A Very Long Day. . .

On Saturday, we had a 6:00 a.m. set-up downtown so Dale and Rob had to leave the house at 5:30 a.m. Yikes! Rob would rather stay up until 5:30 and then go to bed so this was especially painful. I got to "sleep in" until 7:00 and picked up donuts and chocolate milk and met them at the set-up location. This event is a Brewer's Festival and all we have to provide is the stage and canopy.

We were set up and ready to go when the D.J. for the event arrived to set up his gear at about 11:00 a.m.

I helped crank up the canopy and was excused to go home until our set-up for the pre-game concert at Hawk's Stadium at 2:00.

The band for the evening was The Solution Brothers. The show went great with only one glitch. The band members were apparently confused about their start time and decided to leave the premises. For the pre-game concerts, the band only plays from 5:45-7:00 so it's pretty imperative that they start on time. The group's lead guy stuck around and ended up playing an acoustic set while we waited for the others to get back. Luckily, he was good and I don't think people were aware that there was a problem. The band showed up and started playing shortly after 6:00, so it wasn't too big of a deal.

It's a rare picture of Dale without his finger up his nose. I'm pretty proud of this shot:

These pre-game concerts are part of a package deal that includes a BBQ dinner, live music, and the baseball game. Along with our paycheck, we benefit from the deal with great food and box seats to the game. Gloria made a new friend while standing in the dinner line and spent the rest of the evening running around with her:

After the show, we relaxed and watched the Hawks play baseball. This is the beautiful part of my crazy life.

We couldn't load the truck until after the game was over, but after about the 6th inning, we packed everything up ready to be loaded. Dale left to start tearing down the stage and canopy downtown while Rob and I continued to pack up the stage at the Hawks. When all that was left to do was roll the cases into the truck, we pulled up a table and watched the end of the game. The Hawks lost, but it was still fun to watch:

This is a billboard in the outfield with our friend, Beau, on it:

We finally were able to pull in and load the truck but when it was time to leave, the gate was locked. We went out onto the field where the employees were playing a pick-up game and found someone to help us.

Off to help Dale with the stage and canopy. He had made great progress by the time we got there, so we finished up around 12:30 a.m. and headed home.

It was a very long, but good, day. Church in the morning and VBS tomorrow evening. . .