Well, guess who got her photo taken with Taylor last night after American Idol? And guess whose brother-in-law doesn't know how to find the photo on his camera? (We didn't bring our cameras because they weren't working well and they weren't allowed in anyway).
We had a fantastic time at American Idol last night. My sister-in-law Stacy is in the "business" in LA and worked about 3 weeks through her network to get us all tickets to be in the audience AND passes to go back stage after the show. Sooooo, there were about 50 people or so who were able to get autographs -- our kids and our niece and nephew got autographs of all the contestants left. Because there weren't many people with backstage passes, the American Idols were able to spend quite a bit of time with the few people who were there.
Ace was actually the warmest and sweetest person of all of them (all were very happy to sign autographs and even had good pens with them to do so) AND sang happy birthday to our youngest daugther because we were there for her birthday (nice present and she's not getting another birthday present from us now until she's at least 30). We have photos of Ace with the 4 kids with his huge smile (if we can find where it is on my brother-in-law's camera). Taylor saw the poster we made for him and gave the kids a little extra attention. I mentioned the Red Bar and 331 and the area and he very kindly said to say "hi" to his friends in the area. Mandisa was exceptionally sweet and giving, as was Chris. Paris was the least so (seemed to be going through the motions but my sister-in-law said it may have been because she got bad reviews from the judges and may be concerned about tonight).
Before the show started when we were in our seats we met Taylor's grandmother (she was shown on TV) because we had our Taylor sign up on our seats and she came over to us to thank us and to say he was such a nice boy. She was very sweet.
We Tivo'd the show and watched when we got back home after Thai food. You really couldn't see us at all unless you knew exactly where we were sitting and then wouldn't get a good view anyway. The theater is small. I think you could compare it in size to the Seaside Amphitheater. So, everyone has a great view. We were coached to yell and scream and clap and stand so we did. My kids were quite embarrassed to see their mom getting so thoroughly into it (I told them I was just following instructions). We saw Whoopie Goldberg, Chris Rock, and the guy who's the star in "High School Musical" (a kids' movie that my kids adore -- they know all the songs). Anyway, being there was a hoot.
Photos will follow soon once we get access to them. It's so much fun now to share this experience with others!