Raging Rivers

When Dylan got invited to a birthday party there, it was our first time at Raging Rivers Water Park. It happened to be the hottest day of the summer so far, and the place was packed, but we still had a fun time. I'm sure we'll be back.

Sound Check

Now that Dylan has started playing drums, Brad has an assistant at sound checks. At least, those not in bars. When Rift played for the U-Mary 50th anniversary celebration and all-school reunion out at Buckstop Junction, Dylan got his first chance to rock the kit through the big stacks. It was a proud-mom-moment for me, and pretty cool for Brad because he rarely gets to hear how his own drums sound.

Art

The boys recently finished their summer art camps. They had a good time and brought home some great new pieces. Now I need to get them framed.


Terminator, Dylan



Ink Eye, Dylan



Abstract, Connor



Shape Bird, Connor

Happy Birthday, Leah!

My niece turned two yesterday! We celebrated with taco salad and lots of cakes. Yum!

Potter Premiere

What an exciting day at our house! Tonight was the premiere of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and we took the boys to the 6:10 show. They dressed in their Harry costumes, a big hit with other movie-goers. I had bought our tickets earlier in the day, but we still got there an hour early, which paid off because we got great seats.

It was pretty exciting for us to see the movie in the theater first. Since the last two movies were PG-13, the boys had to wait for the DVD to see them, so we could skip the scariest parts. Half-Blood Prince is rated PG, which seemed about right.

In preparation for the movie, I had been reading the book to Connor, and we just finished on Sunday. There are a few differences from the book, but that's to be expected. All in all, a great movie.

They're making two movies out of the seventh book, Deathly Hallows, because they want to do it justice. They're scheduled for release in 2010 and 2011. Can't wait!

Extreme Home Makeover

We've lived in our house for nine years. That whole time I never liked the color, but we've had our hands full with other projects...until now.


Before - Clearly, we waited too long for this project. The paint was peeling off in huge patches all over the house.


Scraped and primed - The scraping took me about a week; the priming took a day.


Done! - I love the color, and so do many others, who pulled over to shout compliments from their cars. It's hard to describe - somewhere between dark brown and dark gray, depending on the light. As far as I can tell, our house has been three shades of green in its 50 years, and I can see why. Changing colors is a lot of work with a coat of primer and two coats of paint on the whole thing!

Connor was excited that Brad took him up on the roof to paint the peak,

and he did great.

This is the second house we've painted. The first was our old house on 7th Street, which we painted in 1999, and which still looks smashing. Hopefully, this paint job lasts as long.

Dancing Divas

Tuesday and Wednesday were the Kaleidoscope shows, and they were terrific! The Chorus Line did two numbers:

RESPECT

Stayin' Alive

These gold costumes looked gaudy in daylight, but onstage they really popped! If I get my hands on a video, I'll post it.

I've been doing this since 1996, and this group of gals is so fun. Believe it or not, three of these dancers are grandmothers! Betcha can't guess who.

Thanks for another great year!