My Phobia

Whilst among nature, I came to realize what seemed to be a mere fear of bugs is actually a phobia. Ok, maybe it’s not a phobia, but I certainly am scared to death of creepy, crawly things….that is when they are not in their natural habitat or they are flying around me. I think this fear started when I was stung by a bee. Since then, I can only remember running and screaming in the opposite direction whenever any flying insect or crawling bug thing came near. Take today for example. A bee decided to join us for a ride in the car. However, I didn’t know it was a bee because it was in a plastic sack directly behind me and I couldn’t see it. All I saw was something crawling inside of the bag making a buzzing noise. So naturally I let out a cry and we found the nearest spot to pull over. Unfortunately, this spot came about 5 minutes after I had heard our winged friend. Mom opened the trunk and didn’t see anything. Once she had closed it and I took the front and she the back, the bee showed itself. This time I screamed a little louder. Mom lifted the trunk again and the bee left. Once we were in the car and ready to go, another bee flew into the car, via Dad’s window. Naturally, I screamed again, this time with tears coming to my eyes. It was an in and out trip for the bee, but it was not a pleasant experience for me. Another incident happened whilst on our trip. A moth decided it wanted a ride too. Even though moths aren’t nearly as “scary” as bees, the trip still wasn’t a pleasant one until the car stopped at a rest area and we let the moth go. And, jumping back to today, another bug incident arose. We stopped at a camp ground to eat. When we were finished and ready to go, a big bug landed on Brooke’s head…in the car. Not only did she jump…but I flew out of the car as well. Unfortunately, she threw the bug onto the floor somewhere in the car. However, after careful inspection, Mom and Dad told us the coast was clear. Oh how wonderful it would have been had that been true. Mom found the one Brooke had thrown on her leg. Since Mom isn’t that afraid of bugs, she gently pushed the bug off her leg and onto the cement. Brooke, however, was not so lucky. As Mom was pushing her bug off her leg, another one came crawling up Brooke’s back and onto her shoulder. Of course I screamed bloody murder, as did Brooke, and we both jumped out of the car. Our cousins probably thought it was a snake or something. But no…it was a humungous bug. If you don’t believe me, we have a picture of one of these creepy crawlers. Let’s just say that the rest of the ride to our hotel was not that pleasant for me. I was paranoid the rest of the drive…which was about 5 hours. My feet were up off the ground and I kept checking myself to see if anything was crawling on me. It was horrible.

Overall, today wasn’t that great of a day. We got up to Dad telling us sternly that we needed to get up. Everyone else had been up for a while and we didn’t want to hold them back. Then we tried to find out which way was better to go to get to Glacier National Park. Dad wanted to go the scenic route….a little longer than the not-so-scenic route. However, my uncle wanted to go the fastest way, so after getting totally confused as to which way that was (ToNAS, our navigation system, was being a poop head) we finally set off. Once in Glacier, we stopped about a bazillion times to take pictures. I will admit it, I hate taking pictures of scenery. We never seem to use them. Oh sure maybe we’ll enter one in the fair…but that’s it. We have thousands of pictures of mountains and trees and waterfalls and lakes and I bet we don’t really know where they were taken because we have so many of them that we haven’t done anything with. At one point at a stop, the bee decided to join us. Also, I will confess, I don’t like the outdoors. I really don’t. I mean, I like walking like at Rood Bridge Park, but actual hiking and camping and whatnot, I hate it. I’ve never liked it. I’ll do what I have to to keep everyone happy…like go hiking for example…but I don’t like it. For one thing, hiking hurts my knees. Another thing…bugs. And today at Glacier, bugs were everywhere. Sure I enjoyed walking along the trail….but the bees and biting flies were so annoying. I didn’t mind them so much since we were outdoors and I could walk away from them, but they seemed to like to bother Brooke and me. I think I am really afraid of bugs when they are in the car with us and we can’t stop to get it out. I say this because while we were waiting for everyone to get back, Brooke and I went to the car to get some water and food. We got in the car and heard a buzzing noise. We looked at each other and at the bee that was floating right by Brooke. We both calmly got out of the car and that was that. I don’t really know what’s wrong with me. All I know is that I definitely am not a nature/outdoor girl.

