Princesses and Pirates

Tonight I took the princess to an amazing show at the Knoxville Collusium. We watched Disney's Princess and Pirate Adventure.  It was the girls' turn at a night out and we had so fun! I kept this a secret from her for a long time.  I told her an hour before we needed to leave that I needed to get her dressed up in her princess dress and do her hair all pretty.  She kept asking, "Why mom?"  I wouldn't tell her until we were ready to leave.  Once I told her where we were going, she screamed and couldn't wait to get in the car.

Here we are ready to go to the show.

I got us amazing seats.  We were on the floor, seventh row. We could see it all.  As a preshow, Doc McStuffins came out and wowed the kids.  Taryn was all smiles.

This was taken right after Doc had finished her performance.  Taryn was so excited to see the princesses.

The princess show starred Sophia the First, whom Taryn loves.  It was like watching a cartoon episode but in real life.  Their costumes were amazing and great acting too.  Taryn sang all the songs and even jumped up and danced.

They had a 20 minute intermission, which was a needed bathroom break and then it was off to the novelty stands to find a trinket.  Funny thing was, most of the items they were selling we already had at home.  Taryn spotted the Sophia cup with a snow cone inside it and decided that was what she wanted.  I was okay with the price and the trinket. It would be used a lot at home for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Soon after making our purchase, Jake and the Neverland Pirates put on their show.  It was just as entertaining as the princess one, but in this show the characters flew across the stage using wires.  Taryn picked up on the wires pretty quickly, but she still thought it was neat.  

The show was amazing and Taryn was happy.  It was a great night for the two of us.  Now it is home, bed and off to Nashville tomorrow for some more fun!

Nashville Parthenon

The last Saturday of Spring Break, we look the kids and headed across to Nashville, TN, to see the Parthenon. I had heard about this Greek replica being in a park in Nashville, but we had never gone.  So on a sper-of-the-moment idea, we got up early, packed a picnic lunch and headed there.

The outside of the Parthenon was cool but the inside was so much better.  They had a painting gallery on the bottom level and on the top level was this ginormous statue of Athena.  The kids thought it was so neat. (They had also seen this place in the Percy Jackson movie The Lightening Thief) 

Athena is holding the God Nike.  I can't remember what he is significant for, but he was cool to see.

These griffin statues were all over and the kids wanted a picture of it.

In another room they had replicas of the top part of the Parthenon.  It had a plaque telling us all about who each statue was and what they were significant for at that time in history.

These tall bronze doors were at each end of the place.  We had to get a photo by one.

I love columns.

This is Athena's shield.  She has the head of Medusa to turn her foes to stone.  It was huge and gold, and so cool.

This is a shot of the bronze doors closed.

My little Greek soldiers.  They loved the Parthenon.  They thought all the cool things inside were interesting.  We stayed inside for about 2+ hours.

We had lunch in the park next to the Parthenon. It was fun to have a little picnic in the park as a family.

We needed some ice cream to finish off the day.  It was pricy, but it was yummy.  What a way to end Spring Break.