The Beginning of the End

Thursday was the last day we were going to have our friends with us in Vegas. They wanted to spend the day at the pool. My children were happy with that plan, but I didn't want that much sun, so after a lazy morning sleeping in a little late, they went with our friends to the pool. CM decided he wanted to do another poker tournament and I decided to do some gambling of my own. I played a little Let it Ride, some slots and some video poker. I ended up up a little bit, nothing major. CM got to 9th place in the poker tourney - payout started at 5th place, so he didn't make any money there. He did play some video poker and recouped a portion of his entry fee.

CM wanted to try the Burger Barn in Mandalay Place for lunch so he took AOSB there. HG, her friend, SG and I decided to walk over to Excalibur to the food court to find some lunch. HG also wanted to go to the candy store there since she did not get anything when we went there before. HG and her friend had Pizza Hut and SG and I ate Chinese food form the Manchu Wok. The little girls got suckers and the adults some chocolate treats before heading back to the pool. That afternoon we hung out by the pool - girls swam most of the time while adults relaxed with our tasty beverages. I have to say that the beverage service at the Mandalay Bay pool left a lot to be desired. That and one of the elevators (that stalled every time the door opened) were my only complaints about the place.

The plan that evening was to go over to the Rio and eat at the Carnival World Buffet and watch the Show in the Sky. We did that and the girls (teen-aged and pre-teen) all got a big kick out of having their pictures taken with a couple of the dancers and with a couple of Chippendales. We spent a fair amount of time deciding what pictures to buy. Each girl ended up with a photo of the group. My friend had not yet had a chance to play her all-time favorite slot machine (the Wheel of Fortune) so she had to do that before we left the Rio (since they don't have that game at Mandalay Bay). She lost her $100 pretty quickly - only getting into the bonus twice. After that we all headed back to the hotel for the evening.

Friday started pretty slowly. We had gotten up fairly early but puttered around the room most of the morning just running down to get some fruit, croissants, a bagel, oatmeal, coffee and tea at the Red, White and Blue and Starbucks. Today was the day that our friends were going home, so the kids wanted to hang out with them. Since the weather was predicted to be bad, the kids all went to the Shark Reef. CM was driving them to the airport, so the Mom and I got their bags to our room so they could check out and be ready to go at noon. While the kids were at the Reef, CM gambled and my friend and I went to the pool to read. Weather was better than we’d thought it would be so it was nice. When the kids were done, we all went back to the room and said our good-byes. They took off and we got ready for our day. We had planned to go down to see what kind of show tickets we could get. HG really wanted to see a Cirque show and Love at the Mirage was our first choice. Little did we know, they were on vacation the same week were. Turns out all but two of the Cirque shows in town were on vacation, and of course the two that weren’t were sold out for the weekend. While we were there we got hungry so we ate lunch in a nice café. Since the Mirage is not far from the Fashion Show Mall and the ½ price ticket booth, we decided next to go there and see what we could see. We wandered through the lovely atrium at the Mirage and took photos. We took the tram to Treasure Island and walked by the ships on our way to the mall.

We went to Tix4Tonight to get coupons for Benihana for dinner and discovered we could get discount tickets to Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum which we thought the kids would enjoy, so we got them. When we tried to get reservations for Benihana, but they didn’t have any time that worked for us. While we were there we also decided that we would like to see Lance Burton, so we bought discount tickets for the next night. We also (on the advice of the crazy ticket lady) got coupons for Planet Hollywood (see above). AOSB had been begging to go shopping and we knew that the Fashion Show Mall had Abercrombie and Hollister so we went in search of those stores. We found them along with many other lovely places. This was definitely not CM’s favorite portion of the trip, but he was a trooper. Kids found a few items on clearance and HG found Ethel’s Chocolate Lounge and got a treat for herself and a gift for her BFF. Next we walked to the Venetian via the Wynn to look around and to go to the wax museum. We had a lot of fun in the wax museum taking pictures posing with various famous people. They had an especially good gift shop which everyone (except CM again) really enjoyed.

