Polar Express 3D 2007

Today Leia and I did our best to keep up the family's Christmas tradition of going to The Polar Express in Imax 3D. (We look forward to next year when Daddy and Annie can come, too.) Leia, Brian, and I have seen the movie in 3D once every year since the movie came out, and it is a true joy. This year, it was especially fun to watch the changes in Leia Rose in regards to running movie commentary. Where last year, Leia Rose commented on every single aspect of the show (much to our enjoyment/embarrassment), this year there were only a few scattered comments, although significant ones. Oh how I used to wish for Leia Rose to learn more tact, . . . now I find myself missing the running commentary. What was really precious this time, though was that most of Leia's comments involved Leia's love for Annie. [This whole idea makes me think of my friend Karin, and how little Kevin (at 3) commented at every aspect of the Nutcracker which led to a bit of embarrassment and enjoyment as well. (Well, Karin, enjoy Kevin's commentary when you can! Once they learn tact, commentary pretty much ceases.)] In regards to the pre-show sound demonstration which was WAY too loud, Leia Rose put both of her arms up over her ears and said, "Mamma, I just HATE Imax 3D, and I never want to come here again!" I guess Leia Rose is still affected a bit by intense sound. : ) She was just fine when the movie started, of course, and didn't even ask for her earplugs! "Mamma, I know not to be scared when the train whistles, but I bet Annie will be scared of that!" "I do not like how the boy used pine cones to make the nose and buttons of his snowman!" "Mamma, I know to not be scared when the train stops in front of my face, but I bet Annie will be scared of that!" "It's an angel! He's an angel!" "Why are they doing that [pulling the engineer's beard]?" "What are those elves doing?" "Is that ice on the ground there?" "Where's Rudolph? Why isn't there Rudolph?!?" [I tried to explain that this story took place when Oma and Papa were small children. Rudolph didn't come along till a bit later.] "That's how he gets that hole in his pocket, Mamma! He rips it on his bed post!" Hmmmm, perhaps there was more commentary that I thought at first . . .

After the show, Leia Rose and I went to explore the new Marbles Kids Museum next door. It was really fun (and Leia did better than I did with it, just because I enjoy more scheduled/constructive play and not a free-for-all being overwhelmed by too many activities/possibilities). Just a few other things Leia Rose did before I get into the pictures: explored half of a real city bus that ends in a kids slide, pretended to be a mail-carrier and slid boxes down the conveyor belt, made lots of crafts, pretended to "fly" via virtual reality, tried out lots of instruments from different countries, put marbles down a huge marble track, and . . .
Here is Leia Rose doing a "Pony Show," which made her very self-conscious because there were two mean kids there who kept telling her she couldn't play. Still, she was so cute! : )
We also participated in the "Reindeer Races" together (these were simply wheelbarrow races, where I held Leia's feet while she walked along on her hands, . . . but she was wearing these antlers). : ) I'll admit that I was surprised by Leia's physical prowess in this! We came in last, but Leia Rose didn't fall once, and it was a LONG track!
Leia Rose's favorite activity of the day was building/decorating a life-size gingerbread house made of cardboard boxes over a wood frame!

And another favorite activity was making what she called a "star-looker" out of some industrial recyclables using only purple plastic string to tie everything on!

But I can't end this post without saying how much Leia Rose LOVED the little karaoke stage! Even though she couldn't read the words fast enough, she really enjoyed singing "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" for everyone to see and hear!
The museum also had this really interesting art exhibit with each piece made from canned goods to be donated to the poor. This one's a light bright!
And this one is a "Hungry Hungry Hippo." I wish I had time to explore all of the pieces more fully, but we had limited time, . . . and viewing the art was not Leia's choice of activities, of course. In fact, I took these pictures while Leia was playing with the marble track. : )
Speaking of marbles, the Marbles Kids Museum really lived up to its name with it's spectacular marble wall, . . . which I don't think most of the guests realized even existed (thinking it was just a colorful wall). What is was was some kind of metal grate that went up one full side of the museum, and each hole of the metal grate had a different colored marble that you could spin and move just a tiny bit, so it made a wonderful rattling sound when you stroked it. Leia had a blast touching, rubbing, and throwing her body against this wall. And it dawned on me that it would be wonderful for kids with sensory issues! : )
And then we really cheated in regards to another Mother/Daughter tradition today. Leia Rose and I usually take one day and go visit the huge Christmas tree at Southpoint and drink hot chocolate in the crisp winter air. Well, it was rainy and warm today, . . . and we were short on time, so we had to just do a quick drive-by. : ( Not a bad picture from the car, though!

And as we were driving to dinner to meet Daddy and Annie, Leia Rose and I created a fun new game which was look-at-the-moon-and-say-what-it-looks-like. We had lots and lots of laughs at our ideas: "a somersaulting ball" "the top of a milk glass" "a puff ball" "an eye ball without the pupil" "a marshmallow top" etc. etc. Got to love special times like that! (And it was neat to see the planet Mars so bright tonight, too! The joke on the internet is that it's going to outshine Rudolph's nose!)