The Weekend - Dave Matthews Band Concert & Memorial Day

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Before I get started on today's post, I just wanted to let everyone know that as of Friday, Blogger has stopped sending blog comments via email so I have no way to respond directly to your comments right now.  I am able to read them in Blogger, but I'm not able to respond via email like I usually do.  I'm assuming this has something to do with the privacy act that went into effect on Friday, but I'm hoping that they fix the issue soon!  Until then, just know that I'm not ignoring you!  I promise I read every single one of your comments and it truly means a lot to me that you take time out of your day to leave me some love!

Anyway, today is the first official day of summer break and we’re hanging out at home because Tropical Storm Alberto has made its way to us and he’s been dumping loads and loads of rain.  Fortunately the entire weekend wasn’t a complete wash-out as originally called for!

Friday was Jacob’s last day at school and he got out at noon, so I picked him up and he and I met B and my father-in-law at Chipotle for lunch… Jacob’s choice!  :o)  B took the rest of the day off, so he and Jacob and I spent the rest of the afternoon running a few errands – Old Navy to get some last minute beach trip essentials, Toys R Us and Target to pick up some birthday gifts for my nephew, and then we headed to pick up Olivia from her last day ever at the daycare where both of our babies spent their first 3.5 years of life. 

Picking her up that last time was bittersweet for sure.  Mrs. Caroline who worked at the back desk left Olivia a bag full of snacks because Olivia was always visiting her at the desk and asking her for snacks – LOL – so we thought that was really sweet.  Olivia made the rounds hugging all of her classmates and teachers, and they slipped a farewell card and pictures into our hands as we headed out the door for the last time.  It’s so hard to believe that this part of our lives is over.  After almost seven years of dropping off and picking up our precious babies at this daycare, we’ll never set foot in there again.  With that said, we are SUPER excited to have her over at Jacob’s school (my alma mater) in the fall and we’re so looking forward to this new chapter in our lives. 

After we said our goodbyes we headed to the playground downtown to let the kids run free.  The forecast called for rain pretty much all weekend and we wanted to let them spend every last second outside that it wasn’t raining.  After that we headed home to rest for a few minutes before heading back out to dinner at Carrabba’s with my father-in-law and the rest of B’s fam to celebrate my sister-in-law’s birthday.  We had cookie cake and presents at my FIL’s house after that, and then it was home to put the kiddos in the bed so Mommy and Daddy could have some relaxation on the couch before hitting the hay ourselves.

Saturday it was pretty dreary again but it wasn’t yet raining so B headed off to his tennis match while I stayed home with the babies and tackled the command center in our kitchen to get it cleaned out and ready for summer.  I cleaned out the kids’ book bags, photographed all of their artwork from the second half of the school year (the first half was already photographed back in December during Christmas break), and then I saved a few favorite pieces from the year for each child and tossed the rest.  The saved pieces then went into their school keepsake boxes.

Before

After

Saturday afternoon we got everybody ready and I did two French braids for Olivia as she requested.  These were probably my best ones yet!  We then loaded up the kids and their suitcases and dropped them off at my parents’ house where they were spending the night since B and I had another concert in Atlanta.  My bro, SIL, and nephew were all in town again and they always stay at my parents’ house, so their dog Toby was there and Olivia was in heaven.  Toby is a Doberman and he’s probably 120 pounds, but he’s just the sweetest, most loyal dog.  He loves Olivia and she loves him just as much! 

B and I hit the road after that to head to Atlanta for the Dave Matthews Band concert.  The weather was still iffy and we were a little concerned since the concert was outdoors, but we ended up having beautiful weather and the clouds kept it nice and cool and breezy! 

One of my best friends, Lauren, moved to Atlanta a few years ago so I don’t get to see her as much as I used to, so when I found out that she was going to the concert I called her and we arranged to tailgate together.  B and I had made really good time and the concert didn’t start until 8 so we ended up tailgating with them for a little over an hour and they were kind enough to let us bum a couple of beers! 

We headed in a little after 7 PM to grab a couple of hot dogs on the way to our seats and then the show started a little after 8.  This was my 22nd time seeing them and, y’all, it never gets old.  My love for DMB runs so deep.  We had ninth row seats that were excellent so that made it even better.  I was, however, a bit down because the violinist, Boyd, just left the band amidst sexual misconduct rumors and I have to say that it wasn’t the same without him.  Aside from Dave himself, Boyd was always my favorite, so I’m still reeling from the accusations.  I only hope they end up being false, and if they don’t, then good riddance! 

