Defying Gravity

The first week in January, George and Nancy treated us to Wicked tickets before it left LA. Jeff and I had seen it before and thought our boys would love it too even though it has two strikes against it: musical theater and story based on a fairy tale. Why oh why couldn't they have been born into the Spiker family so they could be seeing cagefighting instead? So, suffice it to say the boys were not as excited as I'd hoped (note the excitement in Tyler's eyes, click on the picture for the full effect) even though I stressed that the cost of the 12 tickets could easily cover Justin's first year of college so they better be gracious. I wanted to insist on a mandatory viewing of "The Wizard of Oz" the night before, but settled for a retelling of the high points on the way to the theater. We also got to visit Aunt Esther's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on our way... Here we are before the show: Later I wished I'd gotten the row in front of us in the picture. We seemed to have someone famous sitting in front of us--everyone wanted a picture with him and his autograph. We had absolutely NO IDEA who he was. If I'd gotten his picture I could have at least googled him later. Oh well.

The reviews? Justin said, "It was surprisingly enjoyable." Which I think is like two whole stars above "It didn't totally suck"!

Ten days later was much more their speed. For their (Jeff, Justin & Tyler's) birthdays in 2008, my parents gave them Laker tickets and my dad went with them. They saw the Laker-Cavalier game because the boys really wanted to see LeBron in person.

As you can see, Justin and Tyler were REALLY excited about this game:

And the great thing about going with my parents is that they never do things half way--balconies are a must for cruising, 12th row center for Wicked, and well, just look at the seats my dad picked out for the Lakers game: Yes, that's my dad in the bottom left hand corner. Shades are mandatory when you sit with Jack. You might also notice Jeff in the white t-shirt. Thanks mom and dad for a memorable January! We love you!