Lion King!

In October, I got a flier advertising that the Broadway show Lion King was coming to Grady Gammage at ASU. I was VERY excited! I have always wanted to see that show, and I thought it would be the perfect time to expose Colin to the theatre. Julia has gone several times before, but Colin never seemed quite ready to sit still for that long. (I think I got scarred with Colin in several movie experiences when he spent the entire 2 hours of a movie bouncing up and down in the seat. And I spent 2 hours apologizing to everyone around me...) Anyway, I really wanted to go and take Colin and I had a pretty good feeling that my mom would want to go as well (she LOVES the Lion King soundtrack). So, after several calls and conversations with my mom and like a 2 hour internet session with Ticketmaster, we secured tickets for Feb. 7th- the 7:30 p.m. show. Why 2 hours on the internet you may ask? I wanted very specific seats- 1st balcony (cheaper, and I think your view of the entire stage is actually better than on the floor), in the center, in the first or second row. Needless to say it took putting in almost EVERY date for the show to get these exact seats, but I did get them eventually! In all of this searching, Joe decided that it probably wasn't worth the cost for him to go with us. The tickets were very expensive- especially when you added on the surcharges and fees. So, we just got 5 tickets for Nana, Papa, Julia, Colin and myself.
So, then several months passed. Julia and Colin's birthdays, Thanksgiving, Christmas, 2nd Christmas, etc. etc. And I had basically forgotten about going. :) But then the week arrived... and I realized that Colin needed a new pair of dress shoes- I swear that kids feet grow faster than weeds! So, we hit Savers to look and see what they had. I just couldn't see paying $20-25 dollars for a pair of dress shoes knowing how little he would wear them. We were in luck- found a great pair (looked like they had been worn once) of brown tie loafers. Julia also found a 'fancy' dress that she fell in love with- and still had the tags- for $6. So, now both of my kids had some new finery to wear- we were ready for the day to arrive.
We had great fun getting ready to go. I ironed Colin's pants and his dress shirt (I can't believe how big his clothes are getting- ironing his dress shirt was close to ironing one of Joe's!) Daddy was off canyoneering, so the kids and I had a good day together just hanging out and getting ready. Julia wanted 'fancy' hair to go with her 'fancy' dress- gotta love her- she just doesn't realize that hair is NOT momma's forte. Anyway, eventually we were all ready and dressed and headed over to Nana and Papa's house.
Nana and Papa are my kids whole lives. I don't know how else to describe it. So my kids were very excited to go see Lion King with Nana and Papa. Here are some photos of Nana and Papa with their kids.....

*Nana and Papa and their kids*

*Papa and his girl.... *

*He really was happier about going than he looks in this photo. :) *

We had dinner at Serranos and then headed to the theatre. We had to walk a little bit to get there and being the bad momma that I am, I forgot Julia's jacket, so she was pretty cold. The show was AWESOME- especially the music. Colin did enjoy his first trip to the theatre- except for the fact that he dozed off during the second act and slept through the end of the show. How anyone could have slept in that theatre- as loud as it was- is totally beyond me, but my little guy did it. I so wish I had taken my camera to the theatre so I could have taken a picture of my little man, all dressed up, sound asleep in his chair. We didn't get home until almost 11 p.m. and my kids were exhausted! (note to self: next time go to the matinee, not the evening performance!) Anyway, I will be on iTunes later today getting the music from this show. ;)