Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Day Eight-Jamestown, North Dakota



We slept until about noon, but it only felt like 11 because of the time change. Since we were staying at the Gladstone Inn for two nights, we didn't have to drive today! Yay. So we just hung out in our room all day. We watched a couple episodes of Wife Swap... those people are insane. Anyway, we went to Jamestown High School to set up around 4:30. The building was really nice, and so was the theatre. It had a really nice setup that we had fun with. The show went really well! They said we had about 350 people in the audience. There were a couple kids after the show that were so shy and too scared to talk to us! It was so cute. After the show, we went back to the grocery store Hugo's to get some dinner. After eating, we watched a couple movies that were on TV: "My Sister's Keeper" and "The Memory Keeper's Daughter." Then we were off to bed! We all had some trouble sleeping though. :(
Bronny

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Day Seven: Bismarck and Jamestown, North Dakota



We drove from Spearfish, South Dakota, to Bismarck North Dakota. It was a 5 hour drive, but we had to count it as 6 because of the time change. When we got there we went to Subway and got food. Then we headed to SIMLE Middle School where we would be performing. We got set up very quickly so we had a ton of time left. Grace and I went to get our books that we had to read for school. Bronny had a hard time making herself do her reading about the Greeks, but Grace was allowed to punch her if she ever so dared to glance at her phone. After a while of doing our thing, we met Austin and Sheldon. They were the cutest little boys and they both wore glasses. Bronny and I got ready in the bathroom again. It was show time before we knew it! The show was good. The palace scene was cute because Austin and another boy came up on stage after we had everyone up there. They wanted to be a part of the palace too, so Grace declared them the rugs. J After signing autographs, and taking the set down we were off for another hour and ten minute drive to Jamestown, North Dakota. We would be staying at a hotel there for 2 nights. We wouldn’t have to pack all of our things right away so it’s nice. When we got to Jamestown we checked in, and had to take our suitcases up 2 staircases since there weren’t any elevators L Mrs. Wooley’s key didn’t work, and we all thought we could hear noises in her room. We went back to the front desk so she could get a new room and key. After getting situated, we headed to Hugo’s supermarket to get dinner for the night, breakfast, and lunch for tomorrow. Grace was very excited to see that there was an entire section of the market dedicated to only gluten free foods. We pretty much went our separate ways getting different things. I got 3 boxes of bagel bites because they’re so delicious! After the market, we went back to the hotel to eat. I was trying to find something on T.V to watch and to our surprise, Dance Moms was on! We watched it, and then Dance Moms Reunion was on. I ended up falling asleep because I was really tired due to not having a good sleep schedule. Grace fell asleep next, and then of course Bronny was last. LOL but it was a good day. Thumbs up to life. J
Signing off, Abbie P.

