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11/26/2004: ""

I must begin by saying I'm so sorry for being so delinquent in writing. Please know that it was not because I didn't care or that I'm forgetting about our fans. I am amazed at the passion that is found on this board and in the faces of fans when I meet them. Be assured, I value you all and the work you are putting in to elevate Hi-5 to the next level.

That being said, I would love to tell you about this past week. We flew to New York from Sydney on Monday. I think that was the longest Monday I have ever experienced. It lasted somewhere near 37 hours because we flew over the international date line. For those of you who wish there were more hours in a day, there's your solution.

The next few days were spent going through piles of mail, saying hello to friends, a fun interview on the WB morning news here in NYC, a couple of dinners with our publicist and themestar contact, and trying to get over the jet lag. By the way, Craig from ThemeSTAR is so impressed and so thankful for the work you guys are doing. So are we. On Tuesday night we all went down to Herald Square for a camera rehearsal. It was so exciting to get a peek at where we would be on Thursday morning. From that moment on the excitement really started to build. On Thursday morning we were all picked up at around 7am and brought to the start of the parade on 81st and Central Park West. We all waited in a big comfy bus as we awaited the nine o'clock start time. Sitting in the bus with Miss USA, Steve Irwin, aka The Crockadile Hunter, a professional football player, an Olympic gymnast, and Jose Feliciano was quite surreal. At about 8:30am we were called to the float to get ready. You could feel the excitement in the air as all the floats were coming to life. As Al Roker announced the beginning of the parade and huge gust of wind rushed by and we were off. Luckily, New York was unseasonably warm that morning and Shuan and I were actually hot in our jackets. Halfway down the route we had to take them off just to keep from overheating. I'd love to tell you we are tough as nails, but the truth is that is was in the mid 60's that morning.

The sea of faces along the streets and up in the buildings was amazing. It was one of the coolest times of my life as we made our way downtown. Every now and then I'd catch one of the other's eyes and I could tell we were all having an amazing time. As we neared Herald Square our adrenaline really started to pump. In a matter of minutes we were about to perform for 44 million people. Never in my life had I thought I would be at that point, and there I was. For NBC reasons we had to cut 48 seconds off the song which made doing it that much more challenging. We all felt wonderful though afterwards and couldn't help bouncing around like little kids. I haven't been that giddy in a long time. I know we're all so thankful to have had the chance to be a part of such an institution. We will never forget it.

We have the next few weeks off before we start the Move Your Body tour. I know we are all super excited to see our fans again. We all love the songs and segments they chose for the stage show and hope you will too. I really look forward to seeing some familiar faces as we travel, and hopefully some new ones too.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and we will see you soon!

Curtis