It was after 7 p.m. by the time we were done and we had planned to go to South Point so the kids could bowl or see a movie and we could gamble. By the time we found our car and got to the casino it was nearing 8 p.m.. HG was starving, but the plan was pizza at the bowling alley. It didn’t work out too well, though since there was no open bowling. The movie theater is next to the bowling alley and amazingly enough they had an 8 p.m. showing of Monsters and Aliens. HG had hit the wall, and she was having nothing to do with a last minute change of plans, so she refused to go to the movie. CM had already mentioned once that he thought because of her crabbiness that we should just go back to the hotel. I refused to spend an evening sitting around the hotel room, and it didn’t seem fair that because HG and CM were crabby AOSB should suffer, so I said I’d take him and SG to the movie and we would take a cab home. The movie was very cute and we staved off hunger with popcorn. When we got home HG and CM were sleeping off their crabbiness. AOSB had a stomach ache (probably from all the popcorn and no dinner!) so he went straight to bed. SG and I wanted some real food so we went down to the little store in the lobby and bought a turkey sandwich and some water. We went backup to SG's room and had a nice chat while we ate our late-night snack and then we went to bed.

You Can Go Home Again (and Sometimes You Have to Even if You'd Rather Not)

My plan to journal Vegas a little every day, did not, of course, work out. I think I last wrote on Wednesday and now we are heading home. I will post about the end of our fantastic vacation!

I think I’ll work backwards because it will be easier. It is 7:38 a.m. and we are on the airplane. We love and hate taking this flight. It is great to have a direct flight to Duluth, and it is great to be home by noon – it is torture to get up at 3:40 a.m. to be ready to leave the hotel at 4:30. This morning, though, went as smoothly as it could go. We woke up to my alarm and I hopped in the shower. By the time I was done Kevin was up and we called Hockey Girl and Swedish Girl to get them up and moving. We got All Other Sports Boy up and got ready and finished packing (we had done most of our packing yesterday). We were out the door by 4:20 and getting SG at her room. We were in the lobby right on schedule – 4:30 a.m. Curling Man went to get the car while we checked out. We paid for most of our room with our winnings! Only one charge that didn’t belong to us made it onto our room bill – a charge from the private (topless) beach bar – Curling Man swears it wasn’t him.

After a stop at the gas station we dropped off the rental car, took the shuttle to the airport and were pleasantly surprised to see no line at the Allegiant Counter. We got our seats, checked our two bags and headed for security. Travelling on Easter Sunday morning is a good thing – lines at security were also small. We got through there with no delays. We found our gate, bought some food and I got a new book. While everyone was eating, I took $10 over to the slot machines. I started with video poker, but I wasn’t feeling the love so when I was a couple bucks ahead I went over to the Wheel of Fortune slots. I had never played this slot, but it is my friend’s favorite. It had not been kind to her this trip, but in her honor, I decided to play it. On my second spin, I hit the bonus. I made $56 and cashed out. It was sweet!

It’s amazing how awake and chipper everyone was this a.m. after a long and tiring day yesterday. We were up fairly early yesterday. HG, SG and I went down to get breakfast at the Red, White and Blue Café (our regular morning haunt). This morning we FINALLY got there early enough to get the Krispy Crème donuts that HG has been dying to have. She got a donut and a croissant (a new favorite treat she discovered this vacation). We got chocolate covered glazed donuts for AOSP. We also got a fruit bowl (in an effort to make sure everyone eats something nutritious for their first meal of the day). Then we went to Starbucks to get my chai and CM’s coffee. SG went to the cafe by the lobby, I think it’s called Orchids, to get a tea and an apple bran muffin. We went upstairs to eat and plan our day. We also did a little bit or packing because we knew we would be tired when we got home tonight.

SG really wanted to see the Stratoshpere and maybe do a ride and even though my Mother lived there for a short time, none of us had ever been there, so we went there. We got on the freeway and it was an easy trip. We parked and made our way through the casino (which CM noted had $5 craps tables) to the tower ticket booth. AOSB and CM did not want to go up. HG, SG and I did. Only SG was brave enough to consider going on any rides. Turns out it’s a much better deal if you decide to go on the rides before you go up, so she committed to do one – but she didn’t have to decide which one until she was up here.

The Stratospehere is the tallest building West of the Mississippi (yes, taller then the IDS building much to CM’s dismay). The.inside observation deck was on the 108th floor. Not surprisingly the view from there was extraordinary. We wandered around and took many photos. The outside observation deck is one floor up, and it was surprisingly sunny and warm out there. From that deck you could see all of the rides. There are three rides on top of the Stratosphere: Insanity, the Big Shot and the Extreme. The scariest by far was the Extreme – on which you sit in a roller coaster type car and roll backwards and forwards, looking like you are going to roll right off the track and plunge down over a thousand feet. I couldn’t even watch it. The Insanity also has you hanging over the edge of the building – this time spinning. The Big Shot is the highest thrill ride anywhere – at 1400+ feet above the ground. It is a ride that shoots you straight up into the air and bounces you up and down. Although it is the highest, it looks the least scary because at least there is a solid surface at the bottom of the ride. I couldn’t go on that one either because I can’t handle the up and down movement. After watching all of the rides, SG decided to try the Big Shot. I was glad. She loved it! In fact when she was done someone gave her some extra tickets they had so she did it again. She still had one more ticket and she tried and tried to get HG to go on it too and she came very close, but didn’t do it. She says if CM ever goes with her she’ll go on it. When we went downstairs, SG gave her last ride ticket away to a happy young couple.

We connected with AOSB and CM to eat lunch. We wanted to make sure to eat early enough to make sure we were going to be hungry for our planned dinner at Planet Hollywood before our show that evening. AOSB and CM had spent their time wandering around the shopping area at the Stratosphere. There was a great magic shop they spent a lot of time in. We had wanted to eat in a 50s-style diner, but the line was too long, so we decided just to find the food court. SG had a salad from a pizza place and the rest of us ate at McDs. For dessert the kids all had a little Ben and Jerry’s treat.

After the Stratosphere we decided to try to head back to South Point Casino to go bowling (we had tried the night before and there was a tournament going on so the kids couldn’t bowl). We figured it would be fun for the kids to bowl while we did a little gambling at a casino that had $5 craps and cards. Although our previous night’s disappointment should have taught us a lesson, we didn’t call ahead and it turned out that there once again was a tournament going on and no open bowling. They suggested the Sunset Station Casino or the Gold Coast Casino. When I called the Sunset Station, they also did not have open bowling so Gold Coast it was. At least we were familiar with that casino since we had gambled there before when we stayed at the Rio – in fact it’s where we learned to play craps. I called and they did have open bowling, so off we went.

We got there and got the kids established. CM and I went downstairs to gamble. We started out with 3 card poker. We each had one good hand, but mostly it was bad, so we left the table down just a little bit to check out craps. The table we went to was pretty cold. I left after just a few rollers. CM stayed and things turned around. I went to a Black Jack table. The cards weren’t great there, but the group playing was a lot of fun, so I had a good time piddling away my $50. I left with about $10 in my pocket when SG called and said they were done. The craps table was hot and it looked like CM was up quite a bit (I saw many, many green chips in front of him when I went over to tell him I was going upstairs). Kids had bowled 2 games. HG won the 1st one and AOSB won the 2nd, but of course SG was the only one bowling without bumpers. I collected everyone, gave them a little bit of money for the arcade and went back down. I went to a video poker machine to kill some time waiting for him to be done. The poker machine was kinder to me than the tables had been and I made back a very little bit of my money. CM had recouped his $ at craps and in fact had reportedly been up about $250 at one point, but he did not walk away when he should have, so he ended up only up about $65. Overall we were down at that casino, but we had fun.

We decided to head back to the casino for a bit to change and freshen up for the evening. We had gotten tickets at Tix4Tonight the day before for Lance Burton at the Monte Carlo. We also had purchased coupons for dinner at Planet Hollywood. The woman at the ticket place had recommended Planet Hollywood because “they didn’t need reservations” and “they were close to our show.” What a bunch of baloney! We left our hotel about 4:40 p.m. and I remembered that I needed to turn our vouchers in for actual tickets at the box office. CM dropped off SG and me at the Monte Carlo. We easily found the box office and got our tickets. Then we headed down the Strip to Ceasar’s Palace. CM and the kids had driven directly there and we were going to meet them at the restaurant. I don’t know what that ticket lady was thinking. Ceasar’s Palace is quite the hike from Monte Carlo. SG and I walked as fast as we comfortably could and it took us at least 15 minutes – if we’d have had the kids it would have been twice that. We did get to go through a portion of the Bellagio which was lovely, but I couldn’t believe that she had recommended a restaurant so far away. Just as we were getting into the casino at Ceasar’s, CM called me and told me that they weren’t seating anyone at Planet Hollywood without a reservation until 7:30 p.m.!! I was livid! Now I had spent $15 for coupons I would never use and I knew I would have hungry and crabby kids. Ceasar’s Palace was an absolute madhouse, so after I gave away my 50% off coupon to a grateful Mom standing in line for PH, we left to find dinner. Since Monte Carlo was so far away I told CM we should drive. We went to pick up the car to head over. The Strip was really busy, and I told CM I knew there had to be a back route behind the casinos. He was skeptical, but as we were leaving I saw a sign for Frank Sinatra Dr. I had remembered that we had been on that road behind our hotel when we had come home in a cab the night before, so I told him I thought it would work. We took a chance and it was SLICK! We got to Monte Carlo within 5 minutes. We opted to valet park so we could make sure to get to dinner quickly. We decided for the sake of time to do the buffet, which was actually quite nice. I am annoyed that the buffets in Vegas that charge adult prices for my 11 year-olds, but in this case it was okay, because she only charged us for 4 people. Normally I would be honest and pay for the 5th, but since I knew HG and AOSB would never eat an adult portion (and neither would SG for that matter), I felt it was justified. The buffet was actually quite good and everyone was happy when we left to walk across the casino to the Lance Burton Theatre. We did not have great seats, but the theater is small enough that we could see pretty well. Magic/comedy acts are not my favorite, but CM and the kids love them, and I have to admit that he was pretty good. Afterwards we went to the magic shop and the kids got a DVD and a magic trick. I told them they now owe me a magic show. I think AOSB could be pretty good at magic if he put some effort into it as he’s a natural performer.

After the show we went back to the hotel. We got the kids settled into the room and we went downstairs for one last shot at the casino. CM really wanted to play craps but the minimum bet at the tables in Mandalay Bay was $15 so he went over to the Luxor to play some craps. He didn’t do too well, finishing up down a couple hundred. He came back and played some video poker and recouped a bit, still ending up down for the session. I also played some video poker, but I did not do well. I left the machine down about $40 and went to find the DaVinci Diamonds slot that I had been wanting to play for a couple of days since I noticed it. I am so glad I did – it was awesome! I just kept winning and I ended up ahead about $150 for the night. SG wanted her picture taken at a slot machine so we connected so I could take it before we went up for the night.

The Tourist that Never Sleeps

It is once again 6:00 a.m. or at least it was when I started to try to connect to the internet (I HATE the wireless network at this place - and it's not even free). I am awake because it's 8 a.m. at home - that is despite having been up past 11:00 p.m., despite having a bed all to myself because Hockey Girl and Swedish girl (our newest exchange student you haven't even met since she's only been with us a month and wasn't with us on day one of Vegas), and despite walking miles yesterday. The good news is that it leaves me with plenty of time to blog about the trip.

We spent the morning on Tuesday by the pool. It was a lovely warm day - ended up being about 84 degrees for the high. HG and her friend had secured nice front row chairs for us. We all went down and mostly sunned ourselves for the first hour or so. Then we started playing in the water, ordering snack and beverages, reading and of course chatting. We were there until we had to go get Swedish Girl (who had been in San Fransisco visiting her aunt) from the airport. Her plane arrived about 1:30 p.m.. We picked her up without much problem - I did have to go into the airport and direct her to the right door - causing me to ponder once again what we did before cell phones. I wonder how much their existence will impact my children's generation's ability to make a plan (and a plan B) in advance.

When SG arrived she and HG and AOSB wanted to go back down to the pool. Curling Man and I had had enough sun (I was a little sunburnt despite sunscreen) so we took advantage of having an 18 y.o. chaperone for the kids and went to the casino. We played some craps and I was promptly up $125 (and much of that was made on my roll). I left the table and went and played some slots. I was up another $50 and Kevin texted me and told me he was playing Let it Ride, so I went to join him. After playing awhile and hitting trip aces, I was up another $35 - finishing out my day up $215. Kevin was even Tuesday - having been down in the morning, but making it up in his afternoon session.

That evening we had dinner at Battista's Hole in the Wall. It is an Italian restaurant a little off the Strip. They have an old guy who roams around playing the accordian, since we were from Minnesota he played the Beer Barrel Polka. He was very funny. He has been playing there for many years. We all had yummy Italian food (except our friend Gracie who is picky and ate chicken strips AGAIN). The meal included wine (which I didn't drink) and some wonderfully delicious cappucino (which I did drink eventhough I don't normally like coffee and man, was it delish)! CM and the kids headed back to the hotel while Swedish Girl and I and our friends walked back to the hotel. SG was in awe of the sights and lights of the Strip. On the way back we stopped at Excalibur to pick up some Krispy Kreme donuts for breakfast for the kids on Wednesday.

