Children's Day at the Nutcracker

Today is the Day Sophie has been waiting for. Weeks and weeks ago I had decided to take Sophie to see the Nutcracker this year. We have seen the movie and read the book and of course have listened to the music over and over again. It is this music and ballet that sparked her interest in ballet dancing. So I looked into getting tickets. I didn't purchase any because I needed to find out how man of us would go and what day would work out best. So I put it off and put it off. The week before Thanksgiving I got an announcement in my email from one of the bay area homeschooling yahoo groups that I belong to telling people how they could see the Nutcracker for free. I jumped at the chance. I emailed the right people and reserved our place to see the dress rehearsal for the ballet. It actually opens next weekend but they had a run through today and performed for school kids from around the bay area. We went with a group of other homeschoolers and had a great time.
We were surprised that we got such great seats. We sat just 10 rows back from the stage. We could see the dancers perfectly and even see their facial expressions. Sophie sat there just loving every moment of it.
The boys were great through the first act. They watched with wide eyes as the Nutcracker fights the many headed mouse king. The intermission went a little long. It was supposed to only be 10 minutes but ended up being about 20. We were told to expect delays since this was a dress rehearsal. But the boys weren't as attentive through the second act as a result. Ian kept talking through it and telling me what is shown on Fantasia when each song was played. I guess it is good that he is recognizing the music but it was rather distracting and he does not know how to whisper.
On the whole the performance was great. I was very grateful my husband was able to take the morning off to go with us. He headed off to work after the show and we stopped off at the Discovery Museum which was across the street from the Performing Arts Center. The kids had a very busy day and we were all worn out by the end. I am so happy they were able to see this Ballet performance and hope they remember it for a long time. Sophie is so excited to tell her ballet teacher about it tomorrow at her dance class.