A Tale of Two Concerts

 The kids attended their very first concert this August - the night before school started.  We took them to Katy Perry's Prizmatic concert in St. Louis - and it was a fantastic show!  This really set the bar high for the kids with their future expectations.  It was almost like going to a Vegas show - Katy changed not only her outfits numerous times but the entire stage would change as well.    Here we are waiting for the concert to begin (Olivia had to wear her new Katy Perry concert shirt that we purchased that night!).  

Katy opened with a bang and it never slowed down.

There were 5 different arial events throughout the concert.  Katy is the one hanging at the bottom of the apparatus.

For the final song "Firework", the audience wore special "Prizmatic" glasses for these effects (hence the name of her concert tour).

One of her opening acts was Ferras, who actually attended school in Gillespie (where Joe went to school).  Joe and Ethan stood in line to meet him.

While Ethan met Ferras, Olivia wanted her picture with this set.

The kids' second concert ever was a short 11 days after the Katy Perry concert.  One Direction!!  This concert was so different in so many ways - primarily young girls with a parent who did not look very excited to be there (Katy Perry actually had a very wide age range in the audience), the unbelievable screaming started even before the concert began, there were no costume or set changes, and the group did not have pre-rehearsed dance numbers like Katy had for every song.  Olivia had a BLAST and was screaming/singing along with the crowd, whereas Ethan literally fell asleep during the concert (I guess ear plugs will help that to happen - we all wore them for both concerts and they were the BEST things ever).

Waiting for the concert to begin.  Again, Olivia had to wear her new concert shirt.

1D!  Joe and I pretty much spent the entire concert asking Olivia, "OK, now which one is that?".  We knew Harry and Niall, but Joe and I could not figure out the rest of them.

Harry!  I could have had my eyes closed, and I still would have known when Harry was on the big screens.  Each time he was shown, the screams increased exponentially.  

 

Ethan fell asleep about 3/4 of the way through the concert.  Joe had to carry him to the car, which was just as well since the crowd leaving the Scottrade Center was absolutely the worst crowd I have ever been in - Olivia and I were literally swept away by the people and just had to go with it until we found an opening.  Ethan most likely would have been trampled!  We have no more concerts lined up for the immediate future, so I think we will enjoy our break until the next round.  Olivia is hoping for Taylor Swift next....

Late Summer Fun Into School Days

A look at how the kids spent their last weeks of summer before school started again.  I love that they still play in the sandbox and on their swing set.

Olivia at Girl Scout Space Camp's final day skit.

A Springfield event called "Paint the Streets" was rained out, so the next day we had our own "Chalk the Driveway" event.

We went to a Springfield Sliders game this summer and the kids met Speedie.

During the Sliders' game, Ethan was selected to go on the field to play a game.  He won a McDonald's duffel bag and is so proud of it.  The Sliders' players were yelling at him to pick the small box, but typical Ethan picked the largest box (we do not know what was in the small box).

Ethan and his friend Cale running the bases at Busch Stadium.

A fantastic photo of Ethan at a Vacation Bible Study camp.

Pool fun.  Dare I say that Olivia and Ethan are getting along in this picture?

One summer Monday, Joe had a rare day off and the weather was a high of 80*, so we decided to go to the St. Louis zoo (along with all of St. Louis!).

Ethan was ecstatic to see that there was a rhino (his absolute favorite animal) on the carousel.

Never too old to ride the carousel!

Ethan and I (with a photo-bombing Olivia) on the zoo train.

Olivia has posed with this penguin every year since she was 11 months old.  I hope with the new polar bear/penguin renovations that they keep this statue!

Due to the zoo parking lots being full, we had to park by Turtle Park (which wasn't so bad since we got some great photos there).

We spent the Friday before the first day of school visiting Lincoln's New Salem State Park for the very first time.  I had no idea it was so large!  The kids met with friends Caden and Cole, and more friends Dominic and Michael (with mom Kara) were actually historical interpreters on this day.  We had a picnic after the park, and Olivia unexpectedly lost a pre-molar during dessert (just don't ask me about losing the tooth between the picnic table boards!).

Olivia and Caden were in charge of the maps and acted as tour guides for our group.

Olivia and Caden playing the game "Graces".  You have two sticks with a hoop (if you look closely you can see the hoop in mid-air) and you toss the hoop into the air and catch it on the sticks.  They each loved this game so much that they bought it in the gift shop!

Ethan and Cole - best buddies.

The family at the Marsh ice cream social and meet the teacher day. 

And the end of summer.  Here is Ethan on the first day of school.  He is 7 years old and in 2nd grade!

And Olivia, age 10, on the first day of 5th grade.  This is her very last year at Marsh Elementary.  She moves on to middle school next year.  

I am wishing both of them a very productive and fun year at school!