A Trip to Grand Rapids/Lyle Lovett

I took a few hours off of work today to leave early for a trip to Grand Rapids. Lisa and I loaded the car with chairs, jackets and water bottles and left about mid-afternoon. We stopped at Jim and Wendy's to see Carl, John, Sam and Ben. They were all playing outside. Wendy was on her way to work and Jim had just gotten home from work. I got the boys to pose for a few pictures.
Ben being held by Sam, Carl and John. Jim and Ben.
Ben is moving all over, he isn't walking just yet, but I don't think it will take long.

Carl, John and Sam had to show me their pirate costumes for John's birthday party on Saturday. John turned 6 a few weeks ago and he is having a birthday party with 21, yes 21 children. The theme is pirates. The children will have to "walk the plank" to enter the party and they will play "pin the eye patch on the pirate" and other fun games that Wendy has prepared for them.
Sam poses as a pirate.
John, the birthday pirate.
John doesn't look too bad with a beard and mustache.
Carl is a pirate action figure.

What a scary looking pirate!
Ben is more into the electric guitar than pirates.
John played some tunes for Lisa and I. He is a wonderful piano player. I was very impressed. Keep up the good work John.
Before we left we had to check on all the quilts. This is John's Bug Jar quilt that I made for him last year for his 5th birthday. He really likes this quilt.
Sam had to show me his African Safari quilt. I made this for the top bunk in his bedroom. His bedroom theme is Africa. He has lots of stuffed animals and pictures of animals in his bedroom.

Before long it was time for Lisa and I to head to the Frederick Meijer Gardens for the Lyle Lovett concert. We met up with Debra and Tom at the concert. We picked a spot on the hill and the view was great.

We sat on a hill looking down on the stage. Although it was cloudy, the weather stayed perfect through the whole concert. The show start at 7 pm and did not end until 9:40 pm . Lyle Lovett and his large band, they are large, not big, played all kinds of music: country, swing, bluegrass, gospel, Tex-Mex, and more. Lyle Lovett is a wonderful singer and song writer. The crowd loved him and I learned that although Grand Rapids is a rather conservative town, those people can party!!! The concert sold out on the first day that tickets were on sale to members only. Thank you Debra for getting us the tickets!! We hope Lyle Lovett returns again next year. It was a great concert.