Bells Are Ringing

This year, Marina has been in a before school club learning to play hand chimes. She’s been enjoying it. A friend of mine is in a handbell group. Tonight they had a concert at our church, so we decided to go.

Marina was very excited when we arrived. We sat near the front and looked over the huge assortment of bells laid out in the table. Marina pointed out to me which ones were the handchimes.

Once the concert got started, we were both impressed by how amazing the bells sounded and the difficult choreography that the musicians had to use to play the right bells in time with each other. They played many Christmas carols that we knew. Marina particularly enjoyed “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” because the handchimes were used for it.

The program ended with all six ringers playing bell trees. The church was filled with the many bells harmonizing together. It was truly amazing!

After the show we talked with my friend for a little while. She and Marina discussed handchimes for a little while. The concert had been a great experience for both of us.

O Christmas Tree

This evening, Marina and I put up our Christmas tree. Once again, she and I decided to use the Disney Princess theme.

I put up the tree and strung the lights. Our kitten, Jasmine, was very interested in the whole process. Then we started hanging our princess ornaments. Marina paid special attention to our "puff puff skirt princesses" - the ornaments with fluffy skirts. This year we added Anna and Elsa to the set. Marina wanted to make sure they were properly "coronated."

When we were finished, we added the Tinkerbell star to the tree. We're just hopeful our furry Jasmine doesn't knock them all down!

Picture Perfect

This was the first year Marina seemed aware of Black Friday. Today we went to have her pictures taken to take advantage of a great deal.

Marina wore two outfits for her photo shoot. First she wore her Thanksgiving outfit which coordinates with her American Girl doll Kaya. The photographer captured some wonderful shots of them together.

Next, Marina wore her red Christmas dress. It is also an American Girl outfit. She brought last year's Christmas present Kailey in the matching dress. We got some pictures with Kailey and some without. Marina showed she was a real pro - we were done in less than 10 minutes.

After the photographs we did a little shopping and had lunch. We got to experience a bit of Black Friday without the craziness.

Whales and Weather and Silkworms - Oh My!

We’ve been planning to see the Whales exhibit at the Science Museum for some time but hadn’t actually made it. Marina had already gone but wanted to show it to me. Today we finally got a chance to go. Another temporary exhibit, Traveling the Silk Road opened yesterday, so we were excited to see that as well.

When we arrived we decided we would go to the Whale exhibit first and to the Silk Road after lunch. Marina was excited to see the whales again. She is doing a report for school about sperm whales so she had lots of information about them! We looked at the skeletons of many whales and saw demonstrations of how they eat. Marina had a chance to design a dolphin and nearly got it perfect on her first try! She also climbed around on a model of a whale’s heart. It was huge!

After we finished looked at the whales, we stopped at Marina’s favorite section – the health exhibit. She got to ride the bike and tried out all the activities she enjoys. Once she finished there, we were both hungry, so we stopped for lunch.

Marina and I both tried out new things for lunch and enjoyed them. We both felt much better. Since we still had time before the Silk Road, we went into the space exhibit. We saw a presentation of what storms, volcanoes and fires look like from space. It was very interesting. Then we looked at pictures of various parts of space on a computer.

When our time for the Traveling the Silk Road exhibit came up we headed to the third floor gallery to see it. It was a fascinating tour from Xi’an, China, to Constantinople, Turkey. We saw real silk worms and learned how silk is made. In the desert oasis of Turfan we met the governor dressed in a gorgeous silk robe. We opened large jars of oil and smelled all the exotic oils. Marina liked the rose oil and jasmine oil best. In Samarkand, Marina played a game of chance with one of the locals. She learned how to count with their unusual numbers. In the Baghdad exhibit we tried to read the stars as ancient astronomers did. We also saw fascinating examples of fancy glass. All along the way were learned about the luxuries which were traded and the people who created them. At the end was a bazaar where we found many other beautiful luxuries. That may have been Marina’s favorite part!

Night Lights

Marina and I have seen the Chihuly art exhibit several times, but that was during the day. This evening, we had tickets to the special night exhibition. Marina was very excited. It was a beautiful night, ideal for walking around outside.

The night exhibitions are all sold out, so we went early and were fortunate to find a parking place not too far away. As soon as we entered she was delighted with the beauty of the glass sculptures under the lights. She pulled out her own camera to photograph the artwork throughout the gardens.

Since we'd seen the sculptures before, we knew where they were which helped since the gardens were fairly dark in places. Marina had favorites she wanted to make sure we'd see and often we could see them in the distance due to the illumination.

Unlike many of our recent activities, Marina was more than happy to pose with the artwork in the background. Once we made it through the whole exhibition, we were ready to head home. The exhibition ends soon, but we were happy to see it.

Pretty soon the holiday lights will be going up. We'll definitely be making a return trip to see those as well!

Kittens, Dolls and Heros

We’ve only had Jasmine with us for a week and a half and she already feels like a member of the family. Today we took her to the vet for her first check up. Most of all, I wanted to make sure her respiratory infection has cleared up. Marina was happy to come along for the appointment, Jasmine wasn’t so sure about the whole thing she wandered around the exam room and Marina kept an eye on her.

Our appointment was with a doctor we hadn’t met before. She said the infection seems to be clearing up, so she wasn’t worried about it.  When she listened to Jasmine’s heartbeat she asked if we’d like to hear. Marina was thrilled to hear it. She also clipped Jasmine’s claws for us and showed me how to do it. That will be great since Marina and I are both a bit scratched up from her.

We dropped Jasmine off at home and we went off to the annual Salvation Army Doll Tea. Marina brought Kaya along with us. Marina got a scavenger hunt card, which she was very faithful in getting filled out. We looked around at the dolls. As usual, Marina fell in love with many of them. I found a Guinevere doll from the Franklin Mint that was worth much more than the $20 they were asking for it. Marina liked her as well. She picked out a stuffed unicorn that she wanted. She was also given teddy bears at two different places in the tea. At the end we were given more free stuff – cookbooks and boxes of Christmas cards. Marina also got her first chance to visit with Santa this year. I’m sure it won’t be the last!

Our next stop was our favorite movie theater. Marina has been anxious to the new Disney movie Big Hero 6. When we arrived we found that the movie is a hot ticket in town today. Fortunately, we arrived early enough to get tickets. We settled into our seats and ordered lunch which arrived shortly before the movie started.

We saw the 3D version of the movie. We both really enjoyed it. It had its sad moments but overall we liked it. After the movie we headed home and just relaxed for the rest of the evening.

Back Into the Woods

Earlier this year Marina and I saw a small production of Into the Woods.  Recently we posters for another group performing the show. Marina wanted to see it again. So I bought tickets for us to see it this evening. Marina brought her Rapunzel plush doll with her.

We arrived a bit early, so we had time to use the restroom and buy drinks before we settled into our seats. Even so, Marina was restless for it to start. Once the show started she was very engaged. Act One was long and she got a little restless toward the end. But she still enjoyed the show.

Act Two was tougher for her. The story is not as fun and Marina was tired. She leaned on my arm for quite a bit of it. But once the show was over she perked up and wanted to meet some of the cast members. She talked a bit with the young lady who played Little Red Riding Hood. She is just a year older than Marina and attends the middle school where Marina wants to go next year. Next she spoke with the actress playing Cinderella. She talked with Marina for a few moments and posed for a picture with her. Last we looked for the the actress who was Rapunzel. She took some time to speak with us. She will be in a local production of The Magic Flute, a show we are planning to see.

When we left the theater we found it was raining fairly hard. We got to the car as quickly as we could. We were both wet and tired, but we’d had a fun evening.