HOME!!!!

We're home!! Today we just drove up from Birmingham...about 3 hours. We had to drive right past our house to get to the college where most of us met family and we all went our separate ways. We all said "bye, see ya in a couple of weeks!" and we were off. It is kind of weird...being back home after being gone a whole month. Dad is building rooms in our basement (one of those "we're gonna do it this summer" for 10 years kind of things), so everything down there is all turned around. I feel like I should be sad that we're not all going to be in the van together tomorrow...and I am a little...but we **get** to do it all again in 2 weeks, so I'm trying not to miss everyone too much. Save it for August...or September...let's just say after the last show. THEN I'll be ****REALLY**** sad. But I am happy to be home. We're all NOT thinking about leaving again just after we all get good and settled in again. :) Anyhow, all's well here. I'm off to bed...**MY** bed!!...with brand new sheets!!!! YEEAAAHHHH!!!!!! Goodnight...from Nashville!!

Covington, LA to Birmingham, AL

Well, today was fantabulous. The shows went great this morning. We had to be there at 8:00 this morning for a 9:00 show...which meant we had to be out at the van at 7:30 with all our stuff. bleh. But, we lived. :) The hotel was really nice, so it was a shame we had so little time there. The one we're at tonight is really nice too, and we don't have to leave until 9:30 tomorrow. (!!!!) The second show this morning was so funny...people were spitting everywhere and Faith messed up one of her lines. Krystin (Lucy) was spitting everywhere when she jumped out of the wardrobe and said "I'm back! I'm back! It's alright, I've come back!". Aaron (Fenris Ulf, the wolf) was spitting everywhere when he came out before the fight with Peter. Faith said "the reindeer can't travel without sn...snla...hmph..without snow, they'll sink into the mud". Funny stuff. Anyhow, we went to Longhorn steakhouse tonight for dinner...kind of a celebratory dinner...which was really fun. My mom's parents came by on their way home (Talledega) from a family reunion, so we got to see them. (yay!) We're missing a daycamp at their church this year that we ALWAYS go to, which is really sad, but I wouldn't trade this trip for anything. Everyone is super excited about getting home tomorrow. Well, most of us are getting home...some just back to Nashville. Some are from East Tenn., Georgia & Florida, and they're driving back tomorrow & Tuesday, and later in the week. Anyhow, everyone is getting really excited. Well, I've got to go...gotta have that midnight shower again...just for the hair. 2 days of hairspray...blech. :)

Day 31, Gulfport, MS & Covington, LA

Hey everybody! Yes, I'm still here. Sorry about taking so long in between posts...life is crazy. We got here (Gulfport) at about 5:00 yesterday and loaded everything into the church and set up. There is a show today, but we only have to go, do mic checks and makeup, and do show!! After the show and tear-down we're driving to Covington (about 1 hour), and setting up for Sunday. We're doing the show at the church there as their morning service, so we have to cut the show down to 1 hour. We've talked about that some, but I still don't know all how it will work. I hope the director tells us today...yeah, that would be good. :) I hope I can remember when everything is different. Anyhow, I just wanted to let you all know we're still alive! We are going home in 2 days!! For a week...then we go away again...but let's not think about that right now. :) No really, I'm super excited. I'll get a whole lot of pictures on here...hopefully sometime soon!

Utah, Wyoming, and Nebraska

From Mom: Well, this blog is pitifully incomplete, but we have decided not to be slaves to it, but hope to go back and fill in blanks as we can. Pictures? We have thousands of them, but that is Allison's dept. and she likes to do whatever the gang is doing at night. Maybe I will learn how while we are at home, or even how to put albums on Facebook in time, but we have gazillions of pictures of flowers (if you know Allison) and also gazillions of blurry pics while riding in the van, trying to get that perfect view w/out a truck going by (lorry if you are Mr. Payne) or w/out the hill going up and obliterating the scene. This country is beautiful. BEAUTIFUL!! Just the ride on the interstate is such an adventure. There is no shortage of land, miles and miles and miles of it with no house to be seen, in every state we have been in. I feel like we should go back and narrate the states properly, so for now I will just fill you in on recent happenings. After doing shows in Kalispell and Missoula, Montana, we moved down to Salt Lake City, Utah. The city is settled between mountains, some snow-capped and some not, but certainly the place for winter skiing. Attendance has been low for this last round of shows, but we always give it our best and I think the folks there really enjoy it. The show is very tight, of course, by now, and the only new things are how to cope with new stages, where to enter and exit the curtain, which set pieces are being used this time, etc., and then there's the occasional "how did you end up over there?" and "sorry, I hit you too hard" or "sorry, my wand got caught in my costume", or "my horn got tangled in your costume"! Always funny and I'm sure the audience never knows it. This church fed us like royalty in a jungle room painted like a rain forest for the children complete with trees (God's Reign Forest). We were served breaded chicken, rice, veggies, salad, bread, and potato soup on glass plates (not the soup) and with glass goblets! Strawberry shortcake for dessert! It was such a shot in the arm! We have eaten at a Subway or Taco Bell in every state, practically. Much gratitude expressed! We didn't actually see the Great Salt Lake (did you know it has more salt than the ocean?), but saw a part of it (a bay?) from the interstate. The mountains surrounding the road out of town were breath-taking. Then we started out for 2 days of travel. We drove all across Wyoming. We saw more wildlife than ever before. We saw bison, cows and horses, and antelope were just randomly in the fields all along the way. We stopped at a rest stop and there was a whole village of prairie dogs who were obviously used to being watched and fed by humans, so they popped in and out of their holes and posed for our cameras, much to our delight. They make this funny little sound that is sort of like a loud cricket, and you can see their little belly go in and out. The sign there said that sagebrush is the plant that keeps the Wyoming wildlife alive, as it is very hardy and plentiful and the snow blows off of it in the winter. There were the strangest wooden fences propped up like picture frames placed all along the interstate in what looked like random formations, but I was told that they are there to keep the snow drifts off the interstate, which ends up being closed due to snow at times. Some of it looked sort of like desert and I couldn't imagine snow being piled up that much there. Today we drove across Nebraska, the cornhusker state. It is mostly farmland and more corn is grown there than anywhere else in the US. This was the first state where after we had driven a little while, you could sleep without missing anything new. The terrain, while lovely, didn't have much variety. We have finally come in to summer. Since Phoenix, it has been cool, breezy and sometimes cold. Today we opened the van door to 100 degrees and muggy! Nashville weather, here we come! Tonight we are in a Guest House Inn, where they have a pool indoors and the hotel is built around this recreation area. The kids had a nice swim. Mr. Payne says get your hotels through Hotwire for great prices. Tomorrow we head to Overland Park, Kansas for what may be our best attended show. If you are following the Jeff Roberts site for our dates, it's not very complete. It looks like we will be home a little longer than expected in July, to keep up from having a date in Maine and nothing else for 5 days. I don't know all the dates, but new locations are coming in. We will have 2 dates in Arkansas, one in Spartanburg, SC (mom and dad, send this blog to our family--I will get exact dates and time eventually), Brunswick GA, and Cocoa Beach and Tallahassee, FL (Mike and Carol?). Right now it sounds exhausting, but after a tank up at home, maybe we'll be ready. (Lexie, William, Scott and Daddy, we can't wait to see you!!) Alice, I was getting my phone out to return your call the next day (my vibrate went off in the sound booth--I thought it was funny) when I realized I didn't have it. Bummer! We miss you guys! Spring--I hope you are well again! We'll be home in less than a week. The countdown is on!! Love you.

Day 23 Missoula, Montana

Post from Mom: Well, I made a post last night and the internet cut off when I hit publish. I have to not care or I will go crazy. We left our phone in Kalispell, so unless I find someone with Verizon, I won't talk to you until I get home! I have so much to post, but we have so little time for the internet, and when we do, Allison and I both want it, or it doesn't work, is too slow, their are pictures to upload and go through to edit, or the kids want the computer for a movie! Argggh! I have to go, but just to say that Friday was Elizabeth's 13th birthday. We couldn't do anything special because we had to travel, then do our first time for 2 shows. Today we only travel, so may stop to eat somewhere she likes. Better go or I won't be ready to load the van. Hopefully we can try again tonight. Mom/Susan

