NEW YORK CITY!!

\
I had never taken a trip to NYC although I have wanted to go ever since we moved to Virginia in 2007. So when the opportunity to chaperon Amber's high school chorus group came up, I jumped on it!We left early Thursday morning and arrived in Times Square after lunch. What can I say- Times Square is chaotic but so much fun! The stores may be the same stores that are local but bigger and better! For example:Toys R Us is 4 stories and has a ferris wheel that you can ride! We had a few hours to walk around Times square, then met at Hard Rock. After this we went to our first Broadway Show at the Minskoff Theater- The Lion King....AMAZING!!! If you ever get the chance- spend the money, it is so worth it! Costumes were out of this world! We finally got to our hotel (in NJ to save on the cost of the trip) close to 12:30 AM....then we had to get all the kids situated in their rooms.


Friday morning, we woke up bright and early and were on the bus back to the city. The first thing on that day's agenda was a Broadway workshop for the kids in Chelsea. This was so much fun! A cast member of Mary Poppins, T Oliver Reid, taught the kids the vocals and choreography for the song "Supercalifragilistic". I am sure everyone remembers this classic from the movie but in the Broadway show it is a bit different and they spell out the whole word and use their bodies to also spell it out. This wasn't all the kids- there were two other groups in different rooms. There are some videos from the workshop at the end of this post. After this we ate in Little Italy. We ate some really yummy food and then had some time to explore Chinatown and Little Italy. I was surprised that my group of girls were interested in checking out Ground Zero, so we walked with another group to the site and then rode the Subway back (I think that was pretty adventurous for us!). Then when our time was up there, we went back to Times Square because there really is so much to see and do there....that night we got to see Mary Poppins at the New Amsterdam Theater- which also was out of this world. I loved the movie growing up but this really was above and beyond my expectations! The sets really were incredible. After the show- back to the hotel again close to 12:30! (Half of the kids went to Mary Poppins, the other half Wicked- the seniors got first choice so a lot of them chose Wicked but I was very happy to see Mary Poppins, especially since I had just seen Wicked last month in Richmond and Amber has seen it twice- in Memphis and Richmond)

Saturday morning we got up and packed all our things but we didn't head home yet! This morning we got dropped off in Central Park. Central Park is so big, my group probably spent a good 2 1/2 hours and only walked through a smal portion. We walked along the 5th Ave side so the girls could see the fru fru buildings (like on Gossip Girl). We stopped in at FAO Schwartz and walked by Rockefellor Plaza before yes, heading back to Times Square! We got some New York Pizza and then met up for our final show- Addams Family at the Lunt Fontanne Theater. This show was a funny show but I didn't enjoy it as much as the other two. I think it was because I wasn't really familiar with the music. Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth were Gomez and Morticia, so that was a bonus for the matinee! The young girl who played Wednesday stood out to me and made the show really enjoyable! After this show we got back on the bus and headed back to Fredericksburg. I did get a slice of New York cheesecake to make my bus trip home really nice! I slept a majority of he ride home. I was exhausted and I think I finally have recovered. The trip was worth the exhaustion though and if given the opportunity next year, I think I'll do it again!




Here are the videos from the Broadway workshops:





It's hard to see Amber here because she chose the back of the room





You can kinda see Amber in this in the front with a white tee and sweats



Again- Amber is in the front with white tee and sweats....

Welcome to 2010

OK a whole new year, so I REALLY am going to keep this updated more!!!

The weekend before Christmas, I went up to Ohio to celebrate Christmas at the annual Sanders/Buttermore sing a long. It's always a great time to catch up on all my cousins and extended family! Here are some pics of Tyler with my mom and sister.




Tyler loves looking out the window at the train that comes by down in the valley.

This is the same weekend that Virginia got the crazy blizzard conditions- so we missed out on that but here are some pictures of what the scene looked like.



This is our back porch and what you are looking at is the chair!



Christmas was good. We had to wait and celebrate it until Jan 1st because Amber was visiting her dad but we did open presents from Santa on Christmas day. We couldn't let Tyler wait the whole week! He was so excited to put out the milk and cookies for Santa. This is the first Christmas that he fully understands Santa. Next year, I think we can start explaining the true meaning of Christmas!



New Year's Eve was pretty quiet. It was spent with a few friends house. Tyler made it all night long- I was ready for bed before him! We went up to DC on Jan 1st since we had to pick up Amber and thought that it would be quiet at the museums...we were wrong but we did make it to a few. Once we found parking, we went to the National Botanical Gardens where we heard there was an amazing train exhibit. If you don't know, TYLER LOVES TRAINS! So we went there and he was in awe the entire time! The set up was rally pretty cool. After that we went to the Air and Space Museum (Robert's favorite!) to waste some time before we headed to the airport.




Once we picked up Amber, we met a close friend of the family- JC Nix and had a huge dinner. After dinner, we headed home to finally have Christmas! This made for a very long night; we got home about 9:00 PMand opened presents until after 11:30 PM... we were exhausted!





Amber was lucky to get both Wicked tickets and sold out Taylor Swift tickets!


Hope your Christmas and New Year were wonderful and spent with the ones who care.

Slacker.....

I know I am a slacker. I will try and keep this updated more often. I just let time slip away too much!

It is now official, we have painted every room in our house since move in 2-1/2 years ago. We finally updated our bathroom from the builders standard and I think it turned out pretty decent.

I don't have a before shot and pardon the cluttered sink....