Yesterday was predicted to be cool and windy so we skipped the pool. The kids and I hit the Strip and Kevin entered a poker tournament. He had a little bit of time to kill before it started so we went to the craps table, where he made $200 in 15 minutes. He didn't get very far in the poker tourney as his trip 10s with an Ace kicker were beat by a full boat with 10s over 5s . Meanwhile we went to the Luxor to get HG her favorite breakfast meal (a Sausage McMuffin with Egg without Cheese). I got my favorite breakfast - a non-fat chai latte from Starbucks. We shopped our way over to Excalibur where CM met us at the booth where you can win a prize if the man fails to guess your weight within 3 pounds or age within 2 years. Kids win no matter what - so HG did it and while he was within 3 pounds of her weight, she still got a pretty cool Las Vegas puzzle that she is working on putting together as I type. After that we made our way over to NY NY where the CM and SG went on the roller coatser and the kids and I played games in the Arcade. Kids purchased prizes (rings, bracelets and a wallet) with their many tickets and we went to find lunch. CM, HG and I ate in a Jewish Deli. HG and I had matzoh ball soup and talked about how sad we were to be missing seder with our friends. We really bemoaned not having any charoset this year - maybe I'll have to make some when we get home. AOSB had a great meatball hoagie and SG had a turkey wrap. After lunch we went to M&M World and shopped and saw the 3-D movie. It was cute but it took a LONG time. Afterwards HG and CM went back to the hotel to rest and SG, AOSB continued down the Strip shopping. We went to Coke World (where AOSB got Coca-Cola shirt in Hebrew) and to Planet Hollywood to wander the Miracle Mile Shops. We found the beloved H&M (Swedish store that made SG feel very at home) and AOSB found a sweatshirt he liked. While we were there our friends called us and told us that they had tickets for the Titanic Exhibit that night. We made plans to meet them for dinner and go see the exhibit. We shopped a little more and started our walk back. We stopped at the Tix4tonite booth and bought our discounted Titanic tickets and got back to the hotel and got our 2nd room for SG and HG to share, since one room was a little small for 5 people.

At 6:30 we met our friends for dinner at the House of Blues. HG and I split the ribs - yum! CM and SG had shrimp creole and AOSB had a big burger. After dinner everyone except CM went to the Titanic Exhibit. it was very well-done. They gave each guest a card with the name and information about one passenger, including what class they were in and who they were. We got to see a lot of actual artifacts and to learn a lot about the ship itself as well as many of the passengers and crew. There was even a large piece of the ship itself. The kids were really impressed by it. They all said that it was very interesting and very sad. Everyone's person except mine died.

We came back to the hotel. The kids went to bed and I went to the casino to meet CM who had been hanging out in the sports book watching some games. We met at the craps table (SG came to watch and made it about 20 minutes before they asked for her ID). The table (along with all of the others in the casino) was HOT! Betting conservtively I left up $150. CM bet much more aggressively and he made nearly $500. It was a good night! We were back in the room by 10:30 p.m..

Today will be another lazy day - mostly by the pool as our friends leave tomorrow.

Vegas Trip Report

There is nothing like being in the Pacific Time Zone (when you live in the CST) to allow extra morning hours in which to Blog. We were all awake by 6:00 a.m. and although it is Vegas and we adults could always find something to do, it's a little more difficult with kids. We are waiting for 8:15 when we can go line up to get beach chairs at the pool.

We're at Mandaly Bay Resort and Casino. We've never stayed here before. We decided to stay here primarily because Hockey Girl's friend and her family stay here and her Mom called me a few months ago and told me they'd made their reservations for Spring reak and invivted us to join them. The girls had mentioned wanting to come here at the same time some time. They always stay here, so they had access to some really good room rates.

We were able to get really great rates on Allegiant Air directly out of Duluth - love that option!! We left yesterday a little after 1 p.m. (CST) and we were in Vegas by 2:15 p.m. (Pacific). Everything went as smoothly as it could go. Our luggage was on the carousel when we got there. There was no wait for the shuttle to the rental car center. We had rented a car via Hotwire from Avis (also a really good rate) and there was only a short wait to get that. We requested a mid-sized car and we ended up with a Kia Rondo (SUV crossover) which had more than enough room for our luggage (our only concern about a smaller car). We drove directly to Mandalay Bay and check-in was also a breeze. We decided it was good to arrive on a Monday.

We are on the 31st floor with a lovely view of the pool area. Manadaly Bay has a large and impressive pool area that includes a sandy beach, a huge wave pool and a lazy river as well as 5 other pools. Our hotel room is spacious and comfortable. It has a large flat screen TV in the main room and a little one in the bathroom. Only complaint that we could have is a lack of dresser drawer space for 4 people.

