Easterfest: Saturday

We started day two with a traditional breakfast-in-the-park. We have a little ANZAC memorial park across the road from us, and the little eating area and BBQ there is bigger than my kitchen. As such, it’s easier to cater for 14+ people over there. So there we went, for pancakes and bacon. Mmmm.  
The first show we headed to once we hit the park was Spacifix. We discovered them last year and did not want to miss their only show of this year’s festival. They’re such good fun!
 
We flitted around for the rest of the afternoon, catching bits and pieces of various bands from around the seven different stages. Soooo much music to enjoy I couldn’t decide where I wanted to be half the time!

Mayana of course enjoyed some more time in Kids Island…

Before we knew it, it was time to head over to Mainstage again. Tonight’s headline acts were: ‘Glen Kaiser Band’, ‘Playjerise’, ‘Sanctus Real’, ‘Stan Walker’ & ‘The Newsboys’.

Mayana really enjoyed listening to all the music, and playing with all the people who wanted a piece of her! 
This is Sanctus Real. I really had only heard of them on my Veggie Rocks CD, where they do a cover of the song ‘I Can Be Your Friend’. However, when they started playing, I did recognise a few of their other songs. I loved them. Really enjoyed their music and their message. I even bought their album.

Stan Walker was possibly the biggest surprise of the whole festival for me. I have to admit, when the announcement was made that the ‘surprise headline act’ was him, I did roll my eyes a little. But man, he was awesome! He led one of the most awesome praise sessions of the weekend. I loved his heart.  He has such an awesome passion, and I really pray that he never lets go of it, and isn’t scared to share it, because he has a very big anointing and amazing gift.

My poor little bean was soooo tired. She didn’t go to sleep quite so easily tonight. But she did enjoy the music and did eventually crash.

And of course, the main event of the night: Newsboys. They’re my husband’s favourite band ever, so he was pretty excited. And I am also definitely a fan. They always do a fabulous show and this year was no exception.

Recently, the Newsboys have acquired a new lead sing: Michael Tait previously of DC Talk. Most people I talked to were a little dubious about how they’d go together, but we were all very impressed. Perfect combo. They did a fun combination of of new and old Newsboys stuff, with a little bit of DC Talk thrown in for good measure. Loved it!
And so did the rest of the MASSIVE crowd!
  I would love to know how many people were there -  I honestly could not get over the size of the crowd. It was so awesome!

Once again we left after the Mainstage show on Saturday. Mum came with us this time. Mayana had awoken once again, but we made a pact that even if she was awake on Sunday we’d be staying till the very end. Because it just wouldn’t be Easterfest otherwise!

Stay tuned….

Easterfest: Friday

I hope you don’t mind too much, but I’m going to do this in three separate posts. We took some awesome photos… lots of them, and if I do too many in one post my computer has heart-failure.

So. Friday.

Most of my family arrived on Thursday night, and the rest got there Friday morning while we were at the Good Friday church service.

After a quick catch-up, and some present-opening (my dad had just got back from China and had gifts for us all), we trecked off to the park.

If you don’t know, Easterfest is an awesome three-day Christian music festival, conveniently held in the town where I live. So I have an incredibly packed house over the Easter weekend, but I LOVE it! This is the tenth Easterfest that my family has been to!

We saw some awesome music on Friday.

First stop was the Watoto Children’s Choir. These little darlings are so energetic and beautiful and awe-inspiring. I love them!

Mayana also very much enjoyed dancing along to their beautiful music (all decked out of course in her baby-ear-muffs to keep those precious ear-drums safe!).

Next we stopped off to see Melissa & Tricia Brock, the two wonderful girls from Superchic[k] speak about their experiences sponsoring children through Compassion. 
Then over to a very special event, and one of my favourites of the whole weekend. It was called the Empty Chair Project, and it consisted of a 19-piece big-band who performed songs with a number of different headlining artists. The other artist’s styles ranged from contemporary to rock to screamo (!!! Yes really!) and rap, and the big band backed them all. The arrangements were AMAZING, and I cannot get over how clever and fantastic it all was. The whole show was topped off by a surprise proposal! The guy who did all the arrangements invited his girlfriend to the stage (she thought she was going to sing) and the big band played a most incredible piece of music which he had composed and then he proposed! It was soooo romantic!  This is Jeremy from New Empire doing his thing with the Big Band:
 
Mayana also got to enjoy some time at ‘Kids Island’ – a fun little area set up with a whole lot of fun activities for the kiddies, including a Veggie Tales theatre, a bubbles tent (aka Mayana Heaven), face-painting, various crafts and other exciting things. Mayana loved drawing on the huge chalk wall, and very much appreciated her balloon flower.

Then before we knew it, it was time for Mainstage! This is the main event of the day, and tonight it was showcasing the following: ‘Planet of the Stereos’, ‘Article One’, ‘Compliments of Gus’, ‘KJ-52’, ‘New Empire’ and ‘Superchic[k]’. It was very fabulous! This is Compliments of Gus. They’re one of my favourite bands EVER. I have loved them since the first time I saw them at Easterfest ten years ago, and I love how their style evolves every year and they just get better and better.

Mayana coped very well thoughout. Having umpteen pairs of more than willing arms helped of course. Here she is with Kami playing with a glo-stick-ball a friend gave her.

This is KJ-52. he’s a rapper/hip-hop type muso. Not a style that I’m generally into, but I was suitably impressed by this guy. He had awesome crowd control, and I loved watching the thousands of people down in the moshpit (from my safe little spot on the hill of the amphitheatre) as they swayed and jumped to his every command.

And this is my angel-baby. Yes she actually slept! She woke up when the music stopped. Ha. What can I say.

After the mainstage show, Peter and I went all ‘sacrificial parents’ on everyone, and took our little bean home – she wasn’t going to go back to sleep, and we knew that she needed it with the rest of our big weekend ahead! It was the first time in ten years that I haven’t stayed for the last show of the night! But I can deal, lol.

Oh yes, Easterfest is AWESOME! Stay tuned…

oh.my.so.dumb

So did you know that you can’t start an automatic car if it’s in drive?

Let me just say how eternally grateful I am that I figured this out *before* the RACQ patrol guy came to figure out what was “wrong” with my car.

My Happy Birthday

I am now twenty-three!

Me on the morning I turned 23. So attractive I know. That’s what happens after a whole weekend of very limited sleep and far too much excitement!

We had the hugest weekend ever (massive Easterfest post to come), and I was a very lucky girl to have my whole family here at my house on my actual birthday.

It was a pretty cruisy day, we were all soooooooo tired! We slept in (as much as you can with a 14 months old baby who gets extremely over-excited when you have visitors), then waited for everyone to make their way up from my cousin’s house where some of them were staying (our house is teeny-tiny and my family is not), then had a delicious breakfast.

Oh, and I opened my presents.

 Gorgeous stationery from my mum & dad. Two beautiful notebooks and a set of notecards. I LOVE stationery.My new handbag, from my siblings. Isn’t it scrummy!!!??

I got pretty dang spoiled.

 Sewing box from Peter & Mayana. This was on my wish-list – because the chocolate box I had been using just wasn’t cutting it anymore!

 Another wish-list item – from my mum & dad.

After a clean-up and the crazy 14-month-old had a morning nap, we met up with my cousins at a cafe for coffee before my family all headed home. Sad!

Miss Mayana cried very much when her favourite people left. Especially as Kami and Tante Lexi drove away. I think we all had a tear just from witnessing her devastation. She wept the whole way home, little darlin’.

The rest of the day I lazed around, watching my McLeod’s Daughters, trying out my new crochet patterns, and trying to shake my massive tired headache.

McLeod’s Daughters: The final season – and the only one missing from my collection. Also from my siblings.

 
Crochet pattern magazine from my hubby & daughter. It has some awesome patterns!

I had Hungry Jacks for Dinner, and a scrumptious bubble bath when we got home.

I didn’t have a birthday cake, but my lovely husband bought me one for tonight – so that it really felt like a birthday. He’s so wonderful!

So, happy birthday to me!

Mayana’s Week

  Mayana has had a lovely week… Another fun few days at daycare – where they are officially beginning the transition to the toddler room with her. I had to sign a form giving permission for it to happen about a month earlier than it ‘should’, as all the carers that have spent time with Mayana agree that she is more than ready! It makes us so proud listening to them all talk about how clever and advanced she is!

She is still loving this box. She crawls through it, over it, stands on it, puts her dollies through it. It’s definitely good value!

Mayana has been pulling this awesome cheeky smile when we ask her to smile for photos. I love it. She’s starting to look so toddler-ish.

We took Mayana to the Japanese Gardens this week, to see and feed the DUCKIES! It’s the first time that Mayana had seen them in real life, and she was beside herself!

We went out for a picnic with some friends from church, and Mayana got to test-run her froggy chair. It’s sure going to be getting a workout this weekend at Easterfest!

Mayana loves to read in the car…. And she seems to have developed a habit like her Mama… my hubby often finds me asleep like this with a book in my hands when he comes to bed after me. 

We keep telling people that Mayana is a climber – but even we were surprised when we found her doing this! She’s certainly very creative!

She’s also a very cool dude!

We tripped down to Brisbane this weekend to hit a bridal expo with my sisters and mum. Mayana was such a little trouper. She had a lot of fun, and enjoyed being the star attraction of the bridal expo! I think she got even more attention than the bride in our group! (See Mayana’s little backpack harness? Little Miss Independent is far too cool for the pram unless her legs are *really* sore, and would often rather not hold hands, thank you very much).

There’s that cheeky smile again!

Snuggles with Kami!

Okay guys, I’ve had enough of this place now!

So we walked over to the city – favouring the bike over the pram… apparently we possibly should have taken the pram.

After some shopping and Starbucks with Kami and the Tantes, we waved goodbye as they set off for the station, and the three of us headed back over to Southbank to take some photos in the gorgeous late afternoon light…

 

Man our baby’s photogenic!