Glory Glory Man(chester) United!

That is what we were singing on Saturday in Chicago!  We found out Manchester United would be in Chicago for their summer tour.  Of course we HAD to go!  I got tickets for Billy's Father's Day present and then we just had to wait!  It was worth it!  We had excellent seats and Manchester United beat the Chicago Fire 3-1. 

Things to note:

1.  All the goals were scored on our end of the field.  WORD!

2.  Saturday night after a major soccer game is NOT the time to try to go to downtown deep dish pizza joints.  We couldn't handle a three hour wait.  So where did we get our pizza?  In the suburbs, where we stayed.  It was good but not great. :(

3.  Next time I go to Chicago, I'm leaving the kids at home and you might just find me standing in a long line to try a better pizza pie! :)

4.  When attending a game with over 60,000 people, get there really early (parking is a beast...an expensive beast).  But not too early because you won't get any autographs!  :(

5.  Choose a seat that isn't facing the sun when it's approximately ONE bajillion degrees outside.  It was super hot!!!  But we did bring squirt bottles so Lola was able to stay cool!  She looks sweaty in the picture I'm about to post but it was really water! :)

6.  We wanted to go do fun stuff at Navy Pier before we came home but it rained.  Typical.  So we just drove around the city before we came home!

7.  Billy had a great time.  It was fun to see his face while he watched his favorite soccer heroes play in REAL life!

8.  I thought I loved watching soccer on TV.  Live?  It's a whole different ball game!  I LOVED it.  I was on the edge of my seat the whole game!  Sure, mostly because the guy next to me was totally crowding my personal space.  But still......good times were had by all! :)

Wayne Rooney!

Ryan Giggs!

That's all folks!  Sorry for all the blurry photos!

Holiday World!

Blake and I had the opportunity to go to Holiday World with some very good friends of ours!  Billy took the day off and was able to look after Lola and Blake and I took off!  It was a long drive and it was VERY hot but we ended up having a great time.

Favorites:  winning a U of L ball (after spending $12 to play the stinkin' game over and over and over....), the free soft drink stations, the water slides, the yummy pretzel (after I almost passed out from extreme hunger), the wave pool, the log ride, and spending time with friends!

Not so favorites:  getting SUPER nauseous after ride number one (yes...the first roller coaster almost made me barf), going down the SUPER scary water slide in the pitch dark (and going backwards)...I really did almost barf after that, the EXTREME heat, the fact that the kiddos only wanted to ride one roller coaster instead of the three that were there.  Oh well!  We still had fun!

I didn't bring my camera in so I only have a couple photos from my phone!  You're welcome! ;)

NKOTBSB!

NKOTBSB:  That is quite difficult to say!  I know because we were chanting it at the concert! Oh yeah, baby!  We rocked the house with New Kids On The Block and Backstreet Boys last week in Louisville!  Was it awesome?  It sure as heck was!  We had a blast!  I was lucky enough to attend with my sister, Beth, my sis-in-law, Kristen and her dear friend, Suzy! 

I used to have a huge crush on NKOTB boy, Jordan Knight.  I left with a new crush on Donnie Wahlberg.  Holy cow he is hot.  Don't worry....Billy is okay with this....I think!  But seriously, the concert was so fun!  Yes, they played Hangin' Tough and The Right Stuff.  I liked it.  A lot.  I should also mention that Matthew Morrison (Glee hottie) was the opening act.  And I love him.  So I was very happy!  :)

Here are some photos of our super fun night!

DONNIE!  You're welcome, ladies!

LONG LIVE NKOTB!!!  I'm not a huge fan of Backstreet Boys but it's all good!  :)  I still loved the show!

Scout Camp!

Blake had his first experience at Scout day camp this year.  And boy oh boy, did he have fun!  I'm not gonna lie.  It was nice (for me) to have a little break all day.  He was gone from 8-4 Monday through Thursday.  So for four days I didn't have to hear my two children pestering the daylights out of each other!  YAY!