After we got our room, we unpacked and at about 4 p.m. the kids and I made it down to the pool. Curling Man went to the sports book to place a bet for himself and a friend on the Michigan State/UNC basketball game for the National Championship. Both of them took Michigan (UNC were 7 1/2 point favorites). Curling Man then joined us for a bit at the pool. He and AOSB then went back to the room to relax and watch some sports on that nice TV. HG and I stayed at the "beach" and even I went into the wave pool. The pool area closes at 6:00 p.m., so when it closed we went back to the room, changed and went to dinner at the Border Grill. It is a Mexcian Restaurant that prides itself on serving sustainable, healthy food. It made me feel so much better that my margarita was made with organic agave juice, and therefore good for me! I'm sure the chips and salsa were also good for me. I had kobe beef tacos with pineapple salsa and a fresh cucmber and asparagus salad that were out of this world! Kids also enjoyed their chicken burritos and Kevin had some Chicken Pableno enchiladas which were also excellent. By the time we finished dinner kids were really tired. We went back to the room and watched the basketball game for a bit. Curling man decided to go down to the casino. He had been pleasantly suprised to find $5 craps. He played some craps and left about $84 up. Then he played some slots and was up about $22 when he quit. Unfortunately Michigan did not manage to cover the spread, so he lost that $20, but he was up for the day. Today I will get to play!

While I was writing this Curling Man went to get breakfast at Starbucks with the kids. Now, HG just left with her friend to go stand in line for the best chairs at the beach. I better go get my suit on and get some breakfast myself so I can get to the pool and start relaxing!

Guess I'm a Stage Mom Too!

The past week has been so exciting!! A little over a week ago my friend Marcie told me she had gotten an e-mail from her sister that an agent in the Twin Cities was looking for 10-11 year old boy for the lead role in the upcoming movie Diary of a Wimpy Kid. That book happens to be one of Noah's favorite books, so obviously I thought of him. I asked him if he would be okay if I sent in his photo. He was pretty skeptical, but said that was fine. The e-mail just requested the age, date of birth, height and weight and a photo. So I sent an e- mail with Noah's stats to the Laura Balfour agency. The next day I got a phone call from Laura confirming our e-mail because the casting company had called her asking her to do so. I didn't say anything to Noah because I didn't want to get his hopes up, but Monday morning (March 16th - my birthday) after he was already at school, I got the e-mail inviting him to audition the next Monday in Minneapolis. The e-mail said that he should bring a photo/resume if he has them - otherwise she'll take pictures.

Well, being the Stage Mom that I am, I decided that he had to present as a professional so I promptly made an appointment with my friend Mark Fitzgibbons (www.fitzphotostudios.com) to get a head shot done. He was kind enough to fit us in for a shoot on Tuesday morning. I had proofs online by Wednesday afternoon and by Thursday I had to make a selection. Man was that hard! They were all great pictures, but slightly different. Did we want a full smile, a serious pose or something in between? Did we want B & W or Color? Thank goodness for my Facebook friends who helped me narrow it down so I could make my final selection - which I will post when I get the low resolution photo that was part of my package.

The e-mail from the casting company (Lynn Blumenthal Casting www.lbcasting.com) included two scenes that Noah was going to have to perform at the audition. I felt like he could use some help preparing, so I contacted Kate Horvath, Education Director at the Duluth Playhouse (www.duluthplayhouse.org) and asked her for a recommendation of someone he could work with. She volunteered to work with him herself, so I made two appointments, for Wednesday and for Friday. Coincidentally on Wednesday she cast Noah in the Duluth Playhouse Summer Theater Intensive, Guys and Dolls, Jr.. Noah met with Kate on Wednesday, she gave him some suggestions. He practiced and by his meeting on Friday, he had his scenes memorized and they spent an hour together polishing them.

He worked on the scenes a little every day in his room. Monday was the big day. Kevin was coming home from Las Vegas at 12:10 p.m. and we were all (even Marianne our newest AFS daughter from Sweden) planning on heading down to Minneapolis for the audition. At about 11:00 a.m. I called to confirm that I could pick up the photos, which were all ready for me. About 11:30 a.m. I remembered that I had not put together a resume for him. Drat! Here I was spending all the money for professional photos, but he wasn't going to present completely professionally. So I did what all procrastinators do, I sat down at the computer and Googled "acting resume." I clicked on a link that said "Sample Acting Resumes" and found the one for "Child actor" and copied all of the text into a word document, changed it to reflect Noah's stats and his acting experience (all at the Duluth Playhouse) and printed it out. It looked GREAT!!

