Not Easily Broken

Bluegrassing with Kenmore and Canyon Park Jr. High Students

Wow!  We just finished up a bluegrass camp with Kenmore Junior High and Canyon Park Junior High orchestra students!  What an experience! 

Pictured below is the group of students I had the privilege of working with during the camp.  They were part of the 92 students who attended.  They called themselves Second Breakfast Band.  This is pretty much the only pic I took while we were there because we were so busy and I just didn't get to it (I do that a lot).  I wish I had more pictures of the people there.

 

Last summer, music teacher Karen Cramer invited us to come up to Cedar Springs Camp in Lake Stevens to teach her junior high orchestra students some bluegrass.  I immediately connected with her vision for the October camp and wanted to talk with our fam about taking the opportunity.  BUT the big question was whether Clayton and Camden would be available to do it. 

Clayton would be just getting into his first year of college at UW, and we weren't sure what his life would be like with a demanding school schedule.  Would he be able to miss a Friday of school? 

Also, Camden would be playing frosh football at WHS, and we didn't know when his football games would be.  We waited as long as we could to see if those issues were going to make it impossible for us to do it, or not.  Things were working out fine with the football schedule, but we still didn't know how it would work for Clayton. 

So, we just decided to go for it and figured his schedule would work out. Things were working out fine until about a week ago when Clayton came to us and said he was feeling overwhelmed with school and didn't think he was going to be able to miss class on Friday.  Gulp.  Really? 

We rely heavily on Clayton for his ability to play banjo, show us all what to do and just be a fun and positive force in the band.  How could we do it without him?  We knew none of us could teach banjo, so we would need to find another banjo player to teach the students. 

As far as performing without Clayton, we knew it would be a challenge, but also a reality as he is becoming more and more busy with his new college life.  His new chapter in life is taking him outside of our home more and more. We are all coming to grips with the reality of his growing up and having his own life apart from ours.  Ben and I knew that this was coming some day, but our kiddos did not see it coming as much and are sad as they face it now.  However,though we are missing his daily presence in our lives, it does make the times we do have together sweeter.  Also, it gives our older kids a chance to relate differently as the roles change amongst our kids with some being considered "the older ones."  The changes are a normal part of family life, and it is all good...but a little awkward and sad at times too.  We don't know how much time we will have with him in the future, but for now we enjoy it when we can get it.

Anyway, we did end up finding a banjo player to take Clayton's teaching spot for the daytime jams on Friday.  Chris Luquette of Northern Departure took the opportunity and joined us on Friday to teach a group of the student musicians some banjo and bluegrass.  Chris is an incredible musician and friend.  We so appreciated his help and the students learned a lot from him.  Chris was not able to stay for the Friday night concert because of another performance that he had with his band.  But Clayton was able to return by that point and join us for the night.  So, it all did work out well, and we all had a great time teaching.

We were also joined by fiddler, Stephen Burwell.  I have written about Stephen and his brother, Seth, a few times in our blog.  Stephen is an AWESOME musician and we love hanging out with him.  He was an excellent addition to the team! AND we found out that he and most of his family enjoy "What About Bob?" too!  That is probably our most favorite family movie.  We often quote it and noticed during the camp that Stephen was quoting it too!  After the camp, Stephen came back home with us to enjoy some Little Caesar's pizza and a viewing of "What About Bob?"--twisted minds think alike!

Back to the camp... The schedule for the camp was a lot like the Wintergrass Youth Academy schedule where the kids break into instrument specific groups the first meeting, and then they break into bluegrass bands for the rest of the time to learn a song together and perform it in a concert held the last night of the Academy.  While the Wintergrass Youth Academy has two full days to work on learning the music, this camp really had only a day.  BUT the kids were older and also orchestra students, so they were able to pick it up very quickly and even went on to learn more songs! 

While Clayton has taught at the Wintergrass Youth Academy for the last two years, the rest of us (other than Chris) were not so familiar with teaching bluegrass in this format.  So this was a stretch of our comfort zones.

However, we didn't need to worry a bit about the teaching.  The students were so enthusiastic, courteous and skilled that they picked it up quickly and were performing like pros for the Friday night concert!

We are so glad that we took this gig and hope we can do it again sometime.  I found that I really, really enjoyed working with these kids about as much as I enjoy cooking--and that's a lot!  I expected that I would be kind of tuckered out after it was all over, but really, it was quite energizing.   Since Katie is now five and probably ready to join the Wintergrass Youth Academy, I am thinking now about volunteering to help there this year.  I have been working with my own kids and music for awhile now and though I have many years left of that, I am excited to think that there will more opportunities to work with kids and music even after mine have grown and left home. 

Thank you to Karen and to the students who attended the camp.  You made our time with you a joy and we loved working with you all! Karen has struck the perfect balance between being fun, keeping everyone in line and also inspiring meaningful learning.

Also, there were other volunteers/parents who helped and taught with us.  These folks made our jobs so much easier as they brought their music skills to help with the students' learning. They also ran all kinds of errands for us, like looking for medical tape for the bass players' fingers and even taking Katie to the restroom for me. Thank you so much!!  With parents like these, it is no wonder why their kids were so great to work with!

It was an amazing couple days of camp. We hope that as these young musicians continue to enjoy music that bluegrass can be added to their list of favorite genres and memories. 

Coming up in December, we will be heading to Great Wolf Lodge to serenade Santa as he visits with kids there.  The dates and times for that are December 21-23 from 6-8pm.  Also, we will be playing at  Warm Beach Christian Conference Center for The Lights of Christmas in Stanwood, WA.  The dates for that are December 26-28th at the Tinhorn Town stage from 5:15-9:15pm.  Hope to see you there!

 

Life Lessons in a Family Band

Thursday night was our performance at Cottage Lake. The weather was warm and PERFECT, the audience was lively and engaging, and the music came effortlessly. We had a blast playing together. The little jokes and teasings that we share between us make it so much fun too.

The night before during our practice, we actually laughed a lot. Not typical for working on problemed areas in our set. But we had an ongoing joke from a Chris Farley skit when he was pretending to be "Matt Foley--motivational speaker" on SNL years ago. Many years ago, Ben and I saw this skit and still joke about ending up "living in a van down by the river."

We showed the boys the skit recently, and now, we all make jokes with that quote. But Clark found another quote that we used during the practice Wednesday night. It was a little harsh, but I have teenage boys, and we used it well to laugh off the tension. I can't seem to get it to embed on here, but just click here, for Chris Farley "Shut Your Yapper," and you'll see it.

Family practices can end up being downright miserable if the members decide to abandon respect, humility, patience and self-control. In moments of frustration and disagreement, destructive words can be used that lead to even more destructive words, and then before you know it, somebody "quits" the band...at least for the rest of that evening. Remember, these are beings in the process of maturing with sensitive egos, short fuses, and a few insecurities.

It is hard to hear, "Don't play that lick...it sounds stupid and you are just showing off..." Or, "I know a lot more about bluegrass than you do!" When such things are said, feelings get hurt, and it is hard to work together to make the music happen.

One thing we have been learning is that there is no place for pride in a family, or a band, and especially, a family band. It is so easy to become prideful. And everyone in our family seems to excel at it. Once we started targeting it and then emphasizing humility, boy, did things improve! We had no idea how prideful we were acting towards each other...each of us just figured that he or she was right.

We have always been conscious of the fact that having this band is not all about the music. Ben and I are more parents than we are musicians. And fortunately, for us, we have this amazing opportunity to enjoy playing music with our kids and teaching them life lessons as well--like how to laugh when your daughter is set to go on stage and she has lost her shoes in the park where you are performing. Solution: offer a free CD to the person who finds her shoes.

PS. As I was finishing up writing this blog, my little one, Katie was sitting with me and occasionally playing with our cat, Daisy. Since the front door was open, Daisy was coming and going as she pleased between Katie's hand feedings and hugs. I was typing away and hardly noticed Daisy's return until Katie yelled, "Oh, Mommy!! What is Daisy eating?" I looked up and saw Daisy hunched over a headless bird on my living room rug! GROSS!! SCREAM!!

It is so easy here to find things to write about. I only lack time.

 

Folklife 2011: Sights and Sounds

Today we played at Folklife down at the Seattle Center.  Folklife is a giant music festival that has been around for 40 years.  It features all kinds of arts from all kinds of cultures.  There are TONS of performances going on all of Memorial Day weekend.  Not only is it a blast to pick and choose from the many, many musical acts to see, but it is also a blast to people watch too.  Lots of interesting sights to see down there!

We played at 12:20pm on the Fisher Green Stage.  As always it is kind of stressful trying to head out for a performance.  No matter how much I prepare ahead of time, it is always hard to get out the door with every one of us dressed, shoed, and with instruments.  Today was especially trying because Clayton was going to be leaving right from Folklife for his STOA National Debate tournament in San Diego.  So, forgetting something like a plane ticket, was going to have serious inconvenient consequences (he did remember the plane ticket after I found it on the piano...). 

We did make it to Folklife and were ready to play on time.  Whew!  We brought a couple of friends/roadies with us, Danny and Grace Thomson.  It always makes it fun to have friends along...and it always helps to stack the audience with friends who clap and cheer!  They had never been to Folklife before, and so it was really fun to have them there and see their reactions to some of the craziness of it.

The set went really well and we had a lot of fun with it.  Clark did his "Johnny B. Good" which is always fun and we also played "Suburban Breakdown," which we haven't played for awhile.  I love that song.  It is so fun to play.  Clayton wrote it back when he was working on learning to drive.  He scared me so bad one time that I called Ben in tears....  Thus the name, "Suburban Breakdown."

After the show, we had some time to walk around and find some interesting food to eat.  The title of this article should have been, "Sights, Sounds, and Smells."  The food booths at Folklife provide YUMMY food.  Today, I went for the Falafel booth.  I love falafel.  Back when Ben was starting out his business and we were kind of broke, I was constantly trying to stretch the food bill and also trying to eat healthy, like super healthy food.  Since falafel is a vegetarian food made from ground up garbanzo beans, I thought it might be a good food to add to our menu.  Boy, was I wrong...it ranked right up there with the tofu meat loaf I made one time.  Yeah, just one time.  That was when the boys learned that they were not supposed to tell the cook, "This is gross!"  They needed to learn that important lesson at some point in life and so there it was.  Anyway, falafel is pronounced "ful-lawful."  My boys called it "Fully Awful."  It was soon struck from the menu and I have not had it for years--until today.  Yum!  For 6 bucks, I indulged myself in falafel.  It was nice.

We didn't get to stay long at Folklife because as I said, Clayton was having to leave around 3pm to fly to San Diego for a National Debate Tournament.  You may not know this, but our banjo player is pretty talented at Team Policy Debate.  So talented that he and his partner, John Elliot, are competing nationally at two tournaments.  The resolution they are debating is about Russian Foreign Policy.  Clayton had over 2500 pages of briefs on Russian Foreign Policy in his suitcase today.  He made it to San Diego this evening and will be debating all week.  He comes home on Sunday and we are hoping he has great success.  He is home a week then takes off again June 12th for Boston and another national debate tournament for another debate organization.  He will return the morning of his high school graduation.  These are busy and exciting days for him and we are looking forward to seeing how he does.

That's enough for now.  Folklife was fun, said goodbye to my son, this blog is now done.  (Poetry for you...I was inspired.)  Sorry no pics or video...forgot the cameras on the way out the doors....

A Weekend Full of Bluegrass

May 13-15 was the Bluegrass from the Forest Festival in Shelton, WA.  The festival was being hosted by one of our favorite bluegrass bands, Runaway Train.  After hanging out with Runaway Train at the Hometown Hootenanny earlier in the year, we decided that we wanted to go to this festival.  Even though things have been busy, busy, busy with school stuff, we decided to take off for the weekend and getaway for some bluegrass indulgence.

At the Shelton festival there was going to be camping on the grounds of the festival, BUT it is May.  And it is Washington.  What do we know about May and Washington?  We know that it rains a lot in May in Washington.  So, since we do not have a camper, we decided to visit the Shelton Inn for dry accommodations.  It was a good thing we did too!