Monday, September 17, 2012

Day Six--On the Road with a Layover in Spearfish, S.D.l


Oh boy. Where do I even start?! Today was crazy! We got up around 9:30 and ate breakfast (well, Abbie and I did Bronny was sleeping), we worked on homework for a bit, Abbie and I got into one of our crazy fights, and we started to pack up the van. As we were sitting in the van waiting for Mrs. Wooley a strange man opened the passenger door and plopped down in the seat. We didn’t really know what to do, but we had a very nice conversation. He was a very nice man for being so strange. Bronny made him a peanut butter sandwich with her sandwich making supplies she brought along and he went on his way. We were finally on the road! We stopped to get gas, and as we were leaving town we looked behind us to see a deer sprinting after the van. We had to slow down to merge onto the highway so the deer caught up with us and stared at us through the window. While that was a little odd, we continued on our way; needless to say we outran the deer. The rest of the car ride was rather uneventful. We pulled up to our hotel, found out that you have to lift the handles to open the doors and dove into our homework. Well, we at least started on our homework. After a little while we got bored. We decided to go down to the pool. Well, Bronny and I did. Abbie had a more creative idea up her sleeve. The pool is in an open area in the middle of the first floor. The balcony of the hallway that our room is in overlooks the pool; I know what you’re thinking “there’s no way Abbie would do what I think she’s going to do.” She did. Bronny and I went down to make sure the pool was directly under the balcony and then dare devil Abbie jumped. She didn’t even make that big of a splash! Swimming didn’t last long because some old people wanted to swim some laps so we left. After swimming we came back up to our room and Bronny decided to take a quick shower to get the chlorine out of her hair. Abbie and I are just chillin’ in the other room watching TV when all of a sudden we hear a blood curdling scream. Bronny comes running out of the bathroom in a towel and I got to see what was wrong. There was a snake. In the tub. From the drain. WOW. We called down to the front desk and they sent someone to rescue us from the snake. Finally it was about time for dinner; we headed over to Pizza Ranch to enjoy a nice lovely evening together, and now we’re back and I’m writing this blog.
HA! Just kidding. Today was incredibly uneventful. The only parts of that story that are true are—1.) Abbie and I fought this morning. 2.)You really do have to lift the door handle up. 3.) We started on our homework. And 4.) We went to Pizza Ranch for dinner. The rest of the day was kind of a blur. Homework, eat, drive, eat, drive, homework, eat, homework. Speaking of eating, I would like to inform everybody that today I ate an entire package of rice cakes, an entire jar of applesauce, and an entire pepperoni pizza all by myself. Be proud mom! We did get a pretty good start on all of our homework which is a good thing but we’ve still got quite a lot to finish.  
Well, that’s all for today. I wish the first half was more true than it was false. And the second half was less true than the first half was false. I think our day would have been significantly more exciting that way.
Until next time, 

Grace

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Day Five Gillette, Wyoming


After leaving our hotel in Casper at about 1:00, we drove the 2 hours to Gillette, WY. We checked into our hotel and relaxed for a while before checking into the CAM-PLEX at around 5:00. When we pulled up, we noticed on their sign that it said we were performing at 6:30... This was news to us! We thought the show was at 7:00. Luckily, we set up and rehearsed what we needed to in record time, and Adam (the guy sent to help us) opened a couple dressing rooms for us downstairs. They were really nice! 

The audience was smaller tonight than what we have been performing for. It was just under one hundred. However, there were lots of little little kids that were probably a bit too young to be there. They were kind of loud the entire show. Mrs. Wooley tried taping, but all you could hear was the audience. :(

After signing autographs and packing up, we headed to Wal-Mart. We all split up to find our own things: snacks, water, makeup, whatever it may be, and met back at the van in about half an hour. Then, we went to get Wendy's to take back to the hotel for dinner. After we ate, everyone was in bed by about 11:30...

Except me. I was up until about 2am... I knew this would happen sometime while we were gone... haha!

Signing off from the Lamb Caravan,

Bronny 

Day Four-Casper, Wyoming

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Well, after our ‘little’ incident/adventure at 3:30 am we basically slept in later than usual causing us to miss breakfast. Grace and Bronny slept really well, while I on the other hand was not so lucky. As if being woken up at 3:30 wasn’t enough, we AGAIN got woken up by someone knocking on our door! I got up just as the cleaning man let himself in. I had to tell him that we were not checking out until noon. After that I got moody…Oh wait, that’s every day J BUT ANYWAY we took our sweet little time getting ready and gathered our things and loaded everything in the ‘ole Caravan. We stopped at the Petro store to get food and gas since we hadn’t eaten yet. I got 2 bags of skittles and a bag of jalapeño chips. Bronny got a weird looking pastry, veggie straws, and a mountain dew. Grace just got a box of Mike ‘n Ikes. We eat healthy ya know? We were off on the road again to Casper! It was about 3 hours, but it seemed to go by really fast. As usual Bronny watched Glee, and as usual I’m not surprised. I had some nice bonding time with my boyfriend (my iPod) LOL while Grace slept, and played on her iPad. Later we stopped at a really cool rest stop, but only Grace and Mrs. Wooley got out. We arrived at the Parkway Plaza Hotel in no time. Mrs. Wooley took the bottom floor while we girls got the top 4th floor. We took the elevator and it looked totally sketchy inside. It made weird noises and when the door opened on our floor we saw that it hadn’t completely stopped. It freaked us all out so then we decided to take the stairs next time. After getting everything in our room, we came up with a brilliant idea to take pictures of all the preparations connected with a fire. It was really fun! We are such funny people. Ahhhh. Soon it was time to take off for show time! We performed at the high school and a very nice sir helped us load/unload the van. We got our very own dressing room downstairs complete with Broadway looking lights! While we were downstairs chilling/waiting, a woman with her daughter came down to talk to us. And talk to us some more until we had to get ready. Even though the audience wasn’t as big tonight, the kids were still cute as buttons and loved us. We ate dinner at another Italian restaurant called Bonco’s. BUT it took forever to get there. The roads were so confusing, and it seemed darker than usual. Mrs. Wooley hit a couple curbs, but the Caravan is tough. We ended up finding the restaurant yay! It was very cute with colorful lights. It looked homey. I wasn’t even mad eating Italian 2 nights in a row. It’s just so good! Of course we laughed, and were sad because the waiter wasn’t Josh. After dinner we headed back to the hotel to do our thang. Twitter, Facebook, and shower. Today was good. Life is good. Okay. Oh, and I love mountains. Bye.  Abbie

PHOTOS from the Casper, Wyoming Show

































Saturday, September 15, 2012

PSA--Casper, Wyoming

After our little fiasco in Laramie, upon arriving at the Parkway Plaza in Casper we decided to take a few precautions.
Fire Safety page in our guest book
 
 


















1.) Locate 2 exits



                                                  2.) Locate fire alarm nearest your room



                                           3.) The room key is an important survival factor


4.) In case of fire, act quickly
 
5.) If the fire is not in your room, leave if you can
 
6.) Never use an elevator during a fire
 
7.) If the room door is hot do not open it
 
8.) Crawl low in smoke
 
After our little adventure last night (well, this morning) we took it upon ourselves to add a ninth rule. . . .
 
9.) If there is no fire DO NOT USE THE FIRE EXTINGUISHER.
It will create a chemical haze that everyone will THINK is a fire and cause a panic at the hotel.
 
This PSA has been brought to you by the Lamb Caravan. Thank you for your attention.
 
 
 

Day Three...and a Half---Laramie, Wyoming

Imagine this:

                You just performed for 350 people, just stuffed your face with amazing Italian food. All you really want is to just go to bed. You take a nice hot shower, put your PJs on and hop into the comfy bed of the Fairfield Marriott. You’re sleeping like a baby when all of a sudden around 3:30. . . .


                BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

                You jump out of bed 5 feet in the air. At first you think it’s another alarm clock being a pain in the butt, but then you realize it’s not coming from the clock, it’s coming from the hallway. You run out the door, look down the hallway and see smoke. You start pounding on Mrs. Wooley’s door hoping that she’s awake. Your fight or flight instinct kicks in and you run to the bathroom to get wet towels to cover your nose and mouth. Abbie wakes up, is still in bed and asks, “What’s going on?” You yell, “there’s smoke in the hallway, get your shoes and phone, there’s smoke in the hallway, let’s go!!!” You hand Mrs. Wooley one of the wet towels and she tries to shove it under the door, you tell her it’s for her mouth and nose because we have to go through the smoke to get out! She then points out that you’re only 3 doors down from another staircase that is completely smoke free. You feel like a nerd. You run down the stairs and get outside. You’re the only ones there. What is this? Are you getting punked? Why is no one out here? Finally another couple from your floor arrives and the real fire alarms go off. The entire hotel is evacuating. You’re in shorts and a t-shirt and it’s FREEZING out! Luckily, Mrs. Wooley grabbed the keys so you’re able to sit in the van. You’re sitting in the van for about 15 minutes and there’s no fire truck in sight. You talk through the entire show and figure out how to do it without music because the computer was tragically left in the hotel room. Finally a single fire truck appears! Your saviors! (You’re all hoping that maybe Josh is a volunteer firefighter and will come to save you!). Over the next 10 minutes 4 more fire trucks come, the firefighters don’t appear to be in any sort of hurry. In fact they almost seem to be lolly-gagging. You venture out into the cold to get a good picture of the fire truck in front of the hotel because you know no one will believe you if you don’t. You over hear a delegate from the hotel population telling people that there is no fire, someone just used a fire extinguisher. (He isn’t a firefighter, but he seems like a trustworthy citizen), so you run back to the van to let everyone know. Everyone breathes a sigh of relief, but still isn’t sure how a fire extinguisher could cause such pandemonium. Finally around 4:45 the firefighters let people back into the hotel. You go up to one and thank him, he goes on to say that only first and second floors are cleared so you have to go wait in the lobby. Finally when it’s okay for you to go back upstairs you and the couple you ran into earlier didn’t bother with the elevator, make it upstairs and back into your rooms in no time. You go soak your feet in a hot bath for a little bit to warm up, and then fall fast asleep.

You imagined that whole story. We lived it. 
Grace

Friday, September 14, 2012

Day Three: Laramie Wyoming


This morning we didn't have to check out of our hotel until noon, so we got to sleep in! It took us 45 minutes to drive from Cheyenne to Laramie. Once we got there, we checked into our hotel, and it was super nice! It had a very contemporary feel that we all loved. Then, we left to go find some lunch. We found a place in town, but it was a disappointment. They didn't have many options and overall the food just wasn't very good. After our disappointing lunch, we headed over to Safeway to get some snacks. We headed back to the hotel to relax for a while.

We headed to Laramie High School to set up at a quarter to five. The acoustics were nice in this theater. After setting up, we hung out and ate some snacks backstage. All of a sudden we heard some beautiful, gorgeous singing. And it was none other than Mrs. Wooley! Haha :) We had about 350 people in the audience.

After the show, we headed to Luciano's for dinner. We had a very cute, funny, sweet waiter named Josh. He totally knew we were talking about him the whole night. One time he asked if Abbie wanted her water refilled, and she flipped her hair and was like (in a super melodramatic voice) "Ohhh, yes!" It was SO funny. He also made a special dessert for Grace that wasn't even on the menu. Anyway, the food was delicious, and they had gluten-free pasta for Grace.

On the drive back to the hotel, we all laughed and joked about Josh and whose he was. Hahaha. Also, in the elevator ride up to our floor, there was a guy coming from the pool, and when he got out he warned us there was a puddle on the floor where he had been standing. We all made the joke that he had peed hahahaha.
Alright, well we're about ready to go to bed!
Until tomorrow,

Bronny

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Day Two-Cheyenne, Wyoming

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Stage at the Administration Center in Cheyenne Wyoming. We played to 350 people tonight!
Well, today was our first full day in Wyoming! Cheyenne to be exact. I have indeed missed my mountains J It was about a 5 hour drive. Grace and I ended up falling asleep, while Bronny watched Glee… Hahaha. We stopped at the gas station only to hear Mrs. Wooley talk about how everything disappeared! The signs, and how many miles. She didn’t want to wake Grace up to tell her. We all laughed and Grace said we were still heading the right direction. We were on the road again yay! Our hotel is called La Quinta which sounds pretty fancy! It also sounds like it’s named after a foreign country. LOL J Just kidding! We had 45 minutes to get settled in the hotel and get our stuff situated. Then we were off to go perform at the old administration building. The guy was very nice, and his clothes looked fresh. He guided us in the right direction. We unpacked everything, and started setting up. Mrs. Wooley looked for the perfect spot to run the music. We then rehearsed a couple scenes to get warmed up, and then we got ready. It was freezing in the bathroom because the window was open. I tried to shut it but I’m not that strong. After the 3 of us were ready we had a lot of extra time to just chill, so we had some nice bonding time backstage while eating trail mix and checking Twitter. I like to laugh. Before we knew it, it was finally Showtime! We could hear the voices of small children enter the room. Mrs. Wooley did an excellent job getting the kids pumped up! The show ended up turning out great. The kids were so cute during the palace scene, and did a great job blowing their fire, and throwing water at the dragon. It’s always exciting signing autographs for everyone afterwards, and talking about their favorite part. After that, and taking down our set, we loaded everything up and headed to the Village Inn for a delicious breakfast for dinner. The waitress thought I was weird for wanting a plate dedicated to pickles, but she said she would make it work. Grace and I both ordered the 5-cheese omelet because great minds think alike! J We all had lots of laughs talking about everything. After eating, Mrs. Wooley and I were the first ones to walk outside. We heard some funny sounds and she thought it was pigs when really it was just kids laughing! We all laughed really hard about that. We made it back to the hotel and I carried Grace’s heavy backpack PLUS her health book because I’m just a wonderful friend! Overall today was a good day. Our performance went really well J can’t wait until tomorrow! More mountains and more memories. <3
Signing off from the Lamb Caravan Tour, Abbie

