Miles to go

I thought I was being so clever when I left the hint for the kids about the upcoming surprise. "Miles to go"...we were going to drive to a different city and see a 33 Miles concert.

Unbeknownst to me, Miley Cyrus wrote a book with the title Miles To Go. Yep...all the kids could think about was something involving Miley Cyrus. And Bubba was not all that excited about Miley Cyrus. He's so over Miley. He's more of a Taylor Swift guy now.

He's also a 33 Miles kind of guy. In fact, Bubba is the one that introduced us to 33 Miles. So, when Honey heard about the concert in a town just a couple of hours away, we planned a little overnight.

We secretly packed the kids bags, checked them out of school a little early, and hit the road. It was about 45 miles into the trip, and many, many very leading hints when Bubba finally caught on. The kids were really excited. Brooke actually got teary eyed and emotional over the thought of her first concert, and Mary Tutu isn't one to let someone cry alone. Bubba was confused with all the crying, but Brooke told him that they were happy tears.

The tickets were very reasonably priced, so I upgraded us to VIP status and we got to get in the doors early, get a great seat, and participate in a question and answer session with the band. JJ Heller was the opening act. She performs with her husband, and they were both really nice.

The girls sat on the front row, the very front row. Honey, Bubba, and I sat right behind them. All of us wore ear plugs.

Mary Tutu doing her impression of KISS while we waited for the concert to start. Thanks Dr. Pepper for introducing my 7 year olds to the band KISS.

Brooke ready to ROCK ON!

The concert was very small. There were maybe 150 people there. But it was really cool, intimate even. And at the end? The very last song they sang?

Footloose.

I know, right? It was awesome.

After the show, we waited in a very short line to meet the band and get autographs. They were all really sweet to the kids and talked to them for a bit...something that never would have happened if there had been a larger crowd.

After the concert, we spent the night in a local motel. It wasn't the longest night we'd ever had in a motel, but it ranks right up there. I always forget how much fun it is for all 5 of us to sleep in the same room.

This is the time of year that my kids cough, a lot. When we left our town, no one was coughing, but I packed the cough medicine anyway, just in case.

By the time we were ready for bed, Mary Tutu was coughing like a puma. (Yeah, that's kind of our inside joke. Once she came to us and told us that she was hungry like a puma. We took that to mean that she was really, really hungry. It kind of stuck, so now if we're feeling something in a really strong way, it's "like a puma".)

So, she was coughing like a puma. Bubba and Brooke slept right through it, but pretty much the only thing that got me through was the memory of the Footloose awesomeness.

We got up the next morning and went down to take advantage of the free continental breakfast. All the coughing like a puma must have messed with our timing, because when we got to breakfast, the lobby was filled to overflowing with football players. We heard the tail end of their team meeting and then they released them to eat their last meal before the game, their free continental breakfast.

Honestly, I didn't want to mess with their playoff mojo, or fight with them over the last piece of bacon at the free continental breakfast, so we excused ourselves to the nearest Cracker Barrel. It wasn't free, but surprisingly it was hot, we had good service, and they got our order right the first time. This is a first for us at the Cracker Barrel.

Sleeping in the same room with someone coughing like a puma was not on my agenda for another night, so after lunch, we made our way home to the nebulizer. Several treatments later, the cough was better, and we all slept peacefully.

And today, after a mostly fun weekend with the family, life is good.

"Thank You" by 33 Miles