All We Need is Love

Road Trip! I love adventure weekends.

Sometimes it's nice to get out of the city and it's always nice to see family. I have LOTS of family. This Connecticut trip my sister and I were visiting my Dad's older brothers family; my Uncle Steve and Aunt Donna, whose kids are Jen, Amy, Billy, and Meg. Though none of them are actually kids anymore. Between Jen, Amy, Billy and their spouses, they have 10 kids of their own! The oldest is 18 and the youngest are 2 year old twins. Meg has over 100 "kids" whom she teaches dance at her company: Nutmegs Dance & Theater Co. This includes some of the 10 kids referenced above (her nieces and nephews, my second cousins.) We were lucky enough to score tickets (awesome seats, thanks Jen!) to the Company's Saturday evening sold out performance of "All We Need is Love."
Besides the obvious, teaching dance, Meg is the artistic director / choreographer / mastermind behind it all. However, each family member plays an integral role in putting on the show. They have been coming together to make this magical event happen every year since 2003.
The choreography was absolutely incredible. The songs and costumes were so much fun. The dancing was spectacular. From the two year old twins in their first stage performance, to the younger girls carefree numbers like "Escapade" (Janet Jackson) & "Send me on My Way"(Rusted Root), followed by a Hairspray Medley that fills my heart right up (something about the motion of the ocean and the rain from above that puts a huge smile on my face every time.) There were some intense Bollywoods, some moving contemporary pieces, and the older girls lit up the stage in Broadway numbers like "You Make My Dreams" (Hall & Oates) and "Don't Stop Believin" (GLEE). The younger boys had a rockin "Bye Bye Bye" ('NSYNC) hip-hop routine and there was even a re-staged "Put a Ring On It" (Beyonce) number staring Nutmeg herself. There were all those and so so many more amazing dances! The finale had the Senior boys and eventually the whole company dancing to Thriller. I was hooked from beginning to end, awed and inspired. All interested parties can get their fill of DANCE via my facebook album.
The wrap party was held at Rome's Place where much to my amazement, some of the girls who just put on a 3 hour performance, continued dancing till the wee hours of the night. These kids eat sleep and breathe dance. I think it is awesome. I ate some fresh veggies, delish homemade pizza, some fried dough, and we drank Coronas.

I had a blast catching up with my older cousins and enjoying the continued dance performances by my younger (second) cousins and their friends. We spent the night at Rome Farm where Jen + Rob own a Farmhouse and multiple barns on 40 acres of land. I love it here. Enjoy the tour!

We spent a lot of time here with our little cousins Frankie, Alexis, Haley and Jackson as kids. Leah and I didn't want to leave Granby but after a few more hours of visiting we knew it was time to hit the road. We made a smart move and stopped at Target for gallons of water. In CT we didn't have to fight anyone for these! The Weston water main break has left oh just about 2 million of us in Boston and surrounding communities without clean water. Should be an interesting week!