The Sledge Grits Band in New York City - Day 1

Photo by Orville Myers/The Herald

Editors Note: Special guest blogger Keiko Sledge of the Sledge Grits Band of Salinas is reporting live on the scene from the band's trip to New York City. The band will perform Wednesday on the CBS Early Show as part of the "Singing Family Face-Off" competition. Keiko will blog throughout the week as the band prepares for its national TV performance debut.

We're at the hotel right now. It's called the Hensley Park Lane Hotel. It's across the street from Central Park. It's really, really pretty. If you look out the window, you can see all the beautiful buildings, but (the park is) on the other side of the building. Right now it's night time, so it's so beautiful.

Our day started off when we woke up at about 3 a.m. and we got out the door. Our friend drove us to the Monterey Airport. We got to check in really early just in case there were any delays. We got there about 4:30 a.m. The plane left at 6 a.m. From there, we went to the Denver Airport in Colorado. That one left at 10:50 a.m , from there, we left and headed straight to New York City

When we got here, it was so amazing. Someone came and picked us up and brought us here and the hotel is just beautiful. It's been so much fun so far. We're just getting settled in.

For dinner, we ordered in and we used room service because the babies (younger sisters MiMi and BoPah) were real excited to have room service. We're just relaxing right now because it's been a real long day. We're going to rest for tomorrow. We're going to meet with the producers tommorrow.

Tomorrow, early in the morning, were going to have breakfast with the producers and meet with the other band we're competing with. Then there's a rehearsal. We're going to make sure the settings are right and do a sound check. Then there's lunch. After that, we have the rest of the day and see what's out here.

We don't have any ideas (where we're going sight seeing). We're looking at that right now. I know there's some zoos and parks and huge buildings. We're still trying to figure out what we want to see because we're only here for a limited time.

The weather is actually pretty cold. It's really cool, a little cloudy, but it's not raining and that's good. It's pretty tolerable.

I was so excited when we were flying here. I was just thinking ”Oh my goodness! I cannot believe we are on our way to New York and we're going there to perform.” I was feeling a whole bunch of feelings. I was proud. I was anxious. It's exciting.

I'm pretty tired right now. I'm really too excited from getting her to be too tired, and I got to sleep a lot on the plane. We all got to sleep a lot on the plane. But I am excited.

I just want to say that I hope that everybody who ends up seeing our song likes it and we've been working really hard.