A Bang-up Weekend!

Wow, what a great weekend we had! We packed a lot in Friday night and Saturday, so Sunday and Monday were pretty mellow (seems backward, since Sunday was actually July 4th).

Friday night, we went to Memorial Park to see the free concert featuring Kansas, Foreigner and Styx! I was so excited when I found out our friends Phil, Deborah and Cristina were planning to go, so we made plans to meet up with them and share a blanket. They had the day off, so went to the park early to put a blanket down. I'd heard on the radio while at work that morning that people were there at 5am to claim their spots (5am was the earliest allowed), and most of the hill in front of the stage was taken by 6 or 7. Deborah found a spot back by the JumboTron, so although we couldn't see the stage, we were in the park and could see what was going on. I was just thrilled to be there with friends - I wasn't sure about braving it on my own and trying to get there to get a blanket down, so the JumboTron view was fine with me! Here's a pic of Amanda as we walked over Dodge traffic on the way from UNO parking, across the pedestrian bridge to the park, and a view of the stage I took as we walked around to see everything.

We got there about 4, ate a little, walked around a little, laid around a little:

The girls blew bubbles with Phil, and played around with the JUNK that Amanda brought along in her play backpack.

Here's a pic I found on Wikipedia from Friday's concert, under the bio for Styx (not sure why our Omaha concert would be featured there...) and one I took of Tommy Shaw on the JumboTron! =)

Phil & Deborah's friends joined us later (we squeezed them in around the edges of the blanket with their chairs & big stroller) and Amanda was thrilled to get to hold their baby boy, Brennan. He was such a sweet baby! She did a good job holding him (and he was very tolerant!), and often asked me for reassurance of how well she was doing, how she was being like a good big sister.

The other pic is of her enjoying the fireworks. It was an awesome show! With the concert, it was all well worth the traffic, lines for the porta-potties, having to use porta-potties, having people constantly walking in front of us and stopping in front of our blanket (which bordered the sidewalk) to stop and watch the concert on the JumboTron. The weather was beautiful as well. Yea!!!

Saturday morning, we slept in a bit and then I did some tidying and she played with her Barbies (some of the haul from my friend Patty's house-the entire tub behind her is Barbies). And this is the outfit she picked for Saturday morning play - a black & white nice dress (altho' on backwards) and a white sweater. I told her I was going to take a pic of her silly play outfit, and this is the face she decided she wanted immortalized for the occasion. I think it's her opinion of MY opinion of her outfit.

I might have made too much of a point of singing the songs with/to her Friday night. I had "was it you that said, How long...How long...How long to the point of know return..." going through my head Saturday morning, which she sang with me as we got breakfast going, and later I heard her launch into "I wanna know what love is, I want you to show me" - not what you expect a 6-yr-old to be singing. Not exactly inappropriate, but kind of funny.

At 11am, we headed to a park about 2 minutes away, where there was a Tea Party gathering. We'd attended the one 4/152009 downtown but hadn't been to one since then. We got some food and I saw a gal sitting on a blanket by herself with two dogs. I thought it had excellent prospects for Amanda getting in some dog petting, so we sat nearby and soon enough, she was petting the dogs and meeting our new friend Jenny, whose husband is deployed to Afganistan and whose mother-in-law was one of the organizers. I didn't get a pic of Jenny, but this is one of the dogs, Sprout:

The event was marred by some anti-Lee Terry (our congressman) people who interrupted his talk with shouts and signs. They were ushered away, but some people remained who were attempting to tape the speech. Then we were puzzled/irritated by some Lee Terry supporters, all in blue t-shirts, who were blocking these people from taping or taking pictures. Seemed strange - free country and all. After Lee's talk, the organizer came on the microphone and explained that these folks have been following them around for two years and they cut and splice the footage and distort anything and put it on their Democratic "truth and transparency" (or something like that) website, and he was sick of it and asked the Lee Terry people to block them. Sadly, their tactics took them to the level of these rude people, so it left everyone with a bad taste. This country is getting so polarized it's terrible. Our president was supposed to be a great uniter, but things are worse now than ever. And do I blame him? Not totally, but he has not helped. I've heard clips of him deriding his opponents (i.e. Republicans/ conservatives) and making fun of things. After the health care measure passed (of which we're finally learning the terrible details and lies about the cost) he joked something like, "it's been a day now and the sky hasn't fallen." What an inspiring leader. ANYWAY, sorry, I politically digress. We had a great time with Jenny, and Sprout and Newt (lol - love the names). Jenny let Amanda use her digital camera and Amanda went to town. I tried to get her to stop taking pictures of me ("Jenny does NOT need pictures of me on her camera!") but she got quite a few. Also pics of other people, the trees, self-taken pics of herself, the dogs...Jenny was very nice to her! I asked Amanda to go up to one of the not-nice "truth and transparency" people and ask her, "Are you here to be nice?" or something like that, but she didn't want to. Too bad. From the mouth of babes and all.