 Though the weather was incredibly sunny and warm for most of Friday and Saturday, at about 5pm on Saturday there was drenching rainfall (a term we learned from Canadians on a family camping trip years ago).  Fortunately, the Shelton Inn was waiting with the light left on for us, and we slept dry and cozy that night instead of being in our non-waterproof tent.

Anyway, there was much more to this festival than just rain.  There were great bands, like The Boxcars.  There were great friends, like the Dewhirsts.  And there was great food, like the garlic fries.  There was also a Youth Academy that my three youngest youngsters really enjoyed.  Caleb had his own one-on-one lesson with a Dobro lover there!

Clayton entered the banjo contest.  Clayton practiced some during the week and was able to take home $100 and a first place title.  We were so proud of him! Here is a video of his "victory lap."  After winning first place, he had the opportunity to play a song on the main stage...

 

There was a band contest too that we entered and took second place.  The first place winner was a band called Wayward Vessel.  

 I would put some video of us playing in the contest on here, but, honestly, we kinda choked....  It all started when we were getting on stage and as Cam climbed up on stage, I knocked his tuner off his guitar with my elbow.  The tuner's back popped off, he tried to recover it and while all that was happening, it threw off Ben and Clayton and Clark as they were getting ready to start right off with "Double Bluff."  We looked kind of buffoonish as we scrambled to reassemble the tuner.  It was not such a good performance as there were a couple of other things we did or didn't do too.  I'd show you the video, but some videos should just be deleted so that the memories heal! We still ended up with 2nd place and so we are happy with that!

After the contest, because of the continuous and heavy rain, I could not cook dinner under our canopy at the festival. So, we headed out with our winnings for some carne asada at a local Mexican restaurant.  Mmmmmm!   Clark stayed back and opted for McD's takeout.  He was enjoying some jamming.  We were going to go back and jam and visit some, but the younger kiddos were tired, and really, so were the rest of us.  The call of our cozy Shelton Inn room was too strong and everyone except Clark went back to the room and crashed!  Very untypical of us!

After hanging out in Shelton for a couple nights, we went up to Warm Beach Camp for a performance at an event honoring volunteers at Warm Beach.  It was a wonderful dinner and program.  Everyone knows Warm Beach for their Lights of Christmas extravaganza.  But there is so much more that Warm Beach Camp does.  We loved hearing all about it and being able to play for the people being honored.  It was a special evening and we loved being a part of it.   We get to play for the Lights of Christmas  next December at the Tinhorn Town stage...we are looking forward to that!!

Monday, May 30th Folklife Fisher Green Stage at 12:20pm!!  See you there!!

We are having performances every weekend in May!  Wow!  How did that happen?  With baseball playoffs, school finishing up, Debate Nationals, a fishing trip in Kentucky, a 20 year wedding anniversary, and our first kiddo graduating from high school, and grandparents visiting in the next month...whoa!  When does summer vacation start?????

Keeping at it....

Bluegrass Partytime!!

The last time I wrote was right before the Hometown Hootenanny on February 18th.  Then you didn't heard from us again until now.  I have a good reason, but will update you a bit first on the Hootenanny.

 

The Hometown Hootenanny was so fun!  The audience was very energized and excited!  Playing for a friendly and welcoming crowd that knows and loves bluegrass is a privilege and joy.  Mix in the great bands that we were playing along with, and you have a recipe for a great big bluegrass party! 

After the show, I had the opportunity to chat with the manager of the Historic Everett Theater.  He told me that the theater is the oldest theater west of the Rocky Mountains.  It was built in 1901.  He showed me the photos taken throughout the years and gave some history as well.  The Hometown Hootenanny is a wonderful venue and we hope to play there again.  Thank you to Beckye Randall for having us.

So, if that was February 18th and today is the 27th...you must be wondering what happened between then and now that kept us away from the blog?  I will give you a hint...an even BIGGER bluegrass party...one that lasts for four days and pulls in amazing bluegrass bands from all over the nation.  It happens every year in February...it is held at the Hyatt Regency in Bellevue...surely, you know now! 

