Thanksgiving Festivities

 Thanksgiving week is one of our favorite times of the year.  The weather is nice, there is no school, work is lighter, and it all culminates in yummy Thanksgiving dinner at the Grodacks!

A unique outing that we had that week was to the local circus over in the Winter Garden area!  Lots of fun acrobatics, including a knife throwing act!

Karis and Zach didn't join but the rest of us had a great time!

In an old fashioned circus tent!

There were a few movies that came out that the kids wanted to see, so Amy took some time off of work and tagged along with them.

Now You See Me 3

Wicked

Even Dad went - this was the first time that Kaleb went to Now You See Me - it was his outing with Kieran and then Dad and Addi decided to tag along too

Thursday morning is always golfing for the male Zs.  This year Matt joined them which was fun, and then he came along with us to Grodacks.

Kaleb and Karis were partners

Zach is enjoying the "don't shave for a few weeks at a time" so looks older with his facial hair! 

After golf, everyone heads over to Grodacks for a huge meal and visiting - thanks for hosting!

Kids outside playing football

Lots of talking!

And the hilarious of guessing the phrase

That evening, we headed over to Alex's to catch up with them, and to pick up Amy's bestie Carmen who flew down for the weekend - spending the first few days with Kim Lunde and then the final part with us before flying back on Saturday afternoon.

When she flew in several of her friends from when she lived here (two of which were transplants from Ohio), we got together for breakfast on Wednesday.

Kim, Tracy, Alex, Carmen and Amy

Thanks for coming girlfriend!

While Carmen was at our house, we had a mama bear and her 2 cubs wander through our backyard - thankfully Aria wasn't outside!

Thanksgiving weekend we always put up our Christmas tree - it is a memory tree with ornaments that we've given each other each year with a highlight from that particular year - it is one of Amy's favorite things to put up the tree and reminesce!

Fiddler on the Roof

The long practice hours have finally achieved the end goal - Una Voce's Fiddler on the Roof!  It was such a great production - the kids did an amazing job!  They had 3 shows - Saturday night, and two on Sunday, which is the typical cadence.  It was a flurry as always helping as things started to come together, setting up the week of in the evenings with final practices and then the big day arrived!  

The full cast - she is on the right hand side of this picture in the back row

There is so much work that goes into a production like this - Esther Henson does an amazing job with these kids - it truly is much better than a middle school play - what an incredible experience to be part of!

Miss Esther - the "magic maker" with these kids!

The 7th grade girls were largely part of the "sisters" of the family, with Addison being able to have the chance to speak during one of the scenes.

One of the scenes - Addison is second from the left.

Addison had a speaking part in this scene

One of the scenes as the sisters watch the happenings

Getting ready process is a lot with 28 kids to be sure are in the right costume at the right time, make-up, hair, and mics on!

Lots of moms behind the scenes to help!

Hair

Make-up

Getting mic'ed up for her line

Hair check, Make-up check, Mic check, Costume check - READY!

We as parents typically attend during the 2nd show (which is Sunday's first show) so that we can experience it from the audience.  

Una Voce was one of Kaleb's favorite things about middle school!

Dad came to all three shows of course!

Goofing off with big brother

Sweet Sadie!

There is never an event that Grandma and Grandpa miss! 💕

The full family for show #2

We are proud of your hard work Addison!

Amy helped behind the scenes, so it was fun to be able to see the show from both perspectives - these are treasured memories!

Behind the scenes ready for the final rehearsal!

Behind the scenes, ready to go for show #1!

Grand finale - ready or not, here we go!

There are lots of friends and family that come to watch so it is fun to catch pictures together afterwards

Erik and Elin were part of Una Voce last year, so that was fun for them to come!

Addison has a soft spot for Alison's little sister Emy

Love you London!

Another close friend - Lele

Lily, Addison, Elin, Penny, Alison and Shane

The friend that deserves the award though for 1000% support is Elin - she came to ALL THREE SHOWS!

Sweet Elin - you are a true blue friend!

Show #2

Show #3!

And with Elin coming to all 3 shows, that meant Mama Kelli came too - thank you dear friend for the support!

Backstage there was always lots of fun watching the kids - they were so proud of the play, full of playful energy, singing together in between shows!

Miss Tracy is a favorite, she is always lots of fun with Addison!

Waiting patiently for the show to roll

In between show #2 and #3, there was food for the kids, and while they were in the choir room they spontaneously started to play the piano and sing together, Super special.

Addison with one of her besties Lily

Hey - we know this dude!  Devin was a stage hand, and did a great job - thanks for helping Devin!

Elin, Addison, Alison Salagubang (also in the play), and Penny Seralde

Final curtain calls:

The kids get quite close and bond during these practices

Afterwards, we stay and vacuum, pick up garbage, sweep floors, and return the Schmidt Auditorium back to its rightful (or better) condition.  Addison loves anything mechanical and Amy walked onto the stage, looked up, and there she was with Brandon (Tracy's husband) helping to unscrew the booms!

An unfortunate, but fortunate, story of this year's play came as a result of the "congratulations candy bouquet" that you can see in this picture below.  Amy got it for her last year, so didn't even give it a second thought this year to check if the candy had changed in there......well, in the second picture you can see that she and her friends have opened the candy and are happily munching as they watch the beginning of show #3......well, unbeknownst to either of us, one of the kinds of candy in there had GLUTEN in it.  4 hours later (which was the fortunate part that it didn't process through her stomach until then) as she was driving home with Amy, she said "My stomach doesn't feel great, I think there was gluten in the candy" so we checked and sure enough.  She didn't think it would be a 5 alarm situation like in Vermont when this happened with the flour tortillas but about 5 minutes later she was hanging out the car window throwing up as we went the last few blocks home (unfortunate part that she ended up so sick).  We are so sorry Addison!  She pretty quickly recovered but it leaves her feeling pretty wasted, so stayed home the next day.

Don't do it Addi, Don't eat it!!

Yep, the balloon is off the candy jar and these girls were all happily eating it.  So thankful that it didn't hit her during the show itself!