texas trip - final week

I'm already 2 trips beyond the one to Texas (that's just how this summer is), so for the sake of time and sanity, I'm going to summarize the last week and put it into one post.

It turned out that my cousin Tristan was getting married in San Antonio while Jed and I were in Texas, so I made arrangements to be able to go down to the temple ceremony while Jed stayed with Laura and Dave.  They took him to the zoo, and he had a blast (and then took a nice long nap!).  I drove down with my mom, Sarah, and Melody, and it was really nice to have some time to chat in the car.  We started with Tristan's endowment session, and then went straight into the sealing ceremony.  It was a little surreal to go back to the temple that Scott and I had been married in 8 years earlier!  It is still as beautiful as ever.

The rest of the week was spent in much the same fashion as the previous weeks - trying to entertain both kids and keep sane.  Sarah came to visit a couple of times, and she even brought Chris once, and my mom, Daniel, Melody, and her kids came as well.  We had fun blowing snake bubbles with water bottles socks, and dish soap, though it was tricky for Jed to ONLY blow out and not suck the bubbles right into his mouth!

Jed and I also went to the park a couple of evenings by ourselves:

We loved being with Camryn, Laura, and Dave - but by the time the 3 weeks were over and it was time for us to return home, we were both very ready.  Jed had started crying for "Daddy" every day, and I was ready to have some help taking care of him!  We left for the airport later than we should have (I tried to let Jed take as long a nap as possible), and then we hit traffic on the way there - and the airport was jam packed.  I was super stressed - but we boarded our plane with 5 minutes to spare.  I don't care to cut a flight that close ever again!  When we arrived at the airport, Jed was completely out of control - super tired, done being in the car/in the stroller/on the airplane, and incredibly wound up because we were home with Daddy again!  Luckily, when he gets out of control it is usually in an incredibly happy, silly way.  He sang loudly to himself most of the drive home from the airport - and crashed shortly after we got there.

texas trip - days 11-13

Wednesday we went to the park again, and the trip was very successful.  Jed and Camryn played on the seesaw and the swings again, and Camryn even drank some of her bottle with the help of the swing:

After eating, Camryn played for a little while longer and then happily fell asleep in my arms.  I was very glad that we could stay at the park through her nap, partly because that was one less nap that I had to put her down for at home (and keep Jed quiet through), and partly because Jed had found a ridiculously fun and ginormous puddle to play in:

He also had fun chasing the birds across this huge field nearby, yelling "Eagles, I'm coming to get you!"  There were, in fact, no eagles.  Just some crows (or other ugly black birds).

Thursday we had another fun morning at the park, and this time Jed tried pushing Camryn in the swing. He learned some lessons about actions-reactions when the swing would come back and hit him in the face!

My sister came over, and we tried out some activities.  We used painter's tape to create a spider web (with the intention of throwing balled-up newspaper pages at it so they would stick to the "web"), but the painter's tape wouldn't stay.  So we used some duct tape to get it to stick to the wall better, but the web wasn't sticky enough to hold anything.  So THEN we swapped the painter's tape out for duct tape entirely, and STILL the newspaper balls wouldn't stick!  Maybe I'm just a terrible thrower.  Sarah had success throwing balled-up pieces of painter's tape at it, so at least that tape was useful for something!

But Jed was a little bit scared of the web we had created, and had no interest in throwing anything (he is so hard to predict sometimes!  Why would a toddler NOT want to throw things?).  Instead, he started gathering objects to place on the lowest "strand" of the web, to see what would stick (the answer was: everything).  Not the original intent of the activity, but hey - who says you have to follow the rules all the time?

We also played with bubbles, which Jed LOVED.  He can't actually blow any (though he desperately wants to and tries SO hard), so this time I gave him a straw to help shape his lips and concentrate the stream of air.  It worked beautifully, and I was only mildly worried that he would fall and shove the straw down his throat (a mother's worst nightmare! ack!).  He thought nothing of this risk, of course, and had a fabulous time.  I was so glad that Sarah was around to help him blow bubbles so that I could be on photography duty and take lots of really fun pictures!

That night we Skyped with Scott and his dad (who was in DC for a day for some meetings), which made Jed very homesick.  He started asking over and over again to fly on an airplane and go home to see Daddy and Grandpa.

I don't actually remember what we did on Friday, because I don't have any pictures from the day!  But that night we took one picture to send to Scott, to tell him that we loved and missed him.  We were both feeling a little homesick after 2 weeks of being away!

