Touchdown (7.16.12)

By the time we touched down in St. Thomas we were famished. Lucky for us, we arrived at the ferry terminal with enough time to catch a late lunch overlooking the bay.

After conch fritters and fries for all (well, truthfully, not everyone partook), we had time to watch the sea plane land a time or two.  

Blues Travelers (7.16.12)

Have instruments.  Will travel.  Just get us somewhere sunny and warm with a tropical breeze, please.  Delta Flight #571 from Atlanta to St. Thomas departs at 9:41 AM.

Sailing with the Sandersons (7.16.12)

Week one in the BVI this summer began with the Sandersons:  Todd, Leigh Anne, Shelby, Bailey, and Maddie.  Pairing up with each other was the easy part (Leigh Anne and I've known each other for 20 years).  The hard part was getting the kids to bed the night before. Regardless, it was all smiles at 4AM when the taxi picked us up.

And so our trip began... Lloyd with guitar, Harrison with uke, me with my 50 pound carry-on, Leigh Anne with dual cameras, and the rest of us with a smile.  

Sparklers (7.4.12)

Happy 4th, everyone.  Back in Memphis, one of our favorite traditions was continued with us riding over to the Memphis Country Club and observing their amazing firework show from just outside the gates. We took Jana Lane and Coleman with us and ended up later in their back yard where we had smaller sparklers of our own.  

The Hollywood Sign (7.2.12)

We never made it to the real Hollywood sign during our visit, but we got extremely close to the make believe one on the set.   

Even though it was about 8PM, and we'd been at Hollywood Center Studio all day, it was still hard for all of us to leave. We said goodbye with autographs in hand, stars in the kids eyes, and memories that will last for a very long time.  

Seeing Stars (7.2.12)

After about 6 hours in the studio, we needed a quick change of scenery.  Along with our 10-year-old tour guide Cade, we headed for The Walk of Fame on Hollywood Boulevard.  Of the 2,474 stars total, what is the likelihood that we would find something for Harrison to smile about?  It was our lucky day.

We tried to find the star that belonged to Michael Jackson, however, we got distracted by the need for ice cream.  Oh well, you can't see everything! 

Hollywood Center Studios (7.2.12)

This was the reason we came to California.  We were invited to spend the day in Studio 11, for the taping of Disney XD's show "Kickin' It". This show is set on the back drop of a martial arts studio, which fits right in with the kids interest in taekwondo.   I expected it to be fairly amazing.  I didn't expect the people to be as enjoyable and down to earth as they were. 

I can't tell you what the taping was about (because it hasn't aired yet), but, I can give you a hint.... it's a spin on the book that Harrison is currently reading (The Hunger Games).  I'm kind of glad I had read the series before.  It allowed me to see the humor in the show.  

Harrison was only interested in seeing the taping for about a minute. When they had run the same scene for the fourth time, he paired up with Olivia Holt's (that's the star of the show who was born in Germantown, TN) 10-year-old brother, Cade.  What a pair these two made!  He's into music and guitars.  He also knew the secret passages through the studio which Harrison gladly learned (not to mention they found the basketball court).  Honestly, I'm really glad he found this friend!

We were taken on tours of other Hollywood Center Studio sets, showing us stages of other Disney shows (which, I can't remember the names of, but, the kids definitely could--and they were impressed).  

Other highlights included eating lunch with the cast, practicing their favorite Taekwondo moves with famous kids, and hanging out in Olivia's dressing room. 

I got to spend the day with Olivia's mom, Kim, who I found delightful.  And, like mother, like daughter,  Olivia and the other actors, for that matter, were so incredibly sweet to our kids.  This was a day that we won't forget!