ME!! Because it’s ALWAYS the mom’s fault, boys and girls. We are on our third one-nighter in a row, driving right now from Fresno to Sacramento. Fresno was yucky. Sorry, Fresno-ans. But it was. And Bakersfield smelled like cow poop. I hope Sacramento will be nicer. In truth, we aren’t seeing much of these towns beside the view from the bus window, the inside of our hotel, and the inside of whatever arena the show is playing. At least the Fresno crowd REALLY liked the show and cheered their heads off. I think as we get closer to Christmas, the reception just gets warmer and warmer, which is really kind of nice. Also it seems like the smaller towns maybe appreciate us a little more. Or maybe it’s just that the last couple of cities have definitely been more excited than the LA crowd was.

You know what? LA is a weird place. We were there for 5 days, and I could NOT get my head around the personality of the city at all. When I was walking around the more crowded parts, I was thinking maybe it was a little like New York, where I am totally comfortable and happy. But it really isn’t, at all. The people are different, the energy is different, the priorities are different. I think part of it is a geographical thing – that whole part of the country is just so much more spread out. I’m not sure people have learned to deal with being right on top of each other the way New Yorkers are. I don’t know. I guess I would have to spend a whole lot more time there to figure it out.

As I write, I am realizing that I am really really behind and I’m not sure if I can write without trying to catch up at least a little. We last wrote from Wichita, where my precious angel son regaled the lot of you with stories of my digestion … Ahem. Anyway.

From Wichita, he and I took a quick and unexpected detour to New York, where he (once again!) came very very close to landing a pretty big role but ultimately didn’t land it. It was OK, a really good experience all in all, coincided perfectly with a day off, plus we got to see Jason Marks! Still… going from Wichita to Dallas/Ft. Worth to LaGuardia to the middle of New York City and then back to LaGuardia and then back to Dallas/Ft. Worth and then to Colorado Springs to catch up with the tour ALL IN LESS THAN 24 HOURS…. well, it was a little much.

Colorado Springs was cold when we got there, and the next day turned colder. A LOT COLDER. That day I didn’t catch the shuttle to the arena, but put Cooper on and walked over myself, a little later. I went to Target to buy myself a scarf and to get a gift for one of the kids on the tour (they are doing a Secret Santa thing, and I had to buy the gift when none of the kids were around). As I walked to the arena, I watched this incredible storm system blow in over the mountains and the temperature dropped about 30 degrees.

From Colorado Springs, we went on to Salt Lake City, where OUR WHOLE FAMILY WAS WAITING FOR US!! Boy, was that ever a joyful reunion. I though I would swoop up that baby boy first (OK, he’s almost 7, but he’s MY baby), but as it turned out I was hugged ferociously by my two teenage girls first, and that was awesome because they almost knocked me over with excitement and I hadn’t felt that loved in person for a really long time! THEN the baby hugging commenced, then the husband hugging, all of which was grand. Radio City/the hotel put on a lovely Thanksgiving dinner for all of us and our families, and the families had fun getting to know each other. We even had a game night in a boardroom on the 18th floor with Taboo and this other game called Mafia in which there was a killer, a nurse, a cop and a lot of dead villagers. I never did really understand it, but the kids liked it enough to play many, many rounds of it. I liked the part that involved putting our heads on the table with our eyes closed.

Also in SLC it SNOWED and was cold and beautiful. On Sunday morning, we walked a few blocks and got covered with snow on our way to listen to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. The tabernacle is beautiful, and the grandness of the whole thing was impressive. I always forget how much I love choral music, although I have to say the actual singing did not live up to what I’d imagined. Something about the soprano section in particular. Not that anyone asked. After that, we went to brunch and our tutor, Bernadette, met us there and ate with our family. I love her.

Saw the family off Monday morning and the kids did some schoolwork in the hotel that afternoon with Jason and Bernadette before heading over to the arena for the show. Next day we bussed to the Denver airport then flew to Phoenix, then shuttled to Glendale – where my mom was coming to visit us! We got there pretty early and we were right near a mall, so the boys went to see “Tangled,” and I hung around in the sunshine waiting for my mom to arrive. She got there soon enough and we got to have some mom/daughter time in the coffee shop before the movie let out. It was super fun to have her there, and good Mama/Gramma that she is, she arrived with Hanukkah gifts – although one had been UNWRAPPED by airport security because it was a potentially deadly book about the Pittsburgh Steelers. We think it was the dreidels on the wrapping paper that tipped off the authorities. Anyway. She loved the show – saw it once on a real ticket and then got to kind of smuggle in with me for part of another show. Shhhh.

