Airborne Events

Thanks to emails from Jerry in Hawaii, Rachelle has become interested in several new bands. She was excited to find that one of her latest favorites, The Airborne Toxic Event, would be playing in Cardiff, Wales.

So, for her birthday, we planned a night away - our first night out sans kids since moving to the U.K. The plan was for Kevin and Janet to take the kids and Rachelle and I would take a train to Wales Sunday to hear the band, stay overnight at at B&B, and come back Monday in time to pick up the kids from school. A very well laid plan.

On Sunday morning we received a call that Kaidyn had come down with strep throat, which, as many parents know, is a toxic airborne contagious virus. After brainstorming and calling babysitters, the Vowles came through and Janet volunteered to sleep over our house with Noah and Liv and tote them to school in the morning. Once again, the Vowles step in to save the day!

Rachelle and I took our afternoon train to Cardiff. We had a nice walk to our Victorian B&B, the Abbey, which a Welsh football mate of mine informed was a former brothel. Our room was quite nice, and there was a plaque on the door letting us know that Peter O'Toole had slept in the room (we are guessing it was post-brothel time).

We dined at a pub, had tea at another pub, and then went to the BarFly, where the band would be playing. We were right on time - one of the first ones there and had time to talk with the band's crew, who were from L.A. As the crowd grew we found ourselves right up against the stage. The BarFly is not a large place, so the 200 or so people filled it out nicely. After listening to 2 warm-up bands, who each had screaming lead singer who looked to be too young to be at the BarFly, The Airborne Toxic Event came out. It was a great show. We were so close that the lead singer handed me his microphone to hold while he climbed up on a pillar to sing from a better vantage point. The female singer danced right next to us in the crowd a couple of times.

The next day, we walked to the Cardiff Castle and had a live tour - an event that is quite pleasant when we are not accompanied by bored kids. The castle and grounds has been renovated over the years, and it is quite impressive. See the video taken from the Castle Keep, which is the building on the hill in the background of the picture of Rachelle.

We had lunch and then took our train back to Bath. As we took the bus from the train station up the hill to our cottage, it was snowing (airborne event 3) and starting to stick. By the time we had the kids home, it was perfect outside for snowball fights. The snow was dry and packed well and it was not too cold out. We enjoyed some nice battles, including ones with undergraduate students, an ambush of Kevin who was leaving work, and two ambushes of Rachelle as she went to and returned from the post office. After the fun, I filled a bag of snow for my ankle and the kids went out to make a snowman. Later, Noah took a photo of their snowmen and another one made by some undergraduate students. See if you can guess which one was made by the Cohen kids. Before judging them too harshly, remember they are from Atlanta.