Counting down the days!!

Colin and I have been counting down the days til we go home for Christmas. Finally the count is down to 1, but Rochester is going to have a snow storm tomorrow!!! We are keeping our fingers crossed that the weather doesn't end up being as bad as they are predicting and we make it home safely. All I want to do is to get to my house and then it can snow all it wants!!!

We got into Lakeland FL Thursday night. The crew was already by the pool barbecuing, so most of us joined them as the night went on. It was a celebration for Jeff and Dan's birthdays. After a little bit Colin and I went back to our room, so I could get some packing done and Colin could get a little alone time. After awhile I talked with Sue who was still by the pool and decided that I would go down for one drink. Well as usual, I stayed a little longer than planned! I was just enjoying everyone's company and just relaxing. Colin chose to continue hibernating in our room haha!

The next day the kids had school and then we went by the pool so the kids could swim. It was so hard to believe that we were so close to Christmas because it was in the 80's! There was a show last night in Lakeland and Colin and I were so happy that Carol's sister and brother in law (June and Dick) and their friends were able to come see Colin in the show. I really enjoyed talking with them before the show and at intermission. It was nice to have some familiar faces out in the audience!

I'm writing today during the matinee performance in Melbourne. Mimi's mom was able to come to this show with a friend. I got to meet up with them before the show and they were really excited to see it. Colin and I are going to go out and meet with them after the show and then we'll have dinner which the theatre is providing for us. We're also exchanging our last secret santa gifts and Clare is planning a Christmas party for us back at the hotel after the evening show :) Tomorrow we are all heading to the orlando airport in the morning with hopes that we will all get home to our families safely and ontime!

Hope all of you have a wonderful holiday and I'll be writing again once we come back to the tour at the end of December.
Missy

Newest schedule-No Syracuse :(

Dec 30-Sarasota FL
Jan 2-Milwaukee WI
Jan 10&11-Galveston TX
Jan 13-St Charles MO
Jan 14-Waukegan IL
Jan 15-Lima OH
Jan 16-Evansville IN
Jan 17&18-Paducah KY
Jan 20-Columbia MO
Jan 21-Burlington IA
Jan 22-Muncie IN
Jan 23&24-Kalamazoo MI
Jan 25-Springfield OH
Jan 26-Williamsport PA
Jan 27-Ogdensburg NY
Jan 28-Kingston Ontario
Jan 30&31-St John New Brunswick
Feb 5-Gainesville FL
Feb 6-Statesboro GA
Feb 7-Clemson SC
Feb 11-Jacksonville FL
Feb 13-Morganton NC
Feb 15-Lowell MA
Feb 17-Springfield MA
Feb 18-Salisbury MD
Feb 22-Merrillville IN
Feb 24-Houghton MI
Feb 26-Reading PA
Feb 27&28-Akron OH
Mar 1-coming home!!!!!