I decided to go on Friday and I took little Lola with.  I think I was crazy.  We walked.  And walked.  And walked.  All over that camp.  Lola was a hot mess and so was I!  I got a crazy sunburn and I was just plain worn out by the time we got home.  Blake was supposed to spend the night camping with Billy.  However, after discovering their tent at camp was covered with spiders, they decided to come home.  Yeah.  I guess he comes by it right.  Me=not a fan of spiders. But still.....

Yeah.  I didn't do so well with pictures!  Oops!  You can see my thumb in the second one and you can barely see Blake running down the hill (in the red shirt)!  I did the best I could, I guess! ;)

HAPPY! :)

Whoa.  It's been kind-of a long time since I posted a happy blog.  So here I am.  Being happy.  Or something like that.  What's making me happy right now?  Hmmm......I will list a few things (five, to be exact) in no particular order!

1.  My family.  I'm so happy Blake was able to go to soccer camp for three hours and football practice for two hours today.  I'm happy Lola actually behaved herself for one of those things!  I mean, that's way too much time to expect her to be good for all of it! :)  I miss Billy.  It's getting harder and harder but I'm thankful that I'm able to spend so much time with my kiddos!

2.  Broccoli.  It's delicious and I'm getting ready to eat some!  Yum!  I mean, it's no Taco Bell.  But what can ya do (besides eat Taco Bell)?  ;)

3.  Other people's blogs! I haven't read up in a while and to all you bloggers out there, I love your work!  Keep them coming because you keep me entertained!

4.  Psych.  The TV show that I talk about incessantly!  I'm going through withdrawals and quote lines from Gus on a regular basis.  I can't wait for when my turn to rent season 5 actually arrives!

5.  Ice cream.  It's in my freezer.  I can't eat it (stupid diet).  But it makes me happy.  I can eat it sometime, right?

Hope you all have something to be happy about.  Because being happy pretty much rocks! :)

P.S.  Stay tuned for a whole gaggle (word of the day) of posts from me.  I'm WAY behind!  I know you're excited but try to contain yourself! :):):)

Road to Regionals!

As you all know, Blake is obsessed with soccer!  And this summer has been filled with more 3v3 action!  As I told you in an earlier post, Blake's team placed 3rd in the first tournament they competed in!  And a little over a week ago, they came in FIRST!  That's right!  They played some really great teams and earned the medal!  Blake was over the moon!  He had an incredible day....scoring 8 goals in four games...including the winning goal for the first place title!  Go Blake!  I will let you know how we do in Regionals next weekend in Cincinnati!

Yeah.  Lola was pretty exhausted!  It was an ALL day event.  And it was really hot.  But yay for first place!

THE Parasailing Adventure!

Okay so I should start off by saying that I really wanted to do something "risky."  I thought I was being SO brave by going parasailing.  Well it turns out that I'm probably not THAT brave.  I've heard lots of people tell me they've gone.  Most people told me it wasn't scary.  I guess I was the only one nervous on the boat.  Now that I've done it, I can tell you it really wasn't too scary!  But hey, if you're scared of heights, you probably wouldn't dig being six HUNDRED feet above the water.  Just puttin' that out there!

So here is the video.  We loved the guys who ran the show.  I called them Captain and Skipper.  Their real names are Kenny and Kevin.  They did a great job with the video.  Alli got DUNKED when they dipped us in the water.  It was crazy!  But that was my favorite part! :)  Nothing better than drinking a big ol' gulp of salt water early in the morning! :)

http://upload.youtube.com/my_videos_upload

And here are some photos!  We had a great time!  I should also mention that I got TERRIBLY nauseous AFTER I went up.  The waves were super choppy and they made for a violent ride.  I'm lucky I made it back without vomiting in the boat (and making everyone very angry)!  Alli got to go TWICE.  They asked me to go again but at that point, I was too sick to think about it.  So Alli got to go again with a lady and her four year-old son.  Yup.  A four year-old!  I'm embarrassed to admit I was a little scared when that little tot wasn't even knockin' his knees!  Anyway, lucky Alli!  She had a blast and I'm so glad I got to share that experience with her! :)