For K

This isn't that interesting but I promised K I would do a post on it, so here it is.  :)

Last Wednesday Joe and I got tickets to see the Chelsea Lately with Chelsea Handler.   We haven't been to a taping of a t.v. show since Ellen, and I had the day off, so we decided to go check it out.

Out ticket said we had to be there no later than 12:30, and that the show would tape at 1:30.  Joe decided not to listen to me as to which freeway to take, and the 5 had construction on and off all the way out there, so we were running way late. Like 45 minutes.  I wasn't even sure they were going to take us but we decided to chance it instead of turning around and coming home, which honestly what I wanted to do after sitting in bumper to bumper traffic for an hour and a half.  Blah.

But we finally did make it and we weren't too late to get in line so it was fine.  They ended up running about an hour behind schedule as it was.

The show tapes at a studio in Santa Monica where some of the E! network shows are taped.   Upon arrival we got in the back of a line out in front of the studio. The line wasn't that long.  The show tapes in a pretty small studio.

I wish I would have know that we would be standing in that line for an hour because I would have put on some sunscreen or brought a hat or something because it was HOT and we were in direct sunlight almost the whole time.  At least at the Ellen show they have a covered area (and benches) where the audience waits.

After about a half an hour they had us go through some metal detectors.  No cell phones or cameras were allowed at all.  If you had one with you they made you take it to the car and the car was kind of far away so that was a drag.

We had brought a book with us for her to sign and they came around and had us put a post it with our name on it in the book and they took the books from us to have her sign them.

After going through the metal detectors we waited another half hour or so before they started leading us into the studio.  It was a pretty small studio.  Only a hundred and fifty people or so, I would say. At least it was nice and cool in there.  In fact I had read online that I should bring a sweater because they keep it really cold in there.  Maybe because of the lights?  I'm not sure. It was cold but I didn't need a sweater.

After everyone was seated their warm up comedian came out.  He was o.k.  I didn't find him particularly funny.  Mostly his job was to tell us what to expect during the show.

One thing he did that I thought was really weird was he had us practice fake laugh.  He said not all of the jokes on the  show might seem funny to us, but this was a t.v. show and even if we didn't think something was funny we had to laugh anyway.

So he had us practice how to fake a laugh. It was weird.

So after we practiced fake laughing and cheering(we had to practice that too), the show started.  First they introduced the comedians that would be on the round table (which I can't remember who they were, except for Ross Matthews, but who can forget him with his high pitched voice).

After they all came out,  Chuy came out and went to sit in his chair over on the side of the stage.

The actual taping of the show didn't start until after all of the above people were seated.

The taping started when  Chelsea came out.  Of course we all had to scream and cheer like crazy, as they were prompting us to.   Right away she went into the monologue she does at the beginning of the show.

After the opening monologue, which is only 2 or 3 minutes at most, they play the theme music and she goes to sit at the round table and they go right into the show.

The round table part lasts about 15 minutes or so (possibly only 10).  After that the comedians from the round table  leave the stage.  They take down the desk and replace it with two chairs, a rug and a side table.

After a quick commercial break, they come back and she announces the guest for that show.  The guest for this show was Kelly Slater, the pro surfer.

I can't even tell you what it was that he was promoting.  It might have been something for Quick Silver, since he was wearing one of their shirts but it wasn't clear.  Perhaps when the episode aired he explained it but between the fake laughing and the fake cheering I never did catch why he was there.  He brought her some bathing suits from his girlfriend's line of clothing and they talked about surfing for a few minutes and that was it.  It couldn't have been more than 10 minutes that she spent with him.

They take another commercial break and they come back and she does her little bit at the end and that's it.  The whole show tapes in like 30 minutes.  There are no re-takes or anything.

And that was it.  Here's something that is weird about t.v. shows that you can't tell from watching at home.  The hosts and the guests don't interact with the audience at all.  Everything is for the camera.

Like in the beginning, when she is doing her monologue it looks like she is performing it for the audience, but she is actually talking directly to a camera that is in front of her.

I know you're probably thinking "Well Duh.  Of course she is talking to the camera. It IS a t.v. show after all."  But what you can't see at home is that she doesn't interact with the audience at all (Ellen didn't either, at that taping).   During the commercial break she was having a drink of water and getting her makeup touched up.  She doesn't even look at the audience.

The audience is basically a prop.  Our job was to laugh when prompted, and cheer and clap when they told us to.  During the commercial breaks they blare dance music at high decibels, presumedly to keep the energy high in the studio but all it did was give me a headache.

After they taped the ending part she went out into the front row of the audience and signed a couple of books.  It was all for show though, I think to make it look like she actually interacted with the audience(even though she didn't).  I have to admit, before I went to this taping I though how nice is was that she went out into the audience and met some of her fans but now that I know she only does that for the camera, I am not impressed.  :)  Chuy shook a couple of hands of people in the front row and then they both left the stage and the show was over.

One thing they did at the beginning of the show and during the commercial breaks was the warm up comedian would throw these balls into the audience (like those squishy stress balls).  They had the words "I caught one of Chuy's balls" written on them and everybody wanted one. To get one you had to cheer the loudest and basically make a scene.  You can probably guess that I didn't get one.  :)

When the show was over they asked if anyone would like to stay and watch the second taping.  I didn't really want to but we couldn't go home because it was right in the middle of rush hour traffic so we raised our hands.  We had to exit the studio and go back outside to wait.  We had to go back through security and everything again, and get back into line but didn't have to wait as long this time for them to bring us back into the studio.  Maybe 45 minutes or so.  They brought our signed books back to us at this point.

So we go back in and everyone gets seated and the warm up comedian comes back out and tells the same exact jokes he told the first time (still not funny) and gives us the same spiel about the fake laughing and cheering, and the whole thing started over again.  Ross Matthews was also one of the comedians for the second show, and also Sara Collona (who I love) and some other dude.

On one of the commercial breaks this time Joe caught one of Chuy's balls for me.  The guy was actually throwing it to the people in back of Joe who were making a ton of noise but Joe has long arms and he caught it.  They weren't too happy with him.

Here is a picture of it:

Here it is after he stamped it:

Same exact run down as above for the second show, except that Rosario Dawson was the guest.  She is in that new movie "Zoo Keeper".  She was entertaining.

After the show they asked if anyone would like to stay and meet Chuy.  Joe and I figured "why not?" so they led us outside to stand in line again while they set up a table outside for Chuy to sit at.  Within a few minutes he came out and people got to go up and shake his hand.  He had a pad of paper and a stamp with his name on it and he stamped a piece of paper for those who wanted it. Some people who had hidden their cell phones in their purses got to take a picture with him too.  Wish I had thought of that!

When it was our turn he shook both of our hands and thanked us for coming and he stamped the Chuy ball for me.  He seemed genuinely glad that we came out to see the show and really seemed like a nice guy.

After that we headed to the car.  We spent the evening at the Santa Monica Third Street Promenade, waiting for the traffic to ease.  It's one of Joe's favorite places to go and we had a great time.

Attending t.v. show tapings is tiring.  Between the standing in  line, to the constant cheering (and fake laughing), to the blaring music, it's a bit much for me.  I don't think we will be attending anymore for a while.

Well, unless some tickets for So You Think You Can Dance open up, if so I am so there!    :)

Well K, I hope you found that more interesting than it seemed when I was writing it!

For everyone else, sorry it was kind of boring!

Adrenaline Junkie

I'm on day two of my stay-cation and it is already going by too quickly (sob!).  Today we had Dragon Boat practice (not yesterday, as I wrote in the blog post I posted Friday). Practices will start alternating weekend days from here on out and I got confused.

Last Thursday I had off work as well,  and Joe and I met up my sister and clan for a trip to Magic Mountain.

Joe and I haven't been to Magic Mountain in probably 12 or 13 years.  It's kind of a hike from our house (an hour and 20 minutes), so it isn't some place we think to just hop in the car and visit.

Joe loves roller coasters.  The higher, the faster, the better. Forwards, backwards, upside down, he loves it all. I am not as big a fan as he is.  I used to be a huge chicken and wouldn't go on any at all. Over the years he has converted me and now I will go on many roller coasters and enjoy most of them.  One tip he told me is to keep my eyes open.  Whenever I was scared I would close my eyes thinking it would help, but actually keeping them open so I know what us coming up and not be surprised helped me to not be so afraid.  That and screaming at the top of my lungs.  :)  Now I enjoy most roller coasters and will try almost any of them at least once.

The weather on Thursday was forecasted to be hot and it was correct.  I think it hit a little over 90 degrees.  If you plan on visiting the park, keep in mind that they don't allow any outside food and drinks.  Not even water bottles.  This is such a crock.  I get that they need to make money.  However, not allowing you to bring your own water in and then charging you $4.00 a bottle for it inside is just highway robbery.  They do, however, have drinking fountains with very cold water so you could buy one water and then fill up your bottle at the drinking fountains for the rest of the day, which is what we ended up doing after I ran out of my stash.

Not knowing their food policy, I had brought 3 water bottles with Crystal Light in them and one bottle of Gatorade with me, along with some snacks.  They made me throw the snacks away but when they tried to take my water and Gatorade away I played the sick card. I told him I had Kidney Disease and the water bottles had vitamin supplements in them (hey, desperate times call for desperate measures) and they let me keep them.

I don't usually do well in hot weather (something about the way my body processes electrolytes because of the kidney disease) so I was kind of worried this trip was going to be too much for me. As it was, I drank one bottle of water per hour and took lots of rests and I was fine. But boy was it hot!

I'm so glad I brought those bottles with me because I ended up drinking around 7 or 8 bottles of water and I used the bottles I brought to fill up at the drinking fountains.  If I had to buy all that water it would have cost me like $32!  For WATER.  Insane.

The first thing we did when we got in the park was hike up the hill to the coasters at the top.  We started with Viper.  It was fun but boy was it hard on the body.  It really hurt my back, especially coming out of some of the loops.  It has a lot of loops and curly Q type of movements (if that makes sense).

It's fun.  A little painful, but fun.


After Viper we rode one of their older coasters, Revolution. It is the very first looping roller coaster in the world.   It was pretty mellow.  I  liked it.

After that we took a break and went on the Log Ride where I got so wet even my underwear was sopping and it took me 2 hours to dry completely.  At least it was hot out, and it did feel good, except for the itchiness of having wet jeans on.

It was lunch time by then so stopped and had lunch before we headed over to Goliath.

Their description:  Got a need for speed? Goliath has your answer. Towering 255 feet above earth, this massive steel superstructure hits speeds of 85 mph, making it one of the fastest and tallest roller coasters around.  Enjoy a 3-minute, high-speed adventure over 4,500 feet of steel track. 

The first drop is a killer

I'm not sure what our thinking was to head on such a major coaster right after lunch. This ride is hard core.   The first drop is near vertical and 61 degrees.  It hits 85 miles per hour at one point.  It is intense.  I enjoyed most of this ride. There were a couple of parts where the G force made me feel a little sick but overall I liked it.  Somehow we talked Grace into riding this with us (and she was tall enough).  She was NOT a happy camper afterwards.  She is very brave though, for going at all.  I'm not sure she knew what she was getting into. LOL.

Next we headed over to Scream.   Here is a description of Scream from their website:

Scream sends you racing at intense speeds while strapped in a "flying chair."   Its unique floorless train design gives you the feeling of soaring in air with no track above your head, nothing below your feet. Scream through seven 360-degree inversions and twists-and-turns for a three-minute rush.

This one was FUN.  You would think having your feet dangle and the track above my head would scare me, but I loved it. I wanted to go again.  Loved it.

The we headed over to a classic,Colossus:  

I love a good wooden roller coaster.  They have another wooden coaster "Apocalypse" that we wanted to try but we ran out of time.

After Colossus,  Lisa and the kids went on Tidal Wave, which is just basically a means to get soaking wet.  Since I had only just dried out from the Log Ride, Joe and I sat in the shade and took a little nap.

Next we hiked back up the hill to go on one of my favorite rides, Ninja.  

From the website:

Jump in a jet-black car and ride into a steel free-for-all.  Ninja is the black belt of all steel roller coasters, delivering high-speed thrills and 180-degree, side-to-side swings through hairpin turns and spirals at speeds up to 55 mph.

This ride is SO  fun.  You have to wait a little extra so you can sit in the front on this one.  It is a pretty ride through the trees and I don't think you can see that from the back.  We always sit in the front.  I would have liked to have gone on it  again, but it was getting late and Joe and I wanted to try one of their brand new coasters before we left.

And this brings us to our next ride, which was Tatsu.  Also known as the ride that made me cry.

