Ballet !

Haley and I had our second Mother-Daughter date at the Ballet. It was performed at the Opera House in Budapest, Hungary. Do we look ready for a three hour Ballet?

Look how beautiful the building is! The entire building seemed like a work of art, an endless canvass.

The "Head" ballerina. Whatever they call her. She was wonderful! Haley said, "Mom! She looks just like Jen! Wait a minute. Is that her?" From then on out, we were both convinced that she was Jen Harper. Her mannerisms, how graceful she was, how beautiful she looked, her facial expressions...I even think she has a green dress that looks like that! I wish I had a better close up to show you.

The cast of "Gone with the Wind." Or is it a company? Poor Haley has an uneducated mother about everything to do with Dance. Where is Jen, Jamie, Brooke, AnneMarie, and Melissa when I need them?

The other daughter that came with us. Mary is such a great example for Haley.

The four sistas out on a girl's night out at the Ballet.

Look how cool the ceiling is? And that chandelier?? Wow!

I have never been to a professional Ballet before, so when my friend called me and asked if I wanted to go, I jumped at the chance to go. Not only did I go, I took Haley with me despite knowing that it would end at 10pm on a school night. (You can judge me later.) It was sooo worth it and you can't teach a cultural experience like this one at school. Haley was mesmerized the entire 3 hours! (minus the last ten minutes that she fell asleep. Again, it was totally worth it and I even let Haley be late to school the next day to make up for the missed sleep. oh shush!) It was a Ballet called, "Gone With the Wind," so it was based on the American book/movie.

After arriving and getting our balcony seats (for $6!!!) I leaned over to the other ladies and whispered, "I have a confession. I've never read or even seen Gone With the Wind!" You should have seen their faces! I got the same reaction from my sister-in-laws when I told them I had never seen Pride and Prejudice. Disbelief? Disgust maybe? But definitely a look of bewilderment. (Dropped jaw) What the? How could you have not seen it!! (I got to see Pride and Prejudice at my-in-law's home, by the way, for the first time the summer we lived in their home just after Haley was born after their insisting.) Thanks girlies! Now I have a motivation to see this movie. The only thing I know about this movie is the notable last line...

"Frankly my dear, I don't give a ... darn." To my defense, while others were watching the classic girlie movies while growing up, I had a father who watched all the Clint Eastwood westerns, Indiana Jones movies, pus all the action/adventure beat em' up-shoot em' up movies that my brothers and dad used to love. Rocky, Terminator, War movies galore, etc. etc. Many giving me nightmares to this day and will probably never make it into our own movie collection, but there you go. Now you know why.

So the Ballet was that much cooler now that I have a daughter that is completely girlie and that I can see her joy in the show. She knows more about Ballet than I do. She was telling me all her moves. I told her that next time I will have to take Maleia and she cried thinking that she wouldn't be there too. Next time we'll just get a Matinee so the whole family can go. Right B? ... B? :) Have you ever seen Home Improvement? Jill tries so hard sooo many times for Tim to take her to the Ballet and he tries to avoid it like the plague and even brings in a portable TV to watch football instead of watching the Ballet when she finally finagles him into going. I can picture B doing this.

Okay, since I'm on a roll of confessions. I have yet another confession: I have never seen Steel Magnolias or Little Women! (gasp!!) :)

Thanks Haley for a great night. I love spending time with you and our great talks were so fun tonight. "Wow mom. It sure looks like they 'prasticed' a whole lot. Maybe even for years!" Thanks for teaching me some Ballet and I was glad to answer all your fun questions. "Is he really dead, or is he pretending? Will he stop dancing now, or will he come back as a different person?" "What is war?"

We will definitely have to go and see The Nuckracker Ballet that they show EVERY year during December.