The hardest part is always refinishing cabinets and no, they are not perfect but I did my best!

Here is a cute picture of Tyler "playing" with Abbie

A photo of our visit to Arizona:

And a photo of us at the Marine Corps Ball"

I cannot promise but I am going to try my hardest to keep this updated!!!

Summer 2009....so far!

I think we are getting to about the middle of summer here in Virginia. We have been gone for most of it, having a great time in Hawaii and Ohio.

First stop....Hawaii! We had such a good time in Hawaii. We stayed at the Aston Waikiki Beach (the one with Tiki's) and had wonderful views of all Waikiki and the sunsets. Of course, we didn't spend much time in the room. The North Shore was our most visited location (as it was when we lived there!). The first day the water was flat which is the norm for the summer, the next day we returned and there was a really rough shore break but Robert enjoyed getting out there and doing some body surfing. We also headed out to Lanikai and kayaked out to the Mokes, hiking around to the back. The kayaking out there was hard....I have done it before, but the swells were 4-6 feet and the wind was like 30 mph....Rob was determined to do it so I agreed. I think it was harder for me because I was in a kayak with Amber (who if you don't know thinks walking to the mailbox 50 feet in front of our house is exercise). Luckily I have been hitting the gym for a good time now and we survived! We saw some friends while we were there- my dearest friend on the island, Steve, who I worked alongside for 5 years. While we lived in Hawaii, he treated us like family; he really made sure we were taken care of when Robert was away on deployments and I will never forget his friendship. Amber got to see her best friend Taylor. She said getting back together and hanging out was like Amber never left. I am so thankful they have kept that friendship going; it's so much easier now to keep in touch with email and cell phones!

Here are some photos from Hawaii:

Waimea Bay (typical summer day)

Waimea Bay (unusual swell)

View from our balcony

Manoa Falls

Amber and Taylor (together again!)

On the Mokes

Hopefully I can find the time to share our Ohio vacation soon!

Ready for Summer!

This is such a busy time of year. There are so many events going on with the end of school- and I only have Amber in school. Luckily, Tyler will start kidnergarten when Amber is a senior!

With all the activities going on, I find myself looking forward to our summer vacations! First off is Hawaii for a week. Tyler will be staying at Meme and Papa's- hopefully he can cope with being away from Mommy for a week! He loves to be outside so I am sure he will have a blast while we are gone. Abbie (our dog) will also be keeping him company! After Hawaii, we will stay on in Ohio and spend some time with my family. Our 10th anniversary is also coming up and we are going to New Orleans for a short weekend. Robert says he is more excited about the New Orleans trip than the Hawaii trip- I really can't believe that! And right after that Dave Mattews is coming to Virginia and we got our tickets and can't wait!

I think I forgot to mention that Amber got her braces off. I didn't take specific picture of her with them off (ALTHOUGH I SHOULD HAVE!!!), she took this with her phone in the bathroom of the orthodontist office and sent it to me.

We are in the midst of Little Mermaid. I have been forgetting my camera but finally took it on Sunday when we watched the show. I cannot begin to tell you how proud I am of Amber- she is wonderful on stage. She also auditioned for the high school Show Choir and got a callback which I got her late too. Because she was late she had to learn all the choreography while watching everyone dance and just try and jump in. After the call back I felt awful- knowing it was my fault if she didn't make it. She was OK with it saying there was always next year. Saturday the list was up and she made it! I think she may be the only Freshman who made it! She is so talented and such a good hearted kid

This time of year....

is sooooooo extremely busy! Not only does Amber have a million things happening at school, she will also be in Little Mermaid later this month and she has been having rehersals a lot of weekends. I guess I am not too busy but I feel like I am in the car chauferring most of my day!!!

We took a short trip to Hershey, PA over Easter weekend. It was a lot of fun for everyone. On the way there, we drove through Gettysburg. Since Tyler LOVES trains, we went on the Easter Bunny train and he had a blast. Heshey Park was open for "Springtime in the Park"; most of the rides were open. It was in the 50s but we all bundled up and had fun. Amber and Robert went off to ride the roller coasters and I took Tyler on the kiddie rides- which were a lot of fun for him and not so much for me! Trying to fit my long legs in those small spaces was not easy and then the annoying horns on every ride gave me a headache after a while..... but Tyler eventually got tired of riding so we took a break!

On the Easter Bunny Train:

Being cool in Gettysburg:

Tyer's favorite ride at Hershey Park:

We were planning on leaving Hershy around 3:00 but ended up having so much fun, we stayed until it closed at 6:00....so we got home late on Easter evening (had our Easter dinner at Wendy's)....the next day we finally dyed our Easter egg (I told you we were busy!) and had our ham dinner!

I'll try to update a little more, depending if I get some time! The only way I am doing this now is because I stayed home from my spin class today!

Seussical was AMAZING!

So the final show was Sunday....it was SOLD OUT and we had so many walk ins we had to add more seats! And may I add that it was snowing heavily outside and it didn't deter people! It did postpone our strike party though until next weekend which is probably not a bad thing so the cast can rest up and get healthy....many of the kids were hit with some illness....it seems that everything was going around- strep, the flu, viruses of many kinds! Those kids are tough though, they were singing with high fevers and throwing up backstage....not a fun thing to envision but the crowds had no idea..... like I said, these kids were tough- if it were me, I'd be asleep in my warm cozy bed!

Here is a video and some photos! Enjoy! (There are also some videos on my Myspace- click on the link for Sara's Myspace on the left!)

We're Whos