How to cram a weeks worth of fun and activities into one weekend
Don't sleep much! ;-)
What a weekend we had! Summary: The Police in Hershey on Friday night, sitting on the Jersey Beach Saturday and Sunday!
Friday afternoon, Brock and I headed over to pick Leda up from daycare around 3:30 or so and got to Dave and Annie's at 4pm, where Leda would be spending the evening with Danny and the babysitters while us parental units went to the Police concert. We hit the road by 4:15, leaving a screaming Leda to plan our demise when she grows up enough to put the plan into place!
The ride to Hershey should have taken about an hour and a half, but we did hit just a bit of traffic about 10 miles from the venue - rush hour traffic and all. We were parked in the lot by about 6pm and proceeded to load up our cups for the short walk to the location that the rest of our group (there were 12 of us who made the concert) were already ensconced and in full tailgating mode! We hung out, enjoyed the beautiful weather (80s with low humidity and a nice breeze, BEAUTIFUL) and the ambiance! Being that most of the crowd was 30+, the tailgating was perfect - not too rowdy, but lots of fun!
The concert started at 7:30pm with an opening act (Fiction Plane - Sting's son's band) and there were a lot of people who tailgated a little longer than 7:30, thus missing most of the act. We were heading into the stadium while they were playing, and there was a brief panic as I heard the lead singer's voice (Sting's son) and it seemed to sound an AWFUL lot like Sting, and thought that we missed the beginning of the Police's set! Then I realized it wasn't a Police song, so panic ended. But wow, does the kid sound an awful lot like his dad!
The concert was awesome! This was my first time seeing the Police and it was just awesome. It's amazing how great they sounded, like they never broke up! The whole place was just jumping all night long. It was awesome!
Pictures from my cell phone - yes, that would be Sting on the monitors.
And yes, I do realize that the pictures suck, oh well, at least I was there!
They played for just under two hours, with two encores. I could have gone for another half an hour or so, but the concert was still pretty darn awesome!
We were heading back to the car by 11pm (give or take a few minutes) and that's when the "fun" began! Sitting in a car with basically nowhere to go for at least an hour and a half. I have to say that Hershey as a venue has a beautiful view and the music sounded freaking awesome. I always worry a bit with outdoor stadiums, you just can't be sure that the sound is going to be good. It was EXCELLENT. What left little to be desired was the traffic control afterwards (if you can call that traffic control!) It pretty much was a free-for-all, meaning that it sucked trying to get out of the parking lot!
We were finally out of the parking lot by 12:30 and sitting in another traffic jam for another 15-20 minutes until we were well on our way home. We were picking Leda up by 2:15am, had her in bed by 2:30 and we hit the sheets by 3am.
Brock, as usual, was up at the crack of dawn, woke me up at 7, we packed the car, woke the kid up at 7:30 and on our way to the beach 10 minutes later! We were at the Durham's place in Avalon by 10 minutes to 10! The Kohler donuts had barely enough time to cool off! By 11:30am we were on the beach enjoying the BEAUTIFUL weather. The kids were loving the water and the sand (seems to me there was a lot of sand-loving between the two of them!).
Leda is just lovin' the beach. She was having a blast running down to the water (not too far though) and loved to grab some water in her bucket and run screaming and laughing from the rest of the waves! Definitely our kid! She held on to Daddy pretty good the first day, but warmed up to the waves before we headed back to the house for a late lunch and some napping!
All of us caught some good zzzz's in the cool ocean breeze. By 5pm we were hanging out and having fun, well rested and relaxed. We were planning on burgers and dogs for dinner and expecting the Shiers down at any time (Steve, Kate and the girls, Suzy and Jane).
We ended up having dinner a little before the Shiers arrived, as they got a pretty late start. The evening was full of hanging out with good friends and the girls all having lots of fun with one another. And Duff had fun with Bruster, the Shier's new beagle puppy. Until Duff got tired of the "kid"!
The Shiers headed back to their house by 9:30 and Leda and Paige were in bed by 9:30-10pm with the parental units not far behind.
