STROLLER RUN/WALK (WUN? RALK?)

Not sure what I was thinking, but I skipped the track today and took the kids to the military park for a stroller run instead. Up the hills. Pushing over 105 lbs. At least it wasn't windy!

We went 1.5 miles up to the Illinois Memorial (up the biggest hill in the park, which I walked, willing my lungs to carry the 3 of us up and over), then took a long break with Sophie, Manu, and Leo, playing on the stairs, saving lady bugs, and watching a girl play her trumpet with the echo of the memorial.

After the break (and a lot of whining by James about having to get back in the stroller) I walked down the steep hill with Sophie, then ran the final 1.5 miles back to the car. For some reason I had shin pain today (which I haven't felt since before The Boot) on top of my "new" usual ankle pain, so I took it as easy as I could, and was careful to ice and ibuprofen tonight. My overall pace was just under 12:00/mile, so considering the 3 walk breaks I took, I'm pretty happy with that. I'm hoping to do a stroller run once every couple of weeks because it's a REALLY good workout and burns a lot of calories (more than the usual 100/mile - my heart rate monitor gave me 425 calories for just 3 miles today!), and because it makes the following run without the stroller feel AMAZING. Free like the wind...

Before we left the park, I let the kids run wild around the new patio thingy that the park service put up around the big oak in the parking lot. We definitely needed Manu and Leo to get the little tree huggers all the way around though...

BRRR

Somebody woke up early this morning (5:30!) and thus ended up getting ready with mama and daddy (normally we wake the kids at 7:00 and rush them through potty, dressing, and teeth brushing, then stick them in the car with breakfast to go). She was cold after her shower, so we put her in the robe I made James two summers ago. She told me she was still cold and went and curled up into a little ball in the middle of our bedroom floor - poor baby doll.

FAMILY PORTRAITS 2012

 Well, the gorgeous sunset hour of "magic lighting" we scheduled ourselves for (we wanted to see beautiful light peeking through trees covered in fall colors as our background) didn't happen due to a huge storm heading in, the wind was howling, rain drops were sprinkling, it was chilly, and the kids were in no way interested in looking at our photographer (let alone smiling for her). As I told Jay, "it's a moment in time, captured forever" - for better or worse, these are our kids at a photo shoot at ages 2.5 and 3.5. But that being said, I wouldn't recommend this photographer to our friends... I know she has a good reputation, and I think her studio shots are beautiful, but we were less than impressed with her outdoor photography skills and her lack of ability to engage her young clients (she actually asked me ahead of the shoot to bring someone who could make the kids smile... I was like, "That's YOUR job!") We had a hard time picking the 10 photos that we pre-paid for out of the 116 that she took (right there you can tell that her technique frustrated us, since an hour and a half portrait session should have yielded more like 500 raw shots), because even when the kids were looking at the camera, you could see the tension in my face from having to coax/bribe/threaten them, or the look on Jay's face that clearly said "Lady, you do not know what you're doing...". She spent WAY too much time trying to pose us (in at least 20 different "settings") and not enough time just snapping pictures. Sorry, but that's what the digital age has provided: the opportunity to just snap away while a family interacts with each other - you're bound to get something cute when you take 20-30 shots per pose rather than 2-3. Other amateur mistakes that she made were posing me sitting on the ground so that you could see up my skirt (all she'd had to do was tell me to swing my legs further out and one of those shots might have been saved), squatting to shoot up at us (that angle is HORRIBLE for everyone, except maybe little kids, because it makes you look huge and frumpy - always shoot from the front, side, or up above), and posing us in front of weird things like memorial rocks covered in writing (I mean really, who wants that in their family portrait?) or a street corner with random cars ugly signs in the background - although the kids did highly enjoy being placed up in a tree... 

Anyway, I think next year we'll simply grab a friend to take photos of us with Jay's fancy camera while we just be ourselves. What do you think? Are any of these frame-worthy?

BEACHES PLAYGROUND TOUR

Partly because I needed to keep them out of the house so that Jay could take his exams and partly because I know they love it, we spent a LOT of our vacation at different playgrounds. Every day we went to at least one, if not two different parks. A few times I even got to get out and play solo with James while Cora napped in the car with Gramma (well, Gramma wasn't napping, just watching Cora nap). I don't get enough one-on-one time with my kids, and I definitely need to change that. It's amazing the things you see differently or hear better when there is nobody else competing for your attention. Anyway, we took the grand tour of parks at The Beaches and we all really enjoyed ourselves. I'll let the (many) pictures speak for themselves!