The concert was over a little after 11 and the traffic was HIDEOUS getting out of the venue, so we sat in the parking lot without moving for almost 40 minutes.  EEKS!  We finally made it back home LATE, but safe and sound, and to an empty house!  There’s nothing like going to bed super late at night and knowing that you can sleep as late as you want the next day!  :o)

Sunday morning B and I slept in until 9:30 which is really late for us, and then we just took our time getting ready.  It had rained all night, but it stopped in the morning so B finished mowing the back yard.  It’s been raining so much lately nobody in town has had a chance to mow lawns and everyone’s grass (including ours) was getting so long!

We had lunch at my MIL and step-FIL’s that afternoon, so we stopped by my parents’ house to grab the kiddos on the way.  We celebrated my SIL one more time over there with cake and gifts and then we all hung out in the back yard again because the rain was still miraculously holding off.  My MIL’s blueberries and a few strawberries were starting to get ripe so the kids happily picked and filled their bellies with as many that they could find that were ready.  These kids LOVE picking fruit and eating it straight from the garden!  I guess I need to grow something…

We had a few spare moments when we got home that afternoon before it was time to leave again, so I started working on a new blog post about new keepsake boxes I’ve made for the kids, and I hung the new mirrors I bought to put above our night stands.  I was originally looking for silver mirrors to hang, but I came across some white ones at Target, and I bought those with the intention of lightening up the room a bit, but I’m not sure I like them.  I’m thinking I need to try to find some silver ones.  I did an Instagram poll to see what y’all thought about them and it was almost split down the middle with 55% of you liking them and 45% of you not liking them.  Now to figure out where to go from here…

Before

After

I also did a quick Instagram story about this dress that I found for Olivia at Target.  HOW DARLING IS THIS?!  And the back is the best part!

We headed to my parents’ for Sunday dinner after that and my bro, SIL, and nephew got to be there since it was a three-day weekend!  It was my SIL’s actual birthday and my nephew’s birthday is this week so we had a dual celebration for the two of them.  My Momma made spaghetti, salad, and bread, we opened up a bottle of cab (a new brand that we had never tried that turned out to be soooo smooth and delicious), and then we had chocolate bundt cake with homemade butter cream frosting for dessert.  Cheryl and Tucker opened their presents and we ended there staying way later than usual since the next day everyone was off.  It was a wonderful low-key evening!

Monday was another dreary day.  It would rain for 15 minutes, the sun would come out for 10 minutes, and then it would rain for 15 more minutes.  It did that off and on for a lot of the day before the tropical storm finally settled in for good around 2:30 PM. 

Since we couldn’t grill, we made a little trip to Five Guys for lunch so we could get our Memorial Day burger fix, and then we made our way to a playground near Brian’s mom’s house.  When we got there, the city had the park closed off because a massive oak tree had fallen across the road.  We decided to be rebels and go to the playground anyway and we let the kids check out the fallen tree.  We were shocked that it had fallen... we’ve had LOADS of rain these last two weeks but not much severe weather, so I’m assuming the tree must have just fallen because the ground was so soggy. 

It was sprinkling a bit when we got there, but the kids were perfectly content playing in the rain so we let them.  Upon arriving, I got REALLY excited because we saw that our city put up a little sharing library there.  I’ve seen other people talking about doing that in their cities and I’m so excited to see that ours is doing the same.  The next time we go, we will for sure be bringing a couple of books to drop off so the kids can select a couple to take. 

After the playground the kids wanted to walk around and look for painted rocks a bit, and instead we found… A SNAKE!  Gaaaahhhh!  Jacob picked up a stick to throw it into a puddle and a snake started slithering away when he picked it up.  It turned out to be non-poisonous, but STILL.  A snake is a snake in my book.  Blech. 

It started POURING shortly after that so the four of us huddled under my little umbrella and walked back to the car and then we headed to the grocery store to pick up groceries for the next two weeks. 

For the rest of the afternoon it rained off and on so most of it was spent inside building Legos, and coloring, but it did stay dry enough for us to whip up some hot dogs, baked beans, and Moscow Mules for dinner and eat them on the back porch!  

It wasn't exactly the way we usually spend Memorial Day, but still good nonetheless! 

Now if we can just get this tropical storm to move along so we can enjoy our summer break!

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*Linking up with B Loved Boston for Weekending and HoHo Runs for Weekly Wrap.