Mother's Day Comedy

I hadn’t made any plans for Mother’s Day this year. A few days ago I came across a special all ages show at a comedy club featuring comedian John Heffron. I saw him on Last Comic Standing years ago and remembers he was very funny. Marina and I had never done anything like that before, so we decided to give it a try.

We arrived a bit early and we were shown to our seats. While we waited for the show to start we ordered drinks and some appetizers to munch on. The food was good and as we ate I explained to Marina what a comedy show was like.

We listened to the jokes by the host and two warm up acts before John Heffron, the headliner, came out. Throughout the show Marina paid attention and she laughed at most of the jokes.

After the show, she said she’d had fun. I was surprised that that John Heffron was in the lobby. We talked with him for a few minutes and took a picture with him. He was happy to hear Marina enjoyed the show because he admitted he was a bit nervous about the “all ages” concept.

It wasn’t a fancy Mother’s Day, but we enjoyed it.

Princess ParTEA

Last month at the Spring Fling Marina and I heard about a Princess ParTEA that was coming up. I talked to the organizer who told me it would be “a princess party on steroids.” Of course, we wanted to go.

The party was this afternoon. Marina decided she wanted to dress as Princess Aurora. I was a bit surprised at her choice. We arrived a bit early and we had to wait in line until it started. We enjoyed seeing how the other girls were dressed while we waited.

Once inside we saw many princesses with meet and greet stations. We started on the opposite side from the crowds in an attempt to avoid long lines. We started with Belle. Then we saw Tiana, Moana and Ariel. We spent a bit of time with Ariel because she remembered us from other events.

Marina was a bit disappointed that Princess Aurora was in her blue dress but the two of them spent a while talking together. We also saw Rapunzel, Snow White and the Fairy Godmother. The line for Anna and Elsa was huge, so we left it for last. As we were waiting, the princesses gathered for a sing along. While that was going on some of the other princesses were left alone, so we visited with them and got some great group pictures. After the sing along, the Anna and Elsa line was much shorter we finally got our photos with them.

We went outside and Marina got a chance to paint a small canvas. She painted a rose, paying a lot of attention to the details. After she was done, she gave it to me.

The other part of the event was a tea party with Alice in Wonderland and the Mad Hatter. Marina changed into her Alice costume before we went in. The room had crazy decorations and the animated film was playing on a huge screen. The tea party offered a huge array of food. Marina and I were pretty hungry by this time, so we both filled our plates a few times, We also had some fun interactions with Alice and the Mad Hatter.

When the party was over we were both tired, but we’d had a lot of fun. We always enjoy our time with Princesses!

Mad Hatter's Tea Party

 Marina had a case of the Mondays today, but I gave her some incentive to get her work done. A local library was having a Mad Hatter Tea party this evening and I offered to take her to it. She got her homework done after school. Then she changed into her Alice in Wonderland costume.

Marina started by trying some of the crafts that were set up. First, she made a man out of a playing card. Then she decorated a mini Mad Hatter hat. She liked it so much she put it on and wore it for the rest of the event.

The last part of the party was a performance of Alice in Wonderland. Marina chose a Cheshire Cat cookie and sat on the floor with the rest of the kids. Clearly she enjoyed the performance. She especially liked that at one point Alice tried to hide from the Queen of Hearts behind her.

After the show, she wanted to meet the actors. There were only three performers and they were happy to talk with Marina. One even put his costume back on to pose for a photo. Despite being the oldest child there, Marina really enjoyed the evening.

The Secret Garden

This afternoon we had tickets for The Secret Garden. Marina wore a flowery dress for the occasion. She wasn’t familiar with the story, but she was pleased to see lots of other young girls at the theater.

We arrived a bit early, so we got drinks and a snack before finding our seats. Ours were off to the side but we had great view of the stage. When the show started, Marina paid close attention to it. The story wasn’t as straightforward as she is used to, so I whispered to her through the performance to help her follow what was going on. Of course, Marina loved that a girl was the center of the story.

At intermission, I talked to Marina more about the story to make sure she could follow Act 2. She listened as she ate her brownie. She was excited to see the rest of the show. She seemed to enjoy the rest of the show. Once it was over she told me how much she liked it. We took a few pictures before heading home.

Mermaid in May

This afternoon we went over to Angie’s place to use her pool. When we saw Angie last night, Marina made a point of asking her if we could come over today. We brought chips, salsa and queso to share. Jake wasn’t around, but Marina had fun with Angie’s nephews.

Shortly after we arrived, it started to rain. We hoped it would blow over, but it picked up. We all hovered under a patio umbrella and ate the chips we brought.

After about 30 minutes, the storm passed us and the kids got back into the pool. Marina brought her mermaid fin and Angie’s sisters watching her use it. She swam until it started getting dark. Then we packed up our stuff and headed home.

Priscilla, Queen of the Desert

This evening, Marina and had tickets to see Priscilla, Queen of the Desert with some of our friends. We decided to get all glammed up for the occasion. Marina wore her gold dress and put on extra makeup for the show.

The theater had lots of props for photos, so we checked those out. While we were in the lobby one of our actor friends. It was fun to see him too!

After picking up some drinks and snacks, we went to our seats. Once the show started, Marina seemed completely engaged. She enjoyed the dancing and recognized many of the songs. She still blanches when foul language or suggestive themes come up but none of that dampened her fun.

Marina laughed at most of the jokes and sang along with the songs she knew. After the performance ended, the actors came out quickly. A group of them gathered in front of Priscilla, the bus, and we took a photo.

Before leaving the theater our whole group posed with the props in the lobby. We’d all had a fun evening together.

May Flowers

Marina had the day off from school today, so we decided to spend the afternoon at the botanic gardens. We always like to see the Lilac Garden while it is in bloom. When Ainsley heard about our plans she asked if she could join us. Fortunately, we were able to make that happen.

Once we arrived at the botanic gardensAinsley quickly braided Marina’s hair. Then we picked up some drinks before starting our journey.

The girls seemed to be easily excited by every flower they saw. They stooped down to look at the ones close to the ground and pointed out the further ones from the path. As a result, we proceeded very slowly through the garden.

Ainsley wanted to see the Japanese garden, so we made our way there. The girls spent quite a while looking at the koi in the pond there. It was a beautiful day and we were all getting hot but we still decided to check out the tropical garden in the greenhouse.

Before we left, we stopped at the children’s garden where Marina and Ainsley waded in the stream for a while. Once they cooled off, we went back to the car for the ride home. Ainsley came over to our house for a while. We all had pizza for dinner and Marina showed her some games on her computer before she went home.