Boy gets big surprise for 11th birthday on 11/11/11
Published 3:59 pm Thursday, November 10, 2011
A boy who will turn 11 years old on 11/11/11 is getting a surprise trip to Las Vegas to see his favorite dance group perform live.
Hayden Treece, a fifth-grader from Traverse City, Mich., will fly to Vegas with his parents, Doug and Heidi Treece, to see the Jabbawockeez, a hip hop dance troupe.
Hayden’s parents planned to clue him in at an early family birthday party.
“We want to do something big for 11/11/11,” said mom Heidi Treece. “It’s a special year. We’re going to have him open a lot of little boxes with clues like the letter ‘u,’ an airplane, a map of Las Vegas and a Jabbawockeez poster and have him put it all together.”
Hayden has taken dance lessons for three years and is a member of The Dance Center’s Fusion competition team. He’ll dance the role of Fritz in a local production of “The Nutcracker” next month.
He’s also a fan of MTV’s hip hop dance reality series, “America’s Best Dance Crew,” where he first spotted the Jabbawockeez. The all-male urban dance group was the season one winner and went on to appear in everything from commercials for Pepsi and Gatorade to national tours. The troupe is known for its white gloves and white masks, a replica of which hangs on Hayden’s bedroom wall.
Seeing a show by the dance group and flying with the U.S. Navy Blue Angels topped the preteen’s birthday list this year, Heidi said. But since both seemed out of reach, he asked for a visit to an Atlanta aquarium instead.
“I said, ‘What about meeting the Jabbawockeez?’ and he said, ‘Sure, Mom, like that’s possible,'” she said.
After this week’s party, for which Hayden asked for banana cream pie instead of cake, the family will depart for Las Vegas and the Monte Carlo Resort and Casino. They also plan to take in a Cirque du Soleil show and the Hoover Dam.
As for turning 11 on 11/11/11, Hayden has mixed feelings.
“I’m a little bummed out because I’m getting older and I like being a kid,” he said. “I would like to stay in the 9 to 11 range.”