Sunday morning Brock and Leda were up early and I wasn't too far behind them - I mean, come on, it's Sunday down the beach, that means it's my yearly trip to Kohler's for the best donuts ANYWHERE! I was out the door and parked in FRONT of Kohlers by 7:30 - third person there! See, the idea is to be there early enough that you practically get the donuts home still warm out of the oven. But that means that 50 to 100 other people are going to try and be there early too, to get that all too important "ticket" to get served as close to 8am (door opening time) as possible. This was the best I've ever done - I was on the patio!
I had my Ipod going and reading my book and by 8am, was standing so close to the door I could smell the donuts baking. To my surprise, and delight, the two men who had arrived before me were gentlemen and allowed me through the door first. I was second (SECOND) to be served - a personal best! (two kids got themselves right up against the door for opening and were first served)
So, back to the house by 8:10 with warm donuts. We had a little breakfast and by 10:30 we were ready and waiting for the Shiers to head down to the beach for a few hours. By 11:30, we were on the beach once again. It was a beautiful day yet again, with a bit more of a wind, so blowing sand was a bit of a problem, but still, could NOT beat the weather!
By 2 or so, the girls had enough of the beach (okay, the parents were ready for the kids to take a little nap) and we were heading back to the house. Naps were had by half of the household while some reading and watching a little TV was had by the rest.
The Shiers headed back over to the house for a Shrimp Alfredo pasta night and we had another evening of hanging out with great friends. Brock and Leda and I had to head home before too long and we said our good nights and headed away from the beach (I HATE leaving the beach - it TOTALLY SUCKS!) and toward home. We were home by 11pm.
We did have a child who did not once all weekend cry or scream about going to bed, but she did spend naps and Saturday night sleeping in a big girl bed. Brock and I made a decision this past weekend and will be going out to Ikea to purchase Leda a big girl bed this coming weekend. Especially since tonight she has been in bed for 50 minutes and for 49 and a half of those minutes she's been screaming and crying!
It was a great weekend! We did a lot in the short amount of time we had! I think sometimes, those are the best weekends of all!
What a weekend we had! Summary: The Police in Hershey on Friday night, sitting on the Jersey Beach Saturday and Sunday!
Friday afternoon, Brock and I headed over to pick Leda up from daycare around 3:30 or so and got to Dave and Annie's at 4pm, where Leda would be spending the evening with Danny and the babysitters while us parental units went to the Police concert. We hit the road by 4:15, leaving a screaming Leda to plan our demise when she grows up enough to put the plan into place!
The ride to Hershey should have taken about an hour and a half, but we did hit just a bit of traffic about 10 miles from the venue - rush hour traffic and all. We were parked in the lot by about 6pm and proceeded to load up our cups for the short walk to the location that the rest of our group (there were 12 of us who made the concert) were already ensconced and in full tailgating mode! We hung out, enjoyed the beautiful weather (80s with low humidity and a nice breeze, BEAUTIFUL) and the ambiance! Being that most of the crowd was 30+, the tailgating was perfect - not too rowdy, but lots of fun!
The concert started at 7:30pm with an opening act (Fiction Plane - Sting's son's band) and there were a lot of people who tailgated a little longer than 7:30, thus missing most of the act. We were heading into the stadium while they were playing, and there was a brief panic as I heard the lead singer's voice (Sting's son) and it seemed to sound an AWFUL lot like Sting, and thought that we missed the beginning of the Police's set! Then I realized it wasn't a Police song, so panic ended. But wow, does the kid sound an awful lot like his dad!
The concert was awesome! This was my first time seeing the Police and it was just awesome. It's amazing how great they sounded, like they never broke up! The whole place was just jumping all night long. It was awesome!
Pictures from my cell phone - yes, that would be Sting on the monitors.
And yes, I do realize that the pictures suck, oh well, at least I was there!
They played for just under two hours, with two encores. I could have gone for another half an hour or so, but the concert was still pretty darn awesome!
