Chiefs vs Broncos

Big football day. Papa and AJ attended to the grocery shopping. And there was some healthy stuff in there, too, thanks to Nana. The Chiefs won. Matt won his fantasy quarterfinal game, too. And Sandy waited patiently for the fallout.

Santa at the Fire Museum

Nana, Papa, Matteo, and the twins headed for a toy-raising event at the Lester Williams Fire Museum (south of downtown near Memorial Park where Matteo did his water camp last summer). Christmas Unlimited was the organization collecting the toys, since 1923! Pretty cool little fire house museum and did they pack a lot of activity into a small space for this event. We made some gingerbread houses, tried our skill at ball rolling and snowball tossing (styrofoam snow balls), and spinning the wheel. We checked out some fire and police gear on our way out, including the robot that shook Matteo's hand. All the photos are here.

You can't catch me...

I'm the ginger bread man. Actually, Lexi was a bear! Her preschool program was fantastic. 20 minutes total, a new song every 30 seconds, never a dull moment!

Pixel Cake

It took all the pixels in the camera to capture all the pixels on this birthday cake! Actually, Williams Sonoma calls this a Holiday Explosion Cake and the kit came in a paint can.

The innards come pouring out upon cutting.
Like a ticker tape parade...

Going to the Zoo, Zoo, Zoo

Which seemed a bit strange as it was a very busy day. Fina was going all over the place for dance rehearsals and performances, Hope and Home was having a Christmas party, the yard was full of people blowing breakers with some regularity. But yet, everyone was quite fixated on getting to the zoo. It was a very nice day, sunny and warm.

Turns out the motivating factor was to reveal Papa's new tile at the zoo! Very cool. And total surprise.

And we got quite a show just down from the elephants put on by a couple of roaring lions!

Look at the Hills!

While taking Fina to her Praise Dance Team performance, we thought the Air Force Academy buildings had been all lit up for Christmas. Turns out, there were no Christmas lights hung there. It was reflection of the sunrise on all the glass and metal. Stunning. Because Papa was driving we couldn't get a photo there, but when we got to the performance venue, this is what the hills looked like! The Praise Dance Team did a performance at a school early morning and then another after school at a senior home.

Carnegie Hall and NYC

Nana and Papa's trip to New York City turned out to be a dream come true that we didn't even know we were dreaming of. The Chancel Choir of the First United Methodist Church of Arroyo Grande, CA invited us to go to New York with them and sing at Carnegie Hall. What? Wait. Yes! Jamie directed that church choir from 1997 to 2007. Julie Burns took over then and is the current director.

"Is this really happening?" as we  walked onto that stage with over 200 other choir members (representing about 20 different choirs) and a full orchestra under the direction of our favorite choral music composer/arranger, Mark Hayes. And when the echos of the final song ended, the entire audience (nearly a full house!) popped to their feet in a standing ovation. Wow. To say it was a thrill might be the understatement of all time.

The event was produced/organized by Distinguished Concerts International New York (DCINY). They have this down, and working with Carnegie Hall is not a simple thing, apparently. We had two rehearsals at outside venues, one run-through on stage that afternoon, and then the performance at 7pm that night, December 2, 2019 in the Stern Auditorium (seats 2,800) on the Perelman Stage. Following the concert 200+ of us gathered at Rosie O'Grady's Saloon for a buffet dinner, drinks, and to let down our hair. Rosie's was right across the street from where we stayed, the Sheraton New York Times Square.

And the review is in... From New York Concert Review, Inc. - click here.

For a list of our repertoire and links to where you can hear the pieces (not recordings of our performance), click here.

Click here for the story/photos on the Arroyo Grande Methodist Church website.

Of course, while we were in NYC, we managed to do much other fun stuff as well. The Sheraton was perfectly located for walking access to lots of iconic sites. Here are some of the places we visited:

9/11 Memorial Museum and the underground mall next door. This was the only visit for which we needed a cab.

Playwright Celtic Pub where we met Kaza's friend, Danny.

Times Square.

Patsy's Italian Restaurant.

Frozen at the St. James Theatre.

Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steakhouse.

Park Cafe in the Wellington Hotel.

Rockefeller Center. While we had breakfast we watched them setting up for the Christmas Tree lighting which was scheduled for the next evening.

St. Patrick's Cathedral.

A stroll along 5th Avenue with Saks, Cartier, Tiffany, and lots of fabulous window displays.

Central Park.

Beetlejuice at the Winter Garden Theatre.

All the photos are here. A few photos are below.

9/11 Memorial Museum

Our concert badges.

Frozen curtain call (they said it was OK to photo)

Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steakhouse

Jamie's view during the afternoon rehearsal in Carnegie Hall.

In the green room before the concert.

Rockefeller Center

St. Patrick's Cathedral

A shop window on 5th Avenue

Central Park

Beetlejuice