I printed two copies and started on the route to pick up everyone to head out of town. First I got Hannah and Noah at their school. Noah was bubbling over with excitement. His whole class had been pumping him up all day. He had gotten many good wishes and words of encouragement. Next we picked up Kevin from the airport (despite freezing rain his plane was on time). Kids were so happy to see him (he'd been gone since Friday). Then we stopped at Central High School to get Marianne. Our last stop heading out of town was at Fitz Photo Studio to get the comp cards - which looked so awesome!!

We made good time getting to the Cities. Eventhough our appointment wasn't until 5:00 p.m. and it was only 3:30, we went directly to the building the casting company was in. It was located in the Warehouse District of Minneapolis. We decided to go show Marianne a little of the city. We drove by the new Twins' stadium which is under construction. We drove downtown and showed her the Target Center, First Avenue, Hard Rock Cafe, Nicollet Mall and the IDS Center. She wanted to look at the Hard Rock Cafe shop, so we parked and walked by First Avenue and looked at all the bands on the wall. Hannah noted that Katy Perry was playing there the next day - too bad she's a little young for that venue. We went to the Hard Rock for drinks and apps. Marianne also looked in the gift shop. She ended up going home with the martini glass that came with her drink and lots and lots of photographs!

At about 4:30 we headed back to the casting company. When we got there a boy and his mother were leaving. Another boy and his mother were waiting to go in. We signed in and took our seat to wait. One of the staff (Matthew) came out and talked to us a little bit. Noah was very outgoing and chatted with him. Noah told him that he had memorized both scenes and Matthew told Noah that they hadn't usually been having people read the 2nd scene. The other boy went in and was there for about 10 minutes. When he left, they took Noah's sign in sheet, his photo and his resume and he went in to audition. We could clearly him reading the scene for the first time (we hadn't been able to hear the other boy at all). We heard the casting agent give him direction, including not to be so dramatic (ha-ha) and he did it again, and again, and again, and again. She was really working with him. Then we heard him starting the 2nd scene! We knew that meant she wanted to show more of him. They worked that scene a few times and he was done. He came out on top of the world. He had had so much fun!! Both Matthew and the casting agent, Lynn, came out and talked to us. She had so many good things to say. She told us he was clearly talented. She recommended that he take a class that would train him to perform on film versus on stage because she could tell he had stage skills, but he didn't really understand the difference. She said he was very smart (which we know) and that he was absolutely beautiful on camera. They had only had one other boy read the 2nd scene. They told us it had been a very long day with a lot of boys who did not have "it." She felt like she was searching through her haystack to find a needle, and Noah had been it. She said it was refreshing. It was so exciting for him and really for all of us. After we left Matthew came downstairs to watch for the last appointment of the day and we had a nice conversation with him before we left.

We went from there to dinner with Kevin's parents at Khan's Mongolian BBQ in Roseville, driving through the U of M campus to show Marianne. We had a great dinner and hit the road back to Duluth.

Who knows what, if anything will come out of this, but we had Noah's school conference today and even his teacher mentioned that his confidence-level is clearly up. He is standing up straighter. This was such a good thing for him. He had a goal, he worked towards it. He was prepared, he did his best and he felt good at the end. While I know he would be tickled pink to get a call-back, and of course any kind of role, even if we hear nothing more, it was all worth it to have this week!

Happy New Year!

So much for that resolution to Blog just a little bit every day. It's Jan. 2nd and I'm already a day behind. I didn't even do that much yesterday - watched The Queen, took a nap, watched some TV, watched Curling Man do the Wii Fit (his age of 53 made me feel better as mine was 35 yesterday - although his BMI being better than mine and my gain of 1.8 lbs. did not - eventhough I know the gain had more to do with tequila and chips bloating than actual weight gain), did the Wii fit (when he was done I had to do it and make sure that I did eveyrthing he did to see if I could beat his score - he rocks at the soccer ball balance game, and he's a very fast skiier, but otherwise I was able to top him), took a shower, went to watch Hockey Girl's team play Grand Rapids - they won 6-1 and HG scored a goal. While I was at the rink I suddenly got a headache, body aches and the chills. It was odd. The kids' daycare provider, her husband and their grandkids came to watch the game which was very nice of them. My Mom and her husband also came. I had been looking forward to going to dinner after the game, but I felt like I had to go home, get some chicken soup and go to bed - which is what I did. I took my Nyquil and hit the sack. I didn't get up until almot 9:30 this morning and I feel better - not quite right, but better.

