Matilda the Musical

Antonio, formerly known as AJ, blew the whole family away this evening with his performance as Bruce in Matilda the Musical produced by Elevate Productions. From the cake-eating scene to the rather melancholy "When I Grow Up" to the high-energy rock star of "Revolting Children," Antonio, formerly known as AJ, gave it his all. It actually felt like the audience would pop to its feet if "Revolting Children" went on any longer. And Antonio, formerly known as AJ, really got a cake, I'm mean kick, out of all the "chocolate cake" (Hostess cupcakes) the family drowned him in after the show. One show down, three to go...

4/24/2023 Update: This production of Matilda received Silver for Best of the Springs 2022!

Earlier in rehearsal...

Fina became his make-up person.

Showered with more chocolate cake!

He asked if anyone was bringing a sign, so Fina made one!

Fina Tours CUDenver

Dad and Papa went with Fina to tour CUDenver. Bottomline: Fina loves the med program they have there, and the fantastic success rate they have getting students into med school (97%). But, she was a little disappointed in the campus, the set up, the vibe. She will apply. All the photos from today's tour are here.

The CUDenver mascot is the Lynx.

The foreground buildings are part of CU Denver

The oldest building on campus was originally a synagogue.
Today, it's an art gallery.

Three schools share these acres and some facilities:
Metro State University
Community College of Denver
University of Colorado Denver (CUDenver)

Tivoli Square, a student union of sorts,
for all three schools.

Birthday Dinner

It was "All Play" at the Club for Fina's birthday dinner!

Sporting their necklaces!

That's a lot of candles for a little cheesecake.

Doctor Party

Birthday Breakfast for Fina turned into a medical ward this morning, and a good thing, too, what with all the sugar available! Tonight it's dinner at the Club, all play.

Colorado College

Fina had her first "official" college visit the other day to Colorado College, right here in Colorado Springs. She and her Dad were quite impressed (despite the pronoun badges). In the meantime, Nana and Papa visited the Club for breakfast; it had been a while. They've engineered the best avocado toast! Plans are afoot to do some furniture rearranging, all to get the piano moved from the theatre area over to Papa's office. Already a coffee table has made it from Papa's office to the big family room by the kitchen and a stressless chair to Matt's office. And Matteo got to go fishing today; it's been a little while. Wow, was Palmer Lake busy! All of the parking lot was full and cars were parked along County Line Road. He caught four fish.

Colorado Renaissance Festival

Today was the day to head out to the Colorado Renaissance Festival held in Larkspur, CO (just up the road from us). Fina's been working since early summer with some of her friends, first making jewelry for one of the booth owners, and then working the booth, too, once the Festival started. It was a photo-rich environment. All the "Ren Faire" photos are here.

The "Living Fountain" was pretty cool.

It tried to rain on us. Fina to the rescue.