Day 19: Seattle, WA

Alright, the original post is below, followed by a rewrite of the day with pictures... So we didn't go to the mountain today. :( It turned out that it would mean about 5 hours of van time for the round trip. So, we went down to the seaside market in the morning and then rode a ferry across to Bainbridge Island. The ferry was *really* cool. We had lunch on the island, which was Subway (for which we have all been labeled as *morons* by Mr. Payne. **MORONS**). He and mom went to a bakery right next door and I hear had a lovely lunch for a lovely price. After that we walked down to the dock and looked at all the ships and hung out for a while on a ramp that went down to the boats. Then we came back and went to dinner at a fish & chips place, which, according to Mr. Payne, was not the real deal, but not too bad. Then we came back to the hotel and a friend of mom's that she hadn't seen in forever came by and they left to go to Starbucks. We went swimming (in the really cold pool) with everyone else. We borrowed The Princess Bride and watched that, after I had a shower and got everything ready to go in the morning. So, pretty fun off day. We have *2* shows tomorrow in Spokane. We just found out today that there are 2 in one day tomorrow, one at 3 and the other at 7. First time doing 2 in 1 day, should be fun! I think we have 2 or 3 days of 2 shows a day this week. I'll get some pictures on here the next time I have a chance, but it is really late and we have an early call tomorrow. Off to bed now... [Here's the rewrite!] (2-16-10) This is what my 2/3 of the group did. The other 4 girls went shopping all day. Well, I'm sure they did something else, but that was the bulk of it. :) First, we went to the lovely seaside market. It was really interesting. There were lots of little shops and a big long open place with different vendors who had all sorts of things for sale. Here are some flowers and why I did NOT want to have lunch there: We walked around for a bit and took some pictures. ^Faith and Thad always did the craziest things; they were just sitting there, not moving, so I took a picture ^ Next we went over to Bainbridge Island on a way cool ferry. It was HUGE and inside there were some vending machines and a really cool coffee machine that would give you a cup of whatever coffee you wanted. It made it and poured it into a cup right there on the boat! I got one on the way back, just 'cause it was that cool. :) ^ the ferry ^ ^ view from the ferry ^ ^ those of us who went on the ferry ^ (Mom took the picture) ^ Aaron and Thad being pirates and Faith being a parrot ^ ^Katie and Thad being goofy ^ We do that well. ^ Pretty self-explanitory ^ The first thing we did on the Island (besides figuring out where to go) was get some lunch, as it was time. All of us except Mom and Mr. Payne went to Subway (since become one of my very favorite places ever, after taking time off and getting over having sandwiches um, often, on tour). Mom and Mr. Payne went to the Blackbird Bakery, which sounded lovely. After lunch we wandered around the Island. It was really cool. I took a million pictures of the flowers...they were *gorgeous*. We went and looked at the boats, including one we labeled as Aaron's, since his nickname is Puppy. We hung out for a while on the "dock" and Faith went down and picked up shells and such. ^Aaron's boat^ ^Faith chasing the geese^ On the way back to take the homeward ferry we stopped at an *amazing* little candy store. Well, all of us except Mrs. Coffee. She went to the coffee shop right next door. Anyhow, there were all kinds of candy (complete with chocolate and fudge, my all-time faves). I felt like a little kid in a candy shop. Oh, wait... ^ Mrs. Coffee in her element ^ After the candy shop some of us stopped by the restroom, Mr. Payne style. I also found time to sneak by the most yarn-filled place I've ever been. It was like heaven crammed into the quaintest little shop ever! I could have spent a year in there. On reaching the mainland we started out for an English fish and chips place Mr. Payne said he had been to before. We went around for a while and couldn't find it, so we ate at a more American fish and chips place. Mr. Payne said it wasn't quite the real thing, at least the "chips" (French fries), but not too bad. :) So, it was a wonderful, beautiful day. Also, we didn't end up having 2 shows in Spokane. We got there really late and would have about 45 minutes to load in, set up and get ready, which is INSANE, so they called it off and we just did the evening show. I may have written that somewhere else, but I can't remember right now and it would be better for it to be on here twice than not at all!!

Day 18: Portland, OR, to Seattle, WA

(pictures added 2-3-10, text unaltered) Today was Jonathan's and Mr. Payne's birthday. Jonathan is 15 now, and Mr. Payne is 1 year older than he was. We had a nice lunch at a Thai restaurant for their birthdays. Tonight we are staying at a hotel called the Red Lion Hotel at Bellevue, which is just outside of Seattle. This place is really nice. We have 2 nights here, and no show in Seattle, which means we have a whole free day tomorrow. (yyyeeeeeeaaaaaahhhhhh!!!!) I think we will go to see the Olympic mountains. I hear there is a ferry ride across the river and then a hour and a half drive into the mountains. Should be cool. Today we went to see the Space Needle. It was sooo cool. We got to go up to the very top and look around. The building looked like the future as seen from the 60's or 70's. The Needle was built for the 1962 world fair. There was a huge gift shop...with huge prices!! I got some postcards and a shirt. Well, today was just driving and eating and going to the Space Needle and now about to be showering and sleeping. Nothing really exciting (except the Needle, but I already told you about that). So, I'll be going now...there will be lots of mountain pictures tomorrow!! Well, I had some pictures to go on this post, but I'm having trouble uploading them, so I'll try to get them up tomorrow. :)

Day 17: Coos Bay & Portland, OR

Coos Bay was fabulous. The stage was pretty small, so much so that we had to use the bare minimum on set. We took the wardrobe apart during intermission and pulled the curtains back so we could have more room for the Peter/Wolf fight scene. The wolf, by the way, is called Fenris Ulf. I think that was his name only in the first publication of the book, and then after that it was changed to Maugrim. I have no idea why. Anyhow, here's a picture of the Coos Bay stage:

The night before last we stayed with some people from the church where the show was. It was my first time staying in a house with other people I didn't know. They were really nice, and the lady cooked us bacon and eggs and toast for breakfast. I slept on the couch, which was really comfy, and I didn't move the whole time I was asleep. I woke up and I was just where I was when I went to sleep. Staying at the house was an interesting experience, and definitely a good one.

