A whirl of a tour - Nebraska and Georgia!

So Jeremy, Augustine and I just recently returned from a road trip for performances in Omaha, NE and Atlanta, GA. We can now add Georgia to our list of places we have performed in the country.

It was a trip I was looking forward to and dreading at the same time. Having our 1 1/2 year old in a car driving for almost 5 full days!! Insane. Augustine does not like riding in the car for longer than, oh, 10 minutes, so you can imagine my dread.

I hate having him watch to much TV or videos but this trip would be the exception. We survived the trip and he did amazingly wonderful! He stayed up late late and played with his babysitters like they were old friends. He is becoming quite the seasoned traveler.

Our performance of THE VITAE MONOLOGUES in Omaha was at UNO and although we often experience difficulties on college campuses, things went very smoothly and there were about 100-150 people at the show. I have to admit that doing this show while pregnant is pretty hard for me, emotionally. I cried like I never had before in a show. Thankfully I was supposed to cry and it worked but having a child and being pregnant seem to really make the show more poignant for me personally. It breaks my heart to think of aborting one of my children and and then to think of the woman who have an now regret it or can no longer have children due to the procedure. Besides my extra real tears I hadn't been able to eat since 12N that day and the show was wrapping up around 9pm. That is 9 HOURS of not eating for this pregnant lady. Not pretty! I actually started gagging (on stage!). Fortunately it was not noticeable since I am in a bowed position and can't be seen well. The thought of needing to hurl on stage was pretty scary.

The next day we headed on a 14 hr drive to Atlanta, GA for a performance of "LOLEK" in honor or JPII's feast day on Oct. 22nd. We were honored to meet a WONDERFUL couple from London who treated us royally. They even are planing on bringing us to London's West End for performances of LOLEK! (I can't help but be really excited about this since London is my "home away from home!") We also went to a Polish Mass and got to venerate a FIRST CLASS relic of Blessed John Paul II. It was a wonderful experience. Although we had a great time...as Augustine started teething and getting sick I was more than happy to head home. If only we could have clicked our heels and flew home.

"There is no place like home... there is no place like home!"

God has blessed us abundantly through this work and especially on this trip and we are so grateful for His great kindness!

JPII - Pray for us!

First Camping/Work Trip

With another weekend of work approaching I began whining to Jeremy about how much I really miss family time with him since work takes up 90% of our lives. We haven't had a free weekend in some time! As I sadly began thinking about trying to figure out a work trip to St. Charles, MO for a performance I considered the delightful options of, A) drive 18 total painful hours to and from the performance with a 1 1/2yrs old or B) getting someone to watch Augustine for the weekend for the umpteenth time this month. Neither option was appealing. That is where camping comes in...

We decided to do what we do best... go with the flow and make the best of it and make the trip a family camping trip. Although leading up to the trip was a bit chaotic as we prepped for the work aspect of the trip and being gone for 5 days we headed off Thursday morning, not sure what to expect.

We drove to a half way point campground "Palisades-Kepler National Park" and set up our tent, pack-n-play and scrounged up some firewood. Augustine was a real trooper and enjoyed exploring the various sticks and stones as well as the new play land in the tent. Once it was dark enough he went to bed like a dream.

The next day we packed up and headed to our final destination - St. Charles, MO. We stayed with wonderful hosts who took us out to dinner on Old Main Street. It was so lovely and reminded me of Boston and Door County mixed together with cobblestone streets and lots of beautiful shops and restaurants. The history in St. Charles is that this lovely city set on the river was where Louis and Clark set off on their adventure to discover West America. It really had a nice cozy quaint feel and I wish we had more time to explore.

We had our show of LOLEK for a medium sized crowd who gave a standing ovation and raved about the performance after the show. I will never tire of people coming up to me after the show saying, "That actor is SO talented!!!!" I smile and say, "Yes, he really is!" :-)

We went to mass the next day and then were campground bound.

Awake                                                                             Sleep

Play

We set up camp in the exact same spot as we were in before. (When you don't have a reservation and the spot is open - why mess with a good thing?) As drops of rain began to fall we pulled out our tent camping rain gear - the laptop and a movie. We watched "Up" in our cozy tent while the thunderstorm raged and it was magically wonderful. Augustine sat alert and wide awake after his bedtime while Jeremy and I relaxed and we all thoroughly enjoyed the movie. It was a really great pick and I highly recommend it if you haven't seen it yet.

