Mar 29, 2012

It was "Wicked"ly Fun

Yesterday I told you about one of the cheapest family outings we have ever been on. Today I'm going to tell you about the most expensive one. In 2007 my sweetie was working an awesome job with good pay when he was asked to help a little start-up company with some hardware design stuff. This is not uncommon for us. We have had our own consulting business since 1994 and whenever he is approached, we set up a contract. The thing that was different about this one was the scope of the project and the fact that it appeared to have no ending date.

The money was awesome! So we started saving up for a real family vacation. Originally we had planned a trip to Wyoming with my sister to go whitewater rafting and to the Tetons. But then her MIL passed away and they cancelled on us. Two weeks before we were to leave, we decided that since we didn't know that area well enough to go alone, we would take the kids on a vacation they thought would never happen.

For years we had sworn off Disneyland as being too expensive and it pretty much is for a family of our size. But with the help of those CityPasses, we found something that worked within our budget. It just so happened that my BFF had recently returned from New York and couldn't stop talking about a Broadway show she had seen there. She recommended we try to find tickets in Los Angeles. I knew her tickets cost her nearly $200 each and that was not a possibility, but I had heard that we could see it cheaper on the west coast, so I hopped online.

I was so excited to see that Wicked was playing at the Pantages and even more excited to see that floor seats were $95. Now trust me on this one, I have never paid $95 for any show in my life, but after her gushing report and one from the Drama Queen who had also seen the show and brought the music back home for the kids to enjoy...yes, they pretty much knew the entire score by heart...I bought the tickets.

Poor Baby Scout...Missed being Wicked
Sweetie is a great sport!
The only problem was that at nearly 2, Scout was too little to see the show. That meant someone would have to stay behind at the hotel and watch her. My sweetie graciously volunteered except that meant we needed a way to get to Los Angeles. I certainly couldn't drive our big van and all the kids into downtown LA. We looked into renting a cab, but we would have had to take two of them because we couldn't all fit in one. Then someone suggested that occasionally you can get a limo cheaper than a cab for a trip that far and certainly cheaper than two cabs.

I started calling around. I finally convinced the All Star Limo Service that they could make the round trip from Anaheim to LA for $300. My sweetie and I decided not to tell the kids about any of this, so as they were packing, we told them to put in some nice clothes in case we decided to go out to a fancy restaurant.

Flash forward to the trip...we all got dressed up and headed to the lobby of the hotel. While we were supposedly waiting for my sweetie to come down, the kids saw this long black limo in the parking lot. They thought it was awesome and they wanted a closer look. Of course I played along and we stepped outside. The driver got out and opened the door for us. The kids were confused and totally started to head back into the hotel. That's when I told them that the limo was waiting for us.



They were so excited! And even more so when they found out where we were going. We absolutely loved the show, all of us. And even though the evening was Wicked'ly expensive (and will never happen again in this lifetime) it created memories that will last forever.

14 comments:

Marci said...

Oh. My. AWESOME. That sounds like an absolutely incredible experience for everyone! I splurged during college and saw it up in Seattle as I was up there for my best friends mission farewell. Oh how I loved it, still love it, and absolutely LOVE the music from it!

Unknown said...

What a great experience! That's awesome that you were able to do that and I'm sure you'll hold those memories close for years to come :) Sometimes it's nice to be able to splurge, especially if it'll never happen again lol ;)

Brandi
www.yeewittlethings.blogspot.ca

Lisa Gradess Weinstein said...

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MaryAnne said...

They'll never forget that! I want to see Wicked, someday...

Emma Frances said...

That is AWESOME! I love that you completely surprised the kids with all of it! :] What a wonderful memory! I want to do something like that with my kids someday! I'll start saving now! Haha.

Debby@Just Breathe said...

What a wonderful trip you had. We just saw Wicked before Christmas at the Pantages. It was my 60th birthday present. Nothing better than taking a limo, how cool was that!

ccc said...

Hilarious! My girls have seen Wicked and love it and love the soundtrack.

Marci said...

This post has been on my mind all day. You inspired me to listen to the soundtrack basically ALL day long! What a fabulous day it was, too. :)

LOVE MELISSA:) said...

Oh my goodness. We would be best friend IRL. I saw wicked 7 times!!! LOVE it! Seems like a great weekend. Love the limo!

Emmy said...

How truly fun is that! And yes the limo was an amazing touch and might be what some of them liked even more

Crystal Pistol said...

What an amazing experience! Your kids will remember it forever. Worth every penny!

Lisa @ Two Bears Farm said...

That does sound like such a fun experience! No splurges in our budget right now, but maybe someday :-)

Arkansas Patti said...

How great that you could splurge like that and give the kids a day to remember all their lives. I would never have thought that a limo would be the cheaper ride and what a thrill.

Theresa Mahoney said...

That sure is a day they will remember for ever! I could almost feel the excitedment of your kids from this post! I would love to see that show too. I've heard so much about it. I was stoked when Broadway's Beauty and the Beast was coming to town b/c going to Chicago would have been about $200 per ticket. We paid $80 each for ours and was one of the best shows I've ever seen.

I tagged you on my blog if you would like to play along. If not, that's perfectly fine to just skip that post. It's just for fun :) http://theresasmixednuts.blogspot.com/2012/03/ive-been-tagged-again.html