On a good note, the hike was beautiful. Brooke and I saw a bunch of mountain goats. Most of them were really close too. There was a baby one that we could have touched if we were dumb enough to do so. It was really cute.

After Glacier, we stopped at the campground, where the big bug came in. Then we started our journey to the hotel. ToNAS was not helpful yet again. There were some tense moments in the car while Mom tried to find out where we were on a map and Dad kept missing exits we were supposed to take because ToNAS told him something different. Finally, we got the hotel.

I really hope tomorrow is better. I’m sure it will be.

Wrong Dates

Hehehehe...so push back the dates by one of the previous post. They are off...as you probably all caught before I did. Silly me.

Starting off, Gas, and Water

July 25

After a day of fun and excitement…ok more like smooth chaos (if there is such a thing)….and wonderful 3 hours at dance, we finally started our journey at 9:00 PM. We drove and drove and drove. Since we were all pretty tired, we decided to stop for a 5 hour sleep in the Tri-Cities.

While driving, I started reading aloud my summer assignment from Otterbein. It’s a pretty interesting book. I think it’d be a good one to read for IB 20th Century History when we study WWII. What’d you think of it, Elizabeth?

Overall, today wasn’t the most exciting day. However, tomorrow we have a lot of driving to do.

July 26

Well ladies and gentlemen, he did it again. That’s right. My father managed to run us out of gas in the middle of nowhere. However this time it was about 11:00 PM. We stopped about 12 miles from the closest town. What’d we do? The only thing we could. Dad and I started a very long walk to town. Lucky for us, about 6 cars later someone stopped to pick us up. It was a good thing we didn’t have to walk the entire way for 3 reasons…..1) it would have taken us about 4 hours, 2) there was a thunderstorm coming, and 3) I was dressed nicely (high heels included). How’d we get into this predicament? Well, we had 2 bars left of gas (about 1/5 of a tank) and we were in a hurry to get to Virginia City for the melodrama we were going to see with our family. So we thought to get gas after the play. Well, we ended up stopping at a friend’s house to visit for an hour. By the time we were done, it was dark and everything in the small towns had closed up shop. The closest town with a hopeful open gas station was Whitehall. As luck would have it, we ran out of gas 12 miles from Whitehall. I do have to admit that if the town hadn’t been so darn far away, I would have liked to walk. It was a really nice night (minus the oncoming thunderstorm). The sky was completely clear and the stars were gorgeous. It was amazing.

The melodrama turned out to be an adaptation of Rumplestilskin and a Vaudeville Variety show. In short…..no melodrama. However, the play was pretty good. It had song and dance, as well as acting (of course). I laughed a many of the over exaggerations made by the actors. I think a job like this would be fun for the summer. After the play, a bunch of scenes and songs were performed. Most were pretty good. Again, a lot was over exaggerated…but that was needed for the scenes I suppose. It was a pretty good day.

I can’t wait for tomorrow. Water skiing in freezing cold water! Bring it!

July 27

I had a great time today. We spent a lot of it out on Flathead Lake. We rented a boat and a sea-do. I once again attempted water-skiing, but failed. Hwever, this time I went up and over...aka I was actually up for about a second and then fell on my face. I did this twice. I have complete confidence that while in Ohio with Kirby I will be able to get up and stay up. I can't wait to try. Lisa and I went on the sea-do, as did Brooke and me. It was fun. Lisa and I also went swimming and jumped off of a platfom that was in the lake. Good times. However, I did get a little sunburned...but oh well. It's not too bad.

After fun times on the water, we went to Pirates. Yes this means it is my 3rd time seeing it, but hey, who can't get enough pirate action, right?

Tomorrow, we're going on a "14 mile" hike. Quotes are present because we don't have time to go on that long of a hike and still make it to where we need to be that evening. It'll be interesting to see how long and far we actually do hike.

