Saturday, May 8, 2010 – This morning someone brought over some meals, recipes, and snacks for us to take along to Hope Lodge next week. It was Gloria V. who brought the goodies over. Heidi had talked with her a church last Sunday and one of the things Heidi told here she worried about was making sure the food we made for and served to Kellee is healthy, especially during the week when in Iowa City. So Gloria contacted here this week saying she was going to stop by on Saturday with some items. She prayed with Heidi before she left, Heidi was truly blessed!
Today is the last day of 75th anniversary Tulip Time and it was the day of the record-setting number of dancers in wooden shoes. Heidi and I were going to take part, but we just did not want to leave Kellee home alone so we made the decision to skip the dancing. Kellee got up @ 7:00 am for his Zofran pill and went back to sleep. Kory was scheduled to work at Smokey Row 10:00 to 7:00 pm, and since he really couldn’t drive, I gave him a ride up to the town square. Kerry called me about 9:45 to see if Heidi & I were going to dance and if so, he and Kelsey wanted to dance with us, I told him we had decided not to dance. I detected a tinge of disappointment in his voice and I felt bad but by then there was not even enough time to change our mind and get uptown to dance. Later I texted Kerry to let him know we wanted to take a photo of he and Kelsey in their Dutch dancing garb. We were going to hook up with them either before or after they danced to take some pix.
Kellee was scheduled to play in a show at the Open Bible church this afternoon, if he felt up to it. Actually Sons & Heirs were asked to play, but since Kerry was Dutch dancing, he wouldn’t have been able to play, so Kellee agreed to do a solo show. We drove Kellee up to the church and helped him unload his guitar and some Sons & Heirs merch (a.k.a. merchandise or items to sell, such as T-shirts, scarves and CD’s). There was one parking spot left in the parking lot so I took it and gladly paid the $5.00. Kellee played some of the Sons & Heirs songs and some of the ones he wrote since he began his current journey. My sisters, Cindy and Sue came by for a little bit, but they couldn’t stay long because they were involved with the Parade of Provinces on the Tulip Toren during the afternoon program. Kellee did share a bit about the origin of his songs, learning about the brain tumor and then the brain cancer diagnosis and treatment. He was able to tell how his faith had helped him along the way. It was good for him to be able to have a chance to get out and perform some of his songs. I took a video of a couple of them and was going to try to post one here, but for some reason I could get it to work. I may try to figure it out later, but it is getting late and I wanted to at least get some photos posted.
Kellee singing 5-8-10 at Tulip Time Show
After Kellee’s set I went to find Kerry and Kelsey and take some photos. Heidi and Kellee were going to meet me inside the grandstand area to watch the Dutch dancing. While we were waiting for the dance time Kerry said their dance square was going to be short a couple for the evening dance time and I volunteered Heidi & I to fill-in. I called Heidi to let here know. We watched the dances and during the dance when the dancers are supposed to get a person from the crowd, Kerry and Kelsey picked Heidi and Kellee to dance. I didn’t get any photos because I was asked to dance too. After the dances Heidi, Kellee & I went to get something to eat, we each got a sandwich and then funnel cake with the works. However, did not stay uptown for the afternoon parade because Kellee was not feeling up to it. We went home and Heidi & I both napped.
Kerry & Kelsey on 5-8-10
- Kerry & Kelsey Dutch Dancing
After some adjustments to our Dutch costumes, and me trying on three different pants until I found one that fit, we left for uptown because we had made arrangements to meet Kerry & Kelsey at 6:45. Kellee stayed home because he wanted to watch the Jazz play. We stopped in at Smokey Row to say hi to Kory and since he was getting off work at 7:00 he agreed to take some photos of us dancing. Before dancing we had the opportunity to meet Kelsey’s family, although her dad wasn’t there at that time. Heidi & I had not Dutch danced for a few years anyway and were just hoping we didn’t mess up too much. Kerry agreed to coach us through it which he did every step of the way. The dancing starts with everyone in the group sitting in a line on top of the wooden shoes of the person behind them except for one person who is standing. When the dance music begins, the idea is for the standing person to pull up the next person and so on down the line. that did not work too well and I ended up on my behind on the street. That was really the only major mishap other than a few missteps along the way. When it came time to pick people out of the crowd to dance, Heidi and I had made a pact to just pick each other, we knew there was no way we could try to teach the dance to another person. Kerry and Kelsey picked out her mom & dad to dance with them and that was when we saw Kelsey’s dad, but did not realize until he was heading back to the stands he was her dad. It wasn’t quite Dancing with the Stars but, we were able to get through it without getting too tired and totally embarrassing ourselves.
Kent, Heidi, Kerry & Kelsey
Kent & Heidi attempting to Dutch Dance
The Finale...
When the dancing was over, we went and got some more food, this time with Kory because he had not gotten to eat anything all day while he worked. Kory was meeting some friends to watch the parade and we had not brought any chairs so Heidi and I were not sure if we were going to stay and watch the parade. I thought I would call my sisters to see where they were at and maybe we could watch with them. But alas, they were not even uptown, so we decided to go home and watch the rest of the game with Kellee. It was a good game, but we didn’t like the outcome. Later we stayed up to watch SNL hosted by Betty White. So another Tulip Time is in the books, and it was not a “normal” festival for us this year but you know that is just fine. I didn’t watch a single minute of a single parade and I am okay with that too, how much does the parade vary from year to year anyway? I did however get plenty to eat, like that would ever be in question!