Also in Glendale we got to see some wonderful family friends who moved to Phoenix from Richmond about 6 years ago. We went from cold Salt Lake City to sunny Glendale, and the hotel had an enormous (and heated – it wasn’t THAT warm) outdoor pool. We spent quite a lot of hours hanging out down there. That’s also where we saw Bernadette off, since we had to have one certified California studio teacher for the California portion of the tour. Our new tutor, Lynn, joined us in San Diego. We still got to keep Jason.

I am such a loser! Now it has been another whole week and I still haven’t posted a thing. I’m going to slap this up there and try to catch up later. In Boise right now – heading to Portland at 6 AM tomorrow, where we will finish up this madcap adventure in another 4 days.

wasup!
well as all of you know i have been very busy being a star and stuff so i’ll have to make this quick (eye-roll). i meant to blog a little more in des moines but now i’ve been in like, 50 states since then. and now i’m in Wicheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeta. (you know how that little red line goes under a word that is miss-spelled?? that was one huuuge red line). so, updates.
1) i just finished SALT. ultimate reaction? whatta? whatta happ-….whatta just happen??
2) while watchin SALT, i burned my tongue which made the experience of watching salt even more painful to understand; whatta? whatta happ-….whatta just happ- owww!
3) also…..AHHHHHHHH!!!!! I’m sorry guys! this is Holly now. i’m pretty sure that my super-loud bear-fart just blew Cooper out the window. well, at least now i’m blogging and you get to enjoy the thousands of exclamation points that i do every 3 seconds!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
4) i just got the new, updated version of this really good football app! (you can probably guess that coop is back in da house)
5) i got to go to the pool with Jared! tots fun
6) by the way, Wichita is a really ninja-like name so yay Kansas!
7) the show is SOOO FREAKIN GOOD!!!!! even back stage is awesomely fun! i would tell you all the good things about it but it probably wear out the hard drive.

now i must go!!! i’ll try to blog some more! good bye………..

We are traveling on our big white tour bus, like a wild band of country music singers, barreling down I-35 west en route to Wichita from Kansas City. I am listening to Parlour Shakedown (which freakin ROCKS and everybody should get a copy; they are for sure my favorite new boy band) and I’m eating a pop-tart pilfered from catering (well OK, it’s a cherry-pomegranate organic toaster pastry because Rockettes don’t eat actual pop-tarts) and drinking a $3.25 cup of coffee from the lobby. I am in a big cushy seat, the sun is shining, and not only do we have internet, but there is a blue butterfly sticker on my window that Libby, one of the stage managers, gave me. (She decorated the whole bus with them, actually.) 🙂

So I’m finding the touring life to be pretty OK, all things considered. I have a terrible time maintaining routine and predictability, but am pretty good at adapting to new stuff and winging it. So this kind of an adventure definitely plays to my strengths, other than a few bouts of EXTREME loneliness for Dave and the girls and especially Mason. Also I miss my dog, which kind of surprises me, and I miss seeing our big fat white bunny come bounding up to the gate when he thinks it’s mealtime, and I miss that squeaky little noise our three finches make, which always makes me think of somebody riding an old bicycle through the French countryside. Note: I do not miss Jessie the Gecko, nor Cinderella the cat (please don’t tell her that though, she’s already haughty and she will be SO offended). I can’t remember if we have any other pets. Which must mean I don’t miss them either.

But there are some things about touring that are a drag. For instance, the flying. Flying has gotten worse and worse over the years, as everybody knows. The seats are forever getting smaller, with less legroom, and there are fewer services, and even when you are on a flight that serves drinks, they give you one little cup of whatever and one tiny packet of pretzels. The magazine only gets changed monthly, and if someone has already done the Sudokus, nobody cares and they just stick the magazine back in the seat pouch. It’s JUST NOT FUN. But you wanna know what is REALLY not fun???? Pat-downs.

