Hey everybody! OMG!!! today on the way to class aleyse almost DIED. we were a little bit late leaving today and so we were rushing to get to one of our subway trains and aleyse tripped and fell down about ten stairs but SOMEHOW. she landed at the bottom of the stairs on her feet.....but yeah... okay so today was pretty alright for the most part! we had movement first which is a very interesting class. its not my favorite but it definitely has some interesting things to offer. Next we had Repetition which was really good for me today! I did very well today at it :). After lunch we  had Speech and voice.....which. lets get real is a little like yoga/ nap time. she basically just makes us get our yoga mats out and like lulls us to sleep. then we had shakespeare.....jeeeeeezzzzzz. he was rough on me today. he made me do my monologue like 8 times hahaha. it was really good though i got a lot of work done :) then we headed to harlem where we had some AMAZING soul food at amy ruth's :) next .....DRUMROLLLLLLLL 

GUEST BLOGGER DEB HANSEN!!!!

from Mama H-

Hello everyone! I am really enjoying my time here in NYC--Jake, Aleyse, and Mitchell are DEFINITELY keeping me entertained and I love hearing their stories about the day of learning firsthand. I'll share what I did today so you have a different perspective. :-)

This morning, I left the house a little after the kids did (8:45 am) so that I could go jogging. (I'm trying to be fit, ok?) It's about 4 long blocks to the East River Esplanade, which is a nice walk/run/bike path along the East River. Well, Ok, so there's a highway on the other side in some places, but there's also a beautiful park, tennis and basketball courts, and the official residence of the Mayor of New York! Today I went all the way from 80th street to the Tri-borough Bridge....then I mostly walked back. (yeah, I'm working on it. ) 

When I eventually left the apartment again (after cleaning up myself and the place and a little Juilliard homework), I took off on the uptown 6 train to 103rd Street, and walked over to 5th Avenue, to find the Museum of the City of New York. It's a really pretty building and it has some cool exhibits. Most of the pictures immediately below are from the museum. I completely enjoyed it. Then I strolled up the edge of Central Park on the 5th Avenue side of it to the very northern edge, and then crossed over to the west side of Manhattan. If you've never been to NYC before, you know you do a LOT of walking, but it's fun...and allows you to eat more of all the delicious food! Tonight, I was trying to save room for a LOT of soul food, so I worked up an appetite with those walks. We then met at Amy Ruth's ...a delectable soul food restaurant that has so many delicious sides.....which two to choose?? I ordered the President Obama- fried chicken and I chose string beans and mac & cheese. YUMMMMMMMMMMMM. Aleyse chose the Ludacris....4 chicken wings and 2 sides. YUMMMMMMMMMMMMM. did I mention that? Mitch and Jake took care of some honey smothered chicken and fried catfish. Below, see the remnants of those chicken wings on Aleyse's plate. :-)  We then walked back through lower Harlem to the subway and caught the good ol' 6 train back to the 77th and Lex station. Surprisingly, the kids managed to bypass the soft serve fruit shop today, and we just headed home to relax. You may be surprised to know we haven't turned on the tv at all since we've been here. The Xbox remains unused. We talk and laugh and the kids run lines or do scene analysis and discuss plays. It's been great so far. The views from our borrowed apartment (thanks Suzanne and Kyle) are gorgeous.And we're excited we still have a bunch of time left in the city! 

The museum had a gallery devoted to activism in NYC- abolitionists, suffragettes, 

and even the recent Wall Street protests. 

 There was another gallery of rooms and furnishings that were typical of NYC living rooms at various time                                      periods. I really enjoyed that part of the museum quite a bit.

                                     This is a stained glass window from 1835 that someone was
                                           fortunate enough to have in their home garden conservatory.

                                           As mentioned, here are the wing bones. RIP Luda.