Music Appreciation on the Lawn {Pacific Symphony Orchestra} 7-26-13

So this was a fun little outing that was planned last minute. I saw online around 2pm that the Pacific Symphony Orchestra was going to be performing outside in Costa Mesa and there was going to be a conducting lesson and instrument petting zoo starting at 5:30pm with a first time ever outside performance at 7pm.
I called Robert who was at work and asked him if he would like to go and the kids and I could pick him up on the way. Robert said, sounds fun so the prep began. I only told the kids that we were going to have a picnic with daddy after we picked him up from work. Then I decided to make some oatmeal cookies to surprise daddy. Everyone was getting surprised! The kids didn't know where we were going and Robert didn't know about the cookies. ;) Fun stuff!
I got the cookies done and the kids together and got to Robert's work and then we headed to the Segerstrom Center in Costa Mesa. Totally forgot and didn't plan to pay for parking so we drove around (wasted time) to try to find free parking but ended up settling for $10 parking. We got on the lawn about 6:30pm and saw a few things. A cellist played for us and the kids all got batons (bendy straws) and learned how to conduct from the maestro who was going to be leading the orchestra that evening. Nathan still carries his baton with him. How cute is that!

So with all that said, here are some pictures from our night.

 Learning how to hold his "baton".

 Conductor in training.

 heehee little Monkey

After we ate the kids got a bit chilly so they ran on the grass for a bit and then we walked over to the info tent to see what cool things are happening this fall/winter and the rest of the summer. The kids liked the lights in the sidewalk and Blake was dancing so hard he kept falling down. haha it totally reminded me of that scene in Jungle Book where the monkey's are playing the music and Baloo can't help but dance. haha that was totally Blake with the music. :)

On the ride home Blake (who doesn't like to drive when it's dark) wasn't happy and wasn't going to make it home so we stopped in Anaheim to wait for the fireworks. It was good because last time we had made a trip to see the fireworks Domenic had fallen asleep so he was able to see them this time.

So that was a little fun "surprise" family outing. :)