And Meanwhile, Driving Down To Kentucky…
This was about 2 pm, Saturday, driving down, what I assume to be, I57, near the town of Mattoon. The kids are on their way to grandma’s with their dad. No one confirmed location for me, but the fastest way south is 57 from here. My daughter took this picture while it was happening. It’s a really good picture. Especially from a moving vehicle. She said it was only a funnel cloud when they saw it and she got a picture of it going back up. But I like this one. Very impressive. Then it hailed and rained so hard they couldn’t see and then it cleared. She texted, word for word, “It’s done now. Clear as a bell perfect now!” She sent a picture of the blind windshield but it’s just a grey square that kind of looks like smeary, foggy rain. This is the next picture she sent:
The girl takes good pictures. I almost feel bad that while the kids are driving through weather and tornadoes, me and the BF are at the liquor store buying all kinds of alcohol for the BBQ we are going to later, and then something for the rest of the weekend. Without children. Eh. Life. I took equally stunning pictures of the new wines I just bought to try out, and then later, post and share my opinions with you, good people. Let me end this with the last two pictures she sent me, because they are also really good, and she knows that I LOVE pictures of the sky and clouds. And you probably, secretly, like them too or you wouldn’t have kept reading! It’s OK. I thank you! Thank you thank you every day! It’s a peculiar world, this blogging, internet place; big and diverse, the way I like most things, but still managing to feel close and intimate, like we are all sharing this life through our words and images, the way we are taught that we could, if we lived in an ideal world. Hmm. Not one drop to drink yet, I swear it. Anyway, the sky…I’ll take the pics (or my daughter will), and you can look and move on. No one ever has to know. But we’ll know. Here is the first, with her comment, also word for word, “Look at that fat ass cloud.”:
And the last, below, is just one of the sky. I assume it’s off to the side. It’s very pretty for some reason. Good color/contrast and lighting I think. If I don’t get back here tonight, be careful all. Weather or not, Saturday in the summer can be tricky. Stay safe. Later.
Wacky Water Weekend With… / Saturday Swim
The Birthday Pool Party!
What a nice day! Not too hot, not too sunny…although I got pretty scorched along with my brother-in-law, that semi-cloud cover can be deceiving…
They belong to a Park District Pool where they live and Elexa’s B-day Party was there! Friends, family, food, fun…the usual.
This place had many pool areas: a party room, snack bar, diving boards, a drop chute, water slides (2) open/semi-closed, slow/fast, kids or adults. Nothing crazy. Some Lily Pad jump things, Dumping Buckets of Water, and Sprays. The kids loved it.
(I did the slides, the drop chute and the high dive, making me the coolest mom who participated and didn’t just sit on the sidelines…their words, not mine.)
One more time:
Happy Birthday Elexa!
Happy Birthday Jesse!
Birthday girls (to the left) and an extra to the right
The high dive
The drop chute
Lily pads with slides in the background
Better water slide shot with extra ACTION!
Party food
Party kids
Party Over! See you next year!
Warrior Dash! Video! As promised!
These are all pretty short so take a look!
Number 1: Starting the Race
Number 2: The Second Loop–Looking Tired
Number 3: THE MUD!
That’s all for my videos, but I found this one after I posted mine. This was from another competitor who was way ahead of us in the end, but he just so happened to be starting in our same wave. He has some good video of our start from the back as opposed to our footage from the front. You can kind of see us in front of him in line a little bit here and there, but Mason is in the video for a nice cameo at about the 1:25 mark. This runner also has some good shots of the fire and some of the energy before and after the race!
We will be back next year! I hope you enjoy the videos!
Street Money Update!
I’ll dispense with the usual, long chatter and get to the point.
10¢ on the floor of Hooter’s–(delicious)–Mason almost had his eye poked out and a tray of crab legs and steaming wings dumped on him trying to pick it up, but hey, we work hard for the money…haha
1¢ on the ground at the arcade/mini-golf/driving range/batting cage/go-kart fun center!
We were kind of busy this weekend, having fun and spending too much money.
One day we will break even. Ha. Check here for the year count.
Ass Water, Slyder and Freddy. I hate when nights end like this!
How DO some people get their cute little nicknames?
Take two parts alcohol, a late running party, one over-tired kid, and a bag of BK cheeseburgers. Fold in one ingredient after another and try to have an innocent conversation. Then mishear one word and suddenly everyone has a new nickname and the night has taken a seriously wrong turn.
