They're Back!!

I am so glad that my kids are back home. And that they are happy to be back. Well, mostly. They do miss the Wii. Oh well. More on them, but first...

Last weekend was fun. We spent Friday (the 4th) doing not much of anything, then went to the Rec Center with Dana and her family to watch the fireworks. It was nice that Shell was there too. She always works on the 4th for the overtime, but they didn't offer any this year, so she took the night off. We did miss having the kids with us though.

Then Saturday, the True Colors concert. It was the BEST! We got to Red Rocks and hiked to our seats. They weren't bad seats, it's just a hike up to the ampitheater from the parking lot. We brought a cooler with sandwiches, chips and drinks so we ate while we waited for it to start. Carson Kressly hosted, and was a lot more enjoyable than I expected. The all-girl band Girl In A Coma performed first. They did about 4 songs I think, and we thought they were pretty good. (This is one of the things I love about this tour. Last year we saw the Dresden Dolls and The Cliks for the first time and really loved them.) Carson did some more banter and then Joan Armatrading was up. As soon as she was announced, the lesbians in the audience went CRAZY. We felt like we must have been missing out on something. I thought her music was really beautiful, but Shell wasn't really excited about it. She must have done about 6 songs and then it was time for intermission. When that was over, Carson came back out to announce Rosie. I thought I was going to cry. Ok, maybe I did a little. But I couldn't help it, I really respect that woman. I do. She did about 30 minutes of stand up which was exactly as great as I hoped it would be. After Rosie, the crew set up for the B-52's. I lost track of how many songs they did, but the audience was on its feet the whole time. It was so great. They finished with Love Shack and Rock Lobster- perfect! Carson talked a little more and then it was time for Cyndi. She rocked the place just like last year. She is so amazingly talented and the fact that this whole True Colors tour was her idea is really something. Rosie sang backup on her new song Rocking Chair and then came back out to play drums during Girls Just Want to Have Fun. The big finale (same as last year) was True Colors, sung by all the performers. It's really touching and beautiful and the audience is on its feet and everyone is singing. It's really magical. I loved it.

We spent Sunday watching movies and then ordered Chinese food for dinner. It was really a good day. We watched:

Mad Money - This was funny and very light. Diane Keaton, Ted Danson, Queen Latifah & Katie Holmes who was much funnier than I expected her to be.

Evening - I read this book and had kind of a hard time keeping track of the story. It jumps back and forth in time and between characters. I had hoped that the movie would be really great, especially with a cast like this. Vanessa Redgrave, Miranda Richardson, Toni Collette, Claire Danes, Meryl Streep, Glenn Close... It should have been amazing. It was good.

P.S. I Love You - This was a very good movie that made us cry more than once. Hilary Swank is one of our favorite actresses and she doesn't disappoint in this film. It also has a pretty sizable role for Lisa Kudrow, who I think is really great in her own right.

Hostel 2 - This was horrible. I fell asleep when Shell watched the first one and she liked it alot. I took her word for it. She said this one was not anywhere near as good as the first. I can't compare the two, but I wouldn't recommend this to anyone.

Yesterday (Tuesday) I took the day off from work and mowed the backyard, hosed the spiderwebs and dirt off the front porch and did a bunch of laundry. We watched another movie, Flightplan. It stars Jodie Foster and we liked it, but thought that the beginning was a tad slow.

The kids flight was a little late, so they didn't get in until almost midnight, and I was really happy to see them. They had a really good flight. No snacks, but they had ginger ale and got to watch the TV feed for free, which was pretty cool for them. My boy was complaining of his ears hurting, so when we got home I put some Debrox in. Usually this solves the problem, but I thought it could also just be from 3 weeks of lots and lots of swimming. Unfortunately, Shell called this afternoon and said that they are still bothering him, so she is going to take him to the doctor and have them take a look. I hope that they get it figured out, because he needs to make up Karate classes before his next test in 2 weeks. It's going to be a lot of work, and he needs to be healthy.

The kids were very happy to hear that Shell quit smoking, and were surprised that she has done so well for this long. I am too. I think that they were also surprised that we missed them so much. I guess that I was too. A lot of people asked if we were loving it while they were gone. In some ways I absolutely was. There were no sibling arguments and bickering, no television on with no one watching, there were very little dishes, nothing scattered around the house, no running to Karate 4 times a week, no arguments about bedtime or time on the phone. So no, I didn't miss the parenting side of things, but I did absolutely miss them. I like them a lot. They are very neat people that I enjoy being with. And they are loving and snuggly, which is just icing on the cake. I'm glad they are home, Shell is glad they are home and they are glad to be home. It is as it should be. And now life will go on, at least until my mom brings CANiece1 & 2 back with her at the end of the month.