Pooh Bear missed Scott as well

texas trip - days 9-10

Monday was Memorial Day, so Laura had the day off of work.  She had planned a playdate with her friend Julia and her 2 kids, who are about the same ages as Jed and Camryn.  We intended to go to the park, but when she arrived the sky looked menacing and shortly afterward the heavens opened and drenched everything.  So we opted for an inside playdate. :)  Once the rain calmed down to a drizzle, I let Jed play in the backyard and he loved it!

In the afternoon, Camryn watched the rain through the window and Jed played upstairs with Amara, pouring beads into a pool noodle and catching them in a box on the other end.  Amara crafted all kinds of tools for him out of bright green duct tape, including a cup for pouring and 2 different funnel attachments.

I had gone to Target to get some supplies for crafts and activities I had found online, since I needed new ways to keep Jed entertained over the next 2 weeks.  That night I put together the first one, sensory bugs!  2 are filled with sugar, 2 with popcorn kernels, and 1 with rice.  There is a ladybug, a bumblebee, and 3 unidentified creatures. :) Jed told me the blue one was a "fishy named Friendly".  Though to be honest, he really didn't love them as much as I thought and hoped he would!  *sigh* Oh well, all I can do is try! :)

Tuesday I decided it was time to try taking the kids to the park by myself, so I put Jed in Camryn's stroller and planned on carrying her (neither Laura nor I have a double stroller).  I didn't think it would be easy, but we needed to get out of the house more than just on the weekend!  So I packed some snacks, strapped Jed in, picked up Camryn...and saw the storage basket.  It occurred to me that she is probably small enough to fit in the basket, so I thought I would give it a shot.  I got a large, fluffy blanket and lined the basket with it, put her in, and gave her a toy.  She fussed at first but stopped as soon as we got outside.  It was a little unorthodox but it worked!

The kids loved the park and so did I.  We didn't stay for very long, but it was enough to pass some of the time and enjoy some new sights and fresh air.  The kids loved the seesaw best of all (they both laughed and laughed!), but also enjoyed swinging next to each other:

That evening, Laura and Camryn went to their Mamas and Babies group, and Jed and I went back to the park.  We saw some kids down by the stream before we made it as far as the playground, and stopped to see what they were doing.  They had found some crawfish and tadpoles, so Jed and I watched and took our turn holding some.  One of the kids gave a crawfish a quarter just for fun, but then the crawfish didn't want to give it back!  We couldn't wrench the coin from his grip, so we had to wait until he let go on his own to get the money back.  After the kids left, Jed and I wandered a little further down the stream and played there until it was time to head home and get ready for bed.

On the way home we ran into Laura, who had come back from her playgroup early because it had been canceled for the evening but she didn't know.  Her phone had also died (not run out of battery, just...died), so she hadn't been able to call anyone or check her email. :(  She and Camryn were on their way to the park, so they could at least do something fun before bedtime.  Since Jed and I had not actually made it to the playground, we headed there with them and just sped up the bedtime routine to compensate.

After we got the kids in bed and Dave got home, we adults were hungry!  So Dave ordered some food from Zack's, and my gluten-free pizza came in the most ridiculously oversized box:

Really, you'd think they'd have smaller boxes somewhere.

texas trip - weekend 1

Saturday morning we waited until after Camryn's first nap, then went to the Austin Zoo and Animal Sanctuary.  I was expecting it to be small, especially compared to the National Zoo in DC, which we go to all the time.  But it was better than I thought it would be!  They had plenty for Jed to see and enjoy, and he absolutely LOVED it!  He was ecstatic to get out of the house and loves zoos anyway, so he was thrilled. We were sad that the kinkajous didn't appear to be out at the time, but there were lots of other animals for him to see.  It rained on and off but for the most part the weather was nice - overcast and cool but not cold at all.

Panthers, lemur, monkey with a squeaky banana toy, pig

He especially loved all the peacocks yelping and walking around freely.

There were 6 or 7 tigers, and you could get so close!  At our zoo the lions and tigers are far away - over a wall and across a moat.  But these ones were so close you could almost reach out and touch them!

We bought a bag of animal feed, for the sheep, goats, deer, and llamas.  I thought Jed would enjoy feeding the animals, but he was too nervous to do it himself.  Instead, he wanted to put the food pellets in Amara's hand and watch her give them to the animals.

