August 19, 2012

For our last hurrah of summer, we took the kids to the Ahmanson Theater last night to see Mary Poppins.  We went on the recommendation of a friend, and I am so glad we did.  The entire day leading up to it was spent with my nine-year-old for some solid one on one time.  We shopped for school supplies, a dress for the theater and shoes. We had stopped at eight stores before we finally sat down to an hour and a half of pampering at the nail salon.  I do believe this should be a back to school ritual we should make a tradition.

It was fun sitting side by side, picking out colors, and talking designs after having raced from store to store.  My goal was to have everything done so today could be enjoyed at home before it's off to the real world tomorrow.  Mission accomplished.

By the time we got home, we barely had enough time to change and get back out the door to drop the baby off with her Godparents while we ventured into the city.  Of course, I had to take a few pictures. Especially since my outfit was quite colorful thanks to a couple people (Mandy and  Hannah)

The first several were facing the sun, so lots of eye shutting and blinking.  this was the best we could do...until we figured out to turn away from the sun, but by then the kid crew had pretty much checked out, so we got this: Oh well. . .

The drive there was kind of the same way as the pictures: a mess.  We did get to see the Long Beach Port and drive over the bridges--but when the navigation said we had arrived at our destination.  We were in the middle of a street filled with apartments--not exactly the Music Center we had heard of. Apparently, there are several Grand Avenues in Los Angeles and we hadn't diligently checked the zip codes.  Sigh.  We made it there, eventually.

The show was phenomenal.  I loved watching Lene's face as she watched the stage with eager eyes whispering, "Could that be me, one day, mama?"  Yes.  Yes that could be. Then there was Bubba who kept trying to figure out the magic of how she pulled big trees and mirrors from her rather empty bag.  The best part was at the end when she flew all the way up to the ceiling.  We were row B in the balcony and to see her face so clearly as she winked at the kids was amazing! I loved our dinner conversation at eleven o clock at night as we talked about the theme of the production--wanting to make sure the message wasn't lost over the excitement of all the magic that occurred on the stage.  Happily, it wasn't.  They realized that family is the most important thing.  Always.  Life lesson:  Family is the most important thing.  Great evening.  great memory!