Well, that's about it. I'm pretty tired. I think I won't be getting much sleep until I come home and sleep in my own bed.

Lake Louise and then.....Disneyland!!!

Well ladies and gentlemen, tomorrow night we are leaving for Lake Louise. I'm excited to see my cousins and attempt water skiing. I say attempt because I haven't ever gotten up before...though I've tried numerous times. After visiting with family and hiking and water skiing and whatnot, we're driving to Disneyland. As excited as I am for Lake Louise, I have to say that Disneyland takes its place. But of course, I am a Disney freak. I would love to hang out when I get back...aka 2 Sundays from now. We'll have Brooke's laptop so I'll most likely be ableto keep you up to date with our trip. I can't wait to see all of you when I get back!

Revisiting "Dinner"

For some reason I felt like watching a bunch of plays that I was in at Hilhi. Why? I don't really know. Maybe I felt like laughing at myself. Maybe I felt like watching how others have grown throughout the years. Maybe I felt like watching those who had left high school before me. In any case, I thoroughly enjoyed watching snip-its of different plays. And by snip-its I mean watching a bit of "Mattress", "Beauty and the Beast", and "Little Mermaid" and almost all of "The Man Who Came to Dinner" (as much as the tape I had would show me of this particular dress rehearsal).

While watching "Dinner", many fond memories visited my mind...like the audition when I attempted to flirt with both Devin and Nathan, the time Sil told me to think of Michelle as a....well I'll leave this word out of my post but I think you guys can fill in the blank....and for her to think of me the same, the first time I actually accomplished flirtation and Sil congratulated me (after a wonderful lesson from her the practice before...oh Sil), the first time I was actually shut in the sarcophagus and carried away, the last performance when the audience clapped for Megan, Spencer, and Jake as each took his or her leave, how hard it was not to laugh at Spencer while on stage, Matt coming to answer the door.....many other memories come to mind but I won't bore you with them. For those of you who were in the show, I'm sure you have wonderful memories as well. I loved seeing so many people I know now that I didn't know then. Like James and Emma, I didn't really get to know them until the year after. I loved seeing how little everyone was back then...taking James, Emma, Nathan, Jes, and Amber for example. They were so young....and really looked it too. I think we'd all have a good laugh if we got together and watched it. Anyone game? Michelle and I were talking one time about how it would be so much fun to do this play over again...same cast just now. We both thought that it'd be so much better. I know I'd do better, especially since I'd be much more comfortable with the people I acted with. Anyone game for this plan?

Is it weird that I thoroughly enjoy watching former plays? I really really loved watching "Dinner". It was a great trip down Memory Lane.

Summer Classes

Yesterday started out horribly. I won't go into detail, but it wasn't good. From 5:00 on, I had the best evening. Dance classes were amazing. I took ballet from Elizabeth, Pas from Elizabeth, and Tap from Lynn. Ballet was fun just because it was ballet. Pas class was awesome. There were only two guys, but it was really fun anyway. The numbers were nice because there were only 6 girls. We all danced with each guy. I even was the boy once....but that was because Ermine and I finished the combo earlier than the other group so I partnered Ermine. Good times. After Pas I had tap. I haven't taken tap from Lynn for like 4 years. It was great. And I was one of the better ones in class, which hasn't happened in a long time. I am going to love Monday classes! Today's classes were really good too. I had ballet with a new teacher named Alex Ballard. He was really fun. I liked class a lot. From this tiring experience, I went straight to jazz with Heather. I defintiely was about to fall over once class was done. I am going to be really sore tomorrow. After jazz, I spent time with elan. Even though I'm not in elan anymore (since I'm leaving for college), I still was allowed to join them. We sat for an hour and talked. Then I had lyrical. That was fun. So far, I really enjoy my summer classes. I can't wait til Monday! Hooray for Pas!!!

Home Sweet Home

July 5

First off, I’d like to wish Mom a “Happy Birthday!”

