Potter!

The idea for last Friday's activity started back in June when Tom Felton announced he would be taking on the role of Draco Malfoy in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. We bought six tickets on June 10th and a seventh ticket in September when we learned Peter would be home during Thanksgiving. We've slowly been watching the Harry Potter movies throughout the past month and a half, which involved covering a certain seven-year-old's eyes when stuff got too scary. I thought for sure this would clue the kids into our plan, but no one raised any questions. Then on Thursday night, when Thanksgiving was nearly over, we told the kids what we would be doing the next day.

We spent a frigid day in NYC. We arrived early enough to eat lunch at the delicious and totally packed Los Tacos No. 1 (most of us, Peter patronized Taco Bell down the street). The food was so good it was worth the standing room only dining space.

We waited in a long security line to get into the theater.

The lobby was super crowded with other theatre goers. I took the younger three on a walk around the building and found this photo backdrop. We weren't the only people who took advantage of it.

The audience was warned that ushers would hunt us down if we had our phones out during the show, so I snapped a quick blurry picture of the stage and a group shot, then put my phone away. The seventh ticket we got was on the other side of the house and Bryan offered to sit there, which is why he missed out being in this picture.

The special effects were the true star of the show. It really did feel magical. And it was really fun seeing Tom Felton as Draco. The audience went nuts when he entered for the first time.

Bryan and the kids waited at the stage door and got autographs from the actors that played Albus and Scorpius. I can't tell you which is which though, we were too far back in the theater to get a clear look at their faces. It wasn't until the next day that I even looked at the program to read their bios. That's when I discovered we knew someone in the cast! The fellow that played James Potter Jr/James Potter Sr/Cedric Diggory was in our ward in New Jersey! He was in high school while we were there and he's since graduated from BYU with a BFA in Music Dance Theatre. I sent his mom a message when I had the realization. Apparently some of her other kids saw the show the same day we did!

I love that we live close enough to New York to have adventures like this!