Birthday!

Marina was in full birthday mode today. She wore her new Harley Quinn shirt with a sparkly skirt and her red and black socks. She used her new straightening iron on her hair and asked me to put it into pigtails. She took Jurassic Park themed cupcakes in for her class, but there were extras for other friends as well. She said it was a good day!

I picked her up after school and she chose sub sandwiches for dinner. After we ate, we had the mini chocolate cake she picked out. She ate her piece before opening her presents. She was pretty happy with them.

For the rest of the evening Marina played with the cats and her phone. After her shower, the two of us watched Legally Blonde on TV. She was happy to hear the star of the movie Reese Witherspoon shares her birthday.

Jotunheim

We’ve been looking forward to Jotunheim since we heard about it last year. It was listed as a heavy metal story of Thor and his Hammer. We invited Justine to join us.

Justine arrived at our house around dinner time, we went to out for dinner. By then it was raining, so we gave ourselves plenty of time to get there.
When we arrived, the general manager greeted us by name and we introduced her to Justine. We were the first to arrive, so we got to pick out our seats. Both Marina and Justine were excited to see the show.

The show was dark, funny and loud. It was based on one of Justine’s favorite Norse myths. It was a silly story with fun characters. We all enjoyed it.

After the show, we hung around so we could get a photo with the cast. Marina spent time talking with the actor who played Odin. He even let Justine try on his glowing red eye. After visiting with the cast for a little while, we said goodbye and headed home. We’d all had a fun time.

Joseph

We had tickets to see Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at a local dinner theatre today. The drive took a while but we arrived on time. One of the performers recognized us and welcomed us back. His brother recalled taking photos with us on our previous visits. Since he was playing Joseph we made plans to get another photo after the show.

Marina and I were both really hungry.  She polished off most of the bread basket while we waited for our lunch to arrive. As usual, Marina got the chicken cordon bleu. She was happy to see that it came with rice and broccoli. She ate most of that as well.

Before the show started, she developed a stomach ache. But she dealt with it well. Once she finished eating, she was ready for the show to start.

The performance of Joseph was a bit rough in places, but Marina enjoyed it. We both really loved the Pharaoh’s performance. At intermission, Marina ordered apple pie for dessert. I was surprised she didn’t get something chocolate.

When the show ended, Marina’s stomach ache was still there and she went to the rest room while I paid the check. Joseph came looking for her twice while she was gone. We did finally get a photo with him before we got into the car to head home. We made good time and arrived home around dinner time. But it was quite a while before either of us was ready to eat again!

Video Games Live

This evening we had tickets to see Video Games Live at the symphony. She was excited about the concert. Marina chose her Princess Zelda costume to wear for the evening. We had hoped to get there early, but that didn’t work out as we wanted. But we did have time to get drinks and a snack before we took our seats.

We were surprised that we didn’t see many cosplayers, but Marina didn’t mind being one of the few who were dressed up. Our seats were very close – we were in the second row! One of my coworkers was in front of us. While we watched the musicians warm us, we noticed a violin player who was also dressed as Zelda. Marina was thrilled. We tried to get her attention but weren’t able to catch her eye before the show started.

This concert was not what we were expecting. The performance included many guest artists, mostly the composers of the music. Our host for the evening was Tommy Tallarico. He complimented the violin player on her costume. She then pointed out Marina to him. So he talked to her for a few moments during the show. She loved that!

The music played by the symphony was wonderful and it was accompanied by game excepts on the screen. We were also excited by an appearance by Austin Wintory, who is from Denver. He wrote the music from Assassin’s Creed. We heard a piece from that last year at the Salute to Comic Con as well. Of course, her favorite piece was the music from The Legend of Zelda. At intermission, Marina had quite a few people who wanted a photo with her. She was happy to pose with everyone who asked.

After the show was over, we finally got the attention of the violinist dressed as Zelda and got a photo of the two of them. Marina wanted to go to the meet and greet. I bought a poster for her and we had all the artists sign it. We also had a chance to speak and get photos with all of them.

It was late when we finally left so we were able to get home quickly. We both had a great time.

How I Became A Pirate

Since Marina has had an interest in pirates for a while, I got tickets for us to see a touring show How I Became a Pirate. It turned out there were a lot of little kids attending the theater for the first time. But there were some older kids as well.

The show was funny and Marina got into it right away. Some of the vocabulary was pretty advanced, so she probably got many of the jokes the little kids didn’t. We both enjoyed watching it. She was surprised that the show only lasted an hour and there was no intermission.

After the performance ended, the actors came out for a question and answer session. Marina didn’t want to stay, but I insisted. During that time, we got to see how the scenery was built and how some of the props worked. Marina enjoyed seeing all that.

After the questions ended, we headed home. It was still fairly early and she was happy to play on her phone for a while.

All About Animals

Since Marina had today off from school, I decided to take the day off. Marina slept late this morning which made her happy since the cats have been waking her up early lately.

After she was up for a little while, we got dressed to go out. We had planned to go to the museum to see their new exhibit, but since the weather was so beautiful, we decided to start at the Zoo.

The Zoo was crowded but we didn’t have any trouble finding a place to park. We walked a bit around the zoo looking at the cheetahs, mountain goats and rhinos before stopping for lunch. We ate at the Asian inspired restaurant near the elephants, the went on to the rest of the Zoo. Marina insisted we see the tigers and we also caught the sea lions swimming around a bit.

After our walk through the Zoo, we went to our original destination, the museum. We immediately went to the new temporary exhibit, Creatures of Light. Marina was a bit nervous going in because it was dark. It turned out to be a really cool exhibit. We were met by a giant firefly. We also saw other glowing insects and sea life. Marina enjoyed a floor display that simulated glowing bacteria in the water. She loved how the lights followed her as she walked through.

After we finished going through the exhibit Marina was ready to go home. It had been a fun day learning about animals.

First Date Musical

A friend of ours has been performing in First Date, the Musical for several months. It’s not a show I normally would take Marina to, but we wanted to support her. Since Marina doesn’t have school tomorrow, we went this evening. Marina asked if we could buy flowers for her.

The theater was intimate and our seats were in the front row. We sat with a table behind us. A very nice couple shared our table. I ordered drinks for us during the show because there was no intermission.

The show was a funny look at dating. Even though Marina has no experience with dating, she laughed throughout the show. At one point an actor came into the audience looking for “Casey.” He stopped in front of Marina and said, “You’re not her, but you might be in a few years.” She loved that!

After the show we waited in the lobby for our friend. She was very happy with the flowers and we all talked for a while. She introduced us to the rest of the cast and we got pictures with everyone. It was a really fun evening!