THE VACATION (DAYS 60,61,62,63)

I know that I stated in the beginning that I would report on each day as an individual occurrence, but in this case I feel that the entire experience needs to be related as a single narrative.
I left work at three o'clock and headed for home. I got to the Versluis ballfield and my bike made a horrid noise. The chain busted. Thankfully it isn't that far to home. I did stop at the soda machine and got a Coke Zero and drank half of it before I started walking the rest of the way. I did like the noise that the wind made on the top of the open soda bottle. The glass ones make a better noise, but what are you going to do?
I got home and was just taking it easy. We were all watching television when they said that a storm was headed right for us. They mentioned a tornado and Daniel panicked, but we told him not to worry about it. We live in a sturdy old farm house with a basement so were in pretty good shape.
We actually went outside to watch the storm approach. It was moving at about eighty miles an hour so it didn't take long. The rain started coming down in sheets...and then the power went out. And 50,000 Kalamazoo residents were in the darkness.
That night I discovered something. That if there is no ambient noise when I am sleeping I wake up about every hour on the hour. Plus, our room felt like a furnace so I went downstairs with the kids to sleep. Because of that my back is killing me. Too old to sleep on the hard floor I guess.
The next day we still had no power and they were saying Sunday before it would come back on. I had taken a four day weekend and it was turning out to be a big disaster. We decided to do stuff and went out and had some breakfast. We bought things for Delia's birthday which was on Sunday. We decided to give her her gift early because she was wandering through Target looking at plastic crap. When we finally fessed up and told her we were getting her a video camera, she was all for it. It's a cool in that it was designed for kids and with an additional SD card she can get about 80 minutes of video that she can download to the computer and edit. She is happy and mentioned that she will be starting preproduction work on her movie, Secret Pets.
There was no way were sleeping at home again and since we got a new minivan, well, new for us, it's a 95, we loaded up stuff and went to church. Before I continue let me relay a little information about this new minivan.
Our friend from church, Ryan, got us our last car. It is a 81 Olds Cutlass Station Wagon. She's a beast on gas, but a good solid car. Now, he got someone giving him this 95 Plymouth Grand Voyager and he said we could have it as well. Ryan is a really great guy. So, we get the new car legal and go fetch it from Ryan and start driving it home. we get a few miles down the road and Martha pulls over. She is driving the van and I'm in the wagon. She just pulls over on the side of the road. The first thing I can think is that there is something wrong with a car we have had for five minutes. No such luck. It seems there was a huge spider in the car and she needed to pull over so I could kill it for here. Sheesh! Anyway, back to the church campout. Using the pew cushions we made a communal bed and watched the new film by Michale Legge. It's called The Dungeon of Dr. Dreck and it was great. It tells of a horror host who is a real mad scientist and his sidekick is an actual zombie. Our family has been watching the actual Dr. Dreck show for quite some time and it was cool to see him get his own movie. Plus, we sent Michael some lab equipment that I got from Pfizer and not only is it featured in the opening credits, but the entire family got credits and honorary doctorates in the end credits. There are even special glasses to watch for this one segment that is really cool. It was nice to take a bad situation and have a good family time of it regardless. As we got ready for bed I put in the film 300 and played it in a loop so we had the necessary noise to keep us asleep for the night.
We packed up in the morning and made our way home. The power was on! It was a little bittersweet because it was the first time I had been on the computer in a couple of days and I found out that Larry Stanley, my editor and good friend had passed away in the night. He went to be with the Lord and I should rejoice in that, but I am selfish and would rather have him here. We had talked on the phone a couple of times and it would have been nice to meet face to face. I guess I'll have to wait for Heaven.
We went to the store and got things for Delia's feast. Steak, rice, broccoli and carrots. What a good kid! And I got the fixings to make her a cake that I decorated with tiger stripes. Delia loves tigers. It was good to sleep in my own bed again with power and fans and comfort. All was finally right with the world.
Sunday came and we were off to church. It was an exciting day because we were going to do special music. Were doing The Violent Femmes 'Jesus Walking On The Water'. Martha played guitar, Dennis played the bass line on an electric Fender we have, Delia played this little Yamaha keyboard, Dandelion used her kazoo and I played during the musical interlude on my saxophone. We thought it was horrid and Martha even joked about making a joyful 'noise' to The Lord, but the congregation loved us. No accounting for taste.
After church we headed for the M-89 Cinema to watch SUPERBAD. Delia really wanted to see it and it was one of the only places still playing it so we made the short jaunt to Plainwell. I had never been to the theater and it was cool. It used to be a supermarket and they converted it. They are smart about the concessions to. They are, for the most part, self serve. Even the popcorn. You go up to this huge chute and pull a switch and the popcorn goes in the bag. You can get as much fake butter that you want too. Yum! The movie was hilarious and we had a good time.
After the movie we went home and I got started on the birthday feast. It was delicious and I gave Delia a huge steak! Her eyes bulged and she ate steak till it was coming out of her ears. Afterwards we went to the park to play and then it was time to head home. For a Sunday it was extra busy, even for us.
I have Monday off and if all goes well it will be a relaxing day. Who knows, maybe my Bava book will show up in the mail. That will be cool.
This vacation was a definite up and down. From the loss of a good friend to celebrating the eleventh anniversary of my oldest daughter's birth it was a definite emotional roller coaster. Never was fond of roller coasters.