A Magical Evening

Our magical evening began with a less-than-crowded ride on the metro. We passed through streets filled with Police, National Guardsmen, FBI, Secret Service, and who knows what else past at least 6 check points, and barricaded streets... We arrived at the Chief-in-Commander Inaugural Ball a little later then what we had hoped, due to unforeseen circumstances. The couple we attended with, forgot the Husband's pants at the hotel room 50 minutes away! But thanks to the WONDERFUL couple who offered to watch Micah and Hallie, whom we just met, and have talked to for maybe a total of 1o minutes (maybe there are nice people on the East Coast afterall!) we took care of the pants situation- Derek (part of the WONDERFUL couple) drove back home and brought some pants for our guest! Above and beyond I'm telling you- we owe them BIG time!But back to our Magical Evening... we arrived at the ball...

My Fairy Godmother came in the form of Ty's cousin Lis, she endured 7 hours of shopping with me on what was supposed to be her last day in DC to help my find my ensemble (Thank you Lis!)- it stayed within the budget and will be fun to wear again!

It was so great to spend the evening together with no children...Here we are with Jen (who works in Ty's office) and her husbandand our wonderful new friends, they were the two couples who Tyson was able to get tickets to for the ball. They were great company and brought great conversation and perspective for Tyson in helping our wounded soldiers. We hope to keep in touch with them!The event began with our hilarious host George Lopez

Who was followed by a musical group ??? They sang some classics which were enjoyable...But then the Vice President came in! He gave a short speech, spent some time talking to some of the troops in Iraq

Then 'attempted' to dance with his wife, honestly didn't look like a horrible dancer! And her dress was gorgeous!

Here they are on the projector

and more dancing...

They left and were replaced by Jordan Sparks, American Idol season 6! Very cool, but there were bigger and better things in store!

Jon Bon Jovi!!

We rocked out :) for 1 song before...

President Obama made his appearance! Due to our urgency to listen to Bon Jovi, we were a little farther away when President Obama came in then we were when Vice President Biden was there.

BUT... we were still in the same room AND saw him in person!

It was all very exciting and humorous... if you watched on Fox News you probably saw this same thing-

President Obama talking with the troops...

The short conversation with the troops was followed by the traditional dance...

I apologize for the poor picture quality, Ty was operating the zoom and went all the way to get the close ups- thus the poor quality.

Here they are after each of their dances with a wounded soldier

And one last comment on the First Lady- the dress was gorgeous! It looked much better in person then what I have seen on TV. It had so much intricate detail and was a fun choice!

We had originally planned on leaving as soon as the President had made his appearance, but to our surprise Bon Jovi was back! And so were we, only WAY closer this time! We jammed out to several of his hits all while standing withing 10 feet of him! Only word to describe it- AMAZING!

He left and we thought the evening was over, it had already been a magical evening. So we headed to the line to get our jackets, but while standing in line there was an announcement that for me could have only been better if it had been Garth Brooks. (But alas, the evening was not to be a total dream come true!)

I settled for a close second and enjoyed the melodies of Josh Groban while standing again within several feet!

I also came within a couple feet of an autograph and a chance to talk to him, but unfortunately I could not get around a group surrounding a table after his performance despite my attempts to plow through a couple of them! AND to top it all off I forgot my spare battery for the camera and in the only shot I could get off while it was in the process of dying a man walked right in front of my shot! Ugh!

Despite this little hiccup at the end, the night was wonderful and I am so glad we were able to go. It was definitely an evening we will never forget!