I woke up feel very refreshed, something I haven’t felt in a while. I think it was because the beds were really nice. Anywho, we got our belongings together and headed for breakfast. The buffet was pretty good. From here, we drove around and around trying to find Bunker Hill. On the way, we went to the USS Constitution. We didn’t go on the ship because the line was somewhat long; however, we went to the museum for a bit. After visiting the ship, we continued our quest for Bunker Hill. It took us about an hour to find it. It would have been faster to walk from the ship to the hill, but oh well. We finally found it and it was being refurbished. There was a monument on the top. It looked cool, but since it was being worked on we couldn’t go in. C’est la vie. It took us forever to get out of Boston, but finally we made it on the road and headed towards Plymouth.

Once in Plymouth, we stopped at Plymouth Rock. It was pretty disappointing. I was expecting some big rock, like Chimney Rock. Well….it wasn’t at all like Chimney Rock. Plymouth Rock was very small. It was more interesting to read the sign next to it, telling us about it. After this, we walked over to the Mayflower II. We weren’t going to, but Dad really wanted to and since we didn’t go on the USS Constitution I thought it would be nice to go on the Mayflower. It was really cool. There were people on the ship who acted as some of the people who were on the actual Mayflower. On guy was really funny. We have him on tape so you can watch him for yourselves. This stop was a good one. I think I’d like to come back and see it again.

After Plymouth, we drove to Cape Cod. Due to misinformed signs, it took a lot longer to find a beach than we thought. However, finally we found one. It was very pretty. I didn’t’ like it as much as the other beach in Maine, but on a good note, this water was warmer. Unfortunately, there was nowhere to wash my feet, so we used some water we had in the car. Then we went on our quest for food. What seemed like years later, we stopped at a Denny’s in Rhode Island.

It seems that we are going to be at the airport a lot sooner than planned. We might be there at midnight…east coast time. Our plane doesn’t leave until 7:00AM. Eh, oh well. More time for me to sleep I guess.

I can’t believe this trip is almost over. I mean, I fly back tomorrow….weird. I can’t wait to be home. I’m going to be so tired on the 7th. Not only will I have no sleep on the 6th, but I’ll have no sleep on the 6th. Why? Well, we’re pulling an all-nighter. We’re not sleeping until we get on the plane…or to the airport at least. We get in at about 9:00AM. I plan to sleep, but I might be too excited that I’m home to sleep. Then, that evening, we’re going to Pirates. I’m really excited for that! So basically, I’m going to be really tired. But that’s ok. I can’t wait to see you all!!!


July 6

Unfortunately the airport didn't have internet access that was free...so I am posting from my house instead. I suppose this is a good thing, meaning that we got home safely. Anywho, driving all night was...umm..fun? We got stuck in construction before we hit NYC. Luckily, we didn't have to go through NYC...we just went through the outskirts. We amde it to the airport with plenty of time to spare. We got on the plane and sat for a grueling 5 and a half hours. Blah! As for sleep...well I slept a bit on the way to the airport, at the airport, and on the plane. As for right now, well...I'm just not tired. Give me a few hours. I'm sure I'll be tired then.

I can't wait to see Pirates tonight!

I'm so glad I'm home. It's nice to be back.

From Salem to Cambridge

Happy 4th of July!!!

I woke up from a very interesting dream. I dreamt that I was doing Once Upon a Mattress again with Hilhi. The only difference was that we weren’t doing it at Hilhi; however we were using the Hilhi stage. Also, we were really unorganized. The set was different, the costumes weren’t complete, and we weren’t ready to perform. However, we were performing that night. I remember I was freaking out, as usual. Then I woke up to Dad telling us we needed to go.

