Rock on The Range 2014

Wow! Talk about an awesome weekend!

The three boys stayed at my parents and had so much fun. They went to the park to play on the playground, for a walk to the nearby shopping center to watch rc cars, a small festival where they each rode one or two rides, and to the dollar store to buy a small toy. Movies were watched, games were played and tons of outside fun was had. Alex got his birthday money early, and is saving it to spend later. E got his early too, and spent about half of it on a used DS game. Jackson slept and ate well nearly the entire weekend, and only asked for us a few times, but a short phone call each day made him smile.

That Thursday, the boys and I were supposed to meet up with someone but unfortunately our plans fell through. Instead we spent the day with my dad, and went to the store for a bit. Early the next morning, Jason drove down and picked me up for our 3 hour drive south to Columbus, Ohio. We went to Heather and Matt's house and got to spend some time with them and my nephew before the 4 of us adults headed out to the Columbus Crew Stadium for the concerts.

Friday, we got to see Black Label Society, Seether and Staind. All very good shows! I had heard songs by each of them but I'm not so good at remembering which songs are by which bands. Well, some bands and songs are iconic, so they stick with me a bit better. Staind's front man, Aaron Lewis, really earned my respect that night. People were crowd-surfing like crazy, and guys were grabbing girls inappropriately just "because they could". Well Aaron Lewis said something about it! Basically, that their moms should be ashamed of them, they probably didn't raise them to be like that, it's not open season on girls, that girls are grabbing them in their privates, etc. He was eloquent, to the point, and got cheers from all the women and girls in the crowd along with many of the guys! Much love for that!

We did catch a couple of the other bands on the smaller stages, but just a song or two here and there, and I don't remember the bands.

Friday's Headliner: Guns 'N' Roses. I have no words. We left early during their show. No Slash. Axl was being... Let's just say I will never be able to listen to Welcome to the Jungle the same again. Most definitely without laughing extremely hard. I went to get my hair chopped off last night, and turned the radio on in the truck. That song came on, and I just couldn't stop cracking up, thinking of that night, and then Jason's imitation in the van the other day when we heard it.

We went to a great little restaurant, where the waitress was joking and laughing with us while we ordered and ate breakfast at midnight (except Heather, who got chicken strips. "One of these is not like the others" - Jason, who also order fried mushrooms to go with his big breakfast). We probably spent a good hour and a half just hanging out.

Saturday brought more fun after some busyness in the morning/afternoon. When we got to ROTR, we got the opportunity to see Pop Evil, Theory of a Dead Man and Chevelle who all sounded great. At that point Jason and I took off for the "pit" area, moving as close to the stage as possible. Heather and Matt went to the bleachers to sit.

Slayer!! We were so close! Jason and I did get separated for most of the show, but it was so awesome. I couldn't leave my phone out, or I'd have dropped and lost it in the madness. Great show, crazy crowd, so much fun!

Headliner: Avenged Sevenfold (A7X) put on such an awesome show!!! I didn't realize how much I like their music until that night. Really! I can see why they are so big.

Boneless wings, cheese and bacon fries, and subs is what our late-night dinner consisted of Saturday. Heather and Matt suggested awesome places! We, again, spent a great deal of time just hanging out and talking about nothing in particular. Such a fun time.

The truck had started acting funny Saturday, so Sunday morning Jason took an hour or so to try and figure out what was up with that. Then he and I went to Auto Zone to find out if they could check for any malfunction codes. It came back with 6... On to the next. LOL. After a bit more poking around there, the four of us went back for the final day of ROTR.

We had the opportunity to see Alter Bridge (we stayed up in the bleachers for this one), Five Finger Death Punch (AWESOME!! and they also earned major respect points for saying something similar as Staind had), and heard a little of Jason Bonham LZE from the Ernie Ball stage.

Sunday's Headliner: KID ROCK! He puts on a really amazing show! I never knew he played so many instruments: guitar, keyboard, drums. So cool.

We had originally planned to go to dinner at the first place we went to, but they close early on Sundays. Steak and Shake was open though. Our waitress was awful, but the food was delicious and the company was great :) I think 90% of the other patrons had also come from ROTR.

I tell you what, we are DEFINITELY going again next year. One way or another, come hell or high water. Not only did we have an absolute blast, the boys had such a good time too, and Jason and I came back refreshed and able to enjoy our kids even more than before. I can't tell you the last time we had no children around for more than a couple of hours. It has to have been before Jackson was born - 2 1/2 years ago - because this was his first extended time away from us! We had time alone to talk in the car on Friday, and Monday, plus some time during the weekend when we went places together. Time to laugh, and just be, be together, be Jason and Crystal, be husband and wife, be friends, not just "mom and dad". We love our boys so very much, but I think we both forgot how nice it is to just be grown-ups and have time just to ourselves to work on our relationship. I feel like we really bonded and reaffirmed our love over the weekend. It gave us time to step back from the craziness of life and just let loose and have some fun. I had forgotten how much fun Jason can be when he's not stressed from work, or tired from school, or being constantly bombarded from every direction. I had forgotten how to laugh, really laugh uncontrollably, at something other than my boys being silly or telling jokes.

We drove back to my parents Monday morning and when it was time to leave there to head for home, E and Alex didn't want to leave! Jack couldn't care either way, as long as mom was staying around. He had fun but told me he missed me very much. The older two had had so much fun and enjoyed their time with grandma and grandpa so much, they wished they could stay a few more days. I felt so bad, but reminded them that they had swimming lessons that night, and a few more weeks of school. They (E and A) are going to their other grandparents for a week the first week in July, and that will be super fun as well, and I'm sure my parents will try to get the older two for a couple of more days of the summer also.

Probably my favorite "crazy" quote from the weekend? "Who does that? Who s*#%s in a port-a-potty?" Overheard while waiting in line for said port-a-potty - the trailer kind with 6 stalls on one side for the women and 6 on the other for the men. I will admit, it was the filthiest, stinkiest port-a-potty I've seen to date, and most of the stalls ran out of TP that first day, but seriously?! She just kept up her drunken rant about it for what seemed like 15 minutes. Heather and I could not stop laughing, nor could the other girls behind us.

All I want and all I NEED!

Yeah. This.

Even if he was making fun of the song, doing a little weird dance ;)

I love you, Jason!!!!!!!

7 Quick Takes #2

--- 1 ---

I'm looking forward to this weekend. We aren't doing much of anything tomorrow, but Sunday is going to be a fun, busy day. Ethan is in the regional bee for the Scripp's National Spelling Bee and if he wins, he goes on to the National Bee in Washington, DC. Alex is attending the Blue and Gold Banquet for Cub Scouts and will get (hopefully) his bobcat and wolf badges and possible his gold and first silver arrow points. He's super excited about it. Jason talked to his mom last night and they are going to come up and visit for the day. Jason and F-I-L will go with Alex, and M-I-L, Jack and I will go with Ethan, since the events are at the same time. Exciting!

--- 2 ---

 We've got a cold bug going around here. First, Jason, who hardly ever gets sick, came down with it a few days ago, but is feeling much better now. Then I started feeling not so great, first with a stuffy nose, aches, and just kind of yucky feeling. Now I'm pretty much just coughing and a bit stuffy. Last night, Baby Jack started coughing some and has a runny nose. :( This is probably his first real cold, though he had a stuffy nose for a couple of days a while back. I'm just hoping that he's better quickly and that E and A don't get sick.

--- 3 ---

The second trimester at school is over next week and we have conferences. I like that I can go online and keep track of their grades, so there's no shockers on the grade cards. Right now, they are doing good. Alex has all A's and E has mostly A's and B's with a C in Art. I'll be glad when Art is over for him, because his perfectionism holds him back so much in there. He's assigned Spanish next trimester, which I hope he enjoys. Alex has Spanish, too, but goes all year since he's only in elementary (3rd). Talent show is coming up at the end of March, right before Spring Break.

--- 4 ---

Speaking of Ethan, we've been having a lot of frustration lately, to the point of him being self-injurious. He'll pinch his cheeks, smack himself, bang his head with a book, he even poked himself in the leg with mechanical pencil. No amount of telling him not to seemed to be working. So I offered him some incentive. Earn a star for each day of no hurting himself, and a second star for following along with class (he has a tendency to go ahead in the subject, or finish early and then find something else to do) and collect 40 stars. At that point, he can pick out a (up to $15) video game. So far, he's had two great days in a row. We'll see if the bribe incentive works...

 --- 5 ---

Jason has to go out of town for work, starting March 3 but he'll be back the 8th, thankfully. He gets to go to Ft. Worth, TX to meet with the big bosses. It should be an interesting week around here.

--- 6 ---

 Thanks to a good friend who told me about them, I bought some dye-free suckers and gummy bears at Meijer (local grocery store). They are Yum Earth brand, and even though they are on clearance and we probably won't be able to get them there for much longer, I'm pretty excited! The suckers are pretty good - I especially like the watermelon flavor and the boys liked them a lot. They have yet to try the gummy bears, but I ate a pack. They are pretty good flavor-wise, but kind of hard/sticky, not really sure how to explain it. They don't remind me of the softer versions I'm used to, I guess. But none-the-less, they aren't bad at all! I'm sure the kids will enjoy them as a treat.

--- 7 ---

I played my flute the other day for the first time in a while and it was nice. I want to get into playing more often. I was even thinking of looking into a local community band that is through the community college, maybe in the fall. It might be fun! If not, at least I have quite a few decent pieces of music laying around here and the boys always love to hear me play. :)

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