The Little Mermaid 2015

When Tad was in elementary school he used to call and tell me about all the girls that would gather around him at recess because he would sing and dance for them.  Who knew that he was such a star in the making..... As soon a I heard that his high school would be doing The Little Mermaid for their play this year, I knew that Tad would be perfect for the part of Prince Eric.  I only hoped his director would agree. With a lot of hard work he got the part and started the months of practices.  I had originally decided that I wouldn't be able to go - too close to Mexico and I didn't want to leave the babies again.  But the more I thought about missing seeing him in such a great role, the more I tried to figure it out a way to make it work.  Thankfully Tim was very supportive and encouraged me to go, and I decided to take Ruby so we could have a little girls trip.  Mostly I was excited for my family to see her since she had grown and changed so much.  She has been sick a lot in the past few months and then threw up repeatedly two nights before we were supposed to leave.  Reluctantly, I decided to leave her home so she could rest and get better.

Ruby was so excited to wear her mermaid outfit to show Tad.

There is always time for a striped selfie at the airport.

We flew in on Thursday night and landed about 45 minutes before opening night.  Julie was waiting for us at the airport and we somehow crammed five people and all of our luggage into the car, sped through traffic, and made it just in time to see the beginning of the play.  And from the moment it started, it was amazing.  We were so completely impressed with the talent, the staging, the talent,and of course, Tad.  He had some really tough songs, mostly solos and was really great.  At the end of his toughest song I looked around and me, my mom and Jess were all crying.  It was so fun to watch him do so well.  He even had a big dance number where he looked super smooth.  We saw the play four times while we were there and were actually sad to see the final curtain go down.  I think the songs may be permanently stuck in my head.

One of the best parts of the play was watching all of the kids - for them it was pure magic.  Tad was especially cute with the littlest fans - I'm pretty sure many girls went home that night dreaming of Prince Charming.  

Flotsam and Jetsom cruised around on heelies and were so fun to watch.

I knew Luke would love seeing pictures of the sea snakes.

Tad was lucky to have so much family support.

We didn't have a lot of free time while we were there, but of course we made time for a family run. Some of my best runs ever have happened in The Mound.  Something about the elevation, being on vacation, and of course, Sean's encouragement.  Truly one of the highlights of the trip. (PS I'm not sure where dad was when we were taking our selfie....must have left us in his dust)