  WINTERGRASS!!! 

Yes, Wintergrass 2011 began on Thursday, February 24, and ended this evening.  What a weekend!

 

 

We are completely exhausted and heading to bed soon, but I just had to tell you how much fun we had with all the people and music.  We love going to Wintergrass and are sad each time it ends because now we will have to wait a whole year for it to happen again.

Highlight for this year:  getting to see the Blind Boys of Alabama!

Lowlight for this year:  not getting to stay past 12:30am for jamming.  Clayton still has no voice from a flu bug he caught two weeks ago.  Cam was coming down with something.  Clark still needs lots of rest from his injuries.  And I am just get too tuckered out if you keep me up too late nowadays.  So, I dragged my pickers kickin' and screamin' out of the festival EARLY (is 12:30am early?  YES, for Wintergrass).

Of course, there are many, many more highlights and lowlights that I will share next time.  But for now you will just have to settle on checking out the website for the Blind Boys and see some of their amazing work! Click here to see their website.  Their performance was not just a performance, but rather an experience!!

Until next time...

To Play or Not To Play...

Last night we finally made it to the Maltby Jam and Open Mic.  We had not played there in months because of our trip this past summer and then a very busy schedule this fall.  But we made it yesterday, and it was so good to see our friends, to jam, and to play for the open mic. 

I mentioned before that Kelli was going to sing and play “Do Lord” for the first time.  She sang it all summer, but this fall, Pete Martin taught her a break to it and she has been working hard to be able to take a break on it.  She was all ready to go, but then on Friday, I noticed some apprehension in her.

Hmmm.  What to do?  One of the things that I want to be careful about is having my younger kiddos playing in the band.  Here is why…they were not the ones who decided to have a family band--they are growing up in one.  The band started with my older boys.  They did not perform until they were excited and desiring to be on stage.

 
I do require all my kids to play an instrument.  I see that as part of their overall education.  Just like they learn math or grammar, they have to learn to play an instrument.  And if there is no preference, then piano is the default instrument.  Why?  ‘Cuz we have one, and I was really hoping someone would learn to play it!  Plus, if you can play piano, you can play about anything.  It is a great launching pad to whatever instrument you may become interested in.

So, though I require my kiddos to play music, I try to err on the side of caution with their feelings about performing with the band on stage.  That is why Kelli only sang last night and did not take her break.  When I sensed her apprehension, I asked her about it.  I know that a little bit of stage fright is normal and often helpful to the performance, but there is a point where it is unproductive, especially in the case of a little girl who wants to please her family. 

A few more questions to Kelli revealed that she was excited to sing, but was feeling very insecure about her ability to pull off playing her break well.  The question that sealed it was, “Are you looking forward to playing your break, or are you dreading it and worrying about it?”  When she said that she was worried and really feeling like she couldn’t do it, well, that made it clear to me that we were going to wait until she felt ready. 

I am so glad that we could distinguish the difference between stage fright and really not feeling prepared.  Saturday came and she sang her little heart out joyfully and beautifully.  Her big brothers played the breaks and everyone felt great--nothing but fun and confidence.  Yes! 

 
I love being in a family band, but there are some things I worry about with it.  Pressures on my little ones are the biggest concerns I have.  But I felt like this week, I was able to see a clear line distinguishing between what is normal stage fright and what is unnecessary pressure to perform.  I wish all parenting decisions were so clear and easy to see! 

Hooray for Clayton!!

Yesterday was a golden, crisp autumn day--the kind of day that makes you feel like raking up a big pile of crunchy, orange leaves and then letting some little person jump in it!  But we had no time to rake any leaves.  We only had time to trek through them on our way to Dusty Strings in Fremont.  Why the purposeful march to Dusty Strings? 

Yesterday was the 2nd Annual Dusty Strings Bluegrass Banjo Contest!

Clayton had practiced all week and was very excited to try his picks again at the Dusty Strings contest.  Two years ago, Luke Dewhirst defeated him and took first place while Clayton was left with 2nd.  Clayton was excited to see if maybe this year he would be able to secure a 1st place win. 