Newest schedule-No Syracuse :(

Dec 30-Sarasota 2&8pm
Jan 2-Mi

Living on a bus

Well, we have certainly had our share of time on a bus lately! We had quite a few one nighters which are tough on everyone. Packing up and hauling luggage on and off the bus everyday gets pretty old! Everyone's nerves were getting pretty frazzled. Luckily, we got down to Destin Fl and were able to stay in a nice hotel a couple of blocks from the beach for 3 nights :)
I left off in Memphis, so from there we headed to Baton Rouge LA. We were hoping to get some good cajun cooking, but by the time we got to the hotel we only had 1 1/2hours til we had to head to the theatre. The closest place around was the Cracker Barrel so that was that! Sue, John, and I decided to walk around downtown while the cast was doing soundcheck in the theater. I was hoping to get some oysters, but unfortunately most places were closed. We decided to stop in one of the bars and have a drink before the show. I introduced John to a favorite beer that my sister used to always bring up from Louisiana-Albita Purple Haze. Sue opted for a glass of wine, I guess she's had her fill of beer on this tour! We went to the show afterwards and then went back to the hotel to sleep and then packed up to head out again in the morning.
Our next stop was Oxford MS. Sue, John, and I decided to stay back at the hotel and send the boys with the rest of the cast to the show. We were all in desperate need of doing laundry, so that's how we spent that night off, lol! The boys got back, we slept and again packed up and got on the bus.
From there we headed back to Lousiana( I know, right???!!) this time we stopped in Lafayette LA. Again there was one show, then we went back to the hotel to sleep and back on the bus in the morning!
Now you can probably understand why we were all so happy to get to Destin FL! Yesterday we decided to take a cab to the Boardwalk to have some seafood at the Crap Trap and check out the shops. The boys went down to play on the beach while we waited for our food. They definitely needed to get some off their energy out! Being cooped up on the bus everyday made for some crazy kids!! After brushing all of the sand off of the boys and throwing them into the shower, we headed to the theatre for the show. Speaking of the sand, it was incredibly white! As a matter of fact, when we were riding by some of the cast members thought that the sand was snow! We're so used to going in and out of different temperatures, we all tend to forget where we are! We were definitely happy to realize that we were in Florida instead of in Rapid City where we were last week. They are having a blizzard with temperature in the negative teens!!
Tomorrow we'll spend another day on the bus heading to Lakeland FL. I'm sooooo ready to come home, lol!
Missy

Walking in Memphis

After two long days on the bus, we ended up in Memphis TN for a stopover on the way to Baton Rouge. We all(Sue, Mikey, John, Quentin, Colin and I) decided to take advantage of our time here and went out to explore Beale Street. Beale Street is full of restaurants, shops, music, and bars. We enjoyed walking down the street and shopping for souvenirs, but the best part was our dinner at BB King's. Colin and I enjoyed a rack of ribs that were to die for. While eating we enjoyed the wonderful entertainment of a blues band. While tapping away to the music, several memberes of the cast and crew came in and sat near us. Q danced with Jenn and Erin came over to dance with Colin. Poor Mikey got stuck with me, lol! Anyways we all had a lot of fun. The singer started asking where everyone was from and took a liking to the boys who were dancing and singing away to the music. Colin yelled down that he was from Rochester and with all the noise she thought he said Russia, haha! She called them down and the 3 boys sat with her on the stage while she sang. Colin then clarified that he was from Rochester, not Russia! When she found out that our group was the National tour of Oliver, she asked them to come down and sing. Unfortunately no one was ready to go down and sing a blues song. If they had to sing a showtune they'd be all set, lol!
Once the band took a break, we decided it was time to head back to the hotel. We had to practically drag back as he was really wanting to go to the 2nd floor of the Rum Boogie(Just kidding John, haha!)
Well here it is 1:30am and Colin and I are still awake. It's time to turn out the light and get some sleep before our 8:30am bus call! We'll be pulling in to Baton Rouge tomorrow afternoon. Rumor has it that they have snow there!! Just our luck ;)
Missy

Mount Rushmore

We got to Rapid City on Sunday. It was pretty chilly, but after a day on the bus we were all ready to walk around the town. All that is except Colin. He was exhausted from the trip and school on the bus and decided that he needed a night in the room by himself. John, Q, Sue, Mikey, and I decided to try the Firehouse Brewing Co. for dinner. The town was all decorated in lights for Christmas and was really charming. We enjoyed our dinner and found that most of the cast and crew decided on the same restaurant. I ordered take out for Colin and after stopping at the grocery store for a few things, we headed back to the hotel. I found Colin in the same position as when I left him-laying on his bed on the computer!
The next day the boys had school and then we all enjoyed the indoor swimming pool and hot tubs. There was a show Monday night for a large audience at the convention center right across the street from the hotel. The boys and John had to go a little early to rehearse for Christmas caroling (They are going Christmas caroling at a few of our stops along the way. The first one will be at a nursing home in Niceville, FL) Sue and I took advantage of our extra time at the hotel downstairs where they were serving complimentary drinks and popcorn! Afterwards we walked to the theatre to watch Act I and then look after Spencer so Clare could get some work done. He is such a sweetheart, everyone adores him. He loved watching all of the castmembers going on to and off the stage. He waved to most of them as they walked by, and everyone waved and played with him on their way. The best part was when Rhiannon came up to us in her low cut red dress. Spencer pointed to her chest and said "MMMMMMMMMMM" Needless to say he is still breastfeeding lol!
The next morning we all got up and headed to Mount Rushmore. We were all so excited to see such an incredible site. It really is amazing to think that people actually were able to carve these faces into the mountain. We watched a movie that described how Mount Rushmore was made. They used dynamite to blow off the top soft layer of the mountain before carving the faces of Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Teddy Roosevelt, and Thomas Jefferson. We all were totally in awe by the sight of this.
Chaz's secret santa wrote a note to him to have him do the shoopoopi at Mt Rushmore in order to get his gift. He did it just as we were getting ready to leave and everyone truly enjoyed it. Chaz played Marcellus in his theater company's Music Man. Mikey, who played Winthrop with the same theatre company jumped in and accompanied Chaz in his dance! He definitely earned his secret santa gift that day!
We rode all day today on the bus to St Joseph Missouri and will be heading out tomorrow for a stopover in Memphis Tennessee.
I'll write more later
Missy

