Sturgis

Hey y'all!

Here is the map from my last post, as promised.  Thank goodness I got that fixed!!

Our first week back, we were in Sturgis!  You may have heard of Sturgis as they are host to a giant annual Motorcycle Rally.  Every summer, hundreds of thousands of bikers report to the Beautiful Black Hills for this week-long rally!!  It is a pretty big deal.  I have never been there during the Rally.  We were actually supposed to go the year we were at the Black Hills Playhouse, but Harrison got sick, so we cancelled our plans.  But even in Custer State Park it gets CRAZY with bikers, so I cannot even imagine what it's like in Sturgis.  

Here is Sturgis on the map:

                          

This was such a great group of kids with which to rejoin our touring adventure.  With a population of 6,644, Sturgis is a booming metropolis, and an arts-rich community, complete with an Arts Council and a beautiful theater space.  

The kids were wonderful - very enthusiastic and the loudest group (on-stage!) that we have had yet.  There were also kids from a couple different schools involved in our show, so it was really nice to see new friendships forming throughout the week!  As always though, we had a few characters.

We had one particularly amusing 1st grade kiddo.  I really want to tell you his name, but in an effort to protect his anonymity, I will just say he shares a name with a hilarious late night talk-show host, which makes everything he says a just a little bit funnier.  This was our conversation on the very first day...

Student:  "What if we can't come to the show?" 

Me:  "Well, we really need you to be at the show on Friday.  That's why we cast you!"

Student:  "But what if you can't because of something really important?"

Me:  "Like...what?"

Student:  "Like what if there is a really big bug in your stomach, like MONSTERS inside you!!"

Me:  "Well, that sounds like an emergency."

Ironically, his sister was sick for our first performance.  I forgot to ask if it was due to monsters inside of her...

He also kindly volunteered throughout the week to "show everyone something we shouldn't do on stage".  Haha - I indulged that at least once a day.  AND he told Harrison every single day that he should marry me.  "Harrison - she's a cool girl.  And nice.  You should marry her. Actually, you have to marry her!!"  Smart kid.  :)

We stayed with a wonderful couple.  On the night we got there, they told us they had recorded the new Downton Abbey and asked if we wanted to watch it with them.  It was all I could do to not break into "I think I'm Gonna Like it Here" from Annie.  Overall, a really fun week!

In closing...

Since I got the fixed the blog's photo feature, and I took no pictures in Sturgis, I will share a few highlights from our break.

We took Claire to ZooLights at Point Defiance Zoo in Tacoma.  She entire zoo is covered in lights - literally one of the coolest things I have ever seen.  I was walking around, squealing with glee, (way more than all the children there!)  Also, we rode a camel.  A camel!!

And we got to be there for Carson's birthday. I can't believe this little man is 9 years old already! I am so glad we got to celebrate with him.  Good planning.

And, of course, Claire gave me an epic makeover.  And as soon as she was done, she looked at me and said, "Ummm...you don't look very good."  Haha.  I love this girl.

Love to all,

Carolyn and Harrison

It's a New Year, y'all!

Well, Hello everyone!

In fairness to me, I tried to get this post up a few days ago and had some technical difficulties, followed by some motivational difficulties...

But I am now officially back.  I would love to tell you I felt inspired to re-commit to the blog because I feel revived by the new year, and made it my resolution!  But, alas, the primary reason was that my Mom put it in the Christmas letter, so I felt pressure.  Well, that, and one of my best friends wondered if something had happened to us since I had dropped off so abruptly.  Not to fear folks - we are alive and well.  I just got lazy.

Honestly though, thank you for reading.  It does make us feel good to know that people are following our travels and we love keeping people in the loop!

Anyway, I am so behind that I need to just do a quick catch-up, and tell you all the places I missed posting about.

Since Timber Lake, we have been in Salem (pop: 1345), Rosholt (pop: 426), Forestburg (pop: 73, school is fed by surrounding towns), to Kansas City to visit my Grandparents, Home to Wausau for Thanksgiving, McLaughlin (pop: 667), Sioux Falls to work in the home office, Olympia to visit family and friends, and back to Wisconsin to celebrate the Holidays!!  Whirlwind 2 months - what more could we ask for?

I marked our last 4 residencies on a map in case you're curious about geography, BUT the blogsite will not allow me to upload pictures at this time.  I assure you I am working to remedy this, because otherwise, this will be a painfully boring blog.  It will have to wait until the next post though!

In the meantime, I will re-cap a few of our favorite moments since I last posted...
(Note:  If we saw you over our break, you probably already heard these stories.  So sorry.)

• As I explained in a previous post, the kids love to try to figure out how Harrison and I are related.  In Salem, they were having a particularly difficult time believing that we were married.  In one full cast discussion about it, a 8-year-old boy raised his hand and said, "Umm...if he is married to someone else and you like him, then you are committing adultery.  That's the sixth commandment, you know."  I was shocked, as was the rest of the cast.  I assured him that was not what was going on, but I eventually had to bring wedding pics as proof.  
• In our show, some of the youngest kids play "The Seasons".  They appear four times throughout the show, and sing/dance a verse to show passage of time throughout the story.  In Rosholt, after hearing her part, this teeny-tiny Kindergarten student raised her hand.  When I called on her, she said, "Am I Deer Season? Because I am a hunter."  I had to explain to her that we didn't actually have a verse about Deer Season in our song.  What were we thinking, right?  It was one of those "You know you're in South Dakota when..." moments. 
• In McLaughlin, we were right on the time zone line.  So, we were staying in Central time zone, and working in Mountain time zone.  It always took us awhile to figure out when we needed to leave to be there on time.  To be at the school by 2:00, we had to leave by 2:30.  It was like riding a time machine to work.  That, coupled with a snow day and late start which re-arranged our entire rehearsal schedule, made for a very interesting week!  The kids did great though.  And we are getting good at rolling with the punches!

We were also so lucky to be able to spend so much time with our family and friends, both in Washington and Wisconsin, over Thanksgiving and Christmas!  We have so many people who love and support and we are constantly reminded of how blessed we are.  We miss you all so much, but you are what keeps us going!

Wishing everyone a year full of discovery, laughter, growth, and - above all - LOVE.

C&H