Skip to main content

Birthday on Broadway

My theater-loving teen is thrilled with our relative proximity to New York City and, more specifically, the Theater District on Broadway. In his fifteen years, he has seen four Broadway shows already ... "Wicked" for his thirteenth birthday, "Cinderella" and "Aladdin" as part of a Fairfax County school field trip to Broadway for his 8th grade theater class (including an acting class with one of the actors in Cinderella!), and now "Phantom of the Opera" for his fifteenth birthday. For his fourteenth birthday, we saw "Peter and the Star Catchers" at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC. Quite a resume of experiences for someone who can't yet even drive.

I am grateful that we live close enough to make the drive and back in one day. We want to take advantage of our location while we're here and our kids have definitely reaped the benefits of that.

This trip was a lot of fun, starting with a delicious Italian dinner at Orso, then enjoying the cultural phenomenon that is Phantom of the Opera. If you've never seen it live, do what you can to make that happen. It is just an amazing feeling ... the music, the story, the sets, the special effects ... it is just a fabulous production. Our ongoing family debate is whether to feel sorry for the Phantom or not ... I'll let you pick a side, but I definitely feel some compassion for him, my teen feels a little compassion for him, and my husband and preteen got nothing but contempt for the poor guy.

After the show, we stopped by "Cake Boss" Buddy's Manhattan bakery for a snack. It was a special treat to see one of Buddy's sisters working the counter -- Grace, I think? -- although my boys were horrified at the thought of asking her to take an actual picture with them. I relented and only got one fuzzy snapshot of her, but we enjoyed the snack and were happy to see one of the cast members of the show we love so much.

The final chapter of this extraordinary outing was the major winter storm that besieged us on our way home to Pennsylvania. I've never experienced a total "whiteout" before and would be happy to never do that again. Snow fell hard and fast, covering the roads and making lanes impossible to identify. At times, the snow was being blown in a horizontal line, directly at our windshield, which had the effect of a total onslaught attack on our car. We stopped several times and drove slowly when we did move and never made it above about 35 miles per hour. All. the. way. home. It was a long drive but we were safe and made it home in about six hours (close to double the time it took to get there). It was definitely a trip we'll never forget and one I am so thankful we were able to take.








Labels:
Location: Theater District, New York, NY, USA

Comments

Post a Comment

Fabulous Remarks

Popular posts from this blog

TORCH and ADVON

Photo: ADVON returning from a year-long deployment. Okay, I have to admit that after 15+ years as an Army wife, I don’t know what ‘TORCH’ and ‘ADVON’ stand for. Something about advanced party … but there’s no ‘p’ for ‘party’ … so I just don’t know. I do, however, know what it means. It means your Soldier comes home FIRST!! We’ve never had the honor of either of those designations. My husband somehow manages to get himself into the ‘stay-behind-and-make-sure-all is-well-out-here’ job and comes home late or last. Not that I’m complaining, though, as I am happy these TORCH and ADVON folks get here and get the place ready for everyone else to come home. In a way, it’s reassuring to me. The wheels are turning, the process has begun … our unit actually is coming home and coming home soon! Homecoming becomes reality, not just a long-sought-after dream. It’s good to see our unit patch and our unit Soldiers back at home, on U.S. soil and on our Army installation. It’s heartening to w...
2 comments
Read more

The Change of Command Ceremony

Last Friday, my Family and I participated in the 2nd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division change of command on Fort Hood, Texas.  Hubby became the battalion commander of the 3rd Battalion, 82nd Field Artillery Regiment and joined a wonderful group of "Red Dragon" Soldiers and Families.  It's a dream come true for us ... one of those things you hope in the back of your mind you'll get to do one day, but know realistically that the chances are slim you'll get to do it. When I first saw his name on 'the list' that the Army publishes, I was elated for him.  No one knows more than I do his passion for the Army and for the Soldiers in it.  He is a wonderful leader and cares so much.  We both knew that this would be the adventure of a lifetime.  We explained this new job to our two boys (ages ten and six) as best we could and they kept saying, "We'll have 500 new friends on Friday!" as their summary of the discussion.  =) The ceremony was amazing,...
7 comments
Read more

A Letter to My Cousin and Friend

As I was cleaning out our home office today, I came across an old college notebook from a writing course I had taken at Baylor. Our assignment was to write a letter to someone filled with memories of time spent together. I had chosen to write to my cousin Lori and, although it was a rough draft, I just had to post it. I finished out the last part and laughed out loud at some of the superfun memories with Lori, my cousin and friend. Dear Lori, As I reflect on the time we have spent together, I remember so many wonderful memories with you. Laughter always comes first to mind because we have shared so much of it. We start out giggling over some trivial nothing and soon are rolling in teary-eyed, side-splitting, I-can’t-catch-my-breath laughter. Days later, we will laugh again when one thought triggers another and we think of the same funny thing. After all, we are ‘more funny repeated.’ Our memories together are vast and varied for they have been collecting since, well, basically fr...
Post a Comment
Read more