Coby is back in town!

Coby has been away performing in Europe for ages and ages.  Finally she is back in Melbourne and I went to see her and some of her other cool musician friends perform.

It was as this really cool recording place in Brunswick where there were couches and picnic rugs to sit on as we watched the performances.

It was a pretty late gig, so I had a nap with Dad as we waited for Coby.

It was all worth it to see Coby sing again.

And to say hello!

See you next time you are in town,

Love Princess George

Sing

Growing up in the country was great but there was limited exposure to the amazing opportunities that my kids have.  During my childhood, symphonies and operas were something that was on TV every now and then, even then we would skip over those channels and run back outside to play.   Thanks to the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra,  conversations about going to the symphony, enjoying a ballet and now listening to opera is something normal for my kids

Last year we were lucky enough to be invited to see the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (MSO) perform with dancers from the Australian Ballet.  It was an awesome program so when Alison from MSO contacted us to see if we would like to head along to another performance we jumped at the chance.

The MSO website promotes SING as being a program that features one of Australia's pre-eminent conductors and a passionate advocate of the importance of singing in a child's life, Richard Gill, and singers from Victorian Opera, joining forces with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra to lead a stimulating musical program for children which will explore the joy of singing and inspire aural imagination through song.

So that is the official spiel, what it really was was a fun filled musical program that had us singing, clapping and dancing in our seats.

On the edge of their seats, enjoying the performance

Normally, I am sure that if I asked AJ to sing a nursery rhyme he would laugh and walk away.  At SING he was singing along, yelling out answers to questions being asked about the orchestra and having a great time.  Milla and her friend were acting out all of the instruments and having a great time. They particularly enjoyed singing, so much so that Milla has decided that she will re-join the school choir next year, and maybe even audition for an extra-curricular choir!

Even someone like me, completely tone deaf with no musical ability at all was singing along.  In fact I have been singing one of the tunes all day long and actually enjoying it.  At one stage today, as I was wandering through the park with Milla, we both began singing ding dong, ding-y ding-y dong in rounds.

Ding dong, ding-y ding-y dong, ding-y ding-y dong, the cat is gone 

Ding dong, ding-y ding-y dong, ding-y ding-y dong, ding dong!

Thanks for another wonderful opportunity Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.

Meeting the talented  Jeremy and Kirilie after the performance

Disclosure:  The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra offered us tickets to the show, the opinions expressed are ours.

Wordless(ish) Wednesday - Fireflies

Even though Fireflies is the name of this post, it isn't about the twinkly fireflies that I saw when I was in America when I was really little, it is about the song Fireflies.  I love this song.  I love it so much that instead of sleeping, I spent my time writing the lyrics to the song on a piece of masking tape!

(Excuse the spelling, remember I am only 8!)
Love Princess George

OK, so even the photos aren't wordless but I wanted to share!

Check out some of the other wonderful people playing along with Wordless Wednesday

A Special Night Out

Now normally we don't go out at night and if we were to go out, it is really really unlikely that it would be a Sunday night, that is the night that mum and dad try to convince us to go to bed early ready for another week of busy.  When mum suggested that we might go out On A Sunday Night, I knew it must be something really special.

I asked for a hint and the only clue I was given was 'music'.  Hmmm, I wonder what that could mean, where would we go to hear music?  I knew it couldn't be to a Taylor Swift show, my friend went to her show last week and I knew she wasn't in Melbourne any more.  What could we be doing?  I was completely stumped.  I am lucky that AJ was with me, he kept guessing.  It only took him minutes before he guess the answer - I was going to get to go to see Coby Grant again.  That is so much better than going to see Taylor Swift!

I first heard Coby sing when I was little and saw her perform at the Vic Market.  I have seen her perform heaps of times since, I have a copy of all of her albums and EPs and pretty much know all of her songs off by heart.  I have missed Coby, she has been in Europe for ages, impressing the rest of the world with her amazing talent.  I didn't realise that she was back in Melbourne for a little while to record a new EP so when mum said that she was taking me to the studio where she was recording the show live I was crazy excited!