However, Clayton did not get a chance to duel Luke yesterday.  Luke had a gig with the Bluegrass Regulators and was in Oregon.  But the 3rd place winner, Andrew Buchanan, was there and Clayton was able to enjoy some intense competition with him.

Since there were only two players in the contest, it was a quick competition.  Dusty Strings was hoping for a bigger turnout and perhaps next year more banjo players will attend.  We hope so, as it makes it even more exciting and fun to see a lot of talented musicians playing their best to win. 

The contest was sponsored by Dusty Strings, Ome Banjos, Gold Tone Banjos, and Deering Banjos. 

First prize awards included a padded leather Deering banjo strap, a Gold Tone Amplified Banjo System, a $100 gift certificate for Dusty Strings, cleaning cloths and strings, and a T-Shirt. 
 
Second prize awards included a Gold Tone CBS Banjo stand, a Deering DVD on banjo setup, a $50 gift certificate and a T-Shirt.

Here’s some video of Clayton’s performance.  Younger brother, Camden, is accompanying him with some guitar.  The songs are "Groundspeed"; "Double Bluff"; "Follow the Leader."

 

 We are so proud of Clayton’s ability to play banjo.  He works very hard on it and he has a great ear for how it should sound.  Congratulations to Clayton!

Special thanks to Rob Bulkley at Dusty Strings for arranging the contest and to Dusty Strings, Ome, Gold Tone and Deering for providing the amazing prizes. 

And, of course, a special thanks to Camden for practicing, practicing, practicing with Clayton in his prep for the contest. 

We wonder if Clayton will be able to compete next year because it is quite possible he will be out of the area as he will be heading off to college next year.  We still do not know where—he is waiting to hear back from some military academies and ROTC scholarships.  He is working on lots of college applications quite faithfully right now. 

His dreams may take him far from the Northwest. Time will tell.

But, IF he is available next year, he will be back for the 3rd Annual Dusty Strings Bluegrass Banjo Contest!

Last Performance and Then On To Colorado

On July 25th, we had our last performance for the trip.  It was for the Milledgeville Mid-Summer Bash Community Church service.  Milledgeville is a small town northeast of where we stayed with my dad in Illinois.  Some dear friends, John and Marilyn Parks, live up there and they invited us to come and play for the event.  Their church, the Milledgeville Brethren Church sponsored the event.

We played on the Main Street Sunday morning and the weather was just perfect.  The audience was welcoming and friendly and we had a real nice time playing for them.  We had a bunch of family and friends in the audience as well  It was so great for them to all come out and see us off.  By the end of our performance, the sun started heating up the area.  Time to get into some air-conditioning! 

We planned to hit the road that day and make it to Omaha, Nebraska, by nightfall--but not before we had one more meal of Chicken George!  My parents, grandma, stepbrothers, sister-in-law, two nephews and our whole crew all headed to the Candlelight Inn for lunch. MMMMMM!!! 

We took some family pics and then we began a long journey west…long, long, long….

Iowa…yawn….

Nebraska…yawn…yawn….

We did stop at a Cabela’s in Nebraska, but decided the one in Lacey, WA, is better.

“Are we there yet?”
“You really have no reason to ask that question…look at the GPS.”

Yawn….

Stop for gas…wash the windows…yucky bathroom…Arizona Sweet Tea…

Yawn…yawn….

Wyoming…getting closer…sunflowers along the road….

“HEY!!  Look!!  I can see shadows of the mountains!!

Yes!!  Colorado!  We made it! 

Residence Inn at Fort Collins…to bed.  Yawn.

Until next time…

Three Gigs in Three Days

Back in my blog about our stay at Grandma’s, I mentioned we would be starting a “three gigs in three days” schedule after we left Grandma’s.  Our first performance was for the Morton, IL, Arts in the Park concert series.  The second performance was for the Peoria Riverfront, opening for a band called Tin Horse.  And the last of the three was for a church in Indianapolis.  Ben’s youngest brother, Joshua, is the pastor of the church and he invited us to come and play for his church’s picnic.

