Phineas and Ferb Pumpkins

Marina has her fall break this week. So we spent today picking out and carving our pumpkins for Halloween. Marina helped to clean out the pumpkins. She didn't like the process, she said it felt "squishy." But she helped with two of the three pumpkins.

As per our tradition, we picked a Disney theme. No princesses this year. Instead, we carved our pumpkins to look like Phineas, Ferb and their pet Perry the platypus.

 

She watched me as I traced the stencils and carved them onto the pumpkin. She liked punching out the pumpkin pieces after carved them out. Once we were done, we gave them a test run with candles in them. She was very happy with how they turned out!

Boo at the Zoo

Marina and I got up and around early for Boo at the Zoo today. It's a popular event and we wanted to get there before it got too crowded. We were fortunate to find parking right away before heading inside. Naturally, she wore her Merida costume. She wanted to wear her wig, but she ended up taking it off and going without it much of the day.

When we arrived, Marina had a choice between a giraffe bag and a zebra bag. She chose the giraffe. She took the map to locate the trick or treat stations around the zoo. She loved finding all the booths and getting candy from each one. She politely said, "Trick or treat!" at each station.

We didn't see a lot of animals. We got a good look at the penguins and elephants along our route. Usually the hippos are in their swimming pool, but today one was walking around the enclosure. Then it walked over to a zoo keeper who sprayed a hose into its mouth. We found that pretty funny! The sea lions were playing around with each other, so we watched them for a while. The lions were also active, so we made sure to see them as well.

It wasn't our usual zoo trip, but we had a lot of fun!

The Leprechaun's Magic Hat

This evening was the third grade show. Marina has been looking forward to it for weeks.They put on a show called The Leprechaun's Magic Hat. Marina was disappointed that she didn't get to be a leprechaun, she was a dancer in the song “Gold, Glorious Gold.”

Despite her disappointment, she was happy with her dance. Earlier this year, the music teacher she'shad every since she stared at the school moved away. So the previous music teacher took over the direction of the show. Marina loved her! The kids were asked to wear green. Marina chose her bluish-green birthday dress.

 

There were two performances today. One for the school and this evening for parents. Marina located me and waved to me at each show. She seemed to have fun with the performance, often smiling as she sang. She and her best friend were standing next to each other which is to be expected.

After the second show, I gave her a bouquet of roses. She was pleased with those. She wanted to give one to Madison, but she had already left for home. She wanted to linger near the stage for quite a while after the show. But, since she has school tomorrow, we had to leave earlier than she wanted to.

Below is the video of "Gold, Glorious Gold" with Marina dancing.



Halloween at Mile High

Earlier this year, I signed Marina up for the Broncos Bunch Kids Club. Today was their annual Trick or Treat Party at Mile High Stadium. Marina wore her Merida costume and I dressed up as Cinderella. We entered into one gate and were guided through a tour of the stadium with trick or treat stations along the way.

The trail started by taking us through the visiting team's locker room. It was filled with ghosts and monsters as well as tombstones with opposing teams' logos on them. Then we went through the tunnel to the field. It was so cool to be right where the games are played!

We went through more elaborately decorated tunnels until we came to a line. After waiting for a bit, we got to have our pictures taken with the Lombardi trophies. Marina looked at one and said, "I can see myself in there." They are very shiny!

The biggest surprise came after that, we got to walk through the Broncos locker room! Most people stopped shortly after they entered. They were all stopping to take a picture of Peyton Manning's locker. So, of course, we got one too! After that we had a bit more trick or treating and each child got a pumpkin to take home.

Outside, several inflatables were available for kids to play on. Marina had to try those out as well. She had fun and got candy to take home. What could be better than that?

Sleeping Beauty Ballet

When the local ballet company announced they would be performing The Sleeping Beauty, I knew this was one we couldn't miss! Marina was very excited to see it, especially since she had just started her ballet classes again. Naturally, she wore her Disney Princess Aurora costume. She wasn't alone. As we entered the theater, we saw a few other girls dressed the same way. Marina called them her "twins."

We arrived shortly before the show started. Marina had lots of questions throughout the performance, mostly about the differences bewtween the ballet and the Disney movie. She did recognize some of the Tchaikovsky music which was used in the movie. She even sang along to the Sleeping Beauty Waltz (written as "Once Upon A Dream" in the movie.) She kept saying how all the dancers were "really good."

The ballet ran a bit long for Marina. She was a bit restless during Act 3, although she throughly enjoyed the dance by Puss In Boots. When the show was over, she lingered for a while. She loves watching the chandelier lower after each act. After that, she was ready to go home.



Pool Party

Marina was invited to a party of one of the young ladies who attended her party last March. It was at the same pool we celebrated Marina's birthday. She's been very excited to go. She didn't know many of the kids there, so she swam by herself for quite a while, but eventually she became more comfortable and made some new friends.

While watching her swim it was clear to me that her swimming lessons are working. She showed me all sorts of strokes - even putting her face in the water at times! She had so much fun that it took me a while to convince her to go home!

Disney Dress Rehearsal

Marina and I have made it a yearly tradition to attend the Disney Store's Halloween Dress Rehearsal. This year it was a bit early, but Marina was very excited to go. This year she wanted to be Merida from Brave. We even managed to get the bow and arrows from the set last month, quite a hot item this year!

I picked Marina up after school and we headed over. We were the first to arrive, but Marina had no problem entertaining herself until the activities began. The kids started by making their own Mickey Mouse trick or treat bag. Once that was done, the kids went trick or treating through the store.

The kids lined up for the annual parade. The parents lined the walkway as the kids marched through and waved. It was quite a sight to see! After the parade, the kids danced and sang with the cast members at the store. They were quite enthusiastic about it.

When the party was over, Marina demonstrated her bow skills for some of the cast members. They were pretty impressed. She's been practicing and it showed!