Wednesday, August 11, 2010

It was hot under the neon moon

My husband had a business meeting in Chicago beginning this past Monday evening so we decided we'd tack the weekend prior onto his trip and I would tag along. His youngest brother, sister in law and niece live in a suburb of the city and this was our first visit to their house there. We have been to other houses they have lived in and oh, there have been many. We have that extreme moving thing in common...is there such a thing as extreme movers because I'm pretty sure that's what we are?

Anyway, just before we moved to England they moved to Russia. And while we were living in England they moved from Russia to guess where? England. No they do not work for the same company and yes it is a small world. I can't explain how wonderful it was to have family just a couple of hours away while living across the pond. We got together at our house or theirs many times and my hubs made a memorable trip back to Moscow with his brother after they moved to the UK so lots of fun special memories.


Sorry, I digress...I think I said something about Chicago. We got to their house late Friday night and on Saturday we hit the links. Well, technically sister in law and I drove the golf carts and observed while hubs, my brother in law, and my niece played a round of golf. There was a wonderful breeze all morning too which was a nice surprise. Our niece is a natural and plays on her high school team but they kept things nice and friendly. We went out for Indian food that evening and then sat around their fire pit and talked a lot. I guess you could say we're also extreme talkers. That's something else we have in common.

Sunday evening we had tickets to see Brooks and Dunn. They were fantastic. Our seats were awesome too...we were on row 19 but the 'catwalk' came out to row 8 so they were right there in front of us the whole night.


And you know how they call Chicago the windy city? Yeah, well not so much in August. My word it was HOT.


Before Brooks and Dunn came out we had the pre-show. First up was the country version of Justin Bieber...a sixteen year old cutie named Tyler Dickerson who was sporting that swooping bang thing with his hair. He sang just three or four songs and was followed by Gary Allan who was the actual pre-show. He was absolutely fantastic and had a lot of fans in the audience. My niece caught a pick he flung out into the crowd that had 'This was stolen from Gary Allan" printed on it. She didn't even have to knock anyone down to get it like the people did who were trying to get their hands on the cowboy hat that sailed out later in the show.


Let me just tell you that with the crazy heat I think the guitarist had the right idea wearing a kilt. If you know anything about kilts then you know what I mean. Did I mention it was hot?

Gary Allan played for about an hour before Brooks and Dunn came out and sang all their hits. I love a concert where I know the words to almost every song. I can sing at the top of my lungs because the music is so loud nobody can hear me but me.


The best part of the concert was when they sang Only In America...they had a huge American Flag as a backdrop and members of the military marched out onto the stage and then before we knew what was happening we were showered with red white and blue streamers and confetti, dropped from above and fired from the stage. So fun!

I'm glad we got to see them on this final tour. Or what they say is their final tour because I think we all know that 'final' is sometimes a relative term when we're talking about musical groups never performing together again. Just sayin'.

When the concert ended hubs and I drove on into the city to check into our hotel and the family went back to their house in the burbs. We always have a lot of fun when we're together and I hope one day we live in the near vicinity of each other once more. And it can be in America. Or anywhere.


About now you may be thinking, Chicago? Didn't she say something about Chicago? Looks like I'm going to have to make this a two part post. How do people write a brief paragraph and call it a blog post? That's more like a sentence to me.

7 comments:

  1. Joyce,

    I was wondering where this was all going with Chicago then back to the concert, Chicago, then Russia, then Chicago and the links but all in all in turned out so much fun that I forgot about Chicago again until the very end. Sorry the concert was so hot. Was it indoors?

    Love and Hugs ~ Kat

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  2. Kilts and blog 'sentences'. You crack me up. I always enjoy hearing about your travels... I guess I will have to live mine through you. ;) Or my hubs. I'm sure he can relate to the logistics of travel, too.

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  3. OMG! I would've never recognized your BIL if he came up to me on the street! He looks SO DIFFERENT. Looks like he got the size in the family! :D
    Love me some Brooks & Dunn...again I'm jealous!

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  4. I love Brooks & Dunn! You're family could probably write a travel book!

    Please do expound on Chicago. The Hubs wants me to go with him in October. I would be on my own pretty much due to his schedule of meetings so I'm not sure I want to go.

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  5. Looks like a great time! I can't believe they performed in long sleeved shirts and hats in that heat. Whew!

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  6. I live just a couple of hours away from Chicago. It sounds like you had a great time! There's always lots to do in that city.

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  7. I have never lived outside the US. It must be a wonderful experiece. So glad you had such a nice visit with them. My kind of town!

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