The reason I don't like (or didn't used to like) roller coasters has nothing to do with the height, or the drops, or even going upside down.  No, my biggest fear about roller coasters is that something on the ride is going to malfunction and I will fall off the ride and plummet to my death.

Don't laugh.  This is an actual fear that I have.  You should have heard me.  On every single ride we went on I turned to Joe and said "Check your harness".  "Make sure it is latched securely".  "Push it down one more click, just in case.  I don't care if you can't breathe.  Just do it".  I said this on every.  single.  ride.  I drove Joe crazy.  At one point he told me if I would just trust that the safety measures were going to do their job, then I might actually enjoy every ride.  He is totally right.  The rides that I enjoyed the most were the ones that  had a harness that comes down from the top and clicks into place.  Even better if there is also a lap belt that goes across your waist as well.  I think it is one of the reasons I like Ninja so much.  I feel totally safe in that little car.

I did NOT feel safe on Tatsu.  Here is a little description of it from their website:

Get ready to fly at the speed of fear. Soar on the tallest, fastest and longest flying coaster on Earth.

3,602 feet of blazing track. 62 miles per hour. 263 feet in plunges. Ready to take on Tatsu?  Aboard the wings of Tatsu, you'll fly at speeds in excess of 62 mph through deep plunges, huge spirals and sharp dives that send you flying through the Park's mountainous terrain.  

The unique thing about Tatsu is the way that you ride.  They tilt you forward so it is essentially like you are laying down on your stomach.  Because the track is above you, there is nothing but air below you.  It truly is like you are flying.  At least that's what I was told afterward by Lisa and Joe.  I wouldn't know because I had my eyes closed the entire time, while simultaneously screaming "IwantotogetoffIwantotgetoffIwanttogetoff!!!"  over and over and over.

Here is a picture of what you look like on the ride after they tilt you forward:

I was very nervous while waiting in line for this ride.  I wasn't sure if I wanted to ride, but we were already in line and if I decided not go now I would have to step across the ride to the exit and everyone would know I was scared and I didn't want to look like a chicken. Plus my 9 year old nephew was going on it, so how scary could it be?

Let me answer that question right now.  It was SCARY.  I was terrified.  As soon as they tilted us forward and all of my weight was on that harness I just knew it wasn't going to hold me and we were all going to die. (Over dramatic much?)  Seriously, I did NOT feel safe on that ride.  Perhaps that was what they were going for, as it adds to the excitement for some people.  Not for me.  There were actual tears in my eyes when it finally ended and I could not WAIT to get off of it.  

Here's another picture of it:

Another:

Oh yeah, and here's one more:  I think I caught a glimpse of this when I opened my eyes for one split second before closing them again and screaming some more. I did not take the "keep your eyes open" advice on this one.  I did NOT want to see what was going on.  I just wanted it to end!

I won't be riding that ride again.  No thank you, you go right ahead.  

Once in a lifetime is enough for me.

After that I was pretty much DONE.    Joe had been looking forward to riding Superman all day, but I was done.  Cameron did somehow talk Joe and me into going on Viper one more time, which we did, and it hurt my back twice as much the second time, but after that we called it a day and headed to dinner.

There were a few rides we didn't get to go on, and Joe still has a hankering to ride Superman, so we hopefully we won't wait another 13 years before we go back this time.

Overall it was a really fun day.

Any other adrenaline junkies out there?  What is your favorite roller coaster?

Stay-Cation 2011

 Next week our office is closed so our doctor can take a vacation (without paying his employees-thanks a lot), so I have 6 days off.

It's a short week this week, since we have Wednesday and Thursday off (but have to work on Friday-lame).

Tomorrow I got us tickets to see a taping of the Chelsea Handler show in L.A.  It should be fun.

Thursday I might hook up with Lisa and friends to go to Universal Studios.  I haven't been there in like 15 years!

We can't go anywhere over the 6 days I am off, which sucks. I want to go on vacation so bad. I miss our yearly camping trips to Big Sur so much.   Last week I had a dream that we were there camping and it was so beautiful.    When the alarm went off and I realized it was a dream I wanted to cry.

In an effort not to become completely bored I have been compiling a list of free/low cost things that we can do during our "Stay-Cation".

Saturday, June 25th-We have dragon Boat practice and then I will go visit my Dad for a bit since I have to drop something off at his house.  When I get home I may lay out by our pool.  Or I might save that activity for a weekday when no one else is there, lest I blind them with the whiteness of my skin.

