Green Day - Take 2

When Little Man was 2 months old, my husband and I went to see Green Day. The show was great but I couldn't enjoy it as out sitter was not used to dealing with newborns (despite telling us she could) so I spent most of the show fielding texts from her on how to handle his crying.  When I heard Green Day was coming back I jumped at the chance to get tickets. We splurged on floor seats and the next day Billie Joe went into rehab (this was shortly after his Vegas tantrum).  We finally got to see them Thursday night.

The floor was GA so we got there early and joined the crowd waiting.  After a stupid wait to get wristbands before going down to the floor, we headed down to the floor.  We waited for a while with the crowd, everyone chatting, but jockeying for position at the same time.  The final song played over the PA system before they came on was Bohemian Rhapsody.  I don't know if this was done on purpose - but I think it was - someone started singing and soon enough we were all singing along.  It was a cool moment, kind of an unplanned flash mob.  As soon as Green Day took the stage the crowd surged forward, it was tight in the beginning, but as usual, people spread out shortly after they had claimed their space.

It was a great high energy show like last time, even better since I never heard a peep from our sitter so could focus on the show.  We were close (but not too close) to the mosh pit, so the crowd's energy level was high.  They played a ton of great songs, and Billie Joe is back to his old self (I have to admit, I don't know how he'd keep up that energy level without some pharmaceutical help).  I definitely recommend seeing them if you haven't.

Bragging Post

I usually don't brag a lot about my kids in my posts, but since this is also my personal journal once in a while I feel the need. I actually started this post ages ago but never got around to finishing it in the Super Bowl aftermath.

Super Bowl weekend is always a busy time in our house since we host a big party. This year to make it more hectic, Little Reader had two other events - Science Olympiad and her AIM exam. The Science Olympiad had a number of different events that 3-5th grade students competed in. She and her partner were doing the mystery box event. There were 15 different stations and at each one was a coffee can with an object inside it. The kids put their hands through a big tube sock attached to the coffee can to feel the object and try to determine its length, weight, material and what it actually was. They took turns feeling the objects (things like golf balls, rubber ducks, pieces of sponge, finger puppets, action figures, etc). She and her partner got 3rd place and only got 2 points less than the fifth graders who came in first. They each got a medal and certificate, were mentioned in the morning announcements Monday morning at school, and their names in the local paper. They were very excited and look forward to doing it again next year.

The next day before our party started I drove her down to a local college for her Achievement In Music exam on piano. It was her first time doing it do she was a little nervous but well prepared. The exam consisted of sight reading, repeating what the judge played by ear and also a written portion. She didn't get her score that day but later that week found out she'd gotten a near perfect score - 99.5 out of 100. When I told her she was naturally proud but also wondered what the deduction was for. Apparently on one of the sight reading portions she started on the wrong note but then corrected her mistake.

A very successful weekend for our Little Reader who is already looking forward to doing both events again next year.

Running

As I mentioned in a previous post I recently started running again. I was in a pretty good groove in July, but the past week has been tough with kids being home, and my husband getting home too late for me to run in the afternoon.  Still I am determined to keep at it, and have signed up for my first 5k.  Ok it's technically not my first - I did run the Corporate Challenge in Boston, but that was in 1992, and I haven't run a race since.  But it was a pretty crowded course so basically was a slow jog that ended with a night of drinking.

This will be a bit different.  It's in my town and starts at 9am (very civilized start time unlike all the downtown races that have lots of traffic to contend with.)  A friend of mine who lives in DC has been posting on Facebook about all these great races that she has signed up for, and I've found a few cool ones on my own too.

Hot Chocolate
A 5k or 15k in November where you run for chocolate

Color Run
A early summer 5k where you get sprayed with colorful powder at each checkpoint and at the end you look like a sunning Jackson Pollock painting.

Glo Run
A nighttime race where you get outfitted with glo in the dark shirts run through black lights and other "extreme glow". There's a dj on the course as they discourage ipods, so you can hear what's going on around you.

Overall my hope is to run a half marathon within a year.  My Mom was diagnosed with MS 6 years ago and for a while I was considering walking the Chicago Marathon as a fundraising effort.  I have never wanted to run a marathon but figured I could probably walk it.  Of course there are time limits on the course, so after two many cons I decided to do a half marathon instead and just do my own training and fundraising rather than being part of a team.  It'll make a it a little harder to stay motivated but I think I'll be able to do it.  The problem is picking a good one.  The Chicago half happens to fall on my Mom's birthday next year so that's a possibility, but would be tough to train unless I become a good morning runner.

