It’s hard to believe it’s Friday already. Time sure did fly this week, and I can’t help but think all our plans and experiences accelerated things.

Today is officially our last day of the Spring Break Staycation, but we have quite a weekend planned with the circus on Sunday and possibly a movie Saturday night! I can’t help myself. I just love doing things!

Anyway, today started a little shaky. The 7-Year-Old wasn’t feeling too well and I was worried he wasn’t going to have a good time. He just wanted to veg on the couch playing video games and even asked if he could bring the iPad in the car on the way to the city. My response was:

“Why don’t you take the camera and you can snap some shots on our way.”

He immediately perked up and was excited to play with my camera again.

I must admit, it’s nice to have another picture taker in the family!

By the time we got into the city he was moping again.

So I told him to take my picture.

Which started a back and forth face making photo-fest.

And just like that, the grumpy 7-year-old was no more. We got out of the car and headed to the Meyerhoff.

Oh! I didn’t tell you where we were going, did I?

I decided to do something out of my ordinary and see the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. They have concerts during the day designed for kids, and today it was “Peter and the Wolf.”

I honestly had no idea what to expect, so this was an adventure for both of us. We arrived and the 7-year-old was immediately intrigued.

We were up in the box seats and someone REALLY liked the soft cushy seats.

The show started with that famous part of the “William Tell Overture” they play at horse races. It, of course, got all of the kids’ attention.

Then they brought a singer to perform Aaron Copland’s “I Bought Me a Cat,” which I never heard before! Apparently it’s a folk song from Kentucky that Copland arranged for piano and a solo singer. Like “Old MacDonald,” each verse introduces a new animal, and the singer makes the animal’s sound.

Very fun for the kids!

Then they played “Dance of the Little Swans” by Tchaikovsky.

All of the pieces were introduced by a wonderful narrator named Rheda Becker who gave great insight and kept the attention of the kids. 

She transitioned right into “Peter and the Wolf” and was joined by the Bob Brown Puppets to act out the story.

Someone was mesmerized.

About 3/4 of the way through, he turned to me and said, “I like this!”

And so did I. It was very entertaining!

Our official review:

Definitely a thumbs up and worth $6 a ticket! That’s all it was, technically putting today’s total to $12, $1 over my budget of $150 for the week. However, I, Ms. Dingbat, forgot about parking, which cost me $2 in the meter, really putting me at $153 total for the week. Still, not bad for all we have accomplished and experienced. Money well spent if you asked me.

We headed out of the hall, and Ryan asked if we could go for lunch. I explained to him that we spent all our money for the week and that if he wanted to do that he’d have to work it off later. So we agreed on 2 specific chores so we can “earn” lunch.

I’m not sure if that was the right thing to do but I really didn’t want to stop hanging out with this guy in the city.

We were having so much fun!

So we went to a pizza joint a few blocks away and someone stole the camera again.

Our pizza came and we enjoyed a nice lunch together.

The perfect ending to our perfect week.

Officially I’m $10.50 over budget but I got a bathroom and living room cleaning out of the deal. Not a bad trade. ;)

Click here to see what we did on Day 4