Big Girl Dates

Last weekend we took Reaghan to see her first play! A couple years ago I probably would've said it would be a little ridiculous to take a 3 year old to a play. Even as I type that I think it sounds crazy, a 3 years old at a Broadway "type" play?! But I'm so glad we went. Reaghan and her cousin Brooklyn are really into Lion King right now, it is one of their favorite movies, So when we saw through our zoo membership that the Hurrah Players {a family theater group based in Hampton Roads}were putting on this play and we could get a discount on tickets with our zoo passes, we thought it would be fun to take them!

We've been trying to have special "big girl dates" with Reaghan every now and then since Lilly was born. Usually it is a daddy daughter date somewhere... sometimes its spending special one on one time with mommy to do nails or crafts... more recently I took her to the movies just the two of us and we had a fun little girls night! Anyways, this was an extra special big girl date because it was with mommy AND daddy while Lilly stayed home with Uncle Noah. :)

Reaghan loves to get dressed up so she got to wear a pink dress {pink is her favorite color}, a necklace, bracelet and pretend makeup.

The theater was next to the mall so we took Reaghan in to get some pizza before the show.

Our fancy little girl doesn't like fancy food. Really the only food she eats from restaurants is pizza and french fries so pizza was clearly the winner for a special dinner together. 

We met up with Cousin Brooklyn, Aunt Ann and Mark's parents after dinner to walk to the theater together. 

Aunt Ann got us great seats when she booked the tickets. Front row of the balcony. 

Reaghan loved the play so much! She watched intently through the whole thing {2 hours with a small intermission} and never got bored or antsy. 

We weren't supposed to take pictures during the play but she clapped so emphatically after every scene that I couldn't resist capturing some of that excitement! The pictures is dark and at a weird angle because I was trying to be sneaky! ;) 

I tried to snap a few more as the lights came on at intermission while she was still clapping.

The Timon and Pumbaa characters were a riot. Pumbaa's costume was almost like a puppet with someone inside moving its mouth, but Timon was just an actor in a fuzzy one piece suit {does that make sense?} my favorite Reaghan comment on the play was regarding their costumes... 

"Mom! they had a REAL Pumbaa! Buuuttt they didn't have a real Timon. But thats okay."

 haha Good catch Reaghan.

The quality of the play was actually really good and Mark said fairly comparable to the New York broadway play, just done on a smaller scale obviously. {I've never seen the real thing, but he did when he was in highschool!}. I don't know if its every 3 year old's thing to sit through a 2 hour play but it was right up Reaghan's alley. I know she's still so little and her memories of this time will be sketchy as she grows older, but I hope this one sticks. I know I'll always treasure this special night with my "big" girl and her daddy. <3