Today we drove around Salem, Mass. It was really neat to see this town. We visited the Salem Witch Museum. There we saw a presentation about the events that took place there. It was really cool. I saw many familiar names….like Rebecca Nurse, John Proctor, Elizabeth Proctor, Sarah Good, etc. Many names were changed for the purposes of the play. Like Ann Putnam was actually the daughter, instead of Ruth. Other peoples’ ages were changed too. Like Mercy Lewis was actually 20 and Abigail Williams was actually 9. Interesting enough, she did accuse John Proctor of witchcraft. When he took the stand to defend his wife, Abigail cried out that he was harming her. I love learning interesting things like this. After Salem, we took a drive to Peabody, where the Proctor farm used to be. I say used to be because now there are houses everywhere. Don’t worry; there are a few memorials for John that are placed on his used to be property.

From here, we continued towards Cambridge; to our hotel. We finally made it. Then we decided to take a walk a long the Freedom Trail, a self-serve walking tour around Boston. On the tour, we saw Paul Revere’s house, the Old North Church, and the Park Street Church, among other things. It was fun.

I forgot to mention one thing I did while at Niagara Falls. For the first time I ate at the Hard Rock Café. The food was pretty good. I even knew most of the songs they played.

Today, while on our Freedom Trail tour, a guy was giving out a new Coke product. This product was called “Coca-Cola Blak.” Any guesses as to what the new flavor is? That’s right…..coffee. Surprising. You think it’d be really gross. Well….I liked it. I mean, I hate Coke…absolutely hate it. Even with cherry flavor. However, with a little bit of coffee I ended up liking it. Mom and Dad didn’t like it, so I had their bottles (we had only gotten 2). It’ll be interesting to see what you guys think of this new Coke product.

The fireworks tonight were amazing. The best I have ever seen. I mean it. I can’t even begin to explain how wonderful they were. I am very jealous that Alison and Katie get to spend their college years here. They have to stay for the fireworks. If they don’t…well they’ll be missing out. The fireworks were amazing!!!!

Well….that’s about it. I’ll see you guys in 2 days!!

From Vermont to Massachusetts

So our trip was only supposed to take 5 hours. Yeah, right. 5 hours if you were driving at like 60 mph the whole way and made no stops. But, it’s ok.. I have fun with everything we did today.

I woke up at 8:20 AM and ate breakfast. There I was confronted by a not very happy gentleman. He confused me by offering me a knife, only for me to find out that he was actually talking to his little girl who was on the other side of the room. He was a little irritated that I thought that he was talking to me because it was obviously very apparent that he wasn’t talking to me (sarcasm is being used here for those of you who don’t usually catch it), however, this wasn’t his bad side. His bad side came later when Brooke went to get pool towels. I guess he was irritated because there was an ant problem (though his room was the only one) and his room smelled because I guess his wife was smoking in a non-smoking room so he was being fined but because of the ant problem e wasn’t being fined the whole amount. In any case, he was not a happy camper. And the moral of the story is….don’t smoke in a non-smoking room…actually, don’t smoke…period. The end.

Brooke, Mom, Dad, and I went swimming this morning. It started out being really cold. But as usual the water became warmer…well our bodies got used to it. We took a lot of pictures of Brooke and me jumping off the side into the pool. Some are cool and some are not. It was fun.

We drove for a while before we stopped for food at a quaint sea food place in New Hampshire for lunch. The food was pretty good. After stopping a bit at gas stations and whatnot for potty breaks, we finally got out of the car at a cute beach called Ogunquit Beach in Maine. It was really cool. So was the water….cool and cold. I would like to go back to this beach. Maybe I’ll spend the weekend there next year sometime.

Some of you may be wondering what I do to pass the time away while driving forever in the car. Well, today I choreographed my entire dance for RCB. It took a while, but that happens when the dance is 5:13. As for right now, I am pleased with it. However, I haven’t seen it performed yet and I haven’t been able to try any of the moves full out, since I did the dance all in the car. I think it’ll look cool. At least I hope it will. The song I’m using is from Tarzan the Musical. It’s called Two Worlds. You’ve heard it if you’ve seen the movie or heard the soundtrack. However, it is slightly different since it is a Broadway song now. I’m excited to start teaching it.

