In the last week I was given the opportunity to get tickets in exchange for a blog review to two very different events: Arenacross (motorcycle racing) and the Denver Children’s Theater version of Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse. I knew that my four year old would go nuts for both of those events, but I also knew that I was not the person to take him to a motorcycle race. Ummm…..no. Not so much.
So off he went on a special Daddy Date to watch motorcycle races. We have made an effort since my husband started his general surgery residency to send them on Daddy Dates, because a resident work schedule is brutal, which is hard on all of us, but especially little ones who don’t understand why Daddy always “wants” to be at the hospital instead of at home. Sigh. If only they knew.
Anyway, usually the “Daddy Dates” consist of grabbing frozen yogurt or maybe a round of mini-golf. Woohoo! Getting wild. So to say that this was the ULTIMATE Daddy Date would be a drastic understatement. He was pretty crazy-pumped. To say the least.
I love these two together.
So off they went to gorge themselves at Five Guys prior to some serious motorcycle race watching. I was so jealous! Luckily for me, while they were gone I got the email offering me tickets to the Mommy Date. More on that in a moment. Callum was so exhausted from the fast racing excitement that he fell asleep in the car and I had to wait until the next day to hear all about the Arenacross excitement.
It is hard to get a clear review from a four year old boy, but he loved it. I mean, he loved it enough to sit through two hours of watching it before he started to get even the slightest bit restless. That is nothing short of miraculous! He loved the setting, the concessions, the speed, the “big jumps and bumps,” the crashes, and the little boys. That’s right: the little boys. Apparently there was an age 4-8 division of racers on tiny motorcycles racing around the track, and now my son is obsessed with getting his own motorcycle. Keep dreaming, kid.
Here is the “honey badger motorcycle rider outfit” that he wore out on a bike ride around the neighborhood the next day. I can only imagine what our neighbors must think of us. Heehee.
The overall verdict: Best Daddy Date EVER! If there is an Arenacross race that comes through your town do your men (or girls if they are into motorcycles!) a favor and send them on a Daddy Date to see it as well!
And then came the Mommy Date. As I mentioned in my pre-Date post, I used to teach elementary school, and Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse, along with all of the other Kevin Henkes picture books, was one of my favorites to read to my class. The kids loved it! So I was really excited to take Callum to see this play!
The night before the play we talked about how we dress up to go to the theater because it is a special, fancy event, and then I read him the picture book. He was completely enchanted and amused by the story, so we brought it along with us the next day and read it again while we were waiting for the play to begin. It turns out the play was actually a mixture of Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse and Julius, Baby of the World, also by Kevin Henkes. I wish I had known that ahead of time, but we read it when we got home and he loved that as well.
My handsome boy.
He loved the play. He giggled at the “mice” and paid very close attention to the story. The actors were really fun and convincing, and he was very intrigued that Lilly also had a time out chair and enjoyed playing dress-up and going to school. However, he was very concerned that she didn’t like her baby brother Julius (until the end, that is) and kept calling him a “germ.” Callum turned to me several times throughout the play and said, “Mommy, Jade likes me. And I like her. It is good to be nice to babies.” Man, I love that boy!
On the way home I asked him what his favorite part of the play was and he said it was when the mouse family was all together because that is his favorite thing. Ummm……melt my mother heart, why don’t you?!
I must say that I highly recommend this play for parents and young kids. It was really well done and is based on two of my favorite picture books. If you live in the Denver area you should definitely consider attending it with your little ones! It runs through mid-April, and you can find the ticket and location details in my original post.
All in all, I believe that both Mommy and Daddy each got a pretty perfect special date with our boy. He is so fun and so sweet, and we never get enough one-on-one time with him between my husband’s busy schedule and Jade’s arrival in our family. I am so grateful for the opportunity that I had to get tickets to these two very different but very fun events!
And what about Callum? What was his final verdict, you ask? Which one wins out: Daddy Date or Mommy Date? Well, he may just grow up to be a politician, because when I asked him that question he responded in his high little four year old voice by saying, “Ummm…..they were both really special. They were not the same, but they were both good.” Yeah, ok, honey. We all know you’re still dreaming about those motorcycles. 😉
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