Summer of Concerts

David and Ali went to a bunch of concerts this summer. Some together, some individually, and some in serial (more on that later). The summer started off with the Springsteen and E Street Band show - the best show David's seen - and he can't wait until they come around again in November. David had no idea which songs were coming next (and he studies setlists from previous shows religiously). The highlight was a section in the middle where Bruce and the band took requests from fan-made signs out of the crowd. Next, we saw Green Day - a really good show that could have been great if Billie Joe (the lead singer) didn't yell "Washington DC" three+ times a song. Some reviewers called it "Springsteen-ian", but only in the sense of "a long show with a huge stable of hits". Alison saw the Young Dubliners with Marisa and saw Eagles of Death Metal with a friend from work. EoDM is not a "death metal" band, rather a power punk/alternative band that's in Ali's current musical wheelhouse. David also went to see the Progressive Nation 2009 concert with a couple of friends, mainly to see Queensrÿche, but was also impressed with Dream Theater. The final show we saw had the cheapest tickets - free! It was the FreeFest concert with a whole day's worth of acts on two separate stages. Since the bands David wanted to see were early in the day, and the bands Alison wanted to see were late in the day, we decided not to spend money on a whole day's worth of babysitting, and just took turns. When David was done, he met Alison in the nearby mall parking lot with the kids, and then took them home. Thankfully, we had some friends who stayed most of the day to hang out with.

Sarah spent part of her summer with a week of Girl Scout camp; she's already asked to go back next year. She also had a week with Camp Grandma and Camp Mom-Mom (David and Alison like the weekly rates, too), and a week at a "Nutritiously Delicious" cooking camp. Her school year started early this year - two weeks before Labor Day. She really likes her teacher and is having fun so far. Nicholas started his new school year, but he's still in the same classroom from the summer.