A Festival for Pirates

We had a fun time at the Pirate Festival last year so we made plans to attend again this year. Marina put together a new outfit based on a red corset we found at a thrift store last month. She seemed pretty happy with it.

We started by seeing the mermaids. One of them recognized us from the Unicorn Festival in June. Next we went through the booths where we saw a small falcon and a snake. Marina did a little shopping as well. Of course, she greeted every dog we met along the way.

We wanted to see the cardboard boat races, so we looked for a place to sit down. On the way we saw Captain Jack Sparrow, so we stopped to say hello. He greeted us with hugs but we didn’t stay too long as he was getting ready to announce the race.

We found a spot to watch the race nearby. There weren’t many entries this year, but we enjoyed watching them. Then we checked out the pirate ship at the dock. By this point we were melting in the sun, so we stopped by to say goodbye to Captain Jack. We also stopped by to see the mermaids one last time.

After that, we went back to the car. It was a very hot day and we were ready to get out of the sun.

Songs for a New World

Tonight was opening night of Songs for a New World. So I brought Marina to see it. We arrived early. I was able to introduce Marina to the new producer. She seemed uninterested in meeting anyone else or in the show. She played on her phone until it started.

The performance started with an actress whose hair was dyed blue, from that moment, she was interested. We know the two actors in the show, so she was happy to see them. The other actress we have met several times in the a past as well.

When the show ended, there was a reception. I spent some time talking to one of the actors we know. He didn’t even recognize Marina! Marina spent time with the other actor and introduced herself to the actress with the blue hair. The two of them had already exchanged Facebook information when I caught up with them!

I managed to gather the four performers together for a photo with Marina before the refreshments arrived. Marina had a snack and we visited for a while before heading home.

It's a Hard Knock Life

This evening we had tickets to see Annie. We were the first people there. We picked up our tickets and bought drinks while we waited for the theatre to open. Once we sat down, Marina was excited to see the show again.

During the performance, Marina was completely engaged. She was happy that she could see it so well with her new glasses on. After the show we were on our way to the parking lot when Marina caught sight of the dog who played Sandy. Of course, she had to go back and meet the dog. She was even patient enough to pose for a photo with Marina.

After greeting the dog, Marina was ready to go home. By then it was pretty late and we were both tired.

Italian Festival

We had a good time at the Italian Festival last year, so Marina and I decided to go again this year. We decided to go to the festival late and have dinner there before the show.

When we arrived we caught the end of a circus show. Unfortunately they didn’t have any more performances for the day. But we did get a few photos with the performers. We shopped some of the booths. Marina loved looking at candles, cork art and accessories. We watched part of the flag throwing performance.

Marina was thrilled to see fried calamari for sale at one of the booths, so she picked that for dinner. I got an Italian beef sandwich. We sat down with our food and listened to a singer while we ate. Once we finished eating, it was time for grape stomping. Marina didn’t spend as much time on that as she did last year. When she finished, she wanted to watch a ventriloquist who was performing nearby.

We wandered around the booths again. Marina had a cotton candy flavored lollipop for dessert. I stopped to listen to a Frank Sinatra song and Marina petted a nearby dog. By that point, we were ready to go.

Sunday at the Gardens

The botanic gardens have a corpse flower named Stinky that is expected to bloom in the next week. The last time that happened, the wait to smell it was hour along. They are expecting it to bloom again in a about a week. I have no desire to wait in a line like that, but I was interested in seeing it. So we decided to go to the gardens today.

Our first stop was the orangery where Stinky was front and center. It is huge! After we took a look, we went strolling through the rest of the gardens. One of Marina’s favorites is the Japanese garden. She likes looking at the bonsai trees and koi fish.

Nearby was a pond that was full of blooming lily pads. It was very pretty! We also walked through a garden that was full of edible plants. We saw some cabbage like plants that Marina and I thought looked like Audrey II from Little Shop of Horrors.

We went through the American gardens where Marina walked up a small hill by a waterfall and told me it was her favorite place there. The rose garden was absolutely spectacular with roses of every color blooming. I couldn’t remember a time when I have seen the botanic gardens looking so beautiful. Not only did we see flowers of every kind blooming, we also found berries growing in many places.

It was a hot day, so we decided to walk by Stinky one more time and go home. We walked through the tropical greenhouse on our way. That is always fun to see.

Mermaid Masterpiece

We took our first class at a paint and sip store about a year and a half ago. It was a tougher painting than we expected and Marina got a bit frustrated. I asked her if she wanted to try again with the mermaid painting they had scheduled tonight. She said yes. So I signed us up.

When we arrived at the studio, I was surprised to see only two canvases set up. It turned out Marina and I were the only ones signed up for the class. That seemed a bit strange, but it turned out to be great. Marina was much more comfortable than in the big class we were in before.

Marina chose to hand sketch her painting while I had the instructor do it. As we went along, Marin added her own touches to the painting. She changed the mermaid’s hair and fin colors. We all had a fun time and overall we were both happy with our pictures.

Animal Adventures

We decided to go to the zoo this afternoon. It was a beautiful warm day. We were fortunate to find parking easily despite lots of people being there. We went right inside. We stopped to watch an animal encounter were Marina got an up close look at a scorpion that glows in the dark. We moved on a looked at the water buffalo, rhinos and kangaroos. When we arrived at our favorite restaurant, we stopped for lunch.

This time we decided to stop at the Lorikeet Adventure so Marina could feed the birds. As we entered, some people who were leaving offered us half a cup of nectar. We were grateful to receive it. It took a few minutes, but we found a bird who she could reach to feed. After that one was done, she found one above her head to feed. This one wanted to take the paper cup away from her!

We went through the Asian Animals and Marina was disappointed that the Fishing Cats weren’t on view. We did see the otters napping though.

Marina wanted to go through tropical exhibit this time. We hadn’t gone through that exhibit for a while. Marina enjoyed looking at the various frogs, snakes and fish. She was especially interested in the Komodo Dragons. As we passed the sea lions we heard them barking at each other. We stopped for a while to watch three of them chasing each other around and playing.

We saw that the youngest giraffe was right over next to the new observation deck. So we went for a closer look. We hadn’t seen him that close before! Marina wanted to see some of the big cats before we left, but none were visible. So we decided to go home.