A sad goodbye

In Fort Collins we were all saddened to hear that Ira and Elizabeth were leaving the tour. They were part of the orchestra and are great people. Efrat threw a nice party for Ira and Elizabeth on their last night with the whole cast and crew and we all really enjoyed being together. We turned a sad time into a nice time with friends. We have become like a family now, and each time someone leaves it leaves our "family" with a void. We wish Ira and Elizabeth the best of luck and all the happiness that they deserve.
The next morning we said our goodbyes and got on the bus for Rapid City, South Dakota. The big excitement on this trip was that Jenn finally got to see
live buffalo! She has been waiting and waiting to see buffalo. The time the rest of us saw them she was sound asleep. After that people continually teased her and said "Look Jenn a buffalo!" She'd jump up in excitement only to find a bunch of brown cows, lol! This time, she refused to sleep until she saw them and within the first hour her dream came true!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!!!

We arrived in Ft Collins Colorado yesterday afternoon. When we got off the bus, we noticed a difference in temperature. It was in the 20's and there was snow on the ground. The snow continued overnight and there are now a few inches of beautiful white snow on the ground. Our bus is also getting holiday like! Little by little we are all decorating our areas. Alaggio and I put up lights and garland around ours and Colin put some pine garland, lights, and red bows up along his. Check out the pictures!! We've been continually finding secret santa gifts ever since it started. Now people are getting really creative. Ashley's secret santa had her go to the front desk at our last hotel and do a dance from the Nutcracker in the lobby along with a scene from Oliver. None of us knew what was going on when she started dancing. Now Ashley's probably one of the happiest people I know, but I never expected to see her doing ballet in the hotel lobby, lol! Last night was hysterical when David's secret santa made him perform as Old Sally during sound check. We were all amazed at all of the lines he knew! Tonight Stacie's secret santa gave her a toy microphone and made her do a rap! We're all really having a good time with this!
The first show in Ft Collins was last night and oh what a show, lol! It seemed like everything that could go wrong did. The funniest was probably when Mikey's coat got stuck on the bridge during Consider Yourself and it took both Chaz and Chris to pull him free! We were dying watching him try to move along to no avail, haha! But Mikey, the trouper that he was, didn't let it affect his performance at all. Even though he had a huge rip down the back of his jacket! A bunch of other things went wrong, benches and tables weren't where they were supposed to be, hankies flew down when they were supposed to fly up, sausages fell on the floor, etc. It was all humorous until Jenn fell right on her bottom off of Alaggio's shoulder's during Pick a Pocket. She got up and kept going, so we didn't think anything was wrong til all of the sudden we realized she wasn't on stage. After a short bit, we saw Ashley come on stage to take over Jenn's part. At that point we knew something was really wrong. When we checked on her at intermission, she was getting ready to head to the hospital with Clare. We were all praying that she didn't break her tailbone and as it turned out, our prayers were answered and she didn't. She is still sore, but recovering. They had her take a break from the show tonight and she seemed to enjoy watching for the first time. She was excited about what a good show they have! It was also a good chance for her to watch Colin as she's his understudy.
This morning the boys had school from 9-11, then there was a brush up rehearsal at the theatre in the afternoon. Colin and I decided to order take out from Pita Pit for dinner tonight so we could just hang out in the room. Brittany introduced us to Pita Pit at SU and we have loved it ever since! The show went 150 times better tonight than last night. There was so much energy, we really enjoyed watching. It was James first show as Mr Bumble and he was amazing! It seemed like he's been doing the role forever! Great job James!!
We have 2 more days in Ft Collins and then head to South Dakota on Sunday. We're hoping to bring the boys around the town tomorrow after school, so we can all see a little bit of the area. It seems like a great town!

Orange Texas

We just pulled in to Conroe Texas which is a stopover on our way to Fort Smith Arkansas. We were in Orange TX Friday and Saturday and had a show each day. The people at the theatre were so wonderful. They fed us dinner Friday and lunch today. All homemade Texan food, yummy!!!!
Last night was Matt's last show. We decided we had to watch both acts so we could see him one last time. Oom pah pah was so funny. All of the girls tried to get in a kiss with Matt! He is such a great guy and we'll miss him so much!! Today, Adam played the role of Mr Brownlow and did a great job! It amazes me how the swings can just step into a role at any minute and pull it off! He'll be performing a few more times until James is ready to take over his role.
At lunch today we all picked our Secret Santas. Most of the cast and crew decided to participate so it should be a lot of fun. I'm thrilled with the person that I am being Santa to, but I can't tell in case he/she is reading this!!
We are starting to decorate the bus for Christmas. I can't wait to see what it looks like by the time we leave for the break! Colin wants to put up lights and make them blink to the transiberian orchestra's xmas carols!
well gotta hit the hay, tomorrow's bus call is 6:30 :(
Goodnight!
Missy

Thanksgiving in Texas

Well yesterday wasn't the most traditional Thanksgiving but we ended up having a great time! Obviously, Colin and I were a little sad that we couldn't spend Thanksgiving home with our family but the day turned out to be much better than we expected thanks to our tour family :)
We started the day by going out for a wonderful Thanksgiving buffet that our tour manager, Clare, planned for the whole cast and crew. We went to a really nice restaurant in the Embassy Suites hotel in McAllen Texas. Everyone dressed nice (we all look a lot different when we're out of our bus clothes!)and enjoyed a buffet of the traditional turkey, stuffing, sweet potates, along with a yummy mahi mahi, delicious salad and fruit, carving stations with turkey and roast beef, and an unbelievable display of desserts. I have never seen Colin eat so much in one sitting as he did yesterday. He would've given his sister Morgan some competition! Ashley got up and gave a beautiful toast. She is such a sweetheart, I had tears in my eyes by the end of the toast. Before she even got to mention Spencer (Clare and Bart's baby who is touring with us) he lit up and decided to give his own toast which consisted mainly of hi ya da da da!lol) During dinner we enjoyed listening to music being played on the piano. Matt and Rhiannon decided to get up and create their own dance floor. Everyone enjoyed watching them dance and have fun. The best part was when I realized why Matt was carrying a backpack. He brought in his box of wine(Yes, BOX! Matt's my kind of guy!!!)and continued to fill up his cup during the dinner. We're going to miss Matt so much when he leaves the tour. Matt is leaving on Sunday to join another tour, The Drowsy Chaperone. He is such a sweet and happy person, he will definitely by missed by all :(
After dinner we all headed to the pool. It was 85 degrees outside, so it couldn't have been more perfect. At 5:30pm the hotel started serving complimentary drinks and that's when things really started to get crazy! We had the pool to ourselves and by the end of the night everyone was thrown in the pool at one point or another. Dan(the stage manager) obviously didn't realize that I have a rule that I never get thrown in the pool. So, before I even realized what was happening, I found myself immersed in water! I had to admit once in the pool that is was very refreshing!!! I'm sure the hotel was ready for us all to check out this morning!
Today we began a long day of travel to Orange TX. On the way we stopped at the airport in Houston to pick up James who will be taking over the part of Mr Brownlow for Matt. We all introduced ourselves to James and welcomed him to the show!