Lindsey Stirling

Brandon has a variety of music tastes. But he has a preference for songs without lyrics. (Since I like to sing along with everything I listen to, I don't get it.) One artist that he and the girls love is Lindsey Stirling. She is an amazing hip-hop violinist. They know lots of her songs and listen to her all the time. When we heard that she was coming on tour to Raleigh, the kids asked if we could go. I looked into tickets and they were reasonable, so I told them if they would pay for half of the ticket, I'd pay for the other half. Brandon and Whit both said YES.

The three of us had a fabulous night in downtown Raleigh at the Red Hat Amphitheater. We had never been. It was nice. But hot. And muggy.

We enjoyed a beautiful sunset.

The opening band was OK.

It was Echosmith.

I had never heard of them.

They are kind of a one-hit-wonder for now.

We all know their one hit, "Cool Kids."

It was fun to sing along with that one.

Then Lindsey came out.

She is a PERFORMER.

And put on such a fun, entertaining show.

Here's a little sample:

 So fun to do big-kid activities with my big kids!

Caroline and Andrew enjoyed a fun daddy-daughter date

while we were gone.

More water fun

Andrew was asked to speak at a young single adult activity. It was in Salisbury at this amazing property with sand volleyball courts and a lake that had kayaks, canoes, a water trampoline, diving boards, and (my personal favorite) a giant rope swing into the lake. One of the perks of speaking, was that our whole family was invited to attend.

What? A day at the lake? Yes, please!

Andrew spoke at the beginning and did a great job, as always. Then we changed into our suits and played for the next several hours. The weather was perfect, the water was warm, and we had a fabulous time. It made Andrew long for his dream property out in the country with a lake.

The diving boards

Here's the rope swing.

You could jump from both levels.

I only tried the bottom one.

B did that and the second one.

Some of the crazy young adults stood on that

tiny perch at the top and jumped. Yikes! 

Water trampoline

There I go! Weeeeee!

There was always a line to go on the rope swings.

And most people would stand on the edge

trying to get up enough courage to go.

So, I got to try three times.

I wouldn't take long to jump off the edge.

But I STUNK at the landing.

Still wishing I had another try....

Brandon, on the other hand, is so good at stuff like that.

He has no fear and has such good body control.

You go, B!

My turn on the ledge. 

Brother Stafford 

And Pres. Baughan worked the grills. 

We wore them out!

What June looked like

Miss Whit, the seamstress in the family,

made these cute heart pillows for me.

Outtake jumping pic. :)

Feeding the seagulls by hand

Look what Tony and Cindy brought me!

Now I can hang with Cindy and her girls,

Living the Sweat Life

Miss Whit made he dad an omelet for Father's Day.

(That girl is already more domestic than her mother!)

Happy Father's Day!

The kids have been watching Masterchef Jr.

It shows in their dinner plating.

C's grumpy cat face

Yum-Yum's better ice cream. So good.