Saturday, July 19, 2008

Can You Canoe?

This afternoon Melanie and her bridesmaids are having their bachelorette party. They kicked off the celebration by going canoeing on the Boardman. They set off in great style, with a plan to picnic at the DNR site and then go on to Beitner Park.




Everything went well until the rainstorm happened. The sky got very dark, there were torrents of rain, and some thunder and lightning. Fortunately, though, the bridesmaids seemed to have a good sense of fun because the report was that they were all laughing when they arrived at Beitner. Whew! No harm done, and a humorous memory was made. I'm sure they'll look back on it and laugh - maybe in a couple of weeks - or months - or years!

Just Wait!

Well, last night there was no waiting at the Mongolian BBQ. We left the house at 4 p.m. to go there because The Golden Dragon Acrobats of China show at Interlochen was to start at 7 p.m. Mongolian Barbecue was good fun, good food, good company - we loved it: Here Dylan is showing me pictures on the camera. He ordered the brownie sundae for dessert, and actually ate the whole thing! The verdict? Moomer's Cowabunga is better. Then we were off to Interlochen to see the acrobats - we had plenty of time to drive out there, find parking, and stroll around the campus for a while. In this picture, ex-Interlochen president Ed Downing, the man on the right, is an ex band director from Belleville High School: During the stroll, we saw a sign that said that the start of the concert had been delayed until 8 p.m. and they were sorry for the inconvenience!! Oh no - now we have too much time for waiting!! Here we are - waiting, waiting, waiting...along with many others. More than two hours....little did we know...the bottom line was that the show actually began at around 9:30 p.m.!!! Two and a half hours late. It was disconcerting for lots of people because there were many small children who had come to see the acrobats. At one point I almost decided to bag it, but we had already invested hours and hours of time waiting, and besides, I really wanted to see them. Evidently their bus had broken down and they were on their way. The first announcement said that they would be arriving in 15 minutes. Twenty-five minutes later, the second announcement said that they would be here shortly. People were milling all around the Kresge Aud. - it was very frustrating. Finally a cheer went up from the far side of the Aud. - it seems that the bus had finally arrived. So now we had to wait for warm-ups, costumes and make-up, etc, etc, etc. Heavy sigh. Anyway, it was a very good show and we all enjoyed it. Our group was very agreeable and cooperative and we had no meltdowns. Dylan's favorite was the "Chair Dude". Dick got a good video of the opening act: