Siren Song

This afternoon we had tickets to see Siren Song, a pirate show at  Marina dressed in her pirate costume for the show.

It didn’t take us too long to get to the theater, so we arrived early. When they finally opened the house Marina chose seats in the front row. We were able to watch a slide show before the play began. The story is told in one chapter each month. We haven’t seen the other performances, but I suspected that wouldn’t be an issue.

When the show started Marina was happy to see a pirate. It was a silly show, but we both enjoyed it. Afterwards the actors were in the lobby, so we managed to get pictures before we left.

Winter in the Tropics

The butterfly museum was having a “Winter in the Tropics” event with Moana and we wanted to be there for it. Marina wore her tropical Mickey Mouse dress and a yellow flower in her for the occasion.

We arrived a bit before the event, so we looked around the insect area. Marina held Rosie the tarantula and got a sticker. Then we looked at the aquarium area. She always likes looking at the fish. She even decided to touch the sea stars on display.

It was time for the Moana meet and greet. It was in the butterfly exhibit – our favorite. There were more butterflies than I remembered seeing there before. Some of them were the size of small birds! We walked around the perimeter to where Moana was. She remembered us from the Christmas concert.

After spending a few minutes with her, we wandered around the exhibit. Several small butterflies landed on the flower in Marina’s hair. She was thrilled. One was so determined that a volunteer had to remove it. Another large one landed on both of our clothes. The butterflies were very friendly today!

We went into the invertebrate section where Marina refused to see the glow in the dark scorpions, which were really interesting. The other bugs there grossed her out as well.

We went back into butterfly exhibit for a Moana concert. The ground was damp, so Marina shared her jacket with two other girls to sit on. After the concert we said goodbye to Moana, went through the insect area one more time before heading home.

A Day on the Prairie

We haven’t been to the plains center in quite a while. I learned today was a free day and they were offering special activities. Marina was excited to go back. She wore the Dorothy costume from The Wizard of Oz with a pink bonnet and boots.

The center is not far from our house. When we arrived, we started by checking out the teepees while we were looking around, we saw wagons pull up by the visitor center. One was going to the homestead area and the other was headed for ride through the prairie. Since the prairie tour only went out once an hour, we decided to do that first.

While we were on the prairie tour, Marina spent time playing with the little boy next to us. While we were out we could see pronghorns in the distance and the two eagles that have been nesting on the property were flying nearby. We were even able to see the eagles’ nest. During the tour we had helicopters and military jets flying overhead from a nearby air force base. That was fun to watch as well.

When we got back we saw the wagon to the homestead was waiting with people aboard. So we got onboard. It was a few minutes before we left, but we were grateful for the ride.

At the homestead we looked at the first sod house and the blacksmith shop. There we went to the second sod house which had a woman baking cookies and serving hot cider and tea. She asked Marina to help her with the cookies and she happily agreed. Then she learned hoe to play checkers with two younger children who were there. It was a long game but she ultimately won.

We looked around at the schoolhouse, then we caught the wagon back to the visitor center.

Tale As Old As Time

Marina’s winter break is winding down.  I took today off just so we could hang out today. Other than running a few errands, we had a lazy day around the house. We’ve taken plenty of time to rest over the past two weeks and it’s been great!

This evening we had tickets to see Beauty and the Beast at our favorite dinner theater. One of friends was playing Lumiere. Since the theater is so far away, we left home very early. We got caught in rush hour traffic, but we had left early enough that we arrived for the show right on time.

When we arrived at our table the family we were sharing with were already seated. It turned out they were there celebrating their daughter's birthday. She and Marina hit it off right away. In fact, all of us enjoyed each other’s company all evening. We were also pleased to find we recognized both of our servers.

Our food took quite a while but we passed the time with our new friends and the actors that came by throughout the night. Of course, we spoke with Bob for a bit. We got hugs from another friend of ours – the last time we saw him he told us he was auditioning to play Gaston.  We were happy to hear he got the part! Our food was delivered by the actor playing the Beast. While he was at our table, we gave him a photo I took when he was playing Jack in Into the Woods. He remembered singing to Marina and asked her to sign the photo.

We enjoyed dinner, Marina and I both ordered the Dijon Chicken. Just before the show started, Marina convinced me to buy her a light up rose. The performance was really amazing. At intermission we discussed it while eating our desserts. Marina got the peanut butter pie which was delicious. She also enjoyed some of my eclairs.

After the show was over we got photos with our friends in their costumes. Then we got in line for photos with Belle and the Beast onstage. We had a photo for Belle that Marina was happy to give her.

 

We were among the last to leave the theater, but we didn’t mind. We had a long drive home, but it didn’t seem to take all that much time. We’d had a wonderful night.

The King and I

We had tickets to see The King and I this evening. We went early to have dinner downtown and we got an amazing parking spot. Then we made a short walk to a diner we like. We have eaten there a few times before and really liked it. Marina ordered pancakes and bacon for dinner along with a Shirley Temple.

While we were eating, we learned our waiter have two tickets to the show that he hadn’t been able to give away. Since the seats were much better than the ones we had, he traded them with us. These seats cost more than the ones we had! We were excited.

We still had plenty of time before the show, so we stopped at a coffee shop across from the theater. Marina ordered a chocolate chai. We invited another mother and daughter to share our table while we were there. I texted our friend a friend of ours, who is performing at another theater in the complex. We got a chance to talk briefly with her before her show.

It was finally time to go into the theater. The seats we had been given were very good. Marina enjoyed talking with the woman she was seated next to about cats. Once the show started she was completely engaged. She loved the sets and costumes. We both enjoyed the actor who played the King.

After it was over, we had an easy time getting out of the garage, thanks to our great parking space. It was late when we got home, but we’d had a lovely evening downtown.

Astronauts and Airplanes

During winter break, the aviation museum has been offering a discount rate for students. I had never been there before, so I thought we could try it out today.

When we arrived, Marina recognized that her dad has brought her there before. We went inside and saw an X-Wing fighter from Star Wars. Marina was very excited to see it. Next we found a temporary exhibit called Be the Astronaut. The three steps took us through the navigation, science and flight of space missions, Marina tried several different paths. First she flew to the moon. Then she landed on Mars. Her final trip was driving on Mars. She liked that one best.

After we went through the astronaut exhibit, we looked around the rest of the museum. There were many full-size airplanes on display which we looked at. Hidden in the back we found Anakin’s pod racer from The Phantom Menace. Marina couldn’t believe it.

We looked at clothing worn by aviators and badges they earned. We even saw sample cockpits of several planes. While we were looking around, Marina told me that airplanes “aren’t her thing.” So we didn’t spent too much more time there.

When we got home I made dinner and we ate while watching Wonder Woman.

Coco Movie

During the busy holiday season, Marina and I didn’t have time to see the new Disney movie Coco. It seemed like a good idea to see it to start off the new year.

We were early for the movie and the theater was not crowded, so we were able to get our tickets and buy popcorn quickly. We picked out our seats and had a bit of a wait until the previews started.

The action of Coco took place around the Day of the Dead festivities. We have gone to the botanic gardens celebration the last two years so Marina loved that connection. It was a beautiful movie about family. I was a bit teary by the end. Rather than teasing me, Marina offered me a napkin to wipe my eyes.

At then end of the  movie, we agreed that we loved it.