Any with any big goal, the best way to go about it is baby steps.  I have added a page of running goals to keep me on track.  I also love my endomondo app.  I'll do a separate post on that - but it keeps great stats (including some goofy ones) and tracks my course by GPS.  I also have a few friends on it who occasionally send pep talks as I am out which is always fun.  But what really keeps me going is my kickass mix of Bon Jovi music.  Their tempo is perfect for my pace.  So far this list gets me through my run.  I cool down to Just Older ; )

Grandparent visit wrapup

I didn't get a chance to write much while my in-laws were in town as I thought it would be rude to ignore them to blog, so here's the wrapup of their visit.

Thursday my husband took the day off to hang out with his parents.

I took the kids to camp and had a good run and reached my first mini goal - 3 miles in under 30 minutes. I know to a serious runner that's a horrible time, but it's been a while since I ran regularly so I'm happy. Next goal actually run the full three miles (right now I alternate running a mile and then walk about .15-.25 mile).

Little Man's feeding therapist came and she was really excited when we told her of his progress this week. She had him work on eating a sandwich - this time turkey, Havarti and lettuce on white bread. It took a while, but he did well with it.

After lunch my husband took all the kids to the driving range. His parents went to watch so I had a quiet house to myself for a couple of hours to read. It was great.

That night we went to see Poison and Def Leppard. We had a quick dinner at Chilis beforehand. We only caught the last two songs by Lita Ford but it was, "Kiss Me Deadly" and "Close Your Eyes" so that worked out well.

Poison was next and they were fun. Bret Michaels did make a couple of shameless plugs for the Apprentice, but at least he didn't try to promote his new line of pet toys at Pet Smart ;)



I had realized earlier that day that the reason for the tour was the 25th anniversary of the release of Hysteria. Wow. I'm not old, just older ;)




Def Leppard played a great set. There were a couple of songs I didn't know but they played everything I wanted to hear.  My husband took a few pictures at the show, as we had pretty good floor seats.  I've given up watching concerts from behind a camera lens and prefer to watch the show.




Friday we went to a playground for about an hour and a half and then that evening we went out to dinner with my inlaws. We went to Cafe Touché in Edison Park and then went to Curragh after for a couple of beers.

Saturday was our big outing. Little Man had been asking me for a long time when we could take a train downtown. We finally did. We took the train to Northwestern Station, Little Man thought it was very cool to see all the trains lined up when we arrived at the station. We took the water taxi from the Loop to Navy Pier. It took us a while to find the dock even though it's basically at the base of the Sears Tower. It's a pricey trip $8 per adult and $5 per kid, 3 and under are free. But it's about a 15 minute ride and a nice view of the city. The kids thought it was really cool.

We had a quick lunch at the food court and then took the kids on the ferris wheel. Little Hugger (who used to be our daredevil) is getting a little more nervous. It was her first ferris wheel ride and it is a big one. We took pictures of the kids but she got a little nervous when we had them shift around within our little carriage.  After that my husband took Little Reader on the wave swinger while I took the other two on the carousel.

After that we had to head back. Another $42 water taxi ride, back to the station and on the train. This time my father in law asked the captain if Little Man could blow the horn. Once we were out in a good spot on the water, he picked him up and let him. It was hard for him to push the button,so the captain helped him. He sat back down with a big smile on his face. When we got off, the captain asked his "first mate" for a high five. He gladly did and said thank you (as I had told him he should).

My husband and daughters had an Indian Princess pool party to go to when we got back and the rest of us just stayed home. It was supposed to be from 3 to 6, they got home at 9. Tired but they had had fun.

Overall a pretty expensive couple of days but fun.  Sunday we took it easy, Monday I treated everyone to Brave.  It was Little Man's first movie.  I luckily had a bunch of free movie/drink/popcorn vouchers so only had to pay for one ticket and one candy.

