An Extreme Day!

On Tuesday we traveled to Geneva, NY to view the tear down of a house for the upcoming season of Extreme Makeover-Home Edition.

It all started the night before. The boys created signs to have autographed and to use to catch the eye of the camera people.

But when we arrived, no one was holding any signs and of course the boys were too cool to be the only ones using them so they quickly went away.

So here's the house...a 150 year old dilapidated farmhouse. I know...reuse, recycle etc...Not sure what the condition of the inside was like...I guess we will have to wait for the show to air.

So the reason this family was picked was this: the father was an inspiring boxer and broke his back on a construction job. So...no more boxing in his career. But instead of giving it up, he opened a boxing center for troubled youth, adopted one of those young kids, coached a few Olympic hopefuls...while using all his money that he earned at his day job...a counselor at a local high school. From the gossip I've heard about this family (my mother lives in the same town) it seems as if this is a really deserving family...can think (which at times in this show I'm not quite sure about that area) and will be able to maintain this home. Don't think we haven't talked about the flip side of being on a show like this. My husband is and evil auditor! It's a constant discussion around here!

Anyway ...all the "stars" of the show were there:

Ty

Michael

Ed and the woman whose name I can't pronounce.

and John. He's the guy with the bowtie. The builder hails from my small village and his daughter is in fourth grade with Ry. Many of the sponsors and tradespeople live in my area so we have many connections. Also, I have many friends that signed up to be volunteers. Although, I read in the paper last night that the house is 3-5 hours behind because people are blowing off their time slots because they don't want to drive the 40 miles to get to the site. Ahhh, I guess they want volunteering to be easy and convenient for them.

It was interesting to see what exactly went into filming the episode. Matt is an inspiring film director and walks around with his video camera up to his eye all day long. It was important for me to take him to see this and show him that one shot is not all it takes to record a three minute slot of the show.

He, of course brought his video camera along and shot Ty as Ty was knocking down the house.

Geneva loves having all this activity in their town. It is a pretty desolate upstate town that if the summer tourists never came or the college wasn't there, it would not be a good place to live( sorry mom). This has been good for their economy and feeling proud of the place where they live. No matter if you like the show or have intense dislike (which I understand) it has had positive effects on the community.

Plus...it was a great day trip for the boys!