Happy Father's Day!

Well this is a first! SVM Macaroni Kid experienced its first RAIN DELAY with this week's edition! Last night I attended the Gavin DeGraw & Colbie Caillat with Andy Grammer show at Chastain Park Amphitheater. I'm still amazed there WAS a show. I've lost all faith in weatherchannel.com. When I packed up my picnic basket at 6pm, the forecast said cloudy with a 0% chance of rain. ZERO!  Umm.....that was no pop-up storm. It was a severe thunderstorm with flash floods, super scary lightning and thunder, and well - let's just say, it wasn't the best time to be outdoors! More on that later in this article (I still LOVE Chastain!), but needless to say, I wasn't even able to get home until 1am, at which point finishing this week's edition was hopeless. So I apologize for the delay!

It's been quite the week in our household. This unusual June weather continues, and perhaps that's why Drew, along with at least two of his other 7-8 year old friends have had double ear infections this past week.  He hasn't had an ear infection since he was three - and I can't blame the swimming (though he's going to end up missing five of his eight swim lessons!). We've had three doctor appointments this week including a trip to urgent care. We're now the proud (not!) owners of our own nebulizer for daily breathing treatments (at first they were concerned he might have pneumonia too), and too many medications for a kid his age. Luckily it's FINALLY clearing up after more than 10 days of on again/off again sickness. He's at camp today and SO happy to be out of the house.  Speaking of which, he's attending Ninja Camp at BLACK KNIGHT MARTIAL ARTS - and the studio is hosting a free pizza and movie evening tomorrow (Kung Fu Panda) from 4:30pm to 7pm.  Just help them out by calling ahead to let them know you'd like to come! See This Week's Picks for the details!  (Summer Camp Guide is still live - CLICK HERE to access it!)

To all the dads out there - HAPPY FATHER'S DAY! I hope you are able to rest (if you choose) or have a great family day. While most of my readers are moms, I know there are some dads out there who read Macaroni Kid, and I just want to say I appreciate you! And I'm sure your kids do as well.

This week we have some super-fun giveaways for kids and adults like!

• Win 4 Passes to see BRAVE at Atlantic Station on Monday (Entry Deadline is tomorrow!)

• Win 4 Tickets to the Sound of Music Sing-a-long at the Fox Theatre (part of the Coca-Cola Film Fest)

• Win 2 Tickets to Music of The Night at Chastain Park Amphitheater Fri., June 22nd

• Win a Copy of Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, on Blu-Ray/ DVD!

A note about our LIBRARIES! There are so many libraries that fall within this coverage area, that I can't possibly pull and list all the storytimes and events. Both Cobb County and Smyrna Library have AMAZING Calendars however, so make sure to go there to see what's happening at your favorite library. I've pulled select events that might be a little unique (Like Zumba for families at East Marietta Library!), but for ALL events and storytimes, click HERE for Cobb County and HERE for Smyrna Library (note that Smyrna Library events fill up in advance quickly, so call ahead if something is of interest to you!).

SVM MACARONI KID ARTICLES! Just a reminder that not only do we have great articles for you at the top of the newsletter (before the event listings), but there are even MORE articles, including the Beat the Heat article with info on fountains, free bowling and more; Food Truck article, Kids Eat Free and Cheap and more.

WINNERS! Congrats to last week's winners - Dave W. For Gavin DeGraw / Colbie Caillat at Chastain (sorry about the weather!) and Jennifer H. for tix to Superhero Day this Sunday at Fernbank Museum of Natural History!

And finally, a recap of my night at Chastain Park Amphitheater....let's hope for a dry weekend for Father's Day!  Here's what I know and what I learned!

I love concerts at Chastain - and if you've never been to one, you need to change that this summer! There's the Delta Classic Chastain Series (my favorite because you can bring pretty much WHATEVER you want - from fancy food to candles, flowers, wine...you'll see a little of everything! The same goes for the Georgia Natural Gas Concert Series (great lineup too!). There are also traditional concert setups where you CANNOT bring your picnics...I'm trying to locate a list, but so as not to delay this any longer, I'll add it later (if you know where to find the No Coolers Concert List, let me know!).

We arrived last night at 7:15pm (gates opened at 7pm). I thought the show started at 8pm, but apparently that was the schedule for Colbie Caillat and then Gavin DeGraw. Andy Grammer was already performing when we walked in and he was AMAZING.  I love his hit singles, Keep Your Head Up and Fine By Me, so we got to enjoy those in DRY seats, with our dinner & wine setup, and hear some great music!  And then...I think a raindrop the size of my hand landed on my leg. And then another. And then we RAN for cover, leaving our table behind (but luckily grabbing our cooler and picnic basket)! We weren't alone in the "There was no chance of rain!" department. Lots of women in fancy dresses were quite soaked. And oh those pretty tables with fancy food and wine setups....yikes. It was thundering and lightning and downright scary! Needless to stay the show did not go on....for some time. So for 90 minutes we stood under cover and had a drink and waited. Honestly I didn't see anyway there'd be a show (in part due to the Ampthitheater 11pm curfew) - but we couldn't have gone home either - too much lightning!  And then, much too my amazement, at approximately 9:55 Colbie Caillat hit the stage, bubbly as she could be! The rain stopped, we bought a couple ponchos to put on our seats, and had a blast! After a brief intermission, Gavin DeGraw took the stage.  When he said " Hope you're having a good night Atlanta!" it was closer to morning - 11:15am. A lot of very disheveled fans who waited it out were rocking...this was no longer a wine and cheese crowd. But then at 11:35 the rain came back, gushing. Oh well. Concerts in the rain can be a lot of fun actually. As long as you're prepared!  Here are some of my thoughts on the night!

• Always bring rain gear with you to Chastain, no matter what the forecast! And if you choose to wear white, well don't say I didn't tell you not to!

• Chastain is very much a wine and cheese crowd. Watching the fans and their setups can sometimes be as much fun as watching the show. But when it rains....that wine and cheese crowd turns into more of a beer (or Mike's Hard Lemonade) and pretzel crowd. Prepare to rock out, and get wet!

• I had no idea Gavin DeGraw was such a rocker...I'm used to seeing him behind the keyboard. It must be something to do with his stint on Dancing with the Stars!

• Back to Chastain....if it starts LIGHTNING, you probably should not pick up your metal-legged table and hold it over your head for cover from the rain. Just saying....

• Expect casualties - not human! In this case, my TV table did not survive the excursion. And my gooey shoes went straight into the trash.

• Here's a hint if you don't know it already...if you go the back way (take Mt. Paran from Northside Parkway, make a right on Jett Rd.), you can park in the Sutton Middle School Lot off Jett for only $10. It's SO easy, no traffic, and an easy out to get home too! They also had golf cart transportation to the venue for people who park there. Can't beat that! Lugging the coolers, TV tables etc. is usually the biggest challenge of the night! But you have to get there early or the lot fills up.

• Be prepared for anything - and have fun! Oh, and there's no 11pm curfew in situations like this one! (Many thanks to ASO Presents for providing me with complimentary tickets to this show.)

And with that the rain delay is over, enjoy this week's SVM Macaroni Kid, and have a fabulous Father's Day Weekend! I'll be adding cool things to my FATHER'S DAY Pinterest board later, so check in if you're a Pinterest person!

PS - Happy Birthday Mom!

Michelle