I'm sure everyone has already made plans for the 4^th, but I'd like to offer one more alternative. My FAVORITE band is playing in downtown Minneapolis. The band is called Cowboy Mouth and they will be playing at the Mill City Stage at 8:15 p.m. for the Minneapolis Parks' Red, White and Boom Celebration. After the concert the fireworks will start over the river. So if you were planning to see the fireworks downtown anyhow, stop by the Mill City Stage and check out Cowboy Mouth!

Cowboy Mouth is from New Orleans and the front man is actually the bands drummer Fred. They are a very FUN band. They ask the audience to "pretend you're 5 years old and nothing in the world really matters". It's a great way to let your hair down and just enjoy life!

If It'sJill is reading this....they sing a song called "Everybody loves Jill". It's an audience participation song. The song is about all the "red" things that Jill loves including eating red cake with a red spoon. Then the audience throws red spoons on stage. Stupid, I know, but silly fun too.

On other music news this weekend......my 10 year old daughter has somehow become the biggest GB Leighton fan, so today I'll be taking her to the Taste to see him. Then on Saturday hubby is taking the 13 year old boy to the Taste to see Seether (heavy metal yuck, in my opinion). I miss the days of taking a stroller to the Taste, it was MUCH cheaper! They were too young to beg for $100.00 cheese curds!

Happy Birthday America! Enjoy the 4^th all!

2000 miles later....we all survived. The worst thing that happened was when my 13 year old left hubby's $100 diving goggles at the Hershey PA campground pool. A hard lesson in responsibility. So here's my question......When Mr. Hershey decided to build a factory in Pennsylvania's dairy country, did he ever fathom the idea of the commercialism that would follow? Only in America!

The state parks in Indiana and Ohio were crowded, dirty and loud. Everyone was packed in like sardines. The KOA in Ohio and the Hershey campground were typical "resort" type campgrounds (and suck holes of money). "Mom can I have money for the arcade, rental bikes, paddle boats, etc." The state park in SE Wisconsin was beautiful but had Kamikaze skeeters.

All in all it was a good trip. I'm not sure if the boy will end up at boarding school, but it was good for him to see what educational opportunities are out there.

While we were gone my neighbor of 13 years erected (hee-hee, she said "erected") a 7 foot tall privacy fence between our yards. WTF! It took me a while to put my feelings about the whole thing together. I guess I feel personally attacked. It's just a free standing fence. No security purpose, no dog to keep in, etc. Visually it has cut my yard in half. I keep trying to tell myself "It's not me it's her". I know she wants to lay out in her backyard without my kids and their friends bothering her, but then I'm still able to turn that around to "It's me and my family, not her". Whatever.

That's all for now. Enjoy the weather all!

P.S. Loved the stories read on CK's show today! They made me HOT! Great job everyone!

Here I sit, watching the storm roll in, playing the waiting game. Tomorrow morning my family leaves for a 10 day trip to Pennsylvania. We're camping every night along the way and back. The purpose of the trip is for my son to tour and interview at a boarding school in Ohio. I figured we'd throw in some fun too so then we're heading to Hershey PA for chocolate and roller coasters.

I had no idea gas prices would be this high when I decided to do this. Pulling a camper with the SUV we get about 8 miles to the gallon! UGH! But it's still probably cheaper than flying, hotels and restaurants for a family of four. I've been planning the trip since January and been packing for two days. The packing is finally done and now I sit.....and wait.....

This morning broken lefty got her cast off. OMG! The smell! She's still babying it and that's probably o.k. Although within hours of getting the cast off she was at the pool with a friend. I can't believe it's been six weeks already.

I commented about this on Z's blog, but when did it become a fashion "do" to wear plaid pants with a striped shirt? That's my son's chosen uniform for the summer.

As soon as hubby gets home we'll load the cooler into the back of the truck. In the morning we'll throw the pillows in the camper and hit the road at 7 a.m.

I feel like we're leaving town just in time for summer to finally start in MN. Have a great week everyone! Get out and enjoy the heat and sun!

I'll be listening to "MOM! Tell him to stop looking out my window!" and eating my fill of Reese's.

My sister has lived over seas for the last 14 years. She works as an ESL teacher in foreign schools. She has lived in Mexico, Germany, Turkey, Thailand, China, and Romania. Her next position will be in Jakarta, Indonesia. She's back in the U.S. for the next 5 weeks. I LOVE it when she comes home! I miss her SO much when she's gone.

Hubby, the kids and I went to my parents' house yesterday to welcome my sister home. She was jet-lagged and talkative. Hubby and I were trying to figure out transportation logistics for the evening activities. I had a board meeting and the kids had Vacation Bible School. My son volunteered to ride his bike to church but that still left broken lefty daughter stranded (she's apprehensive to ride her bike with the cast). Here's how the rest of the conversation went:

My Dad (77 years old): He could put his sister on his handle bars and give her a ride

Me: No, dad that's not safe.

My Dad: Why can't he buck his sister.

The giggles started....

My sister (to my hubby): No, no "BUCK" with a "B".

Mom, sister, hubby and I start laughing harder. Dad's oblivious.

My Dad: I used to buck my mother all over the place.

At this point the rest of us are crying we're laughing so hard.

Dad was oblivious the entire time.

My first post got lost in cyber space.  Furbert?  If it posts twice, sorry.

When the kids come home on the last day of school every year I've been playing "School's Out for Summer" at top volume. For many years it was just one of mom's old songs but thanks to Guitar Hero III the kids REALLY know the song now. So at 4:00 p.m. yesterday our house was a-rockin.

School's out for summer. What does that mean? It means I now have an 8^th grader and a 5^th grader wandering the city. It means I better get used to hearing the following....I'm bored, can I have a ride to *fill in the blank*, can I walk to SA, I'm bored, can *fill in the blank* sleep over, where are the Band-Aids, I'm bored, tell him to stop, tell her to stop, what's for lunch, I'm bored, I didn't do it, can I bike to the park, I‘m bored.

On another note......here's a funny/weird thing that happened in our neighborhood this past week. Because hubby and I work in the security industry we've been testing out some new cameras on the outside of house that look up and down the alley. The neighbor a couple of houses down had planted a bunch of expensive flowers next to the alley. She called us the other night to say that someone had dug them up and stolen them. Might our cameras have recorded the thief? We checked and sure enough there he was. It was another neighbor who is in his late 60's and mentally impaired. He's actually quite combative and all the kids have been warned to stay away from him. Not because of his diminished capacity, but because of his angry outbursts. He lives across the street (hence our alley is not his) and was riding his bike through our alley at 5:00 a.m. and just dug up her flowers and rode away. Nice! The neighbor is actually going to press charges. Personally I think that's taking it a bit far.

So be for-warned.......don't steal from my alley (you'll get caught) and if you see my kids running around tell them to quit fighting with each other and come home for dinner.