Saturday

We were impressed that the kids were up and ready to go in time for breakfast before their concert this morning. They needed very little prompting too, which is good. When I went around the first time - they were awake but not yet fully stirring - and when I returned 20 minutes later, they were up, showered (hmmmm), dressed and almost packed and ready to get their instruments - trombone and saxaphone - from the house.

I will never understand L's ability to have a lime milkshake - at any time, let alone for breakfast. She didn't want anything to eat because she was starting to feel nervous about the performance - as were we, but for slightly different reasons - ie that no-one seemed to be sure that "today is the day", and what time the concert was scheduled for. The venue was not in dispute - they were providing background music for the local craft market. The other thing that was not in dispute was that this would be their teacher's last appearance. She is staying at the school next year but won't be taking the kids for music.

The concert was good - although the crowd of passers-by could have been bigger. Usually people are sticky-beaks but it doesn't seem that this lot is. Their loss because the kids were great - and the tear in my eye at the start of "Rainbow Connection" was emotion and nostalgia rather than a comment on the quality of the kids' performances.

Both of them did solos - and you couldn't have found prouder aunties. I managed to get some fairly decent photographs - and a video or two - which I will distribute to them and to their teacher

Concert finished - we headed back to the Gold Coast - Yum Cha, a walk around Robina shopping mall, and some videos before we all tumbled into our respective beds ready for tomorrow. One of the videos was "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" which S and I watch every Christmas - and which we thought it was high time the children saw. It is still very funny, especially the sequences where Sparky is trying to get the exterior illumination working. The kids seemed to enjoy it too - commenting that it reminded them of Christmas at their place. Funny that.