I’m here to tell you first-hand that someone MUST be getting some sort of secret (or not so secret) thrill out of the process, because those hands go everywhere. First, they pull aside the most suspicious looking characters, like middle-aged, graying moms who are trying to bring (wait for it) YOGURT on board. No matter that I presented said yogurt at the beginning of the security checkline and was told by an employee that it was probably fine and not to worry about it. Once I was on the OTHER side of the conveyor belt, my 4-ounce sealed container of cherry-vanilla yogurt was a matter of great import. I offered to throw it away (nope) or just to eat it (“No! Don’t touch it.”) but the process was begun. First they searched my pocketbook and my backpack to see what other suspicious items I had. Perhaps (gasp) a plastic spoon???? WHO, exactly, did I think I was???? Then – with what seemed like great relish – the gloved, suited security guard told me how she was going to pat me down and assured me that she would be touching my personal areas. And, um, she did. If I’d had anything stuck anywhere, she would have found it. I was mostly irritated, but also a tad humiliated. When we were through, after she had her cigarette (not really) she would STILL not let me go until she scanned her hands for bomb residue. To make it all the more ridiculous, when I got onboard, the other Ben mom told me that she had two go-gurts AND a water bottle in her bag. And SHE sailed through security like a beautiful maple leaf in a gentle fall breeze!!!!!! Oy.

Airline people, if you are reading, believe me: I have learned my lesson and will never travel with yogurt again. Sorry for compromising our national security in such a thoughtless manner.

That was on our flight from Madison to Denver, and once we got to Denver, things were really great. The hotel was super nice, and the area was hopping. Lots of walkable places, and enough down time to enjoy them.

From Denver we flew to Des Moines. In our hotel there Cooper and I somehow drew the short straw and had a TEENY TINY room and were there for three nights. On our last morning there, I started the shower for Cooper, then went out of the bathroom to tell him it was ready. When I went back in, I saw that the cleaning people had left the shower head pointing OUT into the bathroom and the entire (tiny) place was soaked. The mirror, the toilet paper, the bath mat, ALL of it!! The floor kind of sloped there, so all the water was collecting and spilling over the threshold and out into the room and into the closet. So that was not a very nice beginning to that day. I had to use every last towel to soak it up, except the one I saved aside for Coop to use! Then when I finally got all of that cleaned up and he was done with his showed, I went in there to collect our few things off the teeny weeny bathroom shelf and somehow when I grabbed our toothbrushes out of the drinking glass I’d stored them in, I managed to knock the glass into the sink, where it broke into a thousand pieces. Mazeltov! I was happy to leave that hotel.

The hotel in Cedar Rapids was a little creepy. It was gray and overcast outside, and the arena there was old and small. Word was that the Radio City Christmas Spectacular was going to be the very last show EVER to be held there and the place was slated for demolition soon after. So I guess the whole visit had a sort of cold, dismal, end-of-the-line sort of feeling. It didn’t help that our room was really freezing cold. When the shows were over, and we were up there getting ready for bed, the front desk sent up an engineer who connected something that hadn’t been connected, and I finally heard the heat actually come on. It was LOUD, but at least it worked. But even with the room warming up, I slept so badly there. We had to be on the bus at 6 AM the following morning, and I was worried I would oversleep. So I kept sort of drifting off and then waking up in a panic. I think I feel into a good sleep around 2 AM. But then I woke up a little before 4 thinking I’d heard something. Only I couldn’t figure out if it was something real or something in a dream. Just as I was starting to head back into dreamland, I realized I could see out of my room and into the hallway! I went to check it out and our door was open a crack – held closed only by the safety latch thing. My purse was just a little more than an arm’s reach from the door, and everything was in it. I closed it, moved my purse and went to sleep. (And I DID oversleep… thankfully Cooper had woken up early and was watching Glee and at some point said “Mommy, you HAVE to get up!!!” Good kid.) So that was really weird and I kept thinking yesterday about all the things that COULD have happened, from mere robbery to much worse. So grateful none of those came to pass. Lesson: ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS remember to hook the hotel safety latches!

To make things even weirder yesterday, I got two phone calls from a number that came up only as “unknown.” I didn’t pick up until the third one. It was an automated recording asking me to push some button if I was willing to accept a collect call from Riverside Regional Jail Authority (no county or state given). I did not push required button. I hung up. Quickly. But then during dinner, I got a voicemail of the same automated recording. WEIRD. Nothing today, so I’m hoping my jailbird stalker has given up.