We ended up getting lost in Andover, Mass. There were fireworks and lots of traffic. Dad hasn’t preached yet, but he is planning to tomorrow. Yeah, funny, I know. Tomorrow we’re going to Salem and Boston. I can’t wait!

From Niagara to Vermont

If ever you should go to New York, I would suggest going to a quaint little town called Olcott Beach. It had really good ice cream, cute shops, and a nice swimming area that led into Lake Ontario. Brooke didn’t want to go into the water because it had “green things in it.” She finally came in anyway. I ended up getting wetter than I had planned. But not to worry…I’m dry now. I had fun in Olcott Beach.

This morning we ate at a restaurant overlooking Niagara Falls. It was really pretty. The food was good too.

Brooke and I watched High School Musical. It was an alright movie. I’ve heard many different things about it. I’ve heard it was horrible, sappy, wonderful, exciting, and much more. I liked it. I mean, it was your basic guy-is-a-jock-girl-is-brainy-but-beautiful-dad-wants-guy-to-play-a-certain-sport-because-he-did-but-guy-doesn’t-really-want-to-guy-and-girl-meet-and-hit-it-off-then-a-problem-comes-because-guy-is-a-jerk-guy-apologizes-and-gets-girl-and-they-all-live-happily-ever-after story. It was fun to watch though. Of course, this is coming from a Disney freak. But I think those of you who enjoy those kind of stories would enjoy this movie. Also, the music was pretty good. Catchy tunes. It was directed and choreographed by Kenny Ortega…aka the guy who choreographed Newsies. That was cool to know J

We drove by the Eerie Canal. It really wasn’t all that impressive. But I guess it was cool seeing it, since there is a song about it and it is famous.

Right now we are in Vermont. I haven’t seen much of it, since we arrived in the dark. However, tomorrow we’ll be driving through to Maine and then heading towards Boston, Mass. I can’t believe it’s already the 2nd of July. Only 4 more days until I come home. Crazy.

Goodbye New York, Hello Niagra

June 28

I’m not going to lie. I need to get this out. It’s more complaining….well, maybe not complaining….I don’t really know what to call it….anywho, you don’t have to read this paragraph, but you can if you want….here it goes….

I don’t like Mamma Mia. I just don’t. I don’t really know why I don’t like it. I just don’t. Period. The acting wasn’t bad. For the most part it was fabulous. The dancing wasn’t bad either. It was very entertaining. The singing wasn’t horrible. I enjoyed watching them having a good time on stage. Let me start over. I feel like an outcast right now. I feel like crying. Everyone enjoyed the show except me. Everyone loved it so much, except me. Everyone was dancing and singing along at the finale except me….ok I danced, but I wasn’t into it. The best part of the show for me was watching everyone having a good time and speaking out when surprised…you know, those outbursts people have sometimes like, “Don’t go into the room!” I don’t know why I didn’t enjoy the show as much as everyone else. I feel horrible and like such a loner for not liking the show. Once the show was over, we went to the stage door to get autographs. I wasn’t too thrilled. I probably should have gotten their autographs, but I didn’t. I wasn’t in the mood. I didn’t have any desire to get their autographs. Everyone else was freaking out. Everyone else was crying out of happiness. After getting their autographs and pictures, the bouncer allowed us to take some pictures on the actual stage. As awesome as it was, I didn’t feel too into the moment. I felt just like, “It’s nothing big. I’ve done this before. It was more exciting with David showing us around.” Once again, everyone was freaking out that we got to go back stage, except me. I just wanted to go to the hotel and cry. I hate being the outcast. I hate being the oldest. I hate everyone ignoring me and not including me. I hate how I knew that this trip would have me feel this way. When we first got to NY everyone was taking pictures of everyone else only I wasn’t in any of the pictures. No one invited me into their pictures. I felt so alone. I don’t feel like I fit in with the dancers anymore, not like I really ever felt like I fit in with them. I think since I started acting and concentrating on plays I have lost a lot of close friends at the studio. I feel more like I belong with my drama geeks. I hate this feeling. Not that my drama geeks aren’t cool, but being on this trip hasn’t really made me feel all that great. I feel really out of place. I want to be at home.

