Random update....

A few things going on lately, we are gearing up for the July 4th festivities here in Dorr. The band loads up on a trailer and we blast at full volume as we drive down the road in the parade. Its fun. We do 2 parades on the 4th then have the 4th annual Hedges family cookout for everybody that participated in the parade at our house. We have an outdoor service on the morning of the 5th and then the band is playing at the carnival thing on the evening of the 5th. I am just hoping that my voice will hold out for the weekend.
Azsure and I got a babysitter yesterday and she took the day off and we went to Saugatuck for the day. saugatuck is a very cool artist town on lake michigan. We spent the day wandering the stores, eating great food, tasting wine and otherwise just enjoying ourselves without the kids yelling and complaining. We cam home with four bottles of wine from the Fenn Valley winery. I have felt very refreshed after the trip.
Fathers day was good. I recieved a cookbook from our local tapas bar "San Chez" which I have wanted for a while. I am eager to try some of the tapas recipes especially the Blue Cheese Fritters which we our favorite last time we went out to eat there. I then got the day off while the kids and Azsure played outside. I laid around and didnt have to deal with any fatherly things.
We are having playgroup at the house tomorrow. Lots of kids running wild in the yard. I am also cooking out so it should be fun. Hopefully, it wont be too hot. I have to make cookies today as well as make up the marinade for the jerk pork tenderloin for the dads.
I'm on the facebook now. We'll see if that is going to be a blessing or a curse. I'll report later.
got my ship notification for the new Wilco album. Yes! It should be here in a couple of days. A little over a week later, the new Son Volt album will be out. Then in August, the Bottle Rockets have a new one coming. It is officially my best music summer in years! yay for me! and Soijer, who loves Wilco! and Ephram who loves Son Volt!
out for now!

Stuck in Illinois with the "Ephram's got the barf blues" blues......

So the kids and I traveled down to IL for a week with the grandparents. I needed a break from both full time parenting as well as part time church work. I also wanted some new surroundings to just kinda kick start some creative thought and play some guitar. I made a vow to not think of any church music for the whole week. Not that I don't like church music, but, it is something that is a job to me. I don't sit around and listen to church music unless I am working on finding new songs to play at church. I don't attempt to consume it like I would say, the new Wilco album coming out at the end of the month. Also, while here, I scored some music recommendations from my buddies so I should be good to go for a few months with more albums.

Wal-Mart customer service sucks. ....

The Wal-Martization of Benton IL is complete. You can barely get anything unless you drive to the walmart. I don't know if it is just the Benton walmart or all walmarts but its like the dementors from Harry Potter. If you get to close, you start to get the feeling that you will never know happiness again. It is a soul sucking chasm for which there is no escape and I had to go there just about every day to get something. The greeters might have well have been saying "welcome to wal mart, guns are that way, please bring one back and kill me". They really need the guy from the Grandville Meijer store to spruce up the attitude. With this in mind, I determined to stop whining about the greeting and take a proactive approach. I would give the walmart greeter a warm greeting myself and hopefully brighten their spirits amidst the downtrodden throng of humanity that passes through there everyday. So with my spirits high, I headed out for some road snacks for the trip back to Michigan. I cruised through the door ready to spring my joy on the greeter. Problem, no greeter. Hmmm.....oh well, there has to be someone around in a blue smock that needs a lift. Finally I went to the speedy checkout with my stuff. I waited for the lady in front of me to finish then I sprung. "hi" said the checkout girl. "GOOD AFTERNOON!! HOW ARE YOU TODAY!!" I shouted. She was a little taken aback. "OK I guess" she replied. "FANTASTIC!!" I assume at this point she pushed a button somewhere that alerted the manager or Sam Walton himself that they had a live one. Any way I paid for my stuff then happily yelled "HAVE A GGGGRRRREAT DAY!!!!". She looked a little scared". as I was walking towards the door I spotted my initial target, the Wal Mart Greeter. "yes" I thought to myself. As she looked up from digging some sort of filth out of a cart I yelled with all of my joyous gusto "HAVE A FANTASTIC DAY!!!!!" She smiled. Sweet Victory. Take that soul sucker!
We had planned to leave the wonderful land of Lincoln on Monday morning but Sunday night, Ephram got a really high fever and said his head was hurting from "staying at the circus too long". (welcome to my world boy, I live at the circus) I decided to give him some of the new children s Tylenol I had picked up (wal mart again!) for Soijer earlier in the week. I gave him the suggested dose of strawberry flavored goo , which smelled a lot like strawberry schnapps by the way, and about 2 minutes later, he refunded it all over the carpet at my folks house. Later, I tried again and got the same result but in the toilet this time. Thanks Tylenol, your attempt to make medicine taste just like super sugar candy has burned me for the last time! We switched to the melty tab things the next day and they stayed down. So after an extra day in IL we made the trip back to Michigan without incident. On a side note, Ephram loves to stop in Gary Indiana. Every time we go to IL, I try to time it so we don't have to stop there but he must see the abandoned buildings and crack houses from I-80 and it triggers his urge to pee immediately.
I woke up in sweet cool Michigan this morning, ran a couple of miles and the kids and I set of to play at the park with the guys and kids from the dad's group. Fun was had by all. I am, however, going to most likely have to work the rest of the week to pull the kids back into the fold after being with grandparents all week. I guess that is the price paid for a little respite.