Yesterday we were in Kansas City, Missouri, which seemed like a pretty cool place. We stayed at a hotel downtown that was old and pretty. But – like all the hotels since Denver – there were no laundry facilities! We’re not particularly dirty people, but still. One mom, one kid, one week. Lots of dirty clothes. One of the Patrick moms and myself were bound and determined to find ourselves a laundromat. So we dumped clean clothes out of our rolling suitcases, filled em up with dirty laundry, and off we went. It was a 2.5 miles walk! But it was worth it, and I have now come up with a whole new realm of multi-tasking: laundry and exercise. Who knew?

We are almost to Wichita now. Still no jailbird messages, and lots of clean laundry. Life is good. Pictures soon…

OK. Rehearsals are over and we’re really on tour now! I’m feeling so behind on this blog, and I don’t even have a good reason as to why, other than there is always somewhere we need to be or something that needs to get done. Still, we have a decent amount of down time (especially me, considering I don’t have a show to do!), so I don’t know what my problem is. Sometimes at the end of the day, the lure of Sudoku or some mindless word game is just too strong to resist.

We got in late last night to Des Moines. These travel days are a bit tiring: We got on the bus in Denver a little before noon. After bussing, checking in, going though security, waiting, boarding, flying, gate-finding, food-searching, waiting (again), boarding (again), flying (again) into a new time zone (went from mountain to central), luggage-gathering, and bussing (again), we stepped off the bus and into the Renassaince Hotel in downtown Des Moines a little before midnight. One of the dancers (Philly Phil Vicars, who I never see without a smile and a skateboard) stepped into the lobby and immediately said he remembered being woken up in the middle of the night by a fire drill last year in this same hotel. Want to venture a guess as to what happened TWICE, early this morning? No lie. Turns out some workmen were fixing the fire alarm, so I think it only went off on our floor. WELL, we decided we were entitled to room service breakfast after that!

Also – about the traveling: being surrounded by hilarious dancers and singers makes it much more fun. The Rockettes – as I’ve said before – usually travel separately from us. But some of the ensemble dancers and all of the singers, plus the tutors and many crew people always seem to be on our same flights and buses. Not sure how they like it, but I definitely enjoy it! We also get the LPs, or the Little People. There are the two main performers, Terra and Adam, who among other things play Santa’s two elves, Skittle and Jingle. And there is the swing, Joe. Terra sat with me and Cooper, and she taught Cooper a cool game called SOS and actually PLAYED it with him for about 45 minutes of the plane trip. Love her!!! (liked her anyway, but LOVE HER after seeing how she was with Cooper)

Des Moines is the home town of the Clara in Cooper’s cast, and we are headed to a place called Allplay, to find some laser tag and an arcade before the afternoon shows. We are going to try to blog a little more frequently even if we write less each time. We’ll see how that goes!

wow, i haven’t blogged since madison, sorry about that. im in des moines right now. so first i’ll pretend like im in denver and i’ll blog about being in denver. so i was only there for 3 days but it was pretty fun anyway.
i am going to make a little graph of what things we did:

movies
unstoppable. description: that new movie with Chris Pine where they’re all like “oh crud a big train is on the loose with all this bad chemical stuff going 75 miles per hour”

tv
the office. description: FUNNIEST SHOW EVER!!! if you haven’t seen it then you need to start watching it
glee. description: im pretty sure you know what glee is
combo. description: 0k so i watched an episode (more like an epic-sode) of the office but the episode was about glee! combo-ness!

books
i got a couple of books at the barnes and noble including; ultimate x-men issues 34-45, Echiro Oda’s graphic novel, One Piece, volume 3. also thanks to Melissa, Atticus and Ronan i have 2 other books that i look forward to reading, thanks guys!

restaurants
Johnny Rockets, cheesecake factory, einsteins, cooks fresh market.

Everything was pretty fun in denver except the dry-ness. also thanks for the awesome geography packet daddo, its my favorite one yet! i did 2 shows in denver (There was 5 shows all together) so thats 3 shows of the tour so far. i got to peek in on some of Jared’s shows (the tutors are really nice to let us do that in the middle of tutoring) and it looks amazing! i have to go to lunch now with my friends (for you its probably quarter to 1. weird right?) so bye!!

ps
i’ll write a little later about des moines!

