Disney on Ice

Ashley waiting for the show to start.

In October, Mike and I decided it was time to try to take Ashley to a show. Disney on Ice was at the St. Pete Time forum and we were pretty sure that Mickey Mouse and TinkerBell were enough to keep her attention, and man were we right!

The Disney on Ice show this year featured Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, and Goofy as travelers visiting different parts of the world and was further broken down into four segments: The Lion King, The Little Mermaid, Lilo and Stitch, and Peter Pan.

Ashley has not seen the Lion King yet, but she loves Lions, so she enjoyed most of the Lion King but it seemed to lose her attention early.

The Little Mermaid was great and totally kept her attention for the whole thing. She loves Ariel! Ashley recognized her as soon as she hit the stage and got a huge smile on her face. The costumes were great! Disney really did a great job!

None of us had seen Lilo and Stitch before, but Ashley seemed to enjoy it and sat still for most of it. After Lilo, there was an intermission, and then came the longest part of the show, Peter Pan.

Ashley waiting for TinkerBell!

Ashley has not seen Peter Pan either, but she is very familiar with TinkerBell of course, so she LOVED it! She was so excited when Tinkerbell came on stage, she got a huge smile on her face and started yelling "Hi! Tinkybell! There she is!" It was so cute and it was so worth the expense. It was a great day and I can't wait to take her to another show!

Gymnastics

Ashley started gymnastics almost two months ago. So far, she is loving it (and so am I)! We go for an hour on Saturday mornings. She is in a class with other 2 and 3 year olds.

Until she is 3, Mike or I have to be out on the floor with her. Usually I go with her while Mike watches from the observation deck.

Sometimes she's a little fussy at first, but once she gets going, she has a blast. The instructor does a little warm up with the kids, then moves them on to three or four different obstacle courses using balance beams, a trampoline, cart wheel mats, wedges, a toddler sized bar, and sometimes even the rings!
She loves to do forward rolls and can already do them on the floor by herself without the use of the wedge mat! Sometimes, when she does them on the mat, she gets to excited and goes too fast. Last week she hopped up on the wedge and immediately went into a forward roll but didn't realize she was not in the center of the mat and she did her roll off the side of the mat and was about an inch away from hitting another mother standing there!
She also loves to go on the rings and the bars. She can't wait to get through the obstacle course for her turn at the bars again!
The balance beam is another of her favorites, I think we're gonna get her a beam for christmas so she can practice at home. The gym has a really cute pink one that sits on the floor and folds when not in use so it's easier to store.

Since we've been going, we've noticed she listens to us better and follows directions a little more, so that's an added bonus to getting her involved in being physically active. I try to practice with her at home a few nights a week after dinner. I got her a Cabbage Patch Kids hopscotch mat that she uses to practice her bunny and frog hops. It helps me get moving too, lol!