Toy Story 3 on Ice

That's right. You read that. Buzz Lightyear and Woody on ice skates. Funniest concept ever. Last Thursday, our friend Jacen (whose house we stayed at during Ike) called to announce that his girlfriend Marina now had two extra tickets to see Toy Story 3 on ice because he had been called out on a flight. Marina's nephew no longer wanted to go since Jacen wouldn't be there. I'm so happy they thought of us because Aiden LOVED IT.

I was a little worried about how things would go since I had to wake Aiden up from his nap early so we could get there on time. He did really well until the last 10 minutes of the drive into Houston (it was held at the same place as the Houston Rodeo and the Texas Bowl this year). Thankfully he calmed down as soon as we got out of the bus. And by bus, I mean Marina's brand new Nissan Armada. That thing is a MONSTER. It seems like it should be required to have a special license to drive a vehicle so large.

I digress... When we plopped into our seats 15 minutes before the show was set to start we decided to get some grub. Since the girls (Marina, Marina's niece, Marina's niece's friend and Marina's niece's friend's mom - got it?) had to go to the bathroom, Aiden and I kept watch over our gear while they went to get us refreshments. Even before the show started, Aiden was in awe. He sat in his seat and just soaked it all in. The high ceilings, the far wall, all the people, all the people holding souvenirs with BUZZ ON THEM. Oh sheesh. He kept trying to grab the woman's slushy in the seat behind him because the cup was a giant Buzz head. It sort of looked like she was eating his brains out of the top of his head because it was a red slushy.

When the show started, Aiden just stared, open-mouthed. When Mickey Mouse came out (he gave an intro to the show), Aiden started screaming, "Kickey! Kickey!" and pointed at the giant mouse on skates. Then it was back to open mouthed staring while the toy soldiers came out and did their bit. But the second the main Toy Story characters came out, he was back to screaming names. After about 20 minutes, he caught on that you are supposed to clap and holler at the end of each scene.

Beautiful Marina and her niece Arian

The show itself was so funny. Between the giant characters skating around and Aiden's reaction, I was crying because I kept laughing so hard.

The Claaaaawwwww!

Barbie and Ken were the only male-female duo, so they had quite a few routines together. Ken had a plastic "wig" on and Barbie's hair was HUGE. Her skates looked like pink heels and when Ken skated he "walked" just like the character in the movie. Even his legs were a little shiny, like they were made of plastic.

Seriously, look at how ridiculous this is.

Despite Buzz's ability to do flips, I was most impressed with Ham (the piggy bank). I am almost completely certain that there was one person in that thing, skating on hands AND feet. Every once in a while, he would do a wheelie (for lack of a better term) that would be impossible if there were two people inside. I'm pretty sure there were two people inside Slink (the dog) and Bullseye (the horse). Ice skating is hard. I can only imagine what it's like with a giant potato costume on.