This friend is a little bit younger than me. I like New Kids on the Block but I wasn’t that into them. I think I connected more with New Edition.

Boys II Men and 98 Degrees are joining NKoB on the tour.

My friend is taking her daughter on Friday to see One Direction so the tradition continues.

Which boy band do you remember the most? Which band would you be most excited to see perform? How do you think One Direction and the Jonas Brothers compare to the older boy bands? Do you take your daughter to see boy bands too?

One girlfriend was bemoaning taking her three kids to the movies. She likes getting out of the house but then they just sit there and don’t expend any energy. Also it’s very expensive. She says she’s inclined just to let them watch TV instead of paying for a movie.  (FYI — “Monsters University” opens this Friday just in case. There’s a 20 percent chance of rain for Friday, Saturday and Sunday according to Channel 2.)

I told her she should go to one of the indoor trampoline parks like Sky Zone. Her kids are too big for a jumpy place but they need to get that energy out. (Be sure not to feed your kids before. Lilina threw up at a birthday party at one of those places. …

Here are the details of the study from Time Healthland:

“The new study, published in the journal Pediatrics, involved thousands of children and adolescents throughout the U.S. and found that those who were physically assaulted, had their toys stolen or broken, or endured emotional abuse that made them feel frightened or unwanted by their sibling had higher levels of depression, anger and anxiety than those without these experiences. About one-third of the kids had been targeted by their siblings for physical and verbal abuse and overall, these children showed more mental health symptoms later than those who weren’t subject to bullying.”

“In order to study any differences between the effects of sibling bullying and those of being threatened by an unrelated bully, the …

“We had 850 kids, 170 Youth volunteers (7th -12th grade), 150 adult volunteers, and 86 6th graders who did community service activities outside the church during the VBS time. They were all done at the same time. The have a planned drop off that all the children are dropped off from 8:30 to 9am. In a carpool line and the youth take them to their leaders in one of two rooms. The children have on a name tag with their group for example KA which is Kindergarten group A. Then the children have rooms to go to or centers (snack, arts and crafts, music and two big …

Lilina said we should buy a red and black ice cream cake from Baskin-Robbins. (I’m totally doing this. He loves their Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup ice cream and cake and of course the red and black are for UGA!)

She also thinks we should get red and black balloons.

Here are some possible gift ideas that I need to pick two or so and run with it!

A new electric toothbrush – he used to have one but it finally died. I think he would like that.

A new UGA shirt for game days.

Two new Georgia collapsible chairs to take camping with us so people know who we support! (Go Dogs!) .

A wireless speaker for his iPhone to use on trips or out back.

A utility “knife” for electronic gear – charge connectors for anything you need to plug into your computer to charge. I think this would also convenient for  a trip.

My last idea is to hire a pool guy for the summer. Poor Michael spends so much time …

From The New York Times:

“According to the USA Swimming Foundation, about 70 percent of African-American children, 60 percent of Latino children and 40 percent of white children are nonswimmers. Lack of access and financial constraints account only partly for these numbers. Fear, cultural factors and even cosmetic issues play a role as well.”

“Before the Civil War, more blacks than whites could swim,” Lynn Sherr, the author of “Swim: Why We Love the Water,” said in an interview. “There are many stories of shipwrecks in which black slaves rescued their owners.”

But as Ms. Sherr learned from Bruce Wigo of the International Swimming Hall of Fame, segregation destroyed the aquatic culture of the black community. “Once whites discovered swimming, blacks were increasingly excluded from public pools and lifeguarded beaches,” Mr. …

So for the first movie, the backseat flipped up so the bottom part supported your back. We swapped places and passed around popcorn and candy.

For the second movie, we flipped the seats under the and kids used the floor like a bed. Lilina played on the iPad for a while and then fell asleep. She didn't like the "Star Trek" feature.

We visited San Diego last week for a few days at the beach and ended up going to a double feature at a local drive-in theater one night. The kids had never been to a drive-in before, and we had a great time.

They were showing “Epic” around 8:30 p.m. as the early show and then “Star Trek Into the Darkness” at 10:25 p.m. Walsh really wanted to see the new “Star Trek” movie and we figured the 6-year-old would fall asleep during it and wouldn’t be scared. (I liked “Star Trek” even better at the drive-in than I did at the IMAX 3D.)

So we saw two movies for $23. (Adults were $7 a person and it was $3 each for the kids.) We brought in …

When we first start a road trip each family member chooses the song that they think will be played the most that summer. We base it on the songs being played on SiriusXM Hits 1 Channel 2, which are mostly pop. Then you sit back and count the number of times that each song is played. The winner is whoever picks song that is played the most. The game continues over each car trip. The kids can pick a new song or stick with their original choice.

Rose has already claimed “Love It” by Icona Pop and Walsh has chosen “Cruise” by Florida Georgia Line. I’m not sure what song I am going to choose this year. The key is to pick one that is not too old, and it’s got to have a good hook and be light and poppy.

Last year Walsh won with Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe.”  Rose came in second place with Katy Perry’s “Wide Awake.” I was third with One Direction’s “What …

Is that normal? How long do divorces normally take? How long did your divorce take?

Her current plan is to tell the kids after the divorce is already final and on the day their Dad is moving out.

I personally think this is a bad plan. I have never had to give kids this type of information, and I hope I to God I never have to. However, I think kids need a little time to get used to the idea of the divorce and of Dad moving out before he actually moves out. I think that would be terribly upsetting to be told and then have Dad move out that day.

She is also wondering what reason to give the kids. Friends have suggested to say that they fell out of love, but she doesn’t think that’s a good enough reason to get divorced. Also she doesn’t want the kids to worry that they will fall out of love with them.

She’s learning toward saying that mommy and daddy are no longer a good team. She thinks that would be understandable to the kids.

Is it …