Some Ballet in the Big City

As I mentioned in my previous post, Siara and I went into New York City to see 

George Balanchine's The Nutcracker, performed by the New York City Ballet.

The grand-daddy of all Nutcracker Ballets.

Her hubby Tyler went with us and we had a fun adventure in the big city.

We took the train from Fairfield Metro to Grand Central and

 the Subway to Lincoln Center. 

It was a rainy day but that didn't dampen our spirits a bit.

We had lunch together and then Tyler went off on his

own to explore some museums while Siara and I enjoyed the ballet.

It was spectacular--the Christmas tree grows up from under the stage into the rafters

and it's huge! At the end Clara and her Prince fly above the stage in a sleigh.

The costumes were beautiful and the dancing exquisite.

Is that enough adjectives for you?

It was truly an experience. 

The Subway poster for the Nutcracker

Some amazing Subway entertainment

I love the beautiful Subway mosaic art...

Looking at the overpriced souvenirs during intermission.

Siara, my stylish ballet attending companion....

You will be proud of her, as I was, that

She didn't jump up during the overture and

shout "Let's get this show on the road!"

She's come a long way since her exuberant, spunky little girl days.

Oh, she is still exuberant and spunky--

just a little quieter when the occasion calls for it. 

Happy New Year!

Things have been a little crazy around here--so what else is new right? I've had a moment to catch my breath so I thought I would do a little catch-up...

Sam's turn to put the Angel on the tree

Christmas came and went. Sam came home from college for the holidays and we enjoyed his company and the brotherly shenanigans that go along with having Sam and Shane together under the same roof. I enjoyed hearing him play the piano--I have missed that! It went too fast and we shipped him back to the BYU a few days after the new year.

Visions of sugarplums dancing in their heads

 It is an "off" year for us--our married children were all here last year so they would be spending Christmas with their in-laws this year. But Siara and Tyler came out from Utah to spend Christmas with us-- a lovely bonus. Also, since Scott and Nicole and the girls live close by, they spent a few days before Christmas with us as well. Good times.

WARNING: Old people medical stuff coming up...

Sadly, Andy had been in and out of the hospital and ER and doctor's offices since November trying to figure out what was causing him  excruciating pain in his back. They were throwing every possible drug at him and nothing was helping. It began to get frightening as the clues were not adding up to anything. Finally, the Friday before Christmas he went in for an MRI. It was an infected disc. The disc he had surgery on in September to resolve sciatica pain. The surgery solved that problem and started another. He was ordered straight to the hospital and told not to eat or drink anything. After hours of waiting, he was finally admitted and he found out he would have to be hospitalized for 4 or 5 days. The plan was to give him antibiotics through an IV drip three times a day and wait for the biopsy to grow enough to identify which bacteria was the culprit. We were looking at having Dad/PopPop in the hospital over Christmas. In the meantime, kids and grandkids were arriving and festivities needed to get started. It was the saddest of sads to visit Dad in the hospital and see him suffering and still wondering if he would get to come home for Christmas.

This is starting to sound like a lame Made for TV Christmas Special.

So let's jump to the ending:
The doctor decided they could give him a PICC line and he could administer the antibiotics himself at home. There was some more suspense as we weren't sure if the special PICC line installers would be available so close to the holidays--but they were! And they threaded that line from his shoulder up into the vein near his heart and he got to come home on Christmas Eve eve.

But that was the day I had planned months in advance to go to the New York City Ballet's Nutcracker with Siara. As per our Christmas tradition. The tickets were purchased, the anticipation building and the plans for a lovely cultural experience were in motion. How could I be at the Lincoln Center taking in the timeless story of dancing rats, heroic nutcrackers and lovely sugarplum fairies whilst my husband was abandoned to find his own way home from the Danbury Hospital? A decidedly less cultural experience (except for that bacterial culture growing in his back...).

 "Go! You are not missing the ballet for this craziness. I'll get home somehow. I'm just not sure if they will let me check out without proof that I have someone to drive me--don't worry! I'll be fine." he insisted.

