I am out of the habit of the morning write. I was up at six am today though, so I have the time window if not the drive of familiarity. I am sleepy and alergized so don’t expect much more than the sometime recap. Friday night Angela and I had V, Taylor, and V’s new charge Camilla over for a sit down meal. Camilla brought me a bottle of high end Pisco from Chile and thereby made the exact right impression.



Later Angela impressed us with her Spanish over a Hookah,



Saturday was the moving of Beth and Brad followed by BB King on the riverfront, which I heard rather than saw as I spent most of the concert in line trying to buy us kabobs. The event was insanely overcrowded and poorly planned, probably twice as many people showed up as were expected, but it was enjoyable anyway. The kids and Camilla got to touch the arch, throw rocks into the Mississippi, ride a congested Metro Link, see a great fireworks display and generally experience a lot of new things. When we first arrived downtown and got off the train in the innards of Eades Bridge, Camilla looked left through a brick archway and saw the steel monstrosity that is the “gateway to the West,” she had that “holy shit” look of wide-eyed inhalation that such monuments can inspire. V took one look at her and asked me if I’d brought a camera. I had, but it’s old school so we must wait on the developers.

Sunday Derek, Jen, the gaggle of kids, Angela and I all went to Six Flags, arriving shortly after it opened (11 am) and departing shortly before it closed (8 pm). It was one of those days when the weather is perfect and everyone else who normally goes to Six Flags found something else to do, so we were able to ride any ride with virtually no wait. We did the water park in the morning and the coasters in the afternoon and evening. It was fun to get to know Jen’s kids as they are all now of an age with distinct personalities etc. D calls them ID, Ego, and Super Ego – which is pretty accurate. They also had a friend Caleb along to “liven” up the group. Caleb mastered his role as the wild card kid – alternating between annoying instigator and terrified hand holder. It was a good balance of kid and adult fun that ended with the adults begging the kids to let us ride Batman one more time, which of course we did. Angela triumphed over her fear of coasters by ridding Batman three times, and the second two trips she even opened her eyes! Jen and I got over our attachment to gravity by getting shot 270 feet into the air at 90 mph in a small gyroscope looking capsule. Think industrial slingshot attempting to hit the moon and then picture us inside the projectile. Ah well, time to recover from my weekend by heading off to work.