Earth Day

Kate's class went on an awesome fieldtrip yesterday!! We are so fortunate to live in a town with such fantastic schools. I think our school in particualar is really fantastic. We have a counselor who does so many extra things for and with our kids. We have a principal who is open to new ideas and allows are teachers to think outside the box.

Yesterday, the whole 3rd grade got to go on a hike to a nearby state park. We didn't hike down the road. We hiked through the woods and entered the park through the back (with permission ofcourse). For almost an hour we hiked over logs and rocks, next to a big creek. Absolutely getting those kids out in nature.

Once we got there, we got to canoe in the lake, fish, and learn about trees and wildlife from county extension agents. We were there the whole day, the adults involved in this fieldtrip were great. They really put there all into what they were teaching. Thank you to Mr. Hooks, Ms. Moar (our venture teacher), Ms. Goodling (our computer teacher), and Ms. Calloway (our P.E. teacher). (And please forgive me if I'm not thanking all of the teachers, don't mean to leave anyone out.) Thanks to the County Extension office and to Auburn University for participating.

Kate is so fortunate to be getting an education like this. She has a message for everyone...Starting today, earth day...Let's remember to turn off our computers at night when they aren't in use, don't overwater your lawns this summer (about every 5 days is enough), call Pottery Barn and ask them to take you off of their mailing list (we can order from the website), carpool when you can, and reduce, reuse, and recycle....Instead of a New Years Resolution, make it an Earthday Resolution.

Sticks Country Music Festival

I had a great time last night with some friends. There was a BIG country music festival going on right outside of town here. I love country music, if you haven't already figured that out. So I was trying all week to figure out how we could go. How I could justfiy paying for the tickets when I knew I wouldn't be able to go for long. (The whole thing was 2 days and the price reflected it).

Well, Saturday morning my friend called and said she had free tickets!!! She got them through her work, and with some extra work, was able to get 4 more free tickets and have them upgraded to VIP!! VIP meant we got to sit closer to the stage, got free food in the VIP tent, got to use the VIP bathrooms which were much nicer than the Jiffy Jon's up on the top of the hill (Vicki even saw Gretchen Wilson in the VIP bathrooms!!!) and got to go backstage (where Sarah Evans and Jay Barker rode by us in a golf cart, I thought Heather was going to pull my finger off).

We had a great time. It's been a long time since I've done anything like that (I went to June Jam in Ft. Payne AL when I was about 21.) This was fairly tame. We only saw one fight...even though it took every police officer there to break it up and get this one guy to stop. Seriously, three police officers walked past us (or should I say were dragged past us) as they escorted this guy out of there. He was a pretty big guy, and he was mad about something. These police officers were struggling to hang on to this guy. One of them was hanging on to his hair (like you would the mane of a horse as he is galloping away with you).

But they got him out and all was fine, until these 2 guys came to sit behind us. In the VIP Section! They were decked out head to toe in black leather, nascar jackets, big cowboy hats, cigarettes hanging out of their mouths. And these guys had had way too much to drink. They were making lude comments about every girl who walked by. Joe started calling them Dale Jr. and Dale Sr., and I'm not one to sit around and watch or talk NASCAR, but that was just disrespectful. I mean this guy was awful and I think Dale Sr. is looking down on Joe saying "Thanks a lot buddy! You don't even know me!!"

Once the music started (as you would have about a 30 minute intermission between acts), it was all good. Dale Jr. and Dale Sr. stopped looking at girls and started listening and enjoying the music and so did we. We all sang along and hooped and hollered at every song. Vicki's daughter who is 13 I think, knew every word to every song. She wants to be a country singer when she grows up... So do I!

The dumbest thing I did was forget to take my camera, so I'll just put a few songs on my playlist by some of the artists we got to see. I'll see if Heather has any pictures and I'll get them from her.

Thanks Vicki and Sheppard for a great time!!! It was a blast.