Taking in Albany's Winterfest with the Family

We arrived at Albany's 2nd annual Winterfest 2008 in plenty of time to grab a decent parking spot (ended up on Monroe St.) and make our way to the Palace Theater to check out the 1:00pm show featuring American Idol season 6 finalists, Blake Lewis, Chris Sligh and Brandon Rogers. We each had our favorites. Mom thought Brandon Rogers stole the show. Dan and Jake preferred the beat-boxing/rapping/electronic sounds of Blake Lewis (cool last name, BTW, but no relation that I know of). Chris Sligh was my favorite of the three, with his crisp, clear vocals and faith induced lyrics, as he sang his recent radio hit, "Empty Me," along with a few additional original songs. All three turned in incredible performances.



We then made our way to Academy Park where we partook of some free ice cream and Dan and Jake tackled the climbing wall. They each had quite a few turns and both made it to the top at least twice. We followed this up with Mr. Twisty and his little dog, Izzy, performing their kid's magic show. Coffee and cookies at Starbucks was too good to pass up (not free of course). Then it was on to the Crowne Plaza Hotel where we encountered one of Bronx Zoo's featured artists/performers, Christopher Agostino and his Transformation Face painting, as he transformed Dan and Jake's ugly mugs into works of art. The evening winded up with a reprise performance from Idol 06's Lewis, Sligh and Rogerson stage in front of Albany's city hall, and then some awesome fireworks. Upon our return home to Troy we grabbed a bite to eat at Capital Region's famous/favorite, Hot Dog Charlies. What a great time we all had!