Last night we did our Portland show. It went well, providing that the stage was even smaller than Coos Bay. It was definitely the smallest yet. It was sooooo small!! And it was carpeted. The building was really beautiful though. It was a Baptist church, but it looked like it had been a cathedral of something like that. The picture makes the stage look big, but it was totally not. Thad is standing in the middle of the stage as far back as we could have. The rest was steps. It was maybe 10 feet deep, probably less. That's before we took the wardrobe down, which gave us about 2 more feet. Backstage was all steps, so we had to be extra-especially careful back there. I don't think anyone tripped. Nothing really wrong happened tonight, other than when Aaron took away the top piece of the stone table when he was just supposed to knock it over when Aslan comes back to life. The lights came up and I thought "Why did he take half of the stone table away? And if he was supposed to take it, why not at least knock down one of the other pieces??" That's the part when Aslan tells Lucy & Susan how the stone table will crack and death will work backwards when an innocent person gives himself for a guilty one. The table wasn't cracked, just halfway gone. It was a little weird. :p

Anyhow, we don't have a show until Tuesday, and we're driving 2 1/2 hours to Seattle today for some free time. We don't have to be at the vans until noon, so we got to sleep in a bit. That always makes us happy. :) :)

Day 15: Redding, CA, to Grant's Pass, OR

Well, our last show was Wednesday night in Redding, CA. It was at a convention center, so there was no carpet on the stage. :) The place was HUGE. It seated 1200, and someone said there were about 800 people there. It was a fantabulous place to perform. The stage was great and we had lots of space backstage to put set pieces, so we got to use everything. It was the first time since Edmond that we had used everything. We had to run a full tech because it's been so long. Tech is moving set on and off. Tech is also mics and sound and lights, but we only have to do mic checks and mom and the light lady do their own light and sound checks. Tomorrow we're on to Coos Bay, Oregon. We have a show there tomorrow and then one in Portland on Saturday.

So, I've finally gotten a picture of everyone to show you. This will be long, so get ready!!

Here's us, Allison, Christopher, Jonathan, Elizabeth, and Susan (mom). I think I've posted all of us in costume before, so I won't do it now. I just got all the pictures in the right order and if I put another one on it will put spaces in between them.

This is Krystin. She is 23 playing about 9 years old, which tells you how wonderful she is. This is Krystin as Lucy:This is Mr. David Payne, who has made my dream come true. He plays the professor at the beginning, then Mr. Tumnus, then Aslan. His professor outfit is just regular clothes, so he just looks like himself. I can't get a picture of him as Tumnus because it is always only during the show and I don't have time before he has to change into Aslan.Here he is as Aslan:This is AnnaGee, who is just fantastic. She is like the first assistant director, so she's the girl top dog. We love her.Here she is as the White Witch:This is Faith, who is always the life of the party. She is fantabulous.She plays the Dwarf who serves the Witch. She puts more eye makeup on now, so she has red around her eyes, and she likes to do her beard different every show. She didn't have much makeup on in this pic because she broke out from her prosthetic nose and ears she wore. She's all better now. :)This is Aaron, who is all-around awesome. He is in charge of lots of stuff and is always on top of things.He is the scariest wolf ever. And he has the most awesome wig. He also plays Father Christmas, but I have the same picture deal as Mr. Tumnus. He just looks like Santa Claus in a long green coat.This is Katie D. She is in charge of loading/unloading the trailer and many other things, and is so good at it.She plays a fabulous Mrs. Beaver.This is Thad, who is Katie D's brother, and great fun. This picture made more sense when I left the huge-o burger in it. He just kind of looks mad without it. :)This pic is a little silly, but he is a great Mr. Beaver.Here is Katie P, who never wants her picture taken. She says she is really not photogenic, but look at this pic:She plays the Unicorn,And Father Christmas's Elf:Here's Elizabeth as the bird:This is Raya, Krystin's mom, who does the lights.And here's all of us, except mom and Thad, who were taking the pictures:

Hope you enjoyed!!