It probably won’t SEEM funny typed out here…and I’m sure my sister will be calling any second to tell me how NOT funny I am, but let’s try!
Sissy and hubby come home from party I babysat for with BF and kids. Girl is sleeping. Boy is ready to go. I say, “Ready Freddy?” He says, “Who’s Freddy?” My sissy says, “You now. We’re going to start calling you Freddy…hahahaha…”
Lots of laughs, extra jokes, T-shirts will be made…the whole thing.
As we are leaving, my boy says, “Bye Aunty Amanda” My sister hears, “Bye Aunty Enema” “What? What did you say? Did you say enema?” Laughing of course, because it’s funny. And it did sound like that. We all make a joke about enemas…and my son says, “What’s an enema?” We basically fall over each other to tell him, water up the butt.
“You just called Aunty the water you put up your ass”
Yes, here it comes. Are you laughing? “You just called Aunty ‘Ass Water’ ”
That WAS funny. We all laughed, and I said that would be her new nickname. We could put that on a shirt.
The hubby already had the Slyder nickname from a motorcycle mishap early in his riding career. The “Y” just adds that extra level of cool.
The BF pointed out that the three names makes an excellent group together. And here’s where you all came in, hence the headline. Sounds…intriguing, does it not? Are you side-splitting? Pictures might help.
Then my son expanded it out, so he could say it without getting in trouble, to “Aunty Ass (as in donkey) Water” It still got the laughs, but by then the booze was wearing off, and we had an hour to drive. Another family memory noted in our collective books and saved here forever on the internets.
Was it as good for you as it was for us?? Yeah right. I recommend pouring yourself a LARGE shot of Vodka (or whatever liquor floats the boat), and then RE-READ. Is it funny now? No? Repeat above step until it is! Then you can drunk-type me with YOUR new nickname and I PROMISE, I WILL laugh!! Swear.
Get to bed. School and work people. We’ll have fun after that! See you tomorrow. Love you Ass Water…I mean, Amanda. Goodnight!
And now for a little weekend music…
I know, how predictable. It’s Saturday. Day 4 of our Extreme Fat Smashing experience. Don’t have to exercise. You CAN, but you don’t HAVE to. Still have to follow the food regimen though. If we can make it thru this weekend without a McDonalds Meltdown or a giant Pizza Pig Party, we should be home free. I was gonna go with the time/pointless endeavor music list out of sheer laziness, but then I heard some Loverboy music on the radio and voila’…it’s a rockin’ Saturday night! Or day. Whatever. The EFS makes me tired. And if you can’t eat and you can’t enjoy the other thing you can do on Saturday night with no kids home because you have a certain female condition wrecking all the fun….you just go to bed. Save your energy for Sunday when you get to eat another crumb and go run for half the day. So with total predictability, dance it quick and hit the sack, here is the “Saturday Weekend Party” list:
1. Working For The Weekend / Loverboy
2. Party Like A Rockstar / Shop Boyz
3. Saturday Night / Ta-Gana
4. Get The Party Started / Pink
5. Come Dancing / The Kinks
6. Saturday Night / Bay City Rollers
7. Party Doll / Buddy Knox with The Rhythm Orchids
8. Saturday Night Special / Lynyrd Skynyrd
9. Garden Party / Ricky Nelson
10. Saturday Night’s Alright (For Fighting) / Kid Rock & Nickelback or Elton if you’re more into that.
11. Dead Man’s Party / Oingo Boingo
12. Dancing With Myself / Billy Idol
13. Rock And Roll All Nite / Kiss
14. Little Red Corvette / Prince
Saturday Weekend Party
1. Working For The Weekend / Loverboy
2. Party Like A Rockstar / Shop Boyz
3. Saturday Night / Ta-Gana
4. Get The Party Started / Pink
5. Come Dancing / The Kinks
6. Saturday Night / Bay City Rollers
7. Party Doll / Buddy Knox with The Rhythm Orchids
8. Saturday Night Special / Lynyrd Skynyrd
9. Garden Party / Ricky Nelson
10. Saturday Night’s Alright (For Fighting) / Kid Rock & Nickelback or Elton if you’re more into that.
11. Dead Man’s Party / Oingo Boingo
12. Dancing With Myself / Billy Idol
13. Rock And Roll All Nite / Kiss
14. Little Red Corvette / Prince
just shy of pretty 