Lion King in Kansas City

This morning we got up to pack for our drive back to Kansas City. It was sad to leave. But we got good news that Vavo and Vavu will be traveling to Sacramento next week to stay for a couple of weeks for Retrovaille! So we’re happy that we will be able to see them again soon.

Vavu made us some breakfast, then we left, saying goodbye to Vavo, Vavu and Uncle Howie. The drive to Kansas City is about 3.5 hours. We only stopped once, for lunch at Subway. So we made good time. We checked in at the Radisson then headed upstairs to take a nap. Next thing we knew, it was time to head out for dinner, then to the Music Hall to see Disney’s The Lion King!

We were all very excited as we drove through downtown Kansas City – seeing the signs for the show and the large convention center area where the Music Hall resides. We went inside and headed straight for the souvenir stand – where we purchased the soundtrack (gotta love reliving all the Disney experiences at home through music), some coloring pages and a magnet. We took our playbills and went to our seats. We were sitting in the orchestra level, so we had a great view. And even more fortunate was that each of the boys were seated behind another child, so they could see well, too.

The boys were well behaved throughout the show. They were quite interested in what was going on. The would ask us questions periodically. Sometimes the music was so loud that we were able to answer them straightaway. Other times, they had to hold on until later. Jeremy kept asking why Scar fell off the cliff at the end. Aiden wanted to know if he could practice his roar. He showed off this roar to Maria and Andrew, as well as some of the employees that help with the crowd control and seating. They thought he was cute. :-)

It was nice that we were able to sit and enjoy the show because the kids were paying so much attention. It was beautiful both in sound and sight. The music was moving, and the costumes were very creative and elaborate. They were artistic renditions of the animals, and you could actually see the actors manipulating the characters almost like living marionettes. It was really cool to both see the facial expressions of the actors as well as the overall look of the animal they were portraying. Especially impressive were Scar and Mufasa, as their masks stood up above their heads, but were able to drop down for emphasis or when they got on all fours.

We left the hall around 11pm. The boys were tired, but happy. Aiden said he liked the show more than the movie. That was pretty impressive, as usually a cartoon wins out over live action for the boys at this age. When we got back to the hotel, Aiden asked to hear the music we bought. So we played it for them on the laptop while they got ready for bed. And they were singing along!

Speaking of singing along...one little anecdote to add before signing off. And this isn’t a very flattering tale to tell, but it’s funny...so here it is. We were listening to the iPod on the drive back to the hotel, and “Hand in My Pocket” by Alanis Morissette came on. Aiden really likes that song for some reason. He piped up, “that’s the hand in my pocket song”! As he was listening, when she said, “I’ve got one hand in my pocket and the other one’s giving a peace sign”, he asked what a peace sign was. We showed him and then he knew what it was. Then later in the song, there’s one bad word that usually the boys don’t seem to notice. She sings, “I’m brave but I’m chicken sh*t.” Well this time, Aiden picked up what she said. He started laughing, and told us, “hahaha...she said chicken sh*t.” Oops. He even repeated it one more time. Guess stuff doesn’t slip by them as easily anymore. Hopefully he won’t think about it again. The boys really think the word chicken is funny for some reason, so anything with the word chicken stands out for them. If Jeremy doesn’t know what to say, he’ll just say, “chicken!” As in, “Jeremy, what time is it”? Jeremy responds: “It’s chicken!” Or he’ll tack it on to the end of a statement like, “No thank you... chicken!” :-)

Jeremy on the drive from Arkansas to Kansas City

Aiden on the drive from Arkansas to Kansas City

On the road again!

Driving over the Missouri River into downtown KC

We weren't allowed to take photos during the production. But after, we asked someone to take our pic in front of the stage. It didn't turn out to be very useful, as it's blurry and you cannot see the stage. Oh well. We know what it was!

Aiden working on his ROAR!