Christmas Eve

Torellos, Molanders, Woods & Goodalls

Can you hear the bells? [video clip]

Emilia leads our church Christmas musical.

RGMS Percussion Winter Concert

Shot in the lobby area welcoming guests.

Gimme light!

Our neighbors really go all out for Christmas.

Official route of the Turkey Ball Run

For future reference this is a map of our journey from CT this year due to traffic.

http://maps.google.com

2:55 am Officially home

Tons of traffic on 95

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Unknown Location

So we're taking the Tap. 

Quick stop in Niantic

Stopping in to say hello to some of the CT Molander's.

2:19 officially on the road

30-84 Giants Neck Rd, Niantic, CT 06357, USA

Turkey's Thanksgiving Day Photo

2:49 am

Little bit of a hold up here

Newark

Andrews AFB

The Road: on it

It's official.

I ran away and all I got was 16 ticks.

We brought Jack to work the other day and he decided to make a run for
it. An hour or so later he showed back up and Tracey pulled 6 ticks
off him. Well tonight she found 10 more.

Arianna on the soccer field.

Taken by teammate parent.

2010 Hanover Cup Champs!

Congratulations to Arianna and her team sweeping this weekends tournament.

Mandie Premier in Wilmington

Attended the showing of the Mandie and the Cherokee Treasure movie in town tonight.

Emilia's School Picture

Just watched Wake Forest win.

Women's soccer ACC champs.

Halloween Costumes 2010

Emilia speaks to the congregation about Blessing Patrol

Your prayers will be answered.

Annual Pumpkin Picture

Arianna's school picture

We made it into the Mandie movie!

Here are clips that were used in the movie "Mandie and the Cherokee Treasure".

Come Spirit, Come Charm - The Secret Garden

Show Me The Key - The Secret Garden

The Letter Song from Secret Garden

Glee Club at Wilmington Riverfest

Emilia and her group show what they've learned from their Glee club experience.

Wick from The Secret Garden

SYATP

Ankle trouble

Emilia and an opponent mixed it up on the soccer field yesterday.
Still hurting today we headed over to the medac for some xrays.
Fortuneatley no breaks but they want her on crutches and wrap her
ankle for a little while.

41

I Heard Someone Crying - Secret Garden Clip

If you're coming to see the show you may want to wait and see it in person. This clip does not do it justice.

WECT News Clip for the show

WHQR Interview for Secret Garden

Secret Garden 12 min radio promo.

Dress Rehearsal Pictures from Secret Garden

Click on link view entire album:
Secret Garden Pics

The Cast Sings Happy Birthday to Arianna

Star News Clipping for The Garden

Back To School Picture

Second Act Arianna Sings

Secret Garden Act II Rehearsal

Teenager in the making

Even though she's got another year until it's official. She seems to
have it down.

Act 1 run though for Secret Garden

Finished with the first week of rehearsals and have now run throught the entire first act. Nice job.

Laura's Week in Review

Anything Goes

Getting some treats before tonights show of the same title.

First Day of Rehearsal

Just dropped Arianna off for the first day of rehearsals.

Wrightsville Beach Day

My sister Laura along with Emilia's friend Abigale with us at the beach.

Auntie Laura in town for the week

Spent part of today down at Carolina Beach.

Coming soon to a theater near us

Stopping by Rita's

Emilia's friend Casey is sleeping over tonight and we decided to get a
little Italian ice before heading home.

Magic Camp

Emilia has been at Magic Camp all week while my other two, as you know, have been down in New Orleans. This is one of the tricks Emilia learned this week.

Emilia has a volunteer pick one of the 3 different colored sticks (red, blue, green) and put it in her hand without showing her what color it is. Now without looking and with the stick behind her back she guesses what color the volunteer has placed in her hand.

She's got a few more up her sleeve too.

She's picked the grapes...

...and now get's to drink the wine grape juice.

The women who's house they were working on made the group this wonderful meal to show her appreciation.

Americans Feeding Americans

Keep an eye out around 1:06.

Our own humanitarian

Doin' their part in NoLA

> Haaken, AJ, Maddie and Ari take down dry wall.
>

Music Man clips w/Emilia

She's in the back with the blue dress on. Higlighted at 0:19 in.

All dressed up

>

No good deed...

As you know Tracey and Arianna are in New Orleans. Well Tracey had a
run in with a toilet from one of the homes they are helping to repair
with the habitat for humanity group.

12 stitches and hours later I guess that's one way of getting out of
work for today.

