Beyond Festival

What a long weekend it has been. Mostly in a good way though. On Friday the kids and I headed into the city to pick up Jens from work and then continued on our way to Canberra for the Beyond Festival. 

the 4 of us (and Alexander too)

When we arrived and registered we then headed down to our little cabin and unpacked. The kids then went for a walk down to the main area (Capital) with Jens while I fed Alexander. 

 

James then got us dinner and I organised the kids' dinner. We then got the kids ready for bed. Our first time sleeping all in the same room. 

Daniel hadn't slept the whole day so he ended up falling asleep pretty quickly which was good. Alexander took a bit to settle so I fed him to sleep. Eliza was pretty energised. She kept hopping out of bed, talking, singing, reading. Much of what she would do in her own room but was a bit lengthy being in the same room. I was ignoring her, read my book then lay next to her for a bit to help her settle. She did and eventually fell asleep at around 9:30. James had headed down to listen to some of the bands play so I stayed with the kids and went to sleep. They slept pretty well - Alexander woke a couple of times for a feed and Eliza woke once. 

Saturday morning Daniel was up at 5:30 so we had him climb into our bed so we could try and sleep a bit more. Didn't work heaps well for us to sleep more but Eliza did sleep until 7 so that was good. We had breakfast, got dressed, put on our rain coats and gumboots. Jens took the kids to have hot chocolates and coffee while I had a small amount of child-free time.

I came down and joined in the fun. The kids had a blast playing with the different toys in the kids area. Oscar, Eliza and I had a fun time playing with the hula hoops and then with toy motorbikes while Daniel played a game with James. 

Oscar, Eliza and Daniel then headed over to the other side of the marquee to the mud. It had been raining a lot and this area was very muddy. The kids had a great time running around, splashing around, jumping in the mud. It was a time for me to remind myself to let kids be kids and enjoy the mud and they sure did! Eliza especially has it all over herself.

We then headed to Soltura Cafe to listen to Spike Mason Quartet. What lovely jazz music to listen to. They are a talented bunch of people. The kids had a great time drawing on the table cloth and playing with origami with Mel. 

We then headed back to our room to make lunch and then headed back down to Capital to listen to the Matt Roberts Trio while eating lunch. The kids had a fun time dancing to their music.

 There was a fun scrabble board that Oscar played against Jens and Mum with. It was such a cool concept.

It was then AFL grandfinal time. Go Swannies! It was a stressful, close game where we unfortunately lost. We had planned for the kids to both stay up during the day so that they would go to sleep faster at night. Eliza had other ideas. She was so tired that she fell asleep while reading some books with Mum. Tired little poppet.

After the grandfinal we headed back to our cabin for some burritos for dinner and then it was bedtime for the older kids. Alexander came with me to go and see Lior. What a talented musician he is! It sounded amazing too having a string quartet accompany him. Alexander took a while to settle so I didn't get to fully enjoy his set but it was nice to be there. After Lior I headed back to the cabin and fed Alexander to go to sleep. Our grand plan of little sleep for Daniel and Eliza backfired. They both were so energised and I think over tired that they were still wide awake when I got back. Ignoring didn't work so well tonight. Eventually Alexander fed to sleep and went down and I then lay next to Eliza giving her books to look at and told Daniel to stay in his bed. Daniel eventually dropped off and Eliza did too (around 9pm). What a long day (but a good day!) I fell asleep around 9:30pm. James stayed up until around 2am with Jens, Howie and some other people listening to different bands and chatting with each other. I'm glad that they had such a good time.

Sunday morning the kids slept pretty well. They got up after 7am and we had some snuggles in bed together.

This was then followed by breakfast and a walk. Today the sun was shining which was a nice change but we still needed our gumboots because of all the mud. James and the kids again headed down to the Capital for coffee and a play. There was then the community morning tea which was a great concept. They encouraged you to change tables to sit with someone else who you didn't know and share some food with them. We had Ruth and Glenn join us and they brought a tasty cheese platter. It was nice to chat with them while listening to music and speeches. Daniel enjoyed drawing on the mini chalk board.

James then went and made lunches while the kids played and we enjoyed eating them while having lunch while listening to Spike Mason Quartet again. I do enjoy their jazz music. We then took the kids back to our room to have a nap/rest time. We had them lie down to rest and see if they'd sleep. James and I lay next to Eliza and Daniel but they weren't keen to sleep. They did pretty well to be quiet. I then headed to listen to Cameron Semmens. I do love his poetry. He makes me laugh, makes me think, is very creative. I'm glad that I got to listen to him with Alexander.

After the poetry we met up with James, Daniel and Eliza in the Capital to listen to the Soorleys. They were great. So much energy, so much fun, so much dancing. The kids had a great time dancing with James to the music.

After all the dancing we then took the kids up to the jumping castle and were grateful that the weather was sunny so that they could enjoy it.

Turns were taken to have the older kids and younger kids on the jumping castle so while waiting Daniel and Eliza enjoyed being pulled around in a cart by James.

After dinner James and I took the kids to listen to the band Brother Funk. Daniel was desperate to see a night band and we thought this would be fun one. Alexander was ready with his earmuffs

And we headed to the glasshouse. What a fun band. Daniel and Eliza had a great time jumping and dancing with each other and Oscar and enjoying the music. The only problem was the mud that was still around as we didn't want the kids getting dirty just before bed. So that made it a little bit stressful, but the music was great. We then headed back to our room and got the kids ready for bed. They went so sleep pretty quickly tonight which was good, however, Alexander had a very unsettled nights sleep. Fortunately he didn't wake up the others.

Monday morning was a slow morning. We had snuggles in bed so James and I could try and get a bit more sleep after Alexander waking a lot at night. We then had breakfast and packed up and after Alexander had a nap while ABC for Kids was on tv he had a feed and then we headed home, in convoy with Mum and Dad. 

Beyond was a great weekend (minus bedtimes). I loved listening to different musicians - people who I would never have heard before. I loved chatting with Mel about different talks she went to and learning about the marginalized and those in less fortunate positions. I hope that next time we go back (if it's on) then I hope to go to some talks to increase my understanding of social justice. I loved watching the kids dance to the different bands. Well done to Howie and the team for making such a great festival. I'd love for others to grasp the vision of it, to commit to going to it, to enjoy the festival.