The Ugly Duckling

One of the benefits of living so close to Santa Clara University is the ability to take advantage of shows they have on campus. Last Friday evening, there was a production of "The Ugly Duckling" performed by the California Theater Center at the Louis B. Mayer Theater on the Santa Clara campus. It's not our first production we've watched on campus. When Lauren was smaller we took her to a production of "Goodnight Moon", and more recently I went on a field trip with Lauren's kindergarten class as a chaperone to a production of "I don't want to go to bed" also performed by the California Theater Center (but we watched the production at the Sunnyvale Community Center Theater).

The Ugly Duckling show basically took the story by Hans Christian Anderson and turned it into a musical production for little kids. Before the event, they had face painting and origami for the kids, and afterwards a Q&A session with the actors. Lauren seemed to enjoy most of the show, and she recognized one of the actresses from the "I don't want to go to bed" production.

We spent the day Saturday doing some light shopping at the Great Mall in Milpitas, and were surprised to find out there was a kids event going on there at the same time. They have a kids club you can join for $5 a year, and that club was hosting a Disney celebration, called "Minnie's Masquerade" apparently for an episode of a Disney show of the same name that's airing today. The event let the kids make their own crowns and face mask, and watch episodes of Mickey's club house, along with raffles for prizes. We didn't stay for the raffle, but Lauren did join the club and got to make a face mask. For joining she also got a t-shirt, lollipop, Strawberry Shortcake doll (that included a DVD of the show), and some other assorted toys.

On Sunday, we invited Marie and the girls over for dinner and the girls had a fun time playing together. They've gotten to the point where they don't want adults around when they play so they tend to lock themselves in Lauren's bedroom, where we can overhear them playing pretend games (you know games where you pretend to be a princess, doctor, etc).

In other family news, last Wednesday, I was invited to dinner with my dad's cousin Michael and with my mom's friend Nancy. They asked my aunt Lih-ping to arrange the dinner, so we had it a China Stix, our old trusty standby for family events and one of Lauren's favorite restaurants. I took Lauren with me to the dinner so she could have her favorite pork and tofu dish. Aunt Lih-ping also gave her an easter basket, so she was quite happy. The stuffed bunny rabbit has been one of her constant companions since the dinner. Both Michael and Nancy seem to be doing well, and was nice to catch up with them.