We wished Jenny well and went home and took a nap. I'd heard of some nearby great fireworks that night and told Amanda she needed a nap if we did more fireworks. She didn't protest and was out in 20-30 seconds. I'd received the fireworks tip from an electrician whom I'm trying to get to stop by and give me an estimate on some work (putting up some ceiling fans and adding an outlet in the basement - they lived here for 10 years with an orange electrical cord stretching across the width of the basement, going around the staircase area, to power the humidifier and water softener! Seems strange to me!). The electrician lives nearby, and happened to mention the fireworks and ask if we were going. What a great tip!

We drove by about 5, left a blanket and chair, and went back home to eat supper and wait for it to get a bit cooler. We arrived just before 8, in time to hear the band! Wow, a band and a big fireworks show - two great nights! Another night of porta-potties, but again, well worth it. The band was a 5- or 6-piece Stratcom Air Force band, and they sang some country songs, some pop and some oldies/rock and roll. The crowd watched some clouds roll in and everyone was pointing out the rainbow south of us. I explained to Amanda that rainbows mean rain in the air - 5-10 minutes later we were ducking for cover under our chair as the clouds rained on us (not poured, but not sprinkles either). It took about 10-20 minutes and it passed over. I put Amanda on my shoulders as we waited for the band to un-tarp their equipment and get started again, and sang a bit of "Grey skies are going to clear up, put on a happy face..." etc., which caused a nearby guy to say, "Hey, yeah! Perfect!" =)

In the pic, Amanda is showing a happy face because we're having fun, but also because she is very proud and happy that she can sit in the big chair and her feet touch. See her toes bending down to the ground? I've started demanding that she stop growing, and she just giggles.

The band ended at 10 and the fireworks started, with accompanying patriotic songs on the music system. It was great! Amanda did start dozing off, but she fought it and saw the end. They had a "wall of fire" which they mentioned ahead of time - really shocked me and made me almost frightened for a split second. Amazing heat and fire coming right at you. Wow, crazy! Home about 11 again.

Amanda came in to my room around 6am and joined me to get some more sleep Sunday morning. Like any mom, I guess, I love looking at her sleeping face. I think she's so beautiful! Long lashes, oval face, sweet mouth - but when I take a picture, I'm not sure it captures it. Ah well, typical mom.

Sunday morning it poured and poured. I heard later from a neighbor that we got 2.7" of rain Saturday night through Sunday afternoon. We lazed around in the morning until it was too late for our church, so we went to a nearby Lutheran church with a later start. A bit too contemporary for me, but nice, and a good sermon about how our country was bought with the blood of soldiers and patriots, and world has been bought with Christ's blood. Since it's a modern/contemporary church, the sermon was accompanied with powerpoint slides for every point. Good visual backup of the verbal points, I guess. I find it hard to be objective - most contemporary churches feel more like they're trying to entertain than being a place to worship God.

After church, we ate lunch out, and my cousin Lloyd came over to see us and the new house. We watched a movie, played some games (the three of us, and just Lloyd and I) and had a nice supper. It was a great day. I got out "Pass the Pigs" and we three enjoyed playing that. Are you familiar with that game? If not, check it out!

We waved goodbye to Lloyd at 9pm, having decided to sit out meeting up with some friends at yet another big fireworks show (cool, damp evening, tired girls). But, as we waved goodbye we saw lots of activity on the street and we went two doors down to say hi to the neighbors. They invited us to join them, so we got chairs and watched them and the neighbors across the street light fireworks, as well as seeing fireworks in the sky all around us. Another late night - after 11 when we thanked them for letting us join them and headed to bed.

Monday morning Amanda didn't show her face until 9am! Tired girl! Tuesday morning will be tough as we return to our 6am rising (5:30 for me). This is a pic of Amanda showing off her braided "headband" that I'd done in her hair.

