Concerts

For the past two weekends, my family and I have attended concerts at Stone Mountain Park. It has been a wonderful way to spend time together as well as get some cultural experiences.
Last week there was the Last Blast of Summer with Eden's Edge, Chris Janson, Jaron and the Long Road to Love and Jarrod Niemann playing on the main lawn. We got there early and got a good spot on the lawn where we could hear everything as well as be able to see the laser show later in the evening. We also set up near one of the entrances so that my husband would be able to find us when he got there from work. We got to hear some great music and have a good clean family time.
This weekend Stone Mountain hosted the Yellow Daisy Festival with tons of craft booths in the special events section. We knew that they were going to have The Band Perry playing and for a $10 parking fee we got to go enjoy another concert. This time we got to the lawn early and were thinking what fantastic seats we had, only to realize that we were in the wrong section of the park. We needed to be over in the special events section. So a long walk and a shuttle bus ride later, we got there in time to see part of Foxes and Fossils before The Band Perry started.
My son enjoyed Foxes and Fossils more than The Band Perry but that is ok. He found something he enjoyed listening to and then wandered for a bit with a cell phone in his pocket while the rest of us enjoyed who we had gone to see.
We got to meet the band afterwards and they were friendly and polite and just as happy to see those of us that were at the end of the line as they were to see those at the front.
I am so glad that we decided to go to these events. Family time is important and as my children grow rapidly toward being adults I find that I treasure the quiet times together.

Neighbors

It never fails to amaze me how friendly people are when there aren't wooden walls between "neighbors".
On Saturday when we got to our campsite, one set of neighbors offered us the use of a hammer to pound the tent pegs. It wasn't needed since we had brought our own, but it was nice they offered never the less.
On Sunday evening, after dinner, we were finishing a game fo cards and the neighbors across the way began to play some dance music on their car stereo. My daughter and I decided we wanted to do some of the dances so we set the same songs to play on our laptop. We began dancing at our site and they saw us and told us to come on over and join them. We ended up there dancing to several songs.
Also on Sunday, while at the pool, my teens met another set of teens that were siblings. THe four of them played frisbee and ball off and on through out the afternoon. They later came and sat with my kids around our campfire that night, talking about band and wrestling, snow and floods.
Smores were eaten, conversation flowed and neighbors of a few hours in the space of time got to know each other better. What a wonderful way to spend outdoors.

Sitting in the quiet stillness of the morning beside a lake, my family still sleeps in the tent behind me. A small smokey fire burns befoe me to heat the first pot of water we will need today. We have taken a weekend to go camping for the first time in many years.

I recall the many nights of camping in amusty canvas tent with my parents and siblings when I was a child. Tghe day light hours of those camping trips are long gone from my memories, but the nights? Those I remember. We would have a campfire and roast marshmallows and sing. Then Mom would send us in to get in our sleeping bags for the night. She would remind us to be hush so we'd hear her play us to sleep and if we were quiet whe would go out and play her guitar by the fire. Sometimes it was just a variety of chords that would sound like a bablling series of notes as her fingers plucked the strings but oft times it was more an accompaniement to her soft soprano voice.

Tonight our campfire will bursh and my children will roast marshmallows. We will sit beside the fire and talk of our day in husched voices but there will be little to no singing this night. My teenagers don't know the old songs like I learned. When I should have been teaching them around the campfire like I was taught, I fell down on the job. Sadly my voice doesn't hold the notes properlyh now and it would be the noise part of the command to make a joyful noise unto the Lord. Despite the lack of Christian choruses, I believe my children will remember this time together with fond memories.