Now, I am starting my New Year's organizing. I always destroy before I reassemble better than before. I have taken many of my clothes out of my closet and I am working on putting them back in a much ore organized fashion. I plan to weed out clothes as I go also. Once my closet is done we have to do the kids' closets and drawers, the craft room and the basement (which will be a HUGE job). Curling Man should do his too - but I am not going to hold my breath.

Other goals for the long weekend include getting all holiday gifts put away and grocery shopping. Diets don't start until Mondays - but we have to have healthy food in the house in order for that to work. So much to do, so little time and now I need a nap.

Took First in Canada, Eh?

Last year the Icebreakers went to Thunder Bay for the 1st time. We were invited for an exhibition weekend, and they didn't win a game. Although they had a good showing in Brainard - they were worried that the Canadian competition would be stiffer, and our girls were less than optimistic about their abilities to fare well as the only American team in this tournament.

First games were on Friday so the team planned to meet to caravan up to Canada at 7:30 a.m.. AOSB was planning on staying in Duluth with Grandma and Grandpa because he had his first series of basketball games also scheduled in Proctor this weekend. When push came to shove, though he wasn't ready for his family to leave without him - and we weren't ready to do so, either. So after a quick trip to the St. Louis County Courthouse to get his birth certificate, we hit the road about 1/2 an hour behind the rest of HG's teammates. We caught up to them at the border where they were all stopped as the Canadian border patrol was searching the coach's vehicle. Coach is from Canada and we don't know if they kicked him out and didn't want him back, or if they're just mad at him for deserting them, but they decided to make him pay. Worked out well for us to be able to travel the rest of the way with the team.

When we got to Canada we tried to check in. All of the rooms were not ready so our family went to grab lunch (a $26 meal at A&Ws if you can believe that - man are prices high there). Then we had our first game against the Dryden Flames. Twenty-seven seconds into game one HG scored the first goal of the tournament. This was the second year she scored the 1st goal of the 1st tournament of the year. The team scored a total f 13 goals that game. The other team did not score. HG's friend Maddy scored 5 goals (which were her 1st goals of the season) and earned MVP of the game!

After the game we went to the hotel to check-in. We stayed at the Victoria Inn - which has a nice pool area with a big water slide. We relaxed a little before the 2nd game against the McDonald's Sharks. Girls played well in game two also. HG scored another goal. The team scored 8 goals in all and won the game 8-0. Another one of the new girls, Daisy, scored her 1st goal of the season and she was honored with MVP for that game. She was so proud and everyone was so excited for her! That evening the girls got to enjoy the swimming pool and we all ate pizza for dinner.

Saturday we had one game for sure, and if we won that game, we would get a bye into the semi-finals. Our game wasn't until noon so we got to sleep in and eat a leisurely breakfast at the hotel. We played the Esso Tigers in game 3, and beat them 7-0. It was the best team we had played and our goalie finally was put to work - so she was named MVP. That meant we had the whole afternoon and evening to play. Many of the girls, some of their Moms and a couple of Dads went to the Mall. It was a pretty big centre with a lot of stores we didn't recognize and a few we did. The food court was interesting with a lot of options we weren't used to. HG and I ate Asian noodles - yum! Girls enjoyed an accessory store called Adrene's and Claires. We went back and it was time for more pool action. We had an early game on Sunday and apparently grown-ups had been up too late the night before because everyone was pretty much in for the night around 10 p.m..

The semi-final game was at 8:15 Sunday morning. We were at the rink by 7:30 and the girls played the Redwings in the semi-final game. We won that game 8-0. Our defense controlled that game and made many of the goals. One of them, Hayley, was awarded MVP. After the game everyone went back to pack up and check out. HG and AOSB were staving so we made a quick stop at McDs. Adults were waiting to eat with the group before the championship game. We went to Joe's Family Restaurant at 11:00 a.m. and ate brunch.

Our final game was at 1:00 p.m.. We played the McDonald's Bears in the championship game. They had also won all of the games they had played, so despite our successes, we couldn't get complacent. The first period was quite competitive and we only scored one goal. Second period the girls took off and scored a few more goals quickly. The Bears did manage to prevent a tournament shut out by scoring one goal in the second period. That was the only goal they scored, though, and the final score was 7-1. Makayla was MVP that game, and the girls took home November Chill Tournament Champion trophies. The ride home was very uneventful.

As much as I have never really liked hockey, and as much as I resisted letting our children play, I have to say, I love this team. The families are great - fun to spend time with and just all around good people. The girls all mostly get along. They are inclusive of each other - even with the new girls. They are supportive and considering how competitive they are on the ice - off the ice they are respectful of each other. This is going to be a fun season!