July 2008

First off, I want to say welcome home to all my fabulous blogger friends who were lucky enough to attend BlogHer ’08! From everything that I have read, you all had an amazing time. I wish I could have joined you, but maybe next year…

My weekend was pretty exciting, as well. I had the opportunity to go back in time a little bit and spent a fun Saturday afternoon and evening with oldest, all on our own. Since hubby and I got married 3 1/2 years ago and I had his little brothers, he has had a lot of adjustments to deal with. For the first 10 years of his life, I was a single mom and everything was about him.

I know it has been hard for him to go from an only child to a member of a family of five (six when his stepbrother is with us) in just a few short years. Not to mention, since the littlest was born, he and I have not had a single opportunity to spend time together without an entourage along. So when my mom offered to buy us tickets to a concert at our state fair, I jumped at the chance for a night alone with my first born.

For such an itty, bitty, mostly-rural state, Delaware’s state fair gets some amazing acts at their concert series. This year they have Daughtry, Carrie Underwood, Trace Adkins and other big names on the bill. None of these quite fit my oldest’s style though, he chose to see Staind, Hinder and Three Doors Down. I’m a huge Staind fan – something appealing about the brooding in their lyrics – and I like Hinder and Three Doors Down, too, so he got the thumbs up from me.

Hubby was a little less than excited that we were going, but he didn’t say much. It wasn’t so much that we were going to a rockin’ concert without him (he’s more of a rap/r&b kind of guy) but that he was going to be left to deal with bedtime for the babies, all on his own. Oh well, everyone survived – though I will be dealing with the aftermath of the screwed up sleep schedule of the littlest for days.

We left them around 3 in the afternoon and headed out to the fair, which on a normal day is a 20-30 minute  drive from us. However, with the weekend beach traffic to contend with, it took us closer to an hour to get there. No big deal, that was why we left early.

Oldest has developed a sarcastic sense of humor like his mama, it seems. As we pulled into the parking lot, he takes note that in our awesomely redneck state, the parking lot sections are indicated by farm animals. We parked in the cow section, halfway between sections 4 and 5 – or as he called it “Moo 4.5″

We rode the tram up to the gate (appropriately pulled by a John Deere tractor) and wandered inside. The concert didn’t start until 6:00, so we had nearly two hours to kill before it was time to rock out. We checked out the Navy band that was playing in the free entertainment tent for a few minutes, then went to grab something to eat before we went in.

Once we got inside and grabbed our seats, it wasn’t too long before the opening act took the stage. There was a really great new band opening for the three main acts. Jet Black Stare just released their first album last week and has a single “Readoy To Roll” on the radio now. Good stuff!

Next up was Hinder. Great show, but it didn’t take long for me to remeber why I swore to never get seats at one of these concerts that was off the floor. I really hate the thought of paying $60 for a concert seat and actually SITTING in it the whole time. Honestly, I have seen more action in a Methodist church on Sunday than in those risers. If I’m at a concert I want to stand up, dance and sing along, not sit in my chair and clap politely after each song. UGH!

Staind was great, too, but more of the same sitting in chairs. It wasn’t until Three Doors Down took the stage that people in the risers decided that they were actually there to have fun. Of course, most decided after the second song – Superman – that it was time to sit back down. The teenage girls next to us were disgusted with everyone, too, so we stayed standing through the rest of the show. The teen girls behind us, who spent the whole show texting their friends (or each other – who could tell) talked smack the whole time, but we didn’t care.

All-in-all we had an awesome night! Once the concert was over, we headed back to Moo 4.5, with oldest commenting that we should have parked at Cockadoodle 2, since it was closer. After an hour long fight to get out of the parking lot and a half hour battle for food at Sonic, we made it home around 1 am. I am still recovering 2 days later.

It was well worth the exaustion though, to spend time alone with my oldest and relive our lives before hubby and the babies. Though I’d not change things a bit, sometimes I miss the one-on-one time that I got to spend with him over the years. Hey, he even told me I was still pretty cool! Not too shabby coming from a too-cool-for everything 13 yr old!

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