ROADSIDE POTTY BREAK

Homeward bound. It was a little chilly at our first potty stop, 1.5 hours into the trip and immediately following Cora's first nap of the day (she ended up sleeping another 2 hours after lunch too). Then she fell asleep in the car when we were about 30 minutes from home and happily stayed asleep during the bed transfer. Sweet girl was worn out from her exciting week in Florida!

FOUND THE SETLIST!

SETLIST FROM EDDIE VEDDER’S SHOW LAST NIGHT IN JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA

By: Brett Buchanan (GrungeReport.net)

 

Eddie Vedder
Times Union Center for Performing Arts
Jacksonville, Florida
November 24, 2012

01. Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town

02. Can’t Keep

(guy in audience screams “welcome to Jacksonville Eddie”. Ed responds, “Home of the Jackson Five? No wait that is (sings) Gary, Indiana, Gary, Indiana, Gary, Indiana.” He then invites the audience to be seated because “we are going to be here awhile. I made the same offer to Tulsa but by the end of the night they couldn’t stand up…but you guys seem much more dignified than that…”. A women shouts “I love you Eddie!!”. Ed, “Well, I can’t see you but I am sure I love you too. I am going to play another quiet song before the fireworks start.” This is in reference to a riverside boat parade that we have been told might end with fireworks.)

03. Sleeping By Myself

04. Without You

(while Ed is talking to the audience about playing in Florida and this being his first time in Jacksonville fireworks can be heard going off. Ed says, “that is pretty loud for the quiet song I was gonna play.. can you you hand me that loud ukulele?” He talks a bit about the instrument and says, “if they are going to make that noise out there this is my answer..”)

05. Loud Uke

06. Soon Forget (fireworks can still be heard going off outside especially during the “whistling” part)

07. Light Today

08. Brain Damage-(Waters)

09. Sometimes

(Ed tells of reading a Bruce Springsteen interview where for a while Bruce would pick a person in the front row and sing the entire show to them. Looking them in the eye the entire time. Ed says, “I tried it a couple of times but I would look at the person and after minute they would look down. I would keep looking at them, they would look up and I would still be singing to them so they would look back down…and I understand that. I would be weirded out by that too.” Somebody shouts a request for ‘Red Mosquito’. “yeah, that is a good one…I am never gonna play it but it is a good one…you kinda want to have Mike McCready at your back for that.”)

10. Girl From The North Country-(Dylan)

11. I Am Mine

(“I don’t know what to say about this next song…It is based on a true story. It happens to male same sex couples, female same sex couples, male and female couples. It happens a lot. To much. I remember I got to play the song with Pete Townshend. He was listening to a live version. Pete said, ‘I really like the chords and the way the crowd is singing along. I like that the song is so dysfunctional and so many people relate to it.’”)

12. Better Man

13. Far Behind

(Ed, “some of the songs on Into The Wild are really short but that is because the scenes are so short. People say, “It’s a good song but it is so short.” Ed’s reply was “Play it twice.” He said I didn’t want to give Sean (Penn) a 4 minute song for 1:15 scene. He was already doing all the hard work. And is still doing the hard work. Just a little ways away from you in Haiti. He has been there for two years working his flesh to the bone.” Ed then tells a story about going camping with his family in Florida and having to swim in a lagoon that reeked of sulfur. His Dad threw a rock at what appeared to be a log but when the rock struck it the “log” sank. When they left they realized they were close to another lagoon that had some alligators in it. Ed realized that his father had chucked a rock at an alligator. Ed feels lucky to have survived his first trip to Florida.)

14. Guaranteed

15. Rise

16. Long Nights w/ Glen Hansard

(Ed talks about the community of fans that meet and hang out with each other on the tours. He says that there are probably people at the show now that are around 20 that were conceived during Pearl Jam’s early tours)

17. Immortality

18. Porch

Encore Break 1

(Ed compliments the audience. “We are going to be here awhile, I don’t know where I am playing tomorrow but fuck those guys…present company excluded.” A guy in the audience yells, (for perhaps the 15th time) “Welcome to Florida Eddie”. Ed comments that tonights show would make a good bootleg..but everyone would be wondering why that guy yells “welcome to Florida” about every two songs. Ed equates it to a flight attendant welcoming you to Florida. “We arrived at the same time, why are you welcoming me?”)

19. Driftin’

20. Pump Organ

21. Speed Of Sound

22. Let My Love Open The Door-(Townshend)

(Ed dedicates a song to the Merrit (sp) family. Dr. Merrit is the doctor in Hawaii that takes care of the big wave surfers. Another Dr. Matt (?) is Ed’s dealer, music dealer. He gets Ed all sorts of great music.)