The other stuff I wanted to say is that I’m sorry I’m not better at figuring out how to answer comments. Some of the comments that show up on the individual pictures are harder for me to find a second time. I haven’t had a lot of time to mess around with it, and I don’t know the best way to make my answers to individual comments show up. Sometimes I just answer through emails. I fear that it looks like we are just ignoring you guys! Not meaning to. Just not very savvy. Going to seek help with this matter this week. Meantime, I hope you will keep reading!
Today we fly to Denver, where they are expecting 5 inches of snow. Tomorrow is a day off, then come the Denver shows, where my old best friend from high school is coming and bringing her two little boys.
Forgot to say also that my mother-in-law and her brother and his wife, plus another couple that are dear friends with my MIL, came to OPENING NIGHT, bless them! It was so wonderful to see familiar faces, plus they took me and Cooper out to lunch, then I got to join them for an adults-only dinner out while Cooper had to be at the arena. It was FANTASTIC!!
Our family will be joining us in Salt Lake City, and my mom is coming to Phoenix. YaHoo!!! Like I said before: Y’ALL COME!

HOORAY! The show is up and running, and what a show it is!!! It is absolutely amazing. Hard to describe or capture, but I will try! From the time the curtain goes up to reveal the Rockettes’ dancing legs to when it comes down on the gorgeous nativity scene, it is non-stop color, light, sound, movement, music, glitz, glamour and JOY! I have seen the show four times now, and I don’t think I’m going to be bored with it anytime soon.
Santa starts things off with a song inviting the audience to come on a sleigh ride. Our Santa is a slender, low-key, soft-spoken, kind-hearted person, who is married to a Rockette (performing in NYC this year) he met doing this very job! Onstage I never would have known it was him, as he is beefed up in the Santa suit and has a big, booming, LOW singing and stage voice. One thing I love about his portrayal of Santa is that instead of SAYING “Ho! Ho! Ho!” he actually really laughs and just makes it sounds like he’s a person who laughs to the sound of ho ho ho instead of ha ha ha.
The next big dance number is the 12 Days of Christmas, and the Rockettes wear these red and white striped costumes so they basically look like sexy dancing candy canes. Their dancing is so precise and so awesome. Every time I watch them I want to take dance classes!! (hey, stop laughing, I can hear you)
Next is the big Clara dance scene, and watching our little girls go out onstage and dance so beautifully chokes me up every time. You can practically feel the longing of every little girl in the audience to be CLARA! This is where all the dancing bears come in, and they are magnificent. The dancers and choreography in this show shine through even when the performers are wearing furry suits and gigantic bear heads. And of course the leading bear – who wears a pink tutu and a tiara and has huge eyes that really blink – is none other than Calvin Cooper. He’s PERFECT and lifts Clara as if she could practically float right out of his arms. (Which she practically could…. the costumers had to change the tutu costume this year because both of our Claras have smaller bottoms than any other Claras before them and the costume was looking a bit like a diaper on them. Yep. I have that problem ALL THE TIME, my bottom being far too tiny for my clothes. It’s a burden, but somehow I go on.)
Let’s see… I think the soldiers come next. Eighteen Rockettes (it’s 36 in NYC) dressed identically like toy soldiers, moving in lockstep, stepping in and out of these amazing formations right before your eyes. I LOVE that number. It ends with a slow-motion fall where they collapse against one another like a stack of dominoes.
After that comes the storyline involving the brothers. Oh, except first is “New York at Christmas” where they bring a BUS onstage (yes, I know, it’s a prop, but still! A bus!) and the Rockettes hang in and out and all over it very prettily, and there are these amazing projections behind it that make it look like the bus is driving through the streets of New York. They even duck to go under a bridge at one point. And they get honked at for being too slow.
The projections are a huge element of the show, giving it texture and depth in some unexpected ways and allowing it to travel through time and space in a way that it couldn’t otherwise. Like everything else, they’re beautifully done – the visual and audio quality is top-notch.
Also I’ve neglected to tell about the Radio City Singers, six of them, who kind of help narrate the show in song. They aren’t onstage all the time, but when they come out, they sing these rich, textured harmonies that I just love. Their voices are great together – it’s one unified, layered sound, and every now and then you’ll get just a little sample of an individual voice popping out a bit here or there, which I love.
There is a NYC at Christmas street scene – that’s where the ensemble dancers come in. Last night I got to sit close enough to really see and appreciate some of their individual scenarios. Some are carrying gifts, some are on cell phones, some are shopping, they are in twos and threes and sometimes just an individual here or there. They all have lots of “business” to do, and I am going to enjoy watching more closely to get it all figured out. Last night I noticed that a male dancer and a female dancer meet in the middle of the stage and the boy gives the girl his scarf. It’s a sweet little moment in the midst of a frenzy of activity.
At the end of the street scene, the brothers come on, looking for a present for their little sister. The younger brother is of course swept up instantly in the magic of Christmas and Santa, and a gazillion dancing Santas onstage (big dance number in SANTA SUITS. I can’t even imagine how hot those poor dancers are under there) only underscore his belief.
But the older brother is a doubter and a skeptic. You can see where this is going… a whirlwind ride on a blizzard completely covers the first few rows of audience members in snow and also delivers the brothers to the North Pole, where they enter what appears to be a tiny hut but turns out to be a huge warehouse of dancing rag dolls. I LOVE THE RAG DOLL NUMBER. It’s a tap number, and the choreography is really cute, and at some point each of the ragdolls gets a colorful wooden box that they dance with and even tap on with their feet. At the end they hold them up high to spell a holiday message that is NOT degahezbexalajedreg or whatever I thought it was in Myrtle Beach. (although at one of the rehearsals the boxes spelled “RERYM CHRISTMAS” which is also not the message)
The older brother is very sweetly re-convinced of his childhood belief in the magic of it all and sings “Magic is There.” Both of our Patricks are so fantastic and each brings his own touch to the role. Both of them just totally nail that song. They both have warm, heart-achey teenage boy voices that have just the right mix of Broadway and pop elements. I LOVE LOVE LOVE them and their song to bits.
Then there is a fun little review of Rockette history, done through the projections. That’s the part I will get bored of. 🙂
Then the Let Christmas Shine song comes back – lots of harmony and very addictive song. Everyone associated with the show seems to always be humming that song, and we’re all starting to get a little tired of it! It’s great onstage with the sparkly costumes and the lights and the fabulous harmonies – but offstage it is a major earworm.
After that is the nativity scene, which is stunning. Gorgeous costuming, beautiful lighting, simple and stately choreography. Very somber and inspiring and lovely.
Then comes Joy to the World, which is a little bit too American-Idol-y for my taste, but boy do they kill it out there! The voices are really something. After singing for 90 minutes, they still have the vocal chops to do these soaring, cascading embellishments around the melody and they ALWAYS land in the right place.
Then comes the curtain call, and even though the show is really all about the Rocketters, we moms LOVE it when our kids come out there in their cute Christmas outfits to take their bows. Yes. We go a little nuts. So sue us. THOSE ARE OUR KIDS UP THERE ON A GIGANTIC STAGE IN FRONT OF TONS OF PEOPLE!!!!! It’s just kinda cool.
OK I’ve written all this about the show and I still haven’t captured it at all, really. There is a SLEIGH! And SANTA! And a BUS! And SNOW! And DANCING BEARS! And colored streamers that shoot out at the audience! And a zillion costume changes! And incredible choreography performed by gorgeous, long-legged dancers! And the three kings! And silver-white light bouncing off of sequined costumes!
You just gotta see it. Y’all come!!!!!