We had a laid-back morning of playing some more "Pass the Pigs" and Speed (card game), and after lunch, we walked down to see if Amanda could play with Ashley (8-yr-old two doors down). Sharlene, the mom, was putting the little ones down for a nap and was telling Ashley that she couldn't take her to the church parking lot to ride her bike because her oldest son wasn't home. I volunteered to stay at the house, and she could take Ashley and Amanda down to ride bikes. I know, big of me to volunteer to stay in a quiet house, reading, while two little kids slept. I deserve an award! I could have taken the girls, but Ashley is learning to ride, and that's a mom's job! They were gone about an hour before it started raining, and then Amanda stayed at their house and played. Later, the girls came to our house and played awhile. After supper, Amanda played a bit and then to bed.

She gets so naughty at bedtime! When I say it's bedtime, she won't move, so I tell her she's earning consequences, and then she launches into, "You're just mean" and stuff like that. For every naughtiness, she got 5 minutes off tomorrow night's bedtime, ending up with 20 before she stopped digging the hole she was in and gave in and went up to get ready for bed. Typing this now, I realize I forgot the rule that naughtiness at bedtime = 6:30 bedtime the next night. It would help if I remember to be consistent! But regardless, I may have to ratchet up the consequences (the three weeks of 6:30 bedtimes comes to mind) if I can't get a handle on it soon. She cannot turn on the nastiness when it's time for bed - not acceptable.

Are you still reading? That was just this weekend! But the details are fresh, and I don't have that problem with days past.

Last Saturday, after a morning of housework, I took Amanda swimming at a public indoor pool (love not having to worry about sunscreen). Austina, my friend Patty's teenager, joined us and we almost had the pool to ourselves. Two boys came about a half hour after we got there, and then a father and his two kids. Low attendance day! We had fun - Amanda loves swimming and I got to see her really spend some time practicing her strokes, as well as just have fun tooling around the pool. We stopped for ice cream w/ Austi and then dropped her home. Sunday, I had a committee meeting after church, and the rest of the afternoon we putzed around the house and then she had swimming lessons at 5:30. Lots of swim time that weekend!

June 19th I was unable to make it to a family wedding in NE Nebraska due to flooding and road closures, so we joined my friend Patty and her family at the Papillion parade. Amanda wouldn't smile for me, but this is the curb crew - from the right, Patty, Amanda, Austina (Patty's daughter, our swim partner) and Jessica, Austi's friend - both girls are favorites for Amanda. I sat behind them by the sidewalk on a more comfortable chair with Patty's husband Joe.

It was great to spend the day with them - they really saved the weekend for me. After the parade, the teenagers took Amanda down to the carnival, Patty & I ran to the store to get supper, Joe fired up the grill, Patty collected the girls, we ate supper, then Patty & I watched a movie. Fun day!

Earlier that day, and Friday after work, I went to the "garage sale" at the church down the street. Amanda & I had a great time finding some good bargains. I bought a smaller-sized pool table (!) and a smaller-sized foos ball table (!) for the basement, and the guys at the sale delivered it up the street to my house and to my walk-in basement (I don't know if I'd have bought them if I would have had to ask the guys to take them down steps!) Amanda was very excited about these purchases! I figure they'll be nice for when more family is around, and when Amanda is older and has friends over, and they were a really great deal!

The next day, more rain. Not great news with all the flooding in the state, both north and south of Omaha, but Amanda did enjoy it:

The next picture is to show a purchase I made on Craig's List. I've been having too much fun finding stuff on Craig's List. I got my dining room set there, a new garden flag holder, and am looking for a mountain bike for me now that Amanda is riding. Anyway, you can't see the picture well, but it's a little girl in a garden and in the bottom right corner is a kitty. It's called "Hide and Seek". I needed something for the front room, and this was a great deal at $25. I wouldn't have chosen the gold frame, but I like the picture. I included Amanda for size perspective (and cuteness, as usual).

June 13th, we were invited to the Omaha's Royals ballgame with Lloyd and some people from his parish. It was a beautiful day - perfect baseball weather. We enjoyed being with Lloyd, having ballpark food, and Amanda got to run the bases afterward. She was definitely excited about the popsicle she got for running the bases, and I took the pic for the "Road to Omaha" statue. Rosenblatt hosted the College World Series for the last time this year, so I suppose the statue will go to the new downtown stadium, but I wanted to get a pic to remember it and Rosenblatt Stadium. Hopefully we'll get to another game before the end of the Royals' season.

Running the bases:

Hmm, that seems to be all the pictures, and it's 10:45, so time for bed anyway. I wonder if I'll be able to get to sleep, since it's almost early, based on this weekend's standards. Happy Fourth of July, everyone!