the boys first concert

yesterday, the whole wu tang family traveled out to grand rapids to see justin's band, fireflight. justin has been touring for awhile now and he was only in for the day, so it was good to see him again.
we got to van andel arena right about the time they were going on for a sound check. jenn, don and rainah had just gotten there as well and were all hanging out up front by the stage with jessica and mom.
jenn had made the kids "fireflight security" t-shirts and also printed some lyrics from their single, unbreakable, on the back. as soon as we got there we put the t-shirts on the boys so that they were official and everybody knew not to mess with them...or the band.
right away hayden asked if he was going to go up on stage with the band, of course. but thankfully there was no meltdown when we told him he wasn't allowed up there...even after justin grabbed talan and carried him around the stage.
when the band started sound checking, hayden kept covering his ears saying that it was too loud. but as soon as they turned the lights down and put on the stage lights, he immediately uncovered his ears and started dancing. rainah continued to walk around while talan just looked around while dave held him.
when the sound check was done we all headed to lunch which consisted of the best bbq chicken pizza we'd ever had. the restaurant was packed but we managed to squeeze 7 adults and 3 kids into a table for 6. as long as rainah had food she could shovel in her mouth and as long as we kept everything on the table away from talan, things were fine.
after lunch we headed back over to the arena and hung out until the bands went on. we headed over to our seats and as soon as the first band played hayden started rocking out. all of this kids loved it, actually. rainah and talan were clapping and dancing and staring at the lights while hayden was dancing and screaming ("yeahhhhh" "rock and roll!" "woooohooooo!") with the rest of the audience. it wasn't long before hayden noticed the microphone that was sitting in front of our seats and he grabbed it and started talking/singing/screaming into it. he's bound to be a front man.
fireflight came out and hayden was so excited to see justin up on stage. we think they did great, although we've heard justin was a little bummed about their performance. if hayden noticed, he forgot all about it by the end when the "explosions" went off.
when they were done playing, we all headed out to the merchandise table where dave stepped in to help the poor guy that was left to man the station by himself. the band was on the other end of the arena signing autographs while we tried to occupy the babies and hayden ran back and forth to the water fountain. the kids did unbelievably well considering we were there ALL day and there were no naps. poor talan wasn't even really able to just get down and crawl around all day.
at one point, i took the boys for a walk and talan fell asleep in his stroller while hayden found a group of kids playing "duck duck goose" in the middle of the hall and joined them. he was bummed when it disband before he had the chance to be it. the rest of the day he kept trying to con mom, me and jessica into playing with him. it never did work.
when the autographs were finally done, justin came back up to say goodbye to us as he didn't have the time he thought he might to hang out. we said goodbye, made plans to see "semi pro" on easter (it's becoming an easter tradition to see a will ferrell movie...although this time i won't be giving birth hours after watching it) when he comes back and we all packed back into the car and headed home.
hayden was quite upset that we weren't spending the nite at jenn's house and kept insisting "but i need dinner! i didn't eat dinner yet!" when we finally stopped and grabbed him some mcdonalds in the car, he ate about 2 of his apples, handed them back to me and said "i'm tired." he grabbed his blanket and 2 dogs and instantly fell asleep.
thanks for the boys first concert experience, justin. see you in a few weeks!


the shirts. this photo session was impossible:



the man who helped me give birth. and the thing that popped out:
talan and jessica:
talan keeping the crowd in check:
"it's too loud!":
sound check:
talan at lunch. his new favorite crackers are club multi grain:
the meanest couple on earth:
rainah loves to eat:
fireflight:



rockin' out:

during sound check hayden yelled "look! it's the sun!":
the gang:
talan loved it:
he discovered the microphone:

talan had a fun time pulling dave's newly grown hair:

this guy:
keeping himself entertained:
how we all felt by the end of the day: