3 Minutes Of Fame

As many of you know I had the opportunity today to appear on The Everyday Show- a local daytime show affiliated with the local news network.

A few weeks ago, my Weight Watchers leader asked me if I would join her on the show to talk about healthy snacks. I thought it would be fun, so I figured- why not? My Weight Watchers leader does a segment every month but has never brought a customer because it's pretty much just a commercial when you do that. But, Linda (my group leader), has created a great relationship with the show and they were willing to let her do this segment.

I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I called Ben right before I walked inside and told him I was pretty nervous. But, in reality, as soon as we went in and met the hosts and the producers, I felt very comfortable. Plus, at this point Linda is a pro and knew exactly what to say and do, so I knew I was in good hands.

The coolest part was seeing the behind the scenes of the newsroom! The energy was palpable! I really thought that if I had seen that before I went to college, I might have gone into broadcasting/journalism instead of teaching.

Here are some photos of the studio:

 It's basically a large warehouse type room with several different stages. The cameras stay in the center and just move from stage to stage depending on the segment.

 This is back at the news desks- this place was hopping, and so cool! I could hear someone saying, "The Denver Cops won't go on record, but this is what they're saying...."

 The green stage

 And, above is the stage that we used- a small kitchen.

Below is me with Megan- the guest co-host for the day:

 One of the other stages above.

Me with Linda below:

The people were so friendly! Chris is talking behind us, and he was CRAZY- but so incredibly nice. He has won an Emmy for hosting. On TV he is animated and wild, and live he is SO MUCH MORE animated- it was fun to watch. And, it made me realize that these shows are so much about theatre- which is fine, but sometimes we forget that these shows are really about entertainment, not necessarily about news. It was fun to see first hand.

And, in case you missed it, you can see the segment HERE.

Road Trip Part 3

After Crazy Horse, we headed to Story Book Island. It is a park I had read about on-line. Others had said it was an amazing park and that we should check it out.

The Rotary Club of Rapid City built this park in the 1950's. It is free, and the kids needed something more kid-friendly than a monument so it seemed like the perfect thing to do.

Well...it was VERY worth it!
Words cannot describe the AWESOMENESS of this park!

Audra and Claire literally ran around for 90 minutes straight (after a rather long, hot day where they were both very tired)- jumping from place to place and jumping for joy at every new thing they saw. I had to race to keep up wtih them.

Simply put, this is the most fantastic park we have ever been to. In the words of Claire:

"This is just like Disneyland, but without the rides."

Yes it is, Claire, and now we don't need to ever go to Disneyland!

These pictures do not do the park justice. It was simply unbelievable. We went back on Sunday morning for a couple of hours before we headed back home. It was very hard to leave! We could have stayed there for 10 days straight and not gotten bored!

Camille's absolute favorite was the fire truck above- she could not get enough of it!

 This was their favorite- Snow White's House:

Road Trip Part 2

After Mt. Rushmore we drove over to Crazy Horse.

This is the Native Americans' response to Mt. Rushmore. It is the carving of Crazy Horse. However, there is one problem with Crazy Horse: It is nowhere near completion. And when I say nowhere near completion, I mean NOWHERE NEAR completion. Like, at the rate they are going, it will be at least another 200 years before they can even see the finish line of completion.

It is quite an ambitious project.

When it is complete, in 200-plus years, it will be awesome.

As it is now, it is very cool. They have the face of Crazy Horse complete. That took 60 years. And it is very cool.

Instead of a National Park/Monument, they are relying solely on private funds. They have created an entire cultural center with a restaurant (where the food is fantastic!), a museum of Native American artifacts, and a theatre that shows a video of the story behind the Crazy Horse Monument.

Even though the monument was not complete, we really did enjoy our time there. We learned a lot, and it really is great what they are doing. They have a lot of patience for the building of their monument- much more than I have!

 When, and if, it ever gets completed, it will be 4 times the size of Mt. Rushmore. The white drawing on the mountain is where the head of the horse will eventually be carved out. Right now they are working on his hand, which is pointing out directly under his face.

 Dancers came and told stories and danced for us. That was definitely a highlight, though a little embarrassing, too. The dancer below told several stories. We were sitting in the front row and he said, "Can I tell you another story?" Camille yelled, "NO!" Yelling "NO" is her M.O. She does it all the time, but in this instance- with the crowd silent and everyone hearing her- it was not cool (actually, come to think of it, it is rarely cool, but sometimes funny- just  not at this moment). The Indian came over and looked right at her and said, "Can't I tell you a story? Maybe about Minnie Mouse?" He was very polite and good-natured about it. Instead of responding, Camille burrowed her head in Ben's shoulder and gave a huge scowl. Yup, that's the way we roll in our household.

 Proof that the girls love Grandma just as much as Grandpa:

Overall, I think it was worth the trip- not necessarily for the monument, but because of all that we learned and saw. And the food. The food was really, really good.

Road Trip Part 1

This last weekend we braved a road trip. My parents flew in to join us (yes, they are a little crazy) and we went to Mt. Rushmore. It should have been a 6.5 hour drive, but by the time we went to the airport to pick up my parents, stopped for lunch and potty breaks, etc. it ended up being 8.5 hours. It was long, but the kids actually did quite well.

Camille and Piggy are ready to go!

 The hotel was the most exciting part of the trip for the kids. Thankfully, they slept OK- not great, but OK.

The first day was spent driving, then the next morning we woke up early (easy to do when the kids are sleeping in the same room) and headed off to Mount Rushmore.

 Camille had a pretty sweet gig.

 Apparently Mt. Rushmore was built on sacred Indian ground, and the natives were NOT happy that it was built. At least they put in a little bit of an homage to them???

 Our girls are so excited to have another picture taken of them:

 Why do they smile with Grandma and Grandpa and not with us?

 The girls participated in the Junior Ranger Program and got to get a Junior Ranger patch which is pretty cool. In order to get the patch they had to find out different things about the monument- who built it, who the presidents are, when it was built, etc. It was a great activity for the kids, and we all found out a lot about the monument that we didn't know before. For example, the original plan called for the entire bust of each president, but the rock was too soft and they had to abandon that idea.

Overall, it was great to see the monument. Hopefully the kids will remember this trip!

More to come...