Reading PA

After two long days on the bus we were happy to get to Reading. We had a rough ride from Michigan to Ohio on Wednesday. The weather wasn't cooperating at all, it was snowing pretty hard. Clare decided it would be best if we just grabbed our lunch to go instead of taking a full hour lunch. This proved to be a good decision because as it was we got in around 8:30pm. We stayed at the Holiday Inn and Sue was lucky enough to get the woman from the hotel to drive us to Applebees. John and Quentin decided to stay back at the hotel, but Chaz joined us for a late dinner. We're really going to miss Chaz! He's such a great guy and we all really enjoy his company.
This morning we got back on the bus to find Spencer in the driver's seat steering the steering wheel, lol! Clare joked that he was our 7th bus driver. For some reason we seemed to go through a lot of busdrivers in such a short time! We had a very bumpy ride to Reading. The bus was all over the place. (No Spencer didn't really drive). I don't know how the boys managed to do schoolwork!
When we pulled into the hotel, Mike and Maria were waiting anxiously for Sue and Mikey to get off the bus. Maria was so sick during their last visit in Jacksonville, so it was great to see her healthy and full of energy! It's so cute, she has a little crush on Colin. She calls him her "teddy bear"! She came to the show all dressed up in a beautiful red dress. She was giving Nancy a run for her money lol! Actually she loves the song "As long as he Needs Me" so Sue made sure she got a picture of Maria in her red dress with Rhiannon in her red dress :)
I met up with Mark&Lisa, Steve&Mary Kyryk, and Fran Sullivan at the theatre. Colin was so happy to know that there were friends and family in the audience watching him. Uncle Mark won the award for the most shows seen by a relative (Other than Steve&the girls). This was his 3rd time seeing the show and Lisa's 2nd.
After the show we all heading out for a drink (Colin got a shirley temple, lol) While at the restaurant, Kevin (the musical director) and Jeff (drummer) came in. There were people doing karaoke and Kevin came over to show Colin that the book of karoake songs had Oliver songs in it. We tried to get Colin go up and sing Consider Yourself, but no go. Instead we had to listen to this guy who was tone deaf sing song after song! We said our goodbyes and heading back in to the hotel. It's so hard to believe that we are going to our last stop on tour tomorrow! Steve, Brittany, and Morgan will be meeting us in Akron. Tomorrow night after the show will be the cast party. We can't believe the end is here!.

Houghton MI

Tonight the cast celebrated their 100th show!!! We enjoyed time to ourselves this morning and met John, Quentin, Sue, and Mikey later in the day to have an early dinner at Applebees. When it was time for bus call I got a call from Clare asking if I wanted to bring a sleeping baby out to the bus.(I absolutely love cuddling with Spencer when he's sleeping, he's soooo adorable!) I loved having my "baby" time holding Spencer on the bus. Just as we got to the theatre he woke up and wanted Mommy. He's such a sweetheart, we are all going to miss him so much when tour is done! We made Clare promise to post photos of him online, so we can continue to watch him grow.
When we got to the theatre(Rozsa Center)we were all excited to see the banner hanging outside. It actually had photos of our cast on it. The graphic designer did an amazing job,it was so colorful! We asked one of the men in charge if we could possibly get smaller posters like it. He was wonderful enough to have his staff go around and take the posters off the walls, so that each member of the cast could have one. They also had the photo on their programs so we made sure everyone got one to bring home. The people at the theatre were so wonderful and accomodating. We really appreciated their kindness. While we were taking photos in the lobby and theatre a woman from the theatre approached us and asked if we knew Colin Nims. I told her that I was his mother and she said that there was a woman here to see him. She brought me to the woman and I found that is was Chris Klasner's mom! She came 100 miles to come see the show and represent the Klasners! I enjoyed chatting with her and really appreciated that she came all the way to see Colin. Colin was excited to hear that Carson and Selene's grandma was there to see him :)
Tomorrow we are boarding the bus at 7am and heading to Ohio where we sill get to around 9pm. Needless to say, none of us are excited about this trip! Hopefully it'll go by quickly. Last time we played Michelle's music catchphrase game and had a blast, so I'm sure we'll be asking her to pull that out again. On Thursday morning we'll be heading to Reading PA where Mark and Lisa, Steve and Mary(Friends from High School) and Fran (Steve's roomate from the Academy and usher in our wedding) will be coming to the show. We're looking forward to seeing all of them!
I'll write more after Reading :) 4 shows left!!!!

