Out and about...

In a continued attempt to make the Summer of 2011 the best ever and warp my children's sensibilities, last night I took MR and Christina to The Rocky Horror Show playing at Summerfest.  Nothing beats theater outside at the Arboretum. Although, in truth I think I really prefer my theater indoors without bugs and with a proper seat.  I'm getting old for three hours of sitting on a blanket.

Last night's Rocky Horror -- playing through Saturday night at the Arboretum-- really was a treat on so many levels.  My highlight was that one of my college friends, Jerome McIlvain, played the role of Riff Raff to perfection.  As a mom, I have to thank him for making me cool.  MR and Christina were so impressed that I was friends with him in an ordinary mom is friends with uber-talented actor kind of way! 

MR was fascinated by the man sitting next to her in the nice plaid shorts who sang every line of the movie in complete monotone. His girlfriend was hushing him at first but then later she also started singing.  What more can you expect at Rocky Horror!?

They also kept announcing that the content of the show might not be appropriate for children under the age of 16 and there would be no ticket refunds if you were offended and wanted to leave.  I jokingly suggested we shouldn't go in to which C and MR both said, "YOU TOOK US TO SPRING AWAKENING!"

Oh yeah.  I do discourage the watching of Spongebob Squarepants though.

And on that note, happy times to all.  My bags are packed and ready for Alaska!  Whoo hoo!!!  

Look! Harry Potter People!

We did it!  MR, Graff, Christina, Will and I kissed a going-to-bed Marc good-bye and left for Fayette Mall at 10 pm for our 12:30 am showing of Harry Potter and the DH2 stopping at Orange Leaf as Frojos closes at 10 pm (too bad that didn't stay open late for HP) and then heading to the theater.  I was going to get coffee-flavored frozen yogurt but opted for Butter Pecan topped with various chocolate candy bar bits instead hoping that that plus my 9:30 pm iced coffee would provide the caffeinated jolt I needed to last until 3 am.  As we entered Orange Leaf there weren't too many costumed folks there, but I heard someone exclaim as Bellatrix and Hermione and the Muggle Boys emerged from my car,  "Look!  Harry Potter People!".  And indeed, Mary Rollins and Christina were some of the very best Potter people I saw all night.

Hermione is carrying her own copy of The Tales of Beadle the Bard and is accompanied by her house elf, Cleo,
who magically appears in many photos

Up close the Gryffindor badge was pretty cool.

Christina as Bellatrix.  She really was the best Bellatrix I saw. 

The Death Eater's mark up close -- drawn in eyeliner by Christina's mom -- she's got skills!

There's that pesky house elf again (I wish it would do some actual work around the house).

Hermione and Mrs. Granger

Mrs. Granger and her fellow Muggles.  They acted like they were embarrassed by the girls
but I don't really think so...

She might be scarier than the real Bellatrix.

Emma Watson Junior with the real Emma Watson.

This left me speechless with joy and taking a picture in a bathroom stall -- a definite first.

Harry Potter

Hooray for Harry Potter!  And, Peddie has already seen it auf English in Deutschland!  Lucky Germany-dwelling girl.  And, is it true that she got to see the World Cup game yesterday?  What good fortune for our globe-trotter.  I'm so boring...

...And yet, Mary Rollins is doing summer school Physical Education for this week so as not to take it during the school year and she asked one of her friends what fun things he had done this summer.  He said, "nothing but play baseball".  He asked about her summer and she said she was a little embarrassed as she went through her long list of fun and travels--Italy, South Carolina, Lakehouse, Alaska.  I think we're pretty lucky here at the Mathews house, too.  There's never a dull moment anyway. 

Harry Potter, 12:30 a.m. tickets!  Photos tomorrow, perhaps?!

Surfing safari

Surfing Isle of Palms

Off to the beach

Surfing lesson

This is Graff surfing.  Bad picture as the photographer was pounded by a giant
wave just as she snapped the photo.



This is the cool picture.



This is not a surfing picture.  It's just super cute...

The Battle of the Sexes

The Chin-Up



Arabesque, Part One



The Challenger





Moments before Graff fell off.

Yesterday's varied competitions.  Mary Rollins definitely beat Graff on both Arabesque & Stand-Up Paddleboarding while Graff scores with Chin-upping and beat MR by 2 points in Scrabble**

**some clarification should be made here that Graff was given some Scrabble coaching and Mary Rollins is not sure that he should be given that win.  

Not at Home in The Bluegrass

Coach Trip and Setlak

The gathered crowd witnessing the actions of a truly brave man

First, a baseball update.  Will's Eastern Little League team, The Pirates, won the League regular and tournament championships.  Have I mentioned that previously?  It was a great fantastic.  Some of the highlights included one of the world's best little league coaches telling the boys if they won the tournament, they could shave his head.  

Then, Will played All-Stars.  It was awesome, however, in the double elimination tournament they lost both games WHICH meant, MR (now home from Italy and with one week of summer freedom before summer school starts) and Will and I (with much reshuffling of work activity) were free to be NOT AT HOME IN THE BLUEGRASS!  Where are we, you ask? 

In Charleston!  Yay!  Our favorite home away from home.  And, we got to bring our favorite community service project aka Graff with us! 

My pilgrim returns...

My little pilgrim returned last night at 7:36 p.m.  Marc and I picked her up at the airport and stopped to get Christina (her BFF) on the way to the airport.  While it seems like MR was gone forever (she was at camp the week before Italy and only home for a few days before leaving), I only started really missing her yesterday.  I think I was to happy for her to be on her trip, that letting myself miss her might have sent some bad karma!  Anyway, I'm thrilled to have my girl back.  There was an awful lot of boy-ness over here.  A mom can only talk so much baseball stats and baseball bat composition before needing a dose of fashion (although we did watch Ugly Betty on Netflix anyway.  The boys miss all the subtlty of the really good fashion jokes though, like, "she's so dumb she thinks Emporio Armani and and Giorgio Armani are brothers."  Marc said, "aren't they?").



American girls in Orvietto.  Marc to Mary Rollins, "Did they know you were Americans?"  Mary Rollins to Marc, "Yeah...I'm pretty sure they knew." 

 Mary Rollins had the best time.  She arrived home tan, exhausted and full of stories.  Hopefully, her suitcase will arrive this morning.  At least she saw it in Charlotte so we know it's in the US.  She's currently sleeping away her jet lag.  It's nice to have everyone home.