The Nutcracker

One of the field trips offered this month through our local homeschool office was a trip to see The Nutcracker.  The musical was a children's performance put on at the Civic Center in Des Moines.  And since I don't do the great city of Des Moines by myself (I feel triumphant at my achievement when I make it through downtown Ottumwa by myself, DM is a no-go for me alone!!), I asked  Josh if he would accompany us to see the production.  He said yes, so I signed us up and marked the calendar for the trip!

We had good seats but I still had to zoom quite a bit in order for the picture to be able to be made out.  So between the zooming issues, my rather simple camera and the darkness of the auditorium, the pictures are pretty grainy.  Enjoy the best you can:

The performance was at an odd time, 12:30.  We had to meet at the Civic Center at 12:00.  That leaves a decision about lunch to be made: eat lunch early before or have a late snack and eat after.  It was decided to eat before...

.... and to have a somewhat normal lunch time, we ate on the move.  The kids enjoyed their picnic in the car, though they didn't eat much of their packed sandwich, carrots and pretzels.  And we had a major mishap with Sarah's juice box.  But it beat paying forty bucks at a "nice" restaurant or throwing money towards Mc'y D's.

The kids were pretty excited once we got seated!

 

It was a full house of school kids on field trips to watch the play.

Sarah found a comfy spot on Daddy's arms to enjoy at least part of the musical.

 

And she loved the ballerinas!

Lots and lots of ballerinas!

 

Sarah didn't take her eyes off the dancers for almost the entire thing.  I say almost because, as much in love as she is with ballerinas and dancing, there is a limit for how long a three year old can sit in one place.  She did very well for the hour or so production, only getting antsy the last ten mintues or so.  Sarah and I enjoyed the experience, but I don't think Caleb and Josh will be going back to a ballet anytime soon.  If you ask Sarah how she liked the ballet, she'll light up.  If you ask Caleb how he liked it, he'll scowl and tell you he didn't like it a bit.  Makes his Daddy proud!  :-)  That's okay.  I love my men for who they are, and they don't have to like the ballet!