5 shows left!!!

We had a great Golden day yesterday. Colin and I along with Sue and Mikey ventured out in the cold and headed to the mall. Colin and I got much needed haircuts and then really enjoyed taking our time and shopping. Colin got new sneakers for school(so did I!) and treated ourselves to a couple of other things. Colin was thrilled to get a new phone(He was up for an upgrade). After looking over many phones, he decided on the LG Vu and absolutely loves it. After shopping we met up with Sue, Mikey, John, and Q for dinner. We were all freezing by the time we got to the restaurant, but were excited to show off all of our purchases. Even the waitress enjoyed looking at all of the fun princess things that Sue and Mikey got for Maria! After dinner we headed back to the hotel and went into the pool and hot tub again. When the pool closed we all headed up to our rooms. Sue and I bumped into Chaz and Alaggio in the hall and were horrified to hear about their church experience. Chaz thought it would be nice to join his friend and go to a local catholic church. Even though he isn't catholic he wanted to go and enjoy worshipping with his friends and castmates. When it came time to go up for communion, Chaz decided to join everyone because he felt that if he didn't he would offend the church. Well, once Chaz got the host he proceeded back to his pew with it in his hand. They were all shocked and horrified when a woman from the church marched up to Chaz and asked if he was Catholic. When he told her that he wasn't, she snatched the host right out of Chaz's hand!! Needless to say, Chaz felt awful and was afraid that he embarassed the rest of the group. However, the rest of the group felt embarassed at the way the catholic church reacted to how a newcomer was treated! I just wish I could have been a fly on the wall to see all of their faces! After laughing at the story when Chaz and Alaggio told us, the woman from the front desk came up to us and yelled at us for being too loud. Apparently 10pm-7am is "quiet time" in the hotel. Mikey then decided that we should all come into my room and hang out. Colin broke out the wine for Sue, Chaz, and me and we all had a good time just chatting in our pj's :)
Today we slept in and then headed to the theatre for a matinee. Sue, John, and I decided to grab a soda and popcorn before heading into the theatre(gotta love the theatres that you can eat and drink in haha!) We were surprised to find out that they didn't charge us because we had backstage passes on. That was the first time we got free food and we really liked that, lol! When we went into the theatre we found that they didn't sell the front row seats, so we decided to sit there. It was so much fun to watch the cast react to us once they saw us there. It didn't hurt that I was wearing a neon yellow sweater that practically glowed in the dark haha! The best reactions were when Erin and Will offered us the sausages they were selling in Consider Yourself and my favorite was when Chaz blessed himself during the show in honor of his experience with the Catholic Church! We had a blast cheering the whole cast on!
After the show there was a Q and A with some audience members. It was so funny how the 3 boys were not intimidated by the least bit. All three spoke right up when the group was asked questions. These three will have no problem with public speaking in school!
Once back at the hotel we decided to head over to Red Lobster for dinner, the 3 parents, 3 kids, and Chaz and Rhiannon. We had a great dinner which we overstuffed ourselves with!
Tomorrow we head back on the road first thing in the morning and will ride to Houghton Michigan.
I'll write more from there :)

After leaving Lowell, we headed to Springfield MA. Once in Springfield we had the evening off and decided to Colin was really excited about the show that night. He let his understudy, Jenn, have a chance to perform as Dodger. Colin hasn't missed a show yet and thought it was the least he could do seeing as Jenn had to learn his part in case he got sick. He figured with 104 shows, it wouldn't kill him to miss one. Plus, he was really excited to actually watch the show! We found our seats and got ready for the show to start. Colin was so excited when the music started. His head was nodding along with the music and the beat of the orphans walking on stage. After that he had a huge grin the whole time while watching the show. He was so excited when it was time for Jenn to enter as Dodger. We both really enjoyed watching her do her version of Dodger. She was absolutely fantastic! We were both so proud of her. It was so wonderful to see her smile onstage. It was obvious that she was having the time of her life! I was so proud of Colin for giving Jenn this chance. During intermission Colin ran down to the dressing room to give Jenn a big hug and congratulate her. He also told his other castmates how great they were. After Mikey even gave Colin a hug (Mikey's not too fond of Colin's hugs, lol!) we headed back to our seats and enjoyed watching the rest of the show.
The next day we headed to Salisbury MD. We arrived just in time to cleanup and change and head right to the theatre. Actually it was another arena. Luckily this arena was much better soundwise than the others. After watching the show the night before, Colin was ready to hop back in to his role. There's not much more to report from Salisbury because we weren't even there a full day! The next morning we got back on the bus and started the long trip to Merrillville, IN. We stopped in Ohio the first night and continued on to Indiana this morning. Tonight we had a nice dinner at Olive Garden with Sue, Mikey, John, and Quentin. After a chilly walk back to the hotel, we got our bathing suits on and enjoyed a relaxing time in the pool and hot tub. It's been a while since we had a pool to hang out by and to actually have enough time to relax! It really felt good and the boys had a lot of fun together. I think we're all realizing that our time together is getting short. As much as we want to get home to our families and real life, we all realize how much we're going to miss the great friendships we have made on tour. It's just so unbelievable that in a little over a week this will all be over. Hopefully we will all be able to stay in touch and remain friends once we get back to our homes.
Tomorrow we have a golden day and are planning to walk over to the mall. We'll do a little shopping, get much needed haircuts, and have dinner. The next show is on Sunday.

Morganton NC and Lowell MA

Thursday we got into Morganton NC. There was no show Thursday night so we were able to grab some dinner and do a little shopping at WalMart which was right near our hotel. Friday morning the boys had school and Cindy and Gary arrived :) It was so good to see them and spend some time with them! We had dinner together and then put Colin on the bus for soundcheck. Cindy, Gary, and I headed to the theatre a little later. Cindy and Gary seemed to really enjoy the show. I was so happy that they were able to see Colin perform. After the show, I introduced them to most of the castmembers and brought Cindy on the bus to see our amazing home on the road! I don't think she was really impressed lol!! We headed back to the hotel where Sue and Mikey joined us for some wine(Sue had the wine, not Mikey, lol!) We had a great visit and really enjoyed spending time with both Cindy and Gary.

After having breakfast, we said our goodbyes to Cindy and Gary and took the shuttle to the airport. The kids and parents were lucky enough to fly to Boston while the rest of the cast had to spend 14 hours on the bus. We flew into Boston and took a shuttle to the hotel. After checking into the hotel, we headed out for our Valentine's dinner at a nice little italian restaurant. Steve called and kidded that he was taking his cute young valentine (haha Morgan) out to dinner and I kidded back that I had a date with a young stud (colin!) Speaking of young stud, one of the girls who was at the Jacksonville Q&A friended colin on facebook. She asked him for an interview for her school newspaper. She said no one reads the newspaper now, so she thought if she interviewed Colin they may read it. She told him that he was the talk of the school. Colin had a grin a mile wide as he answered the interview questions lol!

We got to sleep in this morning and then headed for a late breakfast and then to the theatre for sound check. We were so excited because Jenn Harrison drove down to see the show. It was so great to see her! She seemed to really enjoy the show and luckily we were able to get great seats!During intermission we ran into a little boy(who we later learned was named Brendan)with his mom. Brendan was absolutely adorable! He was singing the songs from the show and couldn't stop talking about it. Sue and I introduced ourselves to Brendan and his mom and had a great chat with them. After the show we ran into them again and Brendan was really anxious to meet some of the cast. He kept asking who was Jack Dawkins mom. After a little bit, I realized that Dodger's real name was Jack Dawkins! This little boy, knew right off the bat that Dodger was Jack Dawkins, but after seeing the show close to 100 times I didn't even pick up on it lol!!! The boys went up to meet Brendan after the show and really enjoyed talking with Brendan. Brendan especially loved Mr Bumble, so Sue went to find Chaz for him. As soon as he saw Chaz he ran up and gave him a hug. He was so adorable he definitely made our day!!!
Colin and I are really looking forward to our Golden Day tomorrow. We'll most likely just relax most of the day here in Lowell :)
Next stop.....Springfield MA :)

