Giving Thanks

We spent Thanksgiving at my mother's house. Marina has been learning about the Pilgrims and Indians at school and she wanted to wear her Pocahontas costume in honor of them. Everyone thought that was appropriate.

Marina spent most of the day playing with her uncles. Uncle Mike and Uncle Brian like to lift her up off the ground and roughhouse with her. She also convinced Uncle Andrew to play with the Barbies she brought with us.

When it came time for dinner, she mostly ate turkey and rolls with a little stuffing. She did love the turkey though. She also polished off most of a piece of pumpkin pie.

Marina has a fun day. In fact she didn't want to go home.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving as well.

Tangled

Ever since we saw a gallery dedicated to the new Disney movie Tangled at Disney's Hollywood Studios in Disney World, Marina has been waiting to see it. It opened today and since she had the day off from school, I took the day off so we could go.

Marina specifically requested we see the 3D version. We caught a showing after lunch. Marina wore her Rapunzel hair piece and brought her Rapunzel Barbie for the occasion.

We both really liked the film. And despite some intense action scenes, Marina was not scared at all. (It just shows how much she is growing up!) I have a feeling we'll be seeing it again!

Shrek on Stage

We had tickets to see Shrek The Musical this evening. Marina seemed pleased about that. We got all dressed up –Marina even wore pink crystal earrings and a matching necklace. Once we arrived at the theater, Marina got really excited. She was jumping up and down. Many people looked at her and smiled. I’m so glad she loves theater as much as I do. Shortly after we arrived, we ran into Cameron and Aunt Ann. Marina and Cameron had some fun messing around for a few minutes. Then we had to leave to get into our seats.

Once we sat down, Marina started asking when the show was going to start. She was pretty restless. Once the music started, she gave it her full attention (Except for the little boy who was sitting in front of us. He and Marina kept looking at each other and doing some communication.) After each song was over, she clapped. There were a few where she even cheered. We both really enjoyed the show. It was over pretty late and Marina fell asleep in the car on the way home.

New Discoveries

We'd hadn't been to the Museum of Nature and Science for a while and Marina was anxious to go for another visit. So we went today. We started at our usual exhibits, health and dinosaurs.

Marina wasn't too excited when I suggested we check out the new Amazon exhibit, but I insisted. It was a great exhibit, filled with information about the many species that live near the Amazon river. Marina was particularly fascinated by the details about pirahanas. There were many interactive exhibits including a giant snake and a stage where kids could dress up and do a "fish dance." Marina had great fun with all of it.

We checked out an IMAX 3D show, "Under the Sea." It was fun and I could see Marina reaching out to grab the fish that seemed to be right in front of us.

After the show, we went back into the Amazon exhibit. Then we went to Marina's favorite parts of the Museum, the animal dioramas and the Native American exhibits. It was a fun day!

Trick or Treat!

This year for Halloween I got to take Marina trick or treating. We met up with Madi and Noah. We all had dinner at their house, then the kids all got into their costumes. Noah was a pirate and Madi was dressed as Giselle from Enchanted. Marina was happy to show off her Rapunzel costume. I also put make up on her which made her very happy.

We went to a nearby neighborhood to start. There were plenty of kids out even though the sun hadn't set yet, but many of them were well decorated. A woman dressed as a witch was in front of her house, Marina was a bit hesitant to approach her but was happy with the candy she got. At another house, there were sound effects and spider webs. The kids tripped a motion activated fog machine and came running back. Jenn had to walk them to the door. As we walked around, we met many other kids. Marina met her newest "best friend," a girl dressed as an angel. Marina nearly filled her pumpkin, including a few full size candy bars. She was especially pleased with a large bag of Skittles. She spent a while talking about her costume to them people who gave it to her.

We wanted to go to another neighborhood where she knew someone. So we went there. We ended up walking quite a ways but we saw some neat houses. One had lots of decorations and a shark handing out tubs of cotton candy. Marina was thrilled! Another house had a large spider web with lots of little spiders all over it and a ghost that lowered after the kids were on the porch. All three of them just stared at it, afraid to try and walk past it. We also went to a house with talking witch lights along the stairs up to the door. There Marina got a large bag of Teddy Grahams. By the time we were finished she had more candy than would fit in her pumpkin.

At home we had pumpkin pie (she had asked for it for Halloween) and she had a little candy. It took a bit to get her into bed. It had been an exciting night!

Pumpkin Princesses

Marina went to the Pumpkin Patch today with her school. She brought a lovely one home along with some potatoes, onions and carrots that she picked herself. It was the perfect time to carve the pumpkins I bought at the store.

Marina really wanted to help, until she found out how messy it can be! She did try to scrape out the insides but gave up when she realized how much strength it took. SO she was happy to watch me do everything.

We decided to carve a Jasmine pumpkin and a Tinkerbell pumpkin. I had patterns for them so it allowed me to be more artistic than I usually am. I think they turned out pretty well.

Egyptian Princess

For over a year now, Marina has been obsessed with Ancient Egypt. I have no clue on how that started. We watch The Ten Commandments together, the closest I could get to a movie about Egypt that she could watch. And she's been bugging me to take her to Egypt on vacation. (It will be at least 10 years before that happens!)

So today, we went to see a special exhibition at the art museum. I thought she'd really like seeing artifacts from Egypt. Before we went in, we went to a kids' area where she could color a collar and try on Egyptian costumes. Naturally that was a big hit.

Then we toured the exhibit. I was surprised Marina wasn't interested in it much. A few items caught her attention: jewelry, furniture and videos. Otherwise, she spent most of the time asking me when we could leave. Sigh, not what I had in mind.

After lunch, we looked around at other art. She seemed interested in art from China and India. But she was very impatient when I was looking at the European Renaissance. She was happy when we found another kids' area with activities for her. Ultimately, it wasn't easy for me to get her home. I was exhausted and she wanted to play for a while longer. She did fall asleep in the car on the way home. I would have liked to do that!