Coldplay

It's taken me almost a week to write this because I was mourning the fact that it was all over.

Back in January, my sister bought tickets for the two of us and two of my former co-workers. September seemed so stinkin' far away yet it arrived before we knew it.

Our other sister didn't feel like she knew the band well enough to attend the concert but we met for lunch in Walnut Creek and browsed a few adorable shops. Before we decided on where to go for lunch, my sister looked up some local restaurants on Yelp and one of them had a photo of these delicious looking doughnuts. That happened to be the restaurant we settled on. Just as we were finishing up our main course, I said I kept smelling the doughnuts but couldn't find anyone who had them. For some reason, that set us all off and what started as laughter quickly turned into hysterics, which then turned into crying and trying to catch our breath. I can only imagine what we looked like and it makes me laugh out loud reminiscing about it. Turns out, I wasn't smelling the doughnuts but my sister's hand sanitizer.  The doughnuts turned out to be AMAZING and I'm anxiously awaiting a day when I can attempt to re-create them.

My sister had to hurry back home to pick her girls up from dance before it was time for us to get ready to the show.  After some wardrobe disputes, we were on our way to meet the other two ladies.  The husband of one of them agreed to drop us off and pick us up which was a HUGE relief since parking was $50!  Yikes!  Ironically, before the show ended, Chris Martin thanked everyone for coming despite how difficult it must have been to find something to wear, the high ticket costs, and high vendor prices.

We arrived at Levi's Stadium around 6:30 and snapped a few photos on the way to our seats.

A Santa Clara police officer took this one - he didn't even know who was playing :)

The stadium was PACKED and the lines to get food were outrageous (we hadn't eaten since lunch and I was starving). Thankfully, there were indoor concession stands right next to our section and my sister and I shared chicken strips & french fries for my 1st course.

We didn't recognize the first act until she (Bishop Briggs) sang her last song (she reminded me of a young Björk). I didn't recognize the second act (Alessia Cara) at all but finally heard one of her songs on the radio yesterday.

The excitement and anticipation were almost too much to handle. My sister and I kept looking at each other and squealing because we were just about to burst. Finally, just after 9:00, the stadium went dark, music came through the speakers, and our wristbands lit up. The show was starting!

The waiting for eight months was absolutely, positively worth it. Even when I didn't know a few of the songs they played (their new ones), my body couldn't help but dance to the beat. Every second was as entertaining as could be and I'd see the same show night after night if I could. It was amazing.

So many memories go with so many of their songs. Like how when LaVor and I broke up, "The Scientist" had just been released. Or how I got in a fight with my dad and can picture LaVor and I driving down 580 as we listened to "Fix You" and I thought of how Chris wrote the song for Gwyneth when her dad passed away. Or how "Kingdom Comes" reminds me of our wedding.

What really got me was when they played "Everglow". Several months ago, I came across either a blog post or Instagram post of a mother whose little girl suddenly passed away last year. The mom wrote a specific blog post about Coldplay's song and how they still find Marjorie's everglow all around them. I certainly thought of her as the band played the song.

I've decided Chris Martin and I would make great friends. I just wanted to squeeze his cheeks, he was so adorable throughout the night! Very funny, down to earth, and seemed like someone you'd just want to hang out with.

This was my third time seeing them and it seems to get better each time. I can only imagine how exciting it will be when I get to see them again!

Apple Hill

LaVor's parents were in town over the weekend and we were trying to think of something we could do that didn't involve water (The Lime's broken arm). Apple Hill came to my mind last week and so that's what we did.

Since we were familiar with it, we stopped at High Hill Ranch. The Lime really wanted to play in their makeshift playground but we promised him we'd go to a real park when we got home.

We browsed through the vendors, bought some apples, took some silly photos, watched a forklift dump a crate full of apples into another bin to make cider, and ate home hot dogs that were supposed to be Polish dogs.

The smells coming from the restaurant were mouth watering and if I had enough room in my belly and money in my wallet, I would have bought ever pie and caramel apple they had. Seriously, I need a candle made out of that scent.

We walked around the pond/lake and Doodlebug was fixated on these ducks.

Then Doodlebug spotted the mini-horses and couldn't take his eyes off them.

We headed down the road to Boa Vista Orchards where LaVor's mom bought a yummy Dutch apple pie. Another place that I wouldn't have minded a sample of every.little.thing.

Everyone was winding down and I still needed to run an errand back home before it got too late. With one quick stop in Placerville, we were on our way home along with everyone else after an eventful Labor Day.

We were lucky to have Grammy & Papa make a pit stop on their way home from Hawaii and hope it'll be sooner rather than later before we see them again.