Little Mermaid Jr.

Last week when we were downtown Clarksville, we popped in the Roxy to get our tickets for Little Mermaid Jr. Anna Claire has been so excited to "see Ariel" all week, and then lo and behold she gets a lousy ear infection. I worried last night that she wouldn't feel up to seeing the show, and then this morning she seemed to bounce back and was her old self again.

Then, on the way to gymnastics this morning, she got sick in the car. She was lifeless and sick, refusing to eat anything. We have since determined that the antibiotics for her ear infection really do make you sick when taken without food. More sickness ensued thereafter...

I thought about calling the Roxy and asking if we could come on a different day, but then I read on our tickets, "No exchanges. No refunds." Knowing how badly she wanted to go, I decided then and there, that we would go to that show, or at least make our best attempt - after all, if we could just get there, all she really had to do was sit on my lap which was what we were doing at home anyway.

Our showtime was at 2:00, and she was still feeling pretty lousy at 11. I thought that I would make my best effort getting her to eat and nap, then drive downtown and go from there. She did eat a few bites of lunch, took about a 45 minute nap, and promised me she felt ok and begged for me to take her.

We went, and I'm so glad we did. Anna Claire loved the play, felt great during and after it, and has decided that she would like to be in a play one day. During the play, Anna Claire was sitting on my lap and I had my hand placed over her heart. When Ursula came out, I felt her heart beating so fast, it was unreal. I could tell she was scared. However, after watching the entire play and having a talk, she is also now cured of her fear of Ursula. We have had to fast forward through her part of the movie up until today. I was able to explain to her that Ursula wasn't real, she was just a girl just like us dressed up and playing pretend. :)

My only critique of the play lies with the gentleman who spoke at the beginning who came out to buy the cast a bit of time. He opened by asking if everyone got to make a crown, if everyone got a septer. Um, no sir. Only the kids who went to "Ariel's Sea Party" before the show got those (we opted not to pay an extra $15 per person for PBJ and mac and cheese). Thanks for pointing the option out to my child who was previously unaware. Thank you also, sir, for promising kids a bag a M&Ms if they could find the actor wearing the band-aid on the hand during the performance, then not following through. I guess you forgot, but my kid didn't. We made a mandatory run to Dollar General afterward for one bag of M&Ms since I wasn't able to explain why she didn't win the prize.

All in all, this was a wonderful first play experience for an almost four-year-old. It was just the right length, kept her attention, and was based on one of her favorite princess stories. 

Look who we just happened to be seated by at the play...Braxtyn, who's in AC's class at the RB!

Anna Claire agreed to pose for this pic in exchange for her bag of M&Ms ;)

Most of the girls had their picture taken with Ariel, but AC had hers with Flounder, one of her favorite characters. Isn't the boy who played him adorable?