry Potter and Hermione. Of course, she wanted to wear her Hufflepuff outfit and she brought her stuffed owl as well.

We arrived just after the seating started and the owner told us where our table was. Right when we sat down Harry and Herimone came by. We recognized both performers from previous dinners. They spent quite a lot of time with us throughout the evening which suited Marina just fine. She was so excited to talk about her for all things Harry Potter.


Even with all the fun she was having, Marina managed to eat a Caesar salad and a slice of pizza. When it was time for Wizard Training it was dark outside. Marina was fully engaged in the activities. After Wizard Training, she chatted with the characters for quite a while before letting me know she was ready to go. Clearly this was one other favorite character dinners. 

Harry Potter Escape

Marina’s interest in Harry Potter has been growing all year. And since we both enjoy escape rooms, I signed us up to try a Harry Potter Escape Room today. Marina decided to wear her Hufflepuff uniform.

It was located at a nearby high school not far from our house. We arrived early and signed in. A little while later, the other participants in the game showed up. We all talked about our interest in Harry Potter and other escape rooms we’ve tried. Since we were all there, we got started early.

The room was made to look like a parlor. It was filled with books, potion bottles and cabinets with locks. When we got started we all spent time looking around the room and figuring out what was there. Marina found the first clue. It was Harry’s acceptance letter to Hogwarts. Throughout we found clues in books, suitcases, posters and even a vial of troll snot. We ran into a snag where one of our clues wasn’t where it was supposed to be.

We came very close to finding the hidden crystals. We were working on a lock and triggering a lever in a picture frame when time ran out. It was frustrating to come so close but not quite escape. Despite that, we had fun trying to figure it out.

Cinderella and Her Barely Godmother

Every summer we enjoy the theatre hikes. The July hike is Cinderella and her Barely Godmother. This season one performance was offered at a historic par. Since it’s much closer to home, I decided we’d see what it was like.

Just as we arrived it started to rain. We checked in and were greeted by some of the staff we know. One was the hike leader and the other was taking photos (although she also wrote and directed the play). It’s always fun to see them.

The start time of the show was delayed about ten minutes while it rained. By then it lightened up and the show started. By the second scene, the rain had stopped and it turned out to be a nice evening.

The show was fun. It was silly and surprising. Marina loved the scene in Godmother School where the actors were dressed like wizards from Harry Potter.

After the show we took photos with the cast and talked with them for a while. By then Marina was completely exhausted and ready to go home after a very long day.

Unicorn Festival

Today was the annual Unicorn Festival. This year, we invited Ainsley to join us. After considering many options, Ainsley wore her Belle costume. Marina was excited to wear her new Anastasia costume.  I offered the girls capes to wear over their dresses instead of jackets since it was chilly today.

We arrived at the Unicorn Festival early. We found a really good parking spot and checked in quickly. We had to wait for about 15 minutes until the festival opened. While we waited a little girl asked if she could have her picture taken with Ainsley and Marina.

When the festival opened we went first to the Princess Palace. A friend of ours was dressed as Mary Poppins. We visited with her for a few moments. We also knew the actress playing Moana, so we took photos with her as well.

Next we went to the Mermaid Lagoon. Last year it had a long line all day. We arrived before it opened and had a short wait for our turn. We took photos with two mermaids before meeting Ariel. We got some nice photos there as well.

When we exited the Mermaid Lagoon, we were at the Mad Hatter Tea Party. We planned to wait for the show but it was taking a bit longer than usual, so we browsed some of the booths. We went back for the show and after we got photos with Alice and the Mad Hatter, we stopped for lunch. I also bought fancy cupcakes for dessert.

After lunch, we decide to wander around the festival. The girls loved shopping the various vendors. Marina insisted that we stop by the Harry Potter Sorting Hat. She was pleased that both she and Ainsley were sorted into Hufflepuff. We ran into Peter Pan and Tinkerbell along the way.

We headed back to the Princess Palace where we took photos with Tiana and Jasmine. Cinderella arrived as we were there but her line was pretty long, so we decided to come back to see her.

We did a little more shopping. At one booth both Marina and Ainsley found necklaces they loved, so I bought them. By this time, Cinderella’s line had shortened, so we took photos with her.

We checked out more booths and the petting zoo, which both girls loved. They also went through the castle maze. By this point it was starting to sprinkle. Because of that, the line to sit on a “unicorn” was as short as we had seen it, so we waited for Marina and Ainsley to have their photos taken on the larger “unicorn.”

By this time, it was starting to rain. At the Princess Palace, Anna and Elsa were there. Since there wasn’t much else to do, we waited in the line. It was pretty cold by then so we teased Elsa that she must have brought in the bad weather.

We were all ready to go home but since Rapunzel was due in 15 minutes, we decided to take a photo with her and then go home. Unfortunately the waited ended up being nearly and hour. Marina got a bit grumpy. Eventually she went over to the Storytime Cottage and talked with the drag queen there. Apparently she was asking for makeup tips.

Eventually, Rapunzel arrived and we quickly took a photo with her. After the long, cold wait, we were all pretty miserable. We headed to the gate, stopping along the way to pet more “unicorns.” So we left the festival and stopped for dinner.

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.