Kids Night On Broadway

Ben and I took Maddie and Andrew to New York City the last few days of January, while Ben's mom watched Zack and Mylie. We had such a fabulously fun trip. In November I learned about a program called 'Kids Night On Broadway' where kids get to go free to a show on Broadway. We got tickets to 'Beauty and the Beast.'

We stayed at a Sheraton Hotel in the theater district. Our first night we had dinner at a fun restaurant called Ellen's Stardust Diner. The waitstaff is made up of inspiring actors who break into musical numbers in between serving customers. Andrew LOVED it. He just wanted to dance the whole time. After dinner we took a cab to the Toys'R'Us in Times Square and had fun looking through the multi-level toy store. Andrew's favorite part was the three story ferris wheel ride in the middle of the store. Maddie loved the Barbie world.

Andrew and Maddie loved checking out the lights in Times Square:

The next morning we took the kids to American Girl Place. Maddie is very into American Girl dolls right now, and was in heaven at the four level store. She brought one of her dolls with us and had the dolls hair done. What can't you spend money on in New York?!

After visiting the American Girl Doll store, we took the kids to the pre-show party at Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum, which had been shut down for an exclusive private party for Kids Night On Broadway theater-goers. It was so much fun. They had face painting, and Andrew told the lady he wanted "A Sunny Day" on his cheeks. So, he had a bright yellow sun on each cheek. He also volunteered to learn some choreography from 'Chicago' from one of the cast members who was at the party teaching part of the dance from the 'All that Jazz' number. Andrew was hilarious. However, of the entire party, the most exciting part for me was meeting Julie Andrews and getting her autograph. She is one of my absolute FAVORITE actresses. In fact my all-time favorite movie is 'Thoroughly Modern Millie.' So, now I have had my once in a lifetime brief conversation with Julie Andrews. She and her daughter were the Kids Night On Broadway ambassadors for 2007. While we were at the table I said to Andrew, "Look, it's Mary Poppins." Andrew looked directly at Julie Andrews, then he kept looking. Her daughter thought it was hilarious. Julie Andrews just sort of rolled her eyes and laughed and said something like, "I'm getting that reaction more and more." As we were walking away we realized Andrew was missing. It turns out he had crawled under the autograph table and was hanging out by their knees. And that concluded my special moment with Julie Andrews.

'Beauty and the Beast' was so much fun. Maddie loved it. Andrew enjoyed it, but was so exhausted by the site seeing that he was asleep by the second act. After the show, we waited by the stage door so Maddie could get autographs.

She was able to bravely ask for autographs from the actors who played Belle, Mrs. Potts, Beast, and Gaston. However, she was too shy to ask for an autograph from the little boy who played Chip. She had me ask for her, while she stood next to me with a big grin on her face and avoiding eye contact with him at all cost. Later she said to me, "All the grown ups have bad handwriting. The only autograph I can read is from the kid my age." Of course, I think the fact he did not sign his name in cursive may have made the difference...

Andrew woke up just in time to see John Tartaglia, who played Lumiere at our performance, walk out of the theater. Andrew recognized him from his children's tv show on the Disney Channel, 'Johnny and the Sprites." Andrew went running up to him and said, "Hey! You are on my tv and on my computer game!" Johnny appeared quite flattered and had a nice conversation with my kids, signed autographs for them, and had his picture taken with them:



We finished the evening with dinner at Planet Hollywood. The kids were so exhausted that dinner ended like this:



As we left the restaurant it started snowing. It was really pretty to see the city all lit up with giant snowflakes falling.

We had such a fun trip. Ben's mom is the greatest grandma to take on a wild 2 year old and a 6 month old baby who is still used to nursing and is cutting teeth. The kids love spending time with her. This trip marked my first break in diaper duty in six years!

Yes, Andrew is finally potty trained...

You also may have noticed that Maddie lost another tooth. She has been very excited to have a 'jack-o-lantern grin.'

Here are a few other recent pictures of the kids: