So let me see. The Friday after Angel’s recital was Lisa’s recital. She went to a new studio this year, so I was looking forward to seeing it. I’m not sure how many nights their recital covered, but if you took out all the competition dancers, it would have only lasted maybe 30 minutes. They had 3 different comp groups & they literally hogged the stage. Don’t get me wrong – they were really good – but that’s not what I wanted to see!
I hate to say it, but I think Mom is getting a bit forgetful. She asked how many of us were going to the recital so she could get tickets. I knew it was Field Day weekend, so Randy would NOT be there. So I told her 2 - for me & Angel. She still got him a ticket! Now I didn’t hear this conversation, so I’m not taking sides, but she asked Linda & she told her that because we’d gone to Ohio the weekend before, she’d have to go up north – thus not being at the recital. Mom swore up & down that Linda told her that both she & Catie would be there. Laurie told me a couple days later that Mom was still upset about the whole situation & had been crying during the recital. Not the rock & hard place I want to be between! I only know what I told her. So next year, to be safe…I’m going to write the number of tickets on her calendar & hope she looks at it before tickets go on sale. Whew.
Saturday & Sunday were Field Day. Randy was at the Nat’l Weather Service Office, so we went out to visit – conveniently a short time before they launched the weather balloon that evening. Angel got to help the meteorologist who launched it. It was a beautiful sunshiny day, so we could see it for a long time. We stayed there until around 11pm before heading home. We were invited to go back out Sunday, but I opted not to. Besides, they shut down operations about 1 ½ hours early due to storms!
A row of Ham cars
Angel holding the box with weather equipment.
NWS dude with the balloon.
Launching!
This past weekend was BUSY!! 3 day weekends are supposed to be relaxing, but it wasn’t! Linda came & got Angel Thursday night to go up north. So Friday night, Randy and I went out to dinner & to see Grown Ups at the theater (hysterical!!) Saturday we did the siren test, and then went out to White Lake for my cousin Todd’s surprise 50th birthday party. Then, being a nice aunt & uncle, we went to cousin Jennifer’s house on the lake for a while so Lisa Lulu could hang out with her cousins that she goes to school with. It was nice, even if all these cousins are much older than I am. Had a nice chat with Kevin, who was a Lieutenant at my bootcamp graduation & is now up for Captain. He’s been in 30+ years !! Crazy! But anyway, Lisa got to go tubing & stuff and then, since we were only about 3 miles from the NWS, I asked her if she wanted to go see a weather balloon launch! So she was really easy to get away from there. First we went to Timmy’s for some iced coffee, & then she got to help launch the balloon. I think she was more interested in it than Pnut was. She asked questions & everything. Guess she learned how cool it is to have geeky relatives!
Sunday we went to our church service at Stony Creek MetroPark. It was nice! Pastor Kevin blew the amplifier, so he had to do the sermon “unplugged”. And included one joke about how Jesus managed to speak to 5000 before amplification. But we sat out on lawn chairs under the trees next to the lake. Then had a nice picnic afterward. Tons of really good food. And I got baptized! I’d been thinking about it anyway, but what better day than Independence Day?? Most of the other 9 people brought bathing suits, but I just went in my clothes. Handed my phone & camera to Randy and that was it. Oh yeah, we just walked over to the beach & waded in! So we had a huge audience, even if most people probably didn’t realize what we were doing. It was a glorious day!
I'm behind the large glowing white woman.
Monday was the parade in Clawson. It just so happened that a couple days before, Gerald, the guy in charge of staging, just happened to call Randy at the last minute & as if he could round up some hams to be stationed along the parade route. He did it, tho! He rounded up 8 people (including me!) and set us up along the route & in staging. It was pretty neat. I got to argue with an old man who wanted me to move the barricade so he could get out onto 14 Mile and go get some medication for his wife. Sorry Charlie! The parade route is closed, go around. I should have stayed there and gave him the evil eye, because I think he moved it anyway. Oh well. I got to go up to an entry & tell them to hurry up, too. They had too big of a gap in front of them, so they needed to get the lead out! So after the parade we all went over to Gerald’s Mom’s house for another picnic. There we gladly went home & vegged the rest of the day. I was really surprised to see Linda & Angel there. They apparently left “up north” at like 0530 to get there. Wow!
My first event badge!
Me!
Angel wants to run away and join the circus because of these people.
I don’t know what the deal is this year, but someone let off maybe 5 or 6 M-80s over the course of the day a few weeks ago and now Jack is scared of loud noises! That day he followed me around and cowered all day. I felt sorry for him at first, and then it got annoying. He didn’t like fireworks or the fire trucks with their sirens going! Neat.
So Tuesday I’m back at work (bored because I’d gotten all my work done Friday) and I get a call around 3:45 from Terina, the owner of Pnut’s dance studio saying due to a “scheduling conflict”, her summer classes got changed to Tuesday nights. She asked me if I’d gotten her email about it – but the email was mostly about all the fitness classes she’s offering now and mentioned that the 5-10 year old age group classes had been changed. So I deleted it because I didn't think it applied to us. Well, Pnut was still tired from being up north & was crabby, and not enthusiastic about dancing right away. When we got to the studio (late because I didn’t know when her first class started now), the only 2 girls in the class were maybe 7 or 8. Angel was not a happy camper. She did NOT want to dance with the little kids. Even tho Desiree told her that there were 2 or 3 others her age who would be there next week, she refused to go in. So I sat out in the lobby with her (she was upset and I was mad, but now I understand why she was offended) to make sure she went into jazz afterward. She calmed down & was OK for the next class, so I left her. I know she wasn’t the only one who was ticked about the change. Another girl’s mom came in and saw Angel was a bigger girl, too and asked me what was up with the change. IDK! Anyway, when I went to pick her up, she told me that Terina wanted her to go in Wednesday for that ballet class. And it was exactly what I suspected. All of the “better” dancers were there. Terina should not have put age groups as the classes. She should have put beginner, intermediate, advanced, etc. I think these girls would have been a lot less offended to be put in the “intermediate” class with a wider range of ages, than to know you’re going in the 5-10 year old group. Grr. But I think she’s over her snit now. I’m still not happy about Terina blatantly keeping all her ‘good” dancers together and treating the rest like chopped liver. Oh yeah, and then Terina wanted her to take ballet again before comp team try outs in August, but since I’d already paid for 3 classes, she didn’t charge me for ballet. That news didn't add any joy to the girl's demeanor! I'm sure next week she'll be more prepared and ready to dance. I know if I'd spent several days staying up really late & being all hot & sunburnt, I sure wouldn't want to dance, especially in 4 classes!
But anyway, we have survived. I think Pnut and I are going to watch Lisa Lulu ride in her first horse show Saturday, but other than that, it’ll be a quiet (hopefully!!) weekend. Next week Randy will be at the Mid-Michigan MS150 bike race. No other real big plans for the summer. Hoping to go to the UP before school starts up again!
But I have incentive to get my butt back on the Weight Watchers bandwagon! It’s called a trip to Mexico in February! Woohoo! And the 2.6 pound loss I had today ~faint~ helped a lot! We don’t have any solid dates as of yet, but we’re most likely going to Riviera Maya, and all inclusive resort real close to Cancun. I’m pretty excited. I now have a vacation playlist on my iPod = Margaritaville, 10 Rounds with Jose Cuervo, 2 Pina Coladas, Redneck Yacht Club, etc.
