Monday, May 19, 2008

After breakfast we got dressed and made our way over to the studio.  We walked in to the dressing room and saw two huge couches and a rack of clothes for the kids.  Marcus, the wardrobe person, started choosing outfits for Fireese to try on.  They had originally picked out a yellow and white polka-dot dress but it had green rhinestones that would interfere with the ‘green screen’ they would be shooting against.  They finally decided on a purple shirt and some casual pants. 

The director, Damian, came out to meet Fireese before it was time to go into the studio for filming.  He was very friendly and good with the kids.  He came out and asked for a high five and chatted with Fireese for a few minutes before bringing her to the taping room.  When I first saw the room I thought that there was no way Fireese would be doing any signing today.  It was a very intimidating situation.  You walk into this room that is dark on one end and totally green on another.  There were three huge lights shining down on the high chair where Fireese would be sitting with a large camera in her face.  Damian took her and sat her in the chair and started buckling her up.  I kept waiting for the protests but they never came.  Fireese sat there with a smile on her face looking around and waiting for someone to say ‘action’.  I could not have been prouder of her at that moment.  I would have been proud of her either way, as she is my daughter and I absolutely adore her but I was amazed at how confident and comfortable she was in such an intimidating situation.  They had me sit at the back of the room and Damian started asking Fireese to show him some signs.  Away she went, signing like a rock star.  She did every sign they asked her to do.  She was absolutely amazing and I can’t wait to see the video when it comes out.  Signing Time said they are going to edit together all of the Fireese footage for us so once I get that I will share it with everyone.

Rachel was very impressed with Fireese and kept saying what a wonderful signer she was.  She then said that she’d love to take us out for lunch.  I was surprised that she would have time to go for lunch because of how busy they were but she said she needed to take a break to eat and that she wanted to get to know us.  We followed her to a restaurant called the Cheesecake Factory.  Rachel warned us about the portions in this place but you truly have no idea until they bring the food out to you!  The plates are HUGE!  We sat and chatted during lunch like long lost friends.  Rachel shared a lot about her life and what led her to the point she is at now.  I’ve always admired Rachel but after getting to know her I just have one word to describe her…inspirational.  If you have the time I highly recommend reading about her. She is such a great, strong person that I feel very lucky to have had the chance to meet and now call her my friend. 

After lunch we once again headed back to the hotel for a nap and then back down to the Gateway for dinner.  We stopped off at the fountains again, which were less busy than on the weekend.  We also made a second visit to McGrath’s Fish House as it was such good food that we couldn’t resist eating there one more time.