Vacation!

We've been looking forward to our return trip to Florida for some time. This year we added some time in Fort Lauderdale to visit with family. Marina was quite impatient at the airport. She couldn't wait to get on the airplane. During the flight, she did very well. She colored and played with her Polly Pockets.

In Fort Lauderdale, we were picked up by my Uncle Bob. Marina took a nap in the car. When we arrived at their house, she met up with her cousins Christina and Leisa, who she met in March. They all put on their swimsuits and played in the pool. I had to make Marina get out of the water to eat dinner. Once she did that, she got back in the pool. She's having a great time already!

Swimming Princess

The second session of swimming lessons for the summer ended tonight. Lindsey had tested all the kids on Monday, so they didn't have to do that tonight. So they just had some free time to play. Marina spent most of that time practicing her back float. Halfway through the class, she gave them their certificates. As I had expected, Marina passed the Seahorse class. I was so proud of her. For the play time, Marina was first in line for the slide. She's never gone down by herself, but she didn't seem to have a problem tonight. She went down three times and was quite happy about it.

Another Tooth Fairy Visit

It took a while to get Marina to get ready for bed tonight. When I sent her into the bathroom to brush her teeth, she was in there for a long time. When she finally came out she had her loose tooth in her hand. With her other hand she had a tissue in her mouth to absorb the blood. Apparently she had pulled it out. Despite all the blood, she seemed quite happy to have it out.

Picnic

Today was my company picnic. Marina looks forward to this every year, mostly the water fountains she gets to play in while we are there. When we arrived there were quite a few children already playing and she was timid at first. She was hungry before the food was served, so she was grumpy for a while.

Once lunch was ready, she ate two chicken drumsticks and a lot of fruit salad. After that, she was her usual perky self. She played in the fountains with the children. Some of the younger kids looked to her to lead them. She was quite happy to do so.

She was hungry a bit later and she wanted to try some steak. She tried a few bites and she said she liked it. Then she went back to playing. She found a spot where the water was pooling and she sat and played there for a while. When it was time to go home, she didn’t want to go. It was good to see her have so much fun.

Renaissance Fairy

Marina was very excited to go to the Renaissance Festival this year. We had fun last night going through her costumes to pick out one to wear. She finally decided on Tinkerbell. After all, there are fairies all over the festival.

Once we arrived, we started our day much like last year. Marina picked out a wreath for her hair with pink butterflies and flowers. Then we saw Prince Charming and had her picture taken with him. She was quite pleased to see him!

Marina wanted her face painted, so we took care of that quickly. The woman was a real artist and the face paint matched her whole outfit. Marina was happy with it!

We looked at a few shops and Marina tried some rides. We arrived at the tournament arena in time for lunch and jousting. So Marina munched on a turkey leg while we watched the games of skill. We were in Sir William's section and she cheered loudly for him.

We went over to the Children's Kingdom where Marina went on a couple more rides and looked at the animals in the petting zoo. Last year she got a bit freaked out feeding the animals and she didn't seem interested this year. But she spent a long time looking at them.

We saw a few shows, including one with Prince Charming, who she spoke to for a while after the show. She definitely developed a bit of a crush on him today! We did a little shopping where Marina convinced me to buy her a "real crown." Next we went over the the Pavilion where the King and Queen were. Marina was a bit nervous at first, but eventually allowed the Queen to knight her. She spoke for a few minutes with the King as well. She even offered to grant him a wish. He thought a moment and said, "I wish for you to have the best day of your life here today."

After her coronation, Marina was invited to a tea party hosted by Princess Elizabeth. The girls gathered around the thrones (Marina actually got to sit in the Queen's throne.) The introduced themselves and talked about their favorite part of the festival. Marina gushed about Prince Charming! Princess Elizabeth responded with her admiration for one of the jousters. She told the girls the story of Snow White and they played hopscotch. It was a lovely party.

We had a snack and rode another ride. We returned to the tournament arena for the final "joust to the death." I wasn't sure how Marina would react to that, so I assured her that no one would get hurt and it was all pretend. She seemed okay with that. We cheered Sir William one and he battled bravely, but ultimately he was "killed" by the treachery of Sir Rodrigo. I continued to assure her that he was okay. A little later, we saw Sir William near the exit. She was quite excited to meet him. He gallantly kissed her hand.

As we left for the day, we saw Prince Charming on the tower overlooking the entrance. She wanted to say goodbye. So we waved until we got his attention. After saying goodbye, he called to us to wait. He came down. He spoke very kindly to Marina and gave her a gift - a small glass slipper. She was delighted. She gave him a hug. For the rest of the day, she was glowing. On the drive home she chatted about marrying Prince Charming. "Then I would be Princess Marina, because he's a prince."

It looks like the King's wish came true!

Patriotic Princess

Marina has been very patriotic lately. She has been dying to go to a sporting event and chant “Go USA!” (Unfortunately, we haven’t been to one where the United States was one of the teams playing.) She’s been looking forward to seeing fireworks as well. She was tired this evening but she was determined to see fireworks. We had dinner at Madi and Noah’s house. Marina didn’t eat much, I think she was too tired and excited. She played with Madi and Noah for a while before it was time to leave.

We went to a golf course to watch the fireworks this year. We spread out blankets to sit on. For a while, Marina just laid on the blankets. When it started to get dark, she perked up a bit. The kids played with some glow in the dark bracelets I brought. Once the fireworks started, they were impressive. We were much closer than we’re used to. So, they were big and loud and we had a fantastic view. Marina especially liked the one that was shaped like a heart. It took a while to get home, but that didn’t matter to Marina. She fell asleep in the car just minutes after buckling her seat belt.

Fun in the Sun

I took Marina to the amusement park for the day. I was surprised at how long it took me to get her out the door. But once we left, she couldn't get there soon enough. As usual, she wanted her face painted. We had to wait a bit this time. While she had it done, I made her promise to try the river raft water ride today. She readily agreed. We rode a spinning ride and then we went on the ferris wheel.

Next, she wanted to ride the roller coaster in the kid's area. She rode it several times before the line got long. Then she wanted to ride the bumper cars. Again, since the line wasn't very long, she went on it several times before moving on. She wanted to ride some rides we tried on our last visit. At that point, we were near river raft ride, so she decided it was time to try that. The line was somewhat long, but I wanted to try the ride while she was ready. During the wait, she acted a bit nervous. However, once we got on, she forgot her fear. She screamed the whole way – in a good way. At the end, she said, “Let's do that again!” We did, but later in the day.

We went back to the kid's area where we saw a show – The Hip Hopsicles. They invited the kids on stage several times and Marina was happy to go. I was surprised at how nervous she seemed while she was there though. After the show, she hit the kid rides she missed and the roller coaster again.

Marina wanted to stay for fireworks, but we'd already been at the park for 10 hours. She wasn't happy about leaving, but she fell asleep in the car on the way home. I knew she was exhausted.