Hanging out with dinosaurs

Walking with Dinosaurs Live made a stop in town over the weekend. As luck would have it, Travel Zoo had a great discount on tickets. If you have never checked out the travel zoo website, I highly recommend it. We have been able to find some good deals on anything from hotels to theater tickets. http://www.travelzoo.com/ I was able to score 4 tickets for less than $100. What frustrates me on any of these live performances, are all of the ticket fees that get added on. The tickets were $16 each, but after this fee and that fee, they ended up totally about $24 each.

Let me start by saying that we tried to see this show the last time they were in town. That was in 2008, right after we moved here. Noah was pretty much home bound. His anxiety was severe enough that it prevented us from doing very much. But we always tried. We took the kids to the show back then, hoping that the appeal of the dinosaurs would keep Noah in his seat. No chance. He bolted almost immediately, so one parent sat with Nik, while the other parent sat with Noah in the lobby of Sprint Center.

So flash forward to this weekend, we decided to give it a try. Noah seemed a little apprehensive. The day of the show, he talked about being scared when he was little. We reminded him that those days were behind him, but that we would pack his headphones just in case.

The tickets were the least expensive seats, so I was fully prepared to be in nose bleed territory. But they were actually good seats. We were 21 rows back from the stage.

And Noah seemed pretty calm. Maybe the popcorn and cotton candy had something to do with that.

If you are familiar with the Walking with Dinosaurs tv series from BBC, you know that it took you right into the world of dinosaurs, along with paleontologist Nigel.  Well for the live show, we didn't get Nigel. We got some other dude. I forgot his name. But the show did a great job explaining what life would have been like.

Dinosaur and dude not named Nigel.

Of course, there were lots of opportunities to see what happens when herbivore meets carnivore. 

And volcano eruptions.

The show took us through the 3 ages of dinosaurs; Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous. Some of the dinosaurs were small, and I could tell that there was a person inside. The larger ones were controlled by people and remote control. They were quite big.

  

A flying pterosaur even made an appearance.

And of course, the vicious velociraptor. 

And for the finale, T Rex made an appearance.

Mama T Rex came in to rescue her baby.

We all really enjoyed the show. And I loved that Noah could verbalize and be proud of the fact that this was something he could not do a few years ago. Way to go, Noah! We really cheer on these moments. Never let these moments pass, without acknowledging the struggles to get there. It makes these days that much more sweet. 

It's beauty box time!

I recently subscribed to a monthly beauty box service. For $12 a month, Beauty Box five will ship you a small box filled with five different beauty care items. Who doesn't like getting new make-up to try out?  Each box contained at least a couple items that I really liked. And it also had at least one item that I wouldn't have normally tried, but still liked.

Here is what I received in my September beauty box. The theme was called Balancing Act.

1 Eyelight crayon, 2 packs of deep conditioner and co-wash, toe spacers (to apply nail polish), 1 nail polish, and 1 mascara.

First, the mascara. Revlon Bold Lacquer length and volume mascara in black. Retail value is $7.99, but I have seen it at Target for cheaper than that. It has a nice, long brush. I have been using it for a month. It doesn't clump of flake. While it lengthens my lashes,  it doesn't really make them look thick enough. I like thick lashes, since I wear glasses all day. So I have been applying a top coat of mascara made by Too Faced. Perfect!

This is the Nicka K New York Eyelight crayon. Retail value is $4.49. I don't know how this would look as an eyeliner. But I used it today to make a smokey eye look. I just applied it over eyeliner, and smudged it a bit with one of my eyeshadow brushes. I will definitely use this again.

And the nail polish, by My Beauty Spot, retail value of $24.99. I don't know anyone who would pay that much for nail polish. I have never heard, or seen this nail polish in the store. But I would never pay that price for it. I have no idea what the color is, but it is very pretty. It's a nice, thick formula, so it's easy to apply. But it has a very strong odor. 

Final comments for the September box: I definitely got my $12 worth. The eyeliner and mascara alone made it worth the price.

Now on to October's box.

The theme for this month was Effortless Allure

1 chapstick, 1 lip stain, 1 cosmetic tool, 1 nail polish, and yet another mascara.

Ok, so they gave the same mascara in the October box. The. Same. Mascara. That bothers me. I don't mind getting another mascara, but I wish it was a different brand. 

This is the lip and cheek stain. I tested it on my hand, but it's a bit faint. It's just a nice, delicate pink. I applied it to my lips. It's a nice, creamy lip stain. It doesn't have any odor or flavor. Retail value is $19.99, but I have seen it for around $9. 

I also tested out the nail polish. You can see the color on the card above. Nanacoco in Mermaid Lake, retail value is $3.95. The color is very pretty. And it didn't have the weird scent that the September polish had. 

The Chapstick was retailed at $2.99. I've never seen this particular Chapstick before. It has 2 sides. The light blue cap contains a moisturizing lip balm. The other side contains a renewing lip balm. According to the package, the renewing side will "revitalize lips". I tried it, since my lips are chapped. It does what it's supposed to. 

The last item was something called an Extend Your Beauty tool. It's like a tiny little spatula, and is meant to be used in tubes and bottles where you only have a bit of product remaining. You use the spatula to get the last bit of product out of the bottle.  Retail value is $5.49. I have never seen it in a store before, but it seems like a handy little tool. 

Over all, I would say that I got my money's worth in the October box. The items would definitely have been more than $12 in the store. I will definitely use the polish, lip stain, and lip balm. And eventually, I will use the other mascara. Again. I hope November's box does not include the same mascara. But I am excited to see what is in the box this month.

Interested in subscribing? Here's a link. 

http://www.beautybox5.com/?u=19681