Usually I don’t tell about a busy weekend in the middle of it, but I thought I’d make an exception today. I told a friend via e-mail (actually, it was on Facebook) that this weekend was going to be packed full… and I just wanted to write it down so I could remember what a crazy weekend the fifth weekend of July 2007 was. (And I can use this as a sort of “To Do” list for the things that we have yet to do …) 🙂

Last night I stayed up pretty late working on the song set for Sunday morning (read below) and chatting with various folks on the internet. (Why was everyone else on so late??) I was also doing a little prep work for a possible interview with Brian Moorman, the Buffalo Bills punter. All of this while knowing the day today would begin quite early. It didn’t matter… something kept me going. The tasks, yes, but somehow I was just awake.

I finally hit the sack around 3:45 or so, and just felt really awake. So, sometime after 4:00 I finally drifted off to sleep, only to hear the shrill sound of my alarm at 8:00am. It seemed like mere moments. 🙂

I think I hit snooze. 🙂 Then I rolled out of bed around 8:15 or so and tried to wake myself up with some tea and reading emails and blogs. (Yes, believe it or not, some had been updated between 4:00am and 8:00am…) I did a little more prep for the potential interview with the Bills punter, and got a call around 8:50am from our friends for whom I had so early arisen. They needed help moving, so I offered to help before training camp began that afternoon.

Well, turns out they had packed their computers already, but had forgotten to check the emails for where to get the moving truck. 🙂 So, my friend joined me at our breakfast table for a quick check of his email, and then was off to get the truck with his wife. Good thing we were running a little behind, though. I had a few errands to run.

At 9:30 am, I headed out on foot to get the song sheet prepared the night before to the church on the corner. I delivered that, then headed to our library to drop off a video. Off to the post office next (a few blocks away) to check for a hosting payment that has STILL not arrived. Box was empty. (Except for a decent Pizza Hut coupon…) So, scratch that trip to the bank I had planned.

Instead I just headed straight over to our friends’ house to start loading up the truck. Except… no truck. They hadn’t left right when I thought they had, so it was going to be a while. Already 10:00, I decided to walk back and check on Jen. That was probably good as when I got back, I was able to reply to a phone message regarding a meeting later on that day to get our new Buffalo Bills Review t-shirts!

(Are you still with me?) 🙂

So after about 30 minutes at home, I headed back to the moving house and the truck was there! We managed to move a decent amount of boxes and firmly entrenched furniture. So, even though I had to leave around noon, I felt like my time had been at least slightly useful to them. That was nice.

When I got home, I helped get lunch ready (at least helped Jen decide what to warm up from the fridge!) and showered, then checked on the interview one more time. It just felt rushed in the middle of everything else we were trying to do – so I decided to postpone it. I eventually e-mailed my Bills contact and asked to set it up for later.

But we still had plenty to do.

1:30pm, all are fed, most is ready for the trip to BILLS TRAINING CAMP!!! We were to meet our friends the Drakes there (he co-hosts the Buffalo Bills Review with me) as well as that t-shirt delivery guy. That all went off without (much of) a hitch. We ended up even parking in the VIP parking lot, since we looked sort of official. Yes, it was a bending of the rules (I need an official pass to do that) but we were treated kindly by an understanding parking lot attendant.

Bills camp was fun! Weather was decent (not too hot!) and it was just SO FUN to see the Buffalo Bills right in FRONT of us again!!!! It was a relatively light workout, but was still fun to watch. Some good plays made.

In addition to the football, I was there on official business. A friend loaned me his iPod recording device (you stick it in your iPod) and so I went around to various fans asking them if they’d like to be on our show. A few politely declined, but most said, “Sure!” It was a lot of fun. Really perfect stuff for our show, which we say is “The Show By Bills Fans, For Bills Fans”. It even says that on our shirts. 🙂

After camp was over we headed out for some dinner together at a nearby McDonald’s. It has a great PlayPlace, so that was the perfect choice. I had a fantastic Asian salad, by the way. Hadn’t ever had their fancy salads. Marie got one, and it looked good… so I did too 🙂 Thanks, Marie! 🙂

The PlayPlace was a good idea… but… it got WAY too loud. So we decided to hang out a bit more, and finish the afternoon/evening with some ice cream!!! (Yes, in fact, it IS National Ice Cream Month…) We got some Abbott’s custard (a Rochester favorite) at Bill Gray’s (add that to the ice cream list for the month!) and then finally parted ways as all of our children were just about completely exhausted.

I was getting there, too!

But one of the coolest parts of the day happened AFTER all of the other cool stuff! As we left the restaurant, it had just finished raining, and the sun was coming out again. Looking toward the eastern sky, there was a humongous FULL rainbow from one side of the sky to the other. Even a bit of a double rainbow on the left side. It was just fantastic!

BUT WE WEREN’T DONE!

As we drove home… another rainbow appeared in the Eastern sky… this one WAY more colorful, brighter, or whatever the proper description is. It was a full rainbow across the sky in front of us. It as quite bold, and just really amazingly beautiful. There was definitely a double rainbow this time. In fact, the double was almost complete! Simply incredible! I think the best rainbow I have ever seen. Certainly none top it. Could only equal it.

After the spectacular shows in the sky, we finally were home… and just got everyone ready for bed. We watched a quick episode of the Little Einsteins, then did baths/showers/etc. Once everyone was in bed, it was time for Dad to make Skyline for tomorrow’s lunch, so, Jen & I spent a little time in the kitchen, listening to this week’s God Journey podcast as I cooked and cleaned up a bit.

Oh yeah.. did the laundry in there too… 🙂

Whew. Glad Friday is over. But there are TWO MORE DAYS!

Quick preview…

• Our friends are bringing their girls over tomorrow so they can have a kidless day to get some final preparations done for a trip to the Dominican Republic coming up soon. We can’t support their trip financially, but we can make their prep a bit easier by taking their kids! Plus, we love having them come over and visit… 🙂
• Speaking of visits… our friends the Falkes will be dropping by for lunch (SKYLINE CHILI!!) in the late morning. They head to Canada fairly soon to begin working with a church there… so it’s one last good-bye before they head about 3000 miles to our west. 🙂
• After a day with our friends’ girls, we’ll head over to Chill & Grill together before they all go back home. Haven’t gotten to do that all Ice Cream Month with them, so that will be very nice. 🙂
• Sunday morning we’ll be providing the music for the “Worship In The Park” service put on by First Baptist Church in Palmyra. They asked us if we’d do that, and we happily agreed. Nice folks. Will be kinda cool singing outside and stuff. Plus… they’re feeding us, so… it was pretty much a no-brainer. 😉
• Sunday afternoon we’ll be meeting some clients/friends of mine who are on a tour of the northeast from their home in Texas. It’s a New England vacation, and we are one of the stops! 🙂 It will be great to meet them, even if it’s only a brief visit. I designed the site EzzoTruth.com for them. It will be nice to finally meet them. 🙂

Oh my goodness golly this is long! I think I will stop for now. I’ll of course share any stories that deviate from the planned activities listed above. 🙂