Sunday, June 26th-We usually hang out at home on Sundays, watching movies.  I will try to make it to church in the morning, then  probably a walk or a bike ride later in the day.

Monday, June 27th-Take a trip down into Dana Point to wander around the tide pools. Wish we could go on another dolphin safari.  So fun.

Possibly stop in and check out the Dana Point Ocean Institute.  It's only $6.50 per person.
If the weather permits, lay on the sand under an umbrella for most of the day listening to the sounds of the surf.  Bliss.



Tuesday, June 28th-We are thinking about a trip to the L.A. Zoo.  We haven't been there in years and it is only $14 per person.  Of course we would bring our own food.

                                          Hee!  I love Hippos

Wednesday we may use some movie tickets I won to go see Super 8.  It looks really good.  We bring our own popcorn and drinks.  I carry a large purse.  :)

And then on Thursday I have to go back to work and my stay-cation will be over.  Gosh it seems like it's going to go so fast when I look at it in writing.

Of course I am known for making a bunch of plans and then deciding that laying around in my pajamas all day and watching movies sounds more fun so I do that instead.

I'll let you know which activities we actually end up doing.

I heart Dolphins

I was going to name this post "A day in Dana Point" or something like that,

but when I saw the pictures that I took and chose for this blog post I decided to just call it "I heart dolphins" because that is pretty much all I took pictures of.  

That, and I really do heart them (who doesn't, right?).  

Except that after this experience I super duper heart them!

Lisa and family, along with a few friends came down this way for a trip to visit some of the CA Missions. On Sunday they took a break from the Mission tours to go on a "Dolphin and Whale Safari".  When she asked us if Joe and I wanted to come along of course I said "Yes please"!

 Lisa's hotel had this cool chair.  I wanted one.

Isn't it neat?  I could picture myself curling up and reading a book there.

Captain Dave's Dolphin and Whale Safari in Dana Point.  You should check them out.  It rocked.

Leaving the Harbor

                                                                     ARGH!

Joe didn't leave this spot at the bow of the boat the entire trip.  Almost three hours he stood out there.  I think he may have enjoyed himself a wee bit :)

Pretty soon we were in the middle of a pod of Common dolphins.

So.  Cool.

Beautiful Boat!  See all the dolphins swimming around it? 

O.K., they are kinda hard to see in the picture  

Take my word for it; they were everywhere!

                         Check out the dolphin in the air at the lower right hand corner of the pic

After following the common dolphins around for an hour and a half or so, and searching for whales, a pod of Bottle nosed dolphins showed up.  They were much more playful than the common dolphins and were jumping out of the water like crazy.  So neat.

                                  So beautiful!

Finally a picture of my nephew on my blog.  Isn't he handsome?

Family picture.  Check the shark on Cameron's shirt.  It looks like it's trying to eat Lisa.

I know this looks strange but if you lie down and look through the webbing you can see the dolphins swimming right underneath you. When the boat dips down you get so close to the water you could touch them if your arm fit through the holes.  Did I mention it was really cool?   It was REALLY cool.  

  I had a picture of Joe and me doing this together but he took one look at it and said it was not blog worthy due to the unflattering poses. I suppose I shouldn't tell him my sister put in on FB  :)

I can't wait to go back and do this again.  It was so fun.  Maybe next time we'll see a whale!

Catch Up

Has it been a week already?  Oh blog, how I neglect thee.

The stuff that was causing me to have severe anxiety the last couple of weeks has worked itself out.  Can you feel my relief in my writing there?

Thank you God, it has worked itself out.

One day I am not going to be afraid to just come out and write about what the stress inducing thing is.  Not today.

In other news,

I didn't get a really good job I wanted.  I cried myself to sleep for one night and then I got over it. Their loss.

I'm not just saying that.  It really is their loss.  I will find a good job.  I will keep looking.

I'm still addicted to Pinterest.  If you are my friend on FB then you already know that (and I'm sorry-you know you can hide those posts if you want to, right?)

Dragon Boat practice continues to rock.  It also continues to kick my butt every. single. week.
But in a good way.

I wish we had some fun plans for this summer but we don't.  It's been 3 years since we went on any kind of vacation.  Sigh.

