Nutcracker

Ever since Anya was a baby, I looked forward to the day she was old enough to go to the Nutcracker at McCaw Hall. I had never been (to any performance) and taking my daughter seemed like the perfect opportunity to go for the first time. As it turns out, Lynn had never gone either.

It seemed like this year was the right year to take Anya. Because I wanted it to be special, I bought tickets for good seats for Lynn, Anya, and me for this past Saturday. Lynn managed to book a night at the Camlin hotel downtown for Friday night. So we planned to make a girls adventure out of it. That we'd go out to dinner, spend all Saturday morning doing the downtown Christmas activities, have lunch, and then top it all off with the Nutcracker performance. Lynn and I kept it all a surprise for Anya beforehand. I know I was very much looking forward to it - excited about it, even. I think Lynn was too.

The weekend was kind of a bust. Certainly not terrible. There were good times, but it wasn't the weekend I had envisioned. I think we tried too hard and hoped for Anya's excitement too much. It served as a reminder that I need to have low expectations for activities when children are involved -- less disappointment that way. And that Anya will be interested in what she's interested in. As it turns out, there will probably be no "right year" to take her to the ballet.

It started off fun. Lynn came by the house and we surprised Anya at the bus stop and swooped (or as swooped as the traffic would allow) her off to the hotel downtown. Chris and Steve picked us up awhile later and we had a lovely dinner at Ivar's on the waterfront. Afterwards, we girls hung out and read books (The Nutcracker being one of them) until kiddo's bedtime. Unfortunately, I forgot to pack Elephant, so Anya completely lost it and tried to bolt from the hotel a few times. Once it was apparent there was no calming her down (it's usually great that she can be focused, but no so much in cases like this), Chris, Father of the Year, drove Elephant to us (thank you!!!). She was asleep within minutes of being reunited with her lovey. Crisis averted.

The next morning, after a quick breakfast, we headed over to Westlake Center. Anya rode the holiday carousel and we took a picture (which hasn't been posted yet) inside a giant inflatable snow globe. Afterwards, we walked to the Sheraton to see the gingerbread houses. Anya was unimpressed at best. Had lunch, and then took the Monorail to Seattle Center. Anya would likely consider the few minute Monorail ride to be the highlight of the weekend. That, and a pretty pigeon she spied.

We hung out at Seattle Center for a bit (Anya wanted to play in a toddler room while Lynn and I kicked back and listened to a high school jazz orchestra). Then we headed to see The Nutcracker. Anya's behavior wasn't great (from about mid-morning on), so it took away some of the enjoyment. But the performance, set, and costumes were beautiful. I loved it. It was too long for Anya by about 1/2 hour. Even with the intermission. I don't know whose young kids could possibly sit through that long of a performance, but there sure were a lot of kids younger than Anya there. Mine sure couldn't. She was very fidgety and only moderately interested in the whole thing.

So, once it was over we took the monorail back (excitement again from the kid) to the hotel, picked up Lynn's car and went home.

It was nice to have girl time and do something special for just us. But I don't think there will be a repeat of this particular outing. A bit of a bummer, but now we can all say we've seen the Nutcracker.