Wow, I just had the best weekend I’ve had so far in 2010. I had fun from start to finish and I have photos and video to prove it! Is this how the other half lives? It makes me really look forward to 2011!
Real quick, if you’ve never been here, click here to see why I’m running 61 marathons this year to raise money and awareness for Train 4 Autism.
Speaking of those 61 marathons, I’m through 37 of them. I only have 24 to go! I ran on Saturday this weekend and had an absolute blast. I needed a race like this, no question.
The Concert That Was … And Wasn’t … And Was …
Tiff and I had planned on going to see Trace Adkins and Toby Keith on Saturday night. We bought tickets a couple of months ago and were really looking forward to it. I’ve always wanted to see Trace Adkins and we saw Toby Keith in 2003 and had a good time.
Unfortunately, our babysitting fell through on Friday night. And then it came together on Saturday morning and fell apart again. And then it was back on. Before it could be off again, we escaped out the door and headed down to the show.
It was a much-needed event for me and Tiff. Our San Francisco weekend fell apart a couple of weeks ago and this year has certainly been anything but easy for us. The show was decent. I like Trace Adkins and liked a lot of the stuff he did, but I like a lot of his slower stuff — Then They Do, Arlington, You’re Gonna Miss This, All I Ask For Anymore — and he didn’t do any of those. But he was still fun.
Toby Keith … I like Toby Keith and when I saw him in 2003 I really liked him. I enjoyed his show on Saturday, but it seemed that he really picked it up on the vulgarity scale and I was a little disappointed in that. But it was a good show, the people watching was incredible and we had a great time.
Even better that the show, though, was the drive. It was about two hours each way and we laughed the whole way there and back. We hadn’t been that carefree and happy in a long, long time. It was awesome. I’m glad the babysitting worked out.
I don’t look like I was happy, but really, I was.
I Love My Grandpa’s Birthday
We had a nice family gathering yesterday to celebrate my grandpa’s 87th birthday, which is today. It was a lot easier and more relaxed since they live nearby now and it was really nice to see the family. I ate too much for lunch (two sandwiches, a ton of peanut M&Ms, Costco birthday cake with ice cream, chips, potato salad, a pickle, a cookie, some pineapple and … I think that was it) so I didn’t eat dinner. But it’s good to fall off the wagon like that occasionally. Or, as my wife told me, that’s why I’m not losing weight.
My brother asked my grandpa if there was anything he wanted for his birthday and he said he wanted a toilet bowl brush and some Tide, so that’s what he got him. He only needs one toilet bowl brush, but he can always use more Tide. So I picked him up some Tide and a CD set he can listen to when he relaxes in his new place.
As you can see, he loved his gifts.
To each his own, right?
I’m not going to bother writing a whole lot of words about the gathering, other than to say I love my extended family and I was very happy to spend the afternoon with everybody.
Other Random Stuff
– Happy birthday to my mom and my grandpa today. I probably shouldn’t out my mom and say how old she is, but her mom died young due to lung cancer and then hepatitis that blew up during chemotherapy for that cancer. For whatever reason, my mom always thought she was going to die at that same age, but now she’s past that number. My grandpa is 87, no shyness there.
– I think I earned Bad Joke of the Week honors. We were at Subway and the guy didn’t put many onions on my sandwich. I told him to put more on there for me and told him with a straight, grumpy face while looking towards Tiff, “I don’t want that chick to try to kiss me.” I’m not sure if he knew I was joking or not. So a minute later, Tiff told me she was going to get some chips and I told her OK, then turned to the sandwich artist and with all the grumpiness I could muster, I told him under my breath, “Wow, she’s real pushy for a blind date, huh?” He eventually figured out that I was joking when I told him about how I spilled my salad all over my lap on my first date with her.
– I washed Tiff’s Suburban yesterday with the kids, and because my back is worth a dollar to me and my kids are young, Benjamin and Ava had a wheel-cleaning competition. Benjamin won the dollar. I like this whole “weekend” thing. Is this what the rest of you do?
– Back when I was a student at Kansas State and working on the newspaper, the photographers used to always take pictures of squirrels for the last issue of the semester and then fill the paper with them. It’s a long-standing tradition. On Saturday after my race, I saw a squirrel and had to take a picture. I posted it on Facebook and tagged all my friends from the paper for fun. Everybody had a nice stroll down memory lane.
He was comfortable around me because I’m a nut.
And lastly, check out this video of Jack from yesterday. I’m not exactly sure what was going on in his mind, but it was interesting and he had fun.
Ok, that’s all for today, folks. I hope your day is at least half as good as my weekend was. You’ll be happy if that’s the case!
BarefootGlenda Buttgen says
So glad you had such a terrific weekend. You both deserve it! The video was GREAT! It’s so good to hear Jack use his words to tell you what he wants. 🙂
Sarah Loy says
My favorite part was “Ava I’ll give you a dollar if you stand there”
Hope she got her dollar!
Ally Phillips says
Glad you had such a great weekend, you guys deserve it! Glad the concert worked out. I haven’t seen Toby Keith since 2003 either and although I haven’t seen him since then, I agree that his music in general has gotten a little more vulgar and “out there” so it doesn’t surprise me that it carried over into his concert, that’s a bummer.
Love the video of Jack (and Tiff, Benjamin and Ava too!). So great to hear him saying what he wants. And major points go out to Benjamin for moving all over and doing what his little brother wanted.
Erin Fortin says
Glad you had a great weekend, Sam, it’s beyond well deserved! Happy birthday to your family members! And that video of Jack (and Tiff, Benjamin, Ava) is fantastic!