Girls on the NoLa Mission Trip

Tracey and Arianna are with our church group in New Orleans for the week. You can find out more on the SACPC website

The square

And the real reason for coming to NYC

Pizza instead

Grabbing some lunch in the Village

Starring...

Poster for The Secret Garden @ Thalian Hall.
More info at Opera House Theatre Co.

The Music Man Cast Pictures

Front of Thailian Hall

Emilia with her "Mom" and "Sister"

Entire Cast

The Children in "The Music Man"

Avery along with her brother Preston and little sister Whitley came to the show.

Star News Theater review - March straight to memorable ‘Music Man’

Photo by Paul Stephen
Jason Hatfield as Harold Hill and Heather Setzler as Marian Paroo. Opera House Theatre Company's production of "The Music Man" will run for three weeks.

By John Staton
John.Staton@StarNewsOnline.com

Published: Tuesday, July 13, 2010 at 11:09 a.m.

It’s possible to do the right thing by accident.

In “The Music Man,” that’s pretty much what traveling salesman Harold Hill does until, at long last, he finally does the right thing on purpose.

Of course, Opera House Theatre Co.’s entertaining and moving production of the 1950s Meredith Willson classic is no accident. It’s just that director Suellen Yates and company’s earnest efforts make the proceedings appear effortless, with just a couple of hitches.

It’s a sleight of hand of sorts, a benign deception that, somewhat like the deceptions perpetrated by Prof. Hill – ably played with a mix of well-timed humor and an understated sense of inner conflict by Jason Hatfield – works out well for almost everyone in the end.

As a musical, “The Music Man” remains a winning combination of crowd-pleasing show-stoppers and sly satire of the small-minded small-town mentality, all wrapped around Hill’s core conundrum of whether to continue to live a rogue’s life or to settle down with that sadder but wiser girl, Marian the Librarian (Heather Setzler).

Things get off to a promising start with “Rock Island,” a wonderful, innovative song in which the conversations of traveling salesmen on a train recreate the train’s rhythms (“He doesn’t know the territory!”) while setting up the legend of Prof. Harold Hill, who swoops into unsuspecting hamlets, sells the populace band instruments for their kids on the basis of teaching them how to play, then skips town.

Enter River City, Iowa, Hill’s latest project.

The con in “The Music Man” is relatively benign, and that’s probably intentional. Anything too nefarious might besmirch our leading man beyond recognition. As it is, Hill’s pursuit of Marian’s affections brings out the best in him, even if it’s inadvertent, by cozying up to her family and the townsfolk. Hill winds up giving more than he ever intends to take, which is what makes him such a lovable character and what makes his ultimate redemption so moving. (Some in the audience were shedding tears by play’s end.)

During the course of the story, the audience is treated to some of the most memorable songs in musical theater history. Hatfield nails Hill’s rapid-fire pitch to River City resident “(Ya Got) Trouble” slinks through “Library” (his whispered, jazzy pitch to Marian) and captures the humor of “The Sadder but Wiser Girl,” a duet with old buddy Marcellus Washburn (Zack Simcoe, compelling as always), who gets a charge out of surreptitiously helping “Greg,” Hill’s real name and one he bridles at, probably because it reminds him of who he really is and what he’s really doing.

For her part, Setzler is perfectly cast as the reserved but passionate Marian, and, despite a little trouble with some of her high notes, she does a lovely job of delivering her big songs, “Goodbye, My Someone,” and particularly, “My White Knight,” in which she lays out her not-outrageous requirements for a man, the opinion of her Irish mother (Jemila Ericson, providing some great comedy) notwithstanding.

The whole cast gets into the act on super-fun tunes like “Pick-a-Little, Talk-a-Little,” during which the town biddies dispense backbiting gossip; the rousing “Wells Fargo Wagon,” in which the townsfolk anticipate coveted deliveries; and “Shipoopi,” a feather-light dance confection with swing-style choreography by Kendra Goehring-Garrett.

Performances are solid across the board, but standouts include Dan Morris as blustery mayor Shinn, who’s prone to telling folks to watch their “phraseology”; Teri Harding as his modern-dance loving wife, Eulalie MacKecknie Shinn; Bill Piper as the menacing Hill-hating salesman Charlie Cowell, who’s the closest thing the play has to a villain; and Dru Loman as Marian’s lisping little brother, Winthrop (Loman’s rendition of “Gary, Indiana” is infectious).

Not to be forgotten are the tight harmonies of the easily distracted barbershop quartet of school board members, the outstanding music direction of Lorene Walsh and Debbie Scheu’s colorful costumes, in particular the wild hats of the town ladies, all of which overshadowed a technical glich with a piece of scenery on Sunday.