Summer

I have spent a good portion of the the summer traveling. Not to exotic places, just been putting on miles in the Midwest. At the end of June I agreed to be the responsible adult who took three kids to the Warped Tour in Denver. That was a fun trip. Jason, Lee, their friend Kip, and I set off at ten-thirty Saturday morning. I had to work at least a few hours on Saturday. We laughed all the way to Denver. I am trying to think of some of the things that were so funny, but for one reason or another none of them would be good things to write here. At one point we devised a contest in which the winner would be the one who caused the most emo kids to commit suicide that weekend. How can I write that and admit we were so irreverent? Many times Jason would say that he had to go to the bathroom and ask if Kip would like to come help. Kip would always jump up and agree to follow him to the bathroom. I write this I have to put it into context and explain that Kip is openly gay;something that would have been unheard of in our small Midwest high when I was attending. Jason is the epitome of the high school jock. Yet the two of them are great friends. Lee fits somewhere in the middle of these two. Kip has dedicated the song 'Your So Gay' to Lee. The two of them took a college class this summer under a teacher who was a fundamentalist. She knew that one of the two boys was gay but was never sure which one. Kip said that he hoped she would declare that it was Lee so he could jump up and say "Ha! I fooled you!" I asked Lee if the fact that she wasn't sure bothered him at all. He stood there in his skinny jeans and tight tee and said "no" in a tone that made it clear that it had never occurred to him to take it as a negative.
It took us an hour to find our hotel room because 18th street in Denver is place out of Harry Potter and it kept disappearing. We walked the 16th street mall That afternoon. Then we went and ate at one of the best Indian restaurants. Later when Lee wakes up I will ask him the name. He is the one who did the research and picked out which Indian restaurant we would eat at. It was never any question about the type of food. We don't live near any Indian restaurants so we try to force everyone to try one when we get out of town. Kip said the only ethnic food they eat at home is Americanized enchiladas and admitted to being a picky eater. We made him go anyway. I think he liked it. He didn't complain. At midnight we walked the mall again, well three of us did, Lee stayed in the room and went to bed. There are not many things more entertaining than drunks spilling out of bars and causing fights, unless it is drunken ladies staggering around on high heels.
Early the next morning we went to stand in line. If you are a band that is just starting out and need to sell a few cd's find Lee. He won't say no. I lost count of how many he bought. I walked all over the neighborhood trying to find sunblock. It was too early on a Sunday morning for the stores to open. So I walked back and stood in line. Then at ten-thirty I went back. I couldn't find a store that sold any, which I thought was very odd. So I walked back. We were one of the first people to get in so I quickly bought some at a booth. The tour itself was fun, but I enjoyed just roaming the city better. My biggest suggestion to this type of a tour is a venue with more grass and shade. Lee was in his element. He met the members of his favorite bands, got to experience a pit, and meet countless liberal women. I only mention the last part because that is one of his complaints about the area we live in;he is surrounded by conservatives.

A few days before the Denver trip we made a trip to Wichita to pick up my girls. They spent the month of July with us. I kept planning on taking them on a little vacation either to the volcano in New Mexico or to Bishop's Castle in Colorado, but we never did have time to go. Lane's all star team made it to state so we went to Columbus Ks. instead. One night we did drive into Joplin to eat, so they at least made it out of the state. Princess, while being very princess like in some ways, is not a dainty girl. She insisted on fighting the whole time we were gone. More than one boy got the crap kicked out of him by a girl that weekend.

At the start of August we had to take them home. Miss Universe decided she wanted to go also so we loaded up all of the kids but Jason and went shopping. We did most of our school clothes shopping while we were there. I hate shopping for clothes and was glad to have that out of the way. Lane's phone fell in slushy while we were driving. I swear these kids cost me way too much money. We did make one stop I was happy with. We went to get ice cream. I love Stone Cold Creamery. My usual choice is peanut butter blended with Mocha and pecans mixed in. It didn't disappoint. While we were eating it Lee and I walked over to the tea shop and picked up some loose leaf tea.

Last weekend Jason went to Amarillo with Miss Universe to do his shopping. I was glad to not have to go on another shopping trip.