We just got back from the performing arts tour! We had such a great time. We went to the beach, we saw Mama Mia! at the Pantages Theater in Hollywood, we went to Disneyland for four days, we went to Sacrament Meeting, we went on a cruise around the bay in Newport Beach and we went to Easter Mass at St Pius V Catholic Church in Buena Park. Daniel performed in three shows, two at California Adventure and one at Disneyland. We went on Grizzly Rapids after dark and discovered that it is much more scary in the dark when you can't see the water coming! It was a blast. We had 150 teenagers and 30 adults with us on this trip. On our last day in Disneyland Rob and I had fun on rides with 14 of the kids. We went on California Screamin three times in 30 minutes! The kids performed their Hayden Mass at the Catholic church for Easter along with some of their other pieces. They sang three of their songs at the Sacrament Meeting in Fullerton. The cruise on Sunday afternoon is awesome, the boat is beautiful, lunch is served and it is a very relaxing time. The kids saw seals sunning themselves on some of the boats and thought that it was great! Mama Mia! was more raunchy than we thought it would be and the production was not one of the best I have seen, but the music was fun and they had a great curtain call where they re-did several of the songs and the kids danced in aisles - it was fun to watch them. (For any who don't know, Mama Mia! is full of songs by ABBA). We got to attend several workshops backstage at Disneyland - the kids got to do some great stuff. The shows Daniel was in were the Partner Dance (it was disco) with the Dance company, He sang and danced in the Productions Company show and then on the last day Vocal Ensemble did their song and dance show. They did such a great job and were on a total high for the rest of the day. They had some fun stuff to sing, especially the 50's medley they ended with. Stephanie and Ian came down as a surprise and it was fun for them to be there too! The best part was that Rob and I got to fly down and back and didn't have to do the two overnights on the bus! It was a lot of work (I was head chaperone in charge of a LOT of stuff) and we were very tired but it was so fun and I am glad we got to go. It is obviously our last time since Daniel is graduating. Also, the director, Mr. Bentley announced that he is not teaching music after this year. There were lots of tears, but he got a very clear answer that he should continue as the IB director and let someone else do music now. The teacher that has been splitting choral music with him since last year when he started IB will be taking over the entire choral music program. I always told him he had to wait to leave until Daniel was done . . . I am glad it worked out that way.
