We played a few amazing festivals this summer. Wanderlust (a festival of yoga and music) was held at the top of Squaw Valley. We actualy took gondolas to the stage. The kids didn't make it to that festival but had they come, i think they would have hated the cross country plane ride even despite seeing music and swimming at the top of a mountain.
This past weekend we played in Toronto and Maryland at the Virgin Fests. We brought the kids. We took a van. (I miss the bus) We traveled many hours. I had many moments of, Wow, we're pulling out everything we can think of to keep people in this van sane: Sugar in many forms, dueling dvd players, bribery, threats, etc. We all hated the inside of that van after the fourth day but we got to stop at Niagra Falls and also hung with other kids (and their parents).
She remembered that Canada=Kindereggs. Van time occupied by these-about one hour.
We did the whole "National Lampoon's Vacation" tourist stop. Got out of the car, looked at the falls, got back in the car.
Well, we did spend enough time there for Mags to swipe a discarded poncho from the bathroom.
The actual show days were great for the whole family (complete with a carnival next door to the Toronto show). Usually you'll see maybe a baby or two backstage at festival band trailers. This time, I think almost every band brought their kids. And the festival directors set up a kiddie pool in front our our trailer. We realized you get to know the other bands easily if you have the kid party at your house. We had Weezer kids, Franz Ferdinand kids and more stopping by for a dip in the pool.
I should point out the real reasons we loved the addtion of more green room kids; We finally didn't feel so alone (and our kids had playmates that we didn't have to call and beg to come down to the show and stay all day while we were in town)
Our kids love playing with other kids especially after being trapped in the van for hours (at one point Mags asked me if I wanted to play "who can stay quiet the longest" thanks). When meeting new people with children I do have to occasionally warn parents of our daughter's need to compete on pretty much every level.
She meets new friends like this. "'I'm Maggie. How old are you?" and then, "Oh, I'm older than you." I think she feels she has won some giant contest when she finds out she's older than everyone. I hope people realize we haven't taught her to greet new friends in this manner.
Although, I would love to start doing that...."Hi, I'm Kori. How old are you?" "Oh...Ha, that's too bad for you, I'm older!" Seriously, when does it change into a big let down when you find out you are the oldest in the room? We should all be proud when we're the oldest one at the party, right? Mags would be stoked if she won the age contest everywhere she went.
Anyway, the girls were troopers despite them seriously breaking in a new nanny and having a few melt downs at gas stations.
To sum it all up here's a little piece we call, "A Van Named Life."