Overall it was a good movie, although I hadn't realized that it was rated PG.  My daughters and the rest of us enjoyed it but Little Man got a little scared.  I won't review the movie beyond saying that for really little kids there is a quick scene with a witch and a fairly long bearfight that scared Little Man.  We managed to miss most of it as he conveniently had to go to the bathroom at the beginning of it, and we returned at the conclusion.  After the movie I asked my daughters if they had gotten at all scared and they both answered that while they did get a little scared they kept telling themselves that Disney movies always have happy endings. :)  There wasn't quite as much comic relief as recent Disney movies, although Merida has some mischievous little brothers.

It had a good message - just because you hear what someone is saying, doesn't mean you're really listening.  Something that we've discussed a bit since we left, and I admit I need to work harder on. 

Tuesday morning they left and I've slowly been getting back to our regular routine.  Overall it was a good visit and we took advantage of having extra adults in the house (free babysitting the night of the concert), I was able to go running without having to plan far in advance, etc.  The kids enjoyed having more people to play with, and are looking forward to them returning for the holidays.

Leather Pants and Big Hair

I'm the first to admit that my musical tastes are basically stuck in the 80s. Everything from Bryan Adams (my first concert) to the hair bands to the harder metal. My husband and I hardly ever go to movies anymore but we did go see Rock of Ages opening weekend. I loved it for it's ridiculous 80s cheesiness. Great cast, decent covers of classic songs.

Along with the movie and the success of the musical that inspired the movie, there is a Rock of Ages tour this summer. No it's not some cheesy reproduction of the movie where they run through the songs on a regular stage (like the Glee concert). This is Lita Ford opening up for Poison and Def Leppard!!! Ok, now you think I'm a total dork. It's true while in the 80s I played Hysteria to death, and I had the cassette single of Lita Ford's duet with Ozzy Osborne. At the time I would not have admitted to listening to Poison, and remember making fun of a close friend who had their cassette. Yet, I still know every word to Every Rose has it's Thorn. There's no way I'm missing this show.

Normally I don't dress up for concerts. I mean why would I? Is the band really going to see me, and if they do do they care? Of course not.

But this is different, in order to get back to that 80s cheese I will be dusting off the black leather pants and teasing and curling my hair. Should be a fun night.

Katy Pewwy and finding my cloud

I have had an iPod for about 7 years and my husband has had one for about 6. Within the last year we each got iPhones and bought an iPad. As much as I love all these devices the thing that always bugged me was the inability to sync our music on everything. Every time I downloaded a new song we both wanted I'd have to save it one both of our user accounts. I could have set up one shared music file that we both pull from, but some music that one of us has the other doesn't want. I have some Barry Manilow, he has some Kanye.  Then we got the iPad which I never bothered putting music on. I tried putting songs on my iPhone but that was a pain, until now. With the latest software update we now have all our music in the "cloud". I selected home share on our accounts, turned on both computers and uploaded all the music from the various accounts among all our devices. Now theoretically any time I buy a new song now, it'll be synced to all accounts. Haven't tried that part yet, but I trust Apple to have gotten it right.

What does all this have to do with Katy Perry? My kids love Katy Perry. What Taylor Swift was for them last year, Katy is this year. Their favorite is Firework. They sing along in the car, even my 2 year old little guy likes it. I put a playlist together for them when they have to clean up of Katy Perry and Pink songs. High energy stuff that keeps them moving. It seems to work. Unfortunately up until now whenever wanted to listen to it I would have to give them my iPod, which meant I couldn't listen to it.  Our playroom is in the basement (must be cleaned up by them every night before bed).  While they do that I usually clean up the kitchen.  Then when they were ready to go upstairs and take showers and get ready for bed I'd have to bring my iPod up to my docking station in my bedroom and blast it so they could hear it down the hall in their bathroom and bedrooms. Now it's all on my phone too. Now they can listen to their stuff where they are and I can keep my iPod in the docking station in the kitchen.

I finally got everything loaded on my phone tonight right before bedtime. My daughters had gone upstairs to get ready for bed, as usual the little man was hanging out waiting for me to go up and get him in the tub. I finished syncing and unplugged the iPhone, turned on Firework and he got the big smile on his face and said "Katy Pewwy, firework!!"

It'll also be a big help on our roadtrip.  Now I won't have to bring our portable speakers with us, just the phone, and when we all get sick of the same old songs on the radio, we can take requests.