Best. Weekend. Ever.

Words can't even describe how full my heart is right now. Our weekend was full of stuff: events, work, sports, music, but we were together for all of it, which made it so so fun for our family. Two fo the highlights for us included our favorite band, The Revivalists. We've had tickets for four of us (minus Ruby) to see their concert on Saturday night forever. This last week, however, Maddux thought maybe it would be too late and she'd rather stay home with Ruby and an older friend. We obliged, but not without trying (unsuccessfully) to sway her up until the hour before.

Eli, Lehr and I had a GREAT time at the show, obviously. The front row tickets helped a lot; long gone are the days where we used to arrive 30-60 minutes before their show and hold the front row without much pushback. Their set was a great compilation of all of their albums, giving us many 'old school' gems. We got high fives from Rob (sax player) once he saw us, and near the end, David (lead singer) put the microphone in Eli's face and asked him his name and age, then told the audience to 'give it up for Eli!' Then, "give it up for his PARENTS!" (We won't let Eli live that down any time soon.)

As amazing as the show was, Sunday was even better. Ruby's time in the hospital connected us with Josh and Songs for Kids years ago. We love the organization and have been as involved as we can in their fundraising and supporting their vision for future endeavors. About a year ago they opened up a recording/playing studio to allow for serving the kids who are still very much living with medical 'stuff' but aren't staying at the hospital so much. So they can come to the studio and get music lessons, or play with the musician volunteers, or attend mini concerts put on by musical acts that come through town. We attended the grand opening, but have been unable to check out any concerts. Knowing that The Revivalists worked with Josh in New Orleans in the past though, we knew they'd try to be at the studio, and we wouldn't miss it for the world.

I can't adequately express how cool the experience was. We've seen our boys up close and personal over the years, so as amazing as that is, that was not what put this over the top. The kids and families in attendance were all in, jumping and dancing and singing the whole time. And these kids were not shy about talking to the band or playing instruments with them - that had to be refreshing for the guys! The afternoon started with some of the SFK kids performing one of The Revivalist's songs that they'd been rehearsing. Then the boys did three songs, pulling kids in on the last one. As soon as they were done, Josh had any/all SFK kids find a band member and work with them on whatever instrument they had. It was chaos, amazing, musical, joyful chaos. Ruby made her rounds from Zack, to Ed, finally to Andrew. I tried to grab a few videos and phone photos, but honestly I just held my spot at the back of the crowd trying to take it all in.

The best (for us) was yet to come. Most of the families had left and the drums were open, so we encouraged Eli to sit down at the set (we'd told the big ones to 'back off' the whole time till now because this experience was for the SFK kids, not them). As soon as Eli did, Andrew's ears perked up and he joined in for a few measures. My favorite part was when he said to Eli, "Oh, you can really play!"

Pure heart explosion to see our favorite band of all time mashed up with an organization so near and dear to our hearts - Best. Weekend. Ever.