Concert Road Trip

In September for my parent's birthday I treated them to a concert at a nearby casino (well a road trip away).   Martina McBride! 

I heard on the radio she was playing at a couple of local venues and I really wanted to go - Dave is so not a Country Music fan and wouldn't appreciate her voice.  My next option - my parents.  And Low & Behold - it was also their birthdays.  We left plenty early that Friday night hoping to beat the traffic and we did for the most part. 

The family selfie


And boy can that woman sing!  We didn't get the best seats in the house, but we had great bleacher seats (first come first serve).





We stayed the night at a nearby hotel and Dad was having some stomach issues, and I apparently got food poisoning at breakfast that morning and was sick the whole way home.  My mom had a car full of sick annoying concert goers.   Well at least we had a great night!

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The Birthday Boy

While I posted already about Drew's Friend's Birthday Party (MineCraft), that party was nearly a month after the big day.  If you ever wondered what a 7 Year Old looks like, here you go...


Drew's Birthday fell on a Friday this year, so he had to go to school.  So I grabbed the birthday photo on our way to drop him off.

I did "rescue" him a bit early on his birthday.  Dave and I got off work a little early so we could take him to an early evening showing of Dolphin Tale 2.



That's all Drew was talking about for about a month before his birthday - that he wanted to go and see the movie.  Afterward we let him pick out the dinner spot - Applebees, where he ordered "the usual" (chicken and french fries).



And he got his free dessert (that Mommy and Daddy finished).


And that's how a boy spends his first day as a 7-year old.

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Soccer Season 3

Drew decided at the 11th hour that he wanted to play soccer this season after all, his third time. (He said after the first game last season he never wanted to play soccer again, and held onto that until the last minute for sign-ups).  And boy did we see some major improvement on his part!  It could be because of Dad's bribe - for every goal he makes, he gets $5.  It worked!  Drew said he scored somewhere between 2 and 4 goals - Mommy and Daddy's memory isn't that good anymore.

 

It was really awesome to see how much more aggressive he was.  When it came to soccer he was always so timid and afraid to get into the mix.

But this season he came out of his shell as each game passed.

Drew is Center Right (white shirt)

Drew is Center Left, facing us (white shirt)

We had the same coach as we had the first year we played and Dave was the Asst. Coach.  I think Drew will be playing for a 4th season.  Baseball starts in about 2 more months... I think both the boys in the house are looking forward to more sports on Saturday mornings.

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Take Me Out to the Ballgame

And now I finally get us into September!  We scored some last minute tickets to the Astros/A's game in Oakland so we decided to have a tailgate and pop into the game.  We were warned the seats were awesome...

We of course took an obligatory family selfie... Drew had lost his first top tooth that morning.



Finally I got picture with Drew!  I'm never in photos anymore.


Wow - the view from the seats were spectacular! 


But after I checked in from the stadium, I found out our neighbors were there too up in the boxes right above our heads.  So we walked up to say hi - and I think Dave grabbed a beer (I was on a 2 week self-induced dry spell).


And then we found some cool things to take pictures of!


Drew had a blast watching the game - he was really into it.  And had his glove ready between innings to try and catch a game ball. 



No such luck.


We just couldn't get over how great our seats were.


Daddy and Drew at the field, trying one last time for a game ball from the ball/bat boys.


Mommy and Drew..


Family Field Photo


A's ended up losing the game 4-3, but we had a great time!
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Softball Champs

Dave spent much of the year playing Softball - thankfully he went uninjured (at least seriously) in the 2 or 3 seasons he played this year.  He is in two leagues in nearby cities.  And in his Thursday League - which moved to Tuesday - they won the championship.... TWICE!  Here are pictures from the party/BBQ Drew and I were invited to back in August I believe.

Like Father, Like Son

We were able to go swimming as well as enjoy dinner and company.   Here is the host as well as teammate of Dave's.


The guys all signed the game ball.

It's rare that Dave lets us out with the softball guys... and Drew had a great time in the pool with the other kids.

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Hometown Luau

More Summertime posts... this comes to you from a warmer (albeit windier) day in August, when Dave and I attended a luau party we purchased at Drew's school auction.  While I was complaining about the money we spent initially - OMG, this party was over the top!

Here we are at the beginning.  It was kind of funny - Dave walked in the backyard, saw someone wearing his Hawaiian shirt, turned right around and drove home to change.  While he's wearing red here - he came in wearing Navy initially. 


After some delicious Hawaiian BBQ, they had hula dancers around their amazing pool. 


It was like being at a Hawaiian Luau.  The dancers told the story of Hula, Hawaii and various Pacific Islands and their dancing culture.




And then there was a fire dancer!  I told you it was over the top!



We were having a great time!  But it was getting colder and windier by the minute.


And the Fire Dancer moved into the crowd!


At one point she caught her hair on fire.  Oops!  It was really a great party.  We also purchased another auction for a Rager, and I'm pretty sure I posted that on Facebook months ago, I don't think I shared here.

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MineCraft Party

Because Drew's birthday falls at the start of the school year, we've never had a "friends" birthday party - instead our gift to Drew has always been to go somewhere fun to make memories.  The party has always been at a neighborhood park with close friends and family.  Well this year Drew put his foot down.  For his 7th Birthday he wanted a friends party and he wanted a big one!  (It will probably be his one and only...).

So we had it at Super Franks - an indoor play place.  We rented out the Sports Room for 2 hours and they got pizza, cake and then game tokens! 

Here are the favor bags I did...

And we just put the kids into a room and let them go wild!

Apparently Drew's trying some new moves in case he makes it to the NBA...

Yep, that's an inflatable slide, and on the left wall... Zip lining!  

Look at them go!

Mason getting a turn on the zip line

Troy coming down the slide, and Drew at the top

While the boys went wild in the room, the grown-ups decided to enjoy some peace, quiet and maybe an adult beverage or two.

So we invited all the boys from Drew's class (one sister tagged along) as well as friends from his soccer team, and his brothers from another mother.. Mason & Troy.

After a little more than an hour in the sports room, the boys made their way to the party room for cake and pizza.  

No I did not make the cake this year.  I was out of town for work the week of the party only returning the night before. We paid the bakers at the grocery store to make this creation (toys are Drew's).

Family Photo (see I was there).

After the boys ate and climbed on the walls of the room, we unleashed them for a final 30 minutes in the arcade!

Drew's reply to his party... "it was epic!"  Whew, he liked it.  I have to say while it was expensive, it was probably the easiest party I threw. 

And the cute thing is, all his classmates remember me and the party.  Every time I work in the Library for his class, the boys will say - "You're Drew's Mom, I remember you from the party".

Success!