23. Society w/ Glen Hansard-(Hannan)

24. Sleepless Nights w/Glen Hansard-(Bryant, Bryant) Busk no mics or PA

(Ed says, “Obviously, I wouldn’t be playing this next song without Glen and after this tour I am really going to miss playing it. Hopefully someday again in the future…)

25. Falling Slowly w/ Glen Hansard-(Hansard, Irglová)

(“I am gonna play a Willie Nelson song, at least it is now..”)

26. Just Breathe

27. Unthought Known

28. Rockin’ In The Free World-(Young)

Encore Break 2

29. Hard Sun w/ Glen Hansard-(Peterson)

30. Tomorrow Night-(Traditional)

EDDIE VEDDER CONCERT REVIEW

Eddie Vedder proves to Jacksonville crowd that a ukulele can rock

By Tom Szaroleta (Jacksonville.com)

Take the lead singer from pretty much any big-time rock band, put him on a stage by himself (and, for good measure, have him play a ukulele for much of the evening) and he's going to crash and burn just about every time.

Not so with Eddie Vedder.

Vedder, frontman for Pearl Jam, played for nearly 2 1/2 hours Saturday night with no drummer, no bass player, no backup singers and no bandmates. Just him and his ukulele (or acoustic guitar, electric guitar or mandolin).

He plays another show at the Times-Union Center on Sunday evening and, if it's anything like Saturday's show, fans can expect a mixed bag.


On Saturday, Vedder was sometimes spectacular, sometimes profane, sometimes low-key and always engaging. The man has a way of connecting with his audience that makes his shows feel like you're watching him play in a corner bar, not a big auditorium. Vedder took requests from the audience, told rambling stories and showed off some of his favorite stringed instruments.

Saturday's show had a very seat-of-the-pants feel to it. You got the feeling that he had a rough idea of what songs he was going to play but made up much of the set list as he went along. It was sort of like putting your iPod on shuffle. He played a bunch of Pearl Jam songs, of course, but also plenty of stuff from his solo work and a wide range of cover songs.

Since he started this leg of his solo tour just a few weeks ago, Vedder has covered songs by artists ranging from the Ramones to Lawrence Welk, from Elvis Presley to the Beatles.

On Saturday, he pulled out a little Pink Floyd ("Brain Damage"), Pete Townshend ("Let My Love Open the Door"), Bob Dylan ("Girl from the North Country"), Neil Young ("Keep on Rockin' in the Free World") and Indio ("Hard Sun"). The audience never knew what was coming next.

Vedder was in fine voice and showed some impressive instrumental skills, getting an awful lot of sound out of an acoustic guitar.

The show, which was originally scheduled for May but postponed, happened to fall during the Jacksonville Boat Parade, which took place right outside the Times-Union Center. Midway through Vedder's set, a fireworks show started outside. He simply switched instruments, breaking out an astonishingly loud 1952 electric ukulele.

He also got very quiet at times. Opening act Glen Hansard -- who played an impressive but too short set of his own -- joined him for a gorgeous version of the Everlys' "Sleepless Nights." The pair performed the song from the microphones -- just two voices and an unamplified ukulele in a room that holds 3,500. Audience members were quick to hush anyone who shouted out during the song, eager to hear every bit of it.

By the end of the night, Vedder had played 31 songs and run past 11 p.m. -- nearly unheard of at a concert these days.

Bottom line: If you want to be entertained, Vedder's Sunday night show at the T-U Center is a good bet. Just don't expect to get home early.

BEST DATE NIGHT EVER!

Tonight's date night: dinner at a Japanese steakhouse followed by an Eddie Vedder concert. BEST DATE NIGHT EVER! Best birthday/anniversary/Christmas gift ever. EVER. Incredible night!

Photos were not allowed during the show, but when they turned the lights up at the end after a few encores, everyone took out their phones and we followed suit. This is Eddie and his opening act, Glen Hansard (we're his newest fans - he was an amazing performer and completely adorable!), wearing their stage techs lab coats belting out Hard Sun as the near-final act.

Stole this one from Gina (she and Geoff were on the main floor) as Eddie waved goodbye to the Jacksonville crowd. So many good memories from tonight, and we wish we'd recorded the play list... He played almost all my favorite songs and a few songs that were new to me (and that's a feat)!

SAFE HARBOR

We had to go back, so Jay could enjoy the seafood and the view too. And the kids were more than happy to feed the birds their leftovers again.