Today we saw Chicago. I didn’t like it as much as I liked it the last time. This time there didn’t seem to be any chemistry between anyone. There were a lot of new people that weren’t in the show the last time. I guess Tom Hanks’ wife was in the show playing Roxie. As much as I love Tom Hanks, his wife wasn’t my favorite…sorry Tom. It might have been that she was tired from performing last night, but she just didn’t float my boat Oh well.

Today, before the shows, we took a tour of NY with the nicest tour guide I’ve ever had. His name was Tony. He was so cool. We took the Staten Island Ferry to Staten Island and back again. Then we went to Ground Zero. It was neat to look at as well as very moving. We went shopping in Chinatown. That was fun. I bought some people some gifts. Then we rushed to the show. In between shows, we ate dinner and went shopping some more. I went to the Disney Store and bought some more things. The Disney Store was huge. I loved it. But of course that is only to be expected ;)

As fun as this trip is, I want to be home. I am having major withdrawals from my drama geeks. I don’t really want to go to class tomorrow. I’m fine not going at all. I’m fine with sleeping in and just going to a show. Oh and shopping too.

Gaaaahhhh!!! I need a hug. I miss you guys! June 6th cannot come soon enough.

Oh before I forget (I’ll end with something funny)….last night Jackie and I were sitting at a table with my computer and a middle aged guy starts to talk to us. He asked me what the “Hilhi Dancers” were. I told him it was my high school dance team back home. Then he asked where the rest of the girls were and if we were the partiers. We said they were upstairs sleeping and we were filling out an application for Jackie’s job. Then he talked more about how it was hard for him to not sound like a “jack***” while talking to people. That’s when both Jackie and I thought, “Well, what are you doing now?” Then we said we had to leave, so we did. Funny huh? Well maybe not, but we sure thought it was hilarious. Mainly because he probably thought we were strippers and we definitely looked like them….aka we were in sweats and a t-shirt (me with my Hilhi jacket over my shirt). We didn’t look nice at all. We looked like we had just had enough time to pull our hair away from our face after waking up in the morning. Yeah, we obviously looked like strippers. Eh, whatever. We laughed a lot. I guess you had to be there.

That’s it for now. Over and out.


June 29

I think it’s funny how the LA trip last year is similar to this year when it comes to dance classes. What do I mean by this? Well, when we went to LA last year, I didn’t like the first day of classes. I mean they were ok, but definitely not my favorite. The next day, however, was my favorite. I loved the classes. It was the same in New York. I think my favorite class was the last one in each case. Funny? I think so.

We saw Rent today. Oh my gosh. It was awesome. I think it was my favorite show. Well Hairspray was really good too, but you can’t really compare the two. Everyone in rent was amazing. We didn’t even see the people who were supposed to be Mimi and Joanne. The understudies were awesome. There really aren’t words to explain how wonderful it was. I liked it better than the movie. If you get the chance to see Rent on Broadway I highly recommend it. There was so much energy. Everyone put in so much. I don’t know how they are able to perform the next day. I know I would be exhausted.

All in all, today was a good day. I’m sad that élan is leaving tomorrow, but I’m excited to see the rest of the US with my family.


