I apologize in advance, this is a lengthy post with many photos . . .
We woke up Sunday morning in our downtown Houston hotel. I've never stayed at a Hilton Garden Hotel before. It was very nice and comfy. Also, it was in a great area near the mall "The Galleria". We'd stay there again. As you can imagine Will, Emily and Cole were very anxious to get out the door to Reliant Stadium. We had a had time getting them to understand that the concert didn't start for about seven hours.
We did want to arrive early in order to secure a great parking spot. And that we did. With Bill and Will's concert tickets, they got a premium parking pass. We parked as close as you could without being a worker. I researched the weather before we left. The forecast was suppose to be in the low to mid 70's. When we stepped out of the car, it felt cooler. But, it did warm up later. We had about four hours until the gates opened to the stadium. We walked around the fairgrounds. Emily saw a ride that looked like Splash Mountain. She begged and begged to go on this ride. This is the girl that refused to ride Splash Mountain in December. So, Emily and I went to ride it while Bill took the boys to play some games. Emily LOVED it! I can't wait to see her face when we ride Splash Mountain in April.
We munched on some fair food for lunch and the whole family rode the ferriswheel. These are some photos from the ferriswheel. Notice the big pink bus outside the stadium:
After we had our fun on the fair side, it was time to enter the gates to start the "real" fun. First stop, outfit the kiddos in Best of Both Worlds concert t-shirt. We even got Cole a shirt. He hept looking down saying Montana. We also, got the kids a concert book to look at to kill time until the next set of gates opened. We waited in a small area in front of the stadium that had a stage set-up for kids to sing songs and they had giveaways. Also, there was a cut-out of Miley Cyrus to take your picture with. We waited in line for the kids to take a picture with the cut-out. When we were almost to the front, out came Miley's Grandma to take photos with the kids too. So, I got a photo of Will with Miley's Grandma. He thought that was pretty cool. Photo of Will with Miley's "Mammie":
Will and Emily in front of the "Miley World" bus:
The sun is in their faces. That's why they have such funny looks.
Photos of the kids waiting patiently for the next set of gates to open:
(I like this one because Cole is looking through the concert book. He loves books.)
Once we got inside the stadium, Bill and I had to separate. In order for the whole family to attend the concert, we had to get two sets of tickets. Bill and Will were in a lower section, while I was up in the nose-bleed section with Emily and Cole. In the end it was fine because our seats were right smack in the middle of the stadium. They would have been perfect seats for a Houston Texans game (they play in Reliant Stadium). Before the concert could start, we had to sit through the rodeo. This was the Houston Stock Show and Rodeo afterall. Emily loves horses. So, she was loving the rodeo portion. The bullriding was intense. I later learned that Bill being born and raised in Texas had never attended a rodeo. He enjoyed it too. Cole slept through the whole rodeo. Which was actually perfect timing. Because we left his stroller in the car. So, he walked around the whole carnival and into the stadium. His little legs were tired by the time we sat down. I figured if he slept through the rodeo, he'd be awake and refreshed for the concert. The rodeo was great, but very longgggggggggggggggg. When it finally ended, they brought out a stage to be place in the very middle of the dirt field. The stage would rotate at a very slow speed so everyone in the stadium would get a front view. No one was allowed on the field. So, the closest seats to the stage were the front rows of the regular seating. Since, Bill and Will's seat were closer, I gave him the camera to take pictures. Here are some of his photos of the concert . . .
The stage being set-up:
First came out Hannah Montana. OMG! The noise from all the screaming little girls. It was deafening.
They announced over the loudspeaker that there was over 73,000 people in attendance at the concert. A Houston Rodeo record for their concert series.
Then, while she went to change into Miley we got an intermission with Billy Ray Cyrus playing "I Want My Mullet Back" and "Achy Breaky Heart". All of the moms in the audience were screaming and singing.
I think there were more Miley Cyrus fans than Hannah Montana, because when she came back out I think the girls got even louder. I didn't think it was possible.
Here's Miley . . .
After about 75 minutes, it was time for the concert to end. She ended it with a duet with her Daddy called "Ready, Set, Don't Go" It was very sweet to hear them sing together.
What an amazing experience. The kids were on cloud nine on the way home and all day yesterday. We didn't leave Houston until around 9 pm. We got home around
2 am Monday morning. Poor Bill had to drive through a thunderstorm and downpour for most of the way. I stayed up and tried to keep him company. The kids were fast asleep somewhere between the statue of Sam Houston on I-45 and the outlets in Conroe. I'll be honest, it was a lot of money. We had to buy the tickets online through Stubhub.com at an inflated prices, pay for a hotel night, gas and boarding the DISdog. But, when we saw the smiles on Will, Emily and Cole's faces, it was all well worth it!
I hope I didn't bore y'all with all the details. We had a great time. We'd recommend
Stubhub.com to anyone looking for "hard to get/sold out" tickets. It worked out great for us.
- Jennifer
I've been on an antibiotic all week but do feel better now.
to make you feel better!
I'm working on transferring some photos from this past weekend to Photobucket. I'll give a trip report and post concert photos soon.
Apparently, my subconscious decided the best way to deal with the gas prices was to make my car completely undrivable.
huh?
The kids have eaten lunch. So, it is time to head outside and play. Have a great day y'all. 
..... then what do we do? 
wow. This is just another thing that scares me about having kids. How can you ever hope to protect them enough when the people you're supposed to trust the most turn out to be hiding things like this? 
We may squeeze in a ride on Soarin' too. Bill and I have yet to ride together.
You doc that you trusted with your health! Some days it just seems the whole world has gone crazy. 
Happy Friday All! 
