Happy New Year!

We had an absolute blast this New Year’s Eve! Several weeks ago David decided to buy the whole family tickets to The Flaming Lips New Year’s Eve concert in Oklahoma City, plus hotel rooms so we could all spend the night afterwards. We’ve been long-time fans. Chris has been to several of their concerts and David and I finally got to see them at Voodoo Fest in New Orleans on Halloween. It isn’t just a concert; it’s a party. And we could only imagine how much fun they’d be on New Year’s Eve.

So, Thursday afternoon we headed to the city, picking up Chris’ friend, Meredith on the way. Five additional friends of Chris followed us up there and still more met us there. We checked into the Sheraton Hotel where we were offered free glasses of champagne in the lobby. They also had several ice sculptures set up. I should have taken more pictures but here’s one:

As soon as we’d all settled into our rooms, Chris and his friends decided to walk a couple of blocks to a restaurant for pizza. It was rather cold and windy so David, Justin, Lisa and I chose to eat at the hotel where they were serving a nice buffet.

The nice thing about this hotel is that there is an underground tunnel leading to the convention center where the concert took place. We didn’t have to go outside and the tunnel is an experience in and of itself as you’ll see in the last photo. When we emerged into the convention center there was someone playing classical music on a grand piano with a small group of people sitting around listening. It was all very nice but not exactly what we came for. When we saw a line of people, some of whom were wearing costumes, we knew that was where we were supposed to be.

The tickets David bought were for seats rather than down on the floor. Chris’ other friends had floor tickets which are more expensive and I know it’s fun to be right there in the midst of things but I must admit that being able to sit down part of the time was a good thing, in my opinion. David and I stood during the three days of Voodoo Fest (a couple of concerts per night) and by the end my poor feet had had enough. Knowing we’d be able to sit part of the time, I decided to wear my cute, high heel boots instead of something more comfortable. Fashion first, you know!

It was such a fun concert!

Chris and Meredith – Rockin’ out!

Huge balloon drop at midnight

I think we went to sleep around 3:30 a.m. and did manage to leave our rooms by the noon check-out. Lisa and Justin had left earlier to go do some shopping but Chris, Meredith, David, five other friends and I all went to Bricktown for lunch before heading home.

It was truly the most fun New Year’s Eve I’ve ever had. Being with my wonderful husband, our amazing kids and other friends at a Flaming Lips New Year’s Eve concert is something we will all remember. We are so lucky that our adult kids actually enjoy doing things with their parents. And the fact that their friends do, too, is an added bonus. We so enjoy all these young people even if we no longer have quite the stamina they do. Still I think we did pretty well making it ’til 3:30 a.m., don’t you? 😉

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