We were heading back to the car by 11pm (give or take a few minutes) and that's when the "fun" began! Sitting in a car with basically nowhere to go for at least an hour and a half. I have to say that Hershey as a venue has a beautiful view and the music sounded freaking awesome. I always worry a bit with outdoor stadiums, you just can't be sure that the sound is going to be good. It was EXCELLENT. What left little to be desired was the traffic control afterwards (if you can call that traffic control!) It pretty much was a free-for-all, meaning that it sucked trying to get out of the parking lot!
We were finally out of the parking lot by 12:30 and sitting in another traffic jam for another 15-20 minutes until we were well on our way home. We were picking Leda up by 2:15am, had her in bed by 2:30 and we hit the sheets by 3am.
Brock, as usual, was up at the crack of dawn, woke me up at 7, we packed the car, woke the kid up at 7:30 and on our way to the beach 10 minutes later! We were at the Durham's place in Avalon by 10 minutes to 10! The Kohler donuts had barely enough time to cool off! By 11:30am we were on the beach enjoying the BEAUTIFUL weather. The kids were loving the water and the sand (seems to me there was a lot of sand-loving between the two of them!).
Leda is just lovin' the beach. She was having a blast running down to the water (not too far though) and loved to grab some water in her bucket and run screaming and laughing from the rest of the waves! Definitely our kid! She held on to Daddy pretty good the first day, but warmed up to the waves before we headed back to the house for a late lunch and some napping!
All of us caught some good zzzz's in the cool ocean breeze. By 5pm we were hanging out and having fun, well rested and relaxed. We were planning on burgers and dogs for dinner and expecting the Shiers down at any time (Steve, Kate and the girls, Suzy and Jane).
We ended up having dinner a little before the Shiers arrived, as they got a pretty late start. The evening was full of hanging out with good friends and the girls all having lots of fun with one another. And Duff had fun with Bruster, the Shier's new beagle puppy. Until Duff got tired of the "kid"!
The Shiers headed back to their house by 9:30 and Leda and Paige were in bed by 9:30-10pm with the parental units not far behind.
Sunday morning Brock and Leda were up early and I wasn't too far behind them - I mean, come on, it's Sunday down the beach, that means it's my yearly trip to Kohler's for the best donuts ANYWHERE! I was out the door and parked in FRONT of Kohlers by 7:30 - third person there! See, the idea is to be there early enough that you practically get the donuts home still warm out of the oven. But that means that 50 to 100 other people are going to try and be there early too, to get that all too important "ticket" to get served as close to 8am (door opening time) as possible. This was the best I've ever done - I was on the patio!
I had my Ipod going and reading my book and by 8am, was standing so close to the door I could smell the donuts baking. To my surprise, and delight, the two men who had arrived before me were gentlemen and allowed me through the door first. I was second (SECOND) to be served - a personal best! (two kids got themselves right up against the door for opening and were first served)
So, back to the house by 8:10 with warm donuts. We had a little breakfast and by 10:30 we were ready and waiting for the Shiers to head down to the beach for a few hours. By 11:30, we were on the beach once again. It was a beautiful day yet again, with a bit more of a wind, so blowing sand was a bit of a problem, but still, could NOT beat the weather!
By 2 or so, the girls had enough of the beach (okay, the parents were ready for the kids to take a little nap) and we were heading back to the house. Naps were had by half of the household while some reading and watching a little TV was had by the rest.
The Shiers headed back over to the house for a Shrimp Alfredo pasta night and we had another evening of hanging out with great friends. Brock and Leda and I had to head home before too long and we said our good nights and headed away from the beach (I HATE leaving the beach - it TOTALLY SUCKS!) and toward home. We were home by 11pm.
We did have a child who did not once all weekend cry or scream about going to bed, but she did spend naps and Saturday night sleeping in a big girl bed. Brock and I made a decision this past weekend and will be going out to Ikea to purchase Leda a big girl bed this coming weekend. Especially since tonight she has been in bed for 50 minutes and for 49 and a half of those minutes she's been screaming and crying!
It was a great weekend! We did a lot in the short amount of time we had! I think sometimes, those are the best weekends of all!
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