Photos 1 and 2 are of everyone waiting for Plan B in a Myrtle Beach parking lot.
The rest are from the zoo, from lunch after the zoo, and the cute Claras showing their studious side and then their sweet side. There’s also one in there of the whole cast onstage at the arena.
Anyone know how to label photos individually in WordPress? I need help!

Oh boy. So much to say!!

Moving 200+ people from Myrtle Beach, SC, to Madison, WI, it turns out, can have its glitches. The two BIG buses that were supposed to come and take us to the airport never showed. Some people were a little freaked, but most of us just waited around like the good little cattle we are, and sipped our coffee and played our DS games. (Guess who did which.) Soon enough, plan B went into action – rental car keys were given back out, hotel shuttles were recruited, and crew members from other rehearsing casts – along with their cars – were put to work. We ALL arrived at the airport with time to spare. I had mailed a box of unneeded junk home from Myrtle Beach, but I think my suitcase ate up a lot of my cinnamon rolls, because it had gained 5 pounds when they put it on the scale. I had to offload some of my stuff into Cooper’s bag and I felt a little panicked kneeling there in the airport with Rockettes and dancer boys all around me while I pawed through socks and bras and granola bars and my humongous bag of vitamins to figure out what to move and FAST. But it all worked out, and I stopped sweating and got more coffee, because that’s always good, and we eventually boarded the plane.

