Anastasia The Musical

By Cadie Walsh, "My school's fall musical was Anastasia, and my role was Assistant Stage Manager (promoted to Co-Stage Manager midway through production). Rehearsal started the first week of school. Anastasia was unlike the previous shows I've participated in due to living with DD & Big John, and the fact that we had a new technical director. Mr. Burnam is a fabulous teacher who brought many new ideas to the table such as projections and moving lamp posts. He helped the show be the best it could be! The main person I hung out with during production was the wonderful Faith Mazzucchi. She's a junior this year, and is the best stage manager our theatre department could ask for! Other honorable mentions are Lauren Tharp, Biv Bhattarai, Julia Kerr, and Bellamy Mcclung-Gonzalez! Becoming better friends with these amazing people was the highlight of my Anastasia experience. Faith drove me home most nights after rehearsal, and we got to have so many fun conversations. We honestly weren't sure the show would be ready in time due to some unforeseen circumstances such as the director (Ms. Murphy) catching covid, working out projections, and our props master having the audacity to get sick during tech week (sarcasm). Unfortunately my best friend, Layne, was unable to perform the duty of props master for a majority of tech week, and the entirety of the show. Luckily, I was able to get the props situation worked out with the help of my friends in the cast/crew, so everything worked out fine! Overall, Anastasia was the most challenging show I've been a part of, but I'm thankful for the learning opportunities it presented, and the friendships it allowed me to create/strengthen!"

Cadie had lots of fans! Grant, DD, and Big John went on opening night. Nina, Papa, and Ranger attended Friday night. Colton and I went together on Saturday night. Hannah, Eisley, Preston, and Parker went on Sunday and Colton, Nina, and I also went for the final bows on Sunday for the last show. Cadie worked so hard all the way from casting, to costuming, stage design, and backstage management. It was fun to volunteer to serve dinner to the cast and crew on Thursday night before their first show. I love getting to see Cadie in action. We are so incredibly proud of her!

Ranger's 14th birthday Weekend

By Jack Ranger, " About 30 minutes before everybody was supposed to arrive was the first time I threw up. I wasn't feeling sick until about 2 hours before the party. Once everyone was there, we left pretty quickly. The 2 cars were my mom and then Aiden Phillip's mom, Yvonne. We got here and I still wasn't feeling good, so I went upstairs to Cadie's room and stayed there the entire first day throwing up with the exception of dinner. The next day, I woke up feeling completely normal. We had pancakes for breakfast then we drove go karts for a while. We decided to play Tag around the property and the tagger had a go-kart. That quickly ended when people started jumping in the lake to "escape." We all swam then for a while. Then we just hung around driving go karts and also played Pictionary together. Then we went home."

Rangers birthday party included Ben and Steve Bratton, Hunter Hubbs, Cooper Glennon, Shep Lance, Drake Soukup, Aiden Phillips, and Louis Bickel. We were able to drag Ranger out of bed to at least sing to him on Saturday evening, but he was pretty much in bed most of the day. He got to play with his friends on Sunday, but it certainly wasn't the party he was hoping for. His friends all swam in the lake, made rockets, canned honey, rode go-karts and slept in the tree house and I think they had a great time.

We also had a family celebration for Ranger, Cadie, and Preston at DD and Big John's house. Happy 14th birthday Ranger!

16th in NOLA

Special contributor, Layne Henry, "I am Cadie's friend (as of now) who is "stuck with her" and has overall enjoyed this trip despite being quite injured! I am currently in the airport in severe pain, in need of a wheelchair, and sad. Overall, it has been a trip to remember for sure! I definitely will find myself remembering this trip for many years to come. From injuring myself in my sleep to an alligator climbing on our airboat tour, it has been so extremely fun! I am forever thankful to my friend and newfound family. 

We certainly had some unfortunate moments, but it did not bring down the trip at all. For my first time being in New Orleans, it lived up to my expectations and then some for sure. There are too many positive moments for me to even begin, but I am overwhelmingly happy with the trip, and I am so thankful that I came. Even being injured to the point I can hardly walk through the airport; it was so so worth it.

Happy 16th birthday Cadie!!"

Cadie's birthday trip summary, "My amazing mother agreed to take myself and a friend to New Orleans as a 16th birthday trip! My favorite part of this weekend has been having a jazz dinner on the Steamboat Natchez. Getting to hang out by the big red paddle while having a silly conversation was the perfect way to spend the evening! After arriving on Saturday morning, we went to the WWII Museum. We got a bit turned around while trying to find an exit and ended up going out a service stairwell into a restricted grassy patch at the back of the building. Dinner that night was at Arnaud's where my mom regaled us with wonderful stories such as catching her hair on fire & catching a malevolent possum. Afterwards, we explored Jackson Square in search of beignets from Cafe Du Monde. The next morning, we attempted to take a swamp tour to see some water t-rexes (alligators). Unfortunately, this didn't go as planned, and we had to take a private van back to downtown. Everything ended up turning out alright though, and we had a wonderful lunch at the Ruby Slipper. I took a much-needed nap after returning to the hotel. Dinner that night was the steamboat/jazz dinner. The swamp tour was rescheduled to this morning, and we had a wonderful time seeing all sorts of plants and wildlife. We're currently sitting in the airport waiting for the flight home, and Mom is saying no to going to the fair tonight. Overall, I had a fabulous time on this trip, and I hope everyone else did too!"

I would call our trip a success! We departed Saturday morning with no travel issues and easy check-in at the Hampton Inn Downtown. We were walking distance from most everything, but we did Uber a bit due to Layne's leg pain. We all got along well and we each had our own bed which made it extra comfortable. My favorite was the swamp tour this morning. We even saw a mama gator (who hissed at us!) and her little tiny babies that were only about 6 inches long. So long NOLA, thanks for the memories!

Ranger Cross Country

Ranger is so dedicated and I love watching him compete. While cross country isn't the most spectator friendly, I run all over the course to see him as much as possible. Big John and Papa also come to as many meets as they can.

At district, Ranger got 25th overall, 5th on his team and did a 12:10 time for a 3k. We are so proud of you Ranger!

Cadie is 16th!

On her birthday we had a beautiful celebration at Cadie's favorite restaurant, Rise. It was a beautiful celebration, with beautiful women, of a beautiful young lady. It was so special to have friends Mary, Avery, Layne, Eisley, Faith and Jess and family - DD, Nina, Winky at a table with fairy lights and delicious food. It was an unforgettable evening. And, of course, we all went over to DD and Big John's that morning to give hugs and donuts to our baby girl. We LOVE you so much Cadie!