I do have four days off at the end of the month and we are planning a "Stay-cation". You know, where you act like you are on vacation but you don't leave the town you live in.

Anybody have any ideas about some things we could do on our stay-cation?  (Free or very low cost).

Lastly,

I thought this was cute.  (Found on Pinterest, of course).

Keep Calm and Carry On

The weeks just seem to be flying by lately.   I can't believe that summer is here already.

I haven't been online a lot, which isn't a bad thing.  When  I am online I have been hanging out on Pinterest quite a bit.  It's kind of addicting.  Once you click on a pin someone else has pinned, then you start looking at the rest of their boards and clicking some more until you forget what it was that you started looking at in the first place.  It's a fun diversion.

There are several things going on right now for us that are very uncertain.  A couple of major things are up in the air and I find myself having a lot of anxiety over them.  A lot of anxiety.  It is unsettling.

Even with the unsettling things going on, I have realized this week that I have surrounded myself with a really great group of women who I can be perfectly honest with and who will give me their honest opinion, whether it is what I want to hear or not.  I think it is important to have friends like that. I am lucky to have them(thanks LA's!)

I got to spend the day at Disneyland with a couple of these friends on Tuesday and it did my heart good. Getting out with friends who know my struggles and are there for me no matter what helps calm the panic inside.  Can you believe I didn't take one picture of the three of us though? I spent almost 8 hours with them and not one picture.  That's a true sign that you are having a good time, when you completely forget about your camera because you are talking so much.  Good times.

Here are a couple of sayings I found and pinned to my boards this week to remind myself to stay calm and carry on, no matter what happens:

This will be my new mantra

This one is hard for me to swallow, but is so true:

I spend too much time wondering "But WHY?" 

when things don't go the way I want or think I need them to.

And finally this one:

I will strive to  do this

Whatever happens will happen and we will be o.k.

Memorial Day Weekend Fun

On Monday Joe and I had the pleasure of meeting up with 2 fellow adoptive families.  One of them I met through-you guessed it-my blog.  I have been following their blog for years, since before they brought their daughter home.  Fliss and family were on their way to Australia, with a long layover in Los Angeles so she contacted me and asked if we would like to meet up.

You know how I feel about meeting up with other adoption pals so of course I said yes!

First we stopped by Christine's house to pick up a car seat, which her husband Alan installed in my car since I have no idea about such things.

Next we were off to LAX to pick up Fliss, Mike and Shauna.

First on our list was ChinaTown.  

China town in L.A. is kind of.......well, old.  Outdated I guess you could say.  

It didn't stop me from snapping a few pictures.

Fliss and Mike were tired and hungry from their flight so right off we found a place to eat.  

No one had any experience with the restaurants there so I chose the one restaurant we had eaten at the last time we were in LA(like 4 years ago for an FCC thing).  It was lunch time so they were serving Dim Sum and oh my was it yummy.

Ireland(I love her name) and Shauna became fast friends.

Joe and Scarlett(love her name as well) formed their own friendship.

Walking around after lunch

Love these girls.  So sweet.

A couple of group shots

 

Next up was Grauman's Chinese theater (are you sensing a theme here?) and 

the Hollywood walk of Fame.

It was fun playing tourists for the day.

All the crazies.....uh..I mean characters were out and about hoping to make a few bucks off the tourists.

Ireland had to have a picture with her favorite character, 

Bumblebee(I love that he is her is her favorite character. Princesses are for sissies!  :)

Miss Scarlett.  I could die from the cuteness.

Miss Shauna.  Ireland actually took this picture.  A budding photographer!

All three munchkins.  Shauna and Scarlett are YangXi sisters!

Next stop on the tourist bus was Rodeo Drive.  I have actually never been there, even though I have lived in SoCal my entire life.  Not much too it, but it was fun to wander around for a bit.

Buddies

Fancy

These dudes just kept circling around, showing off their car.

Quaint little street

Joe said he was going to go in here and buy me a little something but our meter had run out and we needed to get back to the car.  I told him I would take a rain check.    :)

Before long it was time to drop Fliss and Mike back off at the airport for their overnight flight to Australia.  Joe didn't want to say goodbye to Shauna (this picture makes me melt into a giant puddle on the floor).

Thanks Fliss and Mike and Shauna, Christine, Alan, Ireland and Scarlett 

for letting us hang out for the day.  

It was so much fun!!