I am so excited we finally got to go camping as a family and the trip overall went really well. It was relaxing and rejuvenating and a lot of fun! I'm already looking forward to when we will be able to camp again and take our second Summer work trip to one of my favorite places - Hollywood, CALIFORNIA!

Mini Work Vacation

Shortly after my beautiful baby boy turned one year old April 2nd, 2011.

*see future blog post on the exciting day!

Jeremy and I had to leave him for the longest we have ever left him. 4 days. Four days without my baby, I mean, my one year old. No, my baby. Always my baby.

Will I survive?

We had a 17 HOUR drive to DeSales University in PA for a performance of LOLEK. Not to mention the five hour trip we took to drop Augustine off at my parents house in WI. The drive was long but it was actually pretty fun to have that relaxing road trip feel without worrying about Augustine getting uncomfortable or fussing. I only watched cute videos of him and looked at awe worthy pictures of him.... occasionally. I only called home a few times... a day, and texted, well, a bit over my plan for this month. I really enjoyed spending some unplanned quality time with my fun, silly, and handsome husband, road tripping like the olden days.

After an over night stop in Steubenville, OH with family friends we completed our journey to DeSales by catching their 8pm on campus mass which was quite lovely. Our gracious host led us to an on campus guest house that looked like a beautiful bed and breakfast in England or Ireland that was to be ours for our stay...

...and handed us what she said were food cards that had $5,000 on them, we instantly knew that this was going to be a wonderful stay. She even said, 'go crazy' with the food cards. Starving artists say, 'yes mam!'

When this school wanted to book us a year ago I was due with Augustine and wasn't about to let my husband do a work trip on my due date. This year the booking made more sense and even though the host was not able to pay our full travel costs I just felt we needed to do this show and that God would provide for our needs. Yes the looooooong drive WAS crazy long and left us feeling loopy and half sleeping we made it safely and we quite enjoyed the rewarding perks of being here on a little mini work vacation. To top it off Augustine was doing great with my parents and building a special bond with my family and especially my dad and last night we had balmy summer evening weather.

Thank you Lord for these blessings that help restore our souls and give us peace, joy and hope.

Sarah

No Car? No problem?

Jeremy and I have been sharing a car for almost an entire year now. That is a huge feat for two pretty independent people. Thankfully we work together, out of the house mostly, so it hasn't been to hard. However, when he travels for a show without me, which is becoming more preferred due to our antsy 11 1/2 month old, I am left home without a car. In the past I have just stayed home for a few days and went a bit stir crazy. It does make for a REEEEEeeeeeaaallllllllyyyy long few days when you can't leave the house and have no other distractions other than the phone and Internet.

So, I have recently branched out and decided to try St. Paul's convenient bus system. The 54 bus goes right by my house and I have thought for some time that I wanted to try it out. I am pretty comfortable with mass transportation after navigating my way around London for 3 months and across Italy and Spain. However, the bus in St. Paul was by far the most intimidating. It was mostly intimidating because I am no longer single. I have a baby, with a mind of his own. If he desperately needs a nap, he needs a nap! If he hurt himself, got sick, got hit by a car, got attacked by a rabid raccoon,  got.... well, you get the idea.... What if?????? I have to sit and wait for the bus to come and pick us up and then not get home home for an additional 1/2 hr.

Despite all these 'what ifs?' I figured, I would rather have a crazy fun bus adventure with my son than 4 days of sitting home going stir crazy. 

I had it planned perfectly. I timed how long it would take me to walk to my bus stop, how much it would cost, how long the bus trip would take, and whether I should take a stroller or front pack. And so we were off! After Augustine's nap we headed down to the gas station to get cash and sit and wait for the bus. Augustine looked like a huge stuffed teddy bear in his blue snow suit and strapped to my chest.

He loved it and chatted eagerly. (He likes an adventure as much as I do!) We got to mass in downtown St. Paul with no problem and then walked across the street to spend the day at The Children's Museum. We both had a blast and here are a few pics to prove it! :-)

Among all the other things to do and see I had to pull Augustine away from books multiple times.

The ride home went very smoothly as well and exhausted Augustine fell fast asleep in my arms in the crowded bus. Look at those lips!

I am really glad I gave the bus a try and I would definitely do it again! It was a really fun outing without parking troubles and other mishaps.

Sarah