Phantom of the Opera (24hours in Orange County)

In the middle of August, Mommy and us four "olders" took a quick, spur-of-the-moment, 24hr trip down to Southern California to see the Broadway touring company's performance of the Phantom of the Opera.  IT. WAS. PHENOMENAL.  The performance was spectacular, the scene changes were amazing, and the production was unbelievable!  Best yet, we went with two cousins, an aunt, and two friends.  It was a party to say the least.  ;) 

The first stop was Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa to change from our travel clothes into our evening attire.

Jordan had to wait a bit, but I was the first of us girls to be done!

The church where we all started.

And the next stop was a quick drive by our neighbor's house to see if they were home.  Sadly, Mr. or Mrs. C. were not around when we made our appearance, but we took a picture in front of the house and said hi to their son, Elias.

Here we are in front of our old home!  Okay, whoever lives in it now did a terrible job with all that gray paint.  It didn't always look like that.  :(

Dinner before the show had us out with our show gang (except for Grace who had to meet us at the theatre)!

 Selfie stick for everyone!

COUSINS!!!
(Well, a few of us, that is)

  Heh!  I think she meant "pretty crazy".  ;)


Backseat Buddies.
Ilan S. is one of the cutest little guys I know!

At the Segerstrom Center... ready to find our seats!
You can not imagine the thrill of knowing that we were really going to see Phantom... TOGETHER!!!  So many tingles of excitement!

"One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

 We are so ready.  Excitement is in the air!

Leading up to the performance, we cousins had been sending little video clips of us singing parts of the songs.  We practically knew all the lines by heart by the time we watched it together!



Intermission (in the bathroom).

Eden and Grace ready to watch Act II.

Happy, happy!

 The Segerstrom Center is gorgeous!

Cousin love!

 This was a night we will all remember for... ever!

Okay, so there's a story behind this picture.  ;)  While we were sending Phantom videos back and forth, we decided to cast everyone as a role from the musical.  Can you guess who is who?

This has got to be my favorite picture of the entire 24hrs.

 "Alright!  Get into character!"

So we got back to Grandma's house quite late.  The plan was to spend as much time as possible together, so we knew that this was going to be a late night!  (Yes, we watched Studio C--it's the Cousin Addiction Tradition!)

We put together a funny Phantom of the Opera spoof video (at 1:30 in the morning) which I will post soon.
My cousins insisted on casting me as... The Phantom.
(I played my part well, don't you think?  And the mask.  Well, that was a paper-towel.)

Cousin sleep over at Grandma's house!
(Do I need to mention that this was at 3:00 in the morning?  I was awake at 7:30 the next morning because Grandma said that the time together was short, so we couldn't waste it sleeping!)

The next day we hung out with the cousins and relatives and swan in Grandma's pool.

 My balletic side.

 Shiloh and I enjoying the water.
(How I love swimming at Grandma's!)

 Mark and I.


Grace and I.

Pictures with Grandma!!!  She is the best!  Especially knowing that she can manage with six of her children and 16 of her grandchildren, plus all the other actives that go on when people come to visit!

And one last selfie with the group!
(This time with us five, Grandma, Aunt Laurie, cousins John, Mark, and Grace, and friend Nancy.  Yes, there are a lot of us to keep track of.)

And then we hopped on a jet and came home.  (We made the best of our 24hrs in OC.)

Oh.  Stay tuned for the video... Phantom of the Opera (in 213 seconds).

Posted By:

~Bethany

California Dreaming: Part 2

Break in the action!  This is the second part to our big March California trip.

 The remainder of our trip was spent at Grandma's House.

 

Grandma opening a present. 

 

 Cousins and best friends.  Sadly, we didn't get to see all of them this time around.  :(  One day we will have that big cousin reunion...  :)

 Grandma's pool is glorious!  I grew up swimming there with my siblings and cousins, and it was so special to do it again together.

 Crazy things happen!  We ended up with this cool car thanks to a mistake from the rental company.

 We took a couple days to head over to Anaheim Ballet where we all danced while growing up.  Mommy got to visit with her special friend Carolyn, and we all met a new friend, Madison.

Dynamite comes in small packages.

 A beautiful sunset over the school.

Auntie Kaggy (my mom's best friend) and Uncle Ted came over for a very special visit.

They went on a double take, complete with taking the Mustang for a spin!

 Girl picture!

 Uncle Ted playing trains with the boys.

 Bible Bee friends, the C. boys came over for a fun visit.  We had a blast swimming and playing basketball!

My dad taught me how to do the Swan Dive.

 No, it did not end up as a belly-flop.  ;)

Success!

A highlight was taking an evening trip to Downtown Disney with cousin Hope.

 Catching the tail end of the fireworks.

 Judah in front of the Rainforest Cafe.

 Finding Nemo.  Or something.

 Hope explaining some interesting facts about fish.  Or something.

 You'd think we were movie stars! 

 Ben coming face to face with a snake!

 Conquering the Disney Vault with as much brawn as we could muster.

 Beauty (who looked kind of like a beast) and the Beast.

The Disney Hotel.

 Those smiles though.  :) 

 Hope and I are just so cute...  ;)

Jordan, Eden, and Mark hanging out on the couch together.

Shiloh and Uncle Rob.

Cousin craziness goes from one thing...

To the next!

 Best uncle ever!

 The families that photobomb together...

 Stay together! 

 Aunt Laurie, Grandma, and Mommy.

 Aw, I miss everyone so much!

That was long post, but there is no possible way to put such a glorious trip into one little post.  I am so thankful to the Lord for all His bountiful blessings!

Posted By:
~Bethany