Ben’s sister and and brother-in-law live in Morton and we were going to be staying with them for the three days of concerts.  Ben’s sister, Jen is one of my dearest friends and so it was going to be a real treat to get time with her.  Our kids and husbands are all friends too and it is always fun to spend time with them.

The Morton concert was going to be a very hot one.  We were one of two bands playing that night, the second band being a classic rock band called Loose Shoes.  Though that darn heat index was reaching record highs again, the evening finally did cool off and we had a great time.  The concert was held in an open field of a local park in Morton and instead of everyone parking their lawn chairs out in front of us, they all hid under the trees in the shade so that we could hardly see them (or blame them) because of the hot sun! 

One funny thing that happened during the concert was when Katie (our 3 year old) wandered away from Auntie Jen who was taking care of her during our performance.  We’ve noticed Katie becoming more and more restless during our performances.  If you watch her during our performances, you will notice her mouthing words to the songs and staring longingly towards the microphone and telling garbled banjo jokes to her caretakers.  Evidently, the urge to achieve stardom was too great for Katie at the Morton concert. 

Katie saw her chance while Auntie Jen was absorbed in the music and laughter.  She quickly made her way to the stage.  Auntie Jen saw nothing until Katie took her first step onto the stage.  A look of utter horror spread across Auntie Jen’s face as she realized that Katie was on stage and that she would have to be the one to go up on front of everyone and get her off. 

We all saw it coming and laughed heartily as an embarrassed Auntie Jen tried to discreetly make her way to the stage and then chase down our little star wanna-be through the maze of microphones  To add to her embarrassment, we took the opportunity to introduce Auntie Jen.  Afterall, Morton is her town.  We also had everyone cheer for Auntie Jen when she was finally able to capture her charge and carry her back to her seat.  Fortunately, Auntie Jen is a good sport and we are used to our younger Hesses doing the unexpected on stage.  Even our older Hesses do the unexpected at times!

The next night was the Peoria Riverfront performance.  The stage setup was amazing and one of the biggest stages we have played on.  It had lots of lights and even a smoke machine.  However, they only used the lights on us..no smoke machine..  And really, which of our songs would call for a smoke machine?  (It might work for “Mama Tried.”) And even though normally, the Peoria Riverfront pulls 500-700 people for concerts, the fairgrounds had Darius Rucker in concert and, well, so that meant that there were not too many who came to the Riverfront that night.  But the crowd that was there, was very supportive and happy to be there and we all enjoyed an intimate evening with each other.

The next day we headed out to Indianapolis early (okay, early for a family of eight with luggage and instruments…10am).  We needed to be at Joshua’s church around 3 pm so that we could be ready to play around 5pm. 

Not only would we have the opportunity to meet the Friendswood Baptist church, but also to have a sort of family reunion with 7 of Ben’s 9 siblings.  Seven of his siblings were meeting us in Indianapolis and attending Ben’s brother, Joshua’s church picnic.  And there was going to be two new family members to meet as well.  Ben’s mom recently married a wonderful man named Earnie and Joshua and his wife, Kristy, just had their first child, Samuel. 

We had so much fun at the picnic making new friends and reuniting with family!  All was going well until the thunder, lightning and rainstorm came along and forced us to move indoors.  The audience was very patient as we resettled into the church and finished our set.  The people at Friendswood were very friendly and we loved meeting them.

The next day we were able to attend church there and hear Joshua preach.  He is a great preacher who is easy to listen to and yet hits very insightful truths.  It was really neat to see him with new eyes.  I have watched Joshua grow up from age 6 or so and to see him as a husband, father and preacher was really awesome.

That wraps up the “three gigs in three days” update.  By this time we were going to begin our fourth week of our trip.  Whew!  Still going strong!

Over the River and Through the Corn to Grandmother's House We Go

Right now we are heading out to Indianapolis.  We just passed by the University of Illinois.  We are heading out to play at the Friendswood Baptist Church picnic.  Ben’s brother, Joshua, is the pastor of the church.  The church is having a big picnic and we are playing a couple of sets for it tonight. 