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Day One Rapid City, South Dakota

. . .and we’re off!! 

We left the theatre around 8 o’clock and started our 7 hour journey west. Whenever people ask me what I’m doing and where I’m going,  I always respond “I’m going on a caravan to Wyoming”. It makes me feel like we should be traveling in a covered wagon pulled by oxen. Have no fear, we are, in fact, in a motorized vehicle. We started out the trip by reading all of the thank you notes we got from the kindergarteners at Spalding Park Elementary school. Can you say adorable? The car ride consisted largely of sleeping. There were the occasional conversations between Bronny and Abbie, but not me! I just like to sleep. We drove straight through to Rapid City, only stopping twice for Mrs. Wooley and I to excrete our waste products. The other two girls were incredibly proud of how long they could hold it. Once we got to Rapid City we stopped at Sam and Louie’s New York pizza! This was an ideal place to stop for a couple different reasons. 1. We hadn’t eaten all day. 2. Abbie is a picky eater and one of the few foods she does enjoy is pizza. 3. Bronny can get a vegetarian pizza. And 4. They  have gluten free pizza. If you’ve followed blogs from last year I’m sure you know that I eat ALL THE TIME. So while everyone else ordered a single slice of pizza and a salad I devoured an entire pepperoni pizza all by myself. We played in the arcade for a while and then went to check into the hotel. We had about 45 minutes to relax before we needed to head off to the Historic Elks Theatre and set up before the show! When we got there we unloaded the van in the alley and Mrs. Wooley went to park it by Jimmy Carter. The Historic Elks Theatre was an interesting place to perform. It’s a movie theatre and live theatre all wrapped into one! They had a stage and curtains, and behind the curtains is the projection screen for movies! The fact that it’s built for movies just meant more work on our part to make sure we were heard by everyone in the audience. We had three hours to set up and rehearse, but I only thought we had two, so I got a little panicky. Finally 7 o’clock rolled around and our first performance on the road began! Wow. They absolutely loved it! The parents loved it just about as much as the kids! The audience’s responses were just further proof to us that butts are indeed funny. They always got really excited when there was audience participation and everyone wanted to be a part of it! We performed for about 580 people. That, sir, is amazing! After the show we were signing autographs and this boy came up to me and asked whether the dragon was fire breathing or komodo. I told him it was both and that it still really scary, to which he replied “Well I’m a boy so it doesn’t scare me” I told him I was a boy too and he just laughed at me. We got packed up in 20 minutes and headed off to find a Walmart. The GPS told us there was one only a couple blocks away. . . there wasn’t. Finally we found one and got things for dinner. Unfortunately we forgot the one thing we actually went in for, cough drops. We got back to the hotel, showered, ate, and went to bed. We were woken up around 1 o’clock because the alarm clock in our room started blaring loud, obnoxious music. When I wake up in the middle of the night I’m not a happy camper, so I yanked that dang alarm clock right from the wall, and it was never to be heard from again.
Ready to Go in Rapid City

Until Next Time!
Grace