a weekend away, a concert, a wedding...sans kids!

We were this close to the stage!!

Keith and I arrived home a couple of hours ago from our weekend in Charlotte. Our adult weekend, without kiddos :-) We had so much fun. The initial purpose of our time in Charlotte, when we planned this several months ago, was to attend a Counting Crows concert. They are one of my all-time favorites, I was very much looking forward to it. Then we were invited to a wedding; someone I didn't know, but Keith works with. It happened to be in Charlotte on Saturday, so we decided to make a weekend of it. I arranged for Allie, whom I work with, to come stay at our house with her brand new husband, Paul. They are young 20's, have babysat for us before, are responsible and FUN. So, the kids were in excellent hands, giving us peace of mind to go away and have fun for a little bit.

The concert was Friday night in an amphitheatre practically downtown. It was hot- so very hot. Our seats were awesome- 5th row, close enough for the stage lights to create even more heat. Adam Duritz (lead singer) is an awesome performer. He put on a great show. The tour is titled something like "the traveling circus and medicine show". They had several guests, tons of musicians playing every kind of instrument. Two of the guests have top 40 songs. Michael Franti has a current song titled "Say Hey"; Augustana has "Boston (you don't know me)". Keith and I would've enjoyed more Counting Crows songs, but they did perform "Rain King"- might be my favorite song of theirs. It was an excellent concert, very enjoyable, great music.

We were lucky enough that the Jonas Brothers were also in town. (slight sarcasm). It made downtown teeny-bopper mayhem afterward as they played at the civic center a block away from our hotel. After the concert, we stopped by two establishments that are good accounts of Keith's. He obviously has great working relationships with the owners/operators of these places as we skipped the lines, got right in and were greeted very warmly once inside. An old friend from Virginia Beach came to the concert and sat with us as well as another couple and a half that work with Keith in the Charlotte area, so we did a lot of visiting and had quite a late night.

The next day, we attended the wedding of Matt and Tess. The wedding took place in a small cathedral (gorgeous church). I don't recall attending a traditional catholic wedding mass before. It was full of ritual and tradition and so different than weddings I have been to that it was also very enjoyable. The reception was held on the mezzanine level of a movie theater, a great venue for the size of the wedding. We, the "Jack" people were seated with the "Bacardi" people who live in Charlotte. Want to hear what a small world it is? The husband and wife were both raised in Miami. He went to U of M, played football there. We were talking about where Keith and I were from and he said, "wait, you aren't a sponger are you?". When I told him indeed I was, he said "do you know Kip Vickers or Leonard Conley?". I said I sure did, they were both in my graduating class and I knew them from 2nd grade all through high school. Well, they all played football together at Miami. I thought that was SO cool! We had a wonderful time, the bride and groom were adorable.

We headed back from the wedding at a very decent hour and relaxed in the room before turning in early. By 9 am this morning, we were up, dressed and ready (excited) to return home to see the kids. They had fun as well and were slightly disappointed we were "already back"!