Jed really really loved the reptile house too (he is such a boy!):

He took a great nap that afternoon, which I was very happy about!  Then he played with Micaela and Amara and had a blast.  A much-needed bath before bed completed the day!

The next day we went to church with Laura, and Jed was very excited to see Dave singing with the choir - and even more excited when Dave came to sit with us after the musical numbers.  After naptime we took Amara out to eat for her birthday (which wasn't until the following Monday, but we wouldn't see her then) at Chili's.  Amara ordered pizza, as always. :)  Jed had a grand time eating chips and salsa, and playing with the electronic menu (and nearly ordering dessert and more drinks for all of us with it!).

After a very satisfying meal it was time for stories and bed!  Jed loves snuggling with his Uncle Dave.

texas trip - days 5 and 6

Thursday I set Jed up with a new activity - playing with toys in the bathtub fully clothed.  I turned the faucet on so it was just dripping, gave him some cups, cars, and little figures, and let him at it.  It kept him quite entertained and contained for about an hour, and I decided it was my new best friend.  We do this at home in the bathroom sink and on the bathroom floor, but I had never thought of doing it in the bathtub for some reason!

My mom and 2 of my brothers, Daniel and Jeremy, were able to come over Thursday afternoon and hang out for a little while.  Jed had to go down for a nap shortly after they got there, but Daniel and Jed chased each other around the yard for a little while and we all talked after Jed went to sleep.  I love my brothers and was very happy to see them!

I also love my son. :)

Friday was a hard, hard day.  Jed was tired of being cooped up at the house the previous 4 days (except for our one short trip to the park), and he was a wild child.  By the time we got to nap time, I was SO done with him - and then he wouldn't go to sleep.  He screamed and screamed.  And then sang songs to himself.  And then cried.  And talked to himself.  And called out for me.  And screamed.  After 2 hours of this, I finally went to get him - but I was angry to the point of tears (partly from the guilt of being so angry).  Laura came home to find me a mess, which I felt so guilty about (she's trusting me to take care of her house and her baby, and I'm supposed to be helping out, not adding stress to her life by falling apart!).  But she was sweet and understanding, and later that evening asked Amara and Micaela to watch Jed while I went on a walk around the block with her and Dave to get some fresh air.  I was glad for the weekend!  We planned a trip to the zoo for Saturday morning to get out and have some fun!

texas trip - days 2-4

Monday morning the fun began.  Jed had woken up several times overnight and then woke up for good around 3am - and having traveled and not napped the day before, he was exhausted.  We were both exhausted.  I couldn't even wrestle a real smile out of him - it was more of a grimace:

Camryn had just barely turned 4 months old, so Laura took her in for her 4-month appointment (which included vaccinations).  Laura had planned on working from home, in case Camryn was clingy or needed to nurse frequently (which she did).

Jed was excited right away to play with "Baby Camryn" and immediately started a game of "pat-a-cake" with her feet:

Tuesday was our first day totally alone, and it was quite the learning curve - Jed was still figuring out the new place that wasn't his home (and the routines and rules that went along with it), I was trying to figure out Camryn's routine and how to juggle both kids' needs (like what to do with Jed when I had to put her down for a nap), and Camryn was still a bit fussy from her vaccinations.  My mom and Sarah came over for a little while in the afternoon, but not before Jed got into the peanut butter (I was putting Camryn down for one of her naps), and it ended up all over his face.  When I came downstairs and asked him what he was doing, his response was "I making a mess.".

Tuesday night was Amara's band concert, so we all went - despite knowing that the little ones would be up past their bedtime.  We wanted to support Amara.  Jed and Camryn both did very well, and Jed asked to snuggle with Dave once he got there (he was coming from a choir rehearsal).  The two of them snuggling was SO cute, and I got several pictures but they are all super dark.

Wednesday my mom and Aunt Melody were able to come over to visit, which was fun.  We ventured out to the park down the street, and it was tough keeping Jed from running into EVERYONE'S yard along the way.  Since I was pushing the stroller with Camryn in it, I was glad that I had another adult to wrangle Jed.  I became concerned about how I was going to take both kids to the park by myself!