On the first flight, the other Ben mom and I were in the VERY BACK ROW, and the two Bens were right across the aisle from us, also in the very back. We had a three-seater row, and the guy next to us was the male singing swing. He covers three different vocal tracks in the show, and back in New York when he’s not working as a performer, he works part-time with Tara Rubin Casting. He was friendly and interesting, but once the flight started all we could hear was this awful, deafening ROAR because it turned out that we were separated from the plane’s engine by just the wall of the plane, which I believe was approximately as thick as a piece of tinfoil. That flight was probably the most miserable part of this whole thing so far.

The second flight totally made up for it. First of all, we were in Row 7, so it was quiet and comfortable. But more importantly, we had the most delightfully flamboyant dancer boy behind us with the best name ever: Calvin Cooper. On this blog, I am kind of staying away from using last names or really names at all, because these are real live people and none of them agreed to be characters in my blog, and I feel a little funny about putting them out there. But I can say with the utmost confidence that Calvin Cooper would NOT mind. He is just the most cheerful and hysterical and OUT THERE creature ever. He had to sit against the window and his two other seatmates were already there, so as he slid past them he kept saying, “Oh! Watch my fanny. Scuse me! Watch my fanny!” And he shakes said fanny pretty much all the time, so you pretty much are always watching it. Once we were on the plane, he just hummed and giggled the whole time, and then I heard him say something about how he’s making 22 all together, and I turned around and he was knitting a green hat. He’s making them for all the Rockettes. I ate breakfast with him today, along with another dancer boy and two dancer girls, and it was delightful and amusing. Oddly enough, Calvin Cooper went to VCU about 5 years ago and was in the dance program, but I think he left just before he would have graduated. Not sure why, but he certainly doesn’t seem bothered by it so I guess I won’t be either.

Since coming to Madison, it’s goodbye abandoned shopping mall, hello ginormous performance space. It is a HUGE arena – the Alliant Energy Center. It seats over 10,000 people. OK, that’s 16 Empire Theatres all smushed up together. Not that you’d want to do that. But just to give you a sense of how many seats that is. Crazy!

Also? I’m pretty sure that if you made a bet as to whether or not Madison Square Garden Entertainment is doing well and you were on the side of the bet that said they WERE doing well, that you would win that bet. I mean, they have EVERYTHING THEY NEED. And all the people they need to maintain everything. There are tutors and caterers and stitchers and wig-maintenance people and Tony the hair guy and Rooster and Betty Jo, the sound guy and the dresser JUST FOR THE KIDS, and an army of production and management people and a kid wrangler and a tour accountant and an athletic trainer and a security guy and a director and a music director and choreographers and builders and designers, and then most of those people also have an assistant version of themselves. It is truly amazing.

And everything is top notch quality but also designed to be packed up and transported. For instance, there are these groovy traveling dressing room sort of things that unfold into rows of little seats with lighted mirrors and storage for the performers. And when the show’s over SNAP they fold up and go right into the truck.

Also one person has the job of putting down these huge long lines of different colored tape at each new arena we go to. You follow the white tape to company management, the blue tape to stage management, the red tape to the dressing rooms, the green tape to the stage and the yellow tape to catering. Yes, I know all that because it’s all written down (somebody else’s job) but I still don’t dare stray from my pack (of moms) because even with the colored tape I don’t really understand where I am.

Let’s talk about catering. The food is SO SO SO GOOD!!!! I mean HEALTHY and good. Tonight, for instance, there was seared tuna with pickled ginger and some other spicy thing on the top, and braised Thai kale, and roasted sweet potatoes. At least, that’s what I put on my plate. There was also some kind of chicken dish and corn and artisan breads (at every meal) and pumpkin pie and an amazing salad bar with greens that are actually GREEN and not just iceberg lettuce. Also there is a whole cereal table (are you listening, Sage?) and there is a cooler stocked full of tall glass bottles of sparkling water and organic juices and organic milk and organic soy milk. AND there is a coffee bar with Torani hazelnut syrup and if you’re really motivated there is a little French press where you can make your own fresh, strong individual cup of coffee. And down the table from the coffee, there is a huge basket of vitamins and minerals, including the gummy kind that are fun to eat. Also it’s in the Rockettes’ contract that catering must always provide a peanut butter table so they can have a quick energy food available if they don’t like the other stuff. I know this good food is because they are feeding all these dancers who really need to make every bite count since they are always in motion, but this particular mom is super insanely grateful that the food is so NUTRITIOUS and good, both for my sake and especially for Cooper’s. These are a lot of long hours, and I’m just glad he’s not being fueled by chicken nuggets and hotdogs. Hm. That was over 300 words about the food. Moving on.

Yesterday we rented bikes in the morning and rode part of the way around Monona Lake. It was beautiful and sunny, and just a little brisk, which was perfect for bicycling. At the end of the ride we decided to extend the bike rental to a week instead of just a day, and we were going to go out again today (we wanna do the whole lake next time) but instead the tutors suggested we use some of our tutoring hours to go on a field trip, so we went to the Madison Zoo. It was a great trip, and I gotta say, I am loving Madison. Who knew? Wisconsin! I’m such an east coast girl, I seriously needed something like this tour to get me OUT OF RICHMOND and into points west. It’s a really beautiful city. The people are interesting and laid back and welcoming, and I’m impressed that there is recycling EVERYWHERE and also bike paths everywhere. You can practically go anywhere in the whole city on a bike. We considered cycling to the zoo, but Cooper wanted to ride with the other kids, so we all went together in the hotel shuttle. The woman in charge of the primate exhibit was very severe and intense and kind of kept scolding everybody for moving or looking threatening or jumping around and imitating the chimps. But the more she talked, the more it turned out that she was actually an amazing champion for these animals, understood SO MCUH about them and loved them. The behavior that people were trying to evoke so they could take photos actually meant the chimps were feeling really threatened. Also one of them kept trying to get the woman’s attention by signing something to her, but she said that chimp needed to be ignored because it was like a little kid trying to get the mom’s attention when Mom’s on the phone, and that if you reward that behavior it just gets worse. I’ve been to so many zoos in so many cities, but that was the most I have ever learned about chimps and I think that exhibit manager had the most love and understanding of her animals that I’ve ever witnessed. It was awesome. I wish I understood MY chimp that well. Ahem.

The Claras had to stay back because their moms are a little worried that they are getting behind in their studies, so one tutor stayed with them and the other came with us. Our tutors are a young, handsome guy named Jason, who specializes in math, science and flirting with Rockettes, and an older (not old, but older than Jason) woman named Bernadette, who has been around the block a few times and is the perfect combination of old-school no-nonsense teacher and aging hippie. I adore them both.

Also it’s nearly 2 am and I gotta go to sleep now. How will I ever keep up with Calvin Cooper otherwise?

PHOTO GALLERY COMING SOON!

so were here!!! sorry i havent been able to blog, rehearsing so much doesn’t really leave you with much time to do anything. i was also gonna do a halloween-special-blog-kinda-thingy but it was to late because we were already on the plane to detroit. if you have recently looked on facebook (which 99.9 of you probably have) you will see that we went biking!! madison has really cool bike trails and the best one goes around this HUUUUUGE lake. the only thing is, “spider-man 3” came on the other night and i guess thats just a sign of how un-sensitive to entertainment people in madison are (you all know that the third one was the worst one. and that the first was ok, but the second one was the most epic). also, it turns out that madison’s egg-sausage caserole is really (buuuurp) good. today (since we have tutoring all day) we’re going on a field trip to the zoo! me and mom are probably gonna bike there. i hope its gonna be fun! we’re gonna kinda stay for a long time.

btw, (if you’ve been following the blog) you remember that guy who looked like John Stamos? well, i ran it
by him and he didn’t think he looked like John stamos at all.

last night i went swimming with the other boys in the show (Sy, Troy, and Jared) and it was super duper fun! (did i mention that the hotel has shuttles that have 6 rows of seats and a really cool indoor pool and a hottub?) me and Jared did under-water slow-motion fights. then we did the most epic chicken fight in the wooorld! these guys are really cool, especially……well…..all of them! and our sister Clara is really cool too. both of them.

btw #2,
i would like to run this by you, the day before we left i got two holes in ones at the awesome putt putt place and one of them was the last hole which is absolutely impossible!! i got put on there hall of fame and got a lifetime, freakin pass!! (that means that i can just go in there any time of my life and show them my pass and they’ll let me play for free!) the hole was basically a 15 foot long and 2 inch wide line from me to the hole, surrounded by water, with the hole protected by fence. this is what you have to do to get it in: hit the ball at the exact speed and power, making it go for 10 ft, then it has to pass through a tiny hole in the fence and go another 3-5 ft, then it falls into the hole, if it goes like a half an inch off course, it falls into the water. (did i mention that you only get one try?)

see ya next time!!!!!!