We are so excited to see Joshua and his wife, Kristy, because they just had their first baby, Samuel, this past spring!  As you can imagine, we love babies and we can’t wait to meet this new little Hess!

Also, we will get to meet Ben’s mom’s new husband, Earnie.  Mom remarried a couple of weeks ago and we get to meet him as well today.  Ben comes from a family of ten kids and all but two of the siblings will be in Indianapolis this weekend!  We are looking forward to spending time with them all and catching up.  Ben’s dad passed away 4 years ago and that was the last time most of the kids were together.

I wanted to share some pics and news about how the trip went after we left Morrison.  We went from my dad’s in Morrison to my mom’s in Stillman Valley, IL.  But we did take a pitstop to visit with a couple of my girlfriends from high school. 

Susan and Regina were great friends and we had a lot of laughter then and now.  We met up at Regina’s house in the out in the country.  I was overwhelmed by Regina’s hospitality!  Not only did she have food available for all of us, but for at least 17 young men who showed up for her son’s Bible study! 

Susan, Regina and I laughed and chatted inside while all our kiddos were running around chasing rabbits and kitties, jumping on the trampoline, and admiring their gun collection.  My boys love checking out weaponry and they were not disappointed by the Holloway collection!  Regina’s boys are true boys and have a lot of fun on their farm.   Ben took a picture of a woodchuck they recently trapped…their fam dog, Baby, was fixing to eat it!

I am so thankful for the time I was able to spend with these dear friends--especially because in two days, Regina and her family were heading out to Honduras to build houses for widows.  Their church often takes trips for ministry there.  So, for her to make time for us was quite a treat.

We went on from there to my mom’s new home in Stillman Valley.  We arrived there pretty late, but were very excited to see her!

My Mom just moved into a new home, but before she moved, she completely remodeled the house.  She did all the planning and purchasing herself and my Uncle and his son-in-law did all the work—sounds like the best possible scenario for home remodeling to me!

She did a great job and her new home was absolutely beautiful!  She had only moved in a week before and yet she had thought of every possible comfort and convenience to make our stay welcoming and comfortable.  Thanks, Mom!!  She was the hostess with the mostest!

For Friday night, Mom had invited some friends over for some bluegrass and pizza.  Mom likes my pizza and so I made a bunch of it for the get-together.  And then we played a set.  It was a lot of fun meeting all her friends.

The next day, we went to the John Deere Home in Grand Detour, IL.  John Deere gear is kind of in vogue with rednecky bluegrass types, so it was great to acquaint my kiddos on who John Deere actually was and what he did.

That night we practiced up for our Sunday morning performance.  We were scheduled to play for Mom’s church, the Stillman Valley Congregational Church (aka the Red Brick Church).  The pastor at the Red Brick Church was on sabbatical and so we were helping with the worship service.  The performance went well and their congregation blessed us with a standing ovation.  The people there were so gracious and kind and it was a delight to us to meet Mom’s church family. 

My Uncle Jerry, and cousin Pam, and her friend John all came as we.  It was so fun to see Jerry again and to meet Pam and John they traveled quite a distance to be there and we so appreciate them coming out to see us!

Not only did we get a chance to meet her church family and our extended family, but also another group of dear friends of hers—the Christian Motorcyclists Association.  Some of the members came and attended the service too!  And they gave my younger kiddos a special ride on their amazing bikes!  What a thrill for my kiddos!

But I have to say they were outdone by Mom’s wheels….the red Mustang convertible.  Mom bought this vehicle back when her late husband Len couldn’t ride his motorcycle anymore.  It is a fun car and she was more than generous with it by encouraging Clayton to drive it every time she needed something from the store.  Clayton and his brothers thoroughly enjoyed driving around and feeling like they finally achieved the status of “cool” that they always knew they were capable of.  If only that license plate didn’t say “Grandpa 9” on it and if only their little sister wasn’t riding in the back with her car seat….oh, the places they could have gone!

I’ll stop there for now and write some more later…Katie’s ready for a Happy Meal and I am in need of something from the Dollar Menu…now to convince Ben to pull over and ignore that little clock on the GPS….