We made it to Schlitterbahn on Sunday and it was the perfect day to go. The weather was not too hot and the lines were short, if there were any at all. I managed to get sunburned on my back, even though I put sunscreen on twice. It must be the fact that my back rarely sees the light of day combined with being rubbed along the Schlitterbahn slides. I'll recover. To top off the fabulous Sunday, the kids had their first soccer games of the season on Saturday and Evelyn went to a party "with a magician that made a BUNNY appear out of a PICTURE OF A BUNNY!" Evelyn summed it up best when she said as she drifted off to sleep Sunday night, "I'm going to have a lot to write about in my journal on Monday!"
I'm going to spend some time making a new exercise playlist tonight. I bought the song
Push It by Salt-N-Pepa, which I love for the beat and for some reason it's been in my head. It was at the height of its popularity in '88, which was 8th grade for me. For those readers that had the joy of being part of Central Middle School in Galveston, you will surely recall the lyrics:
"Now, now, now wait a minute ya'll...this dance ain't for everybody...only the sexy people. So all you fly brothers, get on out there and dance." I still use the word Fly to describe something fabulous.
Tonight I amused Kenneth and Evelyn by telling them what their names would be backwards. We ran through every extended family member and some friends too. They were on the floor laughing with some of them. The best of the bunch: Yendor, Kram, Htebazile, Belac, & Mutat.
On Sunday, we took the subway over to my cousin Kristin's apartment to see her, Chris, and their new baby, Jenny. Jenny is about 4 months old and is very cute. She hung out with both Rod and I and 
eventually fell asleep on her Dad's chest. Kristin took some photos--they might end up on her blog. Sunday afternoon I had to spend at a conference meeting until 5:00. While I was there, Rod took a taxi out to see his house and school from the time period that he lived in Long Island. We went to see Legally Blonde on Broadway on Sunday evening. It was awesome and I rank it up there with my top 3 favorite Broadway musicals (other 2 are Rent and Cats). The part of Elle Woods was played by an understudy who had great charisma; the whole ensemble was engaging and I would see it again in an instant.
I spent all day Monday at the conference, but in the evening I synced up with a high school friend for chocolate cake and reminiscing. Tuesday evening I went to see Xanadu on Broadway with two work colleagues. I may post some more photos if I can get my colleagues to send a couple that they took. The show is based on a really cheesy Olivia Newton John movie (of the same
title) from the early 80s. The actors specifically channeled some of the nuances of the movie characters, particularly the way ONJ pronounced her character's name, "Kira," in a breathy voice. It was a funny show and I was surprised how much of the music I already knew. I guess more than one song from the movie was a pop hit. At some point during the trip Rod went out to Central Park to see David Blaine in the middle of his latest stunt--hanging upside down for 48 hours.
The week before school we had plans that included a trip to Schlitterbahn but we picked the one day it rained all August. Half the park was closed and we decided that half the park wasn't worth the full ticket cost, so we headed to San Antonio
instead. For anyone who's spent any amount of time as a tourist in SA, you are aware of the strip of activities near the Riverwalk: we filled a day at the Riverwalk Mall, the Alamo, Ripley's Believe It or Not museum, Guinness Book of World Records museum, and two attractions that were more amusement park-like. We will try to make up the Schlitterbahn trip next weekend before it closes for the season. In the wax museum, we met Oprah, George Bush, and several bad replications of other famous people. That particular museum needs a major facelift--they drop in a couple of currently famous people like Sarah Jessica Parker and Britney Spears, but they're right next 
to the huge "Driving Miss Daisy" display, which I'm pretty sure was there when I visited this area in high school with my friends. The visit also included a stay in a B&B in New Braunfels which was conveniently located near Gruene, TX. 
Gruene hosts a Market Day every 1st and 3rd weekend during certain months of the year. We found a couple of Austin-based craftspeople there, one of which is a jewelry-maker who does beautiful work. I will probably re-visit her in Austin.