We arrived at the Wick Studios in Brunswick at about 6 o'clock and our timing was perfect.  There was still a big comfy couch free so we had somewhere really comfy to sit, right up the front of the studio and the first singer was performing.  I hadn't heard of Al Parkinson before but I hope that I get to hear her sing again, she was awesome.  We sat on the couch snuggling and munching on snacks.  Charlie, that is Coby's beautiful dog was running around the studio and spent time snuggling on the couch with us too.  After Al sang, Tom Tuena took to the stage and he was really great to listen to as well.  By this stage, it was getting late and Dad and AJ joined us after the Grand Prix and we snuggled together on the couch.

Finally it was Coby's turn to perform.  What can I say other than WOW - I love you Coby!  She sang even better live than I remembered.  I sang along quietly, not wanting to have my singing so loud that you could hear it on her recording, and enjoying every second of the performance.  I especially loved it when Coby sang my favourite song ever - When I Was Young.

It was really really late (well in 8 year old Sunday night time!) and I was so tired that I started to doze off on dad's lap as Coby was finishing her set.  It was beautiful to drift off to sleep listening to such wonderful songs.


I was sad when it was time to go, it meant that Coby's only performance in Melbourne was over and soon she would be going back overseas.  I  know that she will continue to wow the audience in Germany but I really hope she gets a chance to come back to Melbourne soon.

Miss you Coby,
Love Princess George

PS - even AJ had fun, even though he said he wouldn't have fun listening to music that wasn't Classic (bogan)Rock!

Crazy Busy Days

Saturday morning is normally the day that I hide from mum as she nags me to clean my room... put my stuff away... find all my dirty washing... when all I want to do is snuggle on the couch and watch tv. Normally my Saturday morning is really boring. This morning was different. Sure mum still nagged me to clean up and put stuff away but that was so that I could find my iTouch and a few bits and pieces to throw into a bag before we set off on an adventure or two.

I knew it was skating day for Milla and that we were going to visit some of mum’s friends at the beach in the afternoon but I didn’t know what we were doing for the morning. First stop was a complete surprise, we went into Southbank to see the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra perform with dancers from the Australian Ballet. At first I thought it might just be full of little kids and boring but I was wrong, it was great. The first solo of the day was the clarinet - the instrument that I play. He was much better than I am, I could almost hear mum (nagging) saying “One day you could play as well as that but first you have to practice!” She might be right and I might start to practice more, might (but probably not)!

All of the performances were really good but the best part was when Patrick the dancer snuck out in his tap shoes to make music. He would tap a rhythm and then the guy on the drum would copy him. They started off pretty slow, doing tap steps and making rhythms that I knew but got faster and faster and more complicated. Then the drummer made rhythms and Patrick copied them, it was awesome and he ended up dancing the rhythm of a drum roll!

My favourite musician had to be the guy on the Double Bass, he really had fun when he played, he was almost dancing in his seat as he played. He was really cool and fun to watch.

To be honest, I had heaps of fun at the performance and was lucky enough to have my photo taken with a few of the musicians and the dancers too.

Not a bad start to a crazy busy unexpected Saturday morning!

Next stop of the Crazy Saturday was to fill in time at Icehouse when Milli had her lessons and before we headed to the beach. Normally I don’t like hanging around when Milli has her lessons because only the people having lessons can go onto the ice but today because her lesson was at lunch time I got to go skating too. Not only did I get to go skating but I got to play with the giant snowball on the ice. Certainly much more fun than having to clean my room.

The adventure continued after skating. We grabbed some lunch from Costco and headed to the beach. All I knew is that we would spend the afternoon with some of mum’s friends, I didn’t know them but I knew that there would be boys to hang out with instead of just girls so I figured it would be fun.

Let’s just say that fun would be an understatement, I had an awesome time.

There were 4 other boys to hang out with, as well as 4 girls but the best part was that where we were staying was great, we were in the town but there was so much space around that we could be up the front building cubby houses and digging booby traps and the parents couldn’t even see us!

I think mum must have been having fun too because before she realised it, it was really late and we were ready for bed. Instead of getting back into the car and driving home, we grabbed out our ‘just in case we need them’ sleeping bags out of the car and went to bed. Can you believe that there was enough room for all of us to sleep in the one bedroom! Of course sharing a bedroom with 8 other kids meant that we stayed up really late and woke up really early to make sure we had plenty of time to hang out together.

We spent hours mucking about but even digging booby traps didn’t stop mum from making us get back in the car and heading back to Melbourne for another day of madness. I really wished that we could have stayed down by the beach to hang out with my new friends. Hopefully we can go back there again some time soon.

Love AJ Pickle

Learning and Remembering

A long time ago, during World War 1, there was a battle that was 'one of the worst 24 hours in Australia's entire history' that took place in France.  It was called the Battle of Fromelles.  My great great great uncle Tom Sheridan (I think that is the right number of 'greats') was a soldier that fought and died in that battle and his body was buried in a mass grave in Fromelles.  Well not too long ago, the grave was discovered and some bodies were recovered so that they could be identified using DNA.  

Well Uncle Tom was one of the bodies identified so today, instead of going to school we went to a special memorial service that was held at the Cobbers Sculpture near the Shrine of Remembrance.  

Service by the Cobbers

Heaps of our extended family were there...  

Our Family Remembers

There was a brass band playing...

And the band played

 We placed a poppy (with Nanny and Poppy) for Uncle Tom and all the other cobbers...

Placing a Poppy

I tried to hide from mum and her camera but she managed to find me anyway, can you see our reflection in the tuba?

Upside Down Portraits

Most importantly we learnt more about World War 1 and remembered all of the people who gave their lives so that we could be free.

Love AJ Pickle

Rock Star

When I grow up I think I might be a Rock Star!

Love AJ Pickle

Wicked

My Aunty Sharn and I went for a special day out together.  We went into the city to see this...

It was totally Wicked!   I think that one day I will sing and dance on stage just like Elphaba and Glinda, they were fantastic.   

Thanks for a great day out Aunty Sharn,

Love Princess George

A Great Night Out

Instead of going to bed early, we went out.  It was a special treat because Coby Grant, our favourite singer in the whole world, was playing at the Queen Victoria Night Market.  

Coby was awesome on stage.

I was so excited to watch her perform.

It was even better when I got to meet Coby!

It was such a fantastic night out.

Love Princess George

Quiet Time

After a busy weekend, we decided to have some quiet time this afternoon.  

This is how I filled in my afternoon...

Love Princess George

Bang the Drum

We decided to make music this afternoon.  Do you want to listen to our concert?

We hope you enjoyed listening to our music as much as we enjoyed making music.  I know mum and dad are really happy to have dents all over the pots and pans!

Love AJ and Milla

Sick Days

Last night AJ was sick and had throw ups everywhere, so he said he was too sick to go to kinder today.

I think that he was just pretending to be sick so that he could go to music with me. It was the last music class of the year, and we had lots of Christmas songs to sing, played Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer and even had a party after class.

Do you think that AJ was really sick?
Love Princess George

Good Morning

This morning Milla and I woke up before mum and dad. We crept downstairs quietly so they couldn't hear us went outside for a play.

When we decided that it was time for Dad to get up and go to work (at the very civilized hour of 8.00am), we played some music for him.



Dad was in such a good mood when he woke up that I decided not to ask for a toy that sings the Bombers song!
Love AJ Pickle

A Night Out

Last night we all went out for a special treat. We went to a place called the Dragonfly where we got to see my friend Paula dance on stage.

Paula has lots of different names. Everyone at the restaurant called her Candi, but when she was on stage she dressed up and her name was Cher. I wasn't really sure what was happening, but I did love the singing and dancing and all the pretty clothes. Paula (or Cher or Candi) wore some beautiful clothes on the stage.


I had a great night out, I danced all night long.
Love Princess George



PS. AJ had a good night out too, even if he did fall asleep!