Can you believe the summer is already more than half over? Insane! We finally wrapped up spring sports, just in time for fall sports to start! Megan really wanted to try softball. Ok, check that off the list, let’s go back to soccer 🙂 I loved the name “Pearl” on her team (you can see her sitting on the bench). And Pearl looked like she has been waiting to play softball her whole life. Megan had some fun playing but it is a lot of standing around, and kids pitching in their first year can be rough (although some of the coaches didn’t pitch much better – shhhhh, who said that?).
And Megan wrapped up soccer too. I loved that at the end of each game all of the parents on the sideline would put their hands out and the players would run by and give us all high-fives. And then right after that, win or lose, her team would make a human tunnel and chant “2, 4, 6, 8, who do we appreciate…blue team, blue team”, etc. and have the other team crawl through. After they would do it then the other team would typically make a tunnel…you can see Megan just starting to crawl out of the tunnel. Fun stuff! Hope they stay such good sports in high school and beyond!
This is what Megan’s ceiling looks like every night. She really wanted this just this year and loves it. A bit unrelated but she didn’t have any good ideas for her birthday, but then she went to St. Louis for a few days. She came to Beth the second day there and said that she had been watching commercials (we don’t have cable so commercials aren’t near as fun) and that now she had some great ideas for her birthday! Ha! Fun stuff (how do our kids ever survive and have any hope of being cool without cable!?!?!?) – needless to say a wobble ball and an air power soccer disc are on their way to our house as we speak.
I know you probably can’t tell what these pictures are but I recently had a meeting at a fire station a few cities away and on their wall are pictures of one of my first big “real” fires almost 15 years ago. It was a bed/mattress store on main street of an older town (the mattress were getting hot and almost popping in the intense heat). I was on the roof of one of the buildings and in awe of everything going on around me. It was a huge fire scene that gutted the entire building and gave me some great experience.
So…you’ll never guess what I almost hit while driving to Kansas City. The most dangerous part about this was me actually trying to take pictures at 70 mph. It was funny because I could see the plane circling back around and then was realizing how close it was going to come. The plane was loud and right in front of me and I’m clicking pictures, but then I realize it is still loud but the plane is now way past me…didn’t realize I was driving on the rumble strip – ruh roh.
Beth drove to St. Louis. Left the kids there. I drove to Kansas City the next weekend. Met her p’s halfway through Missouri. Got the kids and we drove home the next day. I went to Kansas City to see Jackson Browne with Wendy and Kristin. It was an absolutely amazing show. We talked about the songs we wanted to hear beforehand and why they were important to us. I guess that could have been risky and a letdown had he not played them. But he played them all. Listening to For A Dancer again in his acoustic tour was amazing – and this time I felt like I could focus on the words and the power and meaning while there. Jackson Browne was crazy relaxed and talkative – it was a great time. He even played the country version of Here Comes Those Tears Again (which he co-wrote with his mother-in-law, of his wife who died of suicide). So much meaning in so many songs. He really did help me get through an incredibly tough first year without Katherine. He played so many great songs and made it fun and meaningful.
You know how I love my food. We hit three barbeque places in 2 days in Kansas City: Gates Bar-B-Q (how could I not go there with a name like that), Jack Stack, and another one that wasn’t as good. Here we are waiting for our cheesy corn bake and hickory pit beans.
Christopher was in heaven lighting off fireworks that papa gave him.
If the kids ask to borrow $599.88 DON’T give it to them. Any fireworks that explode, fly, or make people smile or even think about smiling are banned in Minnesota. No fun patrol is in full force around 4th of July.
Now summer is over and your kids are back in school already. Hard to believe. Hope your new house guest has arrived and is getting settled in. Best to all your students in the coming academic year.
I really like the human tunnel closing the girls do. That’s a great way to end their games. Do you have a video of it? Must be lots of fun to see.
Was that plane crop dusting? Looks a little close. (I won’t tell your mother you were taking pictures while driving.)
Glad you were able to connect with Wendy and Kristin. We were too late in trying to get tickets for Jackson Browne. A friend of mom’s loaned us 7 CDs of his. We’re familiar with some of his music. Instead of seeing Jackson Browne we went to see Gallagher instead. You might not see that as a very good substitute.
All those fireworks for only 600 bucks? Looks like a good deal to me. I bet papa would be more than happy to spring for a package or two.
I have a video of the soccer girls giving all of the parents on the sidelines high-five but I don’t have a video of the tunnel yet – I’ll try to make one this year. I have really enjoyed the Jackson Browne concerts – if it’s meant to be then you’ll see him at some point. Just listening to his acoustic albums gives you a great feel for what his acoustic tour would be like. But it’s so much more powerful for me to hear in person and see him up close. Amazing how he connects with so many people.