We were all excited when we got on the bus after our very unrestful night at the Howard Johnson in Statesboro! Once we got to our Clemson hotel, you would have thought it was the Ritz by our reaction to a nice clean hotel!!! During our lunch break on the way to Clemson, we were all delighted by the gorgeous weather! We enjoyed hanging out in the sun. Some of the cast had fun throwing a football and frisbee. Spencer was having a blast running around in the sun and seemed to get a new love for football. He chased the football wherever it was thrown! We all got to Clemson, checked in and after a little rest headed to the theatre. During act 2 of the show, Sue John and I headed to the Green Room to do a little work on the computer. Clare and Spencer were also in there. I was thrilled when I got a perfect picture of Spencer doing Erin's "Leg Up"! It's amazing all of the things that Spencer learned on tour lol! I have to say that the Leg up and Jeff's "oh snap" are my favorites, haha! After a good night sleep in the Clemson hotel we headed to Jacksonville. The weather in Jacksonville was beautiful (mid 70's)! The best part was that we had two golden days which allowed us to really enjoy Florida. Sue's family, Mike and Maria flew down to spend some time with her and Mikey. The first day, Clare organized a trip to the beach. We absolutely loved relaxing on the beach while the boys were brave enough to venture into the chilly ocean. The next day we headed to a science museum for a school fieldtrip. Later that night Mike and John took the boys to see Coraline which they really enjoyed. Unfortunately Maria was sick with a bad cough the whole time, so Sue stayed back with her in the room. Our last day there the cast had two shows. The first was at 10am and they were all really dreading it. Morning shows are tough on the voice and Colin wasn't very happy about going, but that all changed at the show. The morning show was for local schools. Afterwards, they held a question and answer session with the students. The first question that was asked was, "Is Dodger single" lol! From what I hear(I wasn't at that show) Colin's face turned beet red! From what I heard the girls really seemed to enjoy Colin's performance lol! Or should I just say, Colin! haha! They asked how old he was and when he told them 12 there were screams coming from the group. I'm guessing that was their age too! Needless to say, Colin was a different person when he got off the bus than when he got on. I think this willurn be one thing about the tour that he will never forget haha! Unfortunately, he will have to turn back into a "normal" kid again in 2 weeks!
We were all upset to see that someone got onto our bus the night before and pretty much ransacked the whole bus. All of our things were thrown about the bus, but for some reason the only thing that we noticed were missing was Mikey's Nintendo DS. That makes 3 DS's that were stolen on this tour :( It was really strange because Cameras, videocameras, computers, dvd players and many other valuable items were left.
This morning we boarded the bus for another full day busride to Morganton NC. Colin and I are very excited because my sister and brother in law(Cindy and Gary) are coming to tomorrow to see the show and will also be spending the night in our hotel. It'll be so wonderful to see them :)
Well that's it for now. My pictures are limited because of a bad battery, but I have since got a new one so hopefully I'll have a lot more pictures in the next 2 weeks!
I'll write again soon!
Missy

Statesboro GA

On our way to Statesboro, Clare informed us that she was having a little trouble with the hotel which we were booked with. Unfortunately, even though we had a contract the hotel didn't have rooms for us. After they scrambled a bit they came up with a Howard Johnson's hotel for us to stay. We were all disgusted when we got to the hotel. It was absolutely filthy! It amazes me how people let their business just go downhill! there were stains on our ceiling along with stains on the carpet. In addition there was an inch of dust on everything! The bathroom would've actually been nice if it was clean. It has a large jacuzzi tub with a tv. But with the filth in this hotel, neither Colin nor I would even entertain the thought of using the jacuzzi. The show at georgia southern university went well. It was a good audience and the space was very nice. However, before the show started we had to evacuate the building. As it turns out our hazers spread way too much fog and set off the smoke alarms! We all headed to the parking lot and awaited the firetrucks as they approached. After about 20 minutes we were allowed back into the building(Along with the audience) and started the show about 15 min later. Once we got back to the hotel many of us headed to the Sonic drivethru next door. We had to go up to the boards where orders are placed (Keep in mind, most people are in cars for this) We got our orders and hesitantly walked back to our hotel rooms.
We are all anxiously awaiting our bus call at 8:30 for 9:00 in the morning!

