Fox tour

I accidental bought a tour of the local Fox studio (see the post of Ian's b-day 10/7 for the whole story) and today was the day we took the tour. It started off VERY early, I left my house at 6:30 am, which gave me just enough time to stop for coffee (a must) and make it to the school by 7 am. I was the first one there (even before the limo driver) because of my strange need to be on time everywhere. It was so early it was still dark when we got there and I was greeted by the very grumpy driver of a stretch hummer limo (he found out the night before that he needed to be there by 7 which he explained to me in quite a grumpy tone that that meant he had to get up at 4 am). The boys were beside themselves when they saw it and immediately got in and never even noticed his grumpiness. I convinced two of my girlfriends to come on the tour with me and bring their daughters along to keep Sarah company but they thought that they would be driving down separately. I REALLY did not want to drive down in a limo with 10 boys by myself and they took pity on my and joined me (not quite as excited to hop right in as the boys, I might add).

Once we arrived they had snacks and then the tour began. I think some of it was over their heads but I really enjoyed it. It was so interesting to see how many different jobs there are and what it takes to pull off getting a live show on the air not to mention keep something on the TV 24 hours a day and keep track of breaking news story's as well as keep an eye on the competition. Whew!



I think the highlight (other than the limo) was the green screen. We were in the studio while they filmed some of the weather and some news all of it live (my phone rang in my purse once and I made a mad dive for it, squeezing what ever I could get my hands on trying to make it stop. I was relieved that we were at a commercial!) They let the group of kids stand up in front of the screen and they put up weather screens behind them. They even had a chance to chat with Andy (the weather man) and Pete Ferryman (an anchor man) from Good Day Oregon.
After all that they had cupcakes and goodie bags and the ride home in the "most awesome" limo! There was one small hitch. It was very hard to determine what time we would be done so all the parents were told to pick up their kids at 11:15........ Well, we got back to the school at 10 am ish. Did I mention that we were having the worst storm of the season so far, with a torrential down pour? My girlfriends Aideen and Kathleen came to the rescue once again. They helped me make phone calls ("We got back early, can you come get your son?") and even helped me by taking some of them home.
It was a great day and a BIG thank you to the Clark's for donating the package to begin with.