Luckily, Scott was there to save the day and be the back-up driver
to fetch his father from the hospital if need be. 

But, Andy drove himself home.

 He is the CEO of toughness--

and just a bit crazy.

So we got to spend Christmas together.

God Bless Us, Everyone!

Can't Wait for This...

Go look here:The Nutcracker  is our annual Christmas tradition. But usually only for the girls. (SOMEONE called it "The LAME-cracker"). Sadly, Siara won't be there for it this year (she's coming to the cabin a little later) but remember that time I took her when she was a sweet little four year old and she hollered over the balcony?  Oh, and remember when we went to the local ballet production at the high school in Camas and we bought Nutcracker ornaments for the tree? And remember when we went to the Russian Ballet Nutcracker last year and the costumes looked like they had been crammed in a trunk in a musty old attic in the Kremlin for about 50 years? And let's try to forget that I got lost and peeled out of a dark empty parking lot like I was a gangsta making a getaway in Dad's car. Good times...

Mom 101: Pas de Deux

In the process of raising our children, I have tried to help them lead well-rounded lives. I lean toward the arts and cultural refinement but I also took them fishing and and encouraged bug gathering and a healthy exploration of nature. Each child had the opportunity to play sports and learn a musical instrument. They had plenty of outdoor time and healthy doses of playing in the park. I signed them up for swimming lessons and hauled them to the library to encourage literacy. This wasn't easy with the whole entourage of baby, toddler, preschooler, pottier-in-training, teasing grade-schooler, moody pre-adolescent, smart-alec teen etc, etc. But I soldiered on.

So, from time to time, I tried to take a child for some one-on-one time. One child is a piece of cake when you are used to a whole army. An opportunity arose when my good friend, whose daughter trained in ballet with the Oregon Ballet, got me two tickets to the Nutcracker. Siara was about 5 years old. She liked to run around in a tutu (she wore it on her head--but that's another story)...so I thought she was ready for some culture and invited her for an afternoon at the ballet.

She was very excited and enjoyed the whole process of dressing up in a pretty dress and getting her hair done up in ribbons and curls. We drove to Portland and met my friend at her house there. She wasn't ready yet, so Siara and I went in and waited. We took off our shoes at the front door and visited for a minute while my friend finished getting ready. Somewhere in that minute, Siara ducked outside chasing their dog. She was running around their front yard with the dog without her shoes on. Well, where there's a dog, there's going to be you know what.

When we were ready to go, I picked up Siara's shoes and called to her to come and put them back on. She ran over and sat on the porch to put them on when I noticed the stench. She had stepped in dog doo-doo. She was wearing pretty white tights that looked so adorable with her ruffly yellow dress. First I tried to hose the tights off with water but the stuff wasn't budging. She was starting to get a little distressed and I didn't want to ruin the whole experience for her. I pulled off the poopy tights and threw them in the garbage. We put her shoes on her bare feet and off we went to the ballet.

You might think that's the end of this story. But you would be mistaken.

We got to the Keller Auditorium and made our way to our seats. They were fantastic: 1st Balcony, front row, center. Siara loved bouncing up from her seat and looking over the railing as people were coming in. She was so excited for the show and enjoyed the whole atmosphere of the theatre. I let her exuberance run free and enjoyed her joy in the moment.

Then, the lights dimmed and the orchestra began the overture.

Colored lights flashed across the stage curtains as the music played.

I told Siara she would have to stay in her seat now because it was starting.

She sat very nicely for a few minutes. But the curtains weren't opening. Where were the ballerinas? The lights were boring.

The minutes dragged on.

Suddenly, at a slightly quieter moment in the music,

Siara bounded out of her seat, leaned over the railing and yelled at the top of her lungs:

"Let's get this show on the road!!!"

Luckily it was dark enough that the little urchin with no manners and no tights couldn't be pinpointed and dragged from the premises.

And her Mom kept a tight grip on her for the rest of the show.