Wednesday night we went to Amara's school play, called The Marvelous Playbill (a version of The Emporer's New Clothes - but instead of sewing non-existent clothing, the trickster brought a non-existent show to town and told everyone that only people with the purest Castillian blood would be able to see the performances).  Jed was absolutely fascinated.  He smiled almost the whole time, and was especially excited when Amara came onstage.  But he didn't really know what was going on (to be honest, I often had a hard time figuring it out myself, partly due to the accents all the kids were attempting), and kept asking me, "What they are doing now, Mama?  What they are talking about?"  Amara did a fabulous job, of course!  Jed ran over to her when it was over and just grinned at her like a lovestruck schoolboy.  It was super, super cute.

texas trip - day 1

Scott's younger sister, Laura, and her husband Dave, had her first child in the middle of January, and we were all so excited for her.  Camryn Brooke Beussman was born on January 16th to tired but ecstatic parents!  Laura's maternity leave ended after 12 weeks, and Dave gets off of work in the summer (high school choir director) but not until school lets out.  So to bridge the gap between the two, Scott's mom went out for a few weeks to watch Camryn during the day, and after she went back to Utah, Jed and I arrived to fill in for the final 3 weeks.

Scott took us to the airport first thing Sunday morning the 18th, and was able to return to church in plenty of time to fulfill his duties as financial clerk.  The security line was insanely long!  We got about halfway through it and were allowed to cut over to the TSA pre-check lane, which expedited the process.  I've never been through the pre-check lane, but apparently you don't have to take anything out of your bags, and don't have to take off hats, shoes, jackets, etc...just throw your bags on the belt and walk through fully dressed!  So weird.  It's kind of frustrating to know that "regular" people have to go through all kinds of nonsense to get on an airplane but others don't.  Especially since they often just let random people through there if the regular line is long...what kind of security is that?  I guess they figure that you can't count on being let into that lane, so you won't bring things you shouldn't because you can't assume you won't be checked.  But still.

This is what I had in my bag

For the record, I had a large box cutter in the bottom of my computer bag that I completely forgot was in there, and didn't realize I had until I was ON THE PLANE.  I started to pull it out, realized what it was, and quickly shoved it back in before it caused a scene.  Clearly, my bags were thoroughly checked for dangerous items.  

After getting through security, Jed and I stopped at Jamba Juice to get smoothies, and sat down to watch the planes take off while we waited for our plane to board.

My biggest adventure getting on the plane was leaving my phone in the stroller, which I had gate checked.  I realized it when I was getting Jed settled in his seat, and I started panicking - I wasn't sure if the stroller had been stowed already or not, and if it had I was pretty sure the phone would have fallen out and I would never see it again.  People were still boarding the plane, so I couldn't go back out to check.  I was able to flag down a stewardess to call the front, and she told me the stroller was still out there and when everyone was boarded I could go and check it for my phone.  It was there, much to my relief!   This trip was the first time that we had to get Jed a plane ticket (now that he's 2), and Jed and I were both excited that he had his own seat.  He was a little nervous when the plane took off though, so he insisted on holding my hand.  It was the cutest thing in the world.

The trip was only 4 hours long, so it wasn't too bad.  I had made a great effort to bring things to keep Jed occupied - we took a special trip to Target to buy new activity books, stickers, etc...which he begged me to play with for 2 days (I kept telling him we were saving them for the airplane, because I didn't want the novelty to wear off too soon).  But of course once we were on the plane, he was completely uninterested in all of them.  He just wanted to "come out" of his seat and run around.  But overall he was fine, and we made it through the flight without too much trouble.

Laura picked us up from the airport, and Jed was disappointed that Camryn wasn't in the car to meet us.  When we arrived at the house I tried to put Jed down for a nap, but he would have none of it - so I figured he would just go down early.  We took a lovely stroll around the neighborhood with Dave, Laura, Camryn, Micaela, and Amara (M&A are Dave's daughters from a previous marriage) before dinner.   Jed was a little slow, as he kept wanting to stop and play in the leaves, of course!

helen hayes 2014

The Monday after Easter was the Helen Hayes Awards, an annual award ceremony that I've worked on for the last 2 years.  It's like the Tony Awards, but for Washington, DC instead of for Broadway.  There are 97 theatres in the DC area, and the Helen Hayes Awards is THE theatre event of the year. I was the assistant production manager again, and loved it even more this year than last year. We totally changed the format, which was both frightening and exciting. There was no precedent for what we did, or example to look to, and it was amazing to be part of the creation of such an event, starting at the ground floor and figuring things out as we went along. The ceremony used to be a 2.5 hour show at a theatre, followed by an after-party in a nearby convention center. But starting next year there will be twice as many awards (they are splitting the categories by theatre size), and making people sit through a 5-hour show isn't really feasible. So we decided to experiment with a new format, hoping to find something that will work for future years. We combined the show and the party, making the whole thing 5 hours long (6 for the nominees/VIPs, as they were invited to a special pre-event reception). We held the event in the National Building Museum (absolutely stunning space!). We had 3 half-hour Acts for presenting the awards, during which people could watch from almost anywhere in the building - live video was projected on 6 screens around the hall. Or they could continue to mix and mingle and enjoy their conversations. Intermissions were about 20 minutes long, which gave us time to get the next Act set up and ready to go.

