Earth, Wind, and Fire

Today I went to go see an Earth, Wind, and Fire concert at Wolf Trap. I'm not exactly a huge fan, but a friend who went last year said she had a good time so we decided to go together this year. Indeed it was a great concert. These guys were popular back in the 70's, so the fan-base is mostly people in their 40's to 60's. (We might have been the youngest people there that weren't mom & pop tag-alongs.) Of the original band members, only 3 are left. Still, they put on a good show and get every one grooving after 30 something years. Most people were up and dancing on several of the songs they played, particularly for the popular ones.

Even if you're not into grooving, you can sit back and enjoy some great R&B. The sound quality was great, and just being at a live outdoor concert, particularly on a cool summer night, is nice. The Wolf Trap venue is not particularly huge though, and much of the seating is in the 'lawn'. Seating in the lawn isn't bad though. I reckon it's better than the balcony seating. You bring your own picnic blanket so you can chill out with all the space you can acquire upon entrance. You have to get there couple hours before the show though for a good spot. Our show started at 8pm. We got there around 6 and people were showing up already. At 6:30 they started letting people into the site and within minutes, all the lawn space closest to the stage was taken up. The trick is to have the first person in take a huge blanket, run in, and claim a space forward and center. Lawn chairs are only permitted up until the show starts, at which time you have to take them down.

Oh, remember how as a kid you used to get those glow in the dark or flashing sticks and rings to play with at amusement parks and stuff? Well, now they have flashing, glow in the dark wine glasses for us adults :)

4th of July with Family

On 7/1, my two brothers and their family came up for a visit. This was a really big deal to me because in the 10 years that I've been away from home, they never visited. I lived in cool places too, like London, Tokyo, NYC, and Holland. They're just not much into travelling. Now that I'm in driving distance tho, they finally dragged their butts and their families up. One brother did make it over the holidays, but it's the first for the other, and so the first for all of us to be together at my place. What makes this even better is that I live in a place where there are things to do, unlike back where they live. So finally, we got to spend some quality time as a family.

On 7/2, we went to the National Zoo. I remember this zoo being a lot better 5 years ago when I last went. The food service there is awful and there were so many kids running around. I also don't remember having to pay $20 to park either. It was a hot day too, and all the animals were asleep and being boring. It was still fun, but I won't be rushing back there anytime soon.

The following day, I took them into DC and made them walk a lot. We checked out some of the memorials and museums. On Friday, the 4th of July, we had a BBQ at Great Falls with couple of my friends. We threw a frisbee around, and checked out the falls and all. We ended up skipping the fireworks since it was raining a bit, but had a good night playing games and watching House M.D. (my latest addiction.)

Despite my home being wrecked by the kids, it was really great having them around. So much so that I was quite bummed when they left today. It's too bad we don't all live closer to each other.