Probably one of the best events this summer happened on June 30th. Not only was it my cousin-in-law's birthday and she was in town visiting myself and her SIL (my cousin), but we got to attend one of the best concerts I have ever attended.
That's right. We became tweens again and went to The Package Tour featuring Boyz II Men, 98 Degrees and NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK!! I lost my voice by the end of the night, my CIL cried and we were dripping sweat by the time it was all over.
Just a little backstory....
My cousin "J" and I are a year apart and have loved New Kids since the late 80's. We both saw them in Iowa in 1990 (although we didn't go together). She later saw them in Kansas City a couple of years ago and I saw them last year in STL when they toured with Backstreet Boys. J's sister-in-law "A" has never seen them but is as big of a Blockhead as we are.
Because A's birthday was the day of the concert and J is such an amazing SIL, she bought A tickets for the concert as a push present for giving birth in March (to the beautiful little girl I posted pictures of earlier in this thread).
Fast forward to a week before the concert...J had originally bought tickets for herself, a co-worker, A and J's sister. Unfortunately , J's sister couldn't make it so J called me and asked if I would like to go instead.
Ummm....yes!
But I didn't know if I could afford the tickets
J: "You don't have to pay for them. I'm going to GIVE you the ticket because we want you to go with us!"
Me: "Holy...are you kidding me!!!! Yes, yes...a million times yes! Thank you!!!!"
Fast forward a bit further to concert night...
We met at restaurant for dinner and drinks and then took the Metrolink (our version of the subway) to head downtown. Because it was still really early, we headed to a little Irish pub close to the venue. The place was FULL of women going to the concert and the speakers were blaring New Kids on the Block! We had a few more drinks to celebrate the concert and the birthday girl until it was time to hop the shuttle bus that would take us to the venue.
As we were walking to the escalator to get to our seats (we were up in the upper deck area), a gentleman stopped A and asked her how many people were in her party. She tells him "4" and he asks to see our tickets. Immediately, the little voice in my head says "He's upgrading you!" He looks at our tickets and says "Those aren't very good seats for someone celebrating their birthday. Let's see if we can do better."
I literally almost hugged the man at this point.
"To get to your new seats, keep following this level until you get to section 110. Then you'll go down the stairs..."
...Holy moly, did he just say DOWN the stairs!!!
"...and your seats will be on your right"
By this point, I was jumping up and down like an idiot and was tearing up. We follow his directions and as we pull back the curtain to get to our new seats, the first thing we spot is the stage which was RIGHT IN FRONT OF US!!!!
Ladies and gents, we were now 11 rows off the floor in front of the second portion of the stage!!!
I was shaking and jumping up and down, J couldn't quit laughing and A was screaming like a teenager.
Me and J
A, the birthday girl
Boyz II Men was the first act and was great! They only did a few songs but sounded just as good as they did back in the day, even minus one member.
Handing out roses during "I'll Make Love to You"
98 Degrees was next and I will admit, I am not a big fan of theirs. They were good, though, but I was ready for New Kids!!
98 Degrees
In between acts, they had a DJ planning all kinds of songs from the 80's and 90's. It was great and really kept the crowd entertained. You could hear people singing along all throughout the arena.
Finally came the time we were looking forward to. NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK!!! (And yes, I realize that they are no longer "new" or "kids" but hey, neither were we!). I don't have too many pictures because my camera's battery died but I will say that I have been to lots of concerts in my time and this ranks up there in my top 5! They sang new songs, old songs, cover songs. They had confetti fall from the ceiling, they had fan interaction...it was so amazing, I don't even have enough words to describe it.
Opening song "We Own Tonight" off their new album
Joe McIntyre in the audience in the section next to us during "Tonight"
It was truly one of the best nights of my life and it was made more special because I got to spend it with two of my closest cousins.
Continued....
them! 
but the realist in me knows that pancreatic cancer is very aggressive and a real pain in the you-know-what. For right now, though, I'm going to let the optimist Tater prevail because I am so happy for MIL. 
But lo and behold, a couple of weeks after that, I saw an advertisement for The Graffiti Run. It's the same premise at The Color Run, just put on by a different group. So DH and I got a couple of friends together and they got some family members together who then got some friends together and we formed a team for the race!
If you are not that familiar with the Lemp family history, I definitely suggest Googling them. It is a very interesting story indeed. E, C, myself and our other friend R spent the night in Lemp Mansion last year for my birthday and it was an experience I'll never forget. 
so I'm following along to get my Disney fix.
and thanks for joining in!