Sunday evening (Easter) I went down to the National Building Museum, ready to spend the next couple of days there.  The production manager, Cary Gillett, was staying in a nearby hotel (many of the production team members had planned to do this, as it was significantly easier), and I crashed in her room Sunday night.  Because the NBM is open to the public during the day, we had limitations on what we could set up on Monday.  So most of the load-in had to happen Sunday night, after 5pm.  We had a crew of about 75 people who worked most of the night to get it done.



This gives you an idea of what the space looked like mostly empty, though it is not actually curved like that -
I couldn't hold my camera still enough to get a straight panoramic shot!
So imagine the building is a rectangle instead of whatever shape that is.

 

Progress of load-in, from top left to bottom right
 

I didn't do any physical set-up on Sunday -, I was there to oversee and be available in case any problems arose - so I worked on paperwork on my laptop and made sure snacks were available. Cary was in tech rehearsal for a show at the University of Maryland, so she arrived around midnight and I met her at the hotel to check in, and then we made our way back to the NBM for a couple more hours of work.



The Hotel Monaco, where we stayed

I walked Cary around the building to show her the progress, and we checked in with the producers of the event to see how they were feeling about it and if we could be helpful.  Progress wasn't quite as great as we had hoped, so the 4 of us had a pow-wow with the stage manager and technical director to adjust the schedule accordingly.  We opted to have the crew stay longer and finish up certain tasks, so we could call most of them back later the next day, rather than sending them home for a few hours and having them come back at 8am to test the equipment before the museum opened at 10.  Then we left Dan Wagner (the technical director) to oversee the rest of the load-in, and agreed to come in for the piano drop-off in the morning so that Dan didn't have to be there, and could sleep an extra hour.  No matter what we did, though, we knew that we would all be exhausted by the end of the event.

(We already were, and we had 24 hours left to get through!)



They had started to play with lighting, so this is what it looked like when we left.

The next morning Cary and I got up and went back over to the NBM.  The piano had been delivered a couple hours earlier than scheduled, so it was already there when we arrived.

As was this gorgeous morning light:

We ran and grabbed breakfast, then waiting for the staging assistants to arrive so we could have a short rehearsal.  Once that got underway, Cary and Ruth (one of the ASMs ) went to Woolly Mammoth Theatre to start the band rehearsal over there - we were using their rehearsal space for the day.  The rest of the day included more loading in, various rehearsals so everyone would know what their job was for the evening, tech notes, and a walk-thru of the show.

And the load-in continues!  Almost there...

"Backstage", which was on the first balcony

When 5:00 hit and we had the space to ourselves again, we did a sound check with the band and the singers on the stage.  In other parts of the building, the final touches were being added and everything triple-checked for readiness.  The volunteers had a meeting upstairs, and I met with my team (one of my assignments for the evening was to captain a team of volunteers we were calling "nominee wranglers") to give them their paperwork and the rundown of duties.  And then we waited for the shindig to start! 

We had about 1800 people at the event, and a few thousand more watching via webcast.   Some things went just as we expected (the awards show itself came off particularly smoothly!), others were challenges but we worked through them with grace and poise (the nominees didn't get the stuff they were supposed to at registration, but I gathered a small team and we got to as many people as we could during the reception), and other things were a little bit of a disaster (the credit card machines didn't work).  What an ambitious event to pull off - it was all really incredible (and exhausting). We're now in the feedback/debriefing phase, where we collect all the praise and the MANY suggestions on what we can do differently next year. But overall, the response has been very very positive!  Can't wait to do it all again next year.

Here are a few pictures from the evening:

 

Me and one of my best friends, Jose!

An awesome actor I've had the pleasure of working with a few times, James Konicek

Isn't the lighting exquisite?

Me and Cary Gillett, relaxing our feet for a couple minutes while we waited
for the clock to strike midnight so we could kick everyone out and start cleaning up!

 


Finally at home!  Couldn't resist a mirror selfie.