Gainesville FL

After 3 long days on the bus, we arrived in Gainesville yesterday. The busride didn't turn out as bad as I thought it would be. Seeing as we only had half of the people on the bus we were able to really spread out. We each had a whole row of seats to ourselves which made us a little less cramped. We all kept ourselves occupied by either sleeping, reading, going on our computers, kidnapping each others stuffed animals(yes we are adults!) and watching dvds. Colin and Quentin also had 3 hours of school each day in addition to homework. Sue homeschooled Mikey for the days that they were home. We all definitely got a little antsy during the last couple of hours or the ride each day, but were able to get through it all with a little humor. At one of our lunchbreaks we stopped at McDonalds. Erin was excited to see that they had a playarea and asked Colin to go in it with her. Colin happily went along. It was a blast watching them climb through the tubes, but even better watching the faces of the mom's who were there with their toddlers watching them! Erin even asked two of the toddlers to get in a picture with her, lol! Erin then thought it would be fun to bring Spencer in. Unfortunately once she climbed through several of the parts of the play area, Spencer got very scared and started to cry. Erin's face was priceless as she rushed down all of the little nooks and crannies to get Spencer out! Back to the bus-Clare and Bart have taught sign language to Spencer to help him communicate better. Spencer made our day when he put his hands up in the air on the bus and signed "All done". Needless to say, by the end of the ride each day we were all signing "All done"!
Colin and I were happy to see the rest of the cast when they arrived today in Gainesville. With so little time left on the tour we realized how much we're really going to miss everyone once it's over. Unfortunately, Will was very sick when he got here so he had to miss the show tonight. Kudos to Adam for stepping in and playing both Mr Sowerberry and Dr Grimwig! Hopefully Will will feel better by tomorrow night's show in Statesboro GA.
The Fairfield hotel which we are staying in sent two baskets full of goodies to the show for the cast. It was so sweet of them and everyone really appreciated it! Before the show the theatre held a question and answer session for some audience members. A few castmembers went and answered questions. Colin and Mikey decided that they really wanted to do it, so Sue and I went to listen in. James did his research and calculated that at this point we have traveled over 20,000 miles!!! YIKES! The cast were a lot of fun while answering the questions and one of the audience members mentioned that he has read both Sue and my blogs! It felt great to know that people are really reading what I'm writing. So if that man is reading this, thank you and I hope you enjoyed the show!
Tomorrow we head to Statesboro. It's only 250 miles so after our last few busrides it'll seem like just a hop skip and a jump!

Getting ready for 3 days on the bus

Colin and I had a couple of very relaxing days in Saint John New Brunswick. We slept in both yesterday and today. Yesterday we stayed in our room all day and then headed to the hotel restaurant for dinner (fish and chips, yummy!)While there Clare came in and was obviously feeling under the weather. As it turns out she ended up with the stomach bug. So far, 6 people on our bus ended up with it :( Clare asked John and I to take care of things on the bus as we rode to the theatre. John was in charge of directions and she gave him a map and I was in charge of making sure everyone was on the bus before we left. Well, things didn't turn out quite as planned lol! John followed the map but unfortunately there was a mistake on it so we went around in circles a couple of times before we made it to the theatre. I checked to make sure that everyone was on the bus that was supposed to. Some of the cast already told Clare that they would meet us at the theatre but when I did a head count I realized Adam was missing. We waited 8 minutes and then we all decided that he probably went ahead with some of the others and left. In my defense, Clare told me to have the bus leave at 7pm! LOL! As it turned out Adam thought bus call was at 7:15 so he missed the bus. He ended up calling a taxi to get to the theatre which had we all known we could've picked him up on our second time passing the hotel trying to find the theatre haha! I have a feeling Clare won't be asking John and me for favors anytime soon lol!
Some of the cast and musicians on the bus decided to fly home early this morning and then fly directly to Gainesville FL on Thursday. They weren't up for the 3 day busride from Canada to Florida. Can't say as I blame them but Colin and I opted for the bus (We'd have to pay for our own flights home and then to Gainesville) Hopefully it won't be as terrible as it seems. We can really stretch out on the bus seeing as half of the people won't be on it. We're just hoping that no one else gets sick because that busride would be torture for them if they do. (For my luck I'll be the one to get sick next!)
Colin and I hungout in our room again all day today and are watching the Superbowl now. Luckily, we have a big flatscreen tv in our room. Colin is ecstatic because his team is ahead and there is only a little of 5 minutes left in theh game. I myself am a little disappointed. The canadian commercials are nothing like the ones in the states. That's the only thing I really like about the super bowl!