June 30

Tarzan was AMAZING!!!!! Wow! It was spectacular. I think it was my favorite show…not just because it is a Disney production. The set, the costumes, and the ingenious acrobatic stunt work. Oh my gosh. And not to mention, there were some pretty hot actors in the show. To the élan girls….you think that Link was hot? He was nothing compared to Tarzan. You can see Tarzan for yourself. How? He was a finalist on American Idol. He name is Josh Strickland. Look him up and you’ll see J The singing was really good in this show. There wasn’t a lot of dancing. It was more acrobatic work. Like there were a lot of wires used for apes to swing on and the apes basically always did like back flips and front handsprings, etc. It was amazing none-the-less. We were in the 2nd to the last row, but I could still hear pretty well. The only thing that bothered me was the people in front of me. They kept talking and blow/popping their gum and looking at their cell phones. Oh and the dad was taking pictures the entire time. However, these fine people didn’t speak very good English, so the only communication we made was, “Shhhhhh!!!” Ok, there was one more thing that bothered me, but not too badly. Some fo the actors came from the back fo the theatre and we saw them coming. Like a butterfly came from the back and we saw the wire go down so that she could hook up to it. This was slightly distracting to what was happening on stage, not to mention the people in front of us would talk and point to it when it was happening. Other than that, it was awesome. I can’t believe we saw the original cast! And don’t worry, we got the principals’ signatures…well all but Little Tarzan because he has tennis balls in his hands and “Didn’t have any hands”….yeah right. Oh well….we got everyone else. Mom talked to the girlfriend of an ape and Brooke and I stood next to the costumer of Tarzan and Jane, so it was easier for us to tell who was a lead and who wasn’t. Cus you know, with all of the make-up on, it was pretty hard to tell who was a principal when they came out the stage door. But it’s ok because we did get the principals’ signatures, so it whatever. I would highly recommend this show for anyone who wants to have a good time. I loved it!

This morning, we élan went to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. Amazing places. I had never been to Ellis Island before. I wish we could have spent more time there. I would have liked to try and find my relatives, but I guess we already have a copy from when Auntie Cathie did it. The Statue of Liberty was fun. We didn’t get to go to the base or anything though. I guess you have to have a reservation now to do it. Funny how things change. As Brooke said, “In my day, we were able to go to the crown.” I wish the group could have gone to the top, even though they probably would have been surprised about how small it is. It would have been a good experience anyway. At the Statue of Liberty, élan left us. It was sad, but as I said before, I am excited to look at the rest of the US.

When we got back to NYC, we saw Spiderman. And yes, we got a picture with him. That was fun. Then we took the subway to Grand Central Station. Dad and Brooke had never ridden the subway before so it was a new experience for them. As confusing as the station was, me ended up making it to where we were supposed to be. Go us! At Grand Central Station, we had Junior’s cheesecake…the best cheesecake in the world. I don’t just think that either. The last time I was in NY, someone recommended it to us. It was mouthwatering. If you have the chance to go to NYC, make sure you go to Junior’s to get some cheesecake.

After this, we went to the Empire State Building. It took us about 30 minutes to get to the top. This was mainly due thanks to élan. We were supposed to go to the top on Monday, but instead we went to ABT’s Swan Lake. Anywho, I guess the actual line was a 60-90 minute wait. However, since we had pre-paid tickets, we passed all of those who had to pay for tickets. It’s funny. I wasn’t scared of being so high. I think it’s because I was on a stable concrete building as opposed to a steel roller coaster track or something like that. I felt very safe up there. We even saw King Kong. It was fun. When we got our car, guess who we saw? None other than Katherine McNichol. Yes ladies and gentlemen, I saw Katherine McNichol in NYC. It was kind of funny how we just suddenly saw each other, mainly because you don’t usually see people you know unless you are with a big group. So seeing her was really cool.

I really enjoyed myself today. I am glad I was able to spend time in NYC with élan. And I am happy that I get family time around the Northeastern US. This will be a fabulous trip.


July 1

After waking up at 10:30, we went on our way to get to Niagra Falls. It was a long trip. We went through the part of New York and Pennsylvania that has been flooded over the past couple of days. We went to 3 McDonalds before we finally got some food and bathroom breaks. Everything was out of order and very crowded. Of course, it is a 4 day weekend since it is the 4 of July on Tuesday. But it was really crowded. Finally we made it to Canada and Niagra Falls. I guess the World Cup is here. There are a million cars with different flags flying. Today was also Canada Day. There were fireworks over the Falls. It was cool. The only thing it was missing was the music behind it. Oh well. They were still really neat.

That's about it for now. Most of what I'll be posting will probably be short, unless we don't have internet connection. I can't wait to be home. And I look forward to seeing the parts of teh US I haven't seen yet :)