Step in Time

Tonight was a bit of redemption for "Mary Poppins," as we once again saw the musical, and this time Mommy was well enough to enjoy it all the way through.  Not only that, but we also had Madison with us.  The Gainesville Ballet has been dancing to a version of this lately, a production we've seen a few times the last two springs.  But this is the full-on Broadway version, about two-and-a-half hours of Jolly Holiday for everyone.  We saw this production put on by the Gainesville Theater Alliance, and the first thing we noticed is that everything we saw here was nearly identical to the production we saw a few years ago at the Fox Theater.  The quality was amazing - top notch!  And for so much less than what it would cost to buy tickets through Ticketmaster to the Fox Theater, and pay for parking, and drive down… we were expecting the quality to be down a bit, but were clearly not expecting the production to be so well done!

It was pouring rain, which in itself is not news.  That's the story of the month already.  But the neat thing is that we got to put Mommy's Mary Poppins umbrella to use, the one with the parrot handle.  It was a very special time we had together, and we were happy as always to expose Madison to the theater.  And she was very much into the entire production - as you can imagine, we were singing our favorite songs all the way home.  Madison likes "A Spoonful of Sugar," which was a fun song performed in the kitchen on stage.  The magic tricks on stage got her attention really well - how did that table appear from nowhere?  And how did all the shelves fix themselves?  And what about all those large objects she kept pulling out of the carpet bag?

It was a fun afternoon at the theater here, and just part of a pretty big day.  This morning, we continued our board game series with a service dedicated to the game "Monopoly."

We had a great skit, great videos, and an awesome message too.  It went together really well, just a small part of a surprisingly fun series.  This one was just a throw-away idea, and it has turned out so solid that some of us wish we could do it for a few months, instead of just the one.

If anything, it has inspired parents to go out and buy some board games.  And it has inspired us to play a few at home this month as well.  Although not tonight - we got home late, and it was pretty much time for some reading, and for some sleep.

Yes, it's time for bed a little early.  It's been a pretty big weekend, full of fun, boardgames, Nutcracker Camp, Peanuts, Mary Poppins, and lots of fun!