A Night on the Town!

Tonight was a pretty special Friday night for everyone!  We started off with Brandon picking up the kids and bringing them to meet me at Red Hat Tower.  They were so cute when I found them playing in the lobby, both in their hockey t-shirts!  Best sight in the world, after a tough day at the office.  We got dinner together at Dickey’s BBQ, and ate way too much–but still managed to find a little room for the free vanilla soft-serve. 😉  Brian was both intrigued and a little skeptical of the dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets, but Kendall just wolfed them down, along with fried okra and hush puppies.  We’re not going to win any parent-of-the-year awards for the deep-fried madness of it all, but hey, we usually don’t eat like that.  She also liked the green beans and barbecue beans (she’s so adorable when she yells out “bean!” with such excitement.  She also does that for black beans, green peas, baked beans, cannellini, and edamame–that’s my girl!  So glad she has a diverse palate.)  Brian liked the coloring sheets they had, and created one of his own–he wanted to hang it up in the store with the others, and was so proud when the staff gave him some tape and said he could put it wherever he wanted. 🙂

Our dinner adventure was just the beginning, and afterward, we paired off for the rest of the evening’s activities.  Brian and I headed over to Meymandi to see the NC Symphony perform a selection of John Williams’s movie classics (including, you guessed it, a number of pieces from Star Wars!)  After going to the Sci-Fi Spectacular, Brandon and I felt bad that Brian missed out on seeing his favorite movie music performed live, and especially that he missed out on the costumes of the 501st Legion.  So, when we saw that they’d be doing a John Williams show on a Friday night and the 501st would be in attendance, we knew we had to take him!  We arrived early enough to have a couple photo-ops, which was really exciting for Brian!  We saw a good number of characters, including some Jedi masters, Princess Leia, a Stormtrooper..  He was a little nervous about Lord Vader at first, but he eventually came around, walking right up to him and saying he needed to ask him some questions. 🙂  Unfortunately for Darth, Brian was talking about a funny moment from a Lego Star Wars special, and I think he might not have understood!  But he listened intently, and told Brian that the Force was strong with him, he could feel it!  Brian seemed to like that. 🙂  Even though he got past his hesitation about Darth Vader, Brian refused to go anywhere near the Imperial Guard, but he did offer to take my picture beside him (or her)!

Once the show got underway, I realized that the Star Wars music would be at the end, and started to worry that Brian might lose interest before then..!  But, he did really well, being a good sport and enjoying the themes from movies he hasn’t seen yet, like Indiana Jones, Harry Potter, ET, Close Encounters, etc.  There were a few wiggles and questions about when the Star Wars stuff was coming up, but overall, he did great.  During intermission we enjoyed an overpriced cookie and bottle of water, and then it was time for….!  Fiddler on the Roof.  But after that… We finally got to Star Wars, and I think it was everything that Brian hoped for.  They played five pieces from the different Star Wars movies, and Brian watched and listened intently.  Sometimes, he couldn’t help but pop out of his seat, and he even quietly acted out some scenes at the right points in the music.  He played multiple parts, turning this way and that, to be the different characters.  I worried that he might be bothering the folks around us, but they didn’t seem to mind.  Some of the memorable moments he recreated were the medal ceremony, the time Luke shouts “No!” as Obi-Wan is defeated and the Millenium Falcon escapes, and to the delight of myself and the other folks around us, the unforgettable exchange between Han and Leia:  “I love you!”  “I know.”  Brian delivered the lines with such gravity for a little guy, I had to suppress a chuckle!  It really was adorable.  He wasn’t trying to be disruptive and really was fairly quiet about it, so I let him enjoy the show fully, in his own way.  After the house lights came up, our neighbors on his far side approached me to say what an excellent concert-goer he was, and how impressed they were with his manners, especially so late at night!  (The show started at his bedtime, and ended over 2 hours later!)  They also said that his dramatic performances were so fun, it just made their night.  That was so nice of those complete strangers, reassuring this mom that her decision to bring a wiggly Kindergartener to the symphony was a good one. 🙂  Brian said the only things he wished were different was that he wanted to see someone in an Emperor costume (wow, he must be feeling very brave after meeting Darth Vader!) and he wanted to hear the theme from the “Into the Death Star” scene.  In one of the pics he’s making his “scary Emperor” face. 😉

Brian and I thought that Brandon and Kendall would head on home after dinner, but after we texted them a photo of ourselves in the theatre, they replied with a shot of themselves in PNC Arena!  Brandon said he’d considered just not using our hockey tickets tonight, but then decided to go ahead and take Kendall to the game.  She had a lot of energy for it being so late, and she actually made it through the whole game, even into OT!  Brandon said that she very quickly learned to keep track of the puck, and based on the way she paid attention and pointed, he was pretty sure that she was understanding the game.  Brian was a little surprised that Kendall was at the game instead of him (it’s been a Daddy/Brian activity, for the most part!)  But he was okay with it, since he got to see the concert with me.  On the way out of the theater, it was dark and a little chilly, so Brian and I caught a bicycle rickshaw back to Red Hat Tower.  This was a pretty amazing experience for Brian, riding in a cart behind a bike on the street, after dark!  Brian whooped and cheered so much, the driver hammed it up for him, going extra fast, weaving through obstacles, even doing a couple donuts at a red light (he did check that no cars were oncoming!)  I didn’t get any pics since I was hanging on for dear life. 😉  But, we made it back safely and ended our night out on a super high note.  Even though we weren’t all together for part of it, we all had a really successful night on the town!