Jamie likes the "Fake Part" of Grease

I am lucky enough to get some free tickets now and then from where I work to certain off broadway productions. A couple of months back I asked about getting Free tickets to take Jamie to something and thought they didn't have what I was asking for at the time (can't even remember what it was!) I was able to score four tickets to Grease.

In preparation for seeing the play I got a copy of Grease from the library to show Jamie and get her familiarized with the story. (and yes I skipped the racy scene with Rizzo and her guy)...anyway we watched the movie enough where she was excited when the commercials started airing last week.

So last night was the big night, and Grandma (my mom) went with us as I got four tickets. Several times during the performance Jamie whispered to me "Is the fake part next?" or "I like the fake part, will it be soon" etc...

I'm like "what in the world is the fake part baby?"

Finally as the story progressed I realized what she was talking about...where the Olivia Newton John character - Sandy Dumbrowski - dressed up like Rizzo...get it?
The fake part. Where Sandy gives up who she is in order to please her man and be something she isn't.

Hmmmm, not sure if that is a quality I want my girl to adopt.

Anyway a good time was had by all despite my mom muttering more than once that she didn't think it was appropriate for Jamie to go to that production. I thought Jamie did very well..she stayed pretty quiet and other some running and flouncing her pettycoats in the aisle during intermission pretty much stayed seated.

I'm glad I took her. Jamie has loved musicals since she was first exposed to them as a baby. She especially loves musicals that have dancing and Grease has both.

Was it mean to think to myself during one of my moms rants that Jamie was too young to be there that perhaps my mom is too old to be there?

Hey at least I didn't say it out loud. This woman and I can really get into it and I was determined to enjoy the night. (And we did!)

A whole days living by four pm!

Mike and Jamie at church last week.

Jamie is finally down for her nap. Yes she is still napping at four years and four months old and as far as I'm concerned she will continue to nap at least for now.

We had an extra long dance class this morning as we missed last week since the older students were at a competition. It was fun, lots of log rolls, crab walks, some skipping and hooping...its really not a 'dance' class, more of a rythmic movement class.

Her other class during the week at daycare is more of a ballet type dance class - she will be in an actual recital coming up in a few weeks and it's being held at a real venue. The same place I saw River Dance and the Nutcracker. They are going to wear real costumes and I am supposed to put Jamies hair up in a bun.

Hmmm, not sure how that will work. I know I need to start practicing...probably should have let her hair grow out.

Anyway after Dance class today Jamie and I went straight to her school's grounds as they were having a Spring Fest of sorts. Lots of bouncy houses and other games and fun. We went through the $20 worth of tickets in about 2 hours. Jamie got to bounce and jump plenty, eat cotton candy, get her face painted, her nails done, her hair dyed with dots of bright red and purple, bat some balls, throw frisbees and toss bean bags, 'fish' for prizes, dig for gold, play her first game of putt putt plus see a couple of her friends from school.

During all this there was an 8 yr old child wandering around kind of latching on to folks. At the beginning she was right there with Jamie and I during our game of Putt Putt. Then about an hour and a half later when Elizabeth and her mom came, the little girl was hanging with them. I asked Mary Ann, Elizabeths mom is she knew the child and she said no, she was just there with them.

I mentioned to one of the folks at one of the rides that I thought the little girl was there alone and he said no, her mom was there somewhere with a younger sister.

I just thought it was strange. Would you let your 8 yr old beautiful little girl wander around alone during something like this?

I lost a strip of the tickets towards the end, but when we got our lunch to go the nice man there let us get a hot dog and a hamburger despite being four ticket short.

Then we came home and took our first dip in the pool. Well Jamie did. Although it was 79 degrees, I just couldnt go in entirely. So I worked on Vaccuming and scooping while Mike helped as well.

After all of this I took Jamie up to read to and she started crying and fussing, not wanting to take her nap.

But she is sleeping now...and I am thinking about it.

Back in the swing of things

It was hard to go back to work this week, Jamie had a hard time getting up for school too. She is not a morning person. Lots of complaints about having to get up at 7am again.

If she had her way she would sleep til 8 or 9am every day. On weekends and holidays I am always up before her. That is my alone time as Mike NEVER gets up before he has to.

Work hasn't been too bad lately. I can't say more than that as it is still very stressful.

Our vacation was just so blissful...wish they could happen every month!

Spring Break!

We just returned from a mini vaca - just a four day jaunt down state to do some theme parks and visit a friend. We spent Easter at the Water Park in Orlando - Typhoon Lagoon and had a blast! Jamie did the children slides for the first time and we just really had a nice time.

Then we drove further down state to my friends house in Bradenton and stayed with them while going to Busch Gardens the next 2 days. My friends house was beautiful and laid out so that we had 2 bedrooms and a bathroom virtually to ourselves.

The first day in Busch Gardens did not go well though. Durn you would think they would advertise the fact that the New Preschool part - Sesame Street world or somesuch is almost all water! It had a lot of spouting water gushers and water showering down or being poured out of buckets. And we didn't bring towels or suits...we just weren't prepared for that!

Once Jamie saw the water features she didn't want to do anything else. Lots of whining and crying ensued. I don't know about you, but that isn't what I go on vacation to experience. We finally had to leave the area! We took her off past that part and 'had a talk' with her. It helped a bit, but that day just wasn't our best day on vacation. We experienced no roller coasters or big people attractions that day. It was all about her...

We arrived back to my friends past 8pm, worn out and frazzled. Diana suggested we do something else the next day, (We considered going to Siesta Key which is supposed to be one of the worlds most beautiful beaches but nixed that when finding out the water temperature was only 75 degrees) but we had gotten passes for the year for Busch Gardens so we decided to go back that next day.

The second day we brought towels and water shoes and wore our bathing suits. My how this day went better!

First of all when arriving we went on a Roller Coaster first thing. They have 'Baby swap' there...just like at Disney. It allows one of the parents to go thru the line while the other waits off to the side. Then when parent one comes off the ride, she takes the 'baby' and parent two gets right on without waiting! At this particular ride which was a wooden rollar coaster Mike and Jamie went up the exit and waited at the top where the cars where arriving and departing. Jamie cried the whole time.

But she got over it. We then did a couple of Animal encounters, one with Chimps and Apes with a ranger explaining their habits and personalities, another called Rhino Ralley where you go on an off road adventure and get up close and personal with a live Rhino!

Then when we left there it was all about Jamie for quite a while, we went straight over to the 'Sesame Street Water park' and she had a blast. I left Mike with her after a bit and went to the next area to board my second roller coaster ride of the day 'Sheikra'.

Sheikra is an african Hawk that dives straight down to get its prey. This coaster had 2 straight drops down. Underneath the coaster they had a 'splash zone' where the kids who still had thier water attire on would stand under the coaster's path and get drenched. This held great appeal for Jamie so Mike followed with her and she had that experience as well. Then Mike and I did "Baby Swap" so he could ride and I could ride again. This ride they let me and Jamie stay below while he rode and tthen she wrote me a pass to go up the fast route when he came down. This was preferable as it allowed Jamie to run and play with another little girl and drink and eat while waiting.

And that's all we had time for. It was 6 by the time we finished and I wanted to head back and spend some time with Diana. We weren't as exhausted. The day went better and we all had a good time.

Day four didn't turn out so well. I had planned on us returning to the water park on the way back home. Orlando is about the halfway point between Bradenton and Jax so it makes sense. Plus on our Magic Your Way Disney passes we have the added on Water Parks option. For only about $30 each the Water park option gives you 7 additional days in either water park. You have to use those days before the last Main Park admission is used or you lose them. I also upgraded to the No Expiration option so there are no worries about how long it will take to use our passes. So this will be the summer of the water parks.

And it has finally heated up here in Florida! Also the water parks heat their water to ensure attendance during non summer days. So the plan was to stop again at Typhoon Lagoon as their other water park Blizzard Beach is closed for refurbishing.

We arrived about 2pm to a sign saying the park had reached capacity! We were all disapointed, but I was proud that Jamie didn't do a huge amount of whining.

We pulled over in a Holiday Inn parking lot and tried to get on Wifi (why must those hotels all password protect their Wifi!?) and ate our Subway lunch that we purchased on the way. I had to pull out my Orlando book as we couldn't get on the Wifi; and we found a Science Museum to go to. We also have an annual ATSI pass that allows us to get into over 100 Science Center Museums all over the country.

So that was our last day. It went well overall, and I really did relax and enjoy my family. That is the point of it all.

Now we are home. I am up early alone, considering a Maid service to help with this house cleaning. I never have hired help before. I cleaned houses as a young adult and always vowed I would hire someone to do my dirty work, but Mike doesn't seem to like the idea. This morning I had a "Groupon" delivered to my email for Kitchen and 2 Baths cleaned for $35. Sounds like a deal to me.

So, what are you doing on your spring break?