Life Is Good.

So, two years later, we went to another Life Is Good music festival!  Except that this time, we went with Emma, Jackson, and Danielle, and we did not bring a stroller, a pacifier, or a single diaper.  Hooray!  And also, this time, we weren't there to see Guster, or even Michael Franti and Spearhead, who were the evening headliners the day we were there.  We were there to see: wait for it...The Fresh Beat Band.

Right.  And remember, when I first saw commercials for the Fresh Beat Band years ago, I was not enthusiastic or even a little amused.  It was just too much peppiness.  Too much!  But over time, I've been worn down.  Our kids were just so excited to go to a concert together, and we were excited for them.  So it was like, bring on those happy musicians with their bright clothes and songs about friends and bananas and rock star jackets.  (Actually, I treated myself to a motorcycle jacket at TJ Maxx the other day, so I know a little something about rock star jackets, if you want to know the truth.)

After we grabbed a spot by the main stage, Danielle and Todd got beers, and I lamented that there was no cider on tap.  Then Danielle and I posed for pictures with our eldest children, who just could not wait any longer for Marina, Kiki, Twist, and Shout.

And then guess what?  Danielle and I danced to the Fresh Beats way more than our children.  As soon as that quartet took the stage, dozens of children were lifted onto shoulders.  I mean, picture this: in less than twenty seconds, at least a hundred kids went up around us, and up Marley and Emma went, too.  And then we swayed and jumped around until we needed to take a break and plop them down back beside us.  The rest of their set went like this: on the shoulders, on the ground, hoisted up in our arms, back on the shoulders, back on the ground, and so on, until the Fresh Beats finished with "Great Day" and hopped gleefully off the stage.

By then we were hungry, so we had a ridiculously delicious picnic lunch (pizza, burritos, sweet potato fries, dumplings, noodles, limeade), listened to Kidz Bop, and with some sweaty, whiny exceptions, took in the atmosphere of a sunny, happy stretch of farm transformed into a family-friendly festival with three stages and a crowd of moms, dads and little dancing, skipping, cuddling kids .  Before we left for home, we stopped for a beanbag toss, a sack race, some tug-of-war, and a turn-your-tantrum-frown-upside-down romp on the parachute. I would really like to go again next year.  Especially if we're there to see Guster, or, I don't know, Willie Nelson.  That would actually be perfect.  That, and bring back the cider.