Tonight my sister-in-law Kelly and I were privileged to hear Lyle Lovett and John Hiatt in concert at the Bass Hall. My love for Lyle is no secret (Exhibit A: this post and Exhibit B: this other post). After a long, sad, Lyle-free spell when Ryan and Katie were little, I promised myself that I would find a way to get to Bass Hall anytime he appeared there if at all possible. Turns out it wasn't possible when Lyle brought his Large Band to town in August (just happened to be the day we moved Ryan to Austin), but this concert only a few months later was just the ticket to assuage my Lyle withdrawals.
TBH, as youngsters would say, I was a little bummed that this time, he was here for a special performance with someone else. Lyle shared the stage with another singer/songwriter, and I was apprehensive to know that half of my precious concert time would go to The Guy Who's Not Lyle. Several years ago, Kelly and I saw Lyle with his former college buddy, Robert Earl Keen, and that performance was fantastic. I was hoping this one would follow suit, and sure enough, it did! John Hiatt is an incredible singer, guitarist, harmonica player and whistler (yes!) who writes down-in-your-soul blues.
The two-person format allowed for plenty of banter, too. Lyle and John are just funny people, which made the casual give-and-take, back-and-forth work. I could listen to Lyle tell stories forever.
Of course, we weren't there just for the stories. As I sat there in the mezzanine during Lyle's first song ("Brown Eyed Handsome Man"), I caught myself taking really deep breaths, as if I could inhale that gorgeous sound. Looking back at that 2008 "Lovin' Lyle" post, I see that "breathing in" Lyle's music is not a new metaphor. Of course I love his humor and his witty lyrics, but there's just something about his voice, the way its jagged edges help each note take root in my soul.
Um, TMI? Moving on...
It seems like I have teared up at some point during every Lyle concert I've seen in the last five years or so, certainly since my mom died. Sometimes it's because a particular song reminds me of Austin and the forever friends who shared with me those first Lyle Paramount shows. Other times it's been simply the resonance of Lyle's voice that comforts me into a let-it-out state.
Tonight, though, it was Lyle's story about driving around with his parents in their old car. Like me, Lyle was an only child. Before the song even started, he had me with his description of sitting between his parents in the front seat of their old car.
The front seat part doesn't really apply to me, but oh, how many times did I abandon the back seat to sit on the floorboard hump, my arms propped on my parents' big bench seat! When Lyle mentioned singing with his folks, I was transported to our family's Caprice Classic, passing mile after mile between my own parents, learning the alto part to all the best hymns. They literally don't make cars like they used to, but what I would give to recreate that all-too-familiar floorboard posture, to feel the cold air from the front vents that Mama would point towards me, to cringe when Daddy reached for the radio to change the station to AM talk radio.
In just 12 days, Ryan moves to Austin to begin his college adventure. I'm so proud, so excited...
...and so very sad. Since when do they allow babies to enroll in college? He can't possibly be old enough to leave home!
Of course, my excitement and eager anticipation for him far outweigh my blues, but this "letting go" stuff is not for the weak. I'm filled with self-doubt (Did we teach him too little? Did we spoil him too much?), but mostly, I'm just dreading his absence. We kinda like having him around. It won't be the same without his thoughtful insights, his dry humor, his Survivor expertise.
As a distraction from my mom angst—and to celebrate Ryan reaching his goal to attend The University—I created this little tribute to our burnt-orange boy.
Not even 24 hours since my desperate plea for prayers, I'm awash in relief. Once again I recognize the truth: We are blessed in countless ways. We're still not out of the woods, but we've turned a corner. And no matter what, He never lets go. We just have to hold on.
Our church family is so good to us. It's comforting to have friends willing to love us through whatever trouble we're facing. And it's incredible to have a Father who loves us even when we doubt His power.
Singing this song this morning was the perfect reminder:
Thank you, friends, for your prayers, and thank You, God, for hearing them.
These last few months have been rough ones here at Casa Dub. From car trouble to health struggles, we seem to spend all our time dodging bullets or surfing rough waters. The hits just keep on coming.
It’s funny how God reminds us who we are and WHOSE we are just when we need it. It wasn’t that long ago that we started singing this at church, and wouldn’t you know it, these were exactly the words I needed to have running through my head:
After all the crises we’ve faced, you’d think I’d know that God’s got this, but no. I worry. I doubt. I fear. I do exactly what he warns us NOT to do. And when I—arms flailing, heart sinking—finally reach for his hand, he’s already got me.
Please pray for our family, and please pray for me to keep my eyes on Jesus, “my hope and stay.”
Oh, Bear, I've got so many chores I have to finish. It's like someone grabbed my head and gave a squeeeeeze... really hard!
We were digging into a wheel of gouda last night when this song, "Take Time to Smell the Cheese," came to mind. It's from our family favorite Disney Channel series, Bear in the Big Blue House.
Really, how can you not love a song that advises, "Everything is bettah when you smell the feta"?
B in the BBH premiered while I was on maternity leave with Katie, and the show still reminds me of those precious days with my itty-bitty baby Katie and 1-year-old Ryan. As the kids got a little older, they became full-fledged Bear fans, and we had Bear shoes, Bear backpacks, Bear birthday cakes, you name it.
On long road trips, Bear came along, both as a stuffed animal and as a cassette. Whenever I picture our holiday drives to Arkansas, the soundtrack for those memories is Bear. "Brush Brush Bree," "Look at You Now" and "The Bear Cha-Cha-Cha" kept us company as we traversed those country hills. At home, Bear songs were our "spoonful of sugar" as we did chores: "Come on, everybody, let's clean up the house!"
It'd been a long time since I'd thought about those old songs, so when Katie grabbed some cheese out of the fridge, I was a little surprised to hear Bear and his pal Tutter singing in my head. Thanks to YouTube, the pair were soon singing on my laptop, too.
There I was, fresh off a long day of giving finals, grading papers, and stressing over who had or had not turned in all their work, and I was singing along with an orange bear and a blue mouse!
There's nothing here that can't wait until tomorrow; A little rest will put your mind at ease!
Yep, I definitely needed to take time to smell the cheese.
Our youth minister posted this for all the A/V boothies at church, and I LOVE it! It's hard to pick a favorite line, but "I can mute you" is pretty rad--and tempting sometimes.
What's funny is that I was sipping my Diet Dew when I watched the video for the first time. How appropriate!
At the end of August camp, Ryan had plenty of reason to be proud.
I, on the other hand, only managed to embarrass myself during the annual "show the folks how hard marching is" part of the evening:
AAAaaaarrrrggghhhhh! Awful, awful, awful. And I have to wait a whole year before I can redeem myself! Good thing Ryan's the one on the field and not Old Mom. (Video provided by my "friend," the band director.)
In spite of my attempts to sully our family's good name, we capped off the evening with ice cream.
For those keeping score at home, you may be thinking I'm WAAAAAAAAY behind on my blogging if I'm just now getting around to Katie's birthday. (Actually, that's not too far from the truth, but I digress--which may be why it takes me oh-so-long to write posts.)
No, this Sunday was Katie's new birthday. She told a crowd of witnesses that she believes Jesus is the son of God, He died for her sins, and she's ready for Him to lead her life. After that confession, she was immersed in baptism.
Her youth minister, Brock, did the honors.
We love the baptistery in our church building. Since it's in the Great Hall and not in the Family Center (auditorium), friends and family can be close to see the baptism.
And with that, my daughter is now my sister!
Since before she was born, this has been our prayer for Katie: that she'll grow in the Lord and someday choose to follow Him. It is such a blessing to see her begin her life in Christ.
We were glad Papa, Nana and Aunt Kelly could be there for this special occasion!
Of course, Memaw was there, too.
In addition to family, we were surrounded by our church family. It was wonderful to share this day with so many who have served as spiritual mentors throughout Katie's childhood. It was also special to hear from so many Facebook friends who are as thrilled as we are that Katie has made this decision.
(Ryan's in there! See him? I'm not a fan of photography in darkened auditoriums!)
After all the hoopla of the Rose Parade, the Rebel Band's winter concert was a real change of pace. The top bands performed some of their concert pieces, the All-State Band members performed their etudes, and then the RHS portion of the All-Birdville Marching Band played their Bandfest salute to armed forces and this number:
Since the band played "American Woman" countless times in rehearsals—not to mention along the parade route—that old Guess Who tune will forever be the theme song of the big Tournament of Roses trip. I can see a day in the not-too-distant future when hearing "American Woman" on the radio will bring a tear to my eye as we remember that week in Cali!
The band was visiting Disneyland and California Adventure on Thursday, so Katie and I did, too. Unfortunately, so did jillions of other people! Disneyland during the holidays = MASSIVE CROWDS. Still, we didn't let that keep us from enjoying the Happiest Place on Earth.
It helped that going in, we anticipated the mobs. We'd heard how Disney had closed its gates earlier in the week, saying the parks had reached capacity. I asked Katie to prioritize the rides since we wouldn't be able to do everything. As it turned out, this is about as much as we saw of the Matterhorn. Fantasyland? Not even close. Nary a Dumbo or teacup to be seen.
Except for visiting Mickey, we were able to check off everything on Katie's list, starting with priority #1, the Haunted Mansion.
We were bummed that the mansion had been taken over with The Nightmare Before Christmas.
Now we like The Nightmare Before Christmas.
But we like the traditional Haunted Mansion, too.
So this? This was not what we were looking for when we boarded our Doom Buggies. The ballroom was recognizable, but we heard only the shortest snippet of "Grim Grinning Ghosts" in the big cemetery. And the ghost hitchhiker? Replaced by a stocking. Bummer.
In ANY case, we still went through it twice because, Haunted Holiday or no, it's still the Haunted Mansion.
By the time we left New Orleans Square, it was about time for California Adventure to open. On our way to the Disneyland exit, however, we saw that we could walk through Tarzan's Treehouse without waiting. On that busy day, any attraction without a line was a rare gem.
After the treehouse we got our hands stamped and entered California Adventure, which was also decked out for the holidays. We made a beeline for the Hollywood Backlot.
We paused just long enough for Katie to take a picture of the backdrop (complete with the sign for the Roosevelt Hotel, another haunted hot spot from Katie's book). Then we rounded the corner to the next attraction on our must-see list:
The Hollywood Tower of Terror!
Even though the park had only been open for about 15 minutes, there was already a really long line AND the Fastpass return time was a couple of hours later. No biggie; we got our passes and headed for another section of the park.
On our way to Paradise Pier, we cut through "a bug's land." There we found Flik's Flyers with a really short line. TA-DAH! Just like that, an impromptu attraction was added to our list.
I like that the whipped topping carton lists "Saturated Fun" with its nutrition facts.
We chose the Chinese food carton for our flight, which was quite pleasant.
From there we walked through a cereal box...
...and ended up in a tissue box, also known as the restroom. I loved all the giant props and buildings that made us feel small, and I especially liked the antennae on the female bathroom icon! We really didn't spend any time in this "land" back in 2006, so it was neat to get buggy with it this time around.
On our way to the pier we came across these little green Army men.
As we approached the big rides on this end of the park, we quickly noticed the train stuck on California Screamin'. That coaster was most definitely among our priorities, so we were disappointed. Still, we got to ride the Golden Zephyr and then found our place in the rather long line for Mickey's Fun Wheel. Back in 2006, this was known as the Sun Wheel.
Those darn sliding gondolas are quite unnerving, and Katie loved watching my reaction. We and our gondola-mates had fun screaming our way from end to end as the wheel moved around. Good times.
Of course, the view from the Fun Wheel was as cool as I remembered. After riding the ferris wheel, we walked past Toy Story Mania, a newer attraction with a line that was hours (yes, plural) long.
At least we got to see a certain spud. (That ride wasn't on our priority list anyway. So there.)
We didn't pass up this photo op, though.
Funny, but I don't remember seeing, much less eating, churros back in '06. This trip, though? They were EVERYWHERE! So yes, Katie and I had to get in on some of that sugary-cinnamon goodness.
After our churro break, we were within the Fastpass window for Tower of Terror. I remembered the big tip from Ridemax: Once you're in the window for one ride's Fastpass, you can go ahead and get another. So we did! Sometime between getting in line for the Fun Wheel and actually riding it, California Screamin' had reopened, and that coaster was restored to its rightful place on our "to do" list.
We crossed the park and finally, FINALLY got to ride Katie's fave.
So. Much. Fun. We LOVE the major airtime on this ride! We ended up riding the Tower of Terror two more times, far exceeding our expectations on such a busy day. YAY!
After a wimpy lunch of hot dogs and chips, Katie climbed around on the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail. Yet again, a walk-through attraction with zero line lured us right on in. (We also walked through the Mission Tortilla Factory for the same reason.)
Much of California Adventure is boarded up because of the massive park overhaul that will be completed in 2012. We missed Mulholland Madness and the Maliboomer, but the new Little Mermaid dark ride, not to mention the massive Cars land elsewhere in the park, should be incredible!
People, people everywhere, but at least in DCA we were able to find some open spaces for pictures like this one! We were also able to get Katie a Mickey ice cream bar with little waiting, a minor miracle considering those crowds.
Katie was good to go for hours more, but my claustrophobia started kicking in around mid-afternoon. Katie indulged me and we left DCA for Downtown Disney. There we shopped and found ourselves an actual sit-down restaurant for suppertime: Rainforest Cafe. We did have a slight wait there, but that just gave us time to try out the photo booth: The best part of that photo booth was the video that played while we waited for our pictures to print. The video showed us posing and repositioning. Too funny!
Aaaaaah!!! Real food! And a real chair! And a real Dr Pepper in a real (plastic) glass!
We took a potty break and rode the tram out to our car to dump our purchases and my big camera, too.
After that, I was refreshed and Katie was more than ready to get back to riding. We went back to DCA and took a spin on Soaring Over California before heading back to Tower of Terror.
Along the way, we walked through the Hollywood Backlot area again. After dark, it had transformed into ElecTRONica, a massive street party complete with sci-fi effects. (Click here to see one guest's video of ElecTRONica.)
Back in Disneyland (which was open later), we checked out the lights and managed to fit in another visit to the Haunted Mansion.
Next on our list: Space Mountain. We were too late to get a Fastpass, but we didn't care. We bit the bullet and got in the long line.
Was it worth it? Totes.
As was our whole day. They don't call it the Magic Kingdom for nothin'.
By the way, Flat Raider made an encore appearance. He'd been hibernating since July, but even he couldn't stay away from Cinderella's castle all decked out for Christmas.
It was a FANTASTIC day, but one thing kept it from being perfect. It wasn't because of the long lines or the crowds, either. No, my only real complaint is that Katie and I missed seeing the All-Birdville Band parade down Main Street. We didn't find out the parade time until it was too late, and because of all the people, it would've been hard for us to get there from California Adventure anyway. Still